Upcoming overseas travels.. And more!

Photo: Goofing around on my birthday Mount Shasta climb last month-- Story and photos from our climb, and other recent outdoor expeditions, are coming soon!

Mushroom Rock, 12,800 feet

A photo posted by Garth Hamilton (@garth_hamilton) on Aug 31, 2015 at 12:31pm PDT

Baby Levi's U.S. passport should arrive any week now.  Now that the spring/summer hiking and climbing season is slowing down, it's time once again to get the Hamiltons out and about.  And of course, that includes our occasional quick trips overseas!

Studying for my "Big Church" sermons has kept me too occupied to update this blog recently (or participate in the annual Triple D hiking event with NW Wilderness last weekend!).  I'll be back after my preaching to blog about some about some of the recent outdoor events that I've lead.


But for now... not in any chronological order, here are just a few upcoming trips on the horizon for us in early fall:

1. Destination unknown: Europe, South America, or Asia

Lena's very first overseas trip, to Spain

Whenever Levi's passport gets here, his first international journey will be ready for him.  And lil' Lena is way past due for her next overseas jaunt.  Her 4th birthday is next week!

2.  Waterfall rappelling, Take 2  (Undisclosed location)

In search of waterfalls to #rappel down off of, with the Mountain Hamster for my birthday yesterday... Mount Shasta climb is tomorrow!

A photo posted by Garth Hamilton (@garth_hamilton) on Aug 13, 2015 at 8:35pm PDT

Both caution and a tight timeline got the best of Katya and me when we trekked out and geared up for this last month.  Once again, we'll need to commit to the entire canyoneering route after rappelling the first of the waterfalls... With no escape options until we complete the circuit, the first rappel will mark a point of no return.

If I can finish enough of my sermon prep this week, we may head out into the wilderness again on Friday for a second shot at this canyoneering thrill ride.  Rope and harnesses ready!

3.  Australia

Several years have passed since we last went Down Under for hiking, caving, and surfing.  And it just so happens that my parents will soon be exploring Australia for a few weeks.  Hmm, I wonder if I'll run into them?

4.  Banks Lake, WA- camping/boating

Was there any doubt we'd be making an appearance at our family's annual Banks Lake camping trip this month?  Wakeboarding, waterskiing, and tubing are much more enjoyable in those warmer waters.

5.  Salt Lake City- Delta Airline's Velvet 360 event

It was an honor to be asked to represent PDX at Delta's upcoming two-day event in Utah.  According to previous Velvet 360 guests, it looks to be quite a unique opportunity.

6.  Italy-France-- Mont Blanc climb

My recent daytrip to Italy was only long enough to visit a couple of friends.  I'm hoping to string together a few days soon for another, more extended weekend.  But like fall, Mont Blanc's weather conditions are a wild card so late in the climbing season.

If not a climb, then we'll just throw one of our usual Italian get-togethers.  This overseas trip will be another quickie, but those are always worth it!

7.  Middle Sister climb [New! Added 9-15]

Some of our mountaineering crew from last month's Mount Shasta climb are headed south again, this time to the relatively local Central Oregon.  The date is set.  We're still working out the details, but it's looking like a drive-camp-climb-summit-descent... all squeezed into two days.  Only Sam.

Run - Hike - Climb

Back in my giant beard days (last month, that is): Taking Lena and our newborn Levi on the first hike of his life; More on that in the coming weeks!

The post below is yet another share from my other blog, originally drafted as a response to the U.S.A. athletes competing at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

But no more stalling, and no more slacking...  An original "Garth's Blog" post is finally coming here on Wednesday: A play-by-play of baby Levi's birth!

Barely 30 total miles in January. Pathetic. Recording my hiking and running miles via my preferred GPS sports tracker app last month was quite an eye opener for me. Seems I cover a fraction of the miles that I used to.

Granted, January was anything but typical. A typical month would have fewer missed hiking opportunities due to wimping out in the face of nasty weather. And then there was the minor, itsy bitsy issue of taking a couple weeks off to have a baby boy.

But it's clear that I'll need to step up my game if I'm gonna train this year, as planned, to:

• climb a couple of the Pacific Northwest's highest peaks
• run that marathon relay race with our team in Cincinnati (and maybe a mud run or two?)
• get back in shape for my TV commercial/photo shoots
• carry Lena and Levi on some backpacking trips, and do more hikes with our students
• outperform and outlast my former self on the wake board, surfboard, snow skis, bicycle, kayak, and whatever else I can find the time to ride

So much training to do, so few calories to work with. At least, after my raging metabolism has its way with those calories.  Plus, there's always the matter of hitting the free weights harder to add a bit more meat to this embarrassingly lean body frame.





But all of this is secondary to what is really important-- prioritizing time with my family, as well serving the needs of the wonderful people whom God has placed in our church and my life. I could definitely stand to spend more time training for both. Couldn't we all?


24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Surfin', pumpkin patchin', and dairy farmin'

Lena feels right at home on Daddy's surfboard

Note: Baby Levi is now 5 days old!  The three-part entry below was scheduled to auto-post last Monday, the day before a very pregnant Kathy's water broke (!) on Tuesday morning. For some reason, it never posted. And shortly after checking into St. Vincent's maternity ward with Kathy, I stopped blogging and checking Facebook/ emails completely to make time for family and baby bonding. The only cheating during my digital blackout:

1. Giving Kathy permission to hack my Facebook on Wednesday for a few minutes to post a status update (as me) about baby Levi's birth
2. Tweeting
3. Posting a short birth announcement on Garth's Blog for our son Levi James Hamilton (link here)

Now that Kathy, Lena, and I are settling into life at home with our 5 day old newborn, I'll be blogging more about Baby Levi this week!


From last Monday: 
To quote one of my blog posts from September 2011 (link), our baby's due date is... yesterday? Our yet-to-be-named baby boy was actually due three days ago, on Friday. Kathy, Lena, and I can barely contain our excitement as we wait for our baby boy's arrival. We'll let the readers know when the Big Moment gets here.

In the meantime, here's a triple snack pack of bite-sized blog posts (including one written by Kathy!) based on some 2013 Hamilton outings with Lena: Two more surfing trips, a romp in a pumpkin patch, and a hands on tour of Alpenrose Dairy's Storybook Lane. First up...

 Part 1: Surfin'

After years of wasting money on surfboard rentals in Australia, Hawaii, and here in Oregon (link), I won Kathy over with the idea of buying my own board.

A lady near our neighborhood who was going through some heartbreakingly rough times offered me a screamin' deal on her husband's handmade Al Merrick. The board's length was longer than ideal, but for the price I just couldn't walk away.

Picking up my new toy with my other favorite toy, the Jeep Wrangler

Earlier last summer, our previous 2013 surfing trips were capped off with a final blue epoxy/ fiberglass rental at Aussie's Surf Shop in Newport.


Kathy's Facebook friends may recognize 2-3 of the pics below from our Newport surfing trip over the summer:

A quick stop at L.A. Fitness on the way to the Oregon Coast

Lena sharpens her new walking skills at the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse

More surfing at the disappointingly calm Agate Beach

White water rafting, wakeboarding, camping, and overseas trips in Fall 2013 prevented me from hopping onto my new (new to me, anyways) surfboard until October.  The wait seemed unbearable.

My Al Merrick surfboard finally had it's "maiden" ride in Seaside. The bar of Sex Wax was accidentally left at home, so the new board got a little slippery out on the waves. But there was no buyer's remorse in sight.

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Part 2: Pumpkin Patchin'

It's a given in our circle of friends that parents will probably take their kids to at least one pumpkin patch each fall. Lena's first pumpkin patchin' experience was at Bauman Farms in Gervais, Oregon back in 2012.

In October 2013, we hit up the less impressive (by Kathy's standards) Walk on the Wild Side farm in Canby. The family-run farm did have a few pumpkins laying around, but "pumpkin patch" is a bit of a misnomer. More noteworthy attractions were the hay bale maze, petting zoo, train/tractor ride, and bouncy houses for the kiddos.

Somehow, the Walk on the Wild Side farm ALSO had a cage with exotic animals.

Lions? Random, but very cool.

For a more traditional pumpkin patch experience in 2013, Kathy preferred this farm near Smith Rock, Oregon:

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Part 3: Dairy Farmin'

Note: Kathy wrote this final section and also pitched in the pics.  Like the first two parts, "Surfin'" and "Pumpkin Patchin,'" Part 3 was originally intended to be a standalone blog post.

Thanks, Kathy!

Ever since Lena’s first Christmas, we have been looking for inexpensive activities that will become tradition.  We all have our Christmas traditions that we fondly remember and we want the same for Lena and her soon-to-be-born brother.  One such tradition we found is Christmas in Dairyville and Storybook Lane at Alpenrose Dairy in SW Portland.  The best part is that it’s FREE!!

On the walk into Dairyville there are lights wrapped around the trees and Christmas music playing.  The old-time store fronts with their wooden walk-ways are decked out in Christmas.  There is an old-fashioned school and bank you can walk into and on cold days there’s a place to buy warm drinks.  We stumbled upon a duck pond and saw a few horses.

A highlight for Lena was watching the oversized model train (aka: choo-choo) track and village.

Storybook Lane is a walk-through story time.  The display for Mary Had a Little Lamb had lambs, 3 piglets for The Three Pigs…you get the point.  We have been very impressed with Alpenrose and the family-friendliness of it all.

Lena tries to make eye contact with a lighted deer.

Banks Lake heats up!

...Continuing our story from the previous post, Banks Lake camping, Take 31:

Ok, so this post is a day late.  I take the blame, but y’all should see the crazy hours I’ve been working at Delta and on-set at my shoots!

Daddy hangs on for dear life.  Believe it or not: Unlike my crash pic at the top of Part 1, this was NOT a wipeout!  I actually landed this one.  But just wait… more of our spectacular near-wipeout photos are included below!

Last month's 31^st annual Banks Lake camping and boating trip was off to a good start.  Click here for the link to Part 1.  The September weather may not have been the warmest we’ve had at Banks Lake, but things heated up on the second day.

Uncle Mike and Aunt Summer (a.k.a. Country Mike and Aunt Tum Tum) Sorensen drove all day to join us at Banks Lake that afternoon.  The Sorensen love birds took up residence in the RV with my parents, while us three Junior Hamiltons Garth, Kathy, and Lena moved out to our tent site.

They call it car camping for a reason.  Our tent site was just a few feet away from our parking spot.

As mentioned in the previous post, that morning’s wakeboarding and tubing were only a warmup.

Lena puts the boat out into Banks Lake



"Grandpa Bo, can you untie the boat and push us off from the dock?"

Garth and Mike test out the water

And the water sports continue with Summer, Mike, and Garth!

Credit: The two photos above are from my parents’ camera

Above: Nope, STILL not wipeouts!  Every run inevitably ended with me slamming into the drink, but the top photo and two pics included here were my survivable ones.  With the exception of my tubing crash picture from the previous post, most of my actual wipeout pics were nothing but blurry white water and fury.

The Birthday Party

The fam threw a belated birthday party for me in the RV that night.  It was much more than I deserved.  Chili dogs were served before I was serenaded and loaded up with birthday presents.

Birthday presents: Lena used her gift unwrapping skills to bail Daddy out.  How else would those new theology books, Lord of the Rings Blu-Ray set, and Americana music CDs be unveiled?

The after party: Hooligans at Couleegan’s!

Credit: Above photo from Summer’s Facebook page

Continuing tradition, we kids headed to “downtown” Coulee City (with some of the most ironic air quotes ever used) for the after party.  Couleegan’s boasts the hottest (read: only) live music and dancing for miles and miles away.

Considering Coulee’s remote location in eastern Washington, Couleegan’s is actually a surprisingly fun and lively place to rock on a Saturday night!

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Choppy water on the lake limited our boating activities the next morning.  Staying upright on the wakeboard required superhuman endurance, and tubing was a blast but downright painful.

No matter.  Banks Lake had beckoned us back for a 31^st year, and we answered the call.  Let’s bring back the smoother water and hotter weather next year!

The Hamilton and Sorensen family squint into the sun and say our goodbyes at Banks Lake.

See you next summer at Banks for Year #32!

Coming soon on Garth’s Blog…

Lena finally becomes a world traveler!

Banks Lake camping, Take 31

Wipeout!  Daddy flips out whenever Grandpa Bo insists on driving the boat.

Upholding 31 years of family tradition, the Hamiltons made our annual trek to Banks Lake (link) last month.

The only problem to solve:  Which wheels could get us to eastern Washington?  Lena is still banned from riding in the Jeep Wrangler when the soft top is down, per Mommy.  And the Camry has seen better days.  On our way out of town, we gave in and rented a car at the airport.

Swapping cars at the PDX airport cell waiting area

Road trip:  Future world backpacker Lena takes a hiking break along the Columbia River Gorge

Dusk beat us to Coulee City.  My parents stayed awake long enough to make sure that we made it to the campground safely.  They were both excited to see Lena! 

Rather than setting up our tent in the dark, we spent the first night in my parents’ RV.  A pregnant Mommy was tuckered out from the long drive.  Lena, on the other hand, wouldn’t take “bed” for an answer.

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The next morning, commotion in the RV eliminated our chances of sleeping in.  This is how Daddy and Lena look first thing in the morning:

After setting up our tent, we untied the boat and jetted out onto Banks Lake!

Getting warmed up on the wakeboard

Prepping the brand new tube for its maiden wipeout

Not to worry, the best tubing action pics are coming to BlogSpot next week!

Mike and Summer were making the drive over to Coulee City from Vancouver, WA as we played on the boat.  Later that afternoon, our Banks Lake family gathering would be complete.  Our good times were about to get even better!

Coming next weekend on Garth’s Blog…

...Banks Lake heats up!