The Latest from Mike:
2009 brings a new name.
After losing the Pacific Coast Travels name to a web host boondogle,
I had to come up with something new, and that is Pacific Coast Drifter.
This new name has a nice ring to it and it's probably more accurate -
my travels are too sporadic and drifter is a better description of my style.
I also changed the color scheme to a more relaxing sand and tan look.
Expect these changes to take a few months as I correct individual pages and re-sign my photos.
2008: What a difference a year makes.
After spending three months in China in 2007 I did nothing interesting in all of 2008.
No local trips, no overseas trips, and then to top it all off, I lost the
PacificCoastTravels domain name.
This is a long story, but basically I tried to change from the NetworkSolutions
name server to the GoDaddy server, but it didn't work. The instructions from my web
host (Alentus) didn't work and after several e-mails and a phone call, it still
wouldn't work, but by then the name had expired and Network Solutions sold it
to someone else. GhostTownSoftware.com still works but this seems to have cut
my web traffic in half.
To keep things fresh I uploaded a new section of photos from my Pikes Peak Trailguide.
By the looks of the viewer counts in the Gallery, this seems very popular.
The China trip still has as much traffic as the rest of the site combined
but the Pikes Peak section is already in second place.
I don't have any other trips planned for the coming year, but there's a good
chance that I'll make it to Hawaii or Costa Rica. But I've been saying that
for three years now.
Spammers are still flooding my feedback form with their automated bots.
They crawl the web looking for forums where they can post their host address
in massive numbers in an attempt to get free advertising and a higher ranking in Google.
My form has a trick question that stops bots but my web logs still track their activity
and the numbers are unbelieveable. In November they submitted the form 700 times per day,
which is every two minutes. None of those got through.
2007: Three Months in China.
I spent last July and October in Dongguan China on business trips.
Dongguan is about 100 miles north of Hong Kong and I had plenty of
weekends to explore the area. These pages include plenty of stories
and pictures of local parks, scenic coasts, Hong Kong, and a trip to the remarkable
mountains of Goulin. The big irony is that July is the perfect time to
explore Portland, and worst time to explore steamy south China.
Other than that, things are moving in slow motion here at Pacific
Coast Drifter. The only update to the site in the last year and
a half has been the China section. It sounds like a lot of fun,
but I haven't had the time or money to go places and shoot pictures.
I've been promising trips to Canada and Costa Rica for more than a year,
but these are delaying for yet another year.
Since changing this site from the Pikes Peak Trailguide
to Pacific Coast Drifter, the numbers of viewers has
dropped to about a quarter of what it was two years ago.
The majority of my hits are still for Pikes Peak info because
Google is still indexing the site as GhostTownSoftware
instead of PacificCoastTravels. I might have to split
this into two web sites to get Google to index it correctly.
Even worse, spammers are flooding my feedback form using automated bots
that crawl the web looking for forums where they can post their host address.
This is a pathetic attempt to get free advertising and a higher ranking in Google.
It's a disease that affects feedback forms throughout the web.
It doesn't work on mine because I installed a trick question on my form that stops bots.
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Portland Oregon 2008
I'm years behind in adding new pages to the web site so this new section includes trips to
Portland area parks from 2006, 2007 & 2008, including:
Vancouver Lake, Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge, Lacamas Park, Marine Drive, the Japanese Garden, & Astoria.
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Pictures from the Pikes Peak Trailguide
These pages include pictures I shot between 1998 and 2004 while researching my Trailguide CD-ROM.
Now that the Pikes Peak Trailguide CD-Rom is discontinued, I thought I would post some of the pictures on the web.
These pages span the entire Pikes Peak region, and include 100 of the 450 photos from the CD, plus a few others that I shot sometime later.
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The Second Trip to China 2007
This second trip features mostly local travel in southern China plus a week in Thailand.
The aircraft carrier in Shenzhen China
Parks and temples in Guangzhou and Dongguan
A few days in Sha Tin Hong Kong
A trip to Krabi Thailand
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Dongguan China 2007
This six week business trip features plenty of travel to some of the exciting sights of southern China.
The long trip, Portland, San Francisco, Hong Kong
The hotel and plant in Dongguan
A few days in Hong Kong
The famous mountains of Goulin China
Local parks and temples galore
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Waterfall Extravaganza 2006
I spent half the summer shooting some of the waterfalls in the region.
This is only a fraction of the falls around here, maybe I'll get the rest next year.
Jumping off of Lewis River Falls
Rodney Falls at Beacon Rock
Moulton Falls near Battleground
Oneota Falls in the Gorge
Eutola Falls next to Oneota
Latourell Falls near Multnomah
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Olympic Peninsula 2006
There's a ton of exploring to do around Olympic National Park.
This weekend trip took a drive around the perimeter to check out the beaches and rainforest.
Visit West Coast Beaches
Drive up Hurricane Ridge
Visit North Coast Beaches
Drive down Hood Canal
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Portland Oregon 2006
The Portland area has several good places to go for a bike ride.
Exploring Sauvie Island north of Portland.
Biking Table Mountain Trail by Skamania.
Hiking the Washugal Dike.
Biking Portland's Forest Park.
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Vancouver Washington 2005
Vancouver has a scenic assortment of parks near by.
Salmon Creek Park
Wintler/Marine Parks
Vancouver Lake Park
Round Lake & Lacamas Park
Portland Riverfront
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Portland Oregon 2005
More hiking and biking along the Columbia River.
Hiking up scenic Eagle Creek to Punchbowl Falls.
Hiking above Latourell and Oneota Falls in the Gorge.
Sloshing to Oneota Falls.
Hiking in Lewis River Park, north of Vancouver WA.
Columbia River waterfalls and the giant sturgeon.
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Portland Oregon 2004
After moving to Vancouver Washington, I started exploring the area.
A trip to the Oregon coast including beaches, cliffs and forest.
Exploring the beach and shipwreck near Astoria.
Hiking in the Hoyt Arboretum in West Portland.
Vancouver Lake Wildlife Refuge.
The scenic park in Longview.
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Portland Oregon 2003
In 2003 I made a trip to Portland to visit friends and take a quick tour of the area.
Visiting the falls in the Columbia River Gorge.
Climbing 800 foot Beacon Rock.
Hiking downtown Portland.
Taking a drive up Mt St Helens.
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Maui Hawaii 2002
In 2002 I was in Maui, Hawaii. There's way too much to do there in one week.
Touring the south west coast near Kehei
Touring the north west coast near Kanapali.
Driving the Hana Highway through the rain forest.
Visiting Haleakala and the big Aquarium.
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Malaysia 2002
In 2002 I made a second trip to Penang Malaysia to visit friends.
Sightseeing in Hong Kong.
Sightseeing in Penang Malaysia.
Jungle treking in Taman Negara National Park.
Snorkling at Palau Payar island.
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Malaysia 2000
In 2000 I made a business trip to Penang Malaysia, which included plenty of exploring.
The Equatorial Hotel.
Kek-Loc-Si Temple.
Penang Botanical Garden and Arboretum.
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Colorado 2001
In 2001 I was in Ouray and Silverton with my brother.
This spectacular region includes towering mountains, forest and waterfalls.
It's not exactly on the Pacific Coast, but they're still nice pictures.
Exploring the mountains surrounding Ouray.
Exploring the gold mining district above Silverton.
Checking out the river and hot springs in Pagosa Springs.
Riding my bike from Silverton to Durango.
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