Northwest Day 23,24 - Lincoln City, OR - back to Hood

So it has been a pretty eventful trip so far. Our last night in Lincoln City was pretty interesting. Lots of nutty things in this town!! It is pretty cool and relatively cheap, we are finding all about these free camp spots but they are also occupied by other homeless/vagabonds... Maybe a better van camp site than other.. So it was good to play it safe it works out to like 7 bucks a night anyway so a good night sleep is always nice.

After getting drive through coffee and muffins and stuff we rolled into the park for our last day I noticed a dude that looked familiar. I was like "was that June BUG??" And yes it was. As we drank the java and looked beyond the pool and up on the hill by the snake run, there were a bunch of familiar individuals up there on that dang hill. The Uprise dudes were out on a bit of a Northwest excursion as well.



It was kind of cool and kind of odd to see peeps from home. We had a really fun day and sessions were breaking out all over the park. The super kids were there and the locals eventually showed.

We got some lunch and Uprise headed back to Seattle. John was a bit incapacitated from the night before so I was skating the park solo. The Local dudes finally became comfortable with us outsiders and we hung out most of the day. It is really great to just hang and skate and not feel like you have to leave in 15 minutes. The park started to feel like home. (I wish)!! I tried to ask a few non-annoying questions about the process of building the different phases. As these guys actually helped build the place. It is a super cool thing...



The average snow accumulation here is like 5 inches per winter!! It very rarely gets hot but it does rain. It also does this mist thing from the ocean in the morning and it usually passes out into the valley. But on these 100 degree days inland it seems to hang for a lot of the day. This would be a great place to retire or something... Just live in the mountains!! John is pretty serious about moving here. Who knows?

So it is back to Hood River for one more night. It is supposed to be pretty hot today and Hood River is all in shade so it should be relatively cool there. We have a nice campsite for the night and plan to head out early in the morning. Gonna re-run Irrigon in the early morn and then try to make it to Idaho before the late afternoon and camp. I plan to hit up Buhl, ID and Haley, ID and slowly move towards the Midwest over the next few days. Should be back home by mid-week. ugh or yea, I am not sure.

Northwest Day 20, 21, 22, 23 - Lincoln City, OR

We decided to stay two more days. I mean come on, super rad park not superpark. Just good home grown, down home skating. The locals are cool as long as you stay out of the way and don't mess around. MC would probably be ejected immediately. Ha

So that is the plan, two more days of radicalness. The snake run is insane. A lot of people call it "The Thing". It is a big burly deathly fast down hill with a love seat, pool block, pea rock and a big 13' bowl at the bottom.



A 7 year old and his 12 year old sister were shredding it this morning. I am just wondering who will be there this afternoon as the Oregon Trifecta is happening soon and all the rippers are coming into town anyway to beat the heat inland. I may be doing a lot of lurking, we'll see.

It is a great capstone to the trip though. It is also nice to relax a bit and prepare for the long journey home. We plan to either stay at Hood River over the weekend again and re-run a few Portland parks or just head out and spend a little more time skating Idaho and Colorado.




We'll see.

Northwest Day 21 - Lincoln City, OR

Even more stuff went down later in the day, including an amazing pool sesh. I love the pool at Lincoln City!! It is unstoppable and I want one!! I've got to do it. some how some way!

Northwest Day 21 - Lincoln City, OR

We got back into town last night around 8 and went for a big seafood dinner. The place was called Pier 101 and we were a splurging on food. It was 99cent burritos and McDoubles all the way across the states and this time we spent 25bucks on one meal!!

But I have to say, they must have been having an off night because the service was terrible, the food mediocre and crying babies to boot. The sign specifically said, no crying babies, no yuppies...


I got a great night sleep as the temp went down to like 45 or something. Ooooooooooh good. We got up and did it all over again. Skated all day, took a break for some skimboarding and coffee and went back for more seshy. I can't say it enough, the locals kill it here. I wish I was one so I could ride this stuff everyday too!!

Even the female skaters are better than most of the dudes in Chi... Wow! Rock on Ladies!




I love the fish pond, it is the first thing I skate every time I come here. big fun!

Northwest Day 20, 21 - Lincoln City, OR skim

After we skated for like 5 hours I was hot and needed some beach time. So we headed up 101 to find some good skim spots. We stopped at a few beaches and checked out the local sites. The Devil's Punch Bowl which is a huge hole in the rock made by the ocean.

We saw some surf spots but everywhere there were surfers, there were no waves. But at every public beach where surfers might not be allowed, there were waves?? The water is super cold up here, bring a wet suit.

I found my favorite skim spot from last year and we stayed there for like two hours. It was so fun and John got on for the first time and did really good!! This spot just lets you glide for hundreds of feet if you get a good run. Sooooooo good!!

Northwest Day 20, 21 - Lincoln City, OR

We rolled into Lincoln City around noon. Suddenly the landscape got much better and the temperature dropped like 40 degrees! We went from 100 degrees to 62!! Oh yea, the right choice and good planning. Thanks to my annoying iphone with all of those annoying apps. But hey, it has been an amazing little tool on this trip. Skateropolis app, Google maps with GPS locator, Weather.com app for constant updates even the tip calculator/gas mileage splitter is pretty handy. Not to mention the Internet anywhere I go. It helped a great deal when I still had my online class going. I could check the email often and when a problem came up I could get to real Internet quickly.

This is not an add for any certain company, I'm just reflecting on how that thing helped out on this trip a great deal. It brought my coffee shop time down quite a bit too and that is much needed. John was pretty much annoyed on the second day... ha

So off we go through this super cool Northwest beach town. It is pretty tourist oriented but with more of a working class feel. When you go to the beach in Cali it is like, super rich everywhere, Rodeo by the sea blah blah blah. But here, it is pretty affordable.

I went straight to the Devils Lake State Park to try to get camping. I was especially worried because of the mass exodus from the hot inner Oregon. But we were in luck, I got a site for two nights. We set up camp and were off to the park.

The Lincoln City Skatepark is not your average park. It is a living organism that is constantly changing shape. It has been added on in many stages. The original I believe was built by both Monk and Red? 3-4 other stages were done by Dreamland and the locals. Yep, a lot of the locals actually helped design/build different parts of the park. And they say it with great pride. Not only do the totally shred the place but they helped build it!

This is sooooo cool. Cappetto and I were just talking this morning, when we get back... Well, I've got my DIY plans but also some Carwash plans (if we keep it) and also will need to be talking to Mary over in Whiting.. Forget doing stuff in Chicago.




So anyway the park. I am gonna do a few posts on this so it doesn't get too confusing.

First, the original flow up top. It must have been built between 2000-02. The surface is a lot like Donald and parts of Orcas. It is a very different pour than what is being done today. The flow is hard for me to figure out, mostly because you have to do all the gnar stuff in order to really keep speed and today, the first day, I am being a bit timid. Just trying to feel the place out.

There is one corner that will kick your butt if you are not careful. I found it last year and have already seen three people get catipulted out of it. It is pretty cool, with a snake run mini that rolls down hill and dumps into the flow area. There is also a spine that can be used and all kinds of transfers.



In the middle of the flow is a big pyramid thing with roll in area, 45 degree hips that border the big deep. Probably about 10' with a 4" bedrock vert wall. It is an older pour so the joints for each Q-pipe are visible and you can feel it, You really need to know what you are doing in this one because it is a great effort to keep speed and shred. But those that know it can really destroy. I have seen some amazing sessions on this thing and the footy from past Trifectas as well. Sooooo good!!

Northwest Day 18 - Newburg, OR

We got out of the campsite early and got back on the road to Lincoln City. We stopped to peak at Newberg and to get coffee. I am not a huge fan of this park but others are really into it and that is cool. John loved it. It is a definite stop on any Oregon road trip. It is an early super park. Lots of cool transfers, a volcano, big stuff, little stuff lots of burnside banks and roll overs, nipples and vert walls. Big fun but you have to wear a helmet.

It was 94 degrees at 10:30 so we were out of there pretty quick.

Northwest Day 17 - Donald, OR

We decided to make the trip back to Oregon. We were gonna hit up Sumner but were so bummed on Kent that it was just time to get back to OR. SO, in about 3 hours we were rolling off of I-5 on exit 278. On to the tiny town of Donald, OR. This place is rad! It is an older Dreamland park that you can see in the NorthWest movie from years ago. It is a pretty gnar little park out in the country.

It features a crazy gnar kidney that is steep and slick and super chewed up pool block. You can just feel the grinds and shred sessions that have gone down here. Makes me feel real small. The locals are just insane. All around rippers for good reason, amazing parks and talent.

We skated here for a bit and then luckily got camping at the Champeog state park. After we set up we headed back. We skated for a few hours but the upcoming heat wave had already hit. It was close to 100 degrees and after I flat spotted my brand new set of 0JIIs and then started a nice de-lam on my tail from dropping in on a 1' transition on a 3' wall I was a bit bummed. There was no shade and I was getting pretty crabby. Cappetto didn't seem to mind the heat because "he is Italian and they are warm weather people" (Frank McCourt).

But I was ready to go, so I sat in the car for a bit to give him another hint and turned on the air. He soon followed and we headed for the nearest Wal-Mart. Free AC peeps!! But low and behold when we got to the exit there was another damn outlet mall!! And guess what outlet store we came upon?? VANS outlet again! so more moneys were spent and we cooled off enough to get Taco Bell. But it was not very good, it is never that good but this one was kinda grody.

Back to the campsite, luckily in shade and cooling off.

Northwest Day 17 - Kent, WA

We left Seattle after a great breakfast at Luna's cafe. Super good food, I highly recommend it. The burgers rule and the breakfast is very good. We headed south to check out the park in Kent, WA. Once again, a Wally Holiday park. I called it as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. Well, I have explained my personal dislike for these parks and this one again is a bummer. It looks super cool from the INTERTURD but when you actually ride it, well.... Lets put it this way, lop sided walls, hips where they should not be, super soft sucky coping that digs in, waterfalls that are more like banks and go clunk when you hit them and a design that looks incredible but does not connect.

People can say what they want about Grindline but they all ride good, there are bumps that you are supposed to hit to get speed and coping that you need to be really good to hit... But it all rides good. You just have to amp yourself up for it. But these parks are just a bummer to me.

We didn't stay long. I dropped into the kidney that looked really good but then they had the bank/waterfall in that one too. suck. It was also painted about 30 times from dumb taggers so it was so slick that when you hit the wall it is cess city.

Although a lot of the street obstacles are cool. A wedge type of pyramid with a gap, cool q-pipes with no coping, stuff like that...

Northwest Day 15, 16 - Seattle, WA continued

After all of that we decided to check out the ever elusive Marginal Way park. As I said earlier this is Seattle's answer to Burnside or Washington street. It is fairly new by only a few years and it is under construction. We checked it out and it all looked very cool with lots of potential.

Northwest Day 15, 16 - Seattle, WA continued

So after that, I just got in the car and headed towards the next park. I was in shock. but what else can you do but continue. It is no use crying and sobbing, my little car waaaaaaaaah. That is what insurance is for. They better not mess with me since I have not made a claim in 10 years and have been with them since I was 16... we'll see



SO onward to Lower Woodland skatepark in Seattle. As soon as I looked over the fence I knew it was a Wally Holiday park. I have ridden a few in Cali and other places. Now I am sure he is great guy and everything but I just plain prefer Grindline and Dreamland parks over Wormhout and Holiday and whatever whoever. Now don't get me wrong, Holiday parks are perfect in construction, design, etc. But it just seems like he is punching this stuff out on his CAD program.

The craft is so perfect that it is for me too perfect. It gets to the point where I feel like I am in some kind of graph paper bowl or something? People like his work and ride it and it is a great ride but for me it just doesn't always add up. Shallow ends that are too deep to get out of or hips that you cant hit, and if you do then you hit another hip and not a wall... It never really flows right... Oh well, I need to keep paying attention to my driving than doing skatepark critiques.



The ameoba is fun but like I said before, the hips are odd. The shallow is deep and the deep is not deep enough. But it is a flawless pour, the tile is nice and the coping grinds nice. Although it is nearly seamless, it looks to be made of something other than concrete also?



We were there for like 2 hours but mostly slowly getting out of the shock from our morning's antics. I suggested we go into the city and try to check out the sites and maybe take one of those underground tours. We found the place, got parking but the line and the wait was very long. I guess since they were on the Travel Channel buisness is booming, which is good.



We checked out a skateshop that had some cool stuff in it. Art and stuff. Then tried to get a big Crab dinner to make the bad day feeling go away. There was a long wait, we went into a Pirate shop and I went nuts buying stuff. When we got out of there, they still were not ready to serve us, it had been like 40min and we decided to jet out.



I wanted to check out this gallery Roc La Rue so we found that place. It was pretty cool, very big space with good lighting. There were three artists on display and I had seen each in Juxtapose and Hi Fructose before. I bought a super cool book and should have got some of the art the skateshop but oh well. I spent too much already. We checked out a punk rock record store.



We moved on and had dinner at this super cool diner Luna's Cafe. Super gooooooood burgers!! Still eating red meat. Ugh Need protein and grease. We found this cool coffee shop and are Interneting and caffine-ing now. they serve beer so Cappetto is in heaven.

Northwest Day 15, 16 - Seattle, WA

I was happy to be on the mainland. We hit up the park this morning and by back was doing much better. I just had to keep stretching it out and keeping it loose. That is all I can do so that is what I'll do. No more cool dude drop in and shred...



It was about 10:30 and I had sense enough to get a Ferry schedule this morning so we decided to get moving towards the Ferry port. Just to be sure we got on the 12:05. Because the next one was at 4:30. It took a good 25 minutes to get there so it was good that we left when we did. Luckily we had a good position in the staging area so my nerves were settled. I just get freaked about stuff like that, I'm always like that but on a trip it is even worse because you don't know what you are doing or where you are half the time. It wears on you.

We walked around and hung out with all the other Ferry riders and I got a really good salmon, cream cheese, bagel thing. D-lish! We got to the mainland Anacortes by 2:30 and all was well. Stopped for fuel, beef jerky and high calorie drinks and it was back on I-5.

We finally found a Pizza Hut and pigged out. After eating Budding beef for two days it was nice to have food. Pizza Hut is not the greatest but beggars can't be choosers, especially when John was buying. He had some kinds of gift card from work so we used it up. Wings and Pazzones makes for interesting bathroom trips!!

We hit up the Arlington park again as it was only minutes away. It is an interesting design, it has a big vert square bowl, a pipe/capsule and next to that is a round bowl with various pockets and hips facing the opposite way. I did not think much of the design until I rode it. It is smooth and fast. The capsule is pretty easy to get over vert in and the pipe part is big enough that it allows you to pump for speed and get to 10 o'clock without much stress (if ur a pro or something, I got to like 9:30....ha)




So, we did that for an hour or two, my back tried to snap a few times, I kept stretching and keeping it loose. Just have to get through this and all will be well again.

We moved on to Seattle and stayed with a very friend. Basically getting the backyard and killer resting place. thanks so much!!!!!

So we chilled on Friday night in a nice backyard with lots of trees and peacefulness in the middle of a big city. It was a good night sleep and we were off for more Saturday morning. We drove around for about an hour trying to find Marginal Way, which is a really cool under the bridge park like Burnside or Washington street. I was relying on my iphone google map thing we found out that the streets around here are pretty weird.



We did find a good coffee shop though and got some of Seattle's best. After more missed attempts, I just got on I-5 to 99 and found ourselves in Downtown Seattle within minutes. We cruised around and were trying to find the skatepark by the Space Needle. When we finally found it, unfortunately it was just a street spot so I tried to get a spot to park for a few minutes to get my brain together. I was a bit turned around after kind of wandering about in this cool city with steep hills, one way streets and strange directions.

We decided to try to find another park known as Lower Woodland skatepark in Seattle. As I got my phone nav set and handed it over to Cappetto, we had to stay put because a huge parade suddenly came down the street preceded by a motorcade of Chips or motorcycle cops. This day had been odd enough but now we had this nutty parade. So we waited and following were a bunch of crazed drivers trying to make up time for the parade delay. I let them go because I was being cautious...



SO I got into the center lane and moved on for about 2 blocks. I tried to merge to the left, looked into my mirror and all was good but then honk, crunch! I was like, great. So I pulled over, the lady was yelling at me, I said relax," I have insurance". She took my info, I was so pissed at myself and stunned that I forgot to get her info. And off we went. I must say I never have had a car accident before so this kinda really sucks. It was very minor, I just have a small Q-panel dent and some blue paint. She lost a reflector and some trim on her passenger front bumper. But what a pain. I just drove 5000 miles so I guess what are the odds. Every trip there has to be some kind of bad luck so hopefully this is it. Just another thing to take care of when I get back, I called the insurance peeps but they were off on Saturday so I'll have to wait 'till Monday.

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