Windsurfing with the Aliens

My German buddies were in town the last week. It’s always a pleasure to hang out with them, they’re such fun fold. This time they brought along their small child as well…wow, what a sweet little handful. Flo and Nina got into town last Thursday, direct from Germany so they were a bit tired, otherwise I would’ve taken them by last Thursday on Alberta, my hood. I took Flo to see the Timbers tie Vancouver (ugh…what a bummer of a lame-ass red card in the 24th) and we hung out with the Timbers Army. We invited a few friends over for 4th of July BBQ, and that was a blast…I slow cooked four racks of ribs with a ginger-honey marinade, and made two jerk pork tenderloins that I have to say were friggin fantastic. People brought a bunch of food, including some grubbin brats and a ton of beans (I’d made some too…cheers to coordinating!).

I was pretty well tethered to my computer this weekend (which is why I didn’t come to your BBQs, Buck and Scott!), so after working Tuesday I took off Wed-Fri. Wednesday I took Flo, Nina, and Dana up to Hood River for some windsurfing. Now, that sport is a blast. After grabbing some decent tacos at Taco Del Mar, we cruised over to Brian’s Windsurfing for rentals. Nina had been some sorta Hamburg windsurfing amateur awhile ago, so we tried to get her a short board, but the rest of us were beginners (my second, Dana’s first) and needed the picnic boards. Unfortunately, they didn’t have both available at the same spot, so she had to share with us. But the wind was great (in that it moved us! yay!) and the sun was shining, though sometimes only on the backs of clouds. This being my second time, I did far better than before, even accomplishing the goal set out from the first time—to loop around a buoy and come back—several times.