BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!

It was the morning of Wednesday, November 30, also known as my 27th birthday. I woke up and went to feed the dog (first thing I always do), but in his dish there was a little paper scroll rolled up and tied with a red ribbon. On the outside it read "Happy Birthday" and on the inside I found a clue in the form of a short poem, sending me on a scavenger hunt! Perfect for me! I love scavenger hunts. So Nate followed me around the house, inside and outside in the snow to the truck and back, as I continued to find each clue, accompanied by a gift, there were 9 of them total, and really great gifts too! The last one came with a sweet card that ended with "Now for the last scroll" but there wasn't a clue this time. So I turned around and there was Nate, who began to tell me all the things a girl wants to hear, and then proceeded to pull the last scroll out of his back pocket, this time held together not by a ribbon, but a beautiful ring, and on the outside it read "Will you marry me?" and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I  managed to get out a "HECK YES!" in between tears, and that is how my 27th year began!

We are SO excited and so thankful for everyone's support about our decision. The planning is definitely under way, and we hope to get married next summer here in Bozeman. This most likely will have a grounding influence on any travel plans for the upcoming year, but we have reached a point in our lives where that might just be a small sacrifice in comparison to getting married! We are very much looking forward to this next adventure, right here in a place that we love so much.

The rest of Peru and an early birthday celebration!

Our last day in Cusco was definitely a nice rest, meandering through the markets, getting massages ($9 for an hour, full body- not bad!) eating, and planning our route that would eventually get us back to Lima. Peru is big, much bigger than the small central american countries I´m used to, which unfortunately meant we would need to take not one but two overnight buses. From the minute we left Cusco we were on the go go go. And I take it back, we did end up seeing the Frenchies again- twice actually, once at the bus station on the way out of Cusco, and once more in a most random place. The first overnight bus was almost, not quite, but almost Sabrina´s bus horror story from her trip to Peru come to life for us. There actually were cockroaches on the floor by my broken seat, so we moved across the aisle next to the only window which we fought our fellow passengers to keep open all night to try to get rid of the stink and muggyness. I took two benadryl, and had I not, I wouldn´t have slept a wink. Needless to say we paid more for the nicer bus the next time.

Arequipa is the gateway to Colca Canyon, the 2nd deepest canyon in the world, they say. I´m thankful for tours sometimes, because it takes so much planning stress off my shoulders, and after a long night on a bus the best thing we could have possibly seen in the morning when we arrived at the bus station was a sign with our names on it, ready to take us where we needed to go. Actually the sign read "Jakeline, Nathan, Barry" or was it "Danny" that time? They never could get Daryl's name right. He started going by Darío because it was easier.

Colca was kind of a whirlwind trip with lots of driving time but it suited us since we were still tired from hiking so much and not having slept well. At one point we stopped at a pass that we decided was over 16,000 ft, after a lot of confusing math. There were volcanoes in every direction, and it was a natural habitat for Vicuñas, one of the 4 types of llamas, the others being llamas, alpacas, and .... something else. We learned how to distinguish between them and what they were useful for, including fir, packing, and of course eating. We also got to try some alpaca in Chivay, where we stayed the night, and it was quite delicious. The cuy (guinea pig) on the other hand, had too many little bones to make it worth eating, otherwise I´d say it tasted like chicken. It´s a delicacy here. We hit up the hot springs in Chivay and enjoyed watching a folkloric dance during dinner before heading for some much needed sleep. This would be the only of the surrounding 3 nights that we would spend in a bed rather than a bus. Our tour drove us along the rim of the canyon, stopping in tiny villages, one of which had domesticated some birds of prey, and Nate got to hold an eagle of some sort on his arm. Mom, you would´ve geeked. The climax of the canyon tour is stopping at "Cruz del Condor" which is a point on the edge of the canyon where people gather to watch the condors ride the thermal waves up out of the canyon in the morning. We saw a few from far away, even in my zoom lense they looked like butterflies, but luckily one gave us a great grand finale. It rose up directly in front of us and over our heads. It did strike us as a bit strange that we were so excited to see giant ugly vultures, but they really were an impressive size, and I got some great photos. Their wingspan can be up to 3 meters wide, but with virtually no claws to speak of they cannot be birds of prey. They find something dead and circle it for up to 5 days to make sure it is dead before they go in for their feast. Yuck. But apparently we had great luck to see 4 condors, as many people come and go without seeing any at all.

We spent a rather nice afternoon in Arequipa (the "White City") we only saw a couple white buildings, but the center plaza was really nice and we enjoyed pizza and beer on a terrace while the sun set. Our overnight bus experience this time was much better with Cruz del Sur bus line, they even fed us and gave us pillows and blankets. The difference between the two bus rides was like sleeping in an awful dorm to graduating to a private room, so much better. We woke up in Ica this time, where we planned on getting a ride to the desert and doing some sandboarding, then heading to Paracas on the coast to find a hotel. Lucky for us a man seemed to read our thoughts and presented us with a tour option with exactly what we wanted, included sightseeing in Paracas and a good deal at a nice hotel. DONE. We spent that day at a desert oasis called Huacachina (wakacheena), where we sat by the pool, ate, and admired the sand dunes surrounding us. The dune-buggy/sandboarding tour was at 4pm since it's too hot to go during the day. I decided I'm just not the right person to recount the stories of our crazy adventures sometimes, because they seem to frighten me a lot more than they do the guys. So I will tell you that it was actually kind of terrifying, zooming over giant sand dunes not quite knowing how steep the drop will be on the other side, plus we were in the back which mean getting thrown around and losing my stomach with every bump. Sandboarding proved much more intimidating than my experience in Brazil, bigger, steeper, and for some reason more difficult. The boards are crap, but I just can't do the sideways thing, and I was too scared to go face first on my stomach, so it was kind of a fail for me. Daryl was good at it, Nate is fearless so he just tried everything. Walked away with some whiplash unfortunately but bottom line is we all walked away. Watched the sunset over the dunes before heading back and on to Paracas.

Being on the coast, we began, and haven't stopped really, eating ceviche and fresh seafood every day. We did a boat tour of Islas Ballestas, breeding ground for Peruvian Boobys, sea lions, even Humbolt Penguins! Those guys were cute. We also did a tour of the nearby desert reserve where somewhere there was a salt mine. The roads were all made of salt rather than paved, we tasted it, definitely salt! I like how resourceful they are around here. Mind you this is where the desert meets the sea, so we ended up having lunch in a tiny place with just a couple restaurants surrounding a small fishing harbor. After a delicious seafood meal we actually ran into the Frenchies again, most random. Two nights in Paracas ended our tour of Peru, and we headed back to Lima.

Daryl went straight to the airport to catch his flight, and Nate and I went to our friend Carlos' house. We lunched with friends of ours who worked at Alpine Meadows with us and are now staying with our friend Ximena again. Yesterday was such a fun day! We went to the beach, ate piles of ceviche, this was about the time that I decided it was my birthday. I spent my birthday on a beach in Costa Rica last year, and this year it will be spent in the cold of Montana, so why not start celebrating early? We had a birthday brownie on the beach, then went home to take hot showers! My second of the trip. We made tequeños, somewhat of a mix of cultures- little wontons stuffed with caprese makings, fried, and then dipped in guacamole- yum! Definitely bringing that one home. Then we went out to a nice part of Lima overlooking the ocean and had dessert- hot chocolate, oreo cheesecake and tiramisu. They told the waiters it was my birthday and I got a candle and they sang to me in Spanglish! It was definitely a fun birthday. Lima has been more fun that I expected and it's been really great to stay with friends and experience it as a guest rather than a tourist. Tomorrow night is our last night and then we will be back Stateside!

In the end, Peru really was different than I expected. I've had more coca cola and candy bars in the last two weeks than in the last 2 years. I've been reminded of some things I really enjoy and take for granted- hot water, toilet seats, toilet paper, the comfort and privacy of my home, non-humid climates. Just to name a few. Peru is a place that I don't think I really need to come back to, but I'm so glad I was able to experience it with my favorite travel buddies! Until next time...

Machu Picchu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who? What? I don´t even know where to start! Amazed, tired, excited, dirty, sunburned, sweaty, relaxed, sore, bruised, challenged, and completely awed. These are just some of the feelings that come to mind in the whilrwind of the last week, 4 days especially. But I suppose I should start from the beginning...

After arriving in Lima late Saturday night, our friend Ximena picked us up and took us to dinner, a Peruvian meal of beef heart skewers and potatoes, just don´t think about it, it tasted good! We stayed with her family for the night before heading out on a flight to Cusco Sunday morning. Cusco is nothing like I thought it´d be. I always imagined a small, cute, highland town surrounded by big green mountains, or something like that; it´s hard to recall what you imagined something to be like after you´ve seen it in person. Instead it´s a big brown city, surrounded by brown mountains. The center is typical- a plaza surrounded by tour operators and restaurants, it´s the only pretty part of town, and it´s about a 10 minute walk from our hostel. We spent the first few days exploring Cusco´s center, drinking coca tea, adjusting to the altitude, and making plans for Machu Picchu of course, which was in itself exhausting having to deal with all the tour companies hounding us all over the plaza.

Halloween was surprisingly fun! We had all but forgotten about it, but the kids didn´t let us. After the first couple groups of children swarmed us in the square with little plastic pumpkin buckets saying "Halloween!" and holding up their bucket with such hope to be rewarded, we decided we needed to buy some candy! The swarms of children and people in general in the main plaza that night was really amazing, it was shoulder to shoulder, kids in costumes running everywhere screaming "Halloween!" and candy literally flying through the air only to be chased by mobs with squeals and no concern for passing cars. Needless to say as soon as the children discovered we had candy, our stash was quickly depleted. Even after we left the plaza and went to dinner, the kids would come running into the restaurant hopeful to find someone with candy. Crazy. Entertaining.

We settled on a tour company that would take us on the Inka Jungle Trail- 4 days, 3 nights. First day consisted of mountain biking down one of the steepest, windiest, highest, most dangerous roads we could have probably biked down (don´t worry, Mom, obviously we´re fine!). We spent hours climbing up and up in the van, the picture of this road will amaze you, it was scary! Plus it was raining and oh, foggy to the point of ZERO visibility, but these guys were pros, and we kept on. Our company was 3 Frenchies, 2 Italians, and 2 Argentinians, so many languages to practice! Anyway we screamed down the other side of this mountain in the rain and mud, we were immediately soaked and covered in mud, but this really added to the experience and I don´t think it would have been as exhilarating without it. We fondly called it the Tour de Peru! Success. We stayed in Santa Maria that night, in a hostel, this was not a camping trek, and after the mud we were happy for that! Not that we could count on hot showers anywhere... but at least it meant warmth. We literally hosed each other off (fully clothed mind you) when we got down, and we were all smiles! There was no real common language between us since the Italians didn´t speak English, although they spoke some Spanish, so we had fun with that. Daryl and Nate and I sat with them for a couple hours that evening speaking ONLY Spanish, it was so fun! At least for me it was, I think their heads were about to explode by the time we finished, but it was a great lesson. Rules were if we spoke English we had to buy the next beer. Mealtime in Peru means soup and a main dish, usually some form of meat, rice, and papas fritas. Yummy.

The Argentinians were on a different tour so they left us there and we continued just the 8 of us with our guide, this time on foot. We hiked from Santa Maria all the way to Machu Picchu. That´s a long way. The second day we just hiked to Santa Teresa, and I understood why it was called the Inka Jungle Trail, we literally took an Inca Trail through the jungle. Why it didn´t occur to me that it would be hot in the jungle, I´m not sure, but we were basically soaked with sweat the whole time. There was a section of the trail that was so high up, on the edge of the mountain skirting the river, it dropped off on our left side, millions of feet straight down the the river. I was nearly petrified, had to rely heavily on the guys to get me through that part, I´m sure they took lots of photos that I´ll be embarrassed by later, but man, that wasn´t that funny to me. Yikes. Crazy Incas. The Chaski, messengers, used to cover the ground on these trails to deliver news between Cusco and Machu Picchu in just 5 hours. FIVE HOURS. Took us 2 days. In the jungle we saw monkeys, captive on leashes, but monkeys no less, cute little ones. We played with on named Jairo on one of our rest stops. We had our faces painted with an orange color from seeds of a plant that the Incas used to use to paint their faces. The indigenous used it to color textiles, and man that stuff was hard to get off. We all seemed to glow orange for the rest of that day. It rained a bit on us in the jungle but not too bad, and we crossed a small crazy bridge over a raging river, I just love that stuff. NOT. We rode a little cable car trolley hanging thingy over the river at one point too, and then finally got to the hot springs in Santa Teresa, nice! Only an hour more hike to our hostal that night.

Our French friends were funny, they were disgusted at the sight of my eating eggs and toast together, sandwhich style. They said "In France this is not possible!" But somehow my dipping buttered bread in my coffee was "very French" and they approved of that. They also wanted to know why all Americans have such white teeth. We said it´s because we eat eggs and bread together:) Unfortunately the Italians both ended up getting really sick and by the time we arrived in Aguas Calientes the next day after a long day of hiking, we didn´t see them again. We checked out the hot springs in AC as well, not so great, but relaxing at least, and our hotel had hot water! But what was the point of showering after hot springs, so I didn´t get to feel it. Aguas Calientes was such a cool town, built in the deep of a canyon between tall green mountains (imagine Machu Picchu) there were crazy tall green mountains everywhere. The river ran right through town and there were several pedestrian bridges. I don´t know why nobody ever mentioned to me how cool that town was, in all the stories I´d heard nobody said so, but I really liked it, it felt almost Italian, small narrow pedestrian streets all built on a hill. Anyway it was early to bed that night, because our next day started at 4AM!

I think the entire hotel was awake to hike Machu Picchu that morning, with all the noise you´d never guess it was 4am. We started off with the Frenchies at about 4:20, just with what we needed for the day. We were there when the bridge opened at 4:50 to start the ascent up to Machu Picchu. The reason for waking up early and hiking is to beat the buses, so you can be one of the first people inside when they open the gates at 6:00. They say it takes an hour to hike up to the gate. Somehow the 3 of us did it in 30 minutes! We were literally the first people to arrive at the gate, so we waited and dried off- once again, SO HOT and humib climbing 1800 steps straight up. The road the buses take has like 900 switch backs, the stairs we took cut straight up the middle. So 1800 steps, I don´t know, maybe 2000 ft in 30 minutes? Yes we did. And our reward??? I WAS THE VERY FIRST PERSON INSIDE AT 6AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!  As the first person to get up to the spot with the famous view, I couldn´t help but geek out, like an excited skier hooting and hollering through an awesome podwer run, I was hollering at Machu Picchu!!!! What a feeling!!!! I wish we would´ve thought to take video of that, ha. It was a little bit foggy but it just made it look mystical, and every minute was getting clearer and clearer and eventually we had sunny skies all day, literally the best day of weather we have had yet in Peru! What a day for it, as they had told us it rained the entire day before and that it´s the same every day. NOPE! Not for us!!!!!! We had a two hour tour after taking some initial photos, and then parted with the group. Daryl sketched, we explored everything, I have never been so interested in ruins. I just couldn´t believe we were actually there! I still can´t. It was really everything I hope for and more. So cool. We left at about 1:30pm, we had been there since 6 so it was plenty of time. We got to explore more of Aguas Calientes before catching our train out at 7pm with the Frenchies, and then we didn´t see them again either.

Come full circle, we are back in Cusco now, and I don´t know how I managed to squeeze in a blog this long when we really need to be trying to make plans to get to Arequipa tonight. We decided to change our plans, Puno (Lake Titicaca) has horrible reviews from other travelers, and I´d much rather go from the Bolivian side, which is another trip in itself, so we are going to head to Colca Canyon for the next few days to see some condors, hike some more, and probably hit up some more hot springs. Not sure when I´ll get to update next, sorry it´s so much at once, we have like a million photos already too, I think between the 3 of us we took 5 or 600 just yesterday. Yeah. So hasta luego, off to enjoy one last day in Cusco!
J

The Unreachable Horizon, on the agenda!

We are finally going to Peru! After having planned to go twice now and both plans falling through, I'm counting on the third time being a charm. Nate and Daryl and I fly out Saturday, our first stop will be Cusco and the Sacred Valley, of course including a trek to Machu Picchu... I'll try to post while we're there but this will be a short trip, only 2 1/2 weeks so either way news and photos will be coming soon!
J

The Day Has FINALLY Come!

I have done it, I have adopted a dog!! Many years of wishing, yearning, and borrowing everyone else's dogs are finally over. I would like to introduce Rami, a 3-year-old German Shepherd/Lab (and I'm pretty sure Chow) mix. He's an 85 pound bundle of snuggles with a long, beautifully colored coat, and he came from the animal shelter in Livingston (about 25 miles from here). I'm still in my "7-day trail period" but unless something really goes wrong, I can't see letting go of this guy anytime soon. He was left at the shelter because his family couldn't provide what he needed. After reading his notes and seeing that he was left inside for 10-12 hours per day, it is obvious to see "what he needed" and as I am looking for a hiking and running partner, we should be perfect for each other. His notes also said he is a bit "needy," I am understanding this to be his love for affection, am I not the perfect person to handle this!? I just brought him home yesterday after meeting and putting him on hold on Friday and thinking about him all weekend, I could hardly wait until the shelter opened back up to go get him! I already left him at home alone for a few hours today while I went to work, and much to my amazement, he didn't get into anything, chew anything up, or make a mess of any kind on the floor! Impressive! He is good with commands and seems like he'll be really great off-leash, though I have yet to try that. Rami is an arabic name, and it means "loving" which seems very fitting for him. Words can't describe my excitement! I have posted photos --->

I can't wait for you all to meet him!
J

Live The Life You Love, Love The Life You Live

Jackie Nourse, settling down? Wait it gets better, Jackie Nourse, signing a YEAR lease? Yes, that is correct. We have made the commitment to stay in Bozeman at least through next summer if not longer (this WAS, after all, supposed to be a more permanent move…) so yes, a year lease is now what I have gotten myself into. Never in my life have I signed a year-long lease, nor have I lived in one place for a year since I moved out of my parents' house. That was 9 years ago. It is time. It does NOT mean that I'm done traveling, what it DOES mean is that I have a place to call home that doesn't include a storage unit! It means that I have a dresser and can unpack my suitcase and backpack that I packed back in September! It means I don't have to worry about moving again in 6 months, and best of all, it means I can get a dog! And guess what else? It means I'm living ALONE for the first time ever, and absolutely loving it so far.

Let me go back a couple steps. It took one U-Haul trailer and two days (a night couch-surfing with new friends in Twin Falls, ID) for us to make our final leg of this seemingly-endless road trip up to Bozeman. We bounced around between our friend Megan's house and Daryl's house for the first couple weeks until we landed a house-sitting gig for our friend Jolee for 3 weeks which really worked out perfectly. The day after we arrived in Bozeman I applied for a serving job at one of my favorite restaurants downtown and immediately could tell I would get hired there, so I stopped looking. I started the next week and was suddenly slapped across the face with a culture shock I haven't felt in a long time. Working so much (training was very time-consuming) was a huge depressant to follow 7 months of traveling, and not at all what I really wanted to be doing, so I really had to set my mind ahead and focus on just finishing training and getting through those first two weeks of work combined with frantic house-searching which led to one stressed out girl. Then one day a "super cute 1Bdr apt" appeared on Craigslist (it's dog-eat-dog in Bozeman, you HAVE to be first to respond here, it's crazy) so I responded as quickly as possible. Guess what, the landlord's name is Jacquie, and she saw my name and decided she couldn't pass me up, and it just so happens that I had to work the next day so I made her meet me before, told her I was serious and I wanted it, and she put up a "rented" sign and left right then and there! So much for checking references! I didn't care I was stoked, AND it was my last day of training and I knew everything was about to turn around for the better, which it did. I'm now working 4 easy shifts per week, which is pretty much part-time: PERFECT. 

It took me right to the end of our house-sitting to get a bed and get everything out of storage and into my new place so that I could start sleeping there. I am still slowly getting more furniture and making it more live-able. I will post photos soon, but I can tell you it's the top level of a house, nice open floor plan living room/kitchen area with a hallway going back to the bathroom and bedroom, it's very spacious! I have windows on all sides and can see the Bridgers, and I'm only a block away from the dog park! It's about a 7 minute bike ride to where I work downtown, I have yet to drive there. It's exciting to have an address. If you want it, call or email me! 

Nate also got a place the same day I got mine. He's living with another guy and they have yet to find another roommate, in a house about 10-15 blocks from mine. He is right on the trail system and right down the street from our old house where I lived with Daryl in 2004, a nice location. He has started working and is in Billings as I write this, on his first 5-day work trip. They have already started catching and surveying fish, and he is happy to eat, sleep, and work with fish right now. 

Softball season has started, soccer season starts in a couple weeks, and running season is also going well! So far I've registered for the 10-mile Jim Bridger Trail Run in June, the Missoula Half Marathon in July, and I'm in the lottery to run the Ridge (THE Ridge) 20 mile crazy run again this year, yes, I just might be doing it again in August. I find out in a couple weeks. And if all goes well, I might sign up for the first annual Bozeman Marathon this September as well. It's exhilarating to be a runner here, this scenery is far too beautiful to not soak up in such a natural way. So, overall, I'm still super excited about life here, will hopefully be getting a dog soon, and have many things still to look forward to which is definitely important for someone with my wanderlust. I saw an old friend the other day who has moved away from Bozeman to California and we were fondly discussing how much we love this place, and I summed it up with these words "I like who I am here…" So true.

Come Full Circle, with a FINAL ANSWER!

6,000 miles, 13 states, and two and a half months have passed since we started this road trip. Our purpose was not only to visit friends and new places, but to figure out an answer to our homelessness and unemployment in a place that doesn't start with "Lake" and end with "Tahoe." (And to come back with my truck in one piece). After traveling up the west coast and across to Montana, we continued through North Dakota (quick visit to my dear friend Kodee) and on to Minnesota. I have experienced the coldest days I have ever experienced in my life, and have more respect now for those people who live along that northern central border of this country (although I do question their sanity). Hey, the country needs farmers right? It's the nice people in Fargo, ND whose motives I don't understand...

Anyway, we spent about 3 weeks in Minnesota and got to see just about everyone in Nate's family and group of friends. It was fun to hang out, but other than that it felt like quite a stand-still since we weren't looking to move there, and I was getting more anxious everyday to figure out where exactly we WERE going to be moving. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that we've been homeless and on the road since September... So one night I made Nate make a deal with me- if we don't figure out where we're moving by the end of our ski weekend in Utah (April 4th) (that's the farthest date that we had planned) then we're going to Ireland to waste time instead of kicking around here waiting to hear back from jobs! Yes, I said Ireland. Surprised?

With that in mind, we continued on to Fort Collins, Colorado, stopping for a two-hour detour in Nowhere, Nebraska to visit our new friend Levi who fixed a heater hose on my truck for us at closing time. Thank you, Levi! We successfully couch-surfed at two different houses in FoCo with some really awesome people. Seriously, the people were what stood out the most in that town, they were just so nice and really seemed genuine, they were like a breath of fresh air! The town was Pre-Spring Brown (a new color I just invented) which is not beautiful, but we saw its potential. It made up for lack of green in tasty beer and good live music. We had high hopes for Fort Collins, and Nate tried to make contact with the jobs he applied for, unfortunately to no avail. As we rode bikes, looked into housing options, checked out the hills nearby, and kept meeting new friends (and old-shout out to Robbie Giomi!), Nate got a couple phone calls from an unlikely place: Bozeman, MT. As it turns out, he ended up with not one, but two interviews (for two different jobs) within two days (this would be last Wed and Thurs, today is Tuesday). Both went really well, and we ended up leaving Colorado confused but ever hopeful for some good news.

Utah was our last destination, and it felt like home to see big mountains again (one negative thing about Ft. Collins- just foothills). We met my parents and Daryl in Wolf Creek for a family ski weekend during which we snowshoed, skied Snow Basin, and played some rowdy board games! The ironic thing is that on April 4th, literally as we had just started the last leg of our road trip back towards Tahoe, Nate got a phone call. He was offered one of the jobs in Bozeman!!!!!!!!! I started honking (I was driving) I was so excited just to have an answer! It has been a LONG time coming, it was a LONG trip, and instead of going to Ireland next week, we will be moving to BOZEMAN. I LOVE Bozeman summers, I do admit I'm a bit terrified of the winter (remember the hair dryer incident? see photos..) but at this point I'm super stoked to be moving to such a beautiful place, where I know I can play softball this summer, get a puppy, and even get to see my brother regularly. It means I will be getting a job (God-willing) in the service industry because that's what Bozeman, MT has to offer someone with my extensive language skills. That's okay, I'll figure it out. Nate's job is near exactly what he wants to be doing: surveying fish in the Yellowstone River and gaining tons of experience he needs to move forward in his field. It goes through the fall, but rather than up and move again, we want to stick it out through the winter, see if I survive, and live to see another beautiful Bozeman summer. I'm sure there will be some tropical travel plans involved as the winter really comes around, but in the meantime I'm focusing on moving my life to Montana for the THIRD time. So, in the end, we are blessed and excited to be moving to Bozeman, and hey, 3rd time's a charm, right??

An Eagle a Day Keeps the Worries Away

Well it seems that "sometime in March" has arrived and unfortunately we still don't have a solid plan. The upside to this is that we have been lucky enough to spend more quality time with friends and family. Seattle did end up being our favorite place thus far, and one of the highlights of that 2-week stay was our day on Kevin's boat (Amanda's man) on Lake Sammamish. We had front row seats to an amazing, raw nature show. We watched a bald eagle chase down a seagull mid-air for a good 5 minutes, then finally catch it and take it straight to the water where he held it under until it drowned. Then with the weight of the seagull the eagle couldn't fly, so he SWAM (butterfly stroke) to the nearest dock, pulled the bird up onto the dock and proceeded to eat him for lunch. It was aMAZing, and I happened to be in the right spot with the right lens on my camera, oh it was fun! I posted several of those pictures to the album--->

After Seattle we drove through the beautiful Cascade Mountains on our way to Sandpoint, ID to visit my friend Dawn's parents in their adorable cabin overlooking Lake Pend Oreille. This was like a mountain getaway for us, I feel like we got the royal treatment up there. Gary took us snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and downhill skiing at Schweitzer, and Diane kept cooking us amazing meals. We also got to go to a ballroom dance with them, we didn't have a whole lot of luck remembering what we learned from our lessons, but we did bring out the Lindy Hop, which we learned recently in Panama! The day we left Idaho happened to be Valentine's Day, which we spent with a couchsurfer host in Missoula, Montana. Staying with Tony was just another couchsurfing success for us, but we decided we like Bozeman way better than Missoula (check that one off the list). We spent a week and a half with Daryl in Bozeman, which was freezing cold! I haven't spent much time in proper winter in Bozeman, and wow, negative 20 is way too cold for me. We did get to witness a tournament of "Ski Joring" though, where skiers are pulled over obstacles around rodeo grounds by horses, again, WOW. This is why I love Montana. So unique.

The day we left (-22F) we literally had to warm up my truck engine with an extension cord and a hair dryer before we finally coaxed it to start, that was about the last cold straw for me and in my head I was checking my beloved Bozeman off the list. Unfortunately it did not get warmer as we headed east. We stayed a night in Jamestown, ND with my dear friend Kodee whom I know from Bozeman, and continued on to Minnesota. We visited a friend in Park Rapids before heading back to Fargo, ND to participate in a medical research study. Yep, it was an overnight dermatology study (cream on our arms) that we each made money from, which helps with these soaring gas prices! Although I must add that I could NOT WAIT to get out of freezing Fargo, I have learned why some people think 20 degrees is warm. WOW. It's been around 30 (and now higher) near Minneapolis in Waconia, where Nate's parents live, and my soul has finally thawed out and my spirits are back up. We've spent most of our time here with friends and family and it's been really nice to see everyone.

Our next stop is Fort Collins, CO. We have high hopes for Fort Collins, there are many reasons why it seems like a really great place for us to live, so I'm looking forward to going. We don't know anyone there and we want to stay for about a week so we'll be couch surfing with a few people, which means we get to make friends and get the inside scoop, can't wait! Beyond that we know we are meeting my parents and brother in Wolf Creek, Utah for a ski weekend, and then we'll most likely head back to Tahoe. There we will either wait out the rest of the time until we hear something, or we will grab our stuff and head back to CO :) Solo Dios sabe...
PS It's March 15th, Happy Birthday to my Mom and Amanda!
J

The Art of Being Unemployed With a Purpose

The adventure continues! No, not abroad, this time we are staying Stateside, and it is somewhat of a relief! The logistics that go into planning a trip overseas get exhausting, especially since I've been on the road since September. So this time we loaded up my faithful old truck with two goals: one- leave Tahoe before we get suckered into staying for the winter, and two- find a new job/place to live.

How are we going about this? Nate has been applying for fisheries jobs all over the west, from Seattle to Minnesota to Flagstaff, Arizona and everywhere in between. Sure we are leaning towards some places over others, but when it comes down to it, if he gets a good offer we will most likely follow it to our next adventure. Meanwhile, because we won't hear back from any jobs for a month or two, we decided to make the most of our time and visit friends and parts of the country we don't see often. We're also taking notes as to where we would and would not want to end up. We foresee this lasting through sometime in March.

What about me finding a job? Well since my "field" is much broader than Nate's, I'm hoping I'll be able to find work when we get to where we're going. I'll look into translating, tutoring, transcribing, and if I absolutely have to, the service industry, but I'm going to try to avoid it. It's more important to me to live somewhere that I really enjoy than to have a job that pays well, I seem to be pretty seasonal when it comes to work anyway, I need my travel breaks! I'm not worried, that's the bottom line.

So our trip started with a visit to our good friend Blake (the same Blake we stayed with in Turkey), in Eureka, CA where we spent more time in the Redwoods and on the beautiful coast in the sunshine! So happy to not be dealing with snow right now. We went agate hunting (searching for small translucent rocks), hiking, played some good games of Quelf, and ate yummy food. Then we headed to Portland to visit an old friend of mine from high school for a few days, and the sun followed us! We got a couple lucky days of sunshine and somehow, after being on the coast for more than a week, had yet to see any rain. That ended when we got to Seattle, where we are staying with one of my best friends Amanda (the same Amanda that came to visit Nate and I in Italy). Very fortunately the sun got the memo and showed up here as well! We have been so lucky to have had a few really nice days so we took advantage and went to see Snoqualmie Falls, went hiking up to Rattlesnake Ridge, went up some tall buildings to see the city view, and watched a couple of awesome sunsets. We plan to stay here for another week or so and to visit several more people while we're in the city before heading east...

East includes Sandpoint, ID, Missoula, MT, Bozeman, MT, Jamestown, ND, and finally Minnesota.. we think :)

Photos are up! --->