There's a legendary place for windsurfing near Portland, OR. It's called the Hood River Gorge. Something about the ocean air and land air creating a thermal flow, and the huge mountain ranges on either side of the river funneling it all upstream... it's windy every day. I used to watch "epic" windsurfing videos of nutcases thrashing around in the howling winds, jumping 3o feet in the air.
Windsurfing The Gorge is like a childhood dream, a mystical mountain to be conquered, a dragon to be slain. Being so close, I HAD to get out there. No excuses, no "maybe tomorrows."
Last time I was on the water, I was actually pretty good at windsurfing, and if I had kept it up, would probably have been one of those guys flying around. For me, getting back on a windsurfer is like riding a bike - you never really forget... how tiring it is, how much water you swallow, and how much it hurts! But MAN what a good time. Uncontrollable hoots of joy, and laughs (and screams for help) made more joyous by the gurgling mouthfuls of water.
All in all, the town of Hood River is now one of my favorite places in the country. It's quaint, picturesque, a lot of fun, friendly, great beer, great wine, and windsurfing every day. All this about 50 minutes from Portland. Works for me. Hey, let's all move there!
Please excuse the shaky video, I was probably just going so fast... you know!
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9 comments:
Wow! impressive surfing!!! nice!
Very impressive. I like the video feature. Of course, you have not discolsed to everyone that you've been to about 13 places since then, but glad to see that you felt inspired to get back to the blog!!
sweet photo shoot Josh. You rock!
ok - I'm jealous. You surfed the gorge before I did. Ok - I'll probably never surf the gorge. But it sure is fun to see you do it.
love, mom
Awesome footage. So, are you going to live in Oregon someday?
Love, mel
Tell Mel that you're not planning to live in Oregan. It's much too far away.
love,
mom
That looks like so much fun....I want to do it!!
I'm just catching up on your blogs, so don't feel guilty if your behind in writing them. Had to comment on the windsurfing at the Gorge video of Josh.
Reminds me of the truism that it matters not that you fall (although it was a hoot), but that you get back up again!! And that you did. And a fine job you did. That's core strength, and it's genetic- did you know that? Love and miss you both, Dad (Lynn) aka Metronome Mike
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