Write Yourself A List

Our goal of finding a Fall assignment for Julia in Portland, ME was a success. The added bonus to this location was the proximity to a friend's wedding (Shawn and Merebea) that took place in Rhode Island in mid-September. With a set date we needed to be on the East Coast, we had about a week after our wedding to get ready for the next road trip. We loaded up the car with our necessities, including the cat, and put the rest into a storage unit. We are starting to get good at this.

Here is a quick rundown of our route, starting in Kelso, WA:

• Coeur d'Alene, ID
• Miles City, MT
• Minneapolis, MN 
• (Visited my cousin Kristen and Kent)
• Chicago, IL 
• (Visited Julia's cousin Keith, Janell, and their adorable twin boys. Ate deep dish pizza.)
• State College, PA 
• (Visited Hoelter family friends, the Voigts)
• Little Compton, RI 
• (Spent 2 nights here for the wedding. It was an awesome weekend, with multiple social events and a beautiful ceremony. The food was amazing, especially the grilled oysters. The live band was great and had the bride's family dancing on the tables. The setting was gorgeous and gave us a true look at East Coast living. It was particularly nice to reunite with college friends, Shawn and Jim, it had been way too long.) 
• Portland, ME 
• (Home for the next 3 months)

We moved into a 2 bedroom apartment on the first floor of an old sectioned off house that Julia found on Craigslist. It had a beautiful kitchen, some outdated furniture, and plenty of room for the cat to run around (or just sleep). The other main perk of the apartment, it was only a mile from Julia's work. That would prove more useful than we had originally thought.

I will talk about our time in Maine in the following sections:

In The City -

• We lived in the suburb of Westbrook, about a 15 minute drive from downtown Portland. We could walk to neighborhood restaurants and grocery stores or easily drive into the city for more. The heart of the city sits on a peninsula the juts into Casco Bay. The waterfront is lined with working fishing wharfs, restaurants, and expensive shops. Just like the Portland of Oregon, housing prices are skyrocketing as bars and upscale dining lure the younger generation to be within walking distance of the action. Large cruise ships are fairly common, as this route is popular during the fall colors and when Caribbean storms make going south not an option. Also, the area is apparently becoming a very popular weekend getaway destination for people from the bigger cities. 

• For Julia's birthday activity, we took a lobster boat tour around Casco Bay, where we pulled up pots and picked through the catch looking for keepers. The best part was being able to buy 6 lobsters to take home, for $5 a piece. Our next 3 meals at home were as follows; whole lobsters that we boiled, cracked open, and dipped in butter. Then homemade lobster ravioli the next night. Finally, lobster grilled cheese sandwiches. Those were a good couple days. 

• Another day trip we took in the bay was a short ferry ride to Peaks Island. We rented a golf cart for an hour to explore the exterior and take in the views. Then drank some local beer while eating fish & chips. 
• Around the bay, the other thing to do is to check out the numerous old forts and picturesque lighthouses. Namely, Fort Williams, Fort Gorges, Portland Head Light, and Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse. All are scenic and somewhat old, with sweeping views of the rocky coastland. As you will see from the pictures, we experienced some perfect weather for most of our time in New England.

• There were some indoor activities as well, such as musical concerts. The 2 we went to were both groups from the Northwest, so it wasn't quite a true east coast experience, but we did enjoy hearing them talk about our hometowns. We saw Josh Ritter, born and raised in Moscow, Idaho; an artist we knew decently but enjoyed hearing more of his music. It was fun to see his enthusiasm and now many of his songs are creeping up my iTunes "most played" list. The other show was Pink Martini, during which Julia got to go up on stage, with about 50 other women, while they sang "I Am Woman Hear Me Roar". Then she stayed up there and danced for another song until security had to forcibly remove her (joke). For the last song, we joined the conga line and danced across the front of the stage, feeling a little self conscious. They put on a great show.

Outside The City - 

• We arrived in Portland about 2 weeks before Julia's work assignment started, so we took advantage and visited some sites further north. First stop was Acadia National Park. It is a series of rocky islands that are covered in trees with great hiking and coastline views. We drank wine and ate dinner while watching the sunset from Cadillac Mountain. That night we tried to sleep in our car and decided never to try again. 

• After 24 hrs in Acadia, we drove up to Millinocket for access to Baxter State Park. We had heard the best hike in the state was up to the top of Mount Katahdin (the highest point in Maine at 5,267ft) and we had the time and good weather to do it. Up early, we began the hike from the Abol Campground (there are numerous routes to the top, we chose the easiest). It was a long uphill hike, partly in the trees before some boulder scrambling and then along the "table top" to the peak. The views were amazing, but the coolest part is that the top is the ending point for the Appalachian Trail. We saw roughly 30 hikers finish their 2,200 mile trek, some crying, some cheering. It made our accomplishment feel small, and we shyly had our pictures taken with the sign before giving way to those who suffered more.  

• We wanted to be in New England for the Fall in order to see the changing of the leaves, so we drove out to the White Mountains of New Hampshire on a free Sunday. We did a loop around Mt Washington and saw some amazing colors.

• In another attempt at seeing colors, we hiked up Pleasant Mountain, a small peak NW of Portland. 

• With our close proximity to Boston, we had to spend a weekend exploring it's rich history. It was freezing cold, but we walked the Freedom Trail and ate clam chowder at the Quincy Market. Then stayed the night with our friend, Sandy, and her growing family down in Plympton. The next day we saw Plymouth Rock, before driving the northern Massachusetts coastline. 

The Work -

• Julia's work for this assignment was in a skilled nursing facility that included a locked down dementia unit. A different environment than she normally works in, along with a productivity driven management style, it took her some time to get the hang of it. Although there were some things she didn't like, she did enjoy many of her sweet elderly patients and finding creative ways to treat them. Despite this, she was not that upset when they hired a permanent PT and ended her contract 5 weeks short. This gave us the chance to be home for Christmas and also her some time to play stay-at-home cat mom while I worked the long hours.
• Yes, you didn't misread that last line, I did work. With Julia's ability to commute by walking or bus, I got some seasonal work at the L.L. Bean warehouse located about 25 minutes north in Freeport. It was physical shipping work that beat me up a little, but it felt good to be a productive member of society. When I wasn't working, I played disc golf at one of the many pay-to-play courses in the area.       

The Food -

• This section could have just been one word: Lobster (or Lobstah), but I will elaborate a little more. The area is known for their lobster rolls and they are delicious. We sampled a decent number of them and would like to share with you our rankings. They were judged based on taste and value. 

       Pictured above, Lobster Rolls from Red's Eats (on the left) and The Porthole (on the right).

1.  Red's Eats (The line is long but the bun is stuffed full and the butter is amazing)
2. The Porthole (Great value, especially during happy hour, and the flavor is terrific)
3. Rosie's (Good value and the buns were nicely toasted)
4. Eventide Oyster Co. (Creative, but small and expensive)
5. Susan's Fish-n-Chips (Our first one, it was small and lightly sauced, disappointing) 

• We didn't eat out much, but we did make sure to hit the perpetually busy restaurant called Duckfat, and it was fantastic. You can't really go wrong with food that is cooked in the fat that comes from ducks. 

The Visitors -

• My father kept up the tradition of visiting us on assignments. We played tour guide and showed him some lighthouses, the art museum, ate lobster, and drove around looking for changing leaves in quaint little seaside town of Camden. 

•  He wanted to venture further NE into Canada and I wasn't working yet, so off we went. First stop was Acadia NP, but it was raining and visibility was terrible. We stayed the night in Saint Stephen, New Brunswick, where we celebrated the Canadian Thanksgiving. The next day we were delayed with a flat tire on the rental car which caused us to miss our Irish stew dinner in Cape Breton that we had prepaid for. That night we caught a concert as part of the Celtic Colours International Music Festival. It was headlined by the group Talisk, which was voted as the "Folk Band of the Year" by some organization. The band leader rocks a concertina and the others just try to keep up. It was a fun show with all performers playing their respective instruments (mostly fiddles) very well. The next and last night, we crashed in Halifax, ate lobster, and I won $100 playing the Game of Thrones slot machine. On the drive back to Portland, we checked out the Bay of Fundy which boasts the highest tidal range in the world. There can be a difference of up to 50 ft, which creates some interesting landscape and fast moving water. One cool result is called a Tidal Bore, which is when the incoming tide is so strong it causes rivers to change direction. Apparently these can also be surfed for one long ride. The picture below shows me exploring the Hopewell Rock on the Bay of Fundy during low tide. All in all, a fun trip despite the car issues.  

• Our friends, Jessica and Robin, came up from Baltimore to visit for a weekend. This gave us a chance to do some socializing and an excuse to explore more local bars and restaurants. We saw more lighthouses and ate great food. It was fun. 

I think that about covers all of our time in Portland, Maine. As you might be able to tell, we really enjoyed ourselves. It was better than I had thought. The mountains are small in comparison to out west, so you don't get as stunning of a backdrop, but the forest is thick and colorful. This area also has the history, with more scenic farmland and quaint towns. The coastline is rockier, with many inlets and coves in contrast to the long stretches of sandy beach we have on the pacific. It was also much sunnier than I had expected, though still cold. We experienced 2 small snow storms that left us impressed with their ability to make the streets passable. Obviously it helps that the land is relatively flat here and they have a large army of snow plows. Though I did witness multiple accidents on my drive home from work one snowy day, so bad winter driving isn't just a Portland Oregon thing. We luckily got out of town before the big storms hit or else this story may have had a different tone.

To try and avoid the winter weather, we took a more southerly route for our road trip home. Below is a quick rundown of our path, starting in Portland, ME:

• Baltimore, MD 
• (Visited our friends, Jessica and Robin, for a couple days. Drank and ate our way around the city. Julia and I took the train down to Washington DC to see the sights and had lunch with my cousin's daughter, Linnaea.)
• Indianapolis, IN 
• (Drove along the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to see "Lights on the Brickyard", their Christmas light display)
• Omaha, NE 
• (Stayed in the worst Motel 6 of the trip, lots of yelling and almost fights)
• Cheyenne, WY 
• (Drove through a dangerous ice storm in central Nebraska, stayed with Julia's friends Erica and Josh, drank beer at a serve-yourself bar, it was very cold outside)
• Twin Falls, ID 
• (Beautiful blue skies but cold drive through Wyoming)
• Portland, OR 
• (Drove through snow storm in Idaho, a treacherous Meachum Pass in Oregon, black ice in the Columbia Gorge, and crossed paths with Peter and family at an I-84 reststop exit)         

Back home safely, we celebrated Christmas with family and New Years with friends. The next adventure for us began in mid-January and involves some much warmer weather, but that will have to wait for another post (which we will hopefully have completed soon). Thanks for following along.

Chasing Cars

We have only been back in Portland for 2 weeks, but so much has happened in that relatively small amount of time. In the next few paragraphs, I will take you along the ride as we made our way back onto American soil and got ready for the holiday season.

Julia ended her last post by telling you that we booked a 2nd night in the town of Matagalpa. This turned out to be a very good choice. The town is surrounded by hills and there is a well worn trail that leads you to the top of one of those hills. We paid a little bit (70 cents) to enter the property and quickly were surrounded by moss covered trees and flowing water. I greatly enjoyed this as it had been way too long since we last hiked in the woods. The payoff at the top is a spectacular view of the city below. We clumsily tried to take a photo with Julia on my shoulders but nothing came out worthy of showing on the blog.

Waterfalls

View of Matagalpa from lookout

After the hike, we strolled around town doing some shopping. We bought gifts and found a liquor we have been wanting to stock up on for our wedding. Thus our packs became a little heavier. That night we ate some infamous jalapeño beef, fell asleep to the sound of fireworks (we assume as a prefunc before the "Feast of the Immaculate Conception" taking place the following week, or they just love fireworks).

The next day (Friday), we caught a bus to a town higher up in the hills, called Jinotega. A smaller settlement but it still had plenty of discount clothes stores to wander through. We are intrigued by the abundance of cheap clothes stores around Central America and here we got to see how the system works. Trucks unload tightly wrapped white bundles at stores. The stores then stock them in a back room and when the racks get low, they unwrap a bundle of mixed unwanted American clothes and put them in the appropriate place. Sometimes they just dump the clothes into a large bin and let people rummage through, charging around a dollar per item. We were able to find some good stuff, most notably some christmas pajamas for Julia and a high quality Kansas Jayhawks Paul Pierce jersey for Micah.

The rest of our time in Jinotega was spent walking through the hillside cemetery, eating street pizza and pupusas, looking at the holiday displays in the central park, and regrettably eating Chinese food for dinner. The last thing on that list would haunt Julia for a few days after, causing her to think she got the Zika and making the long travel day back to Gran Pacifica an arduous journey.

View of Jinotega from the cemetery

Central Park holiday display with cars driving by

Despite Julia's belly full of regret, we made it back to the resort on Saturday and successfully hitchhiked the last 11 km yet again. This time, all we had to do was step off the bus and Spencer (son of Angie's boss, Patrick) just happened to be driving by and slowed down when he saw some white people. We hopped in the backseat and after a quick stop at Burrito Bandidos for a drink, we were back "home". On our first night back, the resort was celebrating the opening of their new hangout spot called "Meatgrinders Beach Bar" (the name refers to the surf break it overlooks). Julia stayed home but I joined in for some of the fun. They had a local dance group come to perform and lead dancing, which was a success.

Dance party

Thankfully, Julia began to feel better on Sunday, and we could help them setup their Christmas tree and play with the kiddos for the last few days of our trip. Also, that meant we could fully enjoy the resort's staff Christmas party that took place all day Tuesday. The workers got their families bused in and the day began with some popcorn, cotton candy, face painting, balloon animals and a clever clown. We understood very little of what was said, but the locals were crying with laughter.

Other activities included 3 piñatas, a bounce house, sand volleyball, buffet food, pool time, and an oceanfront slip 'n slide. Not a bad way to spend our last full day at Gran Pacifica. I will let the pictures tell more of the day's story.

The setup for the staff party

Kaiden seems confused by Julia's face paint

Dominic enjoying the party

Kaiden hitting the piñata while the clown makes jokes

Notice the girl is jumping while she hits the Santa piñata

Even the clown played volleyball

Slippin' and sliding

Wednesday was the day after the Tuesday party, and that was the day Angie and Osman drove us into Managua in order to catch our flight the next morning. We accomplished a good amount that day; Julia saw a dentist to get a filling put in (for $35), we bought some final gifts from the market, and we got to see lava flowing in the crater of Volcano Masaya. It was a very cool sight, seeing the lava change colors as it sloshed around and crashed against the walls. The view was better than the pictures below make it seem.

Lava in Volcano Masaya

A closer look

We stayed our final night in a hotel near the airport, and braved a dark walk for our last taste of Nicaraguan street food. For the most part, our transport back to Portland was smooth. Our original flight home was from Atlanta - San Francisco - PDX, but as the Pacific NW was hit by a snow storm, flights became delayed. We luckily switched to a direct from ATL - PDX and made it home on time, but our bags did not. They would take the scenic route; Julia's arrived the next day, while mine took 4 days to land on our doorstep. We weren't too worried since the shorts and t-shirts they contained were not needed in the snow. Plus we received compensation from Delta for our troubles.

Jumping back into real life quickly, we enjoyed the beginning of the holiday festivities with a cocktail party that Friday and the church cookie walk on Sunday. Julia was back to work on Monday, but the busiest part of our first week back had to do with cars. Purchasing a new vehicle has been on our mind for a while and this seemed like the time to get it done. So, we decided to post Julia's 2003 Honda CR-V on craigslist at a dream price, just to see if it got interest. Surprisingly we got multiple inquiries right away and soon were scrambling to figure out the logistics of selling it that same day. Fortunately my brother Chris was in China for work and his car was available to use, and without it we wouldn't have been able to meet a man that afternoon who would give us a wad of cash in exchange for keys. It was then that we looked at each other and said "I guess we are buying a new car".    

The next couple days were spent scouring the internet for mid-sized SUVs and walking around used car lots. One lot in particular left us with a story to tell, as a young woman helped us out despite knowing very little about cars. She had just recently gotten the job after she had bought a car from the company. She said her only requirement for her car was that it had an input for her phone so she could play music. We stopped asking her car questions after that revelation. She then proceeded to show us a car that was the dirtiest we have ever seen. Apparently there was a misunderstanding about whether it had been detailed, and clearly it hadn't. Dog hair filled every crevice and we didn't even want to sit on the seats. An Eastern European mechanic tried to sell us on it saying "We clean up for you, it will be like new when we are done" and "You drive this car you will love it, this is a great car". The whole scene was kind of entertaining but a little sad as we really thought this could be a good car that currently looked horrible. We refused to test drive it because of my dog allergies and we didn't want to stick to anything.

On the way back to the office, we talked about the holidays with the young sales lady, and she shared that her family had escaped war torn Kosovo when she was 3 and that they had spent 6 months in hiding. It was a random thing to hear and makes you wonder what other crazy stories seemingly regular people have.

After the car shopping on Wednesday morning in Portland, we luckily escaped town for Kelso to see Julia's parents before things got crazy in the metro area. The snow began to fall at 1pm as we were heading north, and by rush hour when we were peacefully watching the snow accumulate, the city streets became a mess and friends spent hours in their cars trying to travel a few miles. The next day, the main roads were good and we looked at more cars, but Julia's scheduled work for Friday had been cancelled. All of these events became important factors to us getting a great deal on a vehicle.

View of Julia's parent's house with the snow

We came across a posting on craigslist for a 2013 Honda CR-V for a price just slightly out of our range. After inquiring if the seller would come down a little, we met him in the parking lot of a QVC in Beaverton. The car looked and drove beautifully and the price seemed too good to be true. The man was from South Korea and just finished 18 months of work for Portland State University. His english was decent but not great, so some questions couldn't be really be answered. We had to trust our gut, and then when our gut told us to buy it, we had to determine if we could spend all of our savings, and then how we could get all of that cash in hand to give to the man by tomorrow. It was a good learning experience. We didn't plan the movement of money very well but got lucky that Julia's parents had just liquidated some assets and could lend us some cash. Plus our current landlords (Lucas & Tarah) were able to lend us a chuck of change as well. We spent a lot of time in banks the next 24 hours and somehow, when the final stack of bills was handed to our new friend from South Korea by the bank teller on Saturday afternoon, we were the proud owners of an expensive piece of machinery.

Our new ride

Well, that was the biggest news from our time back in Portland. The other notable events are as follows; Saturday night was our friends white elephant/ugly sweater party (I came home with some truck shaped taco holders and Julia scored some wine flavored gummy bears), we began registering for wedding items at REI and Macys, we went ice skating for Julia's work Christmas party, I babysat some nephews and took them to OMSI along with my Dad, we both had good friends in town causing us to stay up late 2 nights in a row, and finally... Julia has accepted another travel position, this time in Federal Way, WA starting at the end of January.

Currently, we are up in Kelso to celebrate Christmas with Julia's parents. Sunday, we will head down to my Dad's and celebrate with most of my family. Hopefully all of you are having a happy holiday season and thanks for checking in on us. (Please consider the comment above and the picture below as our Christmas card to you)

From our family to yours

All Good Things Come to an End

We have landed on U.S. soil. As our departure date neared closer, we both found ourselves in a perfect state of contentment; sad to say goodbye but anxious to return to those we missed. It's hard to know whether these well balanced feelings were a result of the mental preparation that after 11 months of backpacking, our trip would be complete, or simply that the timing was perfect. Either way, we were both pleased that we simply felt ready. Micah's last blog took you through Sunday, which left us two days to soak up all the sun and Nica family that we could.

After Micah golfed 27 holes the previous day, we still had a pass with 5 rounds of 9 holes, challenging us to use them before we left. On Monday, I only managed 9 and Micah played a full 18. My game started well and by the end of the second hole, I was feeling pretty confident with how much I've improved this year. Then the next seven holes put me back in my place and although I did grow as a golfer this year, I remembered that I have a long ways to go. 

We ate a quick lunch before taking advantage of our last dip in the infinity pool, last sunset over the Pacific shores of Nicaragua, and last happy hour drinks. Angie and Kaiden joined us for a swim before heading home to make chicken enchiladas. Dinner was served and then packing began. The tricky tasks of wrapping bottles of rum in clothes, disguising cigars, and cushioning breakables was refined over the next few days as we continued to add items to our luggage and guesstimate the weight of our check-in bags.

Tuesday morning, Angie surprised me with a massage appointment at the resort. They have a masseuse on property with the perfect set-up: a massage table in a small palapa, opened towards the ocean. After my hour of relaxation, Micah and I confiscated Kaiden for our last beach adventure. We jumped in the waves, sat on the pieces of driftwood while imagining they were horses, and collected seashells. Our ulterior motive was to increase the bronze of our skin so as to look like we've spent the past year living on the beaches of Central America.

                                               On a seashell scavenger hunt

We did our best to keep Kaiden awake for the afternoon, intermittently as we completed packing. Angie was able to leave work early so around 2:30, the adults were ready to head in to Managua in preparation for the early morning departure time the following day. We hugged and kissed Kaiden, promised to FaceTime often and visit again soon, meanwhile he picked his nose and wiped his boogars on us. 

               This is how he combs my hair

On our way to Managua, we had a detour at a local orphanage. A surfer who Angie knows through Gran Pacifica works there and offered to show us around. It was an uplifting experience, as my expectations were pretty low, never having visited an orphanage even in a developed country, let alone Nicaragua. The location of The Children of Destiny orphanage was beautiful, set on 50+ acres, half of which was undeveloped and the remaining land housed open fields for soccer, fruit trees, and tire swings. The only children we had a short interaction with were two infants, two months old each. The other children were playing among the trees when we drove up to the orphanage. This place is currently home to 19 children, nearly all under the age of 5. Most are taken out of abusive environments or are abandoned. We were told the children are placed relatively quickly, either with family members or adopted. The orphanage is run solely on donations and fundraising by a gal that owns it; it was a quick and powerful reminder of how much difference one person could make to many.

There was a last minute souvenir trip to the market before we found a hotel in Managua. The four of us wandered down the road to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and then unsuccessfully went in search of Churros, an appropriate dessert for our last night in Central America. We settled on banana splits, and then stopped in at a pharmacy on the walk home to pick up a two week supply of antibiotics (for $3.72), although we sincerely hope nothing will spring up once home to necessitate use of antibiotics. 

With a departure time of 8:40am, we arrived to the small, disorganized airport at 7am on Wednesday. We checked in one bag each, proudly weighing in at 49# and 46#. Hugs and a few tears later, we were through security and shortly after, aboard our plane. Our long travel day went smoothly, with a 4 hour layover in Atlanta and a rushed 50 minute layover in Seattle. Immigrations and Customs didn't even glance at Micah's Cuba stamps and weren't concerned that I had cigars in my suitcase (maybe because I fibbed and said they were from Nicaragua, so he didn't bother to look at them).

     Being American: drinking beer while eating a $12 hamburger and watching sports

                                                         Had to.

We were greeted at the Portland airport by Mark, Lucas, Tarah and chilly weather. Wrapped in our Mexican shawl and poncho, we collected our luggage and drove back to Papa Hoelter's. I wondered on the plane if I would feel claustrophobic amidst buildings more than two stories tall, or disheartened by all the consumerism around. I've had neither of these experiences yet, but as we drove home last night, there was a pleasant mix of awareness of the physical changes in Portland that had occurred in the past year, as if we'd been gone a long time, and the feeling that we never left.

Over the next few days and few weeks, our schedule feels full. We have Christmas parties, family get-togethers and birthday parties to attend. I have part time work lined up in Vancouver and Forest Grove for five weeks, beginning in one week. After that, we are unsure, although we have our hopes set on traveling the US for a bit while making a paycheck. Those plans will be finalized in time, and the thought of it makes me feel more comfortable with the idea of returning to a structured life, with a schedule and responsibilities. 

For now, we have a few things to do to return to normalcy, such as become owners of cell phones, pick up my car, etc. I look forward to figuring out what normalcy is over the next while. I continually asked Micah while we were traveling what changes stuck once he returned from his previous long backpacking trip: if it was difficult to spend $10 for a meal after spending $3 for the past year; if it was difficult to become so much more accessible to others because of cell phones and Internet; if it was as difficult to wake up to an alarm as I imagine it will be. Over the past 24 hours I've had to remind myself numerous times that it's safe to drink the water from the tap now and that it's ok to throw the toilet paper in the toilet.

Although I'm unsure when or how often, we will continue to post to this blog. We have a lot of pride in our little excel program that shows every penny we spent over the past 11 months, so that financial breakdown will result in a post in the next week or two. At times exhausting and overwhelming to write a blog, I'm thankful that we have a play-by-play to remind us of all the amazing experiences we had this year, and I'm grateful to our friends and family who have faithfully followed along.