Goodbye USA....OZ here i come!

Well its really starting to sink in...I leave in 2 days for australia and will be there for just under 5 months!!! Been real busy the past few days trying to getting everything in order and starting to pack.
I spent new years up near seattle with my bff Megan and her husband dan... they were in the process of packing up everything and are currently on the road moving to Colorado Springs where Dan will be recruiting for the Navy. I also Had a chance to see Julie while I was up there and her bouncing baby girl... who was born just a day after we went out to dinner for my birthday last time I was up in seattle visiting...born nov 8. she's so beautiful, can't wait to see what she looks like when i get back... with juile's genes i'm sure she'll be starting to form sentences.


So as part of getting ready i really need to post a ton of pictures from the past few months that I never got around to.
Starting with Katies birthday (Aug 31) just outside of portland in Hood River and surrounding area including a Sheryl Crow (james blunt opener) concert at edgefield and the various multnomah waterfalls. link to a slide show


I took a bunch of pictures of Franks Birds and Donkeys... they're so cute link to a slideshow


A cute picture of Sasha all cozy in her bed on one of these cold days
(click for slideshow of a couple pics)


This year i took a crack at making my own wine at home... harder than you think, i won't even go into how we hand destemmed and hand pressed it all... over 120 pounds of it. :-/// link to slideshow


Had a little bit of bad luck the last time I took a trip to the Redwoods... the truck my friend was driving got broken into and they stole not only his phone, his girlfriends purse with everything in it...but they took my Garmin GPS navigator!!! how dare they?!?!?!!! but i got a replacement, and hacked it and added australia maps to it so i can use it down under... which while be awesome since its about the size of the USA and they drive on the wrong side of the road... and i plan on a few road trips. Link to slideshow


I took an amazing picture of Applegate Red's Vineyards (I can't even count the number of times i've gone up and down those rows sampling grapes before harvest... sad :-(


As tradition, just after thanksgiving we headed up into the local BLM land to hunt ourselves a xmas tree....This year we returned to the same place that we got a tree as a couple years ago, just north of cave junction near onion mountain. very different this year...was very warm
link to a slideshow


Maybe its the cold or maybe its festivities we all take part in... but its a odd time of year... here's proof, these late night photos of our christmas tree.... or i'm just learning what all the different settings do and playing with my cameras link to slideshow


I know it doesn't compare (and i'm half ashamed after hearing what many of you have gone through this winter) but we had some decent snow and i shot a few pics... check out the one below, guess it wasn't cold enough to scare the hummingbirds off. link to slideshow


Oh the holidays... because of the terrible weather Claire and Brian were unable to finish they travellings to arizona to spend it with her parents to they rented a car in seattle where they were stranded and drove down to Grants Pass and spent it with us. had a blast. It was a great christmas... even if i was my mom's personal shopper for myself, Can't say i didn't get anything i didn't want. :) Link to slideshow


Stay tuned for my Ventures DOWN UNDER!!!!!! mates :-) i'm so excited!!!!! as always may more pics on my flickr page