Back Again

Chaz and I are back in Ames after three weeks of adventures. The end of our honeymoon consisted of visiting Andy and Ashley in Denver and staying a couple of days in Omaha with Papa Chuck. It was good to spend time with him, and I know he was glad to have visitors. We went to the Omaha Zoo, which was sweet, and enjoyed losing to Papa Chuck playing pool and eating amazing tenderloins. We spent Saturday walking around downtown Omaha and managed to find some good deals while shopping, and then headed back to Ames. It was good to get back and see everyone, and even better that we finally got to see Batman: Dark Knight. Incredible! I cannot describe how amazing I thought this movie was, especially Heath Ledger's performance, except to say that I would definitely definitely see it again and again.

So now it's back to the real world: bouncing between two different places, beginning to pack, finding a place to store stuff as well as ourselves until we can move into our apartment, and trying to relax a bit more until we begin school. Time to begin our life together.

I know the meaning of exhaustion...

Today Chaz and I decided to go on a hike in the mountains. We knew of a beautiful hike from Lake Brainard to Isabelle Lake that Dr. Thompson told us about. When we got to the park, we were unable to drive to Brainard Lake because it was full, so we ended up hiking 2 miles just to get to the beginning of the trail. We then started on the gorgeous 2 mile hike through the mountains. The surrounding nature was magnificent! We got to Lake Isabelle and decided to press on to hike up to Isabelle Glacier. This next section was 1.5 miles and was the toughest part of the day. We passed over snow in our Chacos, freezing streams from the glacier, and up perilous mountain slopes. The farther we got up, the harder it was to breathe. We pretty much made it to the glacier and got some amazing shots of the place we started. Both of us were exhausted on the hike back and didn't think we'd make it. When we got out of the trail, we knew there was no way we could hike back 2 miles to the car, so Chaz stuck out his thumb. The first car that passed us pulled over and gave us a ride back to our car, which we were so thankful for. Total mileage: 9 miles. Total time: 7 hours.

Back home: medicine to relieve headaches, a long shower, and huge burritos to satisfy our hunger. Then, falling soundly to sleep to await waking with incredibly sore muscles tomorrow. Oh joy.

CO, what do you know?

Yup, we're in Colorado right now livin it up with Titus and Jolene. They have been gracious enough to host us as well as take us to all the sweet digs in the area. After seeing Wicked in Chicago (my dream of 2 years now), Chaz and I headed home to get the radiator changed on the car. We ended up staying there Sunday night and most of Monday waiting for it to get switched, and then when it finally was in the process, we found out the company had sent the wrong radiator. After some frustrating moments, we decided to put the old radiator back in and pray my car would make it the rest of the trip (HUGE thanks to Sam and Dad for helping us out on that one!). At 6 pm we started our trek to Chicago. We got stuck in a horrible storm and ended up stopping a few times to wait for it to lighten up. We also ended up sleeping for three hours in the car at Kearny, Nebraska at 2:30 in the morning. Finally, we made it to Denver at 10:00 their time. What a trip!

We've been having a great time here. We hung out with some of Titus and Jolene's friends Tuesday night, Titus has been making us great food, and Chaz got to fulfill his dream of eating at Chipotle. We also were fortunate enough to make it to Fort Collins and go on the New Belgium Brewery tour. Ahhh!! It was amazing! What a cool operation with a great philosophy: be stewards of the environment and the brewing industry, find peoples' loves and help them live them, and have fun! We also did the Anheuser-Busch Tour (stuffy). Today we did the Coors Tour in Golden, CO. We took the "short tour" and drank a Blue Moon for Katie. We also got to shop for antiques! Hooray! Needless to say, we're having a great time with more to come. We just ran into Andy McKinley on the streets of Denver, and now we're drinking absolutely phenomenal coffee in a coffee shop. Tomorrow I think we'll head to Dr. Thompson's cabin, which will be incredibly fun.

We are so thankful for the many blessings God has provided us on this trip, and we continue to be in awe of them: friends & family who provided funds for us to fulfill our dream vacation, friends and family who provide places to stay and food to eat, fellowship, beautiful scenery, and loads of adventures.

the adventure continues...

well, everyone, i can honestly say i married quite the interesting man...adventure has continued to follow us on our trip. it started on wednesday. chaz had said we were going to american players theatre to see "a midsummer night's dream." i was so excited because i'm a shakespeare fan, and i absolutely love "a midsummer night's dream." the theatre was romantically set on a hill in the woods with lanterns lighting the path on the way to the outdoor theatre. it was magical...the perfect setting for the play. we got to the top, however, and the ticket man informed us that our tickets were for "a midsummer night's dream" yesterday. we had to trudge all the way down the hill, exchange our tickets, and ended up having to see "henry iv: making of a king." a good play, but definitely not as exciting or cute as "midsummer."

it doesn't stop there...thursday we left to go to chicago for our next leg. chaz had been in contact with my cousin to possibly stay with them. we were playing phone tag, however, and hadn't gotten a chance to confirm everything. we traveled to the windy city anyway, and once there, we finally got ahold of bridget. unfortunately, her and ben had left for wisconsin that morning and hadn't left a key because we hadn't been able to get ahold of each other. so there we sat...supposed to be in chicago until sunday, with no place to stay. we called a few hotels, but they seemed shady (one only allowed men, and another was $70 a week). after many tears, i finally said, "maybe we should just stay in the car." we were debating on whether or not to leave and find a place to eat when we got a call from another cousin, heather. she said bridg had told her our dilemma and she commanded we go to her place right then. it was perfect! we stayed with john and heather and baby adelia the past couple of nights, and it was great!

then yesterday, we hung out at taste of chicago downtown, saw a super long show (including old 97s and gomez), visited a three-story forever 21, rode the navy pier ferriswheel, and ate bbq. the best, however, was that chaz and i were walking around holding hands, and a young guy walked up to us and said, "you know what's really great? platonic relationships." we were kinda like, "yeah." then he said, "you know what else is great? stuff white people liked." we started laughing and said, "yeah! we love that blog!" to make a short story even shorter, we ended up winning a free copy of the "stuff white people like" book, and the guy we talked to was the author of the blog! it was AWESOME! and hilarious.

today we relocated to waukegan in an AMAZING suite in a ramada, and we're traveling downtown chicago to see wicked!!!!!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!! i'm so excited! it's unbelievable! EEK!

the adventures will never cease...

honeymooning

married life is amazing thus far, and i know it will only get better. chaz rented us a cabin in wisconsin, so we have been staying there since sunday. we're in spring valley, a nice little town near lots of fun places. we've gone to the house on the rock, saw wall*e, canoed for 10 miles on the wisconsin river, ate at small town restaurants, made our own breakfasts, and enjoyed paying $1 for five minutes in a shower...jerks. tonight we're going to an outdoor shakespearean theatre called the american players theatre. we're going to see "a midsummer night's dream," so i'm way stoked about that! apparently, this is why chaz chose this place...what a great man! tomorrow we head off to our next destination, which i think is either chicago or madison (but i think it's chicago). we'll be back in eastern iowa on sunday before heading west. i'll try to keep updated on the trip!