L'aventure américaine

A quick update from our adventure: We left Alaska a few days ago after some fantastic ferry-riding. We got stopped in customs again, since we evidently look suspicious, and they confiscated our apples... We have enjoyed our very scenic drive through British Columbia and have stopped in Whistler, where the 2010 Olympics were. It is beautiful and chocked full of free wifi! We will arrive in Seattle tomorrow where we will stay with Sterling's aunt and family. And then we'll start the trip south on the coastal highway. I will try to add pictures later. In other news... (by the way, I'm sorry for the lack of paragraphs, that's what happens on the iPhone. Camping in the truck has been great. But the damp of Alaska pervaded and there is now quite a smell. If every couple has a scent, ours is not so pretty!!

So, this will be a brief post as I am quite tired this evening.   Sterling and I have seen so many wonderful things in the past few days and have become big fans of Canada!  Above, we are in front of Lake Louise where we did a beautiful hike in the snow.  It's cold here! At the end of the hike, there was a tea house where we enjoyed some delicious tea and a bit of warmth.  Then we hiked down, seeing blue blue Lake Louise below.   And on we continued!  We crossed Bow Lake and the guidebook said that Peyto Lake was worth the hike. Again, it was a hike in the snow, but again, it was totally worth it.  The color of the lake was spectacular...  such a brilliant blue. We continued up the Icefield Parkway and stopped at the Athabasca Glacier.  It's too dangerous to walk on it, but we enjoyed getting close to it.  It was quite poignant to see the signs that said where the gl...

Hello from Calgary! We have just arrived and are about to take off again for the Icefields Parkway. It has been beautiful, albeit a bit rainy since leaving Paul and Kristie's beautiful home in Stevensville, MT. Sterling and I drove north to Glacier National Park yesterday. The glaciers were covered with snow and we missed some of the park since the road is not fully opened due to snow. The clouds hung low, but it was still oh-so-beautiful. We decided to camp there for the night in a campsite that we had nearly all to ourselves. It was a beautiful view and an evening walk was complete when we saw a bull moose. We crossed the border this morning and went to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump, a place that I wanted to go to based on the name, but learned so much about the Blackfeet Tribe and buffalo stampedes off a cliff. An incredible museum, if you ever make it to Alberta. And now we head to the Canadian Rockies and Banff. Beautiful views and great camping, with some snow, I'm s...

We are on our way! I believe that updates will be spotty due to lack of Internet access and phone service, but we are in a Starbucks just south of Salt Lake and taking care of those pesky Internet things. We packed the truck and left on Monday morning, breathing a sigh of relief as we drove away from Phoenix and all of its responsibilities. We made it to Farmington, NM that evening for dinner with Aunt Pruda. Luciano also had us over for brownies and coffee: delicious! We stopped in Durango the next morning to meet CJ Long, the newest Trujillo baby and Shirena made us green chili for breakfast (isn't she amazing?). And then we headed to Utah! We stopped at Arches National Park and hiked to Delicate Arch, which was so beautiful. And then we headed north, stopping for the night in Ashley National Forest for our first night's sleep in the truck. Comfortable and warm! Although there was frost on the window when we woke up and we'll have to acclimate to the cold! We sh...

So, I am about to unplug and pack my wireless router, so I'm using the last bit of my high speed internet.  It is is a welcome break amidst the chaos that has been the last two weeks.  To sum up: pack, work, clean.  That's it. However, there was a brief break for the annular eclipse, which was showcased in the west last Sunday.  Sterling had mentioned it and I agreed that I wanted to see it, as we all reminisced watching the last one during an impromptu recess in elementary or junior high school.  I looked up how to make a projector box while I was at work and sent the link to Sterling.  It told us to use a long box and if we didn't have a long enough one, then tape two shoeboxes together.  Sterling said he would see what he could do. So, I was lucky enough to escape work early and Sterling said that he was ready for me at his house up the street.  I climbed the ladder to the roof and was greeted with the most enormous projector box along wit...

So, life has settled back into the mundane routine lately.  Work and home and groceries and so on.  That is, if you included putting a roof on a new house as quickly as you can and packing up boxes with labels such as, "Books for Baltimore!" and "Books to open in our new mansion in Detroit!"  But, we're toodling along at a breakneck pace. And in the midst of this Phoenix chapter closing, I am trying to downsize my things.  Which has been an adventure.  A Craigslist Adventure: It started off so well initially.  I decided that Odie's treadmill did not need to move to Baltimore with us.  Thus, with our quickly imposed delivery fee, Sterling and I were able to make $145 one day after the posting.   Wonderful! I thought.   This will be lucrative and fast!  And then things slowed down...  Way down. I have since had one scammer and 3 pornography sites be interested in my vacuum and lamps (vacuum, really?  How cliche.) I have ...

And so the final leg our journey commenced with just Sterling and I cruising along in the Opal.  As previously stated, we headed to Luxembourg first for two reasons: 1) I couldn't seem to navigate to Strasbourg and 2) We thought Luxembourg might be as cool as Liechtenstein.  So, we arrived in Luxembourg City and although hungry, we were happy! Luxembourg was just a little bit of a bust though.  It was Sunday, so everything was closed except the extremely expensive restaurants that were open due to a marathon in the city.  We did get to walk quite a bit though, enjoy some views and saw some Luxembourgian hookers near where we parked (still better than Pisa...  nothing was stolen!), so it was all in all, a satisfying trip. But, we headed to France and decided to stop in Verdun, since the name sounded vaguely familiar.  (It was a big battlefield during World War I and is famous for the amount of devastation that occurred during the time.)  It was ...