Raible Designs

Father's Day Weekend at The Oregon Coast

For the 5-year anniversary of our Father's Day Camping Trip, we decided to mix things up a bit. My parents were in Oregon for a friend's wedding, so we decided to fly to meet them there instead of flying them to Colorado. My sister hopped on "Buttercup" (her Harley) and drove to meet us from Washington. We also invited our good friends Clint and Autumn (who you might remember from Costa Rica) and had a great time staying at Gearhart Cottages.

Trish's Uncle John drove out to the coast to meet us and we did a really fun hike along Indian Beach to Ecola State Park. It was a real treat! It was also really fun to meet Clint and Autumn's 9 month old Brodie. As usual, Trish snapped some incredible photos.

That was two weeks ago. We returned to Colorado, had some fun at ÜberConf, rocked out at a Def Leppard concert then enjoyed a few Rockies games before hopping in the car and heading to Montana. We spent the night at Roosevelt Lodge Cabins in Yellowstone and saw a plethora of buffalo, a couple bears and even a beaver while driving through.

This morning, we woke up at the cabin I was born in.

We'll be working on my parent's retirement cabin, getting a float ready for the Swan Valley Parade and having a good ol' time with great friends for the next two weeks. After that, we're taking the kids to Hawaii for the first time.

Here's to summer vacations. I hope yours is spent with great people in beautiful places too.

4th of July Adventures in Montana

Montana is one of my favorite places on earth, especially the The Cabin. Like last year and the year before, I spent a couple weeks at the cabin for this year's 4th of July. Last year was interesting because I met Trish two days before my vacation. This year, she joined me for the 2nd week, along with her Dad. It was also the "90s Reunion" for the Seeley Swan High School, which I attended my freshman and sophomore year.

My parents have lived at the cabin for a little over a year now, having retired there last year. It now looks like it did when we were kids. That is, it feels like home rather than just a cabin in the woods. Their retirement cabin is coming along nicely and the finished bathroom with a toilet + shower provides a nice break from the outhouse and sauna. It was interesting to see all the logging being done on The Homestead. My parents hired someone to clean things up and it looks great so far. They're not clear-cutting, just thinning the forest to reduce fire danger and give more resources to the big trees.

There were several highlights of the trip, but one of my favorites was our Float in the Swan Valley Parade. Abbie came up with the idea (Happy Birthday America) and we decorated an old trailer with streamers, balloons and a birthday cake to celebrate. Abbie made up a song and sang it throughout the entire parade (with a portable microphone and amp). We all got dunked afterwards, drank some cheap beer and had lots of fun fiddlin' and swinging. The fireworks that night were epic and Trish and I were amazed late night when we smiled on a crowded campfire with many of my parents' old friends.

The next day, we woke up, recovered a bit and then headed for Glacier National Park. We spent the afternoon at Big Sky Waterpark and had a great night's rest at Glacier Mountain Lodge. Trish woke up early the next morning for some sunrise shots at Lake McDonald and we enjoyed a short hike to Avalanche Lake that afternoon. Unfortunately, Going-to-the-Sun Road was closed due to snow so we were unable to drive to the top. 2011 is the latest they've ever opened.

The rest of our vacation was spent doing early morning airport runs, riding the 4-wheeler, golfing and hanging out with old friends. For the trip home, we took the scenic route, driving through Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We stopped along the way to spend the night at Jackson Lake Lodge, shortly after marveling at a Grizzly Bear and her two cubs along the highway. Trish snapped some some magnificent sunset and sunrise photos and we packed up the car for the final journey home. After being gone for 3 weeks, I've never seen the kids happier to cross the Colorado State Line.

As far as vacation destinations go, Montana is one of my favorites. This year was special because I had the pleasure of sharing it with Trish. She's always wanted to photograph Glacier National Park and the Grand Tetons and we were lucky enough to visit both. I also got to share a lot of smiles and memories with old classmates and friends. I experienced the joy of seeing my parents back home, living as Montanans once again and loving every minute of it. I smiled proudly as Abbie thought up the "Happy Birthday America" float and then sang on it the whole way through the parade. I simply loved spending so much time with my family in such a beautiful place.

Finally, I'd like to share a picture montage that Trish put together of the trip. Below that are some of her best shots from our adventures. As always, you can find see my latest photos on Flickr.

The Basement Sauna Project

I grew up in a cabin in the backwoods of Montana. We had no electricity and no running water. We used an outhouse to do our business and bathed in a sauna. The Cabin was built by my great-grandpa Matti Hill, who had come to America by way of Finland and a Russian navy ship. Matti and his wife Ann received 120 acres from the Homesteading Act of 1862, and built a cabin and sauna on the property in 1917 and 1918, respectively.

When my sister and I started going to school, we started getting teased by the other kids because we smelled like goats. Since we had a whole bunch of goats, and they did smell, there's a good chance the kids were right. My sister and I told my parents, and they bumped the saunas up from once a week to twice a week.

I have many fond memories of the sauna in Montana. It has a huge 55-gallon stove; made from an oil barrel. A tub of water sits on the top of the stove and throughout my childhood, I developed the ability to make the water sing with a blazing fire. I've always loved that sauna, as well as most saunas. My parents built one in their basement in Oregon, but that went away last year when they my Mom retired and they moved back to Montana.

I've always wanted to build a sauna in my own basement. When my parents visited for a few weeks this past February, I finally began the project. The prep work, installing a drain and getting 220-volt electricity installed, in the basement was the hardest part. Not from a "doing it" perspective, but from a "stomaching the cost" perspective.

By the time my parents left at the end of February, the main infrastructure was completed. The framing was done, the stove was installed and the insulation was mostly finished.

Over the next couple months, I spent a few hours here and there finishing the cedar walls, building benches and trimming to make it look good. We hired someone to do the tile work and build a custom cedar door. One of my favorite things we did was have a custom piece of glass made with the Montana Sauna's picture sandblasted in it.

I can't take credit for how good it looks in the end. That praise goes to Trish and her tile design, as well as her decorating of the dressing room. My favorite thing is the shower in the sauna. It's great for rinsing off after sweating the day's stresses away. When it gets up to 112°C (233°F), stress goes away pretty fast.

I'd like to thank my parents for raising me with a sauna and my Finnish ancestors for inventing the idea. I think Jack summed it up best when I asked him, "Isn't it great having a sauna in our basement?" His reply: "No Dad, it's not great ... it's AWESOME!". Well said son.

More Pictures » Flickr Set or Facebook Album.

My Summer Vacation in Montana

My favorite time of year is summertime. My favorite place to spend it is in Montana, often called "The Last Best Place" by natives. This year was no different and I spent the last two weeks at my family's cabin celebrating the 4th of July. Shortly after returning from our Father's Day Camping Trip, my parents packed up Abbie and Jack and headed on a 3-day road trip through Wyoming and Montana, camping and sight-seeing along the way. I followed them a few days later and made the 950-mile drive in just over 14 hours. With scenes like the one below, the trip was very enjoyable, despite it being so long.

The first week I was there, I worked remotely. It's always fun to tell people The Cabin has no electricity or running water, but it does have DSL. To be fair, it does have electricity, but it's not "on the grid" electricity - it's my Dad's concoction of generators, batteries and inverters. While I worked most of the week, I did manage to get a nice mountain bike ride in along the Foothills Trail to Holland Lake.

My real vacation began on the 4th of July weekend and we did it up right with the Swan Valley Parade and lots of big fireworks I picked up in Wyoming. The kids dressed up as Woody and Jesse (from Toy Story) and walked in the parade all by themselves (first time w/o me). They were especially excited when their pictures appeared in the local paper the following week.

Last week was spent hiking to Glacier Lake in the rain, golfing in Seeley Lake and Columbia Falls and hanging out with my good friend Owen Conley and his family.

The kids and I drove home last Sunday and it only took us 15 minutes longer than it did for me solo. I think they're quickly becoming road-tripping professionals.

My favorite part of this year's trip to The Cabin was seeing it as a home again. My Mom retired in April and my parents moved back to Montana shortly after. Seeing how happy they are there is truly magical. I especially enjoy the thought of visiting them and all the wonderful folks in the Swan Valley many, many times in the future.

To see all the pictures I took on this trip, check out the slideshow below.

P.S. An interesting note about all the pictures I took - they're all from my iPhone 4. I forgot my camera's battery at home and it seemed like a good experiment.

Celebrating My Mom's Retirement

A couple of weeks ago, after attending Abbie's Talent Show, the kids and I packed up and headed to Oregon for a weekend. This weekend marked a special weekend for my parents. When we arrived, my Mom had a week left of work before she retired from the Bureau of Land Management. You might've read about my Mom in the past. And you might know that my Dad retired last year.

My Mom has always enjoyed her career and I like to think I get a lot of enthusiasm for my own career from her. She taught me to love what you do for a living. When we lived at The Cabin, she had the drive and ambition to go back to school to get her degree in Forestry. Upon graduation, she got a job with the BLM and we moved to Oregon. My parents have lived there since 1990.

The weekend we spent in Oregon was somewhat magical. My parent's house sold in March after being on the market for only two weeks. They had a week left before they packed up and moved back to The Cabin. This meant the outside was pristine (because they fixed it up for the new buyers) and the inside was mostly packed. It was a sunny 3 days that weekend (which is rare in Oregon) and we had a blast at the Oregon Garden Brewfest, enjoyed a sunny BBQ with old friends and shared many memories derived from their 20 years in Oregon.

It was a somewhat bittersweet experience, meeting with all their friends and talking about their move to Montana. Many expressed sadness that they were leaving, but that didn't stop my parents from grinning ear-to-ear. You could see the excitement of moving back home sparkle in their eyes.

They have a huge challenge ahead of them and it seems they couldn't be happier. They'll be working on The New Cabin many long days and expect it to take a year or two.

I think my Mom said it best in an email she sent my sister and I a few days ago:

It's 9:30 and we are at Quinn's Hot Springs. Your father is snoring, he didn't last long when his head hit the pillow. We got here about 3, had a glass of wine and then soaked in the pools for an hour. Had a good dinner (I had buffalo short ribs -- mmm delicious) . They have a network, so I'm using my ipod for email.

I was crying when I drove across the state line because it felt so good to be home!

We are having a very nice drive home!! We love you!!!

Congratulations on Retiring Mom! You deserve it more than anyone else I know.

Enhanced Version » My Mothers Day Card

My Hunting Season Adventure at The Cabin

Last year, I decided Hunting Season in Montana would be a yearly tradition for me. It all started a couple years ago when I was talking to my Dad about his yearly hunting trip. He hunted a lot when we lived in Montana (early 70s - 1990) and continued this tradition when he moved to Oregon. I figured it'd be a good opportunity for some father/son bonding and asked him if I could join him one year. We soon realized we had the perfect Hunting Oasis at The Cabin and should make it a yearly tradition.

My Dad lived in Oregon for 20 years, hunted every fall with his buddy Wayne, and retired earlier this year. Shortly after retiring, he moved to Montana to start building his "retirement cabin" (with running water and indoor plumbing). My Mom, kids and I joined him in July and made some good progress on finishing the foundation.

This weekend, shortly after working all night, missing a flight, and discovering the New Belgium Hub at DIA, I arrived in Missoula for this year's hunting season. Because I arrived at midnight, we decided to spend the night at a hotel near the airport. The next morning, we woke up and drove 2 hours to the Swan Valley. We arrived at The Cabin, started the heat stove and began unloading the truck. After being there 15 minutes and starting to settle in, my Dad started to talk about where the deer usually roamed. He pointing down by the garden and mumbled "They usually come out of there..." As he was talking, I looked out our kitchen window and say a huge buck. My heart leapt into my throat.

I shouted "GO!" and my Dad quickly responded with "NO! It's yours!" I said "It's been 20 years, YOU go!" and off he went to grab his rifle. Seconds later we were out on the porch and he was trying to find the beautiful 4-point Whitetail buck in his scope. The buck quickly disappeared behind the woodshed and outhouse and didn't appear again until he was almost on the front road.

When the target walked across the road, I whispered loudly "Go, GO - get him!!"

Shortly after a shot was fired that dropped him from our view.

My Dad scrambled off the porch, trying to reload at the same time and jamming his rifle. "Get the other gun!" he yelled (because a deer is rarely done after the first shot) and I ran into the house to grab some bullets and the other rifle. By the time I made it back out to the front yard, another shot was fired. My Dad turned to me and said, "He's gone."

I thought, "WTF?!" I thought for sure he'd got him on the first shot. Turns out, "He's gone" also means "He's dead". The picture below illustrates my Dad's impressive accomplishment.

After that, we both walked back to The Cabin to put our rifles away and got ready to haul it back.

As I was returning down the road to the deer, I spotted a good-size mountain lion on top of the hill. I didn't see its face, but saw enough of it to realize I should be carrying a rifle with me. A short sprint back to The Cabin and before I knew it, I was back by the deer, guarding it from any predators.

For the next couple hours, I learned how to gut a deer and enjoyed my Dad's overdue success. Congratulations Pappy - it seems you belong in Montana after all.

P.S. Today is my parents' 37th Anniversary. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! You make marriage look both fun and easy. I hope you have fun cutting up all that meat!

My Summer Vacation in Montana

As an adult, I've often reflected upon my childhood and one of my favorite times of the year: Summer Vacation. The feeling that fills your mind and body on that last hour of school before summer break is simply awesome. I don't know when I began longing for that feeling again, but I'm pleased to say I enjoyed it again this year. I took an entire month off from "working" and enjoyed a proper summer vacation at my family's cabin in Montana.

My plan to take a month off began formulating years ago when we'd drive to the cabin for the 4th and only spend a few days before driving back. The trip was never long enough.

I started talking about spending all of July at The Cabin a couple years ago, but never committed to it. My opportunity finally came last December when Julie asked me if she could take the kids to Florida for 3 weeks for Christmas. I quickly realized that, as a kid, 3 weeks in Florida was an awesome opportunity and agreed to give up my time with them. However, I also realized I could get some negotiating power from the agreement and said "only if I can take them to the cabin for 3 weeks next summer".

For regular readers, you know the rest of the story. My Dad flew to Denver for Father's Day Weekend, stayed the following week and then we embarked on our journey to Montana on Monday, June 29th. The first week was great and we had tons of fun during the rest of July. Here's a list of some highlights:

• Running a 5K while Abbie and Jack ran the 1 mile "fun run" with my Mom. It was Abbie's first race and she got 1st place with a time of 11:05.
  
• Hiking to Holland Falls.
  

  
• Picking Huckleberries.
• Greeting my sister after she rode her motorcycle for 13 hours in the rain.
• Spending my birthday at Big Sky Waterslides, something I used to do every year for my birthday.
• Golfing with my family in Columbia Falls.
  
• Building a set of bunkbeds for the kids.
  
• Rides on "Rocket" (4 wheeler) with the kids, especially when Jack would say "go as fast as Rocket can go".
• Golfing with my good friend Owen in Seeley Lake.
  
• Prepping and pouring the floor on the New Cabin.
  

  
• Fishing with my Dad in "Joe's Jungle" and installing a new window in the cabin afterward.
  
• Teaching Abbie and Jack how to shoot a gun (a .22 pistol) for the first time.
• Getting my next gig.
• Traveling to Idaho for Clint and Autumn's Wedding Reception (they got married last December in Costa Rica).
  
• Seeing Abbie get all googly-eyed over an older boy in Idaho.
  
• Staying up to watch the sunrise in Idaho.
• Milling D Logs for the kids' Treehouse.
  
• Making it from The Cabin to Denver in 13 hours with only one speeding ticket.

More than anything, it was great to spend so much time with my parents and children. The Cabin is a very special place to me and I'm proud I can take my city-slicker kids to let them experience the outdoors and live like I did growing up. In the city, they always have an adult nearby and are never left on their own for long. They wear helmets when they ride their bikes in the alley, even though they have training wheels on and couldn't fall over if they tried.

In Montana, the rules all change.

In Montana, the adults worked on the New Cabin and the kids were left to occupy themselves. Their imaginations ran wild and they played with each other for hours every day. They made me see and remember one of my favorite things about childhood - infinite possibilities. As I kid, I was a dreamer and used to think that anything was possible in the world (flying, teleporting, you name it). I'm happy to see that Abbie and Jack believe that anything is possible too.

A week ago, I returned to Denver after driving almost 4000 miles in 30 days. I feel refreshed after so much time off. I've got my goals and ambitions in line for the rest of the year and I'm looking forward to writing more, smiling more and doing great things for my new client. Over the next several months, I'll continue to work with GWT and even have plans to talk at The Rich Web Experience in December. When I travel for work, I'll be in Boston and Cupertino. Hopefully I'll see some of you along the way.

As usual, you can see all my pictures from the past few weeks in my Montana 2009: Weeks 2-4 set on Flickr.

Raible Road Trip #13 Trip Report

Last Monday morning, my Dad, Abbie, Jack and I loaded up our rig and embarked upon Raible Road Trip #13. We rolled through Custer, South Dakota around 4:30 in the afternoon and arrived at Mount Rushmore just after 5. After gawking at Rushmore, we took a meandering route through 1-car tunnels and Custer State Park. We saw a plethora of bison, some antelope and lots of nice campsites.

On Tuesday, we woke up early and began the 9-hour drive to Fairmont Hot Springs. We pulled in right around 5 and had a blast in the pool and on the water slide. When we got there, we discovered that the pools were open 24 hours. Abbie and I were still up when my Dad and Jack fell asleep, so we snuck out and played in the pool by the fading light of the 10:00 sunset.

On Wednesday, we arrived at The Cabin around 5 after a brief stop in Missoula to get some clown costumes (for the parade) and have some of the best ice cream in the world (according to Jack). Abbie learned how to chop wood and Jack got to ride on all the tractors. My Mom arrived from Oregon later that night.

Thursday and Friday, we worked on The New Cabin and got ready for the Swan Valley 4th of July Parade. While camping in Custer, Abbie and I decided to be clowns for the parade and we were fortunate enough to find costumes in Missoula. My Mom had to drastically shrink Abbie's to fit, but her hard work paid off when Abbie won 1st Place among all the walkers. She was sooo cute as a little clown and I was a proud Dad for pulling off another fun parade.

After the parade, we ate some huckleberry ice cream and watched the O-Mok-See for a couple hours. Then we joined up with my friend Owen and his family and enjoyed an afternoon boating on Holland Lake. We closed the night watching fireworks and got to bed really late.

Since we've been here, we've seen a couple bears (while riding the 4-wheeler with each kid) and my Mom saw a mountain lion walk in front of the cabin this morning. The mosquitos are vicious, but the weather is beautiful. For more pictures from the last week, see my Montana 2009 - Week 1 set on Flickr.

Raible Road Trip #13

Another year has passed and it's time for the annual trek to The Cabin for the 4th of July. Last year, we took the route through Yellowstone. This year, we're going to shake things up a bit and head through Mount Rushmore.

One of the highlights of this trip is sure to be Fairmont Hot Springs. We're staying their tomorrow night and I'm sure Abbie and Jack will love it.

After 3 weeks at The Cabin, we'll be heading to Clint and Autumn's wedding reception in Idaho. Having so much time off from work is sure to be strange, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Happy 4th everyone!

Congratulations on Retiring Dad!

Today is a very special day in my Dad's life. Today is his last day of work. Within the next hour, Joseph Edward Raible, Jr. will officially become retired and subsequently one of the happiest people I know. My dad has always had an interesting relationship with work. I've never met someone who hated working for The Man more, yet had such a strong work ethic.

Growing up in Montana, my dad always had the shittiest jobs. When I was a toddler, he used to walk several miles to work, often during the cruel Montana winters. As I got older, I remember him working as a carpenter, logger, trail crew specialist, firefighter, radio technician and even a programmer. The reason his jobs were so shitty is because he told us they were. I don't think he made over $5/hour until I was in the second grade.

He was able to turn his career around in impressive fashion in the early 90s. He'd always been a "computer guy" at the cabin. He even went to Graduate School for his Masters in Computer Science. When we moved to Oregon, he volunteered at my mom's new office as a Network Administrator. After 6 months, they hired him and he quickly moved up the ranks. I believe his current title is something fancy like Director of Wireless Communications. Over the last 19 years, he's worked for the BLM and done amazing things like setup radio networks in Honduras and Tanzania. He's turned into quite the world traveler.

The thing I remember the most is his perseverance. One winter when he couldn't find work, he built a barn. From scratch, mostly by himself.

The other thing I remember well is how much he complained about work. It was never the actual work that he complained about, it was the "stupid fuckin' idiots" that he had to work with (or for). This is the reason that this is such a special day. I can't help but think a huge weight is being lifted from his shoulders and he's going to much happier. Then again, you know how these things go - he might actually miss having people around to complain about.

One thing's for sure, I'm super pumped and happy for the guy. He plans on moving back to Montana for the summer to work on the New Cabin and it's likely I'll get to spend a lot more time with him in the coming years.

Congratulations and cheers to you Dad. You did it. I'm extremely proud of you today.