As you can see...

Over the past few months since bike racing season has ended, I've taken my spare time on the weekends to spend QT (quality time) in the great outdoors, camping, hiking, and hanging out with friends and maybe seeing a concert here or there. While I won't bore you with the snowy details of each trip, I thought I'd share some of my favorite photos from the end of summer and the beginning of fall.

Towards the end of July, Julie and our dogs hit the White Salmon River on a hot day.

some older ladies pass us and hike to Paradise on Mt. Hood one warm afternoon in August.

under the mossy pines... Mt. Hood

Clear Lake, OR camping trip with the gang

Labor Day beach holiday at Pacific City, surfing, camping, etc...

Lauren surveying the coast. Pacific City, OR

Same Labor Weekend, this time in Seattle at the Brandi Carlile Raise the Roof Benefit show. September

Brandi and myself and the poster I designed for the event. September

Amy and I unknowingly dressed as twins. Bend, OR. October

Hanging our by the campfire. Bend, OR October

Julie tearing down the hillside on an unexpected snowy day. Bend, OR October

like I said.... unexpected snow, while camping in early October.

Sam and Kim at Biketobeerfest, Portland. OR October

Sam scaling the hillside of Dog. Mt. WA, October

The Columbia Gorge from Dog Mt., WA October

Driving through the CA Redwoods. October

Sam discovers that surfing in Northern CA in the fall is damp.

Oregon Coast. October

Umpqua River, OR. October

Biking, downtown Portland. October

up in the Northwest we've got it good...

This afternoon, I'm going to take a few moments to recognize a very influential moment in my life... the early 90's. I speak of this because not only am I pumped about going to see Pearl Jam tomorrow night, but I've noticed a trend this year in the return of plaid (which in my book, never goes out of style), and I feel like adding Northern Exposure back to my netflix que. Maybe it's just me always having a little infatuation with the Pacific Northwest long before I knew that all these things were interconnected here.

I mean, when Pearl Jam first came on the scene in 1990, I was 10 and living in Ohio and still rocking out to Madonna (which I still do) but suddenly all these bands came out in the early 90's like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots and Smashing Pumpkins and I found myself in an alternative love. Add in flannel, plaid, boots, lumberjacks, pine trees, animals bigger than deer, kayking, biking, Ken Griffey Jr., Sleepless in Seattle, snow capped mountains and good coffee and good beer - long before I could appreciate it - it's really it's no surprise why I ended up where I did.

So, this is my tribute to the early 90's and the great land I love to call my current home... the Pacific Northwest, mecca.

Northern Exposure

A big part of my love affair with the PNW lies in the many seasons of Dr. Joel Flieschman and his adventures amongst the cute, weird, and lovable people of Cicely Alaska (the show was actually filmed in Roslyn Washington). Add in that the character of Maggie always reminded me of my friend Beth, I loved Chris in Morning at KBHR and that I loved the Red Hook neon beer sign that hung on the back wall at the Brick, I made a point to watch it whenever it came on TV.

Northern Exposure taught me lessons about relationships:

And lessons about randomness:

PEARL JAM

So, I've always got to give Pearl Jam kudos for being anti establishment and big company. While I kinda scratch my head as why the band that eschewed Ticketmaster would team up with Target for the promotion of their new album (read some of the hubub here)... I'll overlook that cause I like the new tune, the Fixer. For once, Pearl Jam has released something in the past ten years that reminds me of how much I loved rocking out to Ten.

So, I bring you this new tune that I love rocking out to, the Fixer:

And here is a classic older tune or theirs Alive. I really wanted to post the ground breaking video for Jeremy, but all those wouldn't allow you to embed them. So, you'll get this instead:

PLAID

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Delia's has a great selection of plaid shirts for women this fall, but I always got mine from LLBean:

BEER

And in case you were wondering, Red Hook Beer still uses this logo:

MOVIES

And yeah... after seeing Julie and Julia last weekend, it reminds me that no one can make a cute movie like Nora Ephron. Sleepless in Seattle was the first one of hers on my radar. She even spoke at a SCAD graduation one year that I was there.

Another great movie set in the PNW was Kindergarden Cop. Never again is someone going to say "It's NOT a TUMOR!" without an accent ever again.

BASEBALL

And even though I was a Ken Griffey fan from back in the day and was uber excited to see him get traded to the Reds (on February 10, 2000... no doubt, my birthday to be exact) Seattle is where he belongs and I'm so glad that he was able to go back and that I was able to go up to Seattle and catch him the other year with my good friend Tig while he was still playing with the Reds.

Brandi Carlile thinks you'd make a tasty snack.

I love love love Brandi Carlile and I am so so happy that this week she released her first single from her long awaited (at least by me and girls everywhere) new album, Give Up the Ghost, on October 6th. To coincide with the release of the single and appropriate buzz, these promotional photos from the new album hit the internet last week to many oohs and ahhhs across the globe. At first glance these photos are strikingly beautiful, with their velvety soft color and rich streams of daylight, but they are also bathed in a mysterious darkness. And it is upon studying this darkness which a reveals a bigger secret about Brandi and the boys.

Sure, the images look, clean, simple, dark and smoky... but I ask, if it's dark enough inside to where you need candles to see...... why don't you just open those heavy blinds all the way and let in the sunshine?

You would, that is... if you weren't vampires!

Yes folks, I think that Brandi and the amazingly talented Hanseroth brothers have become some of the living dead (not that there is anything wrong with that). It makes sense when you think about it: Brandi and the boys complexions are astoundingly clear, their skin is kinda pale and they're all ridiculously skinny (i think they're the vegan vampires). Their clothing choices hinge on the dark side (either they spill coffee on themselves as much as I do or it's pointless to stay up to date on the current color fashion trends when you've been around for 400 years - black, on the other hand, is always in fashion.) That random bandana on the arm? It covers teeth mark scars. Sure she could just wear a coat or long sleeves over it, but where is the symbolism in that? Also, because vampires don't sleep, they have plenty of time to learn new instruments, write a song a day and travel all over the world! And really, if you think about it, the song Dreams from the new album and Late Morning Lullaby from the last, carries all new meanings knowing that she doesn't really ever sleep.

As well, just like in Twilight, Brandi hails from the Pacific Northwest where daylight is limited and there is always a sense of morose and melancholy in the air. I mean, she may not be from Forks, but Ravensdale sounds pretty ominous too.

And when it comes down to it... Give Up the Ghost as a title is basically like saying... "aww... fuck it, let's just be vampires".

Brandi Carlile thinks you'd make a tasty snack.

Dreams: listen to it here or buy it on itunes!

Brandi Carlile - Dreams (Live in Portland) by musictoday