Summer's end

Well summer is almost over and my time in Oregon has ended. The summer on Hood didn't turn out to be quite what I expected but overall I had a good experience. I expected to learn a ton of tricks and get loads of pictures and video to back it up with. That didn't really happen. But what did happen was good in a different way. I learned some things, met a ton of people, and had an extraordinary summer. Here's what happened since my last post.

My friends from Canada, Jodie and Deja came and stayed out my house for a week. We rode and filmed a little bit. It was cool seeing them again for the first time since Windells two years ago.

I had one of the most fun nights of my life. Between sessions the Windells crew gets together for summer fun and I tagged along to this camping trip in the middle of the forrest. There were like seven campfires scattered around this river, and everyone was just so stoked to hang out and have a good time.

I finally sent Nathan's prize pack out to him. Proof to the trusnow forum that I'm not a scammer. haha. Thanks for trusting me enough to give me your address Nate.

I had more shenanigan filled nights at the Burton House. I'm so glad I spent as much time there as I did because I would have turned into a wreck if I was constantly surrounded by the Govydrunks. Instead of becoming a Shoeless Bonfire-of-Broken-Dreams-er (you wouldn't believe how depressing bonfires with this crowd are), I got to be a part of Burton Summer Camp, which was a lot more constructive to my mental state. Thank you so much for letting me hang.

The Burton summer sales meeting came by and I met a ton of people from around the country who work for Burton. Everyone was really awesome and it made me so stoked on Burton. And I ended up with a couple of really good friends. Now I have a reason to travel to other places this winter!

I finally did something other than snowboarding/hanging out in Govy, and went to the Hood River County fair with Riley, Lemi, Blake, and Kendel. Riley and I were just drunk messes that night, but we had a fantastic time. Fast rides, excessive amounts of food, and too many Mexicans definitely made this one of the best nights of my summer.

The one day I took off from riding to do something else this summer was awesome. I would have liked to be snowboarding, but the day of rest at Punch Bowls Falls wasn't a bad substitute. I had never been cliff jumping before so this was a new experience. It scared the crap out of me. But in a good way. I opted out of the 60' and 80' cliffs because the water was too cold for me to handle, but the one I jumped a couple times was 45' which I guess is a good size for a first timer.

I started doing boot testing for Burton which is really cool because I get to rock pairs of 2013 boots and give the company feedback. The two boots I tested this summer were the Supremes and Sapphires, which ended up being really awesome boots. I'd be stoked to rock either of them for a whole season.

I went to the Ark for the first time. The Ark is the employee housing for Windells and it's a very interesting place. I hung out in the skate house mainly with a friend of mine who's a skate coach there. I melted my brains out and vowed that I would have to hang out at the Ark more.

My Rome finally crapped out. I kept getting caught on the boxes and when I finally took my board off to see what was up I was more than bummed.

The thing that I was stoked on the most this summer is that Kyre Malkemes from Roxy replied to an email I had sent her in the beginning of the summer. I had wanted to know if there was any way I could get on Roxy's rider list for High Cascade or Windells. A day before High Cascade's last session she got back to me letting me know I'd be on the rider list for the session. I was so so incredibly thankful that that happened. I had a great week at High Cascade. I started spinning jumps again (something I hadn't really done since my concussion) and just had a fun time all around. I was so exhausted at the end of everyday! But I'd still find energy to skate the High Cascade skatepark or jump on their trampolines anyways. That session ended up being the photo session as well so I'm hoping to get some photos of me in the next week that I can send to Roxy.

I drove home after the High Cascade session ended. I didn't want to wait for public park to be moved and I got 65 days of riding in so I was ready to be in the city again. I did the whole 11.5 hour drive in one day and made it home for dinner.

My mom and I went to Santa Cruz together yesterday. It was awesome to spend a day with her, go on rides, eat too much food, and play in the ocean. I love love love the beach. I became friends with younger brother of one of the skate coaches at Windells, and since he lives in Santa Cruz I hit him up to hang out. It was awesome to see Alex and then we had the best 30 minutes ever taking the sky tram thing and talking shit about the people below us. Ha.

That's about it for my summer adventures. Today I'm packing my stuff again and then moving to Tahoe tomorrow. I'll try to post more frequently so I don't have to do this horrible long posts anymore. Hope your summer was as crazy and fun as mine!