The State Where You Cannot Pump Your Own Gas...

We hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! We took a trip up to the Pacific Northwest....Oregon and Washington. A very quick trip, but fun! Apparently in Oregon it is illegal to pump your own gas...a gas attendant must do it. Very interesting!
We flew into Portland late Friday night, and woke up Saturday to go to this little doughnut shop in downtown Portland for some breakfast.



Here was the menu...



Will just got a cake doughnut, which I found strange since he doesn't eat cake...anyway...I got a very delicious interesting doughnut! Haha...



While we were driving around downtown we stumbled across Chinatown and thought it was funny...



We were going to explore around Portland but decided we'd rather head to the coast for the day!! So we drove to the small town of Tillamook right by the coast...Oregon is such a beautiful state! Oh my goodness...it reminded me of home because it was so green, with tons of flowers blooming!!!

We stopped at two cheese factories to sample some cheese (Tillamook and Blue Cheese Heron)...which were nice but did not compare to our favorite cheese factory in South Dakota: Dimock Dairy (www.dimockdairy.com they don't ship again until October in case anyone wanted to order cheese!)



Blue Heron had the best brie cheese and animals! We found Ramses out in OR...



And a peacock...



We finally made it to the coast, and of course, Allison went nuts. She just had to go touch the water...



..and here is Allison finding out the Pacific isn't nearly as warm as the Atlantic...



It was nice to be near the water for the weekend, though it was certainly different than home.



We decided to eat lunch on the beach because I (allison) didn't want to leave the water at all...so Will was not too happy about having to sit on sand because apparently the boy doesn't like sand...so here he is getting up from the beach...



And here he is making fun of me for running to the water...



Here are some shots of the beach...it was really beautiful, and although cool and kind of windy, it was nice to be by the water. It was surprisingly foggy too...I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but you could see the fog just hanging over the water...





We ended our tour of the countryside going through wine country. We went to two wineries near a town called Forest Grove.

The first vineyard we went to was Schafer Winery...really good wine and a beautiful vineyard!





The second vineyard we went to was David Hill...the oldest winery in Oregon...wonderful Merlot and a beautiful vineyard!!





We ended up staying in a very small bed and breakfast in Forest Grove...it was actually just an older couple and us basically staying in their house! Haha...but it was very nice.

We also saw tons of fields covered in what we thought were red berries...we figured huckleberries, marionberries, or even maybe raspberries...our hosts at the bed and breakfast got a good laugh out of that when we asked what kind of berries they were...not berries but red flowers!!!!! :)



We had a great time on our first full day in the Pacific Northwest. And I am in love with the beautiful state of Oregon...I can't wait to go back and explore the coast more! More pics to come later this week!

Who knew...

Who knew Allison had all those thoughts on that car ride...

...all I heard was the radio...

Reflections on our trip...

So our drive to Moab, UT took a little longer than we thought on Friday night, and while I was riding in the car I took the time to think about our experience out here...we've been here almost 6 months now and I am so thankful we had the opportunity to move to Colorado. (After my thoughts I'll put up pictures from our trip).
I'm pretty sure Will tuned me out while I was reflecting out loud about what I've learned since we've been out here...but that's okay. I am the spectator when we take road trips and he is the driver, and I am so thankful for that because I am always amazed at the beautiful scenery that surrounds us out here.
-Everywhere we travel the scenery is always different and so beautiful...I love that about Colorado, we are constantly surprised by our surroundings. We learned that the western part of Colorado is actually very green, and quite a nice drive with the river running beside the interstate.
-We never know what we might discover and see out here...for example, we got to see big-horned sheep on the side of a major interstate Friday night! And then saw 2 foxes chasing each other down a main street in a small town in CO! Or you might be walking around the neighborhood here and see some deer in a yard or walking down a busy road in Boulder! I love it!
-There are so many places we would have never seen if we hadn't moved out here...such as Utah! Which is one of my favorite states now along with South Dakota :) Utah is so beautiful...it literally looks like God took a paintbrush and painted the scenery because of all the reds and pinks.
-Utah is not big on road signs along any highway
-The Vietnam war was actually in Vietnam, not Korea!
-No matter how many thousands of miles Will and I have traveled together...we are always learning something new about each other, which can sometimes be fun and sometimes not
-You just always have to laugh at the weather out here...it was supposed to snow out here yesterday...mid-May...it didn't but the thought of it is just humorous. It actually snowed on our drive Friday night to Moab! I love it...I am trying to appreciate the snow when we get it because it is so pretty and I know we won't have it at home (NC)
-God is good...He always makes sure we get everywhere safely when we travel, despite the time of day or night we choose to travel or despite the weather conditions, and I am so thankful for that! I have been praying for a good NC thunderstorm out here...all last week I wished for just one good thunderstorm and it never came, until Friday night when we were driving to Moab! Rained for a good couple hours along our 5 1/2 hour drive, which slowed us down...so I guess God's point was that I prayed and received it, just not when I wanted! :)
-I'm very thankful that Will is my husband because he is the brave one when we are driving through adverse weather conditions or hiking on a trail that has a huge drop-off right beside us!
-We haven't quite figured out why everyone out here calls it "hiking"? It seems to us that it is just basically "WALKING", usually uphill. We guess hiking just sounds better??
-Colorado is a lot windier than we ever realized! There are times when the wind gusts get up to over 50mph!!
Overall, I have loved living out in Colorado so far. The beauty out here is just amazing and so different from what we know at home. And I am so glad that we have gotten to see many parts of the beautiful state of Colorado, and am excited about our many more adventures to come (we have lots more trips planned!!!)!

So on to our Moab trip...Saturday morning we went 4-wheeling!! It was so much fun!



Some of the views from our 4-wheeling adventure...







Does anyone recognize this rock???



It's actually used in the Navy commercials, where the guy is climbing up the side of the rock...pretty neat. Lots of movies were filmed in southern Utah...



It looks like I actually drove the 4-wheeler but I really didn't...



After our fun adventure we went up to Arches National Park to do some hiking and sight-seeing. The most famous picture of Moab is the delicate arches in Arches Nat'l Park...we didn't hike up to it (it was late in the afternoon and we were both tired, not to mention is was a 6 mile round trip hike with no shady spots, and it was hot out)...so we took a short hike to get this good view...









Arches Nat'l Park is named for all the arches found throughout the park...we drove around and hiked several different trails to get some good views...









One of our favorite places we went to was the Windows....there is a south window and a north window....

North Window...



South Window...



We then took a back trail that wasn't crowded to see a better view of both windows together...which was so pretty!





"Now that's what you call ironic" can anyone name the movie quote? Will and I thought of it when we took this picture...hot, desert with the snow-capped mountains in the background...



We really enjoyed touring Arches Nat'l Park...it was so neat! The next day we tried to go kayaking down the CO River, but couldn't get it to work, so we drove up to Dead Horse State Park. It was pretty neat...kind of like a mini-Grand Canyon meets Goosenecks State Park...







It was pretty neat to see...we also drove through a field with lots of cows (which I love cows and want to have one in the future) and got a really close up shot of one that was standing beside the road...



Overall, we had such a great time in Moab...a very neat place to explore!

The state with the highest literacy is...

UTAH!!



More pictures to come!!

"Just think if you live to be 75, you have already lived 1/3 of your life!"

That is the encouraging quote I got from my lovely husband after I was complaining about turning 25 yesterday! But I do hope that I live longer than 75 so it's not true!

Yesterday was my birthday and I got such a wonderful present from Will! GRACIE!



She wasn't actually here, unfortunately, but now I have a huge picture of her, so it looks like she is sitting in the chair in our den!



Overall, I had a wonderful birthday!

Also, this past Sunday Will got to go to a CO Rockies baseball game! Hank and Heather (his cousins) came to town to visit and Will was able to go hang out with them in Denver.







I think the Rockies lost on Sunday, but Will had a great time anyway! And Hank and Heather are coming to town tonight for dinner...so more pictures to come!

Our hint for the week...we're traveling out of town this weekend to a wonderful town we haven't been to yet! We might have already been to the state, but not to the town...so here is the hint...

-the state has the highest literacy rate in the US
-the TV series "Touched by an Angel" was filmed in this state
-it is the 11th largest state in the US with 11,000 miles of fishing streams and 147,000 of lakes and reservoirs
-there is a town named after President Millard Fillmore

Can anyone guess???

Colo Springs

So this past weekend Will and I decided it was time for a road trip again. We hadn't traveled in 2 weeks now and were getting restless. We couldn't decide where to go, and ended up just taking a day trip to Colorado Springs, which is only about 1 1/2 hours south of us.
We decided to travel up to Pikes Peak (altitude 14,110 feet!) and try to drive up to the top of the mountain. It's 19 miles to the top, and we could only go up to 14 miles because of ice. Here are some views from as close to the top as we could get.







It was freezing at the top and so windy! We couldn't get over how windy it was. And then we saw some people cross country skiing or possibly snow shoeing up to the top of the mountain and were just in awe of them. There are definitely some crazy people out in CO!



Just some more pictures from our drive up there...there was a reservoir around mile 6 up to Pike's Peak that was really pretty...







Pike's Peak in the distance...



Then we rode through this place called the Garden of the Gods...just took a few pictures. We decided it was too windy to get out and hike...



After our drive we stopped at the Cave of the Winds right outside Colo Springs to take a tour. Apparently this cave was discovered by two young boys a long, long time ago and has been renovated alot so it wasn't as exciting as other caves Will and I have been in...





And then we got to visit with some friends from NC who are living in CO Springs! We had a wonderful day, and are excited about exploring more down there in August with Will's parents.