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