Steep Beach /  by Erik Sudheimer

We’ve been entertaining a fairly steady parade of visitors lately. Many have been coming armed with must-see lists and introducing us to yet unvisited parts of our adopted state.

While frolicking on the coast yesterday with Amy’s sister and brother-in-law we had a discussion about how in North America the Pacific Ocean is so much cooler that the Atlantic. Sorry east coast friends. It’s not the ocean’s fault, it’s the coast. Pretty yes, but lacking in drama.

RIP 23 /  by Erik Sudheimer

This project felt like a slog and an afterthought this year. Perhaps it’s my last second-a-day project … the last traditional one anyway. I’ve already started a more abstract visual project for 24. Let’s all continue bungling generally forward, shall we!?

Oregon City, Oregon /  by Erik Sudheimer

I took the day off Friday to ski but weirdly warm weather was making conditions questionable. I opted for a bike ride instead and decided to shoot some black and white photos along the way.

Sitting about 15 miles south of Portland, Oregon City is the historic end of the Oregon Trail and site of Willamette Falls the second largest waterfall in the United States by volume.

Only Niagara Falls is larger … by volume.

For millennia this was home and a fishing center for native peoples. When white settlers arrived they spread diseases and violently harassed the native population. The tribes were ultimately driven from their land to clear the way for the capitalist dream of filling the valley with abandoned factories.

Oregon Public Broadcasting did a excellent piece last summer on the history and the future of the falls.

The town is built into the steep cliffside and is also the home of the only outdoor municipal elevator in the country.

This is technically a city street. Elevator Street.

It was a meandering ride with many wrong turns, an occasional rocky vista and frequent stops for readling plaques.

Yup its 1933’s most beautiful bridge … Class C.

I made it home about a hour before dark despite some questionable routing suggestions by google.

Is AI already trying to kill me?

I’m stoked about a day spent wandering on a bike and I’m coming to terms with the fact that I’m a person who gets excited about outdoor municipal elevators. 😎

Mountain View II /  by Erik Sudheimer

In the real estate listing, the wide upstairs hallway in our house was described as “the den.” Although the space is used as little more than a passageway, we still snarkily refer to the space as … pause for dramatic effect … the den.

The den offers the only mountain view from our home, albeit an obscured one. The slope of our neighborhood and it’s large evergreens hide the more impressive mountains.

14,411 foot Mt. Rainier, despite being 100 miles distant, peeks out from the flanks of Mt. St. Helens as seen from … the den.

Weed Whipping in November /  by Erik Sudheimer

I’m sitting in in an airport in Omaha, Nebraska being inundated with light EDM and sunshine. Work has been a torrent of travel and unrestful hotel sleep. After this one I’m hoping to not be back on an airplane until at least the end of the year.

I thought I’d take a sec to get caught up, its been a minute and I’ve been called out so I know some of you actually read this.

My adult child Ian visited for his second time since we moved west. We outdoor adventured, including a walk high up on Mount Hood. His choice for footwear, the decidedly un-athletic Converse Chuck T’s, proved to not be the best decision. We chose to leave the trail and scramble to an impressive looking rock ledge five to six hundred feet above. The vantage point was stunning. We drank a beer, ate leftover pizza and watched a series of rock falls far above. They were terrifying despite their great distance. The sound was much delayed and was delivered in haunting swells of whurrs and rumbling.

While chatting we realized that I am exactly double his age and that that will never happen again. I also discovered that, despite that fact, I can still beat him in a two mile run by over a minute. Growing up is weird, I’m doing my damndest to avoid all that.

We also did a 3.5 kilometer hike/scramble through lava tubes on the flanks of Mount St Helens before spending an evening playing classic video games at neighborhood favorite Retro Game Bar.

Fall hits differently in the PNW. The shortening days still weigh on my mood but I don’t have the hibernation dread like I did in Minnesota. I’ll run in shorts all winter. I weed whipped our yard yesterday and winter is setting up above in the mountains for whenever I want to visit.

Tent Schment /  by Erik Sudheimer

Last weekend I biked up the Columbia Gorge and on into Gifford Pinchot National Forest to meet Amy and some friends for camping. I also learned the risks of storing your tent and sleeping bags in the same style stuff sack. When you get to camp you may end up with an extra sleeping bag and no tent.

It’s cool, we persevered.

160 to 7,000 in an Hour /  by Erik Sudheimer

Our transformation to become Oregonians is complete, at least according to the DMV.

The plates may say Pacific Wonderland but my lungs still say flatlander.

Our house sits at around 160 feet above sea level but in just over an hour we can be scrambling through stunning landscapes at 7000 feet.

I’m a pretty fit person but I’m learning that I’m “sea level fit.”

Is acclimatization to elevation our next hurdle to becoming Oregonian? With such amazing landscapes and easy access, I’m gonna work on it.

We're Unpaid Interns on Our Own Show /  by Erik Sudheimer

We’ve released the second of our east coast adventure episodes! Can I call it a diptych? IDK but I’m gonna.

After the elation of completing the edit wears off, I’m reminded that I still to make a thumbnail and it’s often hard to re-engage with any energy. That being said, I’m pretty happy with how these last two came out. Although it’s likely they aren’t much good for SEO and my designer and writer friends are hard rolling their eyes.

T’evs they make me smile.

Success.

Radio Silence /  by Erik Sudheimer

We’ve purchased a home! Here’s a flattering picture from when Amy carried me over the threshold.

It's all very exciting until we remembered that we have to move again.

On the Market /  by Erik Sudheimer

It’s been about a month since we sold our house in Minneapolis. The deal actually closed this time! I know that people successfully sell houses every day, we’ve just have a bad track record as of late. With that chapter closed we’re now on the buying side where the bidding wars and no inspection contingency offers are less of an exciting novelty.

Still we’re hoping to land a little mid century house as close in as we can afford, maybe in an area with bad schools or some other anomaly that keeps the price down enough so that some Midwestern transplants can afford it.

It’s competitive out there because of shockingly low inventory and plenty of buyers who don’t seem at all phased by interest rates and the over hyped “death of Portland” narrative. 

In other news episode 23 of Shorelunch, the fishing and outdoor cooking program I make with my pal Nate, hath been unleashed upon the world. 

This one features guest Mr. Yia Vang, (James Beard finalist, chef & owner Union Hmong Kitchen, host PBS’s Relish, host Outdoor Network’s Feral and overall very nice man).

T’was a fun shoot but a bit loose and off the cuff even by our lax standards. Give it a look and pass it on to one million of your friends, preferably those with deep pockets and media connections, I’m tryna buy a house over here.