Late Summer Banks-Vernonia MTB Ride

For pictures, see the May 27, 2010 post (we forgot to take the camera this time...sorry)

On Saturday morning we took out the mountain bikes and dusted them off for a day on the Banks-Vernonia trail. This time, we parked in the town of Banks and rode from the southern terminus of the trail. It was a cool, partly cloudy morning (9:45) and I wore a long underwear capilene shirt under my jersey. It really never warmed up enough to shed a layer. There was a remarkable amount of bicycle traffic from a local metric century ride ("beaverton, banks, and beyond") but we rode along at a nice, steady clip and ended up passing most of the participants. When the pavement gave way to dirt, the others must have taken a different route so we had the woods to ourselves for a while. It's much more pleasant to ride on fat tires along that stretch!

In Vernonia we hit the local market and got some soda, chips, and fruit leather to go with the peanut butter and honey sandwiches and apple I'd packed. There was a horse event at the arena next to our picnic site, so we watched barrel racers zip around as we munched. After lunch, I had to put on my raincoat for an extra layer (Cold!). The ride back seemed shorter, and we ended up back at the truck by 2:45.

HemeOnc

Pronounced hee-monk. This past Monday we started our first module of the fall semester. HemeOnc is a hematology/oncology module.

picture of red blood cells in all their glory

I have to say, I love blood. Not in a vampire sort of way, but in a revering way. Speaking of vampire, there was a 98 year old patient that I saw multiple times at the hospital who always accused me of selling her blood. I of course politely said: "no ma'am, I am merely going to send your blood down to the lab". Besides, she was really sick and I'm pretty sure no one would want her blood - that of course, I kept to myself.

Anyway, back to school...we are learning about the physiology of blood and all of it's constituents, disorders, treatments, and pharmacology. This module also includes an oncology primer - so that when we learn about cancers that pertain to the system that we are studying we will at least have a vague idea of what our professors are talking about. Cool stuff.

Pelagic Trip and Loch Ness Monster Revealed!

We experienced our first and last pelagic trip off of the Oregon coast on August 14th. It was an 11 hour ordeal with no visible horizon and both Kadie and I spent entirely too much time with our heads overboard. We mainly wanted to see albatross, which we saw plenty of once we were 35 miles off the coast. Here are a few pics:

Black footed albatrossi coming close to the boat

On our way back to shore I noticed something in the water that reminded me of the Loch Ness Moster:

undated Nessie photo

After a while I realized that I was looking at a partially submerged Cormorant:

definite likeness to Nessie, just sayin'....

More from the break

Mary came to visit from Bozeman, and we all piled into the Kia for a coastal camping extravaganza!

Which way...?

Chili guarding the tent while we snooze.

Wine tasting for breakfast? Yah!

Break! A week of fun.

After the white coat ceremony Andrea had 10 days off before the start of fall semester. We tried to cram in as much fun as possible!

On Friday (Aug. 13) we put together a picnic and took the family/"out-laws" to see some of Portland's sights: the Rose Garden, and Pittock Mansion.

Rose garden fountain

Kaaren with roses

Mt. Hood is in the background. Flowers at Pittock Mansion.

Pacific University White Coat Ceremony Aug. 12, 2010

It has been a busy week! Here are some pictures from the white coat ceremony:

Andrea with her mother, Kaaren

Andrea with her father, Bruce

Andrea receiving her white coat

Won and Andrea, looking professional

Day at the Beach

Saturday, August 7

Escape to the beach! We met up with some of Andrea's classmates at Cape Lookout for a 4.5 mi hike into the clouds: you could tell there was an ocean down there somewhere, but it was hidden in layers of fog. At the viewpoint, the mist was so thick you could see waves of it moving upslope in the wind. The dogs had lots of fun getting muddy and drinking from the stagnant puddles along the way.

After that, we went to Pacific City for some happy hour micro-brew (Tsunami Stout: woot!) and chowder. Then a nice cool down stroll with pooches along the beach. As we made our way to the cars a fine drizzle began...

Chili and Riley: "We love being in the back of a Subaru!"

Mist clearing just long enough to see the ocean.

Cloud forest with gnarled Sitka Spruce.

From left: Jesse, Brandon, Andrea, Amanda

With Riley, Zeus, and Chi

at Pacific City, OR