Summer SUP and beyond

Eric put a lot of miles on the Stand Up Board (SUP) this past summer. Some of his most impressive paddles included from Boston Harbor out to and around Squaxin Island and from Nisqually Reach out and around Anderson Island. Pretty impressive! When I'm not training on the bike, I sometimes am able to join him for shorter paddles. So recently on a night paddle near Olympia's Priest Point Park, Eric and I heard the blows of whale pretty close to us. We paddled quickly away from the blows to find out the next day it was likely a transient Orca whale! It's amazing the things you witness out on the water.

Eric at home on his Tahoe SUP board.

Eric and few of his fellow paddlers at a local SUP race in Olympia.

Mom and Doug came out to watch one of Eric's local races on a rainy summer day. We then had a nice dinner at the Oyster House.

Carmen watching Eric about to win one of many local SUP races.

2010 Spring Update

The Era-Miller family has been really busy this Spring and we are behind on the blog once again, so this blog post is our 2010 Spring Update! Brandee's been busy bike racing and working on a cool urban streams study at the Department of Ecology. Eric has been busy paddle boarding and making the Olympia Food Co-op a better place. We've both been working on the yard, house, and hanging with our best pup Carmen.

Bike Racing Update...

1st place podium at the Seward Park Criterium on June 3rd. Thanks to Eric's training plan, I'm coming into form to do well in the June road races.

My new team colors look sweet!

Official photo finish of my win at Seward Park.

2nd place finish at a circuit race in Glenwood, WA. I got beat right at the line by the lady in blue to my left.

Yard Improvements...

Eric did a fabulous job on our new backyard patio. It completed our backyard! Lookout Sunset Magazine, here we come.

Sun shades, lights, and an umbrella complete our back deck.

Brandee and Carmen enjoying the back of the house.

Another view of the back yard.

Mother's Day at the Farmer's Market...

Paddle Board Update...

Eric and his friend Tim decided to go out on night paddle from Boston Harbor. They had a blast and the bioluminescence was incredible! I can't wait to join Eric on some more night paddles this summer. Eric finally purchased a touring SUP board and he's getting pretty fast.

Tim (left) and Eric taking off on their evening adventure.

Tim and Eric in the distance.

Oregon Coast - Valentine's Weekend

Yep, we are behind on our blog again...but I wanted to post some pictures from our Valentine's weekend trip to the Oregon Coast back in February. We had a lovely time and stayed at Aunt Barb and Uncle Jerry's place in Seaside. Seaside and Cannon Beach are definitely becoming one of our most favorite places.

All dressed up for Valentines Day dinner in Cannon Beach

The marvelous view from the condo. We lucked out with some beautiful sunny weather. There was also some pretty big surf.

Cannon Beach with Haystack Rock in the distance

Tall salal on our hike out to Oswald West Park

Oswald West Park

Oswald West Park with a very high tide.

Carmen got plenty of play time. Total beach dog.

Carmen prints.

Loves the water (but still won't swim)

Self portrait

Everybody got to relax...

Winter Update

It's time for a mid-Winter update. We've been busy with work, life, and hobbies. Brandee started training for the road and mountain bike racing seasons that start in March. Our bike team is no longer "The Valley Athletic Club". We are now the "Olympia Orthopaedic Assoicates" bike team. Our new kits (uniforms) are red instead of green and look really cool! Eric's actually been able to paddle quite a bit with this mild January we've had. He's become quite a waterman.
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Some of Brandee's mountain bike buddies after a fun and muddy ride in the Capital Forest.

Here is a video link to the first road training ride that our team did in the new red kits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdnf0juxgz0

We paddle boarded up on Lake Union in Seattle and met some folks who run the Northwest Paddle Surfers group. Eric was officially welcomed into the group and has the new hoody to prove it. Hopefully he won't offend any kayakers.

Eric, Carmen and I went down to see the 17 ft high tide early in January. The water came very close to flooding over the boardwalk in downtown Olympia. Apparently due to El Nino and some atmospheric stuff, there have been several tides this month that have been higher than predicted. Olympia has some of the most dramatic tidal swings in any part of the Puget Sound.

3rd Annual Christmas Oyster Celebration

On Christmas Day we celebrated our Oyster tradition with a few of our close friends, many of whom don't have family in town. It wasn't snowy like last year, but cold, clear, and sunny. We had many varieties of oysters served several different ways. It was, as in the past few years, a lot of fun!

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Here Eric is prepping dozens of oysters (for frying) on Christmas Eve using Grandma Miller's secret recipe.

Christmas Day! Our first guests arrive: John and Bingo (the dog). Carmen was poised and ready to greet our holiday guests.


Let the shuckin' begin. The front of the house was the raw and grilled oyster hot spot.


Old pros Eric and Jeff shuckin' oysters


Merey tries a raw oyster concoction called a "baby maker"

Lots of yummy food...

Oh no, Eric be-heads the chocolate Santa Clause

Jeff and Merey

Patrick and Anja

We later celebrated Christmas dinner at Mom and Doug's house. Mom made a yummy dinner.

Christmas hugs

Carmen playing with her new Christmas bunny... Happy Holidays!

First Snow Day of the Season

It's beginning to look like last winter...Freezing temperatures and now snow. Carmen and I headed to Watershed Park to have some fun in the snow...

Cold Temps and Cyclocross Natz

The temps have been cold all over the country. In Oly, parts of Budd Inlet are frozen. The last time I remember the Sound freezing was in the early 90's. Well the weather didn't keep the Miller's down. Eric went for an icy paddle today on East Bay and Brandee braved single digit temperatures to race at the Cyclocross Nationals in Bend, Oregon earlier in the week.

Eric is all smiles when he's on the water

Paddling around frozen waters

The frozen shore of East Bay

Do I look cold? This picture was downloaded from the USA cycling website. The caption read: "The B Women’s race started in the frigid morning temperatures causing riders to race with plenty of layers". Yep, it was single digits during my race. I lead the race on the first lap then dropped my chain twice, crashed twice, ending up 14th overall. Sometimes it just isn't your day. Anyways, it was a lot of fun to race at Nationals. Now I'm ready to take some time off the bike after a great cyclocross season.