ETC on the road: Multnomah Falls Oregon. It's right along the highway, heading East along the Columbia River. We decided to hike to the top - it was pretty steep but didn't take long at all. Tons of water (duh), great viewpoints, kinda crowded at the bottom but not at the top (I think the straight-up hike had something to do with it).
   ~Paul   ETC
P.S. Check out a quick video from the top!

   In our last post I kayaked from Carkeek Park in North Seattle to Richmond Beach in Shoreline.  I actually went back to Richmond Beach the next day - it's great - and captured a few more pics and some video. Enjoy!
   ~Paul   ETC 
P.S. I don't kiteboard...yet...

   Let the summer adventures begin! First trip: Carkeek Park in North Seattle to Richmond Beach in Shoreline. The trip took about 2 hours (one-way) in my inflatable kayak (leisurely...very leisurely). It was pretty still on the water (at the beginning at least) and high/slack tide when I left. I saw a small pod of harbor porpoises and a few trains (the train tracks run along the shore).
   Richmond Beach is the next beach from Carkeek heading North. You'll know you're close when you notice some old pier pilings South of the park, out in the water, these are from the early 20th century! Workers once tied barges up to these pilings to haul sand a gravel from Richmond Beach. Some of the early buildings in Seattle are made of concrete made from this very sand and gravel (I read all of that on a sign at the park).

   You'll know you're back at Carkeek when you see the railroad pedestrian overpass.  It was a pretty easy paddle, if you go just check the tides and wind. I wore my new drysuit - you won't last long if you fall in and can't get back in your boat. I actually went back to Carkeek later that night and got the pics below...purdy.
   ~Paul   ETC 

   I recently took a little paddle off the back of our new (new to us) sailboat, Kingsley. It was calm in the marina so I thought I'd go exploring.

There's Kingsley.

Above: walkways from the parking-lot to the floating docks. These make up the Shilshole Marina (each dock has a different letter).

Racers coming in from weeknight racing.

The end of the break-wall...

   ~Paul   ETC

   Hundreds of these guys have been hanging out under Kingsley while I've been cleaning her lately...
   ~Paul   ETC

   Just in case you haven't noticed the new 'S/V Kingsley' tab at the top of the page, well, ETC moved on to a sailboat. She is almost ship-shape, ready to head out on the water. Even before we bought her I had already thought about how great it would be to kayak off of my own sailboat. So there I went...it was sweet.

~Paul   ETC

   So, I guess summer is just around the corner...I say that as I crank up my little space heater and look out the window and see low, dark clouds. But every once in awhile the weather perks up - here are a few pics from one of those days at Golden Gardens (Seattle, WA).
     ~Paul  ETC