California Life

Well, I have been slacking- Again! We are loving California. We've made a lot of amazing friends. Here are a few snapshots of the last four months.

Ahh, good old Las Vegas. Toriann's graduation. She was Valedictorian. And Nicolette on the right has taken up engineering at Colorado State. I know what your thinking, "Smart and beautiful? Just stop already!" : )

Joe, Jameson and Rosada. We get to live near these guys and I get to hang out with that little cutie, could we be any luckier?? 

I bought a vacuum. I was and still am very excited about this. Barf right?

Mountain Boarding. It's like skateboarding or snowboarding, only you go UP mountains. I like the flat.

The Kinetic Sculpture Race in Arcata. This art car breaths fire.

Our friend Robin took Jon fishing in Shelter Cove. He is a very serious fisherman.

Jon, Ben and Robin at the Humboldt Homebrew Festival. These guys are very serious about beer... maybe Robin is more serious about fishing.

Alitia and baby Jameson. Alitia is a skilled practicing acupuncturist. 

Carl and Tonya at the Benbow Arts Festival. You want some good energy, there it is!

Meadows, Hossannia and Brittney. Northern California seems to be a hub for beautiful people.

Photo Journalism for the Lazy Blogger

        Ok, so I have allowed far too much time to pass since our last entry. The photos below will bring us to the end of March. Enjoy!!

Red Rock in January. This picture was taken after a 3 hour approach we did with Lorenzo to the base of  Black Dagger. It began snowing but we started up anyway and in the middle of the second pitch we were officially snowed off. 

February in Las Vegas. Antie Cheryl whipped this double layer chocolate cake with home made frosting up before she headed off to work. Tori (the artist in the family) did the decorating :) 

Putting our road bikes to good use riding the 14 mile loop in Red Rock.

Leaving Las Vegas. Jon was a little concerned about our increasing amount of 'stuff' we are traveling with. I was less concerned since most of the additions are things like my new black dress and sexy black heels. I told him we could get rid of the 12 pack of beer to make more room but he decided we could make it work.

Our first stop after leaving Las Vegas was Bend OR to visit friends. They work at Mount Bachelor which is where we spent five our our seven days there. Jon taught me how to snow board, here I am on my second day. 

This is the beginning of March, we are flying out of Arcata headed for Anchorage.  

Our most favorite, amazing, influential, adventuresome Alaskan friends; Judy and Kenn. We have them to thank for all of our incredible travels in that beautiful state.   

Here we are at the Anchorage start of the Iditarod Dog Sled Race.  Our dear Norwegian friend Joar is coming by at this moment. We are holding the Norwegian flag we made from scratch with Judy's sewing machine.

Guest appearance!! Sarah and I at the Willow start with a little Alaskan husky pup.

Jon getting ready for the 1000 mile journey to Nome. 

A little cross country skiing in Kenn and Judy's back yard.

Celia and her brother Don took us to Kincaid Park for some of the best groomed trail action ever! And the wild life wasn't bad either.

Snow shoeing high above Eagle River.

NOME!! Day one of seven where we stayed at the historic Nugget Inn.

Cross Country skiing on the Bearing Sea. 

Yup.

Minutes away from Joar crossing the finish line. The banner I added to the flag reads, " Joar * Iditarod * 2013 "
I was referred to as 'flag girl' and asked to come stand under the arch for his arrival.

7th place finisher and "Rookie of the Year" Joar Ulsome at the awards banquet. His cool handmade Norwegian Flag with personalized banner is in the plastic bag :)  

Back at it

I know it's been a long time but I'll do my best to keep this short.

We arrived in Minnesota to a warm welcome from Jon's family. Between visiting friends and family, a week at Lake Vermilion, sailing with our friend Art, and the Minnesota State Fair, six weeks was gone in the blink of an eye.

Parting was sad and exciting just as before. We headed west toward the promise of work... so we took our sweet time. We stopped as often as possible: Minnesota's Largest Candy Store, the South Dakota Bad Lands, Mt. Rushmore, Devils Tower, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and finally Salt Lake City.

Our favorite stop was Devils Tower. Our least favorite was Mt. Rushmore. Although it is cool, the only view is one that must be paid for... there is no "entrance fee" (which our National Park Pass would have covered), but the $11 mandatory parking permit (which our National Park Pass does not cover) is good for unlimited entry for the entire calendar year. Now I don't mean to sound like a cheapskate but COME ON!! They know damn well that the majority of people will not be back again in the same year. How about the $2 twenty minute snap-a-photo-and-leave pass. Yeah, we were not happy. But we got our photo and that was that.

After Salt Lake City we blasted straight through Nevada and entered California. Beautiful California. Just under three months we worked. We did have Thanksgiving off which we spent in San Francisco with Jacob and Leah at their sweet pad where their amazing chef friend Jay prepared a Turducken (a chicken inside of a duck inside of a turkey), a very memorable meal indeed. We drove from San Fran to Yosemite for a few days of climbing then back to work. As Winter approached the work dried up. Lucky for us we must have made a good impression, because we were invited back in the Spring.

This brings us to about December 15th of 2012. I'll end it here and resume with leaving California on the next blog entry. Thanks for reading, we've missed you...

Our 'Welcome Home Party' with Veronica, Nick, Sarah, Jon, Clint and slacklining

'Team Art Johnston' during our two day race from Duluth to Portwing and back

Lake Vermilion - Jim got the biggest fish of the trip and Christopher pulled it in

Our first day on the road, looking for any excuse to stop :)

Our $11 photo of Mt. Rushmore

Old Faithful!

On the top of Devils Tower

During our Thanksgiving break in Yosemite National Park

Upper Yosemite Falls

Home

Twelve days passed between leaving Eagle River, AK and arriving to Duluth, MN. It was hard coming to terms with our 'long trip' being over... but the draw of family, friends, and Duluth in the summer was a light at the end of the long long driving tunnel.  It also helped that the drive was beautiful and we stopped for one day of hiking in Jasper National Park in Alberta Canada.

Now what?

Well, we are looking forward to about six weeks in Duluth then we must find some work. I imagine, if you have been reading our blog, we appear to have figured out a way to trick the tooth fairy into leaving $100 bills under our pillows. Unfortunately that is not the case and our hard earned savings is about dry. We must replenish, and luckily we are two young able-bodied ambitious workers. SO! Into the work force we go, laughing all the way, until we save enough for our next adventure...

Hot Springs

Chicken, AK

Entering Canada

Our dream home

One of the beautiful lakes in Canada

The Wal-Mart in Whitehorse 

Tourist attraction

Wildlife

Our day hike in Jasper

Also in Jasper

Our last truck stop dinner

Alaska: part 4

If Alaska were a restaurant, we had ordered the appetizer sampler- just a small taste of many things.  A month was hardly enough time to commit to something more rich and savory such as a main course of river rafting with a side of backcountry backpacking in the Brooke's range.  But even as we were satisfied that the time and energy we spent getting to Alaska was well-spent, Judy and Ken insisted we try a bit of dessert.  Bring on Halibut Cove!

Judy, having the same energy to weight ratio as a hummingbird, needed only a couple of days to get ready to go open her cabin down in the cove after having been gone for nearly two months.  She expertly bought and organized a week's worth of supplies and before we knew it we were on our way to Homer on the Kenai Penninsula where we would take a water taxi across Kechimack Bay.

When you think of a small and secluded coastal paradise nestled into Alaska's pristine wilderess, Halibut Cove is exactly what you are thinking of.  A small community of close-knit individuals have built their cabins in an area where there are no bad views.  A creative consciousness permeates the island and its residents which manifests itself in the form of two art galleries and a restaurant where the food is an artistic expression in itself.  Tall board walks line the inner rim of the island making it possible to access the various shops and residences where the only other way to get around is by boat or kayak.

Judy's cabin was spectacular.  It was the perfect jumping off point to explore the biodiversity of the surrounding waters or the hiking trails of the Kachimack Bay State Park.  We kayaked, hiked, drank coffee and talked politics, went clamming, had dinner parties with the neighbors, grabbed a drink at the restaurant, and just soaked up the surrounding beauty.  Juliet even got a ride in a bush plane.  The whole experience was, to finish my original food metaphor, icing on the cake.

As the water taxi sped away from Halibut Cove and the Island's land mass became smaller and smaller on the horizon, we realized that we were officially on our way home.

The wonderful Judy and Kenn.

Just outside of Homer.

Arriving by water taxi.

Welcome to the guest cabin.

Judy is ahead of us, we could barely keep up!

How did we end up here again???

Who needs to forge a river when you have a tram!

7.7 miles to the glacier - well worth it.

Clamming with Judy.

Austin: "I have to move this thing, who wants a ride?" Me: "I'm sorry, could you repeat the question."

It was a negative tide day so Judy showed us a secret tide pool. 

I had no idea they were so small/ colorful/ full of life!

Back at Homer.