Where has the summer gone?

I am not a good blogger.  Until now, I have lacked the dedication to blog consistently and my life has lacked the excitement that makes for interesting reading.  But that is all going to change...at least temporarily...for the next 5 minutes.  So get ready.

The more astute readers have already noted the title of this blog post.  Where has the summer gone?  I mean seriously.  We are deep into the dog days of summer and I feel like summer just started.  This is partly due to the fact that the summer here in PDX didn't start until July and partly due to the fact that today is the first time the mercury has reached triple digits.  Regardless of the the cause, i am not quite ready for fall, which will probably be in about a month.  So on this toasty hot day in august, I find myself hiding in air conditioned coffee shop reflecting back on the past couple months.

It has been an eventful summer filled with travel, exploring Portland, and a dash of home improvement (of course).

We took a trip to El Paso to see Tom Waits in concert.  This was a surreal experience.  Tom Waits is one of the most underrated musicians of our time.  Although he is adored by fans far and wide and is given kudos by musicians, music nerds, and music critics, he deserves to be a popular icon along with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, or Debbie Gibson.  I wait for the day when Tom Waits' picture will be on the front of a bubble gum card.  

On our way back to Albuquerque from El Paso, we stopped in White Sands National Monument.  Lots of sand and sun.  Notice how our Pacific Northwest tans are the same color as the white sand.

Our other trip of the summer was to Philly to see our friend, Mike Allen, get married.  I didn't bring my camera to Philly, so you will have to take my word for it.  Why would i lie about going to Philadelphia?  All Philly has is humidity, cheese steaks, and a whole lotta attitude.  

One thing we have not been able to do yet (and it looks highly unlikely that we will) is to go backpacking.  We have made 3 separate attempts to go backpacking, but were thwarted each time.  The first time was because our gear was covered in mildew after sitting in a damp corner of our basement since last fall.  We spent the weekend building shelves and de-mildewing most of the stuff stored in our basement.  We were so close on our second attempt.  I chose a remote trail up to a mountain lake high in the Cascades.  Unfortunately, the trail head was too remote and too high in the Cascades, because the forest road leading to the trail head was covered with 5 foot snow drifts...in the middle of July!  It was a very wet and cold winter/spring.  The third time was due to unexpected guests.  

One of the highlights of the summer was when my brother and sister in law came to town (last weekend.  I will post about this separately because there are lots of pictures.  stay tuned!