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"Believe me, my young friend. There is nothing, absolutely nothing,
half so worth doing as simply messing around in boats." 

The Wind in the Willows

Day 5: Drizzly Columbia River Gorge and Oregon Brew Fest

7/23/2014

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Short post for Day 5... Wednesday morning began slowly. Mike, Juliette, and Simeon left for their respective jobs and daycares, and I found a coffee shop with delicious lattes. I met up with Juliette for lunch around noon (attempting to act like a local by taking bus), and we had a tasty frittata and soup at F&B cafe. It was a quick lunch because Juliette had to get back to work. I waited under an awning (it was raining!) until Dan picked me up to go on an afternoon hike. We drove out to the Columbia River Gorge and visited a couple waterfalls: a 2-mile hike to see Latourell Falls and a shorter hike to see Bridal Veil Falls.
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Latourell Falls
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Bridal Veil Falls
On the way back to Portland, we stopped to photograph a beautiful view of the Gorge, below. The gas tank hovered around empty, but we made it to a gas station in Troutdale just in time. The station attendants pump the gas here, which never fails to surprise me.
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Columbia River Gorge
In the evening Mike, Ju, Simeon, and I went to the Oregon Brew Fest (it was opening night) in downtown Portland. Simeon danced to the music, we went for a stroll along the Willamette River, and I met one of Mike's friends from his previous job.
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Day 4: Putzing around on the Willamette River and a night in Portland

7/22/2014

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Simeon - he's a natural!
Bridget and I started the day with some english muffin/eggs/avocado/tomato sandwiches before heading out for an epic kayaking trip. We rented a stubby Otter recreational boat from Peak Sports in downtown Corvallis. The put-in was allegedly a block away, so Bridget carried the boat while I drove to meet her. 5 blocks later, I found her staggering along, half dragging the boat through the grass. I parked to help her carry it the next 4 blocks. We launched onto the Willamette River and soon realized that paddling upstream would not be the relaxing morning paddle we had envisioned. 

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Day 3: Corvallis Chillin'

7/21/2014

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We did not get enough sleep last night. Our late return from the Oregon Dunes and Bridget's marionberry smoothie adventure (at midnight) resulted in a very late bedtime. The homeowners' dog (she is house sitting), Maddy, finds it necessary to clippy-clop around the house every 20 minutes, shaking her cowbells in the process (she also looks like a cow). Hence the lack of sleep.

I accompanied Bridget in some morning errands:

  • Returning her high visibility PPE shirt and purchasing 4 rolls of duct tape at Wilco (I'm pretty sure the band is not named after this store)
  • Coffee break at The Beanery (a very Corvallis thing to do)
  • Stopping by her office at OSU to make/print some shipping labels, and meeting some of her (very important) friends in the process
  • Stopping by the shipyard (which I was disappointed to find does not have ships nor water) to package up some equipment for her upcoming research cruise to Romania (!). We asked her colleague whether we could borrow his SUP and received a confident "No" for an answer.


Read on...
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Maddy + Bridget

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Day 2: Southern Oregon Coast

7/20/2014

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Bridget walking through the dunes in Oregon Dunes State Park
Sunday morning started early: I woke up around 5:50am after a reasonably sound night of sleep (having your own tent is a glorious thing), packed up the tent, and shared a sad goodbye with groggy Alice. The Mendocino coast road was foggy at 6:20am...

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    Welcome!

    This is a blog about exploring the outdoors (mostly by kayak), traveling, trip planning, and coastal engineering. It currently focuses on kayaking in the Netherlands and Belgium, but previous posts cover Upstate New York, California, and much more. See the Complete List of Blog Posts for a history of the site. Looking for something specific? Search the site here.

    In addition to the blog, check out the Water Nerd section, where I write about coastal engineering and hydrology. 

    ​Happy Paddling!
    ​Nena

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