"Built without permission, by skateboarders and later sanctioned by the city, Burnside is the preeminent example of action.... Like a magnifying glass in the sun, Burnside can witness a concentration of skill level unmatched anywhere. You can see crazy, crazy things there. Go, watch, learn, be humbled, excited and inspired. It is amazing."A Long 4th of July Weekend
Thursday, July 8
The 4th of July. A three day weekend. Warm and sunny. You would think that with such a perfect weekend I would have skated a lot and, having a new digital camera, I would be able to post some good pics of the locals ripping it up. But no, I didn't even touch my board the entire weekend.
During the weekend I moved further out into suburban hell than I ever dreamed I would. It's funny, while I was growing up I lived fairly close in and would skate from my house to downtown pretty regularly. I always said I would never live east of 82nd. Well, I moved east of 82nd and swore I would never move east of I-205. When I moved east of 205 I said this is as far as it gets, that is until I moved east of 122nd. That was the last straw. I would never live further out than that. Here's a lesson to everyone. Never, ever say these things. I don't know what it is but I keep moving further and further away from Portland. I now live in Clackamas of all places. It's not that bad and we moved there for a good reason. My oldest boy starts kindergarten next year and we wanted to make sure we were in a good school district. The Portland public schools have been taking a nose dive for the past umpteen years and we had to get out for him.
Anyhow, before we moved I wanted to get the house fixed up. I installed about 375 sq. ft. of hardwood floors and it sucked. After spending days hunched over pounding staples and cutting boards, there was no way I was going to go skate. I could hardly stand up straight, let alone try and really ride a skateboard.
So there you have it, my three day weekend of sunny, warm days spent inside a house pounding boards. I guess I could have posted pics of my new floor, but this isn't a home improvement site.
This next weekend I will make it up and take a ton of shots of the park and locals. I'm looking at possibly adding another page to the site dedicated to photos. If I do it, you'll see a new link appear over on the right. If not, you'll see the pics right here.
That's it. Go skate!
Who are these guys that kill it at Burnside? The plan is to interview a different local each month to get different views from the people that skate one of the best parks in the world.