Monday, June 8, 2009

Here's the deal

With all of the fun things that have been happening lately, I've decided that the trip has officially begun. We still don't have a car, and we're still working (in two completely different cities), but the point of the trip is to have adventures, and adventures we are having!

Hannah and I's birthdays were last week (you'd think we were twins, but we're not -- hers is two days before mine) so I went down to visit her and then we went camping with a couple other friends. The night of her birthday we went to dinner at this awesome little seafood restaurant (Totem something). We noticed the place because their reader board said "God bless the world" and Hannah had been craving salmon, which didn't end up getting. When the owners found out it was Hannah's b-day, they gave her a free fish taco in addition to the meal she had already ordered, and a free milkshake. Later they also brought us both a free apple crisp-type of dessert. It was very cool to see how willing people are to give even before the trip started.

On Friday we headed out to Turlo campgrounds with a couple other people and had an amazing time relaxing in nature away from the daily grind. That night we had lots of laughs while playing card games next to a small river. It was so great sleeping with the sound of rushing waters in the background. Saturday morning Hannah and I dunked our faces in the river (which is formed from glacier runoff) to help us wake up, while Justin decided to go all the way in for a "river shower." Hannah and I decided we should too, so we went to change. The ranger was cleaning the bathrooms while we were there and his response to our plan was laughing and then asking, "You're not really going to, though, right?" LOL But we really did it. It was SO cold but such a fun experience. And we actually started feeling warmer afterwards (Justin explained that it's good for your circulation), so of course we went in for another dip before heading back to get warm. We decided to drive back into town for breakfast and ended up meeting up with Sam, a past roommate of Hannah and I.




When we got back to camp we asked out neighbors if they knew of any good hikes in the area and they recommended Lake 22 which was just up the road. It was the MOST AMAZING hike I've ever been on. Not that I've been on many hikes, but the views were incredible. We got high enough up that we were actually hiking through snow for a good while. The lake and mountains we discovered at the end made everything worth it.




After the hike we were all a bit tired, so we just sat around the fire and chatted. Sam ended up leaving early, and the rest of us got into a "discussion" about God and our differing opinions. Justin stayed pretty quiet, gracing us with some guitar playing despite a broken string, and when Becky and Hannah were starting to get too heated, God blessed us with a distraction -- a few bikers had pulled in a bit earlier and they had decided to come over and hang out with us. They brought us an offering of "Holy Water" (Vodka) which I thought was pretty ironic considering the situation they were walking in. [If anyone ever says God doesn't have a wicked sense of humor, don't believe them.] James, Jenny, and Michael ended up staying for quite a while and were kind enough to share some of their firewood with us, since we were out. We found out that James was married and had two daughters, something Justin didn't envy, and that he had apparently been to prison, although I don't think he ever fully explained why. James was hilarious, tripping multiple times over the same root, and kept pretty quiet except to make small, mocking jabs towards Michael, who was more of a talker. Michael told us that he was from Illinois and had worked at a church camp during summers until he was 19, when he was kicked out of the house. He eventually became a stripper to pay the bills, but he "never danced for dudes or did anything extra." Insert a comment from James. Michael wasn't married and didn't have kids, but he sounded like he was hoping to find the right lady sometime soon. Jenny was fairly quiet too, but very animated when she did talk. She was also married and had a step-son who recently turned 18. It sounded like he doesn't respect her a whole lot, so these little bike trips are a happy getaway for her. Jenny was describing her husband to us a bit (tall computer geek with a ponytail, but will to ride in her sidecar) and we asked how in the world they had gotten together. She then told us that she used to work at Microsoft [shock!] as a programmer [shock!]. Here's this lady who wears leather and rides a motorcycle and she used to work at Microsoft! I love people's stories!! Anyways, she said that because of the free pop they were given at work and the many hours she put in sitting at a desk, she gained a lot of weight and got really unhappy. She also developed carpal tunnel and eventually decided to leave. Now she and her husband have a farm with a variety of animals, including horses (Hannah was more than a little envious of this). Around 2 or 3 A.M. our new friends were feeling the effects of the "Holy Water" and decided it was time for them to wander back to their camp. Before passing out one of them did start up their bike to rev the engine a few times, as they had promised. We eventually made our way to our tents as well, and slept very well that night. If you want to see more pics from the week, go to here and here.

It was such a fun week, and I'm not completely excited to go back to work tomorrow. But Hannah and I are looking forward even more to when we actually leave the state. We've heard from a few new people about where we might stay as we travel -- two in Pittsburgh and one in Colorado -- so things are slowly falling into place.

As always, your positive thoughts and prayers are always needed and appreciated, so keep 'em coming! We hope you're all doing well, and having adventures of your own.

Over and out,

~Marissa