YELLOWSTONE roadtrip '09

Here are some pics from the
Jr. High YELLOWSTONE roadtrip of Open Door Awesomeness '09:::

The Grand Prismatic Spring - the largest hot spring in the world - i had seen it photographed from above, but i had never seen it up close and personal!

some of the girls at Inspiration Point

the guys at Inspiration Point

the breathtaking boat-ride across Jenny Lake in Grand Teton Nat'l Park !!

the boat ride back was even better!

in front of the much anticipated eruption of Old Faithful !!

This is Obama leaving on a helicopter - we almost got to see the President! we watched his motorcade exit the area and we had fun spying the Secret Service agents hiding in the trees and on top of buildings - it was pretty exciting.

The Upper or Lower Falls at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, I forget which one, Gary.

Here's the "hard corp" group that hiked to the bottom of the canyon with the Falls in the background so we could feel the mist on our faces.

Being surrounded by a herd of Bison was one of the kids' highlights for sure.

A classic Yellowstone shot at Mammoth Hot Springs by the North Entrance.

This is Lake Isabelle::: it straddels the Continental Divide, so half of the water in this lake drains into the Atlantic via the Missouri River, which runs into the Mississippi and the other half drains into the Pacific via the Snake River, which runs into the Columbia, pretty cool, eh?

ON THE TRAIL, pt. 1

My Hubby is Hiking the Colorado Trail:::

**Matt is hiking from Durango to Denver (the opposite direction of what most people do) 500 miles and who knows exactly how many days.**

WEEK 1 ::: Saturday, August 15th
Day 1: Durango::: 13 miles (Segment 28A)
Day 2: 10 miles (Seg. 28B)
Day 3: 20 miles (Seg. 27)
Day 4: 11 miles (Seg. 26) ** resupply in Silverton
Day 5: 20 miles (Seg. 25)
Day 6: 22 miles (Seg. 24)
Day 7: 22 miles (Seg. 23)

WEEK 2 ::: Saturday, August 22nd
Day 8: 12.2 miles (Seg. 22)
Day 9: 17.1 miles (Seg 21)
Day 10: 10 miles ** resupply in Creede
Day 11: 22 miles (Seg 20, 19A)
Day 12: 17.9 miles (Seg 19B/18)
Day 13: 20.4 miles (Seg 17)
Day 14: 15.2 miles (Seg 16)

WEEK 3::: Saturday, August 29th
Day 15: 14.2 miles (Seg 15) !! meet in Salida !!
Day 16: with my honey in !! SALIDA !!
Day 17:(Seg 14)
Day 18:(Seg 13)
Day 19:(Seg 12)
Day 20:(Seg 11)
Day 21:(Seg 10)

WEEK 4::: Saturday, September 5th
Day 22: !! meet in Twin Lakes !!
Day 23: !! hang in Leadville !!
Day 24: (Seg 9)
Day 25: (Seg 8)
Day 26: (Seg 7)
Day 27: (Seg 6) !! Meet in Breckenridge !!
Day 28: "0" day in Breckenridge

WEEK 5::: Saturday, September 12th
Day 29: (Seg 5)
Day 30: (Seg 4)
Day 31: (Seg 3)
Day 32: !! Meet in Bailey !!
Day 33: (Seg 2) // drop off Matt's dad so he can hike the last full day
Day 34: (Seg 1) 16.8 miles = meet at Waterton Canyon in Littleton

Guess Where I get to go with my Job???

No, not Disney Land, even better ---

YELLOWSTONE National Park

-- woo hoo !!!!

So, think of me as I'm driving, chaperoning and exploring with 6 Jr. High kids in a van for 20+ hours over the next 5 days.

A + B + C

A::: THE PRESENT::: Wow, I can't believe it's already the weekend again! Time has been flying by so fast and I don't like it like that. I like to take things slow. I love my job and my boss and the kids and families I work with. I love my House Church and my community of friends. I love living on Washington St. I love hanging out with my husband aka, best friend in our "yellow room" and I love working in our garden with friends. In lots of ways I want to FREEZE time, I don't want things to change. I'm so full to overflowing right now! but alas


B::: The COLORADO TRAIL::: Matt is leaving to hike the Colorado Trail on Sunday, August 16th. It is a 500 mile hike from Durango, Colorado to Denver over many mountain passes and Wildernesses and glorious landscapes. I am very EXCITED for him. He has wanted to do this for a long time and the timing is perfect right now. It should take him about 7 weeks, which is faster than most people do it - but he is MATT ORR, the fastest hiker I know for sure.


C::: The SAN LUCAS MISSION, GUATEMALA::: Many of those who know us have known that my contract with Open Door Ministries expires at the end of September. And we have known for a while that when it ends we want to go ___________. (somewhere foreign, amongst the poor, mission minded, preferably Spanish-speaking.) We finally feel peace and clarity about our decision. It has certainly been a long journey of figuring out where we should go! ((So, thank you to those of you who listened to me externally verbalize the plethora of possibilities these past 6 months!)) We are planning on being "Long Term Volunteers" at SAN LUCAS MISSION, on Lake Aititlan in Guatemala for about 6 months.

~~~More to come on:::

~ the Here & Now
~ the COLORADO TRAIL
~ the SAN LUCAS MISSION, GUATEMALA

WALK, a poem

((this is my favorite poem - i ran across it years ago, author unknown))

One summer afternoon i met with you
And we walked all day for months and months
Eating apples and mangoes
'Till our chins dripped with juice

A perpetual picnic of magic and lust
We walked from Canada to Sri Lanka
Through yellow, rouge and blanca.

Hitting the blackest of waters at the end of the day
I closed my eyes and you swam away.

Sometimes when i see you now,
You pick me up and spin me 'round
And put me back where you found me,
Disoriented and dizzy.

One afternoon i met with you
And we walked all day for years and years
Eating apples and excuses
'Till our faces dripped with tears.

~~~~~~~

---- i like how it invokes all of the senses and seasons and different parts of the world. I love the smell and the sticky visuals of juice dripping down the face. It's about relationship and longing and walking and sucking the juice out of LIFE! ---

Good Fiction.

4.5 STARS !!

I never would have thought I would be interested in time travel - I'm not a Sci-Fi girl, but I couldn't put this book down! Maybe because I eat up love stories which is what this is. There is of course the major motion picture out right now, but I would recommend reading the book first as it certainly imaginative and exercises your brain trying to keep up with the timeline. The book alternates between Henry and Claire's perspectives and so does the narration. The story addresses love, coming of age, longing, loss, marriage and gratitude. An excellent read for sure!!




4 STARS

A compelling read, great character development, with a hilarious premise. Interpersonal mess-ups and relational exploration. The author includes thought provoking questions and book group discussion questions which really add to the experience of "The Accidental Tourist."
(excerpt from Amazon.com) "This thoughtful character novel focuses on Macon Leary, a travel writer who hates to travel, a man who has gone through life observing what is happening, but who has never been truly engaged. Compulsively tidy, Macon has always believed that it is possible to order one's life so effectively that the untidiness, or chaos, that throws life into confusion can be avoided."


2.5 STARS

A short, concise tale about lust, reading and shame in postwar Germany. I had already figured out the punch line through watching the movie trailer, so I found the book predictable and the story line and character development lacking. I, however, did get a degree in Germanic Studies so the postwar, generational shame and denial are indeed interesting, historical topics. The book raises some interesting questions, like:: what does it mean to love those people--parents, grandparents, even lovers--who committed the worst atrocities the world has ever known? And is any atonement possible through literature? The book attempts to bridge this generational gap between the guilty and the innocent between words and silence. I just think the book is not quite bold or profound enough to answer these questions.