Pete's dream come true

One of Peter's long-time dreams came true last night.
We are now the proud owners of smart phones! That's right, we went to the Verizon store and tested out several versions. We both really liked the Samsung Fascinate so we will continue to have the same phone as each other for the next few years at least. Pete was so excited that there was a noticeable bounce in his step, a huge smile on his face, and he couldn't stop hugging me. He was up late into the night figuring out how to work his new phone. And I have to say, I'm liking this new phone too. :-D

exploring the islands

We just got back to the mainland of Washington. The ferry ride was awesome and added its own excitement to things as you had to rush to get to it in time, we called it Ferry Stress. We had been exploring the San Juan Islands with Dan and Meredith Elsen. It is fun to vacation with friends. We saw seals and whales, spectacular mountain views about half way up the mountain and from the summit a sea of clouds and mists that swirled around us. We stopped at several coffee shops and little stores along the main streets. And went to the movie theater instead of setting up camp when it started to rain. Around 9:00pm when we headed to the campground Peter realized that he hadn't remembered to pack the tent poles with the tent. No problem, this was a new challenge for us to conquer. There were four HoneyRockers in the car and we knew how to make shelters. So we set up a lean-to and slept so well, snug in our sleeping bags, with the warm, ocean fog all around us and the fog horn playing a continuous lullaby.

a world-class dinner

We had an incredible day yesterday. It started with an early morning fly-fishing at Rock Creek where John Elsen taught us the art of the cast while the mountains were waking up with the dawning sun. Only Andy Elsen caught anything, but what a huge fish he caught! We came back home to the traditional huckleberry pancakes on the lawn and spent the afternoon mountain biking and hiking around Rattlesnake Creek.
But one of the most amazing things was dinner last night. We were invited over to dinner at the house of one of the Elsens' friends. This friend, and the whole family, are world-class chefs. They have studied all over the world and worked at many fancy restaurants (ie: the Trump Towers). The father used the Old World style of cooking and will concentrate on one food style until he has mastered it. The menu for last night, Chinese food. Since we were at his home we were able to watch him work. The dishes he brought out were each a piece of art. We started of with Shanghai soup. I wasn't sure about it at first since it had all sort of fish in it, but it tasted so good. After that we moved on to the vegetable course with spicy cucumbers, bok choi and green beens prepared a different way. Then the main course of Dan's spicky peanut chicken (Con bo gdar?) A slowly braised pork with an excellent red sauce, and Atlantic blue fish stuffed with wild mushrooms. Dessert was a lovely fennel cake with fresh pear slices and fresh plum sorbet that he made with plum from his own tree. Everything was incredible! Including watching this man work, seeing the presentation of his dishes and the slow eating as the courses came out over a period of 3 hours. This was something to write home about and remember forever.

the Montana mountains

As we drove from the middle of Wyoming up to Montana the country got more and more beautiful. HWY 287 took us right through Grand Teton and Yellowstone. We stopped so many times to take pictures of the scenery and wildlife, including lots of buffalo and a bull elk at the side of the road. And of course we watched Old Faithful go off along with the other geysers.
It has been so fun to be with the Elsens. From having scrumpcious, ethnic dinners to Italian cafes to enjoying the ruggedness of the mountains. Yesterday we left early in the morning for the mountains. We came across a herd of elk. It was a majestic sight to see them in a green valley with the early morning fog still lingering about. The bull elk was bugling and guiding the herd away from us. We arrived at a spot well known to Dan and John, and after a short hike through the woods, spent the whole morning at natural hot spring pools next to a mountain stream. Just imagine how wonderful this was! To be in a forest with a stream flowing and gurgling past tumbling over mossy rocks while we sit beneath waterfalls of steaming water that come out of the mountain cliffs and fill several pools along the stream's banks! It was the most luxurious spa experience I could ever have, and completly free and with friends!
Peter, John and Dan are having a blast being together again. Besides late night talks and stories, they've gone mountain biking already (of course!) hockey, and fly fishing will be happening soon. I've went on some mountain hikes to see the view from the top and made earrings with Aana and Meredith. We also went to a cafe to get coffee where they did latte art which, of course, makes the coffee taste so good!

into the wild, wild, West

We are deep into cowboy country, somewhere in the middle of Wyoming. I've never seen landscape like this in real life - only in Westerns. At times we've driven through large hills scattered with pine trees and looked off at dry, brown land that stretches off and meets the horizon. For Peter and I, as we drive, our thoughts have been about Cowboys, herding cattle, sleeping out under the stars by a campfire and drinking thick, black coffee. We drove past Split Rock and talked about the pioneers going west on the Oregon Trail and what it would be like to be walking there and seeing the looming mountains off in the distance.
We stopped at the smallest town in the US, Buford Wyoming, population 1, and we had to meet him. The one resident, Don, owned a little gas station/c-store that we bought gas at. Who would have thought that there could be such a small town as that? It was about 20 minutes outside of the very large college town of Laramie, so he couldn't have been too lonely there.
Being in this open country makes me really want to see buffalo and even taste it. So far we've seen deer and antelope on the hills, a buzzard on the side of the road, a glimpse of a large bull moose in the back of a pick up, and lots of steer. Last night we found a camp site next to the Wind River. It was beautiful. We finished setting up camp by the light of the stars and the full moon, which bathed everything in light. We stood by the river and talked again about the cowboys who slept out under the stars here at one time and felt similar to them. And then we heard the coyotes start to howl. As fun as it is to think about the old days, we were glad to have sleeping bags to crawl into. And even with wool socks and a hat and fleece on, I have to say that it was hard to sleep because it was so cold. Those cowboys were tough! And their campsite never offered them a full, complimentary breakfast. yum.

meeting the Grovers

We are in Colorado! And this will be our home for the next few months. It was a bit slower than we thought with the truck, we didn't even make it out of Wisconsin the first night before we had to find a place to camp for the night. But we had so much fun camping out. I believe our time at HoneRock influenced our recreation for sure, I can't imagine myself ever before thinking about to turning our air mattress into a small blob... only in the gentlest sense though. Iowa was beautiful, green and hilly. Nebraska was flat with corn fields, but so many historic sight along the way.  Colorado looked a lot like Nebraska at first, until we got close to Denver and the mountains. And we enjoyed going through it all.
We arrived in Centennial yesterday afternoon and put our things in storage. I finally "met" the Grovers, long-time friends of Pete. I say met because we had never seen each other, but through Peter and several emails, I felt like I already knew them and were friends with them. Part of me wanted to say, "hello, old friend!" and the other part say, "This is the start of a beautiful friendship!" Ben and his dad, Jay, helped us unload the truck and we had dinner with the whole family and met little Matthew. It was so fun.
But today has come we are starting out in our Jeep for a month-long road trip around the West. The first stop from here is Montana and seeing our friends, the Elsens.

Today is Moving Day!

We have said our good-byes, cried and laughed and reminisced with the ones we love. The truck is packed and Peter's coffee cup is full. It is a sunny, fall day and we are moving to Colorado. It's crazy that this is real. But we are full of expectation as we go where the Lord is so strongly leading us. The first thing we will do is drop off our things in Denver and then start our month-long camping trip around the western United States. But for today we will drive and drive until we find a place to camp out at in Iowa.