Sunday, August 30, 2009
Gate D49 to Hispaniola
We didn't really do a whole lot of expewhateveryoucallthems. We mostly lounged around the resort and stared at each other. haha. Chris said he didn't mind spending the money to get me down there since we sorta owed ourselves a honeymoon. The honeymoon was great, don't get me wrong. It was just an exhausting 2,000 mile road trip. So relaxing was good.
Man, during the last 40 minutes of that plane ride, the people around me probably thought I was crazy- secondly switching from one position to another, looking out the window and then giggling, drumming on my legs, fidgeting my fingers, bouncing up and down, and other forms of intense anticipatory behavior. When we pulled in I practically ran down the terminal. The customs line was the longest short line I've ever waited in. haha. I rushed through the doors toward the little dirt parking lot and there he was. My fingers forgot my roller suitcase as I ran and lept the swiftest of leaps onto him. It is funny how natural your body does things like that. I didn't have to strategize how I would get my eager self onto him. I just saw him and a few seconds later, my arms were around his neck and my legs were around his waist and my head was to the left. No banging, clunking, or slipping. It just worked. All the taxi drivers were whistling at us and laughing. Chris just let me hang there like a sucker-foot toy monkey and picked up my bag to walk to the taxi. He's such a hoss. Later, I apologized for dropping the bag, but he said he liked it. In the cab, I just stared at him and smiled then teared up and buried myself in his chest.
The resort was pretty pretty. The beach was fabulosa. We went sea kayaking, played in the waves, took moonlit walks on the beach, danced a little bit, considered going snorkeling, and spent a lot of time lounging on these neat swinging white beds on the beach just talking. As you can imagine, there is much to talk about when you have been apart for a month. Then again we email everyday, so there is more to kiss about.
It was great to get a kiss goodnight and wake up beside him in the morning again. It was like a much needed refreshment or a spoon full of sugar.
He had to be back to the boat by 1:00am on Friday morn. My plane didn't leave till 4:00pm. So he tucked me in and kissed my forehead at midnight and headed out. In dramatic female manner, I threw myself onto the mattress and cried outloud till I accidently fell asleep, but in a way that is oddly romantic. On the way back, I would journal something sweet and laugh then two seconds later tear up. I'm sure that the people around me, once again, thought I was crazy.
Right now, I am in a sortof afterglow bright mood. I'm so happy. I love it. I wont see him till the day before October. But I have plans to keep me busy in Maine and God is faithful. I'll be okay.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Here to there to the other there
I tallied things up on the plane. I have been on 9 airplane-involving trips in the past 8 months:
NYC third date-Dec/Jan
Proposal in ME-Feb
CO ski trip-March
househunting in ME-March
Portcall in VA-May
Clint and Tyf's Wedding in Missouri City-June
Oregon for motorcycle trip-August
Dom. Rep.-Aug
Back to Boston-Tuesday
I don't want to tally up up the costs. Ah! "Chris, it has been 8 months since the NYC trip on which you asked me to be your girl and 6 months since you asked me to be your girl forever and 2 1/2 months since that deal was sealed." And he said that he is still glad that he married me. Thank goodness.
Here in Texas, I got to go see my Dandy Dallas friends and drive to visit Collegiate Station bride maids. I helped Animated Amanda decorate her science classroom. Then Lovely Laura and I drove to see Delightful Dana in Amazing Austin. Tomorrow I will joyously embark on yet another trip. This time I get to see the manliest man that I ever did see. I cannot wait to see Chris! We collide at 3:25 tomorrow! I suggested to him that we tilt our heads left to avoid clunking.
NYC third date-Dec/Jan
Proposal in ME-Feb
CO ski trip-March
househunting in ME-March
Portcall in VA-May
Clint and Tyf's Wedding in Missouri City-June
Oregon for motorcycle trip-August
Dom. Rep.-Aug
Back to Boston-Tuesday
I don't want to tally up up the costs. Ah! "Chris, it has been 8 months since the NYC trip on which you asked me to be your girl and 6 months since you asked me to be your girl forever and 2 1/2 months since that deal was sealed." And he said that he is still glad that he married me. Thank goodness.
Here in Texas, I got to go see my Dandy Dallas friends and drive to visit Collegiate Station bride maids. I helped Animated Amanda decorate her science classroom. Then Lovely Laura and I drove to see Delightful Dana in Amazing Austin. Tomorrow I will joyously embark on yet another trip. This time I get to see the manliest man that I ever did see. I cannot wait to see Chris! We collide at 3:25 tomorrow! I suggested to him that we tilt our heads left to avoid clunking.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Motorcycle trip winds down
and down and down and down and then back up and up and up and up the Bear Tooth Highway. This road was ridiculous! We zigzagged like 4-5 laps up the side of the same mountain. Sharp turns, steep inclines, lots of motorcycles! We went above the treeline to 12,000 feet and even then, we kept going up. what the heck! We saw the bowls of long gone glaciers from above them in stead of just below them. We pulled off to look at some mountain goats and a chipmunk sat in my lap. He crawled into my lap and sat on it. Yea.Yellowstone was pretty sweet. It's a supervolcano. What kind of idiots drive on top of a supervolcano. Us. We sat and watched Old Faithful spit and steam and headed down to the Grand Tetons. The Obama's were there two days after us. They put the park on lockdown for their visit.
Geeze- we had to drive till 11:00 that night and I didn't eat dinner. It was so stinkin cold! The stars were AMAZING though! I saw a shooting star and two meteors and a few satellites, of course. The other guys didn't get to see them because they had to watch the road. naninanibooboo.
The next day we made a break from Southern Colorado and made it. We drove down this crazy high highway from Silverton to Durango and that was pretty sweet. Then we went down to Santa Fe and ate downtown. What a cool cool place! So cool! I want to go back sometime. Third Honeymoon or something (chris and I plan to have at least 5 honeymoons).
Then we drove thorugh a pretty intimidating storm to Amarillo, slept, got up and ate a bagel and drove to Dallas. Yay- 8 days and 3900 miles later, I'm home.
Motorcycling Post-Canada
This morning, we drove through Glacier Natl Park of the U.S. So I got to compare ours to Canada's. haha. as for number and size of glaciers, Canada wins; as for sites, ours ups them! Adjectives do not exists to describe the spectacularness of this place. The valleys were just so deep and wide! And there were waterfalls everywhere. And we drove down high high guardrailess zigzaggy roads. I wasn't scared though. :). I love the anticipation of coming around a big corner or going over a pass and not knowing what you are going to see next. Will it top everything you've seen so far? Will it be normal? Will there be a mountain goat in the road? haha.
Right after we left Glacier Natl park, we came into 180 miles of treeless hills that were blown and blown by like 40-50 mph winds!! What a change! I felt like it was trying to treat my helmet like a parchute and lift it off my head. I got a neck work-out just trying to hold my head up and I had to plug my nose sometimes bc the wind was blowing up it so hard. ahaha. Tomorrow we are driving through Yellowstone national park, the Grand Tetons, and Jackson whole and are hoping to nip the edge of Utah and reach Colorado by night fall. Not so sure that'll happen- it's 539 miles. haha.
Right after we left Glacier Natl park, we came into 180 miles of treeless hills that were blown and blown by like 40-50 mph winds!! What a change! I felt like it was trying to treat my helmet like a parchute and lift it off my head. I got a neck work-out just trying to hold my head up and I had to plug my nose sometimes bc the wind was blowing up it so hard. ahaha. Tomorrow we are driving through Yellowstone national park, the Grand Tetons, and Jackson whole and are hoping to nip the edge of Utah and reach Colorado by night fall. Not so sure that'll happen- it's 539 miles. haha.
Motorcycling in CANADA
We crossed the border into Oliver Valley, British Columbia. A sign said that the valley is "the wine capital of Canada." It went on for miles and miles of vinyards and orchards and crops. It bursted with grapes, applies, pears, apricots, peaches, even zuchini, tomatoes and corn! Corn? Ya. After the valley came a lake. A 90 kilometer lake! It's called Lake Okanagan. This lake was the weirdest shade of blue I've ever seen. It was like the died water in a lazy river park or like muffled Caribbean water. That is apparently what glacial run-off water looks like and we saw it over and over again as we passed more northern lakes. We stayed in a town on the shore. The town is surrounded by huge mountains and the twilight reflected off the weird blue lake. Gorgeous! They were having a live music festival in old downtown. So we went to an Irish pub and listened to live music.
The next morning, we got up early and bought Harley shirts that say Canada on the back. whoop. ha. There have been lots of forest fires around there lately, so for the next 100 miles, the sky was so smokey that we couldn't see the mountains clearly at all- they were blue and gray instead of green and the smell of smoke was pretty strong. Geeze. Fortunately, we pulled out of that before we reached Lake Louis and Banff. Lake Louis is astounding! Huge bowl edged with jagged mntns, a glacier in the back ground, sub beams gleaming down into water bluer than that of Lake Okanagon! And the road to Banff was pretty darn sweet. We saw elk, deer, (both a bull and bucks included) mountain goats, foxes, hawks, eagles (and 2 baby eagles), and some guys saw a bear.
We spent two nights in Banff, Alberta. We drove up into Glacier Nat'l Park of Canada and drove through its icefields. We counted like 6 or 7 glaciers and stopped at the intersection of three and hiked around it. So cool! In one place, there was this huge wall of ice. Bright blue and way over our heads and there were just chunks of ice melting and falling into this rushing river below it. They predict that the now mile-long glacier will be completely melted within 100 years. That night, we had celebratory cigars on the lodge balcony. It made me feel special that the guys got me one too and they wanted me to smoke with them. They are all between 45-55 and they picked on me and I picked on them back. They called me princess and they bought me icecream and gave me twizzlers and made me taste scotch and gave me a cigar. haha. I was afraid I was crashing on their man time (only girl), but they said they liked me and called me a trooper for going so many miles and staying energetic.
The next day we got up early to race a storm. We beat it and drove down to Idaho and Montana.
The next morning, we got up early and bought Harley shirts that say Canada on the back. whoop. ha. There have been lots of forest fires around there lately, so for the next 100 miles, the sky was so smokey that we couldn't see the mountains clearly at all- they were blue and gray instead of green and the smell of smoke was pretty strong. Geeze. Fortunately, we pulled out of that before we reached Lake Louis and Banff. Lake Louis is astounding! Huge bowl edged with jagged mntns, a glacier in the back ground, sub beams gleaming down into water bluer than that of Lake Okanagon! And the road to Banff was pretty darn sweet. We saw elk, deer, (both a bull and bucks included) mountain goats, foxes, hawks, eagles (and 2 baby eagles), and some guys saw a bear.
We spent two nights in Banff, Alberta. We drove up into Glacier Nat'l Park of Canada and drove through its icefields. We counted like 6 or 7 glaciers and stopped at the intersection of three and hiked around it. So cool! In one place, there was this huge wall of ice. Bright blue and way over our heads and there were just chunks of ice melting and falling into this rushing river below it. They predict that the now mile-long glacier will be completely melted within 100 years. That night, we had celebratory cigars on the lodge balcony. It made me feel special that the guys got me one too and they wanted me to smoke with them. They are all between 45-55 and they picked on me and I picked on them back. They called me princess and they bought me icecream and gave me twizzlers and made me taste scotch and gave me a cigar. haha. I was afraid I was crashing on their man time (only girl), but they said they liked me and called me a trooper for going so many miles and staying energetic.
The next day we got up early to race a storm. We beat it and drove down to Idaho and Montana.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
flying to Oregon, we flew over the Great Salt Lake and the salt flats. It was one of the funniest looking things I have ever seen. I wrote that "The water is the exact same color as the sky, so the mountains beyond the lake look like they are hovering in the air and I cannot tell what is a cloud and what is a flat of salt."
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Panarama!
Motorcycling through Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alberta, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.
Riding on a motorcycle is a completely different experience from riding in a car. No ceiling, no blindspot. The floorboard is only 2 ft wide. Plus you get to engage all 5 senses: see the panoramic view; smell the freshness of the forest, the wheat in the field, the horse poop and the road kill; hear the wind, the birds that you do and don't see, the waterfalls, and of course the pipes of the bike; feel the wind, handle airconditionless heat, and bundle up for the cold. Speaking of cold, it definitely got down to 35 degrees on the ridge of Mt St. Helens. And today, it has been a surprising 85 in Montana. We are all decked out in our black leather chaps and jackets and boots so the cold wasn't that bad, actually.
We landed in Portland, OR and took a taxi to the Allied Co. where our bikes were waiting (it costs less to ship 6 bikes than one). How could I even describe the beauty of this place? Luckily, it was not raining, but you can tell it usually is by the lushness of the land! The furriest conifurs I've ever seen and the bluest lakes between smooth slopes. There was a break in the lushness in the 12 mile circumference of MT ST. HELENS. 29 years after the erruption, a valley 11 miles away was still desolate. Dead trees laid on their side like dominoes where 300 mph 2000 degree ash blew them down. The roadsides were, however, lined with lively wild flowers! Purple, blue-purple, pale yellow, bright yellow, orange-red, white, and a prettier white! Oh I love the flowers! I like them better than all these men I am with do. haha. Ya, I am on this 4,000 mile trip with six 50 yr old bikers.
Day 2 Journal notes: Yep, we are in Johnny Appleseed's realm. So many mountains terraced for orchard after orchard and the roads were lined with towers of empty wooden crates waiting for the harvest. Apples, peaches, apricots, cherries, pears... Man it made me hungry.
Suddenly, about 100 miles east of Seattle, we rounded a ridge and slipped out of lush green valleys, conifur covered peaks, and orchards, and into bald and barren brown hills! What a crazy transition! The wind there was so strong and the air was so dry! We drove in these desert-like foot hills for a full day till crossed into CANADA.
Riding on a motorcycle is a completely different experience from riding in a car. No ceiling, no blindspot. The floorboard is only 2 ft wide. Plus you get to engage all 5 senses: see the panoramic view; smell the freshness of the forest, the wheat in the field, the horse poop and the road kill; hear the wind, the birds that you do and don't see, the waterfalls, and of course the pipes of the bike; feel the wind, handle airconditionless heat, and bundle up for the cold. Speaking of cold, it definitely got down to 35 degrees on the ridge of Mt St. Helens. And today, it has been a surprising 85 in Montana. We are all decked out in our black leather chaps and jackets and boots so the cold wasn't that bad, actually.
We landed in Portland, OR and took a taxi to the Allied Co. where our bikes were waiting (it costs less to ship 6 bikes than one). How could I even describe the beauty of this place? Luckily, it was not raining, but you can tell it usually is by the lushness of the land! The furriest conifurs I've ever seen and the bluest lakes between smooth slopes. There was a break in the lushness in the 12 mile circumference of MT ST. HELENS. 29 years after the erruption, a valley 11 miles away was still desolate. Dead trees laid on their side like dominoes where 300 mph 2000 degree ash blew them down. The roadsides were, however, lined with lively wild flowers! Purple, blue-purple, pale yellow, bright yellow, orange-red, white, and a prettier white! Oh I love the flowers! I like them better than all these men I am with do. haha. Ya, I am on this 4,000 mile trip with six 50 yr old bikers.
Day 2 Journal notes: Yep, we are in Johnny Appleseed's realm. So many mountains terraced for orchard after orchard and the roads were lined with towers of empty wooden crates waiting for the harvest. Apples, peaches, apricots, cherries, pears... Man it made me hungry.
Suddenly, about 100 miles east of Seattle, we rounded a ridge and slipped out of lush green valleys, conifur covered peaks, and orchards, and into bald and barren brown hills! What a crazy transition! The wind there was so strong and the air was so dry! We drove in these desert-like foot hills for a full day till crossed into CANADA.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
this time tomorrow
This time tomorrow, I will be in Seattle, Washington with my dad and his motocycle buddies.
This time tomorrow, I will already have started my 60 days apart from Chris. He's off to the Caribbean until almost October. So I cried on him last night and I probably will again tonight.
In the meantime, Daddy and I are riding the motorcycle from Portland, Oregon up through the Canadian Rockies and back down to Texas through Idaho and Colorado. I am really excited about this ride! He and I have been in 15 states on the motorcycle and this trip will add three more states and another country! Wow.
Right now, I'm sittin in the coffee shop here in Portsmouth. And a girl across the room is reading The Shack. (amazing book. go get it now.) So I got really excited and talked to her for a while. Did you know that New Hampshire/Maine/ Vermont is rivaling Washington/Oregon as the least christian parts of the country. We are currently at the raging 5%. My pastor said the other day that if you go to downtown Dallas (funny that he chose that example huh?) and cross two sticks and throw them in the air, 2,000 people will show up in that spot the next Sunday. Here it is a mission field. If you cross two sticks, even the crickets will hop away from you.
I made Chris chocolate chip cookies and sweet tea to take onto the boat. I also created an "I miss you" song list on his ipod, painted some Bible verses for him to hang up in his bunk, and wrote him a very loving letter. I'll post excerpts from the letter later. And I will try to get those wedding pictures up. I am so behind. Stay tuned for news of 47 degree Canadian beauty!
This time tomorrow, I will already have started my 60 days apart from Chris. He's off to the Caribbean until almost October. So I cried on him last night and I probably will again tonight.
In the meantime, Daddy and I are riding the motorcycle from Portland, Oregon up through the Canadian Rockies and back down to Texas through Idaho and Colorado. I am really excited about this ride! He and I have been in 15 states on the motorcycle and this trip will add three more states and another country! Wow.
Right now, I'm sittin in the coffee shop here in Portsmouth. And a girl across the room is reading The Shack. (amazing book. go get it now.) So I got really excited and talked to her for a while. Did you know that New Hampshire/Maine/ Vermont is rivaling Washington/Oregon as the least christian parts of the country. We are currently at the raging 5%. My pastor said the other day that if you go to downtown Dallas (funny that he chose that example huh?) and cross two sticks and throw them in the air, 2,000 people will show up in that spot the next Sunday. Here it is a mission field. If you cross two sticks, even the crickets will hop away from you.
I made Chris chocolate chip cookies and sweet tea to take onto the boat. I also created an "I miss you" song list on his ipod, painted some Bible verses for him to hang up in his bunk, and wrote him a very loving letter. I'll post excerpts from the letter later. And I will try to get those wedding pictures up. I am so behind. Stay tuned for news of 47 degree Canadian beauty!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Salem means Peace.
heading back from Boston, I drove through good ole Salem, Mass. There, I dropped by the House Seven Gables (Hawthorne novel) among other things and statues. My favorite part was dinner. I ate a blue cheese, apple, walnut, & field green salad accompanied by hot peony white tea and followed by a strawberry nutella crepe- messily- on a yellow couch. I bet Dana's mouth is watering. Yes dear, it was really good.
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