Miami and more

October 19
Caitlin (friend from college) flew into Raleigh.  Karen and I went to pick her up after a day of driving and hiking in Shenandoah National Park.

October 20
We drove from the NC/SC border (Little Pee Dee State Park) to Hilton Head and then down to Miami.  We stopped in Savannah for some pecan pie, but totally struck out.

October 21
We sat on the beach at our hotel in Miami.  We pretty much only left for food.  Karen and I got pretty burned, but Caitlin seemed to fare much better.  A movie from Red Box, and super chill day was complete.

sunburn aftermath

October 22
We went over to the Everglades to look for some crocodiles and some fun birds.  Well, the bird watching was less of a draw.  We did see some crocs and went canoeing from the ocean to a lake in some gnarly wind.  We tried to go to Biscayne National Park, but it closed at 5:30 PM :(

Canoeing bliss

croc

October 23
We went to Biscayne in the morning and I went snorkeling and saw some fishies, but mostly just sea grass as we didn't have the time/resources to get out to the coral reef part of the park.  Then we drove down to Key West.  It was a crazy/gorgeous drive.  A couple more snorkeling fails and we decided to just BBQ on the beach and wait for the sunset.  Then we went to go find some legit key lime pie.

in Key West

Key West Sunset

Key West Sunset

Washington DC

We wandered around the nations capital yesterday. We spent a good chunk of time in the holocaust museum. It was just as intense as I remembered as a 12 year old. Then we walked all around the national monuments and saw a tiny bit of the smithsonian museums. We walked about 7 miles plus whatever we did in the museums, but we didn't drive any, so it was a good day.

New York!

I'm by the statue of liberty! More to follow.

Me, Karen, and Melissa from Liberty Island

Chicago doesn't know what hit it...

Oh, that's right. Kate, Karen, and Hannah did.

We wandered all over the place.  Mostly along Michigan Ave, aka the Magnificent Mile.  9.26 miles according to mapmyrun.com... not too shabby.

Pizzeria Uno... JBIC

we made it...

... so far anyway...

Just before running into Lake Michigan

The end of one part of the road trip and the beginning of the part where we don't necessarily know how we'll be getting to the next place.  We have some destinations and some specific times, but suddenly there is much more freedom.  I dig this.

Oklahoma!

So far so good.  Yesterday was an easy day from Grants, NM to Santa Fe.  We went to the balloon museum and just kinda wandered Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
Today we got up and drove 560ish miles to Norman, OK.  Today was filled with a fair amount of reading and re-reading directions to attempt to say on Route 66, but it was good overall.

Grand Canyon

Today we drove from western Arizona to the grand canyon. We drove along the south rim as long as we could and scoped out some hikes for tomorrow.
250 miles

To Arizona...

We started off in San Jose this morning, had breakfast with Jeff and Ethel, and drove 20 minutes to see Stefanie, the UMin intern who lived with my parents my freshman year at UW. After a quick bite to eat, we headed off to Los Angeles to pick up Hannah. Six hours and a couple potty stops later we were at the start of Route 66 at the Santa Monica Pier with Hannah in tow. We were hoping to get to the grand canyon tonight, but that seemed out of reach based on how late we started in LA, so we decides to stay in Kingman, AZ. All in all we drove 725 miles. Tomorrow we will continue on our way to the grand canyon and travel more of the Mother Road.

San Jose

Today we drove the 60ish miles down to San Jose from Walnut Creek, picked Jeff and Ethel up from their hotel, and went to the Winchester Mystery House.  It was interesting. 

Some random WMH facts...
160 rooms
40 bedrooms
47 fireplaces
13 of a whole lot of things because it was the crazy lady's favorite number
6 kitchens
$5.5 million to construct

Fairly normal from the outside...

Due to the events of the day, we only drove 70ish miles...

Oregon coast to the SF Bay area

9/17
Portland
Tillamook (ice cream!!!!)
Down the Oregon coast on highway 101
Eureka, CA
499 miles

Karen at Tillamook, FINALLY!!

Yeah we got in a little car that took cheese all around...

9/18
Eureka to the Redwoods
Highway 101 to Walnut Creek to hang out with my favorite Godparents :-)
222 miles

I drove the car on a tree

Life is a circus

So, after hanging in Seattle for a bit and unpacking and repacking vehicles, I went to my first (and only) Husky game of the season.

Karen's first Husky game (or any football game for that matter)

Karen and I then drove from Seattle to Portland... pretty uneventful driving day.

While I Portland, I left Karen to hang out with her BFF from Suriname and I hung out with my two favorite young men...

"Angry" Owen

"Happy" Josh

We went to the circus, which was a little overwhelming, but pretty rad.

Who doesn't love it when Elephants sit on stools?

So tomorrow it's off to Tillamook and beyond!! :)

Back in Seattle... For now...

So after deciding on the road that I really wanted to just be back in Seattle, Karen, Hannah, and I booked it pretty hardcore to the lake house.

Day 1 Haines - Tok (added Karen) - Chicken 501 Miles
Day 2 Chicken - Dawson City - Whitehorse 427 Miles
Day 3 Whitehorse - Watson Lake - Kitwanga 715 Miles
Day 4 Kitwanga - Prince George - Marble Canyon 568 Miles
Day 5 Marble Canyon - Whistler (COWS!!) - Parents' Lake House 285 Miles
Total = 2496 Miles with Hannah Roberts and (most of them) Karen Henspeter

We played tourist in the city on Friday, going to the original Starbucks, Seattle Public Library, and REI. Yesterday Hannah left for Denver on the morning train, Karen and I went to the Seattle Sounders game, then I dropped her off at the airport.

Now it's the waiting game all over again. I'll catch up with my people here in the Seattle area, then hit the road again next Saturday after I take (force) Karen to her first real football game (GO HUSKIES!!). Then it's off to Portland and beyond!

Leaving

Last full day in haines tomorrow. Bittersweet. Will miss the people and scenery... But very much looking forward to new adventures.

Oh Haines

So I leave in five days... I love this place, but I feel like it's time to go for now. I don't know what it is about this little town in the mountains that makes me keep coming back, but I sure can't seem to stay away. So as I leave Haines, I know I'm not saying "goodbye" so much as "see you later." This time I go for an epic roadtrip and then settle in Seattle... at least for a while. Time will tell.

spring break

Though I'm not really a teacher yet, most of my income is from the xchool, which means that I gave myself spring break too. And how did I celebrate this amazing week? I swam with porpoise. Kinda. One might also call it falling in the water while kayaking. Well, the porpoise weren't really even that close. Maybe I swam near porpoise rather than with them. Though, I didn't really go swimming. I just stood I. The water up to my waist and laughed. A lot. And maybe it wasn't really porpoise at all. Because I was on a different side of the island from where they were. So maybe I just fell in. But it was still pretty hilarious if you ask me. Or if you ask my roommate, Karen. It was good times.
and I went to Juneau with my peeps. But that wasn't as cool as kayaking with somewhere around 200 porpoise.