The last sunny day of the year?

Every post I do on here I proclaim that I'm going to post more.  That I'm sorry I've been lagging on posts.  Maybe this winter it will happen.  I've been trying to look at instagram less.  It's good for me.  But I still want to share photos.  Maybe this is still a good medium for that?  That's only if anyone looks at this anymore.  Anyone?

The forecast looked shitty today.  But the skies were clearing as I ate breakfast.  There was talk of skating parking garages.  Hunting down something dry.  Then the sun started creeping out from behind the clouds.  A little patience and the ground was looking dry.  There were group texts and organizing.  Battlground gets plenty of sun and there's a lot of skatepark.  So we took it north over the state line for our shredding.  I hadn't used the old DSLR in a minute and it's been years since I shot anything on my 100mm lens.  So long that I had to exercise the aperture to make sure it wouldn't stick.  There's a reminder to use your camera gear or it may stop functioning properly!

Our route was Battleground, one of the skate spot parks in Vancouver, and a street spot Ryan knew of.  My car had me, Ryan, Derek, and Steve.  Scott and Ashley met us in Battleground and hit up the Vancouver spot with us.  So all around a good day with a good crew.

Derek and Steve had a lipslide challenge.  I think Derek won by doing his frontside lipslide first.

 Here is Steve's back lip.

 

 Ride up the bank and ollie off to the flat.

Ashley hitting the hip.

 Koerner with the frontside ollie.

Ryan seeing if it goes.

It goes.

 I'm pretty sure this dude's name was Chase.  He and his buddies were ripping and super nice.

Ryan 5-0s from the top all the way down in Vancouver.

And did the same with a tailsldie.

 Steve got in on the 5-0 fun too.

 Ryan took us to this crusty bank to curb.  Fun, but challenging.

And Ryan nailed this feeble grind.

Off Ramp Theater

There is a history of DIY under bridges in Portland.  Why not carry that on with a show under the mish mash of freeway interchanges connected to the Fremont Bridge?  That's just what happened last Saturday.

First up was Old Friend.

 

Then it was Matt's new band.  I don't remember what they're called.  They killed it at their first show.

Last up was Riled.  Fueled by Colt 45.

The Mean Jeans and The Rich Hands.

Because of my work schedule I end up missing a lot of good shows.  It's the price I pay for working nights.  The Mean Jeans finally played on a night I wasn't working and I got to see my friends play some fun songs.  The Rich Hands opened for them and they put on a great show too.  Here's what it looked like.

More skating. Not quite as long ago.

A month or so ago, there was one of those really amazing Spring-like days in Portland.  Sun shining, sky as blue as the middle of July.  So we got up early and went out to Happy Valley.  After a bit, the park filled up.  But not with the usual crowd of tweens on scooters.  It was several crews of adult skaters that had the same idea as us.  It was fun having that many people on the session but a little hectic in that tiny park.  So we cruised to a ledge spot out that way.  A good day all around.

Derek ollied.

And so did Jesse.

Jesse still has the switch tricks on lock.

Ryan getting slappy.

Derek, Jesse, and Ryan.

Skateboarding from months ago.

It must have been fall.  Ryan's friends came out from Chicago to skate.  But it rained because it's Portland.  So we all analyzed our weather apps and decided to head up the Gorge to Hood River, Bingen, and The Dalles.  Hopes were high that these places in the rain shadow of the cascades would have dry skate terrain and we weren't disappointed.  It was even almost sunny in The Dalles.  Here are some photos...

Jen cruised the bank while I tested lighting.

 Zack warmed up with a nice backside ollie.

Then he did a really nice looking kickflip.

Tim had this funny bail photo.

And Ryan wrangled this switch boardslide to end our day in Bingen.