Top Five on My List

Stacey and her best friend Kate.
This is how it looks all over.
Our boat crew minus me.
Camp site.
Not the average house boat.

Rainbow Arch, biggest in the world.
4,600 ft to the Colorado River at the Grand Canyon.
The water used to be so much higher at Lake Powell that you could drive a boat under this. Now it is a 1 mile hike.
200 hundred foot cliff with 300 feet of water below us.

Lake Powell is one of the top five places I have ever visited. We stayed on a 60ft. house boat with granite counter tops, cruised the lake in a 1000 horse power boat at 80 mph, and did not pay a dime for the $500 in gas each day. It was basicaly a free trip due to the wealth of a cool guy named Arron. The lake is just amazing and the vibe was perfect. Lots of good food and beer made things even better. It was about 105 everyday but that wasn't too bad because you just jump off the top of the house boat. We drove the boat about 5 hours each day and we didn't see even half of the lake. It is 190 miles long but also has hundreds of canyons filled with water along the main channel. The world's largest natural arch is there and the Grand Canyon was only 1.5 hours away. I can only hope to do it again in the same fashion.

Good Day

Isabell Lake
Glacier water.
Life is good when you get to look at such beauty.

Alpine flowers just feet from the snow in July. So amazing.

This was the view of the start of the hike. Our goal the snow.

This little creek runs from above treeline to the Gulf of Mexico.
This spot was much better in person.
Check out he layers of snow behind us. This was one of the better hikes I have done. It wasn't to hard but around 10,000ft it is hard to breath and recover quickly. It was 100 degrees in Denver yesterday but about 80 here. This is what life in Colorado is all about. There was a dude walking back that had his skis with him. Shredding the snow in July.

Not Scared to Jump

Stacey took me skydiving 2 years ago for my bithday. Here we are in our suits at the hanger.
This is how Stacey looked the whole time. So excited.
We didn't get to bring the camera up in the plane. This is the last picture before we jumped. There were a few people who chickend out before us. I was not scared at all though. It was out of my control, so I was just a passenger along to enjoy the ride. It was fast, intense, and memorable.
Random shot of Stacey at Beaver Creek.
This is up Lookout Mountain in Golden with my woman. This Spring was so green and wet but beautiful. I rode my road bike up this hill yesterday just so I could go back down. You start down by the houses and climb about 2,000 feet to the top. I think I hit about 40mph on the way down. Shred.

Hiking

Stacey's dad was in town last weekend and we decided to go to some places we had never been. Here is Roxborough State Park, which is the same rock layers as Red Rocks but further south.
Rocky Mountain National Park has more amazing things to see than I have time for. Nice 3 mile hike to some flowing water and a helping hand for my lady.
Water is the best thing to happen to Planet Earth. Respect your supply.

My Beautiful Home

Dan was tabling this hip from a hard direction. This is a good place.
Beaver Creek, CO. A fresh pow day.
Stacey and I at home.
Dan at the best hip. A day to remember and forget.

Rain means nice green hills just down the road.
Red Rocks is so sick. Uplift the Earth with tectonic forces and you get this.
Spanish Peaks down in southern Colorado. This was the view from an oil rig.
Dan took this picture at the best hip in Denver. Full speed hit that lip and you smile. Later I tore my pcl. Oh, just got my brace and will be riding soon. Crazy blue sky from Golden, CO. It is sunny 300 days a year in Colorado.

Getting Married

It sounds wild saying those words. Guys just don't think about getting married like girls do. But here I am and I am stoked. It was destiny. We meet in the Virgin Islands and bam, 2.5 years later I am walking down the Newport Beach, California getting ready to ask my girl to marry me. She knows its coming sometime but not this minute. We had been riding bikes to the beach all weekend so the day was no different than the others. I said we should set up a timed photo. I was way nervous, I had been thinking about it all week. I had the ring hidden in my camera bag and thought of doing the timed photo thing so I could get to the ring box without her seeing. I dug in my bag grabbed my camera and the ringbox. The box goes in my pocket and I set the camera up on my backpack for the 10 second delay. She yelling to me that we need to get the sail boat in the picture, but I am waiting because there are some people who are getting in my shot. Time is moving slowy. Then its time. The button is pressed and I run to my girl. She is shooked and says yes. Here is the moment:

Cali

I asked Stacey to marry me this past weekend. It went perfect.

Robbie's backyard is a tropical oasis. He did some serious work.

Robbie got married at the nicest wedding I have ever seen. We ruled the road together at one time.

Three legged dogs can run fast. Robbie's Dog Jasper is cool. The white bike was rode in the wedding by Robbie and Michelle.

Not healed but not done

Soil Tac is now on the jumps. They will be bullet proof from kids climbing on them. Yes!

Dr. Seeman has given me good news. He has concluded that my pcl is a second degree tear which means that it is somewhat intact. Surgery will not be of much benefit to stablizing my knee. I will have to compensate for the tear by strengthening my quadricep and wearing a knee brace. I am thinking I will be back on my bike in a few weeks. I plan on riding my purple and white road bike a lot and hiking as much as possible. This new has cheered me up just like the 40 trees we planted at the V. Clay bought a bunch of cottonwood hybrids that grow 6 to 8 feet per year. I dug a few trees out of the gully and placed them in strategic points too. If you join the Arbor Day foundation you get 10 trees for $10. The world would be a better place if everyone planted 10.

Broken parts

I have a third degree tear of my pcl. It is basically completely torn. Monday I find out if I need surgery. My body has had many broken parts over the years. This injury is bumming me out more than most of them. The knee is just so crucial to enjoying life. I torn my other pcl in 1999 and haven't had any issues with it. I guess the thought of surgery scares me. I am also scared of this being the injury that takes me out. I have come back from some bad shit but a knee can take you out, off your bmx forever.

Sun down

This is the best sunset I have ever seen or captured. Ontario, Canada near Montreal is a beautiful area. I was there on a feild trip with my Petrology class and we stayed on this lake. The most important thing I learned on that trip was that I need to go back there and see more of that area.
2nd best sunsets in the world (National Geographic) happen in Erie, PA. This one was nice. I guess Japan and China produce more pollution so they get the best.
I was driving to a Montana oil rig when the sun pinked the clouds. It turned out nice and artistic. I think I was just exiting the Black Hills in South Dakota. There is not much around this North Dakota oil rig. It is so amazing how spaced out everything is except the corn. I drove 14 hours to the site, slept in the truck for two nights while working for 2 hours every 8 or 10 hours, and then drove back home to work again. So this sunset was the only good thing to happen on that trip.

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Random

Random pictures are nice to look at. Sometimes it is relaxing and inspiring to go through your photo books to see all those things you have forgoten for the moment. I wish I would have bought my camera many years earlier because there are so many things I did not capture. I guess I still don't capture enough even with multiple cameras. When the days of looking young, jumping bikes, hiking canyons, and trying new sports is over, you may only have a picture to make you feel that feeling once more.

Costa Rica beach sunset

Ed's Uncle Cliff going out to break his board

Perfect timing at 248 with all the homies

4th of July 2006 Black Canyon of the Gunnison 1500 feet down a sweet canyon

Colorado's biggest dammed lake 1500 feet above the canyon

Ted looking drunk, smoked and funny

Got a new job. Fuck cutting rocks.

Blew out my knee. I think the pcl is torn but an MRI will reveal the truth Monday.