arrived

we have arrived safe and sound. we spent the morning sleeping at our hostel (as that was so not happening on the plane). now we are going to get some food and walk around in the sun. not much is open today because it is sunday so the museums and theatres are honoring that. none-the-less, we are happy to let the real adventures begin!

we leave tomorrow for our rafting trip, so we should have fun pictures for the next post!

still waiting to get to costa rica...

due to flight issues (and some memory issues on my behalf) we were stranded in portland for 8 hours yesterday. stranded is the wrong word however because alyssa and rowan rescued us from spending a day at PDX and allowed us a wonderful afternoon. replacing a day stuck at the airport with a day with our godson was a wonderful trade.

we then waited for our flight from PDX to DEN where we would connect to go on to costa rica. we waited and waited and that plane was 47 minutes late. therefore, we missed our flight to costa rica by 5 minutes. apparently they tried to hold the plane for us, but despite our best efforts and the incredible help of the folks at frontier airlines it just wasn't meant to be. we even ran down the tarmac! talk about stress on a vacation.

from there we caught a shuttle to comfort inn. on the drive there we got in touch with andrew who jumped in his car immediately and drove to our rescue. the shuttle driver dropped us off at the motel and we began walking across the street to hang out a restaurant until andrew arrived. this apparently was not kosher with the driver who followed us down the sidewalk, flashed his lights at us, and pulled up. he then proceeded to yell at us, calling us liars and the like for taking advantage of his shuttle then not staying at the motel. it was really heated, and frankly, a little scary. we managed to get him to bug off and headed across the street to the sanctuary of a "Flying J", where the clerks were super nice and let us hang out for 40 minutes. while waiting in the back tables our shuttle driver came in to get cigarettes, during which time we maintained a low profile to avoid further confrontation.

andrew rescued us from the tacky tee shirts, sugar-filled shelves, and deranged shuttle driver and brought us to yuppie-ville (aka: boulder, colorado). he let us crash on his couches and took us to the best breakfast i have ever had in my entire life--seriously, THE BEST! and now we are rearranging our plans with the folks in costa rica having much success with everyone and preparing for a new set of travel plans. for those of you who know itinerary, adjust the first four days by moving everything back one day.

oh how our adventure begins: wonderful time with rowan and alyssa, unexpectedly running into high school classmates in downtown portland, delayed flights and severe anxiety, a too late arrival in denver, a sketchy run-in with the driver, and then a final midnight rescue by andrew. who knew it would begin this way? the trip is bound to be interesting. fun, but interesting.

so yeah, we should be international travelers starting tomorrow. :)

zero days remain!

our much anticipated trip to costa rica will begin tomorrow with a trip over the pass to the portland airport, then with a flight to denver and a ten (10!) hour layover.  during the ridiculous layover time a friend of ours from high school, andrew, is going to pick us up and spend the time showing us around boulder, aiming all the while to convince us to move there. 

we arrive in costa rica early in the morning on saturday and will have a day of recuperating before we take off into the jungle on a rafting trip (our big splurge of the trip!).  we plan to post pictures of our adventure along the way when possible, so keep checking back to check the progress of my tan!  :)

last month's pics

at the end of march, i got in the car with my brother ross, his friend christian, and harvey.  we made the rounds through parts of oregon we rarely frequent: ana lake in the klamath basin, diamond lake gas station (which is open through the winter thankfully), the umpqua river, newport, and lincoln city.  i had a lot of time to kill as ross and christian fished their hearts out.  the only photos i managed to get were at ana lake though as it rained everywhere else.  

ana lake has its own kind of beauty: the eastern oregon, unpopulated beauty of a place i might like to explore but could not realistically see myself living.  a place i could however take lots of pictures.  here are a few...

prior to this trip, harvey would not could not step foot in water.  when ross and christian were out in the lake though he HAD to be with them, so he put his anti-water policy aside in favor of being near these two.

a random spiraling plant that made me long for the silver ferns of new zealand.  

there were quite a few old, dilapidated structures in the area around the lake that made for interesting angles and shots.  i could have spent the entire day taking pictures, but harvey was interrupting the boys and their fish so i had other obligations.

darn those salmon

so it's not really the salmon i guess--i love salmon!  but the verdict from the vet was that harvey had/has salmon poisoning disease, which if left untreated can quickly become fatal.  ross and his friend and i took a trip over the mountains to go fishing along the umpqua and in lincoln city.  while we were along the umpqua harvey found two salmon skeletons and went nuts--the thought he had woke up in heaven with all that fishy goodness.  likely, it was these remains that caused him to be so sick.

i felt like brandon disapproved of me taking him to the vet, but he wasn't home with harvey looking at him with eyes that pleaded for relief.  the vet asked the right questions and got down to the bottom of the situation quickly.  apparently the incubation period is about 7 days, which has been exact for harvey.  the vet was also surprised that we identified that something was majorly wrong so quickly; therefore, this time my overreacting paid off because we spared harvey from undue misery and potential much worse.  he is starting to feel better and back to his ball-chasing, tail-waging ways.  thank goodness for antibiotics!

one sick puppy

something is up with harvey--in a bad way.  he mopes around the house, collapses on his bed, ignores his toys and our pleadings to "come here", and refuses to eat.  he won't even eat peanut butter!  he only wags his tail if we take him on a walk, but he hasn't ingested anything of substance in 30+ hours so i can't take him on too many walks or he is going to waste away.  

he just looks at me with these sad, lifeless eyes that make me feel panicky and scared.  where is my energetic little aussie?   

... and the envelope please

brandon's trip was eventful, particularly on the tail-end as getting out of laramie can be harder than anticipated. however, it was also eventful in the most positive way and while the ballots for us were cast last week, the envelope containing our decision has only recently been opened. we have accepted the offer at the university of wyoming and we will begin making our life in southeast wyoming late this summer.

were are excited about this in many ways, including some of the following: being close(er) to rowan as he goes through the toddler years, having the chance to climb with doug and liz, thickening our blood with the cold laramie winters, going to school for free (make that get paid to go to school!), letting harvey chase antelope, and for me to avoid taking on a minnesotan accent with my overly mailable language. indeed, life in this true wild west town will be good for us.

brandon also verified that there is a store selling gluten-free food and a thai restaurant. these two bits are essential criteria for our success in any town. therefore, in laramie, it's bound to be good. visitors welcome...

the ballots are in...

and we are both into graduate school--at the same places to boot!  we have known for a couple of weeks that we both got into university of minnesota duluth.  brandon got a sweet financial package (full ride!) and i got an in-state tuition waiver, with the possibility of more funding through a fellowship.  we were all amped up to go to duluth, where neither of us have even been near and try out a new adventure.  i wasn't thrilled with the program, but then again i was accepted into grad school so i was content with that.

and then, we heard from wyoming.  on monday i found out that i was accepted, which lead to an interesting domino effect that tumbled in over the course of 3 minutes.  that's right, i went to the bathroom and when i emerged, brandon told me life just got really crazy.  i'm thinking, "no way, i was hardly out of the room!"  anyhow, the news he got was that he got a full-ride to wyoming (with even more of a living stipend than minnesota offered).  the catch was that they HAD to meet him in person before this offer was "official".  however, we have to let minnesota know our intentions by april 1; this my friends is why brandon will board a plane tomorrow morning, bound for laramie, wyoming.  the geology department is paying for the whole thing (including the last minute airfare from small airport to small airport)! 

after the flight was booked for him, i got a call from the director of the social work program--the director of the whole department!!!  anyhow, she called and let me know i was one of their top 5 students and that they really want me there.  they will cover all my tuition, most of my student fees and insurance, and pay me a monthly stipend (which happens to be more money than i make working two jobs now!).  

so it all comes down to brandon's trip if we go to wyoming.  we were stoked about duluth and the charm of a new city and an unfamiliar part of the country.  however, free has a beautiful ring to it, don't you think?  all we asked for was that we both get into the same place and now the grace is pouring in and we are being so taken care of.  

here are the two places, neither a bad choice i don't think:

duluth waterfront, reminds me of magnolia or ballard in seattle.

and the amazing rocks and mountain ranges that surround laramie

i am especially proud of brandon for the way that these two places are pursuing him.  it is obvious that he is very much wanted by each program!  he knows i think he is brilliant and gifted, but to have people he hasn't even met confirm that makes me happy.  he deserves this big time!

all eyes on the cupped cakes

kemi and sara showed us this crazy video from "it's me or the dog".  maybe we are lucky our australian shepherd doesn't have the blue ghost eyes or we may have this trance in our lives too.  sometimes harvey gets a little too focused on his sharkie toy, but hasn't gone this far yet.  

my bros, the all-stars

as most of you know, i have a lot of younger brothers.  4 to be exact. they are all so different and i am proud of each of them for millions of things.  in particular i am proud of my brothers ross and rodney for sticking out a tough basketball season.  they had a new coach this year that required far more of them than any of us in my family thought fair: 6 to 7 practices a week, late-nights, early-mornings, pre-season games and tournaments.  it has been a grueling year for these guys and i am immensely proud of these two for sticking with the team even when it may not have seemed worth it.  

rodney moved up from jv to varsity mid-season and blew us all away.  we knew he was good on the jv team, but he was just a fantastic on the varsity.  his photo even made the bend bulletin.  and what kind of a proud sister would i be if i didn't post the link to his photos?  here it is, although you will have to push the double arrows to get to the picture of rodney.  the first photo that comes up is off ross (not my brother though), who made the mcdonald's all-american team.  that's right, the little town of sisters had an all-american team-member.  aren't we cool?  mostly just these guys are.  

way to stick it out boys.  it was so fun to be around for all the nail-biter games and to watch you make it this far.  now take the break you so deserve!