Hi All! Week 4,5,6,7 and however many others we've missed.. In all honesty the blog is harder to commit to than we thought. It feels like the blog is near extinction. I know that does not make sense to most of you, but with two needy children and on top of the fact that Phil and I are generally boring people, it doesn't make for good writing or interesting stories. Since we last posted on the blog, we have been from Paonia CO to Sedona AZ to Las Vegas NV to Death Valley CA and finally to Los Angeles Ca. We've been on the beach for two weeks and have loved every second of it. Phil says he was never a beach person but the beach in the winter months is wonderful. We will be here for a few more weeks awaiting the arrival of my best friend Erin (super excited for that). We've had a lot of awesome encounters and very exciting experiences that are hard to write about. Our travels will take us up the coast, to our last destination of Washington state before we make the long trek home. We have decided that this leg of the journey will end in the spring time, and we will be back home to spend time with friends and family. Really looking forward to seeing everyone as traveling can have its tough days without our friends and family. Even though the blog might be on its last leg I will try to keep it going until we get home.
Highlights of the last several weeks:
Staying in a dry lake bed outside of Vegas, hiking the sand dunes of Death Valley, high speed pursuit along highway 1 next to our campsite, & phils new obsession of car museums.
Love to all!
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Week 2
Week 2: What a week! We had our first snowfall of the year in Cleghorn Canyon and learned how not fun cold weather camping is. A book store in rapid city called "Bam!" came in handy when the weather got cold. Needless to say we weren't able to stay in Rapid for Thanksgiving due to multiple nights in the teens. No one wants to see a 38 gallon cracked black tank. We used de-icer in our pipes so they wouldn't freeze and started heading south. Wal-Mart camping in Cheyenne WY was actually really fun- minus all the rodeo and cowboy figurines on every sign in the town. Our first national forest stop was at 10,000 feet elevation outside of Breckenridge. Phils sister Julia (who lives in Breckenridge) came over in the morning and we had over-easy eggs and fresh avocado. Phil and I have been eating fresh local foods- he thinks his 6 pack is already coming back--- ya right! Along I-70 W we watched skiers from Copper Mtn. to Vail coming down the slopes. Looked like a lot of fun if you like bruised butts, windburn, and frozen boogers.
We ended our travels in a valley not well known on the western slopes of Colorado. Phil said if any of you like good sports car roads and scenery like he does, take Highway 133 from Carbondale to Paonia Colorado. Arriving to Paonia appears a valley with wine vineyards growing up the mountains, apple trees, peach trees, lemon trees, and almost any other fruit you can think of grows here. Paonia's "claim to fame" is that everything grown here is over 98% organic, in an industry where less than 2% is organic. We only know about it because 4 years ago on our honeymoon Phil & I came to visit a man named John Priest. This is where the story gets good. 6 years ago, Phil sold a truck to a guy who lived in Paonia CO. Still not sure why, but Phil kept his business card in his wallet which had his address, phone number, and name. On our honeymoon traveling from Vail Co (which is where we got married) to Moab UT we stopped to visit John Priest. John is a 70 year old man with dreadlocks down to his knees. He lives in a geodome house & has not eaten meat in over 40 years. John is a hippy.
He was the highlight of our honeymoon and showed us his 500 tree Apple orchard in Paonia. He about fell over dead to see us standing on his doorstep 4 years later, with two new additions to our family. After long hugs, we sat in the geodome and ate dried homemade organic apple chips & listened to Johns stories until Violet had a milk starvation attack. Paonia is like Napa Valley in the mountains- minus the money, bus tours, and over paid celebrities. We love it here.
Today is Thanksgiving and will be our third night staying in a fruit orchard. We saw a sign for Turkey Dinner downtown so we might check that out tonight. Let our pictures tell the story. Happy thanksgiving Fam!
We ended our travels in a valley not well known on the western slopes of Colorado. Phil said if any of you like good sports car roads and scenery like he does, take Highway 133 from Carbondale to Paonia Colorado. Arriving to Paonia appears a valley with wine vineyards growing up the mountains, apple trees, peach trees, lemon trees, and almost any other fruit you can think of grows here. Paonia's "claim to fame" is that everything grown here is over 98% organic, in an industry where less than 2% is organic. We only know about it because 4 years ago on our honeymoon Phil & I came to visit a man named John Priest. This is where the story gets good. 6 years ago, Phil sold a truck to a guy who lived in Paonia CO. Still not sure why, but Phil kept his business card in his wallet which had his address, phone number, and name. On our honeymoon traveling from Vail Co (which is where we got married) to Moab UT we stopped to visit John Priest. John is a 70 year old man with dreadlocks down to his knees. He lives in a geodome house & has not eaten meat in over 40 years. John is a hippy.
He was the highlight of our honeymoon and showed us his 500 tree Apple orchard in Paonia. He about fell over dead to see us standing on his doorstep 4 years later, with two new additions to our family. After long hugs, we sat in the geodome and ate dried homemade organic apple chips & listened to Johns stories until Violet had a milk starvation attack. Paonia is like Napa Valley in the mountains- minus the money, bus tours, and over paid celebrities. We love it here.
Today is Thanksgiving and will be our third night staying in a fruit orchard. We saw a sign for Turkey Dinner downtown so we might check that out tonight. Let our pictures tell the story. Happy thanksgiving Fam!
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Week 1: Amor & Airstream
Hello friends and family! It's Wednesday November 18th and it's been exactly one week today since we started our journey from Sioux Falls.
It's funny... I thought that writing this blog was going to be easy but it has been anything but that. Hopefully the hardest part was just starting and not continuing. We had to decide what was going to be the content and direction of our blog. And we decided it was not going to be based on a good story, fun/bad travels, or an unrealistic view of living in 200 square feet. I want to read this blog in 10 years with my children, who won't remember what we experienced, and be able to read the life lessons and see the way that God changed our family.
Phil & I have started out each morning with a daily devotional and French press coffee- Which is chalky grainy muddy and not really that good anyways. Today's mission is to find a regular coffee maker.
Along with the daily devotionals one of our top priorities is that every stop along the way is to find a unique way to serve the local people in whatever facet needed. We are very open to ministry work and feel it's important to not narrow ourselves to one aspect of serving. We hope that in the future God will give us direction and guidance in where we are best suited to do ministry work. Since it is turkey season we felt it fitting instead of making turkey for ourselves we will be serving turkey dinner at a homeless shelter on Thanksgiving day. It would really help us understand commandment #2 which we have not so faithfully followed in the "suburbs of Sioux Falls"- where the lawns are beautifully manicured and the "quieter the better" mentality prevails. We need to love and serve our neighbors as we do ourselves.
Week 1 accomplishments: adjusted the trailer, did 2 loads of laundry, bath time twice for the girls, twice for me, and I still don't think Phil has showered. Multiple Safeway grocery stops (best soup in the world). An adventure day, and that is literally it. Don't expect to accomplish much in the single wide Airstream life. Phil has made the comment "It feels like being a hunter and gatherer from decades ago". Each day we have had one simple goal and it has taken us a full day to finish it.... And that is totally ok with us. It has been a blessing to be able to do everything together as a family.
Week 1 realizations for us have been big. It has changed our view of living the complete opposite life of what we were used to. I'm thinking back to Saturday night and the lesson it taught me. We ran out of propane. Which means we ran out of heat. Which means I was one Un-Happy camper! And in that moment I realized: Heat is not a privilege, heat is a luxury. Thankfully U-Haul was open Sunday. The best experience this week though was at the local downtown laundromat in Rapid City. This was Phil and I's first ever laundromat. When we pulled up, we both decided to leave the girls in the car-lock our car- and peek our heads in first- just to see what was going on . We acted like we were gonna get mobbed attacked. Little did we know ten minutes later we'd all be in the lobby eating cookies, watching cartoons, and having the time of our lives. We both got home and said at the dinner table later that same day that the laundromat was the highlight of our week!
That's all for now!
Love you guys, miss you guys
Stay tuned, the journey is just beginning!
It's funny... I thought that writing this blog was going to be easy but it has been anything but that. Hopefully the hardest part was just starting and not continuing. We had to decide what was going to be the content and direction of our blog. And we decided it was not going to be based on a good story, fun/bad travels, or an unrealistic view of living in 200 square feet. I want to read this blog in 10 years with my children, who won't remember what we experienced, and be able to read the life lessons and see the way that God changed our family.
Phil & I have started out each morning with a daily devotional and French press coffee- Which is chalky grainy muddy and not really that good anyways. Today's mission is to find a regular coffee maker.
Along with the daily devotionals one of our top priorities is that every stop along the way is to find a unique way to serve the local people in whatever facet needed. We are very open to ministry work and feel it's important to not narrow ourselves to one aspect of serving. We hope that in the future God will give us direction and guidance in where we are best suited to do ministry work. Since it is turkey season we felt it fitting instead of making turkey for ourselves we will be serving turkey dinner at a homeless shelter on Thanksgiving day. It would really help us understand commandment #2 which we have not so faithfully followed in the "suburbs of Sioux Falls"- where the lawns are beautifully manicured and the "quieter the better" mentality prevails. We need to love and serve our neighbors as we do ourselves.
Week 1 accomplishments: adjusted the trailer, did 2 loads of laundry, bath time twice for the girls, twice for me, and I still don't think Phil has showered. Multiple Safeway grocery stops (best soup in the world). An adventure day, and that is literally it. Don't expect to accomplish much in the single wide Airstream life. Phil has made the comment "It feels like being a hunter and gatherer from decades ago". Each day we have had one simple goal and it has taken us a full day to finish it.... And that is totally ok with us. It has been a blessing to be able to do everything together as a family.
Week 1 realizations for us have been big. It has changed our view of living the complete opposite life of what we were used to. I'm thinking back to Saturday night and the lesson it taught me. We ran out of propane. Which means we ran out of heat. Which means I was one Un-Happy camper! And in that moment I realized: Heat is not a privilege, heat is a luxury. Thankfully U-Haul was open Sunday. The best experience this week though was at the local downtown laundromat in Rapid City. This was Phil and I's first ever laundromat. When we pulled up, we both decided to leave the girls in the car-lock our car- and peek our heads in first- just to see what was going on . We acted like we were gonna get mobbed attacked. Little did we know ten minutes later we'd all be in the lobby eating cookies, watching cartoons, and having the time of our lives. We both got home and said at the dinner table later that same day that the laundromat was the highlight of our week!
That's all for now!
Love you guys, miss you guys
Stay tuned, the journey is just beginning!
Monday, November 2, 2015
Our New Beginning
Ok this is my first blog post. Ever. I'm excited to start this new adventure- it's like I'm gearing up for a new fresh start on this roller coaster ride called life. My family & I have one more week before we hit the road..the road of unknown..the road of excitement..the road of change. We are going from living a cushy life in a three thousand square foot house to about 100 square feet...if it's even that..I don't know, nor do I want to know. But our airstream will be our new home- our new memory builder! And boy will we have some memories! I'm sure some not so good ones but also some unbelievably magical ones for sure!
This all started when we decided that we wanted to travel before the girls started school... We figure why wait. So we put our house on the market and two days later got an offer on it and two days after that we accepted that offer. It went way faster than we had hoped but that's ok because it was obviously gods hand at work. Phil just had his last day of work on Saturday Oct 31st. And yesterday he started his drive towards Los Angeles to pick up our new Airstream! I'll be taking care of the girls here in Sioux Falls until he gets back and then we will hit the road! Gypsy Life here we come! Along our beautiful adventure we will be obviously adoring the countryside but will also be volunteering our time helping local communities in areas where they need it. Whether that be serving food to the hungry, painting houses, or just praying for families, that is going to be our new life. And I'm SO.EXCITED.
That will be what this blog is about- us sharing not only our travels, but the things we do to help others, the people we meet along the way, and living life (with 2 babies) in an airstream!
This all started when we decided that we wanted to travel before the girls started school... We figure why wait. So we put our house on the market and two days later got an offer on it and two days after that we accepted that offer. It went way faster than we had hoped but that's ok because it was obviously gods hand at work. Phil just had his last day of work on Saturday Oct 31st. And yesterday he started his drive towards Los Angeles to pick up our new Airstream! I'll be taking care of the girls here in Sioux Falls until he gets back and then we will hit the road! Gypsy Life here we come! Along our beautiful adventure we will be obviously adoring the countryside but will also be volunteering our time helping local communities in areas where they need it. Whether that be serving food to the hungry, painting houses, or just praying for families, that is going to be our new life. And I'm SO.EXCITED.
That will be what this blog is about- us sharing not only our travels, but the things we do to help others, the people we meet along the way, and living life (with 2 babies) in an airstream!
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