-I came home from Colombia in July. It was bitter sweet. I had made so many connections with my family there, and with the friends from church who were also like family. I can't wait to go back.
My good bye dinner with Martha at a fondue restaurant. She was so wonderful to have me live with her for 3 months.
I took my tios (great aunt and uncle) and Martha out to an Italian restaurant on my last day as a thank you to them for all they did for me. There were many tears, laughs and smiles. My Tio Eduardo even cried. That really touched my heart.
My last breakfast that Suzana, the live in help, made for me. She is so sweet, and always wanted to make me as comfortable, and happy as possible. Usually that meant feeding me :) I am drinking the best hot coco ever, and eating eggs with cheese, and an arepa.
- I returned to Oregon, just to turn around and take a 2 week road trip of Canada with a good friend, Andrea. We started in Beaverton, went up to Vancouver B.C for a few days.
Myla (far left) was gracious to let us stay with her. Here we are in the Chinese Gardens in Vancouver.
A view of Vancouver BC.
Andrea and I have traveled together in the past. We went to Alaska together. She is really good at getting us to a nice spot, sometimes by accident, to watch the sun set. We happened upon a nice beach.
From Vancouver we went up to Whistler to see the sights there. It was fun to see where the Winter Olympics had been a few years ago. We kind of had an idea of what were we were going.....but we mostly went on faith that we would find campgrounds to pitch our tent along the way.
We are pretending to be one of the great athletes participating in the Olympics :)
Because we were there in Summer, instead of skiers, there were Mountain bikers. They were everywhere! We also saw some snowboarders, who went way up to the top where there still was some snow.
Then we just kept heading East. Our final destination in the end would be Calgary.
We made up our home every night. We got very good at doing set up quickly. Especially in the places where if you stood still the mosquitos would get you!
Beautiful scenery ALL the way across Canada. The eyes never got tired of looking out the window!
Both Andrea and I brought our own food for the 2 weeks. We did not buy any food in Canada. This is one reason why our trip was really cheap! Here I am heating up some soup. Only problem was when it was done, I knocked it over, and it all spilled... :(
A nice campground we found. It had a swimming pool, hot showers, and wi fi! I was surprised how many of the campgrounds had it! That's not real camping folks! :)
A nice walk by the campground :) We did a lot of hiking....this was just a walk.
Our next stop was convention for the weekend in Salmon Arm BC. It was a nice break from tenting, and it was good to meet new people and be spiritually filled.
The dining barn.
Some friends we ran into, also from Beaverton, Oregon. It's always fun to see familiar faces! There were other people there too that we knew.
We took the job of drying bowls. It was a lot of fun with these ladies.
Then we drove through Yoho National park, where we went on my favorite hike of the whole trip. We went to a place called Emerald lake, there we went on the hike to Emerald Basin. After we did the hike we found out that there were warnings about grizzly bears there. I was glad we did not know that when we went :)
Pictures don't even do it justice! On the hike we went though many different climates. It was so weird. We had dry, wet, and snow. And as we kept hiking, we just got closer and closer to the mountains...until we were at this base and surrounded by mountains. We only ran into a few other hikers, so it was mostly to ourselves. We were really lucky. It was rainy before the hike, and after..but during it was perfect!
Next went to Banff National Park. It too is beautiful, but it had a lot more tourists. Yoho was nice because it did not feel touristy.
We went to the information center to find out if there was any free camping in the area. She told us about the 'overflow camping'. She said, it would be like camping in a Wal Mart parking lot. Well....we did not care what it looked like, as long as we could pitch a tent for free! We expected something a lot worse! It was almost like a place we had PAID to camp in :) It even had bathrooms!
It had been rainy, and a really nice couple in an RV offered for us to put our tent under there canopy. What they say about Canadians being really nice is true! :)
Another one of my favorite hikes was called Ink Pots. The first part of it was very popular. It took you along some different water falls.
But then to get to the Ink Pots was quite a bit further. (We got to know what kilometers meant) It was well worth it!
In Banff they have the Banff Hotel. It is quite fancy!
This is in the bathroom :)
It was fun to walk through, but I doubt I will ever be staying there! Way too expensive!
We came across a wedding that was going on. We drove by just as the bride was walking to the alter. What a beautiful backdrop for a wedding!! :)
We saw quite a few of these on our drive.
Our next stop was Calgary, where we would sleep at a friends' parents house, and spend the weekend at another Convention before driving back home.
Good company on the car ride to convention.
The girls dorm
Some friends we made. The older guy in the middle was the funniest person! It was a lot of fun to talk to him.
The flags.
They served pie every meal...except breakfast of course :) Yummy!
The shoes from those baptized on Sunday.
Some of the RV's.
So, after this, we headed out early in the morning to drive straight from Calgary to home. It's about a 12 hour drive. We made good time, but that is a long stretch!
- Ok...so my update is turning into an actual blog. I had not intended to include so many pictures! But I can't help it :) So, we got home from Canada, and the next day I went to my 7 day camping trip with my family.
We made a 5 year prediction capsule, and buried it. We will dig it up...if we can find it...in 5 years, and see how close we were :)
-After camping I was home for a few days, and then off to Connecticut for 3 weeks. I was going to dog sit for my family while they went on vacation. As it turned out, they did not really go on vacation, and were away for only 2 nights. So 3 weeks was kind of extensive. And as it turned out, I was there even longer due to the Hurricane that came through. So, I experienced 2 things there, an earthquake, and a hurricane. Good times. :)
I felt bad that I was not really good company. By this time I had been traveling for 5 months, and I was just ready to be home. But regardless, I still had some fun :)
Giuliana and I went on a little hike. I had told her about ALL the waterfalls I had seen in Canada, and so she got excited when we saw a teeny tiny little one :)
We went to China Town together. It was a lot of fun to just hand out, and enjoy the sun!
Doing what she does best! :)
The streets were busy, but it is NYC after all!
We went into a Chinese restaurant, and the meat looked just like what it was, Duck!
This was at Grand Central. It cracked me up!
Giuliana enjoying her ice cream.
I meet up with a few of my old nanny friends. It was great to catch up! I miss hanging out with these ladies!
We had a graduation party for Giuliana while I was there. My dad had also come to NY, so she had a few extra family members there :)
Playing baseball with her dad on the wii.
A nice day outside, celebrating with family.
She is showing us how strong she is :)
Because of the storm I was there longer, so I got to help Giuliana move into her dorm. I had never done that before, so it was a lot of fun experiencing it with her for the first time!
Her bed was so far off the ground, you had to climb up to get on it!
The quilt is one my mom made for her. G was very happy with it!
So, Giuliana is going to Fordham University. It is a beautiful school in the Bronx. Her father also went there.
While I was in CT, I also got to hand out with a really good friend, Rachel, and her daughter Sarah. Oh, and their dog Annie :)
We went to Kent Falls State Park. It was beautiful.
Then we went to see an old covered bridge. Because my grandma has always loved them, I have also grown to love seeing them.
This is typical Rachel :)
We stopped for Ice Cream at a cute little shop. We thought it was funny that is had the same name as the dog.
So, all in all, I did enjoy my trip.
-I got home, and went to Convention the next day for 4 days. Then I had a job interview that just fell into my lap, and got a job as a sub teacher assistant for the Beaverton School District, started work, then started my school classes, and that's been my life since!
Thank you to those who stuck through this LONG post!! I had actually just thought I would write a few lines of what I had done, but, what's a post without pictures! They are far more exciting then my words! :)
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