Welcome to the Home Page of Doug and Erynn Rathburn!

I'm beginning to upload all of our photos to a central photo gallery. If you'd like to check it out click on the logo to the left.

June 27-29, 2009: Doug's parents came down to visit, and we took his dad fly fishing three days in a row. We hit four places over the weekend: the South Holston River tail waters, Hampton Creek for brook trout, Doe River and did a float trip on Watauga River. On two of the days we had Randy Ratliff of Troutfishers Guide Service with us as a guide. He's a very good guide and we used him on our trip to Blowing Rock, NC.

Above is Doug's dad landing a nice rainbow trout on the South Holston. Below is the brook trout he caught in Hampton Creek. It was a great weekend of fishing with him catching the Trout Trifecta: brook, brown and rainbow trout. You can check out more photos of the step-by-step installation HERE.

June 22, 2009: I finally upgraded the center console in the Elise! It's an upgrade I've been wanting to do for quite some time. I bought a carbon fibre center console from Sector 111, which is a specialty after market supplier for Lotus cars in the US. The stock Elise comes with a rather drab looking gray plastic console. The carbon fibre certainly spruces up the interior! The project took about 1.5 hours. You can check out more photos of the step-by-step installation HERE.

June 20, 2009: Erynn and I went fishing with our friend Carl again, but this time we went to Beaverdam Creek in the Cherokee National Forest. The fishing creek runs between Shady Valley, TN and Damascus, VA. Our first stop was at Backbone Rock and then after a few hours we went back Route 133 toward Shady Valley and fished near another bridge. Both spots provided very easy access to the creek, but didn't yield many fish. In fact, the only thing we caught were a couple creek chubs. After a morning of fishing, Carl took us to Damascus to discuss the Creeper Trail and then onto Abingdon, VA before heading home. You can check out more photos from the trip HERE.

June 14, 2009: Erynn and I took the dogs and drove to the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park about 1.5 hours from our house. It was a beautiful sun-shiny day so we decided to get out of the house. The Cumberland Gap was an important east-west corridor from the late 1700's to early 1800's. We stopped off at the visitor center first then headed to the Pinnacle Overlook for a view of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. The three states intersect just on the other side of the Gap from the Pinnacle Overlook -- we decided not to hike to the three-state monument since it was so hot and humid. Really, we were just looking out for the dogs.

As we walked to the overlook, the dogs did their usual stop at every tree routine. If you've ever met Cupcake you know she was born with a defect in her hind legs. As a result she doesn't jump much or stand on her hind legs. As we approached the stone wall and metal railing for the overlook, Cupcake decided she wanted to have a look of her own. She tried to jump up onto it! Erynn shrieked and gave a yank on her leash pulled her back. I then proceeded to put Buckley on the edge and Erynn snapped the best photo of the trip (above) with the Cumberland Gap in the background. You can check out more photos from the trip HERE.

June 7, 2009: Erynn and I went fishing with our friend Carl at the South Holston Dam in Bristol, Tennessee. It was a gorgeous day and both Erynn and Carl caught some trout. Above is Erynn with her stocked brown trout she caught near the end of the day with a Dry Sulphur fly. You can check out more photos from the trip HERE.

May 20, 2009: To hold Erynn's new single, we built some boats rack next to our shed. Her boat has the pretty orange and blue Burnham cover. You can check out more photos from the project HERE.

May 16, 2009: We bought a brand new Peinert X25 for Erynn. I've been rowing on Patrick Henry Lake in the Warrior's Path State Park for a couple months now. But this was Erynn's first outing and the first time she's had her own shell. It was built for her size and weight and she picked out the periwinkle color. There's no rowing club in the area so we wade in at one of the lake's boat ramps. I don't imagine that the locals are accustomed to rowers so we wear the hunter orange hats so people with 20 foot boats and 500hp motors are able to see us as they scream down the lake. You can check out more photos from her first outing HERE. You can also see photos of when the boat was delivered the day before HERE.

May 10, 2009: Doug's parents drove down to visit for a week. We didn't have much planned and mostly just hung out. Erynn and I both had to work so during the day my folks saw the local sites and helped with some yard work. You can check out more photos from their visit HERE.

April 11-12, 2009: We decided to spend the weekend in Chattanooga, Tennessee for Easter. We had heard the town and area were beautiful so we decided to take a look. Aside from checking out some cool restaurants and walking around town, Doug wanted to visit the local national parks and rowing club. We visited the Russell Cave National Monument about half an hour outside of town in Alabama. Later that evening and the next day we visited the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. The photo above is from Point Park, which is part of the Chattanooga section of the military park on Lookout Mountain. We didn't do any of the touristy stuff on the mountain because we had heard Point Park was the way to go, and we think they were right. It was beautiful.

You can check out more photos from the trip HERE.

April 5, 2009: For Erynn's birthday we took the dogs and hiked to Rock Creek Falls in the Cherokee National Forest. The parking area for the falls is just outside of the town of Erwin, TN about 20 minutes from our house. The hike was about 2 miles into the mountains to see the falls and was fairly stenous, but the weather was perfect and the dogs had a good time. Well worth it!

You can check out more photos from the trip HERE.

March 22, 2009: Erynn and I broke out the Hitachi power tools again to finish her 3-compartment compost bin. She's very excited to begin decomposing!

You can check out more photos from the project HERE.

March 17, 2009: The previous owners didn't take very good care of the lawn. Therefore, this gave me another excuse to buy more stuff. Here you can see Erynn pulling our new John Deere 40" Plug Aerator. The lawn may still be a lost cause though.

You can check out more photos HERE.

March 15, 2009: We came home one afternoon to find our dogs missing. We had installed some wire fencing along the bottom edge of our back fence but they had dug underneath and escaped. This particular fence had been installed before we moved in, and it had a small gap between the bottom edge and the ground. Since the previous wire fence was ineffective, we decided to break out the big guns. We bought a bunch of 1x6 boards and nailed them horizontally along the bottom of the fence with our Hitachi framing nailer. Then we used the previous wire fence along the bottom edge of the 1x6 attached with our Hitachi pneumatic stapler. We bent the wire fence in a 90 degree angle so it stuck down into the ground another six inches and then out into the yard about six inches. This means the dogs will now have to start digging about a foot from the fence and dig down about a foot to escape. This required us to excavate a trench about a foot deep and a foot wide for nearly 125 feet. We figure that if they can get out this time then they deserve to be free.

You can check out more photos from the project HERE.

March 7, 2009: I replaced the old stainless steel kitchen sink with some higher end equipment. Erynn chose the FrankUSA faux granite sink with an Insinkerator Evolution Excel garbage disposal and a Delta Talbott style fawcett. The new stuff fits a bit more with the house's decor and is a bit higher end. It only took about five trips to Lowe's to get all of the right plumbing pieces.

You can check out more photos from the project HERE.

February 21, 2009: Erynn and I installed some lattice under our deck. The project was partly to make the deck look better, but mostly to keep the dogs from disappearing for hours upon end and then coming back covered in clay. I added a couple photos to the page with our house if you'd like to see more.

You can check out more photos from the project HERE.

February 15, 2009: Erynn and I took the dogs for a short hike to Red Fork Falls. The falls are located in Unicoi County about 20 minutes from our house. Erynn had attempted the climb down to the bottom a couple days before, but with two dogs it proved too difficult. With one dog each, we made it all the way and had a great time. It's a bit strenuous, but Buckley proved to be part mountain goat. Cupcake sat down a couple times on the way back up the mountain to let us know she wasn't too happy. Some more photos of the falls can be found here.

You can check out more photos from the trip HERE.

February 9, 2009: A nice gentleman from the Knoxville Ritchie Tractor delivered our new LA135 Special Edition Riding Lawn Tractor today. If you didn't know by now, Doug got a job at the factory that makes the 100 Series in Greeneville, TN. Erynn was home to take delivery and the dealer showed her all of the controls and gave her a nice pink hat. We have a little over half an acre, and this is the first time we've been able to justify a riding mower. So of course we needed to buy the best!

You can check out more photos HERE.

January, 2009: Pictures of our new house in Jonesborough, Tennessee!

Thanksgiving, 2008: Erynn and I headed out to Salt Lake City to spend Thanksgiving with her family. Her big sis had just given birth to Ashton so it was a great excuse to all get together. On the trip we also headed to the Hill Aerospace Museum in Ogden, Utah and went fly fishing on the Provo River.
Click here if you'd like to see some photos from the trip.

November 13-16, 2008: My dad, Erynn and I headed to North Dakota for some pheasant hunting on a ranch owned by our friends Jerod and Mylynn. The highlight of the trip was hanging out with their kids.
Click here if you'd like to see some photos from the trip.

November 1-2, 2008: Erynn and I headed to western North Carolina where we stayed at a resort in Blowing Rock for the weekend. While there we had an all-day fly fishing lesson on Saturday then did a little driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway on Sunday. Click here if you'd like to see some photos from the trip.

October 11, 2008: The town of Morrisville closes down the road in front of our house to hold a 5k every year. Erynn runs the route all the time so there was no excuse not to enter the race. Just roll out of bed and race. Can't beat that!

Erynn smashed her previous 5k personal best by a couple minutes finishing in 28 minutes and 47 seconds.

September 28, 2008: I headed to Columbus, Ohio to hang out with some friends. As part of the weekend, Dan, Joe and myself beat up on Dan's Land Rover Defender 90 a bit. Click here if you'd like to see some photos of the adventure.

July-August, 2008: I was fortunate enough to get a position at work that will allow us to stay in North Carolina for at least the next year. Summers in NC are hot and there are tons of mosquitoes. Since we'll be staying and Erynn can't stand the bugs we decided to screen in our back patio. I don't like the heat so I just stay inside. It's turning out to be fairly labor intensive since we're cutting the cedar boards then installing them.

The project is now complete. Click here for some photos.

July 15, 2008: Our friends from Bristol, Jackie and Jas, came over to the States to visit Jackie's family. Along their whirlwind tour, we met up with them in Asheville, North Carolina for the day. It was our first time meeting their daughter Annika. It was great to catch up with them, but all that catching up didn't leave much time to see some of the more interesting sites in town. Oh well, I guess we'll have to go back...

Fur Babies!!!!

June 21-22, 2008: My rowing partner, David, and I competing in the USRowing Southeast Regional Championship in Aiken, South Carolina. The first day was in the pair and the second was in the double. Fortunately, we're faster in the pair so we took home two gold medals on the first day in the Open and Masters A-B category. The second day was a little more humbling leaving us over a minute behind the winning Open double. As consolation, we then went on to take third in the Masters double a half an hour later. All in all, a fun weekend despite the 90 degree, 93% humidity.

June 2008: Erynn and I headed to NYC to see our friend Angelo. He's moved from SF for work so we took the opportunity to visit New York. Believe it or not, but we've never been to the Big Apple! Our extensive travels never led us there so we were grateful to Ang for letting us crash at his place and taking us on a culinary tour of the city. More photos to come.

Apr. 2008: I had the opportunity to visit India for work and a group of us headed to the Taj Mahal on our off day. View the photo album.

Feb. 2008: Erynn and I headed down to the Riviera Maya with our friends MJ & Christine, Mike & Melissa and Dave & Megan. View the photo album.

The trip down memory lane continues. I've finally created a photo album of our trip to Paris in 2000. Highlights include how I proposed to Erynn and our train adventure getting to Versailles.

I recently bought a negative scanner. Yes, I need help. Anyway, I dug out a bunch of old photos to scan in order to update some of the photos albums a bit. You can now see some more photos from when my folks came over to England to visit in 2002.

Aug '07 FINALLY! I've gotten around to creating a photo album for our trip to Munich and Salzburg during the 2007 World Rowing Championships. You can access the album HERE.

Nov 25 '07 Erynn and I drove to my folk's house in Ohio for Thanksgiving and we brought the grand puppies. Here they are cuddling on the couch together and Buckley with my dad.

Oct 28 '07 Erynn's celebrating our third place finish (i.e. DFL) in the mixed master double event at the Head of the Lafayette Regatta in Norfolk, Virginia. This was our first race in our new Pocock double and the new boat performed great. Unfortunately, it was the old folks behind the oars that slowed it down. The weather was a bit windy on the tideway, but we had a good time with the other club members from Raleigh.

Sept 7 '07 We adopted another beagle named Cupcake, and she's a real sweetheart.

More updates to come...

Aug 25 '07 Erynn and I headed up to Norfolk, Virginia to race in the Botanical Garden Sprints. We raced in the mixed double and mixed four events. Erynn rowed with me in the double and coxed the four. We traveled to the race with some friends from the Raleigh Rowing Center, Sue, Lauren and Jim. Jim and Lauren finished second in the mixed double while Erynn and I finished third. Above you can see Erynn and Lauren showing off their ribbons. In the mixed four, Lauren, Sue, Jim and myself took first place against three other crews!

I'm finally getting around to updating this site with our recent exploits from the last couple months. Keep checking back often.

Photo albums added so far:
Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin (long overdue),
Our House in Cary, North Carolina,
Memories from Dubuque, Iowa,
Packing up the Elise into a Moving Van,
Herbert Hoover NHS,
New River Gorge National River

May 12: Erynn and I took the Elise to the Herbert Hoover NHS, which is just over an hour from our home in Dubuque. The weather was perfect and we even got a sun tan (burn) with the top off. I've now posted a photo album from the day HERE

May 7: Our offer for a house in North Carolina was accepted! Erynn took this photo with the "SOLD" sign out front. It's a new-build in Cary that's right between our work and the local rowing club.

Nov. 12, '05: Our other baby (besides Buckley) has finally arrived. It was a good week in the Rathburn household. After a year of waiting, our new Lotus Elise arrived! Click here for more info about our car...

After graduating from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in June 2005, Doug got a job with John Deere in Iowa. In June 2007, Doug got a transfer to Deere's Cary, North Carolina office and Erynn got a job with Duke University's Hospital as a kidney transplant coordinator.
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