Arboretum

We had a rainy day in Portland this weekend.  The roses are sleeping, the leaves are falling from some trees and starting to change on others.  We discovered a new place that will deserve further explorations: the Hoyt Arboretum.  It is several trails through lots of different trees.  Very kicked back and relaxing play weekend.  I'm looking forward to a Thanksgiving weekend this coming week.  If the rain calms down a bit, hopefully we will be able to get to the ocean.
 

Kayak

Erin and I had a 'final' hang out day before I move to Oregon.

We had Indian food for lunch, she helped with our broken car situation, we also watched the olympic opening ceremonies.  Between all of these things though, we trucked up to Mantua with a lovely yellow kayak and went kayaking.  It was a beautiful day, and super relaxing.  It was a lot of fun talking, chasing pelicans, and just enjoying being out on the reservoir.  It was a very needed stress reducer after what has been a few very stressful days.  I am so grateful to have a friend like Erin, we have been friends a long time, and it is nice to always have that kindred spirit and bosomed friend available no matter what.  She gave me a beautiful gift, in honor of the changes that are taking place that is amazing too.  Picture to come.

Oregon Coast

We settled on a place to live this morning!  We are happy and excited about our decision and hope that things will work out well.  After finishing our application and getting that whole process started, we headed for the coast.  We had a late lunch at the Tillamook Cheese Factory and then drove up Highway 101 to Cannon Beach.  I don't think of all 7 times I have been to Oregon I have ever been to this beach when it was sunny.  It was nice to be at the ocean, we saw a lot of hikes and beaches that we will want to explore again sometime too.  We head home tomorrow and have a couple of weeks to get ready for the move to our new home.

Four States

So our house hunt has begun.  We drove through nothern Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and are just across the Columbia River in Washington for a quick detour to see the Columbia River Temple.  It is actually pretty exciting being in the Beaver State, hopefully all goes well and we know where we will be living for the next few years!

Temporary Post

 This is a preview of sorts, I use this blog for my personal journaling more than anything else, which I print off at the end of the year, so I will be going back in time to post some of the adventures I had with Erin this past week in Yellowstone, Island Park, and Lake Hebgen.  More to come!

Addendum: I am not going to delete this post because I think it is crazy that it took me until July 4th to catch this blog up by documenting our amazingly fun trip. Not so temporary.  So as of today, all caught up!

Mesa Falls, Rexburg, & Home

 Unfortunately, vacations wouldn't be vacations if they never ended.  So today we headed home, but we are not into the boring, just drive home idea. One year we drove through Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Jackson, and the Teton Scenic byway, this year we did the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway.  It was SO pretty!  I can't remember being there when it was so sunny to the point that you could see multiple rainbows off of the falls.  We went to Rexburg and explored our favorite stores: Artco & Porter's.  We found some cute deals, stopped at the temple, and then continued on our way home.  We had so much fun!  We relaxed, explored, photographed, napped, read, cooked, stoked fires, hiked, walked, 'hunted' moose, drove, talked, laughed, and had an amazing time.  I am grateful to have such a great kindred spirit for a friend. 

Snowy Sabbath

Happy Snowy Sunday!  We woke up to lots of pretty snow on the trees as we went on our way to church, it was a pretty winter wonderland.  Church was great.  We went to Big Hot Springs afterwards and saw Johnny Sack's cabin while there, it was cool to see how warm the water was there keeping everything near it green and free of snow. 

Erin was really sick, probably after doing so much the day before, so we stayed at the cabin most of the day.  The cabin was toasty from our fire, we watched Anne of Avonlea, I read a lot, and Erin had 4 1/2 naps.  We really did have a very nice and relaxing day.  I don't know the last time that I had such a quiet day watching the snow fall, reading, and poking logs.  It was AWESOME.

Yellowstone

Today was National Outdoors Day which means free entrance into Yellowstone National Park.  We had a blast today!  We saw tons of baby buffalo, a marmot, a momma and baby elk, and bonus: NO SNOW.  The forcast looked terrible when we set out, but while it was pretty cold, the weather was great.  We drove up to Mammoth Hot Springs, then down to Old Faithful, we loved the new visitor center, the waterfalls, and our all time favorite spot in the Old Faithful lodge with a perfect view of Old Faithful and perfect napping spot for sick friends.  We took pictures, snacked, played, napped, and ran all over the park that we have come to know so well.  Having done everything we can now be picky and go to our favorite parts.  Pizza at Pete's in West was delicious, and we made it home just before a very cool blizzard came through, I had fire down at this point so we didn't mind, we got cozy in our blankets and snuggled down into them as we watched Anne of Green Gables. 

Hebgen & West & Fires

 We drove up in Montana today and it was so pretty!  Quake Lake and Lake Hebgen were beautiful.  We found a Beaver pond that was pretty cool too.  A stop at Erin's favorite place per tradition was great, the water was really high this year so no dancing around in the duct going to Quake.  After our adventuring in the 'wilderness' we went into West Yellowstone and walked around pretty much all of the shops.  It was kind of weird to be there and have the town be so quiet.  We had dinner at the cabin and I got really good at maintaining a fire to warm up us and the cabin, it is cold up here!

We Made It!

Back in January before school had started, Erin and I had spent a long night chit chatting about all kinds of things, when it turned to what we wanted to do when we were done with Grad school we pulled out planners, pencils, and wrote down a few things, including a trip to Island Park June 7-11.  We laughed even that far in advance knowing it would most likely never happen.  However, after a long day of work and Erin arranging her clinical externship, we set off for Island Park.  We are here and it is wonderful, beautiful, happy, and fun!  Another adventure!

Kindred Spirits

Today was Erin's birthday and while she had SO much fun in the morning with dental work, I think the evening may have been just a little bit better. It was so fun hanging out with Erin and her family as we celebrated her turning 25. We have been friends forever, that is, since my first day of 1st grade at Lomond View Elementary in 1991 when Erin invited me to play with her at recess, we weren't even in the same class and I was the new kid. We have had many adventures, hikes, road trips, concerts in rain and snow, who knows how many pictures we have taken together, many letters back and forth during her mission to the Land of Anne, late night chats, plans and schemes, baking, running, dreaming, crafting, sewing, jumping, cleaning, moving, singing, and the list goes on and on. I am so grateful to have had a kindred spirit in my life all of this time, and I look forward to many more adventures that lay in store for the next 20 years. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIN!!!!

Moab Part 2

Day 2 of our adventure was incredibly busy and spontaneous (in other words we had no plans and I wanted to do everything). We headed out to Dead Horse Point State Park, followed by Canyonlands National Park. Mesa Arch was beautiful but it was freaking me out because people were letting their kids run along the top of the arch=dumb. We also did several arches at Arches National Park: Skyline, Landscape, Pine Tree, Tunnel, Broken, Sand Dune, as well as hiking through the fins at Devils Garden. The slots were awesome and the temperature was great. I think my favorite arch of the day was Sand Dune, kids were playing in the sand, burying each other in the sand, and running through the slots. One creative kid had made a replica of the sand dune arch out of the sand below it and it was pretty accurate too. One more day before we go back to work and school.

Fidelio

JD and I had a new experience last night: German opera. Fidelio was written by Beethoven and we actually enjoyed it, as it was very "stirring" (direct quote from the rich ladies sitting behind us). The story was good, the plot moved along for the most part, and there was even some humor in it (I didn't know Beethoven had that in him). Outside of the performance there was also much to observe: A woman alone in her box seats was playing musical chairs throughout the entire opera, by the end I believe she had sat in 4 of the 6 chairs at her disposal some of those more than once. A girl sitting next to us fell asleep without even a slouch in her back, I was pretty impressed, she was awakened by a rather high note, wiped the drool of her face, and went back to sleep. Clothing ranged from tuxes and gowns, to jeans and t-shirts, the tux and gown crowd were the funnest ones to listen to with their sophisticated remarks on the performance (such as stirring). All in all it was a great experience, one I would repeat in the future if the right opera came along.