Montana

Lake Coeur D' Alene

Outside of Helena, MT

Glacier National Park, MT

Two Medicine Lake, Glacier NP

Wild Goose Island, Glacier NP

Flathead Lake, MT

Fourth of July Annual Chicken Dance

This is for all my family at Aunt Joy and Uncle Steve's this year.  Since Rebecca, Hank, Sydney and I could not make it....we wanted to participate somehow...so here you go!  Enjoy, the Chicken Dance from Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park!

Washington

More than 1,000 year old Sitka Spruce

Olympic National Park, WA

 Ruby Beach, WA

Beard's Hollow, WA

Hoh Rain Forest, WA

Well, it has been an amazing trip so far.  I had to say goodbye to Sarah last night because she flew back to TN and I am continuing on this adventure with my cousin Rebecca, her husband Hank and their Australian Shepherd, Sydney.  In the past week we got to visit places like Portland, Astoria, Olympic NP, North Cascades NP, the Hoh Rainforest, the Pacific Coast, highway 101, Seattle, Skagit Valley and more.  We also met some incredible people along the way.  Today we are heading to Spokane, WA to stay the night with some of Rebecca and Hank's friends.  Tomorrow we head to Glacier National Park.

Portland, OR

 The side of this building says it all...with more homeless people than New York City because of its climate and programs, Portland has some weirdos.  We saw people talking to themselves, dancing in the streets, climbing into trash cans...it was very interesting indeed.

VooDoo Doughnuts is a well known Portland favorite.

Vancouver, WA

Fort Vancouver, WA

Garden

Nature Proclaims His Glory

http://vimeo.com/17861035



Cannons  by: Phil Wickham

It's falling from the clouds, a strange and lovely sound
I hear it in the thunder and the rain
It's ringing in the skies like cannons in the night
The music of the universe plays

You are holy, great and mighty
The moon and the stars declare who you are
I'm so unworthy, but still you love me
Forever my heart will sing of how great you are

Beautiful and free, the song of galaxies
Reaching far beyond the milky way
Let's join in with the sound
C'mon let's sing it out
As the music of the universe plays

All glory, honor, power is Yours Amen
All glory, honor, power is Yours Amen
All glory, honor, power is Yours forever, Amen

Slacking. No pun intended.

As Far As the Eye Can See

Nathan rappelling off of a 90 foot wall at Foster Falls

Nathan climbing up for some shots of the sunset.

A rare glimpse at the elusiveness that is the flying squirrel in the back section of Foster Falls.

This is the only shot we could manage in the desperate pursuit to show the world what we had witnessed.

Joe leading the first big wall in the back of Fosters.

Yardang!

I found this Yardang while on an all day search for "The Wave" after we left Page, AZ and were making our way down to the Grand Canyon for New Year's Eve 2010.  If you were looking for a little geology lesson then you have stumbled upon the right post for the day.  

I had my mom pull off the side off the side of the road so I could go and get a better look at this interesting natural formation.  From far away this looked really small, but as I got closer I realized how enormous it really was.  

A Yardang is basically a "mushroom-like" formation carved out of rock.  It is formed by wind blowing around it for thousands of years causing the weaker and more fragile rock on the lower portion to wear away, leaving the stronger upper portion to erode slower.  When wind removes rock fragments and small sediments it is known in geological terms as Deflation.  If you go out west be on the lookout for some Yardangs!  It doesn't hurt that they have a pretty sweet name to help you remember them either!

"The Natural"

Michael, Nathan, Joe and I went to Climb Nashville together back in early January of this year.  It was Michael's first climbing experience, but I am almost certain it won't be his last.  He's a natural.

Where have you been? Where will you go?

One of my goals in life is to visit all 50 states.  Before 2007 I had been to 12 states.  In 2007 I made it to 18 more, totaling 30.  In 2010, I was fortunate enough to make it out to Washington to visit and then to New York and along the way adding 4 more new states.  I have now been to 35 states, and though I have been blessed enough to have made it to that many this early in life, it isn't all about the numbers to me.  Each time I have been somewhere I have gone with very special people.  It is fun to travel alone at times but like Christopher McCandless finally realized as he lay dying in an abandoned bus in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness in 1992, "Happiness is only real when shared" Into the Wild (Krakauer 189).
 I have had the pleasure of traveling with my friends and family.  I could write a book trying to encompass the experiences, but could never fully express the vastness of our shared adventures.  If you have never traveled, do it.  If you haven't ever really felt like it was your thing, try it.  You just may discover something new about yourself, those you venture with, and those you meet along the way.  We were designed to share life together.  If you always travel with someone try traveling alone once or twice, and if you always travel alone, venture out with someone close to you.  I am anxious to see what 2011 holds for me.  I have no set schedule of places to visit, I just kind of go.

http://douweosinga.com/projects/visited?region=usa
Go to the website and track where you have been.  Tis' fun!

A Deeper Respect

For those who love the outdoors and share a love for outdoor-wear, you must see this documentary.  When I saw it for the first time I got chills from the story, footage and the soundtrack they had composed to make this documentary epic.  The producers actually took the music artists with them on the trip to be inspired by the scenery in person, rather then just bringing footage back from their adventure and having them try to find inspiration from the images.
This documentary also gave me a new found respect for The North Face and Patagonia and what they represent.  Both of the founders are best friends and actually give philanthropically back to the world and nature that inspired them to start their outdoor brands.  Check it out!  And be Inspired!

Foster Falls

 Nathan rappelling.

Me anchored in taking photos of Nathan and Joe on "Eclipse."

The future of America.

Horseshoe Bend, Page, AZ

Picture taken by my sister Emily in Arizona. (12.30.10)

"The Wave"

Picture taken by my sister Abigail in Utah (12.31.10)