The drive to Jackson Hole, Wyoming was majestic! Mike probubly knows this from his experience last weekend!

WOO! If we weren't moving to Anchorage, this would be my second place to move! Absolutely cool ski resort town bigger than Carl's Pagosa, but everything log cabin, even the Kmart. AND SNOWBOARDERS WONDERWORLD of many resorts all right there.

P.s. Kmart, GROSS! Expensive and pointless. Never set foot there again.

Changing gears, the cabin sleep was restful and peaceful last night.

However, we are getting a little anxious about getting home. We still need to hit Mt. Rushmore, (maybe Arches Nat'l Park or is it Devil's Tower?), the Cabela's outlet in Minnesota, and about 20 more hours to drive in general. Please note that list was more for me than you, b/c I'm sure you're getting sick of lists of what we're planning!HA!

Slop news for our 2 (count them), TWO national parks passes from years 2002 and 2003. They have vanished!

They kept falling out of our Parks Pass Passport! And they fell out for good today. ANGER to that, and it required us to buy a new one for $50!

Oh well, that is said and done.

Well, I've been blogging for 7 mins. and I must look up Minnesota hotels!

Can't wait to see the Ohio folk sooney bo beanie!

Who's reading this?

Had you given up on these summer reports!?

We just got done exploring Yellowstone National Park, and it was beautiful. They had mountains a plenty with "lodgepole (evergreen) trees", yet they also had many, MANY sulfur beds and hot geiser springs. You know with scalding water, do not touch, no, no.

Of course, this is the world of Old Faithful, and we watched it gloriously shoot up in the air! The loads of people who gather around to watch and photo the event were quite funny looking to me. What a phenomenon!

The neatest thing about Yellowstone is that it is the first nat'l park in the world! Thus, they have lots of cool old, historic pictures and stories and forts and signs and buildings. YES!

We spent all day there driving thru, hiking a little (with the Old Faithful Inn and the the old geiser itself), but mostly driving through down south to Grand Tetons Nat'l Park!

This is a majorly jagged mountain range, with activities and events we haven't quite explored yet. We just arrived you see! It's about 6:30 p.m. here Sunday night (8:30 p.m. for any Ohioans reading) and we have a little cabin that was supposedly used by "actual pioneers".

But that might only be certain cabins, b/c there are a lot of cabins here. It's called Colter Bay Cabins.

Okay, okay. They have this computer in the check in office and the limit is 20 mins. It says, "Please keep it to a minumum of 20 minutes or less. Do not spend an hour on just because someone is not waiting in line".

HAAAAAAAAAAAaaa!

Well some lady is waiting in line, and the "napping Casey" who drove all day has just arrived with that dog.

Almost every single person we walk by says either outright or under their breathe, "wow, that's a cute dog, that's a pretty dog, wow look at that dog", or just flat out giggly when seeing him slop around giddily like puppies do.

That is not to brag, that is to find the hilarity in predicting what people are going to say and at what timing will they say it. After walking by us, right when they see him, oh it's funny.

Okay gotta go!

Here I am again!

YES! The internet! Connected to the world again, well not really. Besides it's been super great being free in the wilderness, hahahahhahahha.

Today we went sandboarding, as I bored a couple fam members with details. It was pretty fast and fun. The hard part: CLIMBING DUNES to be able to go down them.

This Oregon Coast has "Oregon Dunes Nat'l Recreation Areas" and you can rent a "sandboard" to glide down 'em. You have to wax the bottom of the board for smoothness after every run, so that was sort of annoying.

Otherwise, it reignited my obsession with snowboarding. Too cool, too smooth, too sweet of a long smooth and fast run (that we had at Carl's one year Justin).

It's official that a pure snowboarding retreat needs to happen up at Yosemite or they have sweet resorts all around here (chowchilla) --like Tahoe--at a famous one called "Heavenly" ski area--ever heard of it anyone?

Anyways, the invitation is pure open to everyone! This winter!

Sooo, so, what else could I report. We got to put Bo in a doggy daycare for the whole day for free at a vet's office. Pretty cool to have a break and be humans again--but I missed him, and he would have loved the dunes.

Yeah, I am turning into one of those dog lover's who bores you with junk--but only for Bo b/c he is unique and so cool!

Mike is suppose to crash at our campsite tonight but I think his Redwood Forest run south of here causes no service in the phoneage.

MATT CONGRATS ON THAT JOB! Still waiting to hear how the reunion went for Kim!

Check you kids later! Way later probubly not till Ohio NEXT WEEK!! Yah, home! But more so yah to teaching and having 3 months to do whatever we want!

OH MY!

NOW THAT you've all stopped reading my blog! I've gotten the chance to throw some words on the screen. Watch out, it's a long one!

We're currently in Coos Bay, OR, which is on the southwest coast of the state. This here is the Coos Bay Public Library! 1 hour free and printing equals 20 cents per page!

Anyways, this state is very full of trees and logging trucks! So overcast and only about 50-60 degrees daily. We welcome the cool, relaxing weather though, and there hasn't been rain at all.

Thus far, we've hit Crater Lake Nat'l Park, Redwoods Nat'l Park, and in about 5 days we'll be in Yellowstone Nat'l Park.

One of the highlights was definitely going white water rafting down the Rogue River. It wasn't bad enough that we needed helmets, but it was still really exciting and fun. We rented a cool raft for $60.

The best city/town experience we've had was in Bandon, Oregon. Just a quaint little town with a hoopla of little shops in what they call "Old Town". Learning the local history has been such a nerdy treat!

But, I shan't speak too soon, b/c Coos Bay is quite neat. Kind of trashy in parts (oddly) but the downtown looks like a 1940s town with old theaters and hotels.

Throughout the trip, we've stayed at state parks that mostly employ hikes and lighthouses as attractions. The best one was Bullards Beach State Park, near Bandon, OR. It had those so cool ocean boulders like in the Goonies movie, and when we arrived it was sunny and beautiful.

There are special boulders with legends and all, but the funnest ones were "Face Rock" and "Elephant Rock". You'll have to see our exciting pictures of rocks! HA!

This is the campground I was trying to tell Matt about. You guys should go up here some time with us---however it would be like 10 hours from Chowchilla(?). For sure though we could start at Bandon and go south on 101 all the way to San Fran and Santa Cruz.

That would be sweet! (Highway 101 goes all the way up here! Crazy!)

Bo has been with us the whole time of course, and he's been doing super good. For real! In the back seat of our truck cab (while driving all these hours) he just sits there, not whining and never barking.

Mostly he just puts his head out the window and smells everything. He's absolutely loving the outdoors, especially the super wild and scenic ocean beaches. This is the "storm coast" according to locals.

At the campsites, he gets a little whiney if he thinks we're leaving him, and then there's the pure obsession with other dogs that walk by.

Tomorrow is our last day in Coos Bay area (we're at Sunset Bay State Park on the ocean), and we'll head half way to our Northen Idaho camping. We're treating ourselves to a hotel Wednesday night near Kennecwick, WA.

Side note:Hope we meet up with Mike. They are in Yosemite today and he said they'd try to make it up here by tomorrow.

I've been getting excited to be home, especially when I knew Matt and Tracey got to go home--but sadly they won't be there when we get there.

Tracey---onto Triathlon business: I've done tons of hiking, but only yesterday, yes only yesterday June 20th, have I done real workouts. I ran 2 miles and biked 30 mins.

Have you seen my purple t-shirt that says, "Yes, Let's Go! Yes, Let's Go!". Well if not, just know that it applies to our motivation.

P.s. Matt and Tracey--Casey said he thinks it would cool to come down to S.D. that August 5 or 7th-ish so that he can hang out with Matt and Ryan, while the girls have a night out! What do you think of that! WOO! If it's too much, no prob. Just throwing cool ideas out and about!

Well, I skimmed through a lot of blogs here in the timed minutes on the computer. Kim I've read half of the Purpose Driven with my teacher buddies, and can't wait to hear about the reunion.

Dad, your blogs were great! Mom, dad said you didn't blog, but I saw one. Justin! You! Others, I'll have to comment later---the lady is kicking me off the computer (as I add these sentences in)

Talk to you all soon! I know this was a long one, but I don't think I'll be blogging much more on the trip, unless there's a random internet cafe---which by the way I always love those (except for paying for the computer part). PEACE OUT!

The 8, 15, 215, 15 again, 138, 14, 99, Robertson Blvd, and Orange Ave. were all well and good today as I sullenly left the fun world of San Diego!

Reverse that route 7 days ago and I was on my way to beauty, sun, fitness, surf, camp, fam, and great times!

It is over, but it shall soak in for many weeks, and I will recollect the good times as I write it up in my "(new!new!) Travel Journal: Summer 2004"!

Thanks Dad for the fun package! WOO!

Matt and Tracey were so fun to hang out with for a whole week! I was missing Casey and Bo, though too, and it would have been fun to hang out with his bro and dad kayaking. (his pictures look so fun!--can't wait for the rapids trip to North Carolina early July)

Speaking of pics, we got some amazing surfing pictures developed, and digital ones as well. After I figure out a new "free picture web hoster" I will upload those.

Tonight?!

Oh! My! We're getting ready for Operation Oregon lift off at 8 a.m.-ish tomorrow! But I'm too pumped to sleep this afternoon/night away. I will hang out with Case, pack, eat, listen to great music, mess with our newly refurbished (I guess) computer, especially with the POD and pictures.

Well, I have one million things listed to do, and they are all fun!

Can't wait to drive the country again (for the sixth summer in a row!WOO!) Also, to see my family and friends in OH! To maybe camp with Mikey! love you all, miss you all!

Waking up lazy after a week of pure activity! Ahhh!

Camping was very good. Nice sunny weather, surfing, hanging out, "roughing it". We had amazing eclair (sp?) desserts with construction taught to us by Tracey. "Mmm, mmm, thank you heaven! So good!"

Nights around the campfire talking and accepting cake from staring people's birthday parties were good too.

Surfing. Whoa. Super hard to catch the waves, but when you do, MAN! I have a firm belief in blaming my lack of ability on how long and wide the board is, but that's cop out and wrong :)

One morning I decided to go surf even though no one else was braving it (not a good sign when no one is out there). Well, I mean for safety's sake there were people boogie boarding and laying out on the beach, so no worries.

That is until four waves hit you one right after the other. "Oh, man, duck this out, swim it out, let the board goooo..." Glad I made it through that rough, choppy situation, I'm free now. DOINK! BOOM! The board nails me flat on the face, OUT OF NO WHERE!

It was a stunned feeling, but didn't hurt at all, hitting directly on the forehead/nose, like where soccer players employ a head hit. All I could think was, "did that really just happen". To make sure I was not concussioned, I went in to sit for a while. That's when I lost my stoke..... hahahhahahahhahahaaaa!

For real though, 3 days of surfing and hard core waves, really wiped me out. So kayaking might be better you'd think?

Picture Tracey gliding oh so smoothly through a break in the majorly crashing waves to "ahhh..ness", out in the peaceful ocean!". Then picture Mary 3 feet off the shore getting slammed left and right with waves and a 4 foot asian girl speaking broken English to me about what to do.

"Oh...you...haff...to keep...the boat into wave" Oh yeah, yeah, yes, thank you, I'll get it (SOME DAY!). And then the boat capsized in my face, into my body, with the oar coming up and taping my head again oh so playfully and rudely reminding me of the surfboard!

SO ANGRY and frustrated, I finally made it out to Tracey who literally had been waiting for about 20 minutes. After that we headed to some cool sea caves that were too roughly being crashed by waves, so we observed a sea lion family near by. At one point a very cute little sea lion guy popped his head out of the water about 10 feet from us.

Then we got sea sick, angry, and paddled back to shore a whole hour before we had to. We should have gotten half out money back, but we were too busy avoiding creepy Breakfast Club guys who look directly into your eyes for uncomfortably too long. WEIRD!

Long blog, now cut short, we (Tracey and I) went to a neat secluded beach on the rocks near their house for a relaxing time of gross photography (too long to explain). This was to kill some time before tennis with Matt! Which I loved, but was so worn out from the day of surfing, packing up camp, fake kayaking, and other realities of the week :)

Needless to say we hit up the concert scene as well, and missed half of Stellastarr*s set :( They were good what we heard, The Killers were uniquely fun with a theatrical, odd boy lead singer. The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs came on AND BRING OUT THE FREAKS! I found their sound to be fun to listen to loud and live, but the idiots and following that this band produces was revolting.

I came away from this Soma venue feeling the dirt and grime of the world, and I was just flat out angry. Frustrated that all that evil was thrown into one scene. It just wreaked of evil. And I/we stood there all night in it.

Knowing the Lord, you know when the enemy is near.

Anyways, thank God for His saving grace, b/c without Him we would all certainly, certainly parrish in our sin and the muck of the world.

Thank God for living life this summer thus far! I've loved this whole trip! Thank you Matt and Trace for providing the avenue for all this fun :)

One more day here, due to an extension of no Bo going to the doctor today. We will unwind, mess with music, teach Fecha, play some PS2, and maybe Torre Pines.

"So start the two way monologues that speak your mind, we talk in two-way monologues, with words that rhyme."--Sondre Lerche

Up early to head to Encinitas for camping and surfing!

I talked to Casey yesterday and he's having quite an adventure. I guess it's pretty much nonstop raining (and they are camping :), and yesterday apparently there was some scary sitches.

They were riding in their (blow-up, yet sturdy) kayaks on a some class 2 rapids. Apparently, it got rough and Casey bounced out with Bo closely following him. Bo landed on Casey's head and pushed and scrapped his head to get safe (although he did have a life jacket on). Casey's ear got scrapped pretty bad, but not bad enough for stiches supposedly.

Also, Bo is just barking and being a brat at the campsite, so now one of them has to stay with Bo all day while the other two do more rapids fun!

Man, I hope they're having fun anyways. At least it's a crazy story to tell.

Anyways, I've got to get moving. I've been up for about an hour and need to quite blobbing around. I have some local art shops to get to, and a camp to set up. Matt and Tracey will be there right after work!

Talk to you blogwise Thursday!

p.s. Tracey and I are going sea kayaking into the LaJolla sea caves on Thursday! WOO!

p.s.s. Kim, I always read your blog and I know my mom and Tracey do :) Too fun! Plus, that BGCA reunion would be hilariously sweet, if it could happen.. :)

WOW!

This vacation is sweet thus far!!

I'm fully recovered sleep wise, while I forced sleeping in till 1 p.m. today (since Matt and Tracey are at work).

Saturday was blurry to me b/c of the long drive to SD, but we enjoyed a nice little Phantom Planet concert in Solana Beach. Too bad the little artsy booths were closed when we got there---naps (well my nap) ruined that :( NO! BAD SLEEP!

Sunday was very promising, and was still awesome even though the Padres were sold out. We went to Dog Beach to surf and it was great! I love it! I can't wait to try it all day Tues, Wed, and Thurs. WOOOOO!!

I got up on my knees surprisingly easily, but I was too shallow to keep the wave long enough for hopping to the feet.

Matt gave me some great instructions and knowledge. I can't wait to add to it more. The hardest part was not letting the board weave back and forth (left and right) while I'm on it. IT"S A BIG BOARD! (so wide, 9 feet long) --easier to learn on though they say.

Okay so The Shins concert was refreshing as Matt said. Amazing sound in that old movie theater huge room. I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT FOR STELLASTAR!!! and The Killers and yes, even the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, that are hard to get into. Some of my students are going to be jealous of this concert for sure!

Well, right now I'm going to run 0.6 miles to a stationary store down the street, and then back in time for Tracey getting home and we bike to Torre Pines (I think...) to mt. bike :)

The rest of the week in unbelieveable! Encinitas, local shops, surfing, camping, getting in shape, (tonight) The W and pizza and meeting a friend of Bo's, AND THURSDAY OH MY THAT CONCERT!!

More to come! Wish you were all here! And Justin, your blog...man...your blog. So truthful and real. You should write teen/pre teen books about keeping Jesus in your pocket through those unbelievable years! I'll write it with you! I've had that in my heart for years!

You and I are so youth ministry minded! WOO! You with actual youth ministry, and me with the hush hush example ministry in public schools! So neat, and I learn (and feel for you) ---from your real life experiences and the youth ministry.

Mike I'm sure is having a blast! Dad, some great entries from you, keep that up! Mom, what else are you doing?

I can't help it that I love this Five for Fighting song, 100 years --- UGH! Life, Lord, Living! So good! (dad you should download that!)

Guess what?

Bo the dog blew out his ACL, and "needs to have $800 knee surgury" or he'll get atrophy and arthritis and be miserable.

That is according to the vet. We have him on pain killers till next Friday, then he will be put under to really find out.

Poor guy. He's been really hot b/c of the upper 90s weather we've had for 2 weeks. He has such thick (well, duh, Alaskan) furry fur, and he's always panting.

Poor cutie.

I hope it's just a strain, b/c we gave him a bath and afterwards he went sprinting all over the place, turning and jolting into dirt again like normal.

But he holds his leg up any other time.

My last theory is he fell in a hole that he dug in our yard. He dug like a 3 x 2 huge hole and for a time it was covered in cotton from a huge stuffed animal bear that he tore apart.

Pray for him, is that legit? Praying for an animal family member? Well...I don't know :(

ANYWAYS! I'm in San Diego and it was a long hot drive. I'm so tired from all the school junk and graduation last night :)

Can't wait to relax! More to come....

We practice for graduation in about 10 minutes, and from there I secretly try to jet off campus for good.

For good until the 8 p.m. actual graduation that is being held over our heads this fine day.

Today shall reach triple digits of dry heat, for I have my BG humidity in mind with that dry heat reference.

Anyways, thus an 8 p.m. ceremony is appreciated greatly!

The exhilerating feeling of driving to San Jose yesterday away from school, done with school, and immediately beginning festivities with Casey's dad and brother WAS AWESOME!

They had a nice, easy, (and surprised flight for his dad) into San Jose at 6 p.m. His dad was super happy and excited, and yet still doesn't know where he's going or what he's doing in CA.

Of course we know, but do you?!? Well he doesn't read this I presume so I will briefly explain:

They're going to southern Oregon on the Rogue River to go on the rapids with kayaks! It's a class 2 rapids which is safer but still rushing fun, especially in a kayak.

A good men bonding time. I wish I was going but the bookings and plannings were off scue and San Diego was ALWAYS the plan anyways for me :) hee, hee!

Welp, Michelle glad you're off to start your summer off right too. You guys have fun in Myrtle Beach!

Spotty blog entries are a reality this summer with everyone living their lives TRAVELLING! This will be the last dedicated one for me, b/c our internet is stupid at home, and b/c I have some surfing to perfect the whole next week.

Tootle-lu booya!

A funny quote:
"Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump.
(So that would be a good thing...)"

IT'S THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOOOOOOOOOO

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Words cannot a;ldfjlawjreaoiwfjocm kajlpkf nlkwaef mnwfkjmjsakjfoaf;

So, today we will go to Casa de Fruta and get YUMMY, yummy treats like dried apple rings, boston baked beans, dried apricots, pistatios...COME ON! More importantly we are picking up Casey's dad and brother from the San Jose airport.

Casey and his brother have successfully tricked their dad into thinking he's going to Canada to camp and fish or something with other family friends.

HE HAS NO IDEA he's heading WEST! OH YEAH!

Side note: I know I'm getting pumped for prep on three trips --SD, Oregon, England---I'm sure Mike's even more pumped for his cross country road trip sequel! Take our cell number Mike and we'll hook up in Oregon for steak bbq camping environment.

Okay, so Jenny Mavis!

Yes I did receive the package AND THANK YOU! It was so fun with the video and other clippings. I have a small package to send to you, but have not been prioritizing.

Kim that is so cool about your quilting class. Very fun! But I know frustrating. Maybe those people are starting off with teaching you rocket science quilt making.....

B/c my mom taught me so easily and simple for my first real quilt last year. It's called a "tie-quilt". Instead of actually quilting it, you tie it throughout the quilt. Well maybe you already know that, but it's a good way to feel accomplished in the quilting world.

Welp, I must be watching the children for 20 minutes per class period! It doesn't get any sweeter than this! YES!

Enjoy the moment right! OH and p.s. the Bo Blog is up and running over there in my list of "Friends and Fam". It's sort of hidden :)

Yes! Dad I saw your Rover picture and that new tire cover is SWEET!

Totally even more sweet with the Akron on it! Nostalgically your home town! Yah! I like Akron, b/c its where my dad grew up, and b/c it seems to have such 1950s history and old stories from the "good times" when the tire plant was up and running.

At least I think all that above.

Matt and Tracey's Mexico weekend sounded wonderful!

Can't wait for school to get out for good in only 8 hours of actual work left! OH YEAH!