Text will come soon, for now enjoy this shot of Nathan riding the bull! [View Full Entry]

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Hey guys, Yesterday I was on the river with the owner of the company's daughter, brie, and her boyfriend, matt, and went for a float which had a rather rude interruption - a BLOODY CROCODILE ATTACKED ME. Probably the scariest and most shocking 45 seconds of my life. The croc was trying to pull me under and had a grip like a bloody vice on my hip and chest. Fortunately, the combined padding and buoyancy of my PFD and thick neoprene wet suit was enough to keep me mostly protected from the crocs teeth and above surface long enough for brie [View Full Entry]

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My first weekend of guide training was on the Skagit river, nestled into the western edge of the North Cascades an hour or so north of Seattle. As I had very nothing of import to do once my friends left Seattle, I showed up at the Blue Sky River House Bed and Breakfast around 1pm on the eve of our training. What I found was...nobody home, and nobody around. So I decided to drive further east and check out some campsites I had read about online that were free. Along the way I ended up doing a little hike to view [View Full Entry]

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Woke up this morning bright and early to a window filled with sunshine and Wedge mountain. I grabbed a hot shower and took my laundry out of the drier and folded it up and put it all back in its proper place in z suitcase. Then, before i knew it, twas time to head out the door and make my 9 am appointment in Wenatchee to get qualified for general labor temp work through an employment agency. After spending two hours knocking out qualification test (which had about 20 questions about my drug use, 20 about my drinking, and 20 about [View Full Entry]

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While not quite the moon, or Alaska even, the city of Leavenworth will be my home for the next month! I found a grad student / accountant on craigslist who had an extra room to rent pretty cheap, and also just a few hundred yards from where my guide training company, Blue Sky Outiftters, puts there boats in the water for the rest of my guide training. Also, the view from my room is an absolutely breath taking view of Wedge Mountain. This crappy picture does it no justice, but there ye go. Unlike western Washington such as Seattle that sits [View Full Entry]

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So, woke in the morning about 7 am - and headed for Pike Market in downtown Seattle for a Piroshky at the Piroshky Bakery - look it up on google if you are ever in seattle - great spot. I got a Bavarian Sausage Piroshky, Mark got a potato and cheese, and we tore em n half and devoured. Then, we walked through the rest of pike market, and saw plenty of ENORMOUS shrimp, GARGANTUAN crab legs, COLOSSAL donuts, and...itsy bitsy tiny donuts too. Spread this in with fresh flowers and chocolates and such and you start to get a feel [View Full Entry]

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After completing my Swiftwater Rescue Technician course on Sunday, I called up my friend Mark who had flown out to Seattle for his spring break the day before and was staying with our high school and college classmate Anchi. When I asked for directions, I was told... drive towards the Space Needle, we'll meet you there - and thus, I began my my first entry of Seattle headed straight for the iconic Seattle Space Needle. Soon we had rendezvoused and were headed back to Anchi's very nice flat with a spectacular view of both the Space Needle and the Puget Sound. [View Full Entry]

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As I've journeyed across America some 4500 miles in the last two weeks I've had a lot of plans. However, with no one to be accountable to other than myself on most days, they have been quite easy to change! One such alteration which I'm quite happy about was my decision to push through the night to my cousin Jessica's house near San Francisco in order to join her husband Greg and my cousin Michael on a hike up Mt. Diablo early the next morning. When we arrived at Mt. Diablo State Park, it quickly became apparent that none of us [View Full Entry]

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Woot - just completed my swiftwater technician training - more on what all that entailed when I find time to stop and breathe in front of my computer one of these days. For now, this will just be a placeholder entry as it is time for me to hit the road and go check out Seattle! [View Full Entry]

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After a warm blueberry croissant at the French Bakery with Ross, I ventured forth back onto I-5 for a short jaunt before jumping on the Silver Falls Tour Route. As I arrived at the Silver Creek State Park, I stopped at the scenic outlook to do some picture transfers and back ups to insure I could keep all my photographic memories. While I was there, some twenty minutes, only two cars went by - and I was still on the State Highway 214 at this point -- not much going on in the area I supposed. Turns out I was right; [View Full Entry]

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