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Sunday morning, we slept in, got ready to go, grabbed a Starbucks, and began to trip back down the freeway towards home. About thirty miles down the road, we stopped at Multnomah Falls. If you’ve ever picked up some travel literature from our state, or even if you’ve just received a postcard from somebody here, chances are pretty good you’ve seen a picture of this place. And for good reason, too. Not only is it one of the most beautiful places in the state, but it’s proximity to the big city and easy access from the freeway make it a popular place for tourists. It’s just a couple hundred yards or so from the lower falls to the upper falls, so it makes for an easy hike as well.

We enjoyed a Sunday brunch in their historic lodge and then spent the rest of the morning at the falls. We snapped some pictures, which I’ve linked below, and then got back on to the freeway once again for the trip home. It was a quick three days, but we had a blast.

Next up on the agenda: Finish up this bathroom project (worth a blog series in and of itself) and get ready for our coast trip with the whole family in two weeks.

Technorati Tags: Vacation, Multnomah Falls, Oregon

…My boys and I were on vacation to Spokane, Washington and Couer d’Alene, Idaho.

I really had hoped to get some blogging done this week, but maybe it’s just as well. I’ve been doing some landscaping and remodeling a bathroom in between running kids to their various activities, so that’s been a good break. Hard to believe it’s been a week since school got out. I’ve enjoyed doing anything that’s not school-related this week, and I’ll look forward to looking toward the 2008-09 school year in the next couple of weeks. In the mean time, here are some things making their way through my brain today:

• Remodeling a bathroom isn’t necessarily fun, but it is rewarding. I’m through the difficult parts (tub & shower installation), so the rest should go a little easier now.
• My parents are coming over this Sunday for Father’s Day. Too bad it’s not my turn at worship team.
• Still haven’t received the results from my Praxis that I took first week of May. What’s up with that?
• I’m on a first-name basis with the good folks at Home Depot.
• We’re going to get some family pics taken later this summer. When is a good question. Looking at a calendar, I’m not sure when we’re going to be able to have all four kids here at the same time!
• I really need to start getting into a routine on my bike. I’ve been saying that for like 3 months now.
• We’ve had some resignations from people at school whom I’ve enjoyed some good professional relationships with over the last few years. They will be missed.
• Did I just mention school? Dang.
• My next computer project is getting some wedding pics compiled, edited and printed up.
• Measure twice, cut once. A good philosophy for both bathroom remodels and life in general.
• I need to get over to Pendleton real soon to visit this guy and his family.
• Next iTunes download? The new Jakob Dylan. I’m still digging Jon Foreman right now, especially after his most recent EP. (Note: Links open in iTunes.)

That’s about it for now. I have a post about Evernote and some new professional directions in the works.
Technorati Tags: Floating Thoughts, blogging, vacation, family, Picasa, home remodel,

Gas is closing in on $4 a gallon, so you’d better make each drop count. That means enjoying some scenery along the way. Dark Roasted Blend has listed two roads in Oregon in part 1 of their series, Most Beautiful Roads of the World. One of them, down the Columbia River Gorge, I travel on a fairly regular basis. When I have time, I get out, take some pictures, and just enjoy the place where I live. Even DRB admits:

Oregon is a state that has everything California and Washington states have - ocean, rainforests, mountains and flower displays - but feels somehow cozier and more user-friendly, perhaps due to the more laid-back attitude of those who live there.

Where is it worth $4 a gallon for you to drive to?

Technorati Tags: Oregon, driving, gasoline, Dark Roasted Blend, Columbia River, Pacific Northwest

If you’re an adrenaline junkie, I guarantee you’re going to love this clip.  And even if you’re not, it’s pretty darn sick.  Take a look:

HT: Neatorama

Tags: YouTube, BASE jumping, video,

I’m traveling across the state to see Oldest Son compete in a track meet tomorrow. He’s 16 tomorrow, and I thought it would be cool to be down there for that. I’m leaving tonight after school to be with my wife who is in the area right now. Just a quick list of things to get ready:

• Oil change, check
• Fill-up ($77 worth–yes, I have to take the pick-up), check
• 512M iPod Shuffle filled with the latest podcasts from:
• Car Talk, check
• NPR News Summary, check
• NPR Story of the Day, check
• Practical Principals, check
• Most recent free Starbucks download, check
• Random selections from my music catalog to fill up the remaining space, check
• CD case, just in case the above isn’t enough, check
• Gum, check
• Car wash, but the neighborhood drive-through is down, so no check
• Overnight bag, check
• Digital camera fully charged with plenty of room on the disk for photos and vids of the meet, check
• Fully loaded Starbucks card that I received from an anonymous person this morning, check
• Fully charged laptop (I hope Ronald McDonald House has wi-fi), check
• Map to where I’m going, check
• Cell phone so my Twitter peeps can call me, check

Looks like I’m good to go. I’m using the Modify Timestamp feature in ScribeFire, and I’m setting it to auto-publish at 5pm PST. Let me know how it works.

I saw this a while back, but then sort of forgot about it for a while until I found it again last night. Google Earth, as you know, is made up of several satellite images and merged together to form a single pictorial view of the earth. Sometimes, anomalies and just plain weird things pop up, just waiting for somebody with too much time on their hands to come along and say, “What the…?”

Luckily for us, a site called Map of Strange: Strange Things in Google Earth has come along to take all of that tedious searching for us. Click the link, then check out some of the goodies that have been posted: Crop circles, ghost ships, land writings, it’s all in there. There is also some fly-over pictures from National Geographic where, if you zoom in enough, you can see some interesting things taking place in Africa: Elephants in transit, a bazaar, and some caretakers giving their cows and camels a water break. Interesting stuff.