Adventures With Niki

Seattle skatecation day 3, contest day!

2014-04-28T18:11:00.001-07:00

So I decided to do the Skate Like a Girl 'Wheels of Fortune' street contest. I'm not a street skater but I had fun!

We started the day off skating Lower Woodland skatepark where I ran into these rad chicks that were warming up there for the contest as well.

Love this bowl!

Then off to All Together Skatepark for the contest where I pretended to be a street skater. :)

Top 3 in the over 30 division.

Loved skating with these kids!

Look at me go! :P I'm the blur. Ha.

So much fun!

Seattle skatecation day 2, 5 skateparks!

2014-04-27T18:15:00.001-07:00

I think I went to 5 skateparks today?

I need some ibuprofen.

I'm feelin it, haha..

First stop was Seattle Center. It can be fun, but not my style. Still managed to have fun though with the kids!

Group shot with the Stess's, Hilja, and Will.

Minna and I did some wall rides..

Then we were off to Jefferson skatepark to meet up with all the ladies in town for the Skate Like A Girl event, Wheels of Fortune.

This bowl is super fun!

Food break was next with my awesome skate friend Madi and parents, Michelle and Mike, at a rad cafe called the Tiny Ninja. Ha.. The chai tea was fabulous!

We decided to check out All Together Skatepark since the contest was there the next day. I pretended to be a street skater.

Then off to Marginal Way, to skatepark under the bridge. Because you know you have to hit this iconic place when you're in Seattle!

And we ran into Sally! She shreds! Love her surf style!

I admittedly didn't skate it much, but here's a shot:

Then off to Belvue to meet up with the ladies here for the contest. The place was packed with girls shredding!

It was very slippery but fun.

It is also where I tore up my poor knees. Such is the skate life! :P

Minna took a shot of me getting ready to go.. Haha..

And one I get board..

And I hit this rail..

And then I went home to ice my knees, take a hot shower, and eat some ibuprofen! :P

First day in Seattle skatecation!

2014-04-26T10:59:00.001-07:00

Pretty much as soon I was off the plane I picked up my clown car rental and headed to the first skatepark of the weekend, Jefferson.

Hilja and Carrie were there waiting for me, yay girl skaters! :D

Awesome view of downtown Seattle in the background from this skatepark!

Weird random key hole, had to grind over it! :)

Then we headed to the Skate Like A Girl welcome event where I met up with the Stess family, Andrew, Moniz, Minna, and Finnley. Yay skate family!

It was freezing so we squished into the clown car and headed out to eat and be warm!

The food was delish, the company was great, and the kids turned wild after I gave them candy. Case in point, Minna crawling around on my clown car. Heh..

And then off to bed!

Stay tuned for more shenanigans! :)

Last day AZ skatecation

2014-03-06T18:32:00.001-08:00

Well the time has come, the skatecation has sadly ended, but it certainly will not be the last!

We hit up Union Hills first so I can meet up with the one and only, OGBetty Patty McGee!

Here are some photos of the crew:

Patti and me:

Here I am doing a handstand on my moving board in front of Patti, who was the first girl to ever do one! :)

Random skate photos:

I had the most fun, by far! At Union Hills! :D

Next we went to Tempe skatepark for my last skate sesh before heading out:

And to celebrate the end of my trip, a drink before heading to the airport with Carley, Natalie, Carl, Laura, and Jean:

And in the end, I didn't break myself, and all I have to show for this skate trip besides a fabulous tan are these ankle biters. My board bit me a lot!

Thanks to Jean and family for hosting me and showing me a wonderful skatecation!!!!! <3

Day 4 in AZ

2014-03-06T10:03:00.001-08:00

Today I skated more. Surprise! :P

First Jean and I started with a leisurely bike ride to the school:

Then we stopped at 20th and Southern skatepark (no one knows the name):

And I pretended to be a street skater again:

The next rad spot was Desert West. This bowl is uh-mazing!

And I had fun! :)

And Jean killed it:

And we were silly:

Then we went to the Wedge. Which isn't fun with a lot of people there.

And I had fun in a feature not even in the skatepark :P

But we managed to learn hippie jumps. Seriously, the best thing we skated there, haha:

That is all.

Days 3 in AZ

2014-03-06T09:37:00.001-08:00

Skating Rio Vista with a photo bomb by Natalie:

Break time!

Airing out backwards, because I can! :P

Next stop, Zuener mini ramp! Had a blast skating with those crazy kids!

After the sesh, Carleigh, Brandon and I met up with Natalie for some yummy tacos, but before that, we stopped at a candy store and I made an impulse buy:

And Carleigh's adorable new puppy attacked me:

The end.

Day 2 in AZ

2014-03-04T09:26:00.001-08:00

Nothing much to see here today..

Just 2 old ladies shreddin Tempe, working on fast lines and grinds!

Oh, I did have fun at dinner making art out of our oil and vinegar mix, heh...

Day 1 of skate in AZ

2014-03-03T09:42:00.001-08:00

The first sesh was at Tempe skatepark.

Almost right away I hurt my ankle.

Oh joy.

But I'm a champ so I kept skating. ;)

Super fun flow bowl where one can get fast lines and fast grinds. I would love more flow bowls in the Denver area.

Here I am pretending to be a street skater:

Fun times with this crew! :)

Mike, Carl, Jean, Sammy and I.

After that skate we went to an Arc silent auction fundraiser which was a last minute gig for Jean. She sang in the band!

We clean up nicely:

And there was a lot of food and drinks to sample. I ate ALMOST 4 cupcakes. I love cupcakes. I decided I like this wine:

And Natalie showed up to hang out! :)

After the gig, we went to McDowell Mountain Ranch in North Scottsdale.

When we arrived, I realized I had left my purse at the event. No big deal, hopefully it turns up and we will just skate while we wait to hear if it's been found! ;)

I totally hated this park at first and it took a while to warm up to, but then the Zueners showed up to play and I got my stoke on. Brighton was boosting airs in the bowl and I haven't tried airs in forever so I decided to try my airs. They were little but I am slowly getting them back. I haven't been skating big bowls since August because I'm scurred, but seeing Natalie (my age) and Jean (more wise age) kill it inspired me to get back at it. Because they rule.

Natalie, Me, Jean, Bridget, Brighton, Jack, Jason

Pretending to be a street skater again:

First stop, eat!

2014-03-02T14:43:00.001-08:00

Jean picked me up and we went to Fuzzy's in Tempe to eat.

So because of the recent legislation b/s going on, you first need to make sure that if you're gay, you can even enter the restaurant:

But once you're good to go, you can eat and drink! :)

Jean and I

My food was delicious. You know how everything tastes phenomenal when you're starving.

And always remember to check out the available swag. Because sometimes it's funny.

You know you're in Arizona when..

2014-03-02T14:27:00.001-08:00

This sign though..

Venice rules!

2011-07-31T21:43:00.000-07:00

Venice is always an interesting park to go to. The skaters and crowd are always an eclectic mix. Always makes for an interesting time. I skated with Danielle while Ray Rae took the photos. We had a great time! I feeble stalled the deep end of the bowl and aired the channel! :D

air hip in snake run

Danielle gettin some!

frontside air

frontside air channel

frontside air channel while Bennet kickflips over it :D

Ojai again!

2011-07-31T21:35:00.000-07:00

Skated Ojai again and it was such an epic session! Lots of locals showed up, including non locals, and we all shredded! Everyone killed it and then we all did doubles and even triples in the bowl! It was a great session all around.

8 wheeler

Brian Patch, Archer, Abby and me

Rock and roll extension... that trick is hit or miss...

Ojai has a fun bowl :D

2011-07-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

Sunday session at Ojai was fun. I skated with Abby and Cenen, a fellow BDS guy. Cenen and Chris Z took the photos.
Overall the park is fun but the street section could be a bit more flowy, plus it's tiny.
The prize of this park is the bowl. I love the sound of tile and it has the smoothest cheater pool coping I've ever seen. It was definitely made well and very smooth.
I'll be going back there tonight for a session so I'm pretty excited to get my shred on in that bowl again!

Cenen, Abby and I

Learned a new trick! Blunt to rock fakie/rock n roll

Rock fakie with the 8 wheeler

Doubles with Abby, rock n rollin! ;)

Yes, I can grind with the 8, somehow...

8 wheels out! :D

The Ojai bowl

Skating Pala with my favorite little groms!

2011-07-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

Shredding the bowl with the 8, all the way on the back truck! :D

Learning to grab behind the knee :D

Pala is a fun park with 2 fun flow bowls and a pool bowl. I like them both. I skated with Dan and my favorite groms Annika and Klara! :D

Annika is 7 and shreds!

Klara is 5 and learning how to shred hard like her big sis! <3

Dan is usually taking the pics so I took one of him getting some! :D

Skating at Moorpark and bailing hard!

2011-07-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

Last night I skated Moorpark with Abby and her dad was taking photos. It's a decent park, I like the flow area, but it's really blind so you really have to watch where you are at and where others are at. I'm pretty sure bikes and scooters are not allowed, but there were tons there! Lame! Anyway, the pool bowl is interesting. The shallow end is square with stairs and the deep end has 3 stairs and a death box. Still fun if you can manage it. I managed the deep end, not so much those darn stairs...

Best bail shot ever! Going too fast over the stairs... Oops! ;)

Did get some airs in the flow bowl but it has a weird over vert pocket with a nice hip but it's hard to get to...

Trying to throw smiles in with my airs. It's hard. :P

Abby can do the stairs just fine :P

Abby shreds with style! :D

Etnies in Lake Forest is for mongo kids...

2011-07-22T10:45:00.000-07:00

Well it looks like a fun park, and I'm sure it can be, when you're not surrounded by tons of kids and the sun blaring in your eyes! :P I didn't really have as much fun as I could have here. There were too many kids and the sun was right in my eyes.
Once the sun went down it got better, but the kids were still there so it was difficult to skate hard with so many going every which way. This was the first skatepark I have been to where every person there was in the early stages of learning. It was crazy! Usually all the kids are better than me!

This park is a really good size, and they are adding on to it so it will be bigger, but the bowl where they are building the cradle will have to be a one run bowl because there are lots of blind spots.

The new course looks fun but lots of blind spots in the cradle bowl. The other bowl is tight!

Overall a fun park, if there are only a few people there and the sun isn't blinding you...

Conquering the vert ramp

2011-07-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

There are no vert ramps in Colorado for me to skate, so I've only skated them about 3 times. Well I recently went to Caliremont YMCA where they have an old X Games 13 foot vert ramp, and I skated it. It took me 2 bails and 3 makes, but I finally aired over coping on it! Yay me! I hope to skate the vert ramps more so I can learn more tricks and go higher! :D

So stoked I aired the 13 foot vert ramp! I'll try to smile more....

Skated Venice skatepark on the beach!

2011-07-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

I love this park! It may not be the best park as far as skateparks go, but it has the best ambiance. I love that it is right on the beach. You have palm trees, sand, and water all around. So beautiful! I'll spend more time at this park because I love the beach and the water! :D My buddy Ray Rae took the photos, he's great at that! :D

Fun park on the beach!

My highest air yet! So easy in this bowl! :D

Gotta get the frontside slash in, beautiful setting!

Skaterboarder, Roller Derby girl, and BMXer???

2011-06-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a fun skate session at Wilson skatepark in Chicago. A few girls showed up and we all had fun skating together. A little 6 year old girl named Azure showed up and it was awesome to see her skate. She charged! She made all the guys get out of HER way! It was so great to see!

Today we went to Asylum skatepark for the GRO session/contest. That was fun times. I learned how to drop in a 4 foot with a bmx bike, and a 5 foot with roller skates! Fun times... ;)

Long time no update?

2011-06-24T12:28:00.000-07:00

Well it's a combination of being busy and lazy... (at least I'm honest hehe)

I'm on the road with the Girls Riders Organization and it's been crazy! We are currently in Chicago. It's an interesting city... Yesterday I skated Wilson skatepark with Soma and Javier who are both awesome hosts as well. I liked the park but it's super bumpy and rough. You have to pump every hip and wall you can in the flow bowl. I like the combi because it's tight, however, it has the weird coping that rolls over the edge, but there's nothing on top... We are heading back there today for the GRO ride session, then heading to Circus skatepark where a bunch of girl bmx riders will be...

I'll come back and update more about this trip and prior trips... Stay tuned! Pictures to come as well! :D

2 Weekends of Skating Oregon and Washington in Pictures

2011-06-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

Wondering how I'll get fast enough to go higher at Battlegrounds, WA

Going over the loveseat at Battlegorunds, WA

Not going as high as I wanted, but figuring it out...

Airing out at Carnation Skatepark, WA

Airing out at Carnation Skatepark, fast fun bowl!

Met up with Alyssa and Clem at Bellevue Skatepark, WA

Skated Marginal Way with Jenny and Sally

Skated Lower Woodlands in WA with Hilja and ran in to these guys too! :D

This is the most girls that I have skated with at one time, I was stoked! Skating at Lower Woodlands in WA.

I had the notion to do a cartwheel whilst on the ferry... How many times in your life can you say you did that? :P

Interesting spot for a 'no skateboarding' sign. Most likely if you try it you and your board will end up in the water... Port Townsend, WA

We stayed at this awesome 122 year old mansion in Port Townsend :D

This bowl at Lower Woodlands is by far my most favorite and fastest ever!!! :D

Frontside carve action at Lower Woodlands, WA

Feeble stall at West Linn, OR

Working on f/s air at West Linn, OR

Carving the biggest and gnarliest bowl. Pier skatepark in Oregon

Slash grinding at Marginal Way

That carve kept throwing me to a b/s air on this hip. Pier OR

I love turtes/tortoises and this one was plucked from it's home in Africa and brought to the Rose Festival in Portland

This poor baby tiger was at the Rose Festival in Portland too

And of course, we stopped to skate Burnside! So gnarly!

Skating out on the peninsula area of WA...

2011-05-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

Friday and Saturday were most epic skate days in the surrounding Seattle area. We planned on skating the Seattle area, but a friend suggested some other parks, so I looked them up and said ok. Had we known the drive would take so long, we might have said no, but we are most certainly glad that we went! I skated some of the best parks ever!!!!

When we finally arrived in Bainbridge Island, we met up with Ian and skated Bainbridge to start. I wasn't too stoked on this park because it is rough and takes a lot of effort to flow. My little legs had to work extra hard to hit every wall in one run! ;) Anyway, we didn't stay long, we considered this our warm up park...

Next we moved on to Port Townsend, which is one of my favorite parks ever! The bowls are epic! We stayed and skated here for a bit. It was a great atmosphere as well because there was a parade going on and we had tons of spectators!

This is a photo of me working on b/s airs on this hip of the flow bowl. It was a fun run because then I went to a f/s air from the higher to lower section of the deep end. I felt like I was boosting! haha... This flow bowl is great because you can flow for a while! The other bowl is also very fun, even though every wall is really steep. It's fast with lots of flow too.

We were hesitant to leave Port Townsend because we were thinking, how could there be any better??? But we moved on, and we were happy with what we found. The next destination was to Port Angeles. This park has the most flow ever! I can't say I like it more than Port Townsend, but I definitely love the big bowl because it has endless flow. Seriously, you can just go forever and not even break a sweat! You can transfer from one bowl to the other all day, and all 3 bowls are fun. I spent most of my time in the bigger bowl, finding lines and doing airs. It has a section that is like a full pipe, without the full, so I would do f/s airs on the hip into that section. Gnarly! ;)

We stayed at this park for a while. Even when my legs were yelling at me to stop, I just couldn't! Endless flow for days! You just don't find this gem every day!

But alas, we had to leave eventually. The sun was almost down and we had a 2 hour drive back to Bainbridge to drop Ian off and then get a hotel for the night. The next day we weren't sure if we were going to skate because it had rained earlier and we didn't know if the parks would be dry, so we went to the Tacoma mall to check out the Vans store, get some grub, and move on. The next stop was Milton, and I'm glad we stopped there for a warm up, because that park has lots of flow as well. It also reminded us of Carbondale skatepark in Colorado. Ricky insists they were probably made around the same time, by the same people. I can almost agree because they are very similar as far as how it was made.

We pretty much had this to ourselves, besides 2 other guys that showed up to shred, but we didn't stay long. I decided we should move on because the clouds looked like they were going to pop and it would rain any time soon. Women's intuition. ;)
So we moved on to Kent, and we are stoked we did. This park has one of the funnest bowls. It has a full pipe and huge walls. It is definitely not for the ungnarly... We skated here for a bit, running laps in that bowl over and over and over until we could barely move. Which was good because as I had thought, it started raining. So the skate trip was over and we had a long drive back to Yakima, but this trip is by far my best ever!

GRO and girls in action sports everywhere needs your help!

2011-05-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

We are on a mission to make great things happen for girls in action sports. The main sponsor just pulled out of GRO Experience Tour. However, this cannot stop progression. So GRO is reaching out to you on behalf of all girls in action sports from New York to Los Angeles. When activities for the youth are being cut left and right, we must come together to make the future we want to see.

Your donation or sponsorship of this event is going to be what decides if this tour will happen. Will the first national female am skateboard street series happen? Will girls East to West get free workshops to learn how to ride and represent positive expression? Or will one more girls event be lost to budgets?

My skateboard tour schedule with Girl Rider's Organization

2011-05-19T13:07:00.000-07:00

GRO Experience Tour is traveling coast to coast this summer with the largest national series focused on females in action sports. From the GRO Am Skateboard Series to the GRO Experience Festival, there is something for everyone. This interactive event is open to the public and will provide opportunities for females to experience first hand action sports and active arts as a way to stay active and positive!

Click here for a more detailed schedule…

GRO Experience – An introduction to action sports and active arts for females of all ages. Over the course of the event, attendees will be shown a variety of activities through demos, workshops, question sessions, speakers and more. Inspire, educate, and support. Skateboarding, BMX, Roller Derby, Music, Art, Dance and more will be out in attendance providing females a true experience in each area. The education is free and open to the the public at the event.

GRO Am – The only national amateur street skateboard contest focused on females. This event will bring out talent from New York to California to go head to head to show what’s next for skating. Skaters will qualify in one of the GRO Am contests over June and July, or win one of Two golden tickets that will be awarded to girls we skate with at the GRO Ride Sessions along the way. From there they advance to GRO Am Finals in Los Angeles, California. The top 20 girls, including the two golden tickets, will earn a spot in the semi finals in Los Angeles, from there the top 10 will advance to the finals that same day in LA!

GRO Ride Session – Are a fun, relaxed environment to give more girls across the country an opportunity to come out and ride with the GRO Riders along the way. Come ride with skaters, BMX riders and derby girls of GRO Experience for a session of fun. Who knows, you may even walk away with a few new skills. All Ages and Abilities are welcome to join. All you have to have is an interest in learning more! Grab your friends, your board or bike and get experienced with GRO

In Yakima, WA!

2011-05-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

Ok so I haven't updated recently, so here's what I've been up to....

Last weekend I packed all my stuff and put it in storage. I am technically now homeless, but that's ok because being on the road is fun.

I am now in Yakima, WA with Ricky. He travels places for work and I'm just tagging along skateboarding the whole time. We have been here a couple days and so far it's been good.

We skated Yakima skatepark yesterday and today and it is a super rad park! I'm glad I get this to skate for a few weeks, and during the day, I get it to myself... :D