Pacific City Summer 2016
It seems like every time we head to Pacific City for a long weekend, we have a very very memorable weekend. We were here November 2014 for Colleens birthday which was amazing, offshore wind, cold, crisp and beautiful.
This time in mid summer, with it being Mareikes birthday, we wanted to celebrate with some sun, down by the beach, and so we all packed up a surprise crew and headed out. When we moved to the states, I remember worrying a bit about leaving behind the crew in Europe, and wondering whether we'd have such a good set up as we had in Austria and France, but weekends like this, really affirmed what an amazing bunch of people we get to hang out with here and how lucky we are to have met such a good crew.We got ourselves a proper little set up down there.
Hey guys...
I love staying at this house, as its literally on the sand, and 5 minute walk to the surf.
Its a great spot, as you can watch the world go by, cook up some real breakfast, hold babies, drink wine all day long, or of course play game of life. Caila was the boss of that.
Ami being a father himself, trying to get Lenny on his feet
Bryan trying to get Lenny into that USA kind of life. Dad was running after him with a welsh shirt, and mum with a german one.
As I say... on the beach, one half of the keating boys, the sir Cole himself.
and the real king of the boys, William.
Ah... surfing in the North West. Thick wetsuits, tired arms, and it takes seemingly 20 minutes to even pull it off. Amelie just going straight at it.
We were lucky enough to be joined by so many good people including the one and only Spencer O'Brien. The girls had a pretty sweet set up through the weekend with a seemingly bottomless bottle of rose on the go. It was so good to get so many amazing people together for Mareikes birthday. I think as I get older I realize that experiences far outweigh gifts for birthdays, especially if you have a great bunch of people to share it with.
Of course the cutest couple in the PNW were there, Caley and Bryan. Its pretty inspiring seeing these two conquer the world in their own ways traveling the world, exploring, and loving every minute of it.
Lenny was there giving them both morale support pre surf
But basically couldn't wait for them to go surfing so he could take over the truck.
Meanwhile Bryan was just getting as frothy as possible out there.
Curtis Ciszek was out there putting on a demo on the sunday in one of the best days out there in a while.
On the back of giving me a lesson on the wave in Bend, he headed to the beach so we could go at it in a heat with the other 156 people in the line up.
Ami was the first person I surfed with out here. I remember driving out and thinking how wild it was and honestly doubting whether I'd come back. Who knew I'd get addicted to it.
Its funny because honestly this picture here describes everything I like. Two of the best blokes ever, hacking into some bread and cheese on camp chairs. No fancy restaurant, no expensive bill, but probably more laughs than you'd get anywhere else.
Surfing in the PNW has its many challenges but many of those are matched by the vehicles being driven. Wallis has himself such a good set up with a pop up on the back of his truck with a full queen bed and space for Janet to run the ship back here.
Like I say there are a bunch of reasons to not go surfing here. Its cold, its windy, its murky and you see all kinds of wildlife. But for each one of those there are 10 more reasons to go. Sometimes having adversity I think makes people more hyped on something. If I think back to snowboarding and coming from the UK, some of the best riders I know didn't ride snow till they were 18 and just rode dry slope. Its pretty amazing what determination can do for you.
You get rewards like this which not many people ever seem to see.
Every man and his dog were there. Well obviously not, just 1 great man in Wallis and Janet dog.And the ladies Caila, Caley and birthday girl Mareike, capturing the sunset dream.
As I wrote earlier, having a great bunch of people to hang out with means the world to us, and to be able to head to the beach, the mountains, to play football, whatever else on the weekend, is one of the best things ever. I know since we came here last time with Colleen and the rest of the gang we have been talking about it ever since. I kinda get the feeling that we'll be talking about this weekend for the next few years.