Just noticed this on the news.

Check it out here: Brooks Brothers in Germany.

There’s been just a little bit of gaming around our household over the last few weeks.  High time for a post with a few photos.

About a week ago I returned from a business trip in Memphis and joined Jacob, Nick, and Julie in a game of Ticket to Ride: Europe on a late Friday afternoon.  Nick was new to Ticket to Ride but picked up the rules easily.  Maybe there is some correlation with having two football players play the game, but this was the most confrontational game of TtR I’ve ever played.

This was mostly due to Nick focusing on very small routes and doing whatever he could to disrupt our progress (mostly Julie, but he got after Jacob and me as well).  While it wasn’t very successful, it did make for an entertaining and tension-packed game (mostly positive energy) as Nick tried to figure out who to mess up next.  I think he learned that this isn’t really a viable strategy but he sure did have some fun along the way.

The next day KC and Rita joined us at our home for an overnight and some final planning for the launch of HAVOC: the Hundred Years War.  We did manage to squeeze in a bit gaming though, including a couple of our new games from SimplyFun.  Saturday night we played Walk the Dogs, my first play of it with the family.  The kids really liked the game, though I somehow managed to pull off a surprise win by collecting five consecutive puppies.  This is a pretty chaotic game but  enjoyable nonetheless.

We also gave the junior version of Eye to Eye a try, and this was an even bigger hit.  As easy to play as Apples to Apples, I think this game is a bit more fun.  I you are a fan of Scattergories give this one a try.  It does seem to be a bit overpriced for what you get, but maybe I’ll find some other use for all those little wooden cubes.

On Sunday morning we played a 5–player game of Parthenon: Rise of the Aegean.  We again were able to play in just over two hours and response was overwhelmingly positive.  We did run into a kingmaker decision on the last turn, where Jacob was the Archon and could choose another player to damage pretty seriously (no commodity production that turn).  He chose to hurt KC, possibly because KC had been a bit more vocal in stating his ability to win that turn (I was in the same position).  This allowed me to win the game, but it was a hollow victory.

I coached Jacob a bit after the game, suggesting that it might have been better to hurt Matthew or Rita, who were unlikely to win that turn.  This is a tough call and raises some concerns about the game, but maybe this was an unusual occurrence.  In any case, we had fun and I look forward to playing again soon.

I’m a bit late in reporting this, but oh well.  It was a cool hike with some cool photos so better late than never.  We spent Labor Day weekend out at Salishan and Julie was anxious to get out and hike somewhere.  I suggested Cascade Head, having heard some great things about the scenic views from there.  The trailhead is just a few miles north of Lincoln City off of Hwy 101 (I’m listening to Highway 61 Revisited right now… maybe I should switch to Jackson Browne?) so after about a 20 minute drive we were off on our adventure.

Apparently the trailhead was moved a few years back to ease road congestion – park at Knight Park near the boat ramp and walk up the road from there.  The low parts of the trail wind through public land including national forest, but as you get near the head the trail is contained within Nature Conservancy land.  There are quite a few restrictions on land use in this area, so check ahead before attempting anything unusual (like backpacking / camping).

The early parts of the hike are within an old growth Sitka Spruce and Douglas Fir forest.  The trail is very well maintained here, with plenty of foot bridges and planking to get through the squishy areas.  Before long the trail opens to a meadow with the first glimpses of the coast stretching south from the head.  While this isn’t a terribly strenuous hike, pretty much the whole hike in is uphill and there are a few steep parts.

As we were hiking through the meadow, Jacob spotted a slithery critter that I was able to pick up and play with for a while.  I love snakes.

We continued to climb, but it became clear that the boys were not going to be interested in making the final climb to the peak of Cascade Head.  Julie was kind enough to allow me the opportunity to finish the hike, so I high-tailed it up the top for some spectacular views of Lincoln City and beyond, including the Salishan spit.

All in all, a great way to spend an afternoon and I highly recommend this hike if you find yourself on the beautiful Oregon coast.

I just won (a rare event) an online game of Alhambra at Boiteajeaux, and I must say it is the strangest game I’ve played there (or anywhere).

I had a great start, running out ahead of the rest of the players in this four-player game early on.  My problem was that I boxed myself in with my nice Alhambra wall.  The last seven tiles I purchased all went straight to my reserve.  I had decent currency matches that allowed me to do this – I figured depriving other players of their points was worth the effort, and I planned at some point to swap out the lower white tile to open up my wall again.  In the end I won 112–95–94–74.

This is our third year as football parents, and now we have the joy (and often inconvenience) of having both Jacob and Matthew playing.  Of course they are on different teams, at different levels, which almost ensures that each week each of us gets to see only one of them play.

The Sherwood teams had a clean sweep this weekend, with the high school team winning 38–0 Friday night and all of the youth football teams from grades 3–9 winning their games as well (that’s about 12 teams in all).

Jacob is again playing primarily center on offense, also getting some time at tackle as he covers for an injured player.  On defense Jacob also plays defensive tackle.  He’s a solid lineman and the competition is getting fierce at this level – below you can see him squaring off against a nose tackle weighing in at over 200 lbs (Jacob is about 120 lbs in his gear).

Matthew (number 28 below) in his first year is playing fullback on offense and cornerback on defense.  As a third grader he’s doing a great job surrounded by mostly fourth graders handling the ball.

Matthew had three carries in his game on Friday, with one breakaway for 20 yards where he almost score a touchdown but was caught by a lone tackler at about the 20 yard line.

No, that’s not the name of a new boardgame; that’s what Jacob and I did today for the better part of a beautiful Sunday day.  My friend Scott Finney took us out (he really should be a professional guide… this guy is good) on the Willamette River near the St. Johns Bridge for some white sturgeon fishing.  This would be a day of catch-and-release barb-less hook fishing and a chance to land a fish Jacob and I have never caught before.

We fished with shad and smelt off the bottom at about 50 ft depth, with the tackle and approach very similar to the lake trout fishing we do at Keuka Lake.  We started off quickly, getting a hit and fish within the first 10 minutes.  Jacob landed this monster, a fish about 36” long and over 30 lbs.  Things slowed down after that as we hit the slack tide and waited for current to resume.  The fish need water flow to carry the bait smell around (while sturgeon use smell to find food, they aren’t garbage bottom feeders like catfish or carp – you need to use fresh bait), so it was another hour or so before they started hitting again.

We then had a string of 10 more fish landed, ranging from a young small sturgeon (about 2 feet long) to the biggest of the day, a 40”+ fish that Jacob landed.  By the end of the day I was baiting, casting, setting, and reeling in the fish so I think I have a sense of “how it’s done”, but of course the key is knowing where to find the fish.

These fish are amazing – their eyes seem to glow, and it is likely that 10 of the 11 fish we caught are older than Jacob.  As big as these fish were, during the catch-and-keep season, these would all have been too small to keep.