Okay, I gotta admit... It's been going pretty slow lately. I've been lazy about putting up photos and reporting stuff. There was an aborted trip up the north face of Mt. Hood a few weeks ago... No summit, but a beatiful day, fun ice climbing, etc. Then there was also a hiking trip to the Jefferson wilderness, which, well, I guess Mel had a pretty good time, but the postholing sorta got on my nerves. I guess the biggest deal is that both Mel and I finally finished our "outdoor emergency care" class, which marks the end of 2 and a half months of driving to Eugene 4 days a week and learning about the infinite ways people can hurt themselves out there. That is thankfully freeing up both time and brain cells (the latter of which were promptly destroyed the next night). Anyway, in a couple of hours we are off to California for the holiday... Ideally the 18 hours of driving between here and Joshua Tree will help me decompress a bit. Hopefully there will be a few nice stories to tell when we get back. Happy thanksgiving to anyone who reads this!

Nate