Dec 20 Back from Tahoe

Photo taken last week at Evan's house in Alpine Meadows (thanks again) - 60 inches of fresh in one storm (that's the Explorer under there). Our family is circling the wagons as Rush has just arrived back from Chile and Alli, after skiing with me in Tahoe, is now home but headed out the door for a year in New Zealand in mid January. Rush broke his back down in Argentina but, at present, it seems that he will make a full recovery in a few months. You can learn more by going to his web site, river-roots.com if you are so inclined. We are excited to be all together and hope to rendezvous later today at the Etna house. I hope this finds our extended family happy and well! p

Thanksgiving blast @OB

Thanksgiving 2009 at Otter Bar was, well, off the charts. We had over 30 people for dinner and the lodge/cabins were at capacity. New on the scene this year was the John and Dina Johns family, the Cedar and Mahaj family as well as my brother Jock and Maia and their kids Marine and their newest arrival Maeve. Simply put, we had a blast! Great weather allowed for major walks and even a backhoe ride and the four day holiday seemed over before it began. Rush was sorely missed as he is still in Chile flinging himself off of cliffs. It is one of the greatest events that we host at Otter Bar and it is the one time we really use the place for a massive party for many of our dearest friends. Of course, I'm still picking up the pieces of our destroyed lodge (just kidding). As most of you know, the new web site is up and not without some glitches. PLEASE let us know if you have any trouble loading any of it. Should be all good now but... This brings our love to those of you who didn't make it and to our huge extended family that make this life possible! Peter and Kristy

Nov 22 clean and full

With the help of Rush Sturges and crew we drained and cleaned the far pond and as of this morning it is finally full again. Squeaky clean, at least for a nano second. New web site went up yesterday and it is dumping snow at Bachelor and Mt Hood. Took this photo minutes ago after a night of rain. Thanks to Paul Johnson and Bob Ferguson for hours of modeling work for the new site! cheers p

Nov 19 snow up high

Snow on the mountain with a progressive weather pattern forecasted. Pretty dry Fall, really (5 inches of rain so far), although we still have good hydro and don't need to run the generator for power. They finally got the fiber optic in and you can see the cut they made in the road in the picture above. It has been a real pain for the last year or so but we are thrilled to have great internet capability. Otter Bar is dormant but stunning and Kristy and I just went down to Southern CA and visited her mother as well as Alli and the John Johns family in La Jolla. Major Thanksgiving bash ahead and then I plan to head out for points snow to find some skiing. New web site is finally done and should be up by tomorrow! Check it out and love to anyone who might be reading this!

Off Season!

I know, it's a bit weird having a ski shot of me on a kayak school blog but, hey, the high snow capped peaks will beckon. Mid September @ OB and all is quiet. Tons of salmon in the river - 60 or so at Bloomer falls today! Riding the bike, working on the place, reading,diving you get the drift. Thanks to you all out there for this fine life. Kristy, Rush and Allison just back from Switzerland and we are preparing for a wedding this weekend. Our own Tesilya (Creek's daughter) is getting married here to Brad Sandford. We are expecting 150 or so. We will have dates for the schools and other trips up on the web site shortly - for those who have asked. That said all dates will be the same with the exception of the change in the calender. Grand canyon trip is Sept 5 to 19 2010. It is lovely and cooler now with temps in the low 80's and bits of rain and it all seems worth it. Thanks to you all who made the effort to get here this year. We didn't have a ton of business but some really cool folks showed us to help us through this rough year. I will update this blog periodically during the off season so stay tuned!

Aug 30 - Sept 5

Well it may have been a very small week but it was extremely enjoyable just the same. A highlight for me was seeing Marilyn's very happy face at dinner last night. Looked like she had had a screaming blast on the river. We truly live for people having the time of their lives here at otter Bar and this week was no exception. There was no shortage of class 5 banter at the dinner table with the irreverent Brit (Dave) holding steady on all fronts. Cheryl Hunt was in fine form and I believe she has been here 20 or more times. Talk about repeat business. Tommy and Brian were in top form, as usual, on the culinary front. We missed Kristy who is still over in Switzerland watching Rush compete, although, I am sorry to say he came in #33 out of 150 on the first round so he didn't make the cut (30). Last week of the season here! Thanks to everyone for being such a killer staff! p

Aug 23 - 29

As you can see Mayzie took the class (she prefers Jackson boats) and with her ferry angles it is no surprise that she was voted most improved. Now if we could just get her to quit barking at night. Some great folks here this week and it is always a blast to see Bill and Carrie as well as Bill Sullivan who routinely annoys me by skiing even more days last year than I did. A very compatible group I must say and I couldn't even get them to come up for air and watch one of Rush's movies. Great week with a wonderful trip to Bloomer Falls on Wednesday. Plenty of salmon deep in the hole. And a great week of kayaking for everyone except the boss who has to stay home while Kristy and Allison jet off to Switzerland to watch Rush compete in the Worlds in Thun. That's OK I'll just move a few thousand rocks and suffer in this god forsaken sweatshop. No really, it's OK honey I'll just be stuck in traffic in this hell hole while you sing "the hills are alive". Spectacular weather this week which was lucky because we have a guest (Julie Perry) that is sporting a garden on the hood of her car (honest)! Thanks for coming and please leave some comments or someone else who is foolish enough to read these posts will think you don't like us.