In the South

Eric and I are finishing up a visit to the south. Eric's grandfather passed away and we were able to go to the funeral and spend time with his family in Ardmore, Alabama (near Huntsville). I had not met most of them so it was a great opportunity to get to know them better. I also understand Eric a little bit more now-his crazy sense of humor all makes sense. I now understand why he is always pestering me!

Since my family is in Nashville (just an hour north of Huntsville), we were also able to spend some time there. Of course most of that time was spent with Sam and Alyssa.

Alyssa and I spent a lot of time on the couch watching Sam and Eric play tennis on the Wii. I think Eric is addicted.




We also took the kids to the park. Eric helped Alyssa put on sunscreen for our day out. It was SO hot that we didn't stay long. Eric and I had been thinking of moving back to be closer to family, but the heat is almost too much. I forgot how it is sticky hot and thick during the months of June, July, August, and even September.




Alyssa just LOVES uncle Eric. We took them bowling too, and Eric helped Alyssa bowl in the 70's (the ball seemed heavier than her!)

I don't have pictures, but on the way from Huntsville up to Nashville Eric and I stopped in Lynchburg, TN-home of the famous Jack Daniels distillery. It was amazing watching them make all that whiskey. I was also shocked (though I shouldn't be) at all the Confederate flags that fly on houses in that area and the fact that one of the businesses in Shelbyville (home to Nathan Bedford Forrest) is called "Kim's Klassic Kuts." The KKK is still alive and strong there. Ah the rural south...

Who knows if we'll move back. I have a feeling that if Eric could find the right job and we were able to sell our house in Greeley that we would move here. We'll see what the next few years bring.

PEI Adventure-There & Back

Well, Eric and I ventured out on our cross-country adventure on July 7th. We didn't know what to expect from spending so much time in a car together, unable to escape... I'm getting ahead of myself so I'll start from the beginning.
The morning we were to leave Eric ended up setting the alarm for 5:30pm, so needless to say we got a late start. We headed to Nebraska where we caught a scenic route through the small town of Broken Bow. If you are planning a road trip you MUST check out a book called "120 Most Scenic Drives in America" and that is where we found this drive. We found a quaint soda/sandwich shop in the middle of downtown and it was then that Eric and I fell in love with small town life. We saw the Nebraska sandhills and then headed back to the bustle of Interstate 80. That evening we camped in Des Moines (it was our first time tent camping together!) and watched the stars. In the morning we played the first 9 holes of an amazing disc golf course, but it got too hot to play the back 9. We recommend this course if you are ever in Des Moines. Here is Eric eating a cinnamon roll with the course in the background.

It was onward to Ohio and my parent's house in Castalia. There we met up with my sister Amy and her husband Dave, and of course my two nieces, Sam and Alyssa. The first item on the agenda was the amazing roller coast, Cedar Point (are you jealous Deborah?) Eric LOVED it-who wouldn't love an amusement park with 17 roller coasters and lots of carnie food? Here is a picture of him outside the park.

Eric also practiced his bow shooting with my dad in our backyard. Some things never change...I remember shooting shotguns and bows as a kid.


Lake Erie is a beautiful place and I took Eric to the Marblehead Lighthouse for his first visit to a Great Lake.

We stayed with my parents a few days and then headed on to Boston. There we were able to stay with Bradley and Meda, and their wonderful kids. Bradley has the most amazing view from his office and here he is drawing us a map so we would be able to get back to his house after our biking adventure touring the city.

We had a blast seeing the city on bikes and did find our way back to the house. Everyone in Boston bikes (how refreshing!) and there is a great path along the river we meandered down.

After our Boston adventure, Eric and I headed to Maine to meet Dr. Saunders and his wife. When we arrived at their house we were treated to an authentic Maine Lobster boil. I had never eaten lobster before and LOVED it. There were clams as well, and other than dinner, the green grass, cool humidity, and lots of mosquitoes made us realize we were a long way from home. Eric and I soaked it all in and were excited to head to Prince Edward Island.
We meandered up to the Island from Unity, Maine. First priority was the coffee shop in Unity where I was able to get my caffeine fix at the local coffee shop (much to Eric's displeasure). After driving for about 5 hours with a lengthy search at the border (though we did spot a Bald Eagle while eating a picnic lunch by the river), we set up camp in Fundy National Park in New Brunswick. We camped in a beautiful wooded area with trails to the bay. We were able to explore the Bay of Fundy at low tide the night we arrived and then view the bay at high tide the following morning.


I was able to get up before Eric (not really that much of an accomplishment!:-) early that morning and found a trail that ascended to the top of a cliff that overlooked the ocean. Needless to say I enjoyed running through the green, mossy forest despite the steep grade. The cool air (filled with oxygen!) was amazing and the view was one I'll never forget.

We packed up camp and drove the rest of the way to PEI. We crossed the 10 year old bridge to the island, which is somewhere around 9 miles long.

If you ever go to PEI, be aware that while it is not posted on any sign, other than one that says "toll will be collected when leaving the island," there is a 42 dollar toll for crossing the bridge. There really isn't any other way around it, and taking the ferry takes longer and is a little more pricey. Despite the deception, it was a pretty bridge.
We were able to explore the island by car on our way to Lord Selkirk Provincial Park. We ate fish & chips, saw beautiful lighthouses, and got out of the car many times to take in the spectacular views.

We camped near cliffs for two nights at Lord Selkirk, then headed to another Provincial Park next, and we ended our trip at Red Point Provincial Park. If you are ever on PEI, camp at the Provincial Parks. The facilities are great, they aren't crowded, and the views are amazing. Here are the highlights from our camping experiences. The sunset was on the evening of our first wedding anniversary.





We did a lot of biking on the island and here are a few pictures of what we saw. The island is growing canola (which stands for Canadian oil, low acid-Google it if you are a science nerd), that is what the brilliant yellow field is, and eating at Crabby's was amazing. I also had the most amazing seafood chowder somewhere in a quaint harbor town in the middle of a 60 mile biking day. Eric and I had a lot of fun biking, and the best part was traveling by the Confederation Trail, a railway turned into bike trail. It was nice and flat, unlike many of the roads.





The last night of our stay, Dr. Saunders held a special graduation ceremony for me and another grad student on the trip. Here we are, caps on and sparkling rhubarb wine in coffee mugs, with the group humming the graduation processional. It was the best ceremony I've ever been to!



We headed for home, traveling through Maine and then to Wilson, NY (where Eric wants to move despite my warnings of lake effect snow) and Niagra Falls.


We made it back to my parent's house in Ohio where we recovered. Eric wanted to go back to Cedar Point, but we couldn't muster the energy to tackle more coasters. We did visit Cheese Haven, a specialty cheese shop on Lake Eric, and eat smoked catfish, but other than that we just visited old friends and relaxed. I was able to introduce Eric to many old friends who didn't even know I got married. Eric did get to witness the famous "Cold Creek Festival" where my sister is the 1989 queen. We had grand plans to stop in St. Louis, but we are glad all I have is this picture of the arch from the car-turns out when I took this picture people had been stuck in the arch for over 6 hours! We kept trudging on, thinking of home.

We made it home after many, many hours in the car.

Since Deborah and Blayne so kindly watched my crazy dog while we were away, it was only fitting they repay us for the famous "ass incident" inflicted on poor Darcy Dog. Here is what Cache looked like when we returned. Maybe she should have gone biking with us!

Finally!

If you are wondering why I haven't been posting it is because school has been all consuming for the last few weeks. However, last week I passed my thesis defense and today I completed the first part of my last 3 hour credit class (I have assignments to turn in online over the next two weeks). It's pretty exciting to think that I'll be done with school very soon and will be able to focus on our house, landscaping, reading, and playing disc golf! Eric and I have also discovered that we are evenly matched in tennis and we tend to head to the court at least 3 times a week. I'd also like to get in a few new fourteeners and some other front range hikes. Unfortunately that will have to wait until August when Eric and I get back from our cross-country road trip.

Here are some pictures of Eric's goddaughter, Cecily, and of our rapidly growing sunflower garden. I will be sure to post more pictures, especially of our trip.

Blue Subaru

Well, for a few months, Eric and I had been talking about how having two cars was more of a luxury than a necessity. We both bike to work or we carpool, and we live close to everything we need, so having one car would work for us. We thought about selling the Xterra and keeping the Impala, but with our lifestyle and the dogs it didn't make sense. We COULD have put the dogs in the spacious trunk of the Impala when hiking, but that didn't seem ethical :-) We thought about keeping only the Xterra, but that didn't make sense for long trips because of gas mileage. We researched, and researched some more, and crunched numbers, and every day went back and forth about what to do. Finally we decided to trade both our cars in and get a Subaru wagon since they have all wheel drive, good ground clearance, spacious room for puppies, good gas mileage, and they look cool. We test drove a few models and decided on the Outback.

So here is our new car! It is a 2006 Outback with 20,000 miles.



I haven't put the rack I bought for the Impala on it yet, but there is a nice basket that came with the car. That will be for snowshoes and packs in the winter. So now we can all still go hiking, camping, biking, and snowshoeing WITH our lovely dogs. I think there might be a 3 dog limit though, since it is a little cramped with 2. Eric and I call it "high security doggie jail" as it will be impossible for the mongrels to squeeze through the divider or get their heads stuck trying to sniff backseat passengers or gain access to food in packs. I don't Think Cache and Audrey were too happy with it!
Thanks to everyone for sticking with us through the whole process of choosing a new car, especially Eric's parents and the Chastains.

New Toys!

To prepare for our road/bike trip this summer we got a new rack for Eric. It will hold both our bikes and is a simple as it gets (which is what we needed!) Each bike rests on top and a sidebar slides over the front tire to secure the bike. It's amazing how secure the bikes are and you don't have to remove the front tire. It will come in handy this summer when we drive across the country and then to Prince Edward Island to do a little biking. No renting for us!



Our second new toy was an impulse buy on my part, but so far we LOVE it. It all started last week when Eric pulled out our clunker of a lawn mower to cut our greening grass. He decided the dogs would be better off outside on the front porch because when they are inside while he cuts the lawn they bark...and old Codger calls animal control on us. So he let Audrey sit on the porch, but he tied Cache to the porch rail because she is a flight risk. He started the mower and Cache FREAKS out and almost hangs herself in fright. He put her in a safer area and started the mower again. He looked over and there she is, pacing and POOPING all over the porch. Wow. That's my dog.

The next day I was riding my bike home from work and noticed a neighbor cutting their grass with a push reel mower. You know, the ones from way back when that are always used in the cartoons. No gas, no electricity, simply blades spinning as you push. I watched the neighbor cut their lawn and it looked easy and did a great job. No noise, no gas, no clunkiness, no emissions, no dogs pooping on themselves-and you get a good workout. Most of my friends already think I'm pretty crazy about my impact on the environment, so of course I started researching... And it turns out that in the last 10-15 years these mowers have been improved and are selling well. The reviews said the new push reel mowers "cut like butter" and are wonderful. I compared, visited all the garden shops in town, and ended up ordering one from a Fort Collins based company called Sunlawn.

It is simple, can be adjusted (with one click) to cut between .5 inches and 2.5 inches, is EASY to push, light (17 pounds), and cuts beautifully. I don't know why everyone doesn't have one. Here are pictures of the mower and our lawn after cutting it. Note Codger's house in the background. Wonder if he'll call the City on us because our lawn mower is not approved by City Code.







By the way, we are considering selling my Xterra so if you are interested, let me know. It's a GREAT car but our lifestyle is changing. Soon enough we could have a little Parrish :-)

OK, go out and buy a bike to ride around town and a push reel lawn mower. It feels good!

Eric's Birthday

May 5th was a lovely day-Eric finally made it past the quarter century mark. Because Eric is so special, we started his birthday festivities the night before by going to see Spiderman 3 on opening night. The following evening we tried out a new barbecue place in LaSalle called "Barbecue Boys." It was pretty good (but no Gibsons), and we all ate enough meat in one sitting to fill our monthly quota. No more red meat for me for awhile...

After eating too much, we came back to our place and had Cookie cakes from Marys Mountain Cookies (Eric's favorite place). It was a great evening with friends and lots of yummy dessert.

Eric has been riding a Murray bike for a few years now and it needed a bit of work. I decided that since we will be riding our bikes to work and around town, he needed a nice bike. Turns out our neighbor (not the mean old codger) owns the local bike shop. I found a great hybrid bike for around town and surprised Eric with it (my parents and his parents also helped with it!) Here he is :-)



We look forward to riding on the Poudre Trail and on Prince Edward Island. I'll post more pics soon.

Nashville is Hilly!

Last Saturday, I completed my first half marathon in Nashville. It was a lot of fun (I can say that now) and I think that I'll try it again next year. This time though, I will train for the hills! I forgot that Nashville is in a valley of rolling hills and the 13.1 mile course was very challenging.
It was great having friends and family on the course cheering. Tiffany got me through a rough spot around mile 9 by running with me. I was having so much fun talking to her while she ran with me that I missed the mile 9 marker. After she turned around, I saw Eric's family and wanted to stop and get an iced latte! Eric told me to get a move on because I only had 4 miles left (easy for him to say!) However, a few minutes later I saw the 10 mile marker and realized I was a 5K away from the finish line. That got me through and after a lovely jog through the Capitol area (and cheering on from Katy) I made it to LP stadium and finished in two hours and twenty eight minutes. My time wasn't world class or even age best, but my goal was to run the whole way and finish feeling happy and healthy with no injuries. I met my goals and even though I'm struggling a bit getting up and down stairs, I'll be back next year. Anyone want to join me?