get it together

welcome, welcome to another view inside my exciting life and times here in the blue ridge. asheville has been so good to me, and i have neglected to share photos and stories of all the happenings for a couple months now. for that i apologize.
with my nikon out of commission, i have been recording blog content with a digital point-and-shoot that i happened upon on the side of the road in norway, summer 2008.

the author in some typical hometown action to get things started off:

photo by chris roberts

i left my last post with a parting photo from my truck-totalling trip to chicago. while in the windy city, i had the pleasure of joining forces with my friend john 'bubba' roeder.

photo by mw

bubba and i spent a memorable two days in his hometown exploring this big city in ways i never could have imagined.
stand-up paddle board surfing lake michigan:

photo by mw

visiting famous culinary landmarks:

photo by john roeder

the most memorable part of the trip involved touring downtown in a 10foot zodiac:

photo by mw

running through downtown, the chicago river plays host to a number of pretenders in the tourist boat game:

photo by mw

john "bubba" roeder is by far and away the only considerable choice in boat captains:

photo by mw

literally providing you with water-level views of the city

photo by mw


photo by mw


photo by mw

continuing on in the buddy theme, in july i teamed-up with my cousin bryan monier for a surf and turf adventure tour. having bryan in town was a pleasure, and we wasted no time getting out and about. i even picked him up at the airport, bikes on the car, and drove us straight to the trails of pisgah national forest.

photo by mw

bryan and i spent four straight days two-wheeling around pisgah.

photo by mw

enjoying the flora, blooming mountain laurels:

photo by mw

and fauna, diamond back rattle snake:

photo by mw

for the second half of the week, we outfitted bryan in some borrowed kayaking gear and surfed our way down the ocoee river

photo by mw

mr. b was all smiles

photo by mw

let's see, i have also visited west-by-god virginia with my good friend polk:

photo by mw

where i watched a couple demonstrate the truest form of trust in a relationship on the upper gauley river:


photos by mw

on my birthday i visited a pristine mountain stream: the big east fork

photo by shane benedict

where i found myself in over my head

photo by shane benedict

on more than one occasion

photo by shane benedict


photo by shane benedict

all in all, i would say the summer has been a swashbuckling good time

photo by john roeder

stay out of sword fights blog fans, and i will see you here next time.

enjoy the slide show or click on it to visit the photo gallery