6/13/2010

From Reno to Bend and back again - June 3-6, 2010

I bookended my trip to the National Beard and Moustache Championships with a scenic roadtrip from Reno to Bend and back again. My tour guide of the Pacific NW was two-time world sideburns champion Toot Joslin. His grandson Carver came along for the ride. See the pics here. CIMG0936 is the last to route pic. CIMG1031 is the first ot the from route pics. On the way back we stopped at Crater Lake National Park and Lava Beds National Monument. All the mountains in this area are volcanic formations. I made a pit stop in Lake Tahoe on my way home from Oregon to see my bro and his girlfriend.

Here's the corresponding route map.
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6/10/2010

A Hair Raising Experience



in costume
Originally uploaded by chronic-shock
Wow. Where do I start? The first ever National Beard and Moustache Championships in Bend, OR was awesome. I had a blast. I meet many new bearded brethren with whom I partied my ass off.  We all felt like rock stars for a weekend. There was so many people taking pictures and lots of press coverage. OregonLive.com was there, Demotix was there, even the Los Angeles Times was there. There are of course YouTube videos. I'm quoted and featured in a video called Bearded In Bend from the local ABC affiliate station KOHD. I even got my picture in the LA Times. My pics of the event are on Flickr and Facebook. Visit the BTUSA website and Facebook for lots more pics and videos of the event. We even went for a Guinness Book of World Records record for the most bearded people in one place. My traveling companion, two time world sideburns champion and one of the coolest dudes I know, Toot Joslin, won the partial beard category. He also held a grooming clinic. Here's the competitions full results. Bearded badass Jack Passion emceed.

The day before the competition was activity day. I choose the Central Oregon Microbrew Pub Tour. Our tour guide, Amanda Gow from Specialized Meetings and Events wrote in an email "I wanted to extend a huge THANK YOU to all of the tour participants for making today's tour the best one I have ever been on."  We were a rowdy bunch. We visited McMenamins Old St. Francis School, Cascade Lakes Brewery and Deschutes Brewery.

The weekend was bookended by my whirlwind tour of the Pacific Northwest, from Reno to Bend and back again!
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6/02/2010

The Nats are here!



Originally uploaded by chronic-shock
I'm heading out to the Nats tomorrow. Fifteen months of not shaving culminates into the biggest bearding event of the year. I'm giddy with anticipation. I'm tingling in my nether regions. I'm competing in the full beard category. Check me out in all my curly, fuzzy glory. I'll post all the pics and videos of the event and my misadventures in Bend, OR here on the beard blog. I'm also making a pit stop on my way home to visit my kid bro in Lake Tahoe. When I get back home, I've got a big surprise for everyone!