we're so "artsy"

hannah with bison. me with tent.us. we left out hearts in idaho.

home safe... and sound?

Hi, we're back in santa cruz. drove through 4 states in 25+ hours. -A

we're fine, obvi (always glamorous, and there's nothing coffee/sour skittles/gas station sized soda or some face wash in the Target bathroom won't solve), though Hunter is definitely far more rugged and chiseled (we did come back with one cowboy) -H

by always glamorous Hannah means, I have on my wolf-tee shirt and a huge hairbow, while she looks fresh in a clean peasant shirt. And Hunter is my honda... chicks dig scars right? especially the ones i induced by backing into boulders in wyoming... Overall the trip was a huge sucess, seems like we've been gone way longer than two and a half weeks. Visiting my brothers and hannah's family was so fun but my favorite part was how unexpectedly cool Idaho was. And the gorgeous sky in montana ( before our catastrophic day there). And i love all the things i bought in all the thrift stores we stopped at. our mantra was pretty much " we will pull illicit u-turns and cut people off for coffee, thrift stores and chocolate milkshakes."

i liked the sunflowers/daisies.

i think hannah's forgetting how much she's enjoyed listening to GLEE volumes 1,2,3 and myself singing along.

gas station coffee. power bars. soy energy mix. not sleeping. night driving!!!! abigail after hours (coffee? glee? shower? hair bow? and we're in a musical!!! (it even rhymes))

here are some pictures. enjoy, love! H &A

ready to be home

Yesterday for my birthday Hannah bought me candy at every gas station and store in yellowstone ( we drove around the entire park) and let me listen to GLEE non-stop the entire time. There were multiple repeats of "total eclipse of the heart" and I sang along at the top of my lungs each time.

Yellowstone is huge, and dare I say it, over-rated. it's beautiful, but as hannah says, feels more like disneyland or the san diego zoo. there are cars and people everywhere all the time. If someone sees a bear, deer, elk, moose or bison they feel the need to pull over, park, climb out and take pictures for 20 minutes. Causing huge back-ups etc. I mean yes the mother bear with her two cubs is adorable but geesh, do you really need to stop for a deer? yes, i believe i am getting slightly grumpy and ready to be home. i did love all the souvenir shops in the park and couldn't resist a few bracelets and a youth wolf tee-shirt among other things. We left yellowstone this morning and drove through the incredible grand tetons. I would have loved to have driven through yellowstone and camped here but oh well. We pitched our tent about 10 miles out of Jackson at Altherton Creek and the campsite is, perfect. right on the lake and we have the run of it to ourselves.

Now we're in Jackson which is amazing, but a little too touristy for my tastes. no great thrift stores yet! we don't have any exciting plans, just swimming tonight and maybe being crazy and driving the whole way home tomorrow? if not, we'll camp in nevada.

-A

yellowstone

this is the air freshner i bought at the gas station in butte montana while i waited for my sleeping bag to dry at the laundromat next door. i LOVE it.

pulled of where it said "parking for geysers" walked around and thought, wow old faithful is sure over-rated this is so anti-climactic! got in the car and realized this WASN'T old faithful...

more...

waiting for old faithful, there she is, taping up the car, boredom and traffic.

Wyoming the better lover

dear friends

we have left yellowstone. almost as if we've been lifted into a dream we're in jackson hole roasters, sipping very sophisticated iced coffees, still breathless over the new terrain: fields of wildflowers, hundreds of bison descending from the green hilly meadows (without one stopped car snapping innumerable pictures), overwhelming mountains above us - it is as if we've entered a promised land or are resting inside of a prayer. it is a much gentler beauty, less dramatic, very romantic, and most definitely poetic, unlike the park we have just left, which often times resembled more of a desert indiana jones disney ride (awesome, obvi, in so many ways, but what can we say? we like literature. thrift stores. reading by uncrowded lakes. cheap chocolate shakes. a little revered silence). it is a little yuppie here though (in jackson hole).

more later. i need to revel in beauty a bit more (it's like a giant bubble bath)

yours, banana

She's as cute as her muffin... that she won't eat

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABIGAIL!!! love love

yeah, she's sitting across from me. on her birthday in MONTANA! (we had to come back to our favorite state for the big day and these DELICIOUS lattes. in High Country Trading and Espresso. we've had two each. we're ready to paint yellowstone red. which includes buying wolf t-shirts).

so she's not quite as famous as the regular's (how do i know? he called the barista darling. and he referred to this establishment by name, nonchalantly, when on his cell phone) daughter sitting next to us, who is apparently very well known ("maybe rachel can find a husband now that she's famous"), though her actual identity remains a mystery (ray? stevens? mcadams? bilson?), but she's wearing a pretty adorable purple hair ribbon.

driving through the night was beautiful, especially beautiful after 3 cups of coffee, a whole bag of white cheddar popcorn, the all-time blissful high of toy story 3, and the horse feathers blaring in the stereo with a 75 miles per hour speed-limit. we were driving, leaving, going - only night before us. we were ready for anything.

5 hours later. in yellowstone. mist lifting from the river, moose grazing in the meadow, a bison unconcernedly meandering in the middle of the road, the smell of cheerios (only one land mine so far). incredibly stunning. me, incredibly less so. tired and grumpy i slept during abigail's fierce battle for a campground and the second spot in line to be the first to cross the new bridge. we went to sleep yesterday afternoon and didn't wake-up till 8:30 am this morning. i think we're back. for a birthday extravaganza. look out old-faithful.

july 13th

Despite numerous applications of sun screen, my skin is determined to develop freckles everywhere and turn as brown as it possibly can. The last few days have passed in a blur, we did pull and all-nighter two nights ago. Hung around a starbucks in Helena Montana, saw Toy Story 3 and drove to Bozeman; destination a 24 hour Perkins. Dismay and panic, Perkins is closed 12-6 am. Relief, there is a 24 hour Ihop down the road where we seek refuge and breakfast (at 2:30 am). Absorbed in Capote (and alternatley Bridget Jones' Diary) I didn't think much of the door bell sounding and a group of 3 boys walking in, until they were seated at the booth adjoining ours ( no, there were no other people in the restaurant besides the waitress and cook). Throughout their stay I learned invaluable life tips like, if serving alcohol to a minor make sure they are at least 18, you'll still get a ticket but it won't be as severe as for serving alcohol to "children". If you are scheduled to appear in court multiple times, for multiple tickets; it is possible to combine your court dates if the person on the phone is nice enough. good to know.

The reward of our all-nighter was driving into Yellowstone at 5 am was watching the sunrise and the steam lift off the lake without a soul around, it was breathtakingly beautiful and haunting. We followed the signs to Mammoth Hot Springs campground and realized the road we needed was closed 10pm-8am.... we drove near the road block and camped out and around 7:00 pulled into line behind a subaru, a line which by 8:00 included over 20 cars. Upon successfully securing a campground I SHOWERED!!!! (it had been four days) and we drove to Tower Falls. Not going to lie, a bit of a let-down. It was a simple, small, short waterfall and a (gorgeously green colored) lake. We survived our first night camping in the park just fine, though there are large rocks in our tent to keep it form blowing it away, it is incredibly windy here.

Now we are sitting in a quaint coffee and souvenir shop outside of yellowstone sipping lattes and I am eating a chocolate muffin that leaves alot to be desired. We're seated next to a colorful pair of old men, one wearing a Chicago Cubs shirt, so they must be good people. On their way out, the non-Cubs adorned one says to his friend " stop looking at those shirts, remember you are already married so you don't have to spend as much money on her now." once again, more invaluable life tips.

While waiting for my computer and phone to charge I opened my "birthday bag", I am now officially 22 years old. My mom and wrapped little gifts for me to open and given them to Hannah before we left. a GLEE CD!!!! so happy!! (thank you dad) a mini book reading light, peanut mnm's ( hope i'm not forgetting anything...) Hannah contributed with some candy, more peanut mnm's!!! I love how predictable I can be... a really, really cute pair of silver, glittery heart shaped earrings... a daffodil pin, a purple beaded necklace, a pink hairbow and red, glittered, heart shaped sunglasses. (i've been searching for a pair for weeks). So thank you Hannah and Mom and Dad! I love everything!

The joy of opening presents (and a second latte from Hannah) has softened the pain of weariness, mosquito bites, slight sun burn, back ache, sore throat/cold/ losing my voice, and general ready to be home-ness. Yellowstone is gorgeous, but so large it is a bit intimidating. Today we are going to the hot springs, we will find them, and old faithful. And hopefully there will be a good campfire lecture tonight! Last night was the "secret life of predators" but I was too tired to go.

The excessive use of exclamation points in this post is due to my current state of caffination. -A

"If Butte was a blushing beauty when I first laid eyes on her then I have just caught her in bed with another. Everything I fell in love with, her brilliant colors and openness, her wild temperment stretching towards the untamed future, these are the things I am running from. Snaking through the mountains the grey pavement beckons me and like a child hypnotized by the promise of ice cream I press on. The farther I follow this monotone guide into the heart of Montana the more betrayed I feel. Her tree topped mountains and hills have lured me into a sense of false security. They have led me to abandon my reticent opinion that this sky country is to wild to be controlled. As I drift deeper into this foreign land I become more and more embittered. I glimpse sky and land through the forests that so proudly and fiercely line the road. They are nothing more than lonesome cowboys sitting together to trick their enemy with the illusion that their number is greater than it is. A boy's bluff and rag tag attempt at grandeur. A desert seems more welcoming than this land for at least it tells the truth. It holds no pretensions, does not try to be more than it is. Indeed it cannot, it has no friends with whom it might band together, to trick it's visitor. It has nowhere to run and hide, for all it holds is mile upon mile of sand. This landscape stretching out before me is more barren than any desert, for it has tricked me into believing it is anything but. I wanted so dearly to come to this place and see what inspired Norman Mclean to pen "A River Runs Through it". Now I am here and my heart feels to bruised and betrayed to fight against this prison of tree and sky. This place inspires a lonesome love that will never be completely devoid of struggle. There is nothing easy about this love, to try to change this land or believe it even capable of difference is as useless as trying to fight against the sky, or make the clouds change shape on command."

If you weren't so pretty...and other 24-hour adventures

so i'm going to tell yesterday a little differently. because abigail couldn't. because it's all my fault.

it's not that it wasn't funny. it was definitely funny. almost hysterical. but in a we're going to end up in a wood chipper/suddenly killed by an accidental axe/shot in the head by an outlawed bandit kind of way. yes, it was basically a cohen brothers' masterpiece. and as a character in their movie, I am The Disaster. the loose idiot running around (mildly comforting as this is every character in cohen brothers' movies. AND THEY ARE ALWAYS SOMEHOW ENDEARING. okay).

it began quietly: two girls driving on a curvy dirt road. in the rain. with no apparent destination. the campground was slightly sinister, slightly void of humanity, but we were here in montana to "rough it." big, open montana. unending montana.

after The Incident (keys, trunk, locked - still not quite funny yet), i caved. i layed on the dirt in the rain. i felt very abandoned and hopeless. i may have uttered some unladylike obscenities. i then decided i would have to tell abigail before i tried to get someone to help us. i yelled, i waded through a river, i was very pathetic (entirely deserved, i know. also entirely soaked). eventually we found each other and went to the camper next door where Barb promptly let us in and began texting frantically - to her husband, her friends at the campground next door, all while rain is pouring heavily down on the roof of the rv and abigail is stoically silent.

we were playing cards when Tammy pulled around the corner in her mint green truck. she was a ranger. she had cell phone service. she teaches 7th and 8th grade special ed. she chopped us firewood. she built us a fire. she digs up worms for the robin with eggs who lives in the tree outside her house. there is an evil crow involved. she is obviously incredible. you heard the rest from abigail. it was a short story. a very long short story.

we endured a silent drive to Suds 'n Fun to dry our soaking sleeping bags. the churning laundry, the little girl who kept opening and closing the doors of the 24 hour laundromat, pronouncing it closed, high school musical playing in the background. we indulged. we found safeway. we bought m & ms. dark chocolate bars. and strangely, postcards (though the last thing we wanted was a rectangle memory from butte).

we ate our v. nutritious dinner in the car (we at least recognized the dark-clouds-like-asbestos as ominous this time), in our sleeping bags, watching half of a mediocre movie, in a thunder storm. we awoke to a knock on our window this morning. somehow not a serial killer, but Barb's husband asking if we needed cereal. we didn't need cereal. abigail "showered" in the river, meaning her back is now unrecognizable. i took a run, which was truly beautiful, philosophically. i sat on top of a mountain in the sun hushed by the immensity of the sky and the open mountains.

now we are sitting in starbucks, writing, reading, waiting (so much of our lives...) for our 9:50 movie showing, which will be followed by a midnight drive to bozeman, where we we will sit at an all-night diner for a couple of hours, before we continue our drive to yellowstone. obviously, abigail has reasons for bitterness, but somehow we are still laughing. slightly bitter laughter, in cold blood laughter, little children laughter (the books we are currently reading), but laughter still. and i am crazy, wildly crazy, but i somehow can't help loving even this very disastrous beauty. because it is beautiful - the storm, the kind, wrinkled people, the way montana just unravels, even in its harsh Robert Frost remove - i am a dreamer, i cannot help it. i am sorry i am such an idiot. really.

yours, always, even when undesirable, hannah.

what hasn't gone wrong

All right, where did we leave you... blissful, idyllic Idaho? We are now seated in Jail House Coffee in Butte Montana... Hannah claims the coffee is watery but hey, refills are free!

So yesterday we of course got lost. We saw a billboard advertising a Montana bookstore with over 100,000 titles at the next exit.... but there was some confusion as to which exit it actually was. So we exited two stops down and drove forever (like 15 miles) to the historic ranger station/museum. The ranger and his wife were so sweet and gave us directions to the bookstore which was in Alberton... just one exit the other way. We followed the ranger's directions perfectly, a right at the stop sign, after about 20 minutes of driving through gorgeous farms on a dirt and gravel road I said, "I think we've gone more than five miles", so we turn around. Feeling frisky I cross the road to the "west side" (i forget the road's name) thinking it might be a shortcut. Oh no, we quickly turned back, headed to the station, after a moment's hesitation at the four way stop sign , headed the right way and got back on the I-90... and no we never made it to the bookstore.

Driving through Montana I think of the old cliche " the sky's always bigger in Montana", it really is. Driving through hundreds of miles of green meadows, intermittently populated with cows, horses and family farms,l ined on either side with gorgeous, gently slanting mountains, the thing that arrests your eyes and heart is the sky. The clouds peaking over a far away, periwinkle mountain range look like an illustration out of a children's story, or something from a dream. Every day with out fail the brilliant sky holds up perfectly crafted clouds, the ones that you can see shapes in, and that hold the light inside.

Spotting signs for Beaver Dam campground we turn off and choose the correct road. You can't really call it a road, it's really just a giant pot hole. (the front end of my honda has been super glued together and usually fares fine, this was too much for it, it is now held together by duct tape. classy.) We drive for six or eight miles along a gravel road, occasionally seeing signs informing us, miraculously, we are going the correct way. As we enter the camp ground Hannah for sees the future by saying "I feel like we are entering into a short story". We successfully pitch our tent at campsite number 12, and pay for two nights ( at $5 a night we are getting what we aren't paying for, a "toilet"... and nothing else). The rain is just a gentle drip, calmed down form the torrential downpour we drove through on the way here. I head off with my Capote novel, "in Cold Blood", maybe not the best choice for this trip... and sit on a rock by the rushing river to read for a bit. It wasn't meant to be, the rain started coming down harder and as I walked back to the car I heard Hannah shouting for me... The keys had slipped from her pocket and were now safely residing in the trunk, where we could not reach them, in short we were locked out of the car.

We walked over to the neighboring campsite and knocked on the RV door. We must have looked pretty bedraggled and forlorn because Barb let us in and took pity on us. Neither Hannah nor I had our cell-phones (both in the car) so with her intermittent service she sent texts to her husband (working the graveyard shift in Butte, where they live) and her sister asking for the triple A number. She also texted Gary, a friend of her husband's who was camping nearby. Gary responded by asking what kind of car we drive... a glimmer of hope appeared in the rain streaked horizon... While we waited for an answer we squeezed onto the bench next to Cassie, Barb's four? year old daughter, who was ecstatic at our presence. We were seated facing Kenyon and Shannon, his friend, and were quickly taught to play a card game called "trash"... all the while Will, the adorable younger brother of Kenyon and Cassie was alternatley shyly regarding us from the comfort of his mothers lap, scrambling all over the RV, bannana in hand, or scowling at my smiling attempts to befriend him.

No answer yet so Barb, Hannah, Cassie, Will and I load into the truck and drive to end of the "driveway" to get cell reception... Gary says he is on his way so we head back to the trailer to wait and play more cards. As the rain starts letting up we see a mint green truck bearing the forest service emblem and scramble down the steps and stop them. Them being Harold, a retired man in his late 70's? wearing camo pants and chevrolet sweatshirt who volunteers with the forest service, and Tammy a woman who teaches special education to the 7th and 8th graders at the local school and works this job in the summers. Soon after Gary & co arrive on ATV's, and a motor bike brandishing a wire coat hanger. After several failed attempts Gary gives up for fear of destroying the window and we wait while Tammy get's ahold of triple A. Actually she got ahold of Dave? who works at Garyboy's in Butte and after some slight cajoling agreed to come rescue us. In the meantime Gary and the crew took off while Tammy and Harold chopped us some firewood and built us a fire. After we finally rescued the keys and Tammy offered multiple times to let us shower at her house or call her if we needed anything (everyone seemed a bit reticent to leave us alone over night) I ambled over to the tent only to realize it had flooded and the sleeping bags and blankets were a bit damp. We loaded everything into the car and headed into town for a laundromat. We found one titled "Suds and Fun, laundromat and casino".

Safely back at the campsite we looked at the dark clouds looming overhead and the flashes of lightning in the distance and decided to sleep in the car. It was actually pretty comfy, and more importantly dry. Waking up to a gorgeous day Hannah went for a run and I walked, barefoot, in my bathing suit through the jungley underbrush to the ice cold stream. Stupidest thing I have ever done? It's definitely up there...

After washing my face and getting my hair wet I walked back. At this point I knew I had more mosquito bites than when I had woken up but I didn't realize how many until I heard Hannah gasp and saw the horror in her eyes. My back was literally covered, looking at my reflection in the car door I felt a bit nauseous... These bites were huge. I slathered myself in bug spray, anti-itch lotion, and more bug spray, quickly erasing an idea I had of "feeling clean" after washing in the stream.

And I think that just about brings you all up to speed! Stay tuned for Yellowstone, starting tomorrow... who knows what will happen in a park that big. Getting lost? without question. poison oak, more mosquito bites? most likely. Incurring further damage to our tent?( one pole is already a bit broken). probably.

-A

wish i had earphones.

Sitting in a coffee shop in Couer D'alene, listening to horrific covers of ryan adams ( how dare he), death cab and tom petty and jason mraz. It's really bad. We just showered in the lake and it feels lovely to be clean. Here are some pics from the last few days. Really too tired to write. We went to at least seven thrift stores, scored some sweet finds, i bought six books, couldn't resist. I got a hardcover of "Cold Mountain" for 50 cents, I love Idaho. Tomorrow we head out for Butte, Montana.

these are some pictures of my brothers,our stuffed animals and me by the lake

when in idaho...

lay in the sun and nap!

we got here. somehow. finally. even though I can’t tell my right from my left (luckily i've got this freckle on my right hand...that i can't always see...), we (I…) almost lost the directions, and it took 300 miles…

after a very wonderful yesterday spent watching Spanish men glide across grass (truly more graceful than dancers) with abigail, ben, jon, and becky in a lovely bar (bill’s off broadway) with strategically placed t.v. screens, we had dinner with my uncle charlie, aunt debbie, and cousin henry, which involved delicious (!!!) salmon, harold and the purple crayon, and an impromptu baseball game in their green, beautifully lit backyard.

now we're here, in beautiful couer d'alene, already forgetting what it means to live in the city, surrounded only by grass and trees and water.

today we swam in the lake – the quiet cold lake – so blue and lovely. afterward we layed on the floor of a what was once a house, ab read capote and I read poetic theory. I’m reading the necessary angel by wallace stevens, which is a celebration of the imagination (a very necessary angel).

I love poetry. I love all words (well…maybe not “puss.” hmm...or “ripe”…), love to surround myself in them, wish I could live in them sometimes (this is why abigail and I are friends). dangerous and impossible thoughts, especially on a day like today, laying on top of the ruins of house overlooking the water, somehow pastoral, entirely profound, and... wordless.

love you! hannah

almost forgot!

some memorable overheard comments from the trip so far, dad, you should appreciate this.

At the world cup match of Germany versus Spain yesterday (Spain dominated, had the ball about 65 percent of the time) the couple sitting at the table next to ours was... vibrant. Not entirely sure what was going on in the game but the woman says "look at that defense, I thought the great wall was in China."

Ben or Jon said, "it's not like Germany didn't show up, they did... they just weren't good enough." I said "it's like Germany showed up to a black tie event wearing jeans".

As we are sitting in leather chairs in a coffee shop that closely resembles a hotel lobby, two men at the table next to us are discussing work. One of them is describing something that happened earlier today... he was talking to his employes and said "now if I were a box of raisins, where would I be in this warehouse today?" None of them knew apparently.

You should feel slightly sorry for Hannah, she's constantly having to deal with bad puns and cheesy pick-up lines, "Do you have any over-due library books? cause you have fine written all over you".

driving, getting lost, more driving

We had a long day yesterday, but i think i'll let hannah tell you about that. Last night we went out for drinks in Ballard at "King's" with her cousin Katie and had a blast. We both had the kings lemonade that were deliciously dangerous because we could barely taste the gin... let's just say there was alot of giggling. And did I mention that Katie drives my dream car, a VW bug (named Betty). We woke up REALLY early this morning, Hannah rolled off the cloud at 5:45, left our last thank you gift (wrapped up microwave popcorn that says "thanks for letting us pop in") and searched for the direction packet for 10 minutes. Fat lot of good the directions did since neither Hannah or I have a sense of direction (north, south...) we just say left or right? Well, let's try this way... 30 mins later, let's try the other way. Finally stop and ask the friendly gas station attendant, and realize it really IS the other way. This is how you see America.

Finally on our way we stopped for gas near Spokane at an incredible gas station. I purchased some great black and white postcards and a neon pink, sparkly flower ring. We made it to Beauty Creek campground on Couer D'alene lake (after another 30 mins of making a wrong turn) and we (Hannah) set up the tent in under 10 minutes. We headed down to the lake and "went swimming" I managed to get my hair wet (so it would get curly) while only going in waist deep. I'll let Hannah tell you where we sun bathed.... I'm pretty sure I was on part of someone's kitchen floor... I have some great pictures to post from Seattle and now Idaho but still need to upload them, so they will be here... tomorrow?

-A

300 pounds later...

ready for it? you won't be. I promise. Yesterday: (ME) apple, granola, coffee, (I know, pretty good so far right?) then huge mint biscotti, more coffee, strata (big and layered), four pieces of pizza and a (shared!) pitcher of beer with abigail and katie (!!), and (of course) thick and creamy (molly moon's) salty carmel ice cream = dessert. The day before (included) a brownie, spaghetti, more beer, a (huge) cookie, and a little (ha ha) bit o' whiskey via abigail's brother jon. the seefood diet? all carb road trip? we are so there.

the whisky was delicious, and entertaining, especially when lined up in eight glasses on the counter for a little taste-testing. pretty impressive, right? and he provided room and board :) (don't worry parents, we drank slowly and walked home)

so we're basically becoming frat boys (abigail has perfected the impressive tongue stick-out coupled with the "ha-huh" grunt. it's such a pleasure spending every waking moment with such a lovely girl. ha huh).

yours, hannah

a day in bremerton

washington street, on the lake

hannah

the cool thing to do on the ferry was to try to feed the seagulls

hannah took this one

more pictures

"demand your doughnuts"

eating a hot dog from "snoop dog's pound"

adventures in seattle

It is absolutely beautiful in seattle this week, it's actually supposed to be 95 degrees tomorrow! We spent the night with Hannah's cousin Katie, and I am in love with her house! Full of hand made pillows, decopaged art and a super cute rug by one of my favorite designers.... it doesn't hurt that the bed in her guest room is like sleeping on a cloud. This early morning finds us sitting in a sweet shop called "bakery" sipping a latte and chai. The plan is to go watch the world cup with my brothers, (maybe) go to discovery park, it's reportedly green and gorgeous ( i'm pushing for a jaunt into kent where there's a bookstore/thrfit store combo that sells clothes at a dollar a pound). For the evening meal we will be dinning with Hannah's aunt and uncle and their son Henry, whom live in Bellevue and then we will probably go out for a drink with Katie. There's a really fetching bar called Zig Zag near Capitol Hill. It's the scene of my first cocktail ever and I'd love to go back.

Well today has been pretty calm so far, it is only 9:30 am, but let me catch you up to speed on yesterdays adventures.

As we confidently strolled into the building I said was the ferry station I felt my stomach plummet, this was not the right building. A gangly, bearded man locking up his bike outside informed us we were at least a half mile away from the station. crap. It was already 9:45 and we wanted to be on the 10:00 ferry. Flash forward to us pounding up the carpeted ramp, bee-lining to the ticket booth, hastily purchasing our tickets and racing onto the ferry that they so graciously were holding for us (we made it on board by 10:02). never a dull moment. every single time I have started walking towards a destination it has been the wrong way. I'm just so confident that Hannah never thinks to question me... hopefully that will change.

The ferry ride was so delightful, armed with coffee (mine had 13+ half-n-half packets in it) and breakfast we walked the length of the boat and sat on some benches with a window to the water. I live in Bremerton for a few months almost two years ago so we disembarked, and walked to a favorite thrift store of mine... you'll notice from the pictures that I stopped at Snoop Dog's Pound for a hotdog. We walked to Cornerstone Coffee, where I used to work, and alternately read poetry and journal. This is what I saw out the window.

"There's two men standing on the corner of fifth st. They have been there for at least 30 minutes. What are they doing, surveying? There are a few orange signs scattered nearby. They could be the oldest of friends or strangers caught up in a coincidental appreciation of some rare fascination."

-A

poetry & coffee with god & abigail

what abigail neglected to mention of our delicious holler mountain "blend" (the name of the coffee shop!) included an illicit u-turn (another blog title?)due to our maniac distress in the form of a 9 am service.

oh, seattle - how i lose myself in you (literally - abigail & I've been in every corner of seattle entirely directionless already). today we took the ferry ride to bremerton where abigail lived for awhile. it was beautiful - very blue and lit and brilliant along the coast of the city, where little houses line the water. we looked at vintage dresses we couldn't afford and sat in her old coffee shop reading.

now we are sitting in Elliott Bay's books (yes, again - we have certain addictions...) reading and drinking coffee. abigail is writing (you?) post cards. i bought a book of poetry here yesterday, "walking to martha's vineyard" by franz wright. the title sounds terrible, but once you read it, i promise, it isn't. it is beautiful - his words are so simple, so ordinary, and yet, every word he gives you settles inside of you, like an ocean, because of his understanding of syntax, and beauty, of course.

here is one of his poems:

On Earth

Resurrection of the little apple tree outside

my window, leaf-

light of late

in the April

called her eyes, forget

forget -

but how does one go

about dying?

Who on earth

is going to teach me -

The world

is filled with people

who have never died

love hannah

Sunshine in Seattle

Yesterday we woke up in Portland and stopped at a hole-in-the-wall shop and got two cups of the "holler mountain blend". We headed over to Imago Dei church and after a wrong turns found the parking lot The sanctuary is relatively small with a balcony above, the seating alternating sections of red and blue cushioned pews and a modern feeling stained glass window portraying (who else) Jesus. The way the congregation tithes is called "change for a dollar". A 20's something man walked on stage and held the microphone and started talking about a young boy, Billy Moore. He had boarded a bus last week after saying goodbye to his mother who was being taking off life support at the local hospital. As he stepped off the bus he got in to a vocal altercation and as the speaker put it "he choose to fight with his feet by walking away, rather than his words". His reward for taking the higher road was a bullet in the back that claimed his life and gave his sister a double funeral. The speaker was just a guy who worked at the hospital were Billy's mom had spent her last days, he was just a member of the congregation who saw a need. It was inherent in his talking that Imago Dei doesn't always have a specific idea for the tithe, rather they let the holy spirit push the plan into their laps each week, one of the many things I loved about this community. The speaker made the point that God can show up when he wants, but our willingness is helpful.

The text was Matthew 5:13-14; and Rick reminded us to hear it in the context of the beatitudes. Here are some notes I wrote during the sermon; " There is no podium, he holds no bible or notes. It feels more intimate, more like teaching than preaching. They have no missions team because the body IS IT... salt is a preservative, we are to preserve the world and live out a memory. The memory that this is God's world. Problem: when the church trys to hold the shaker, usually the dump on to much and run the flavor. Then they sit there and say 'why does no one like the flavor!? We're just being persecuted right now...' God shakes out just enough salt, in simple ways." He also touched on the two extreme ways christianity can manifest itself in todays culture; syncretism and sectarianism. Being too apart of the world, and too far removed. He gently reminded his listeners and friends that surrounding yourself only with christian persons and activities is sin, it's not right. It's just as bad as putting your light under a basket, it's like shining your spotlight into a room with no windows. Rick started and ended his message by pointing out that verse 13 says "you ARE". The best thing we can do, is be ourselves, not try to do anything better or be someone different. I so often feel a pressure from the "church" or christians in general to do better, be better, be doing something different in a better way. It was so refreshing and true to be reminded that the best way to showcase Jesus is to simply be who he made me.

Imago Dei was refreshing in it's lack of performance quality, there was no mingle! From what I could tell from the website and bulletin, this is a church that values community and living out the truth in simple ways and I really loved the service. It doesn't hurt that one of my favorite authors, Donald Miller, goes here too!

After church we hit the road and headed to Seattle where we had a delicious homeade lunch with my older brother Ben and his girlfriend Lydia. Then we headed over to a friend's house and played in a cash poker game with eight of (my brothers and my) our friends. Let's just say for the buy-in being $5 dollars, I made myself enough to pay for a couple of nights in Yellowstone :) Who knew I had such skill? After the game some other friends joined the party and we made and consumed a delicious taco bar. Then, because it was the fourth of July, my brothers (Ben and Jon) Hannah, me and few other boys headed to the apartment building roof to set off fireworks, while our friends watched from below. It was a blast, literally and I even got to set off a roman candle!

Last night we stayed with Jon in his great studio apartment on capitol hill. We slept in today and got coffee at Vita and walked to Elliot Bay Books, the best bookstore in Seattle. I got a few postcards, "The Living" by Annie Dillard and a book by Madeline L'engle ('m on a quest to own them all). We walked down towards Pike Place Market and stopped at a sunny cafe called Specialty's. We're just about to take off and go to the Egyptian theater to see "micmas" (by the director of Amelie). Later tonight the plan is to stop by the Living Room where Jon bartends!

So far Seattle and the trip in general have been excellent and so much fun.

-A

pictures from portland

these pictures are from our day in Portland, photo credit: joe ruppert

Day One: Over 700 Miles of Dust

hello dear friends (okay, really: hi mom),

oblivious (impermeable?) to directions? check. already lost? oh, yeah (but who doesn't love a two hour pastoral detour?). stained the (incredible) yellow corduroys from the flea market? first lunch stop (burrito). broken glasses? two hours in. stretched co-pilot's extra pair? sorry abi. revoked co-pilot's licence? self-conscious lack of navigation skills discovered. (strategically) avoided speeding ticket? the girl definitely has a manual for her big blue assets. annoying rhetoric format? sorry (but who can't help being (a little) pretentious in Portland?!)

we are here, our first destination, the city with roses on every police car, enjoying Stumptown coffee, which I think should double as a record label (right? who wouldn't buy that cd?), drinking (more?!!!) coffee, reading, editing poetry, writing post-cards, occasionally making up (ridiculous) pick up lines.

I loved driving here, and love being here even more - it is so green and there are so many trees! traveling is strange - passing through so many landscapes - like traveling through worlds. there is something beautiful about all of it - miles of matted(almost golden)brown grass , blue lakes - it changes you - who would I be had I been born on Forest Hill Auburn Ravine Road next to Ikeda's Tasty Burgers?

yours, h.

city of roses

Yesterday morning we got off to an early start and headed for the I-5, the connection was supposed to happen somewhere around Vacaville? maybe. Well in our excitement Hannah and I ended up driving to auburn, yes we know, it takes special skill to keep driving for hours without realizing you are headed the wrong way. Finally realizing we were going the wrong way we pulled out the atlas and followed some great back roads till we finally made it to the interstate. We hadn't been missing much, I-5 was incredibly boring and a bit depressing. The closer we got to Oregon the scenery changed from scorched grass and weeds with the occasional telephone pole to gorgeously green, lush trees and mountains. After a quick pick-me-up of incredibly delicious am-pm coffee (no really, it was great) we hit the road and reached Portland.

We're staying with friends of mine (joe and dan) and this morning they took us to breakfast at "bread and ink" and showed us around Portland. We walked around the Hawthorne district and found a street painted with a huge sunflower and a barbershop's named "bishop's" each spurring a mini photo shoot. Joe directed us to a sweet vintage shop called "house of vintage" where i purchased an incredible rose printed bathing suit. Next we headed downtown for Powell's books. It was inevitable, it's a huge new and used bookstore that divides it's books into rooms. The gold room (attached to the coffee shop where we sat and read for a bit) houses; mystery, nautical fiction,romance and more.

The weather has been perfect so far, the sky is a gorgeous vivid blue and holds my favorite clouds. They are white with the undersides painted grey and shine as if illuminated from the center. The streets here reminded me of Seattle, they house quaint, colorful homes and the main streets are dotted with hip coffee shops, thrift stores and tasty looking cafes and restaurants. We are at Stupmptown coffee roasters, a long rectangular shop with one brick wall behind the counter. The rest are creamy white and hold up multi-colored, digitally altered photographs. The coffee here is delicious and the music is an electro-hip-hop-rock combination. Hannah is seated across from me, hunched over her black mac book. Alternately typing and staring in consternation at her screen,or frowning in thought at the wall behind me. Tonight the plan is to get thai food at a restaurant Joe pointed out called "thai me". How can we say no to that? Tomorrow I'm looking forward to going to Imago Dei church and driving up to Seattle!

-A