Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Muy Slackido

Hello, folks! First of all, we have a correction from the last entry ... I'm pretty sure that "sans" is French, not Spanish.

Anyway, Kris and I are excited to be heading to Albuquerque and Santa Fe for tomorrow Christmas. It has to be one of the most wonderful places to be during the holidays. The adobe houses are lit up with lines faralitos (luminarios) along the roofs, walls and driveways, and on Christmas Eve, everyone crowds together for a cozy walk down Canyon road to look at all the art in shop windows, drink hot cider, and maybe squeeze into a restaurant for a bite to eat. The smell of piƱon and fires will be in the air, and we'll get to eat at one of my most favorite (and colorful) restaurants, the Shed (I order the #10 with garlic bread and a sangria!)

To catch up on the past month or so ... We went down early to San Antonio for Kris' half marathon to stay with our friends, Lindsay and Paul. We were so excited to find out that Linz is expecting twins! Yeah! Kris did a great job in the race, averaging a 7:40 per mile, even though the day turned out to be much hotter and more humid than expected. In fact, many people who intended to do the full marathon dropped down to the half. Here's a video of him finishing (his bib number was 10707): http://san-antonio.competitor.com/features/finishreplay/. Please note the sweet beard. I was so glad to have this video, because despite my efforts to see him go by at the beginning of the race, then at the 8 mile marker, then around 11.6 miles, I NEVER succeeded in seeing him! We both were totally bummed, but had a happy reunion under the "K" sign after the race. Now Kris is re-addicted to running (he ran track in high school) and looking forward to a real marathon. Then I can buy him the 26.2 sticker.

We are both ready to go to Kenya. The support we have received from friends and family in raising money for the kids' scholarships and the orphanage has been incredible. We have almost reached the goal! Kris has planned the kids' running program, and I've got some fun art projects planned. We've been speaking with one of the girls who started Hope Runs, and she's been relating stories about the people who run the orphanage and how life runs on a daily basis there. She said that the kids are going to be SO excited to have real art classes and new people to meet. I can't wait myself! We will be putting pictures up and hopefully adding to the blog ever few days. I'm sure we'll have stories of our own soon enough, and once we get a quality camera, some photos that capture the kids personalities and surroundings.

Besides all the prep for Kenya, we've been helping to remodel some of the house we're living in, dancing at the Cotton Club, and visiting with friends. Oh, and a fantastic trip to Chicago for our one-year anniversary. What a great city! We had so much fun. We saw several friends who happened to be there, ate at some GREAT restaurants, went to a Browns vs. Bears game at Soldier Field, and spent about two days in the Field Natural History Museum. Love that place.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

This is our gooey deep dish pizza from Giordano's. MMMM ... but we're still thin crust people.
Kris, me, Michael and his grrrlfriend.
Introspective silver bean picture. Big Kris, little me!

We loved the colors in Chicago!

Yeah, friend!

Kris' friend from the Field Museum, our second home in Chicago. Nerds.

Friday, September 18, 2009

I've been slacking

That has been a quick 3 weeks since my last post. It's strange because, I've always said that my mom is the busiest retired person I've ever seen. Not that I'm retired, but Heather and I have stayed pretty busy even though we are sans jobs. Little Spanish there. Anyways, after Bryce Canyon, Heather and I headed to Zion National Park, probably our favorite of the parks. Luck was with us on the first night, as we picked a great camping spot with a nice breeze (as it was 105 degrees). Luck was not with us on the second night when a rather wheezy couple from Las Vegas parked upwind from us, and chain smoked Camel Wides for the next 36 hours. Nothing like blue gray cigarette smoke floating though your tent. Notwithstanding, Zion is beautiful. We took 2 incredible hikes - Angel's Landing and the Narrows. I am not a fan of heights, but Heather had no problems. Angel's Landing is all about height. Over the last half mile, you walk a spine with a 1200 foot drop to one side, and a 1900 foot drop on the other. The park has installed a nice chain for hikers to hold onto. After we finished, a ranger told us that some guy had fallen off one of the cliffs the week before. Apparently, it is pretty common. Ugh. The Narrows were created by the Virgin River cutting though sandstone plateaus. In spots, the river is only 20 feet wide, but the cliffs rise up 2000 feet on either side. We were some of the first people in that morning, and got to hike with a well read and well written park ranger. Coming out was strange, though, as we must have passed 1500 people. It was like exiting a rock concert. Ahh, the recession. Allowing millions of Americans to visit their National Parks.


Little view to get started.
I'm a slave to fashion. And, white knuckling the chain.
That's Heather's boot. Those little white boxes in the upper left are a trolley bus.
Sup?Heather is always smiling. I'm still white knuckling the chain.
So good they are gerd.
Yep, it's narrow.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Heather's Path of Destruction

There is one thing I need to mention about our trip. Heather trailblazed a path of destruction over the course of our 6 weeks. On Day 2, she lost her wedding band (not the engagement ring). We went on a hike to the Window in Big Bend. It was cool when we left, but was pretty humid on the way back. Heather vaguely remembered having the ring on, but wasn't sure. So, ring was gone. Next, she was wearing a necklace that I gave her when we started dating, first nice gift kind of thing. That broke and disappeared. Keeping on, she then walked in to a river in Colorado with her phone in her back pocket. Glug. Then when we got to Idaho, as she was taking pictures of all the "pretty" freshwater mussels in the Selway River, she forgot that she was in the river and dunked our camera underwater. Luckily, it dried out quickly, so, just to make sure, Heather dunked it about a foot underwater a second time (within an hour) as she was taking pictures of a fish. At this point, I figured the cost of our trip had roughly doubled. And, for those of you that know me, I was not the happiest camper.

Strangely, though, almost everything resolved itself. The camera and memory card dried out a second time, and somehow is still working. The phone also dried out and is still working. Then, for the weirdest thing, we got a flat tire outside of Denver a few days before we got back. I had to pull out the jack from under the back seat, which was sealed in a little plastic cubby area. I grab the jack and am working on the tire when Heather walks up and flashes her hand in front of me. The ring is on her finger. Somehow, the thing had worked its way under the seat and into the jack box. No idea how.

We had some stock market-style swings, but all that she officially lost (or broke) was one necklace. Pretty good overall.

Anyway, here's some more pics.
Little Heather looking out over Deadhorse Canyon.
The rarely seen, and hardly elusive Fatmunk.

Dr. Seussville. This is Bryce Canyon.

More Bryce Canyon.

Monday, August 17, 2009

HONESTLY WE HAD NO INTERNET

Ok, it has been a little while since my last post. I didn't really think that anyone was reading this, but in the last few days, I've had 3 or 4 people tell me that we needed to post something. We just got back to the farm on Monday, and the last week and a half of our trip was through the mountains. Honestly, there was no place to blog, and then our computer had a minor breakdown. So, I think that in order to catch up, I need to do a little photo montage. To quote the Team America song:

Show a lot of things happing at once,
Remind everyone of what’s going on (what’s going on?)
And with every shot you show a little improvement
To show it all would take to long
That’s called a montage (montage)
Oh we want montage (montage)

And anything that we want to go from just a beginner to a pro,
You need a montage (montage)
Even Rocky had a montage (montage).

Clear Lake. Beautiful but tiny fish.

Looks like a Chevy commercial.


Finally caught some nice sized rainbows at Miramonte Lake in SW Colorado.

Interlude for smoking hot wife picture.


After leaving Colorado, we headed to Moab and the Arches National Park.
Home of the Double Arch and the $160 Dollar a night Motel 6 (we camped).
I was feeling artsy.

This was the Broken Arch. I was a little nervous walking under the thing.
Um, I have a joke here, but Heather has disallowed it. Again.

This is the main view as you come into and leave the park. Lightning was cracking like
crazy in the storm. I think Heather took 150 pics but couldn't catch the lightning.

Damn. I can't even catch up in a montage. I'll post more now that we are back. Good news-
Heather and I got picked to go to Kenya in January through a great group called HopeRuns.
Check it out at www.hoperuns.org.
can.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Ken is a Speeder

Well, we've made it up to Montana. All in all, we have driven about 4500 miles since the first of July. Heather is down fishing in the Bitterroot already, so this may be a short entry. So, I think my last entry rested on the bosom of Carlsbad Cavern. After wandering around in the 65 degrees of the cave for a few hours, we staggered out into bright sunshine and 103 degrees (yeah, but it's a dry heat). I'd already made reservations at the KOA campground outside of Carlsbad. The campsite was touted as New Mexico's No. 1 rated campground, and we were excited about using our new tent. Mom gave me one of those cool tents that fits right into the back of my truck. Turns out, we were more excited about air conditioning. Heather made an executive decision that we could forgo our reservation fee at the KOA, and, rather, drive straight through to Santa Fe.

Quick sidenote.... we drove past the campground that we were supposed to stay at, and I'm sitting here trying to think up a real witty acronym for KOA but failing. However, I bet it stands for "sucks" in most languages. Apparently, New Mexican campers must enjoy a nice tumor, as well, because the No. 1 rated campground sat beneath about 3 acres of electrical power substation. In our 4500 miles, we have passed a lot of KOA's, and the vast majority have been el stinko.

Anyway, we arrived in Santa Fe, overjoyed at the prospect of a nice air conditioned room at Ken and Cindy's house, Heather's aunt and uncle. God does have a sense of humor, the AC was broken. Nevertheless, it was probably 25 degrees cooler out, and we slept more than comfortably with the doors and windows open.

Ken had been looking at some land in Colorado outside of Montrose, and the four of us decided to a little side drive of about 800 miles. The next day, we hopped into the car and headed north. If I had driven the whole way, it probably would have taken 16 hours, as we were going over some pretty steep passes on shoulder-less roads. If Ken had driven the whole way, I'm guessing it would have taken 8. Cindy agrees with me wholeheartedly. Ken likes to drive and he likes his driving fast. I may have white knuckled a few times, but overall, we had a great trip through Colorado. Ended up staying in a little hotel in Telluride, then coming back to Santa Fe and Albuquerque to see Heather's cousins- Jeff, Julie and Jaquelyn- for a few days. Jaq- I'm betting I just butchered your name. While in Albuquerque, eat at Sadie's.

After a week, we left the Johns family and headed to the Vallecito Reservoir in Colorado. Vallecito is also known as the land without fish but great scenery. Heather and I pulled into the National Forest campground at Vallecito Creek, and were met by Calvin, the camp host. Turns out, Calvin used to live about 3 or 4 blocks from our old house in Austin. Here's a few pics of Vallecito:

A pic of Heather not catching anything.

A pic of the valley next to Vallecito Reservoir.

And yes, that is a Ken Johns' Lincoln Towncar.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Caverns

We are "borrowing" wifi from the Best Western next door, so thought we'd have time to do another quick post. After leaving Big Bend and Marathon, Carlsbad Caverns were the next stopping point. The Davis Mountains are along the way, and a wonderful part of Texas that I hadn't been through. Dancer, Texas was filmed around the Davis Mountains; if you haven't seen it, rent it sometime. Unexpectedly, there were a group of 6 to 8 elk standing on the side of the road outside of Fort Davis. As you come out of the mountains, the springs at Balmorhea are worth stopping to look at. This kid didn't come close to landing his flip.

After this, Texas got real ugly for awhile. The next major town was Pecos. It is typically a bad indicator when the welcome sign is missing half its letters. Google said it would take 5 hours 20 minutes from Marathon to Carlsbad; we made it in 3 hrs 45 minutes.

It was 103 degrees standing in the parking lot of the Caverns. After a 750 foot ride down the elevator, it was 65ish. Heather and I had taken about 10 steps off the elevator when all but a couple lights went out. We thought it was part of a presentation, but after seeing a few rangers go scrambling, we realized it was a power outage. So sad for the people that just got on our elevator. After 10 minutes or so, they got the backup generator going, and this cute ranger nerd took us on a tour. In general this lady was overly excited about caves, but, after the tour, I could understand her excitement better.


And, apparently, the cavern is a her. Heather just gave me a look of disapproval.


Once out of the caves, we hooked it for Santa Fe to see Heather's family.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Sans Wifi

When we decided to quit our jobs, and experience some of the world, a number of friends and family asked that we do a blog so they could follow along. Well, we are coming up on 3 weeks in and here is our first post. Seems like once we got out of Austin, wifi has been a little bit hard to come-by. So far, we have been to: (i) Marathon, Texas; (ii) Big Bend; (iii) Carlsbad Caverns; (iv) Santa Fe; (v) Montrose, Colorado; (vi) Telluride; (vii) back to Santa Fe; (viii) Albuquerque; (ix) Vallecito Reservoir outside of Durango; (x) the South Mineral Creek/Clear Lake outside of Silverton, Colorado; (xi) Miramonte Lake outside of Norwood, Colorado; (x) and finally, we sit here sweating in Moab, Utah. I think we've covered around 2,900 miles so far. We've covered a whole lot of ground in a short time, but are really enjoying ourselves. And, thankfully, I finally caught a couple of keeper-sized trout this morning. Heather says "Yea!"

We started off at the Gage Hotel in Marathon, and, like everywhere else, it was hot. Luckily, though, they also had really good food, wine and a pool. Try the sweatbreads when you go there. I'm not sure what they are, and I refuse to look it up. They are, however, very tasty.

On our second day in Marathon, we were debating going to Chinati Hot Springs or Big Bend. To get to Chinati, you need to have 4 wheel drive, and Big Bend was supposedly 110 degrees. Luckily, you can see for 300 or so miles when you stand in front of the Gage, and a storm was blowing in down south. So, Heather and I hauled down to Big Bend. We arrived just as the storm hit and hid under a tiny cedar. It rained so hard that we thought it was hailing, but they were just really fat drops. The storm passed and the temperature dropped to 60 degrees. I wanted to hike to the Window since I hadn't been there since I was a kid. Waterfalls popped out of every cliff face. Really beautiful.

I'll try to catch up on the other towns and places over the next few days by typing them into Word as Heather drives. BUT, that means that Heather has to drive, and she drives creatively.
Kris and Heather