Wimberley's loving life, here and now

I wear black socks

2011-04-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

Earlier today as I got dressed for a bike ride I looked in the drawer and made a choice between several different sport sock colors. I chose black. Why? Well, many years ago I read an article in Outside magazine (or maybe it was a mountain biker mag) that wrote about being passed by some old geezer wearing black socks. So does choosing the black socks make me an old geezer? Not by a long shot. I am a woman in her prime training for her first tri-athalon and did I choose the simple distance, the sprint? Nope, I went for the big guns and chose the Olympic distance. Doesn’t that just sound cool? As I was donning my super comfy black socks for some reason that article went through my mind. I think it reminded me that perseverance pays off and if you keep trying hard you will one day be the person that you think you can be. Training for a tri isn’t as bad as I always envisioned. In fact, I think I like it more than training for a marathon by a long shot. Always something new, never getting tired of the same old thing.

So now that I have that under way I think of my other goals. Mainly, writing a novel. Yep, I still have that kindle of a dream burning in my brain. Do I have this strong propensity to write at every spare moment, no. However, the spark still stays alive and I choose to believe that with this tiny spark something great will happen. It’s like the old cave man days when they had to carry the coal from home site to home site. I will carry my kindle of fire until one day it can become a bonfire and burn for a good long time. This will require a lot of hard work but it will be worth it. So as I write this with a little help from a bit of white wine I look forward to the time when I can put that kindle to a small stack of wood and watch what blossoms out of it.

Good bye 2010

2011-01-01T19:12:00.000-08:00

What a year 2010 was. We started the new year wondering what it would bring. Wondering what it would end up looking like. Taylor had an opportunity of a lifetime but we weren't sure it would even happen. Now I sit here with amazing memories of what that opportunity brought to us. I learned so much about another culture, even not being in a little remote village in southern Sudan, I learned we are blessed with so much here in our country. That we are lucky to be able to have opinions, have water in our homes and have the freedom to explore.

I learned that even being 10,000 miles from the person you love that the love you have can continue to grow. I learned many new things about several different cultures that makes me yearn to learn more. I learned that you can make it through hardship and grow from it. That friends are everything to me. That I love the little town I live in. Mostly, I learned that it's all supposed to happen. I don't know what the big picture is but I sure like all the little pictures I get to see on the way.

Am I excited for 2011? Hell yea!. I am excited to sit on this very couch with my amazing husband and live again under one roof even if it's for a small amount of time. To treasure all the little moments and plan for the big ones. I know that this will be an amazing year because life is simply amazing. I feel so lucky to live the life I live. So I welcome you 2011 and look forward to what you have to show me.

Here are some of my favorite photos from 2010 on our adventures that only happened because Taylor was willing to leave all he knew and loved behind to go on a huge solo adventure. So much good came of it. Thank you, Taylor. I love you so much!

Happy new year everyone! I hope this new year brings you all sorts of happiness and fun adventures. Take a moment one of these future days and say thanks for the wonderful world we live in. We are all so very blessed.

Hello again

2010-12-12T21:00:00.000-08:00

Well, for the few of you that actually follow this blog you will have noticed that my whole "going to do a small segment of Cape Town each week" has been a flop. I am blessed with lots of work and not much time to be creative with the whole blogging concept. But there are certain moments that I experience throughout my days that I feel I should write about. Simple things like:

As I left the coffee shop the other morning a smile slowly grew on my face as I thought about that very moment in time. It was a brisk morning and my spicy Chai was slowly warming my insides. Down town was just waking. I walked by a stranger and we shared a smile. "What a wonderful little town I live in" I thought to myself. My work day was just beginning and I was hoping the snow would begin to fall again.

It's these little moments in time when I truly feel blessed to be here on earth. To live in a time and place where I have the leisure to grab a morning tea and then amble to work with a smile. No rushing around, just enjoying each moment.

Cape Town 1st entry

2010-10-26T14:23:00.000-07:00

In my attempt to get my creative juices flowing and to get a lot of photos out for everyone I am giving myself a writing assignment. I am going to break our Cape Town trip into several vignettes. So here goes.

Taylor and I planned to stay at a guesthouse the whole time in Cape Town. The day I was leaving I get an email from the innkeeper and it turns out that they have had a huge sewer problem come up and they had to re-locate us to a different location. Not only did we get a new spot, but for 8 of the 10 nights we were upgraded to the suite for no extra charge.

view from balcony

view from window

view from balcony

Our guesthouse was located in a darling section of town named Tamboerskloof. We were able to walk right out our door to the popular shopping district of Kloof and Long St. After a really yummy breakfast in the sun room and two pots of tea we set out to explore this new city. People along the way were of every color and so spoke different languages. We curiously watched parking attendants direct people to parking spots and wondered how that worked. The system here does not rely on meters but people. For a mere R2 or R5. (really cheap parking) you could get a spot and the attendant was always watching your car and even helped you park by directing you into the spot. We never did brave the driving on the other side of the street thing. We walked through the city centre and down to the V & A waterfront. Lots of large ships, neat foot drawbridges that pivoted out of the way when boats needed to pass. We found an outdoor lunch spot and listened to xylophone players and then an acapello group.


looking back at the city centre and Table mtn

After a bit of shopping. (Taylor has been seriuosly deprived of this) we headed back up the hill to find a good place to grab a bite in the neighborhood. It looked like this was going to be a wonderful place to hang for 9 days. It was so nice just to be together again.

Cape Town

2010-10-19T02:13:00.000-07:00

Well, folks you only get this one cute photo of Taylor in our suite. Be happy that your internet speed is the bombdiggity, I just waited over 15 min to get this one photo. I will happily post all sorts when I get back to the states.

Hello, from Cape Town. First, I have to say that this place is everything that everyone said it would be. It is so beautiful. After over a day and a half of travel, Taylor and I were reunited in the little airport. It was so great to see his gorgeous sunburnt face. It was late at night so not much to see on the way to our guesthouse but I met a very nice local on the plane and he explained that where we were staying we would have great views of Table mountain and the city itself below us. He was very right. Our little guesthouse is set beside a small mountain named Signal Hill and behind us in Table Moutain. It is an absolutely great location. We have been able to walk to all our meals and all the way down to the V&A Waterfront.

It’s kinda funny, but the first few days we did a lot of shopping. Taylor was in need of several things and of course those of you who know me well, know I didn’t mind in the least. Cape Town is known to be the shopping capitol of Africa for goodness sake. Along the way we took it all in. So many different colors of people. Very beautiful, I love all the variety of language, you have Afrikaans, English, Xhosa, German, French. It’s wonderful. Of course, I wish I knew them all but for now it is really easy to get around with English. People are very friendly. It is fun to learn the nuances of how they speak language. Here are some examples, a to go box is a take away, all buildings for lease say “To let”. I keep thinking there are toilets everywhere...It’s not a check it’s a bill, it’s a booking instead of a reservation. This may seem kind of silly to explain but it is one of the many things I enjoy when as we get to see more places in this world. The other thing is the bathrooms. Weird, I know? But it’s fun to see different latches, sinks, what kind of hand dryers they have, etc. There are so many different ways things are done. Mostly here, you only have hand dryers. No paper towels at all. Where as in Spain, you had papertowels but it was like using a kleenex to dry your hands. The coolest sink so far was a tilted granite slab the water ran into a reservoir you really couldn’t see. Neato!

In the first two days, we did 6 of the 10 most favorite things to do in Cape Town. We still have to see a sunset from Signal Hill, ride the cable car to the top of Table mountain and go to Robben Island to see where Nelson Mandela was held for so many years. Fortunately for us we still have plenty of time to do this.

The biggest adventure so far has been the paragliding. On Monday morning Taylor asked our innkeeper to book something for us and BOOM, we were set to go in only 45 min. For me this was probably best. I was a bit nervous to jump off a perfectly good mountain side. Our two pilots picked us up, Jacque and Steph. They were great from the start. Super funny with a little cheese ball twist, but it was fun. Jacque is the 2nd best paraglider in all of South Africa and I think Steph is right up there. He just returned from 3 months in Germany, paragliding. These guys are making a living off doing what they love, it’s great to see. They drove us up to the launch spot on Signal Hill and explained what we needed to know on the way. They have an assistant named Irma who is doing an internship with them. What a crazy group to do that with. She was very sweet. When we got to the launch site there was another person ahead of us. It was nice to see them take off first. It set me at ease a little. So Jacque and I were set to go first, you get into a big old harness and they prepare the paraglider. When the paraglider goes up initially you are swept back a little so someone is in the front of you to help with that. Then you run, run ,run until you are airborne. It’s really amazing. We fortunately, did not have to run in the bushes. Taylor and Steph had to do a little of this. Once you are up in the air it is very relaxing and exhilarating at the same time. Jacque and I had a small paraglider so he had to work a little harder to get us up higher in the air. Man, was it FUN!! You truly do feel like a bird. We had great views of the Atlantic and the area in Cape Town called SeaPoint. You could also see the stadium where the World Cup was played. Taylor and Steph were in the air maybe 15 minutes after us. So Taylor and I were able to see eachother flying thru the sky. It was awesome!! I’m so glad that Taylor is an adrenaline junkie. I probably would never have done that on my own. Taylor of course is hooked and at this very moment is walking to the bookstore to buy a book on the subject while I blog. Will I ever learn to do it on my own? Probably not. I thought it was awesome but near the end I started getting kind of nauseas. Never did hurl, but kind of made the last bit of the ride a bit less enjoyable. Jacque and I soared over the stadium and gently landed in a big field. Irma, came over and said “You were gone for a long time” Some people only go for 10-20 min. I think that Taylor and I were up for about an hour. It was so great to rush near the tops of the trees and to be above the birds. It’s all about finding the thermals to get you higher. The rest of the afternoon we were both on a bit of a high. We went for coffee with the guides and then strolled back up the hill to our little room and thought “what the hell do we do know? It will be hard to beat that morning?” We ended up going back out for a great little lunch and had a mellow evening at home. It’s great to be on holiday.

Anticipation

2010-10-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

It's a Sunday evening and I am sitting on the couch with a curled up kitty and classical music in the background. All I can say is "ahhhh" I love these days that just go by slowly. Getting a few things done, but no real agenda. I find myself getting up from the lovely purple couch to continually write things down in preparation for the big trip ahead. Yesterday I went on the most epic mountain bike ride I have ever attempted. It was beautiful. It's up near Mt. Bachelor and after just 4-5 miles of climbing you get all the rest in an awesome downhill ride all the way into town right to 10 Barrel brewing. It's funny how I always seem to end up there after these day long mountain bike excursions. I think mountain biking is quickly becoming my gravity fed sport of the off winter months. But back to the real reason I am bothering to write on this here blog.

In a just over a week I will be traveling 10,400 miles to South Africa where Taylor and I will rendezvous in Cape Town. Oh how I hope this week to come flies by. This has been one long year but man oh man, do I love the travel that it has allowed Taylor and I to do. It has almost been 6 months since our last trip to Spain. Can't believe it's been that long. In some ways it has gone fast and others it has just drug on. But soon we will be hanging out and enjoying a whole new scene on yet another continent. Wow, is all I can think in my head. I hope to soon be getting a few blog posts up from Cape Town. So keep your eye on the blog and hopefully there will be some good stuff to come.

Hopefully soon I will be relaying my own photos here but until then you can daydream a little with me too.

Another day inmersed in beauty...

2010-09-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

Casey, I and the the dog troop once again set out for a hike into the wilderness. This time the Three Sisters Wilderness to one of my favorite spots, Golden Lake. It's nestled right below one of my favorite mountains, Broken Top. We set out early and got to the newly moved trail head much to my dismay. This added on a mere 2.4 miles to the hike, but I definitely felt them at the end of the trek. We all had a great time meandering along the wide trail that once was a road and got to the old section where you used to be able to park only to realize that we were down one dog, mine. Crap?! So we split up and I ran towards the car and Casey went a bit up the trail. Well, eventually I realized that I just had to run all the way to the car since no dog was in site. Sure enough, there was Yeti all smiles laying at the car. I guess he thought we were done or he thought we needed to add even more miles to the day. Sure, I wanted to run an extra 2.4 miles. Thanks Yeti!

We once again set off at a jog to meet up with Casey. We lost both other dogs that day but for not nearly as long. Needless to say the leashes came out. The hike seemed fast and it was beautiful. We had a quick lunch at Park Meadow and then got to Golden Lake.

It's a beauty. The Sisters got snow just last week so they were especially picturesque. From the lake you head up another mile to two small tarns.

Jefferson

Casey and I shared a PBR and had lunch at this spot. So beautiful. Yeti engaged in his favorite activity, digging in water.

The day was stunning. Here are some more shots of the gorgeous day.

Casey and headed out of this great spot and attempted to find the right trail out. We found a trail and at first it felt right. Then as South Sister got closer than I remembered we hesitated. We had spoke with a guy near Golden Lake and he had mentioned he also came up from Park Meadow since he was just a bit behind us we went and asked him to verify we were heading the right way. He had a GPS yipee! So we turned back and continued on the trail. It still just felt wrong. I swear we only about 20 minutes from Green Lakes. Well, GPS works great if you are headed to the same spot. Turns out that the guy had messed up and missed the turn to Golden and went all the way to Park Meadow, but he had originally come from Green Lakes. So, Casey and I turned around and were so happy to have added on more mileage to the day. (Ha-Ha) Didn't I mention earlier that I was looking for more miles or was that Yeti? I was still a bit unnerved and didn't feel better until we passed the point on the trail where you head in to Golden. It was all downhill from there, well you would think, but it's not. I swear the trail was longer on the way out. The dust was thicker and the hills just kept coming. But we made it and headed straight for the Three Creeks Brewery for an adult beverage and some grub.

Overall it was another awesome day in the mountains. Below is a testament to the dirt on the trail.

Huckleberry Season

2010-09-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

There they are. The little gems that we head out to get each Fall season so that Taylor can make a delicious pie for one of the holidays. For those of you who haven't picked this small, delightful berries, it's kinda a pain in the ass. But well worth it. In about an hour and a half today I managed to pick maybe 2 1/2 cups. Just shy of a pies worth. Fortunately, my friends with me were willing to share a bit of their pickings.

Little Bjorn was a gem out in the huckeberry patches helping his dad; Eric, with the process.

We've got a great spot that doesn't seem to fail us. This year was a little better than last. The berries were a bit bigger. Yeti found his way to the lake all by himself in the boredom of waiting for the peeps to finish up. Cabot Lake is maybe a 1/4 mile from where we were picking. Yeti is so darned used to the place after 4 years of going there, that he didn't need to wait for the damned slow humans.

I can't wait for Taylor to actually be home to cook this darn pie that I worked so hard for. We don't have many traditions so this is one that I treasure.

Happy fall to everyone, it's just around the corner. Grab the last days of summer and enjoy.

Donaca Lake Attempt

2010-08-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

So Casey, I and three dogs (Yeti, Tillie and Muddy) headed out on a beautiful Wed morning to a far off place in the middle of the Middle Santiam Wilderness. Our objective was Donaca Lake. A nice jaunt thru mossy, lush woods. Much different than the mountains near us. We arrived at the trailhead after a long dirt road to an over grown parking lot, the trailhead sign dilapidated and no place to register that indeed there were people in these here woods for the night. We noticed a small plume of smoke behind the parking lot. We evaluated it and it seemed to be smoldering and the opposite direction of where we were headed so we ventured on our way to the first creek crossing only about a mile in. We came upon a small creek with a narrow 20' waterfall cascading down amongst large boulders into a very inviting swimming hole. We weren't quite hot enough to make that plunge so we went above the falls and crossed the creek, barefoot I must add. Ouch!

We continued to meander up thru the green, lush woods and marvel at the scent that surrounded us. I love the smell of the woods. Around one bend we did smell a bit of smoke in a little valley but also heard a maraud of propellers and were a bit relieved to know that some sort of forest service personnel knew about the little fire. We came upon another creek crossing, yes again barefoot, ouch! We continued up the hill and found the trail to be less than maintained. You could see it, but I would bet in maybe a year it will be over taken. So we're having a good ol time and we come to an old road that is truly overgrown.

Yep, that used to be a road.

We were all excited about the next 2.5 miles because the guidebook mentioned ambling. That sounded like fun, then we would reach the little green lake. So along we go and then as we round a corner we see ash in the air. Not a fun feeling in the gut when you are in the woods somewhat in the middle of nowhere. There is a spot fire right off the trail. Little flames here and there. You could see where it had torched about a 20-30' square section of the forest. Fortunately, it is so wet and moist the fire didn't take off. We made our best attempts at squelching the flames with Nalgenes and a trowel. Kinda a joke, but you do what you can. We grab our packs and look to the little spot again and sure enough more flames. Granted they were little but stilll, come on! So back up into the ash we go. Once again we jump back onto the trail and decide to check out just around the bend to decide if we should continue or head back. Well, around the corner there is quite a large overturned log crackling. Yep, we turned back. Bummed, but feeling like we should maybe not sleep where we could be cut off from getting back in case the fire did take off. At this point, I am not looking forward to my wee little feet crossing the creek again and than a brain burst. We have flip flops on our packs. Duh?! Needless to say we had much more comfortable crossings after that. We don't really want to go back to the car so we find a great spot to have a beer and see if smoke starts to come our way.

The Coors was for you Tay.

We enjoyed the sound of the creek and the dogs loved it.

Well after 2 beers and plenty of smoke free time. We decided to call it a camp and enjoyed the evening. Tillie made a little bed above the river.

Yeti crashed out in front of the tent. He's pretty old ya know?

We had a great time. Good dinner, good conversation and no bugs. Which was like a miracle. We happily closed our eyes listening to the sound of the stream and no crackling. I will admit I woke up in the middle of the night and made sure there was nothing orange coming our way. But all was quiet, and clear. We had a great lazy morning and headed out.

Back at the car for yes, another beer. We could still see the little fire going across the way. the smoke did seem a little more dense so we were happy that all was well over night. As we sat there we could hear chainsaws and saw a helicopter fly over the fire. Gotta love the response to the little fires that were kinda all around us. We questioned how whoever was in there got there because we certainly didn't see anyone. We also wondered if we just missed seeing our friend, Ralph. Who knows if it was smoke jumpers or not? Fun to speculate.

So that's the most recent journey. No glimpse of Donaca Lake but lots of beautiful country and good times.

Things that get you by...

2010-08-14T17:38:00.001-07:00

Lynette, Shana and I at Michael Franti concert

I'm looking back at a glorious day in my little town of Bend, OR. I woke to another sunny day. Had an excellent cup of tea and raced around getting ready for a morning of mountain biking. The trails were covered in moon dust but we were able to zip along as best we could. Me and 3 other girls tackled a 2 1/2 hour ride up in the Deschutes wilderness. So fun to be blazing along and enjoying a view of blooming light, lavender lupine amongst the sage.

The hours in the afternoon spent sitting in my quaint little yard reading up on what to do in Cape Town, South Africa. I love the idea of an adventure to come. My dogs (one just visiting) and the cats lazing around or chasing bugs. Soaking up the sun.

I have spent alot of time alone in the last few months and some times are definitely better than others. This afternoon is one of the good ones. I love having some music in the background and letting myself escape into a good book. I also have been reflecting back and want to say thanks to all my friends that make this long distance relationship actually work. If it weren't for all of you. I don't think I could do this.

Of course, I have to give credit to my furry friends as well. They are always ready for me to get up in the morning and give them some love.

To you Taylor, can't wait to see you and yet another new continent. Let's live it up!!

Euro Urban Living

2010-04-20T02:24:00.001-07:00

My blogging skills aren't that great so these pic's aren't in the order I would prefer, so skip the church photos until you read the last of the post. :)

View from our little balcony no not the church...

Taylor and I arrived at our last little home via taxi. The roads are so small all around our apartment that he had to drop us off a few blocks away. In fact, we actually went to the wrong door first and then realized that our street was tucked in to all the others. Not a through street at all. All the doors here have locked doors to enter and all the shops have steel doors to close over the shop at night. A great place for graffiti. Anyway, back to the casa...We open the first locked door to find a narrow red stairwell and it is pitch black. So we haul our stuff up three small flights of stairs, still with no light and find our door. Thankfully it's the first one. However, as seen in the picture above there are 3 locks to unlock. It took us at least 3-5 min just to figure out the combination in which to unlock these locks. Once inside we realized that we indeed had 5 locks to keep us safe. Wow! Really!? Do we need that many? Where did I book us an apartment? My doubts were raging at this point. Once inside we realized that it was indeed a great little place. Very clean, small but cozy. Our previous two places were quite cold so this was going to be a better place to read a book and drink our warm morning beverages. We also eventually found a light switch that is on a timer for those of you still wondering if we ever had a light in the stairwell.

We soon plunked all our things into a small bedroom and put our feet up for just a bit. We got out to wander that evening and found that we were in the thick of it all. So fun!! La Rambla which is a large shopping district is less than a 10 min walk and we were also able to walk to many other touristy sites within a hour or less.

Sunday we took a stroll to the famous Gaudi cathedral that has been being built for over 100 years. It still has 30-40 years to go before it is completed. All I have to say is it is weird. Don't get me wrong the stone masonry is amazing but one part looks like church gone vegas with these odd colored balls and colored writing on the pillars. But then you turn the corner and the church looks like an evil being that is holding onto beautiful statues of saints as captives. Then there are the lizards and snakes on each corner of another part and then don't forget the part that looks like a candle has being melted all over it. One book said that you would either love it or hate it, but it would definitely be a conversation piece, well that sure is true.

It is our last day here in Barcelona, we plan to go do a little shopping, take some more photos of this amazing market that is off La Rambla. (You 'll probably see a post of just those photos sometime soon) We woke up this morning at 5:30 and walked down to the pier for a sunrise photo. it was neat to see the city start to come to life. After that super early morning we are having round two of the day. We both just woke up from a nap. I love vacation...

A summation of what this trip entails, thus far

2010-04-18T01:42:00.001-07:00

Life is good...

Country mouse, city mouse

2010-04-17T02:14:00.000-07:00

What a time we are having. We spent 7 nights on Mallorca and found it to be so beautiful. Both places we stayed were out in the country and so very peaceful. The first was just outside the town on Valldemossa. The west coast was absolutely fantastic. The most amazing rock terraced walls we have ever seen. The richness of the culture here really stands out in what they build. It is great to be able to see so many little towns in our little fiat we affectionately called the "Fat Panda". Why you may ask? The first time I looked at the window sticker I thought it actually was called the fat panda. You definitely need a small car here. The roads are crazy small. We were able to go on one hike in the west region that was along the Mediterranean. That day it was even nice enough to lay in the sun on a rock with the sea lapping at the shore. We had a picnic of bread, ham and cheese. That's really a staple here.

The weather has been kinda cold. So the day near the sea was a plus. No real rain but pretty darn chilly. Luckily after meeting our friends here I was able to borrow a few more warm things. Ah, so much better to be warm.

After leaving Valldemossa we headed to Pollenca. This town is north on the island and we did a beautiful mountain drive to get there. Very impressive mountains here. Tons of hiking and rock climbing. Speaking of rock climbing, Taylor was able to do a couple climbs thanks the Sweeney's generosity with their gear and belaying skills. It was so much fun to hang out with our friends in such a gorgeous place. He loved it! I happily craned my neck to watch everyone. :)

We stayed in a little farmhouse way out in the country in Pollenca. The view from our patio was so pretty. All mountains and farm land. As you sat with your glass of wine you could here a multitude of birds, the ringing of sheep bells and these crazy little frogs that sound like cats meowing. We even had two pet cats for the few days we were there.

The place was a bit cold for our taste but we made do with lots of layers and fuzzy blankets. The shower was the funniest part. Imagine standing in a 18" x 18" corner and having a war with a plastic shower curtain. It usually won.

I am now sitting in our super cute city apartment. We are in a completely opposite area than on the island, right smack dab in the middle of it all. I now sit and hear little mopeds drive by, lots of people talking and in the evening a basketball bouncing. Even some random noises that sound like someone is trying to walk everyone up with a piece of rebar against another metal object.

We plan to walk to La Rambla today and try and pick pocket the pick pockets. I only say that because everyone we told we were going to Barcelona warned us of the pick pockets. We are ready for them. :)

Adios amigos!!

Girona, Spain

2010-04-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

We made it. Taylor and I flew from 2 different continents on April 6th and met in Barcelona on the morning of the 7th. Wow, what a sight to see that guy. He is tan and still very good looking. :) We have been having an amazing time. We started our adventure with hopping on a train to the main train terminal in Barcelona after a quick bus ride from the airport. After arriving there we hopped another train to get to a small town named Girona. We thought it would be a quick trip, however due to our inexperience it took way longer than anticipated but we made it. We were able to see some country side after enjoying much graffitti on the way. Our hotel is very clean and we think quite new. It is very Euro with only a small bathroom and a double bed. Think IKEA but without any fluff. We were able to walk into town and found a tapas bar on the water. Looking through the window we were able to see a small river through town, a walking bridge and lots of pastel colored apartments all along the water.

Our first true day in Spain was spent walking into Old Town Girona. The main attraction here is the beautiful Catedral de Girona. We took a really amazing tour through this church with these groovy phone like things that had pre-recorded info. It turns out this church naive is the 2nd widest in the world. Only second to one at the vatican. The tombs and rock work were crazy beautiful. We were only able to sneak one picture since they weren´t allowed.

The little town has all these amazing staircases and beautiful winding small streets. The bell towers can be heard throughout the day. We also found a great irish pub to settle into for the late afternoon while we waited for our appetites to return. We had a really interesting pizza at lunch that had dates, raisins, carrots, asparagus, mozzerella and pine nuts. Sounds wierd but it was super good and filling.

I love this place. It is very international. We hear mainly french and Spanish. Oh, how I wish I were fluent in both. Someday...

That´s all for now. We are headed to Mallorca this morning.

Pictures soon to come. I can´t seem to get them to post.

Ah, trip planning...

2010-03-18T20:47:00.001-07:00

For those of you who may not know, Taylor and I get to rendezvous in Spain. Specifically, Barcelona and Majorca. He has to exit Sudan due to some potential turmoil that may appear with the first southern Sudanese elections. Hopefully, all will go smoothly and he will be able to get back and they will finish their job. But in the mean time I am here perusing the internet and guide books on what to do and where to stay etc, etc. I laughed out loud today when I was trying to pretend that I could read the train RENFE website in Spanish. I did succeed in finding the prices. Thank god numbers are universal.

Part of my reason for blogging tonight was that I feel so inspired by my friend Katie who is a fantastic blogger. But as I write these words I am not feeling very inspired. What does one write about as my new little kitty angel sleeps in my lap? I will share that I am a little trepidacous about flying half way around the world by myself but at the same time it makes me feel more alive and brave. I am trying to learn some Spanish before I go. Good fun, even though I keep reading that pretty much every region has it's own dialect. I can say "Hello, how are you?" really well. :) and as long as the other person only says "I am fine" I will be able to understand.

Overall life is grand. I hope that this new job of Taylor's allows us to travel more and see new and beautiful things. I like to keep life adventurous and Spain fits into that desire nicely.

For now, I will crawl into bed with yet another great book and escape into someone else's adventures for the night with all my lovely furry friends to keep me company.

I miss you, Taylor

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

Well, we have seen another year fly by. It started by Taylor heading to Northwest Lineman College and me praying that even with a recession my little biz would keep afloat. The 3 and a half months that Taylor was at school quickly flew by and he was home for about a month and then off to the glorious Dodge City. After a longer duration then we anticipated he was able to get the hell out of Dodge at the end of Dec. My little business survived with flying colors and I see the new year bringing in more and more business. I accomplished my goal of reading 50 books. Yippee!

My favorites being: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks and Shantaram by (ah shit can't remember) maybe Gregory Daniels... this is why I now write down all the books I read. Who can keep track??

So the New year starts off with another new book to delve into with cats sitting all around and Yeti patiently waiting to go for a run. Taylor is currently on his way home and I will take one more day to enjoy our little decorated house.

I want to thank all of you for being such great friends and helping me get through the last year. You all mean so much to me. I couldn' t do it without you.

So the new year brings us to Africa, another marathon and many more good books and good times with friends.

I hope you all have a wonderful 2010 full of surprises and good times.

Sudan

2009-12-20T09:43:00.000-08:00

Well, for those of you who didn't know, it is time for Taylor to try new adventures in the linemen world and he is heading to Sudan Jan 25th. Yep, Africa. It will be an amazing opportunity. He will be there with 5 other lineman from the states. He will literally be getting the "hell out of Dodge" on Dec 24th. I think this is his biggest xmas gift. I have linked a video here to show all of you what he will be up to in southeastern, sudan.

http://www.nrecainternational.org/news/video/Sudan_2009/Sudan.htm

So from here on out I hope to report to you new and interesting things that come up while one lives in a small village in southeast, Sudan.

Have a wonderful holiday season. May you be blessed with good memories and lots of love.

halloween bonanza

2009-11-01T15:39:00.000-08:00

Happy Autumn! We have had one snow here at the beginning of Oct and since then have seen all sorts of weather. Today is gorgeous and a great day to finish up some more yard work. After a super fun night last night it's great to get outside and enjoy more of the weekend.

So now let's talk about Halloween. What a great day it was. I usually get dressed up like every other year. I secretly love to dress up and become some goofy character. This year I was able to do this twice.

Kori, Eric, Bjorn and I all ran the Run Like Hell 5k in the morning bringing back the 80's.

This was supposed to be a pic
ture, but as you can see it is an extremely exciting video. Ha Ha!

I got some great 80's gear from a friend and we even had a great compilation of tunes that would have brought us all back, however it didn't want to work in the boom box. So fortunately, the Salt n Pepa song Push it got us going on the radio. We had a fun race and Bjorn showed his true brilliance by putting his hat in front of his face as we ran into the sun. Super cute!!

After a little nap and some super cute tricker treaters. Ok, gotta tell ya that one of the little guys probably like 3 or 4 actually said Trick or french fry. It was priceless. I dont' think I will ever forget that little fireman. On to the rest of the night. I got to experience the Rocky Horror Picture show with some friends. We had a little pre funk at Chandra's who has the best collection of costumes. Hence the wig in the photo.

We had a fabulous time! The audience was really interactive and Chandra made the night by having everything we needed to play along with the film. If you haven't gone to a live performance of the show I highly recommend it. Very funny!!

So that's it for now. When something else new and exciting happens. You'll get the goods here.

Solo backpacking and climbing south sister

2009-09-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

Well Yeti and I went on yet another adventure together and here are the ramblings that go with such events:

I made a decision this weekend to finally go on a solo backpacking trip. Mostly because everyone I would have loved to have along couldn't go. So I decided it was fate and went for it.
The above is a picture of the absolutely perfect rock that I made myself comfortable on this morning to journal, read and drink tea. If I had it my way I would have been there all morning, but I had calls to make by a certain time so that my peeps new I was ok. So, I sadly left this morning after a long stint with this rock.
Carl lake is a beautiful decent sized lake tucked up at about 5000 ft in the Jefferson Wilderness. After getting there in the rain on Sat night it was amazing to wake up this morning to a beautiful clear sky and truly take in the area and stare in awe at the beauty that surrounded me.
My humble abode kept me dry and out of the weather last night. The rain did eventually stop but man, the wind was crazy. thought for sure at some points that Yeti and I were going to get blown across the lake..
The puddles that you see in this photo disappeared by morning. Hard to believe, but the earth must have just soaked it up greedily. I took this from my tent and that was as far as I got on Sat night. Thank goodness for those contraptions that make a Thermarest into a chair.
Yeti enjoyed himself immensely checking in with me every 2o minutes or so. He finally found himself in the tent and had a nice aroma of wet dog. He indeed thought he had gone to heaven and once the morning came I was almost there with him. If Taylor would have been there it indeed would have been a little slice of paradise.
The weekend before me and a good friend Colleen hiked up South sister, We had a great morning and made record time. But mostly we had lots of fun cruising in the alpine terrain and trying to not get rocks in our shoes. We rewarded ourselves with a beer and a burger. Life is good!

Green lakes Hike, ah the wildflowers

2009-08-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

My sister came to visit a few weeks ago and one of the highlights of the trip was an amazing hike in the 3 sisters wilderness. We came upon few people the first 8 miles but loads of wildflowers.

The above doesn't do it justice but none the less still worth showing. The pic on your right is a cascade Lily. One of my favorite flowers is an asiatic Lily so you can imagine how psyched I was to find we have a cascade variety that grows wild. Oh, it smelled so good.

Taylor and I will get to see each other in less than 3 weeks. Things are still going well with him down in the good ol. city of Dodge. Send your prayers that Taylor will land an apprenticeship up here in the NW.

Back from Oklahoma

2009-07-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

Taylor has officially been working in Kansas now for a little over a month. The company he works for is Mid Plains electric based out of Nebraska. After visiting Oklahoma recently I can't believe he can work such long hours in the heat. But take what you can get, right?

I flew to OK last week for Taylor's stepsister's wedding. We had a great time! Taylor has a super cool family. I wish I could say I had lots of pic's to post but my camera was a little wiggy. I'll do my best.
Above is a pic of Taylor and his sister Christy.

Here Amy and I are getting down! Do we look like we are doing total white girls moves or what? I think at this point we are the only people on the dance floor while Beastie Boys played.

The photo above is an example of how my camera was being wierd, but a cute pic of Mysha (the bride) none the less.

Well, that's it for now. If I'm dedicated I'll try to take more photos of interest soon and post something exciting!!

Love to all!

Taylor update...

2009-05-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not completely official but it looks like Taylor will be heading to the great state of Nebraska. I know, I am exaggerating a little with the great. He spoke with a company this morning and will be heading that way on June 13th. No keg and cake party yet though. We'll keep you posted.

OMFG it's about time!

2009-05-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

Well, my good friends I found myself adequately motivated to give you a long ass update. So grab a coffee (or tea) and a comfortable spot to sit. Here it goes...

Let's start way back in Feb when I flew out to see Taylor in Boise. First can I say that after six weeks without seeing him he looked DAMN good! We had a great time going up to McCall, ID and got in a short day of snowboarding. McCall had also recently had a snow sculpture contest. Pretty amazing stuff. Crap! i just realized that the pic's I wanted to post are on Taylor's computer. ah well! Maybe you'll see those later. Taylor and I had a great time and were super happy to be able to get some powder turns together.

Now fast forward to March 1st when my good friends Shana and Colleen joined me in running the Napa Valley Marathon. Here Shana and Colleen are modeling their wonderful attire that will promptly be thrown away at the beginning of the race. I know that may sound weird to some. But it was a pretty cold morning, but running in cotton just won't do.
We arrived a day before the race and enjoyed
the beauty of Napa .We went to a fun winery that had an amazing cheese and wine selection and had a little picnic.

Our race went as well as a marathon can go. "Why", I thought at mile 15 "am I running this?" The 1/2 marathon is such a more pleasant distance. Well, I finished anyway. It poured down rain but the mustard blooming in between the vines was quite beautiful. We all had personal bests and proceeded to enjoy some PBR and of course an in and out burger. Delicious! We shopped, did some wine tasting the day after and learned to walk without initiating our quad muscles. It was really funny to see people all over town hobbling around. The finale for my legs and my stomach was a great dinner at the Culinary institute. Why do you ask were my quads a factor? Well in order to get to the restaurant you had to walk up three flights of stairs. Let's just say I looked 80 especially coming down.

The next adventure was back to Boise to see Taylor's graduation. It was a really good time. All of of Taylor's family came, along with my Dad. Lots of good conversation and fun to see how Taylor had just spent the last 4 months. Part of graduation was a lineman rodeo. Per Eric's request here are some photos of Taylor's cute bum from below. (Eric didn't actually request cute bum pic's I added that part) In this shot Taylor is attempting to carry an egg (raw) up to the top of the pole in a little basket and then put the same raw egg in his mouth and not break it. This is timed and the egg can't break. Well, it could have gone better. Taylor had a good showing but lost points for breaking the egg and hot dogging.
In the other photo Tay is in a relay race that involves pulling up an 80 lb weight. His team came close to winning, but no cigar.

At the actual graduation Taylor was awarded the academic achievement award and was nominated for the most prestigious award "the eagle award". The fam and I were super proud of him. The festivities that night were pretty mellow. But the following night is story worthy. After a afternoon of bar hopping with my dad and Taylor's sisters. We were outside enjoying a decent Boise evening and noticed a country bar across the way. It was brought up that there was a mechanical bull. Lauren then challenged Taylor to the task in a joking manner, but he took the challenge much to all of our surprise. Not sure if this video will be light
enough but I'll put it in anyway.

I then decided to partake in this option also and had a nice gal in front of me giving me a coaching lesson. After the initial sex ride they like to see the girls do. I held on for dear life and felt I represented pretty well. Staying on for a record of 1 mintute 50 seconds. Boy, does that make your legs tired! Pretty memorable night. Good fun!

The next morning, much to my delight, we packed all of Taylor's things and he moved back to good ol' Bend.

So the last blog worthy info would be my last race. Again, my friend Shana (who always gets me to sign up for these things) and I headed to the beautiful North Umpqua where we ran a 15 mile trail run. It was so beautiful! And hilly as a mo fo! I knew it would be challenging but come on? Really? Did they really need to add in the extra two miles and make us climb 1000 feet in a mile and then at the end make us do it again. Well, Shana and I persevered and finished. Much to our surprise and delight we both placed first in our age divisions.

So that's that. Love to ya all for your patience and enjoy the holiday weekend.

Help I have lost my desire to blog....

2009-03-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

As you can see from my lack of postings I have not yet gotten into a rhythm with this whole thing. So I hope to in the near future to get some more posts up. here is what you have to look forward to.

A weekend with Taylor in Boise and skiing at Tamarack..

A girls trip to Napa for a marathon...

well I guess that's really all there is to post for now. I have great plans to work on this for the weekend. So for those of you waiting in anticipation for our so very exciting life just keep checking back and I hope to fulfill your wishes.

Salut!!

2009-02-08T19:52:00.000-08:00

If any one wants to see more photos of NLC go to: www.flickr.com and search for Northwest Lineman College 2009 on the home page and, then search for the same thing again on the second page under the "people" tab (not the "photo" or "group" tabs). I'm of course taking all of them and in very few.

2009-01-28T19:47:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from the first sunny day we have had since class began three weeks ago. Boise is an inversion bowl. I am hanging my first double crossarm.

Taylor update...

2009-01-18T11:25:00.000-08:00

Well, officially Taylor has been in school now for two weeks. He has gotten up on a pole 3 days and he's loving it. Other than trying not to walk funny after climbing all day, he's learning alot and thinks he'll really enjoy the work. He has not only started to make new friends but has managed to connect with many old friends from the Moscow area that now live in Boise. He even ran into a buddy from way back at a random bar watching football. Good times catching up with his friend Dane. The instructors sound like good ol' down to earth fellas that say it how it is. The total class size is 101 dudes. They are broken up into 3 classes. As I have heard many times from Tay he is stuck in the smallest classroom that used to be the equipment room, but they are all managing. After a couple hours in the classroom they go into the yard where they either climb, play with trucks or learn about the ground workings of Electrical stuff. All I know is Taylor is in heaven because of all the new specialized tools he gets to use and learn about. The funniest term I've heard him use so far is "the elevator" This is when you are climbing an old, used up pole and you slide down an area that has nothing for you to find a purchase on with your boot gaffs. (sorry if i spelled gaffs wrong, Tay) I do find that quickly Taylor is talking over my head about all sorts of lineman terminolgy. Can't even come up with examples right now. Overall, I think he is really enjoying himself. As I get pic's from him I'll post em and give you all a better idea of all that he is doing. Thanks to quick technology and webcam's using Skype, I think we'll make it through this pretty quickly. Take care everyone and send Taylor good climbing vibes. :)

The joy of riding

2009-01-15T09:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first day of the season for me and my board. I know, it's a bit delayed but that's just the way it goes this year. As I was gathering all my gear and calling the snow phone. I realized how very much I had been anticipating this day. It seems that my love of snowboarding can go into hibernation when it's just not available. But let me tell you, the joy and love are BACK! As I headed up to the hill with Nine Inch Nails thumping and enjoyed the anticipation. I remembered yet again why I love to live here. The mountain was not so busy and the skies where huge and blue. It would be all groomers today, but at this point I don't even care. As the chair swung around and scooped me up I looked around and just took it all in. The trees stood out with their vibrant green against the backdrop of shiny white. I unloaded from the lift and realized with some sadness as I buckled my bindings that this is the first time in years that Taylor is not with me to enjoy the first run of the season. A moment to smile about Taylor and then gravity and need took over and away I went. The feel of the glide of the snow and the pull of gravity is such a wonderful feeling. You feel truly free. Muscle memory takes over and the flow comes back. With each turn you gain momentum and let the wind caress your face. Ahh, it was good to be back. For all the other fellow snow riders out there. I hope you too have been able to get up to the slopes and enjoy all it has to offer.

1180 miles later...

2009-01-01T15:01:00.001-08:00

Well, the last few weeks have flown by. The weekend before xmas Tay and I headed to his future home site Boise, ID. We rallied through the long desolate road called highway 26. Beautiful and very remote. Our mission was to meet Taylor's potential roommate. We found our way to a quaint irish pub in downtown Boise, The Ha Penny. I was thrilled to see they had Boddington's on tap. We downed a few pints and Jonene and her friend met up with us. After another pint it seemed that it would work out fine. The next morning we headed over to check out the digs and found that it should work out great. He even gets a spot in the garage. Fabulous! We headed out to Kuna to check out Taylor's school and after a mere 14 hours of being in Boise we once again got on the dreaded highway. Much to our dismay there was alot more snow but as we got closer to Bend it got sunny and dry. The trip was made even better by a little text message from our great friends that at 2:08 on Dec 21st Bjorn Thurston Blankenship made it safely into this world. We were so excited and the rest of the trip flew by.

Now fast forward two days and yes, once again we are back in the car. I thought about decorating it, but never did quite find the time. We braved the crazy roads and made it to Tacoma, Wa to spend the holiday with my Dad and Margi. It was super fun to see my sis and my step sister and my little niece, Lili. All in total Dad had 17 people over. The wine flowed freely and we had a fantastic italian dinner. It was really fun to see my little niece and her friend Johnny open their gifts. There is something about kids and the joy that they excude. It's just pure happiness and very catching.

The day after xmas once again we got into our lovely home away from home, dog and all and headed to my mom's in Yakima. My sis caught a ride with us and we had smooth sailing over Snoqualmie pass. Mom was great as always and it was good to be in the home I grew up in. We had a yummy steak dinner and were excited to give my mom her cool stained glass window that we had made for her stairwell. Can't wait to see it installed. She loved it!

Saturday came up quick and we headed back to Bend and much to our delight the bridge that was supposed to be closed and cause a long, annoying detour was actually open. That was a very nice surprise and we got home before sunset.

So this week has flown by and Taylor is getting ready to leave on Sunday for Northwest Lineman College. Sad but inevitable. I'm not letting myself get all weepy until after he leaves. So to everyone Happy New Year. I hope this year brings you peace and all that you wish for.

And for a good laugh. We were fascinated by this display of ultimate red neckness and thought you all might enjoy!

Here we go!

2008-12-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

Well I am about to invite all of you into our little world that we call life! I figure everyone else is doing it why can't we? I also hope to keep all of you informed on Taylor's trial and tribulations throughout his upcoming career change. I also will bore you with all my marathon training and book reading and probably lots of photos of our furry children.

For a brief synopsis of our last year or two here are a few definite highlights.

For starters we embarked on the biggest adventure I've ever been on with our two greatest friends Kori and Eric Blankenship. Aug of '07 we were able to go to the the Northern cascades of WA and walk (or crawl in my case) the Ptarmigan Traverse. I have never seen so much beauty or thought so much about each and every step! It took 7 days and 6 nights lots of route finding and sure willpower. But we all loved it!

Then travel to the future where Taylor and I went to Roatan, Honduras to celebrate our 5th anniversary. Beautiful little island with crazy taxi drivers and lots of chill out time.

Currently, we are rejoicing in the fact that Taylor was able to take his civil service exam for the Bonneville Power apprenticeship and thinks he rocked it! We'll know more in 5 or 6 weeks. The government would never want to rush.

Well, that's that. Enjoy the holidays!