Grow Old With You

As you may have noticed, Micah has written the blog for the past year and I have been on a sabbatical. Well, my sabbatical has come to an end as I am now the one with some free time and Micah is bringing home the bacon. A lot has happened in the past 4+ months, and I would love to get you caught up- forgive any dust in my writing, it's been awhile.

When planning our route home from Alaska to Oregon, we had a lot more local insight than on our journey a few months previous. Recommendations of others who had done this drive before helped shape our itinerary and as much as we didn't believe it was possible, the different route for our drive home was as beautiful as our drive there.

Luck was on our side at the beginning of our journey as we were offered seats on the fast ferry from Juneau to Haines despite having booked tickets on the slow ferry, cutting our water travel time in half. The annual SE Alaska fair was taking place in Haines that weekend and we had hoped to partake in this very local tradition, but the gates weren't yet open and we decided to continue on our way. We spent our first night at a B&B in Whitehorse and Micah toured one of the local disc golf courses.

 

After weaving back and forth across the border and passing herds of bison, we landed at Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park for night #2. This was the spot that multiple people recommended we make sure to visit and after spending some time there, we will now recommend it to anyone also- one of the most unique places we've seen. We also got to use our camping equipment that we had been hauling around for the past 3 months without seeing the light of day so in a very small way, were able to justify our packing choices. Liard Hot Springs is the 2nd largest hot spring in Canada and the hot spring itself is natural, with facilities that include a changing house and composting toilet built nearby. To get to the hot spring, there is a mile long boardwalk floating over a warm water swamp; word on the street is that moose are often seen feeding in the swamp. The entire location is set in a boreal spruce forest, a mystical setting when the trees and spiderwebs are all covered with dew. Oh, and we were the first to spot the grizzly cub just above the hot spring (see picture below where I'm pointing up, she's above the rail of the boardwalk).

 

The following day was simply mundane driving, heading southeast through British Columbia and finding a place to lay our heads in a random town just across the Alberta border. We did spot some new wildlife on day 3, including a moose grazing next to Muncho Lake and a family of mountain goats along a high pass.

There were a few reasons we chose this slightly longer path for our route home and driving through Jasper National Park was one of them. Micah had wisely requested a Canadian National Parks pass earlier in the year, assuming we'd be able to make good use of it if we made it to AK for the summer. The pass was also free for 2017 in commemoration of Canada's 150th anniversary. We contemplated a short hike in Jasper on our 4th travel day but ended up settling for some quick stops along the way. We got our toes wet in Jasper Lake, followed the water to Athabasca Falls, and awed at the Icefields Parkway (lazily, from our car).

Once through Jasper, we continued south on 93 towards Radium Hot Springs where we had a hotel booked for that evening. After passing just south of Lake Louise, we were rerouted due to road closures from the massive wildfires. We backtracked north adding an extra hour and a half to our day and once we were able to pass through the big horn sheep traffic jam in town, we settled in for the night.

 

The plan for day 5 and beyond was up in the air. Our goal was to make it to Glacier National Park to snag a backcountry camping permit, throw on our backpacks, and eventually sleep under the stars. Unfortunately the day-of permits were all handed out so we settled for a camping spot near Kintla Lake. Turns out, we did alright. The lake was gorgeous and despite the cool mountain air and chilly glacier lake, we went for a dip. Again, we put our camping equipment to good use, made some warm pasta with a glass of wine, and were up to watch the sunrise the next morning.

One of my best friends from grad school in Missoula had planned to camp in Glacier this same weekend with her family but the thick smoke and campfire restrictions changed their plans. Knowing this, we opted to spend another day in Glacier and hike the 11.4 miles of the Highline Trail. The trail starts at Logan Pass and traverses along a narrow shelf carved out of the cliff, through alpine meadows and eventually to Granite Park Chalet. The descent takes you 4 miles through an old burned forest. Views of McDonald and Logan creek valleys below were breathtaking.

Tired and covered in dirt, we made our way to Missoula after conquering the Highline Trail. The next few days were spent with friends in one of my favorite towns. We did all the good Montana stuff; roamed the Saturday morning farmers market, ate dinner on the back porch and sampled our friends home brewed beer while breathing in smoke from the fires, took their raft out on for an afternoon on the Blackfoot River, and played a few rounds of disc golf.

 

After initially departing Juneau on July 30th, it was August 8th and we were en-route to Portland (92 miles by ferry, 2800 miles by car). We spent a few days with our parents when we arrived in the PNW and then moved into a house in Lake Oswego that we rented for the month. There was some debate as to whether having a space to call our own was necessary but it turned into craft central and was invaluable as we were prepping for our wedding on September 2nd. Most of the days in August were busy with running errands (typically to Michael's), phone calls and appointments with vendors, and projects involving glue sticks and pictures. There were a few extraordinary days though. My sister and her family (husband Osman and sons Kaiden and Dominic) flew over from Nicaragua less than a week after we arrived home. They stayed with my parents for the majority of the 3 weeks they were here, so we were between Kelso and Lake Oswego frequently. Amidst all the wedding planning, we were able to sneak a day in at the Portland Zoo.

 

Mid August, our respective wedding parties threw us our Bachelorette and Bachelor Parties. No wild stories to report and come to realize, I have no pictures from Micah's (I'm ok with this), but it was a good time had by all.

A short back story: my brother, Mike, and his fiancé, Ashley, were engaged a few months after we got engaged. They contemplated many options for their wedding but arrived at the decision to get married in Portland, one week before our wedding. They were thoughtful in asking us if we would be bothered by this (absolutely not), and the main reason for their decision was that my sister and her family would be in town and they wanted the entire family to be present. They got married on August 25th at the Portland Women's Forum State Scenic Viewpoint in the Columbia Gorge. It was a sunny day and their ceremony was intimate and perfect. Following the ceremony, the ~25 in attendance congregated at a bar in downtown Portland to celebrate.

The week leading up to our wedding was really busy with final touches on projects and multiple get togethers. We had all the expected events; rehearsal at the venue on Thursday, boys scramble golf tournament and girls picking flowers on Friday followed by a delectable rehearsal dinner at Warehouse23. Saturday morning, Micah and I were to the venue by 8am. Members from each of our families were there for a majority of the day, helping us set up tables, hang up pictures, climb trees to drape lights on branches. We are forever grateful. Surprisingly, neither of us felt stressed up until that point; despite a lot of warnings for how overwhelming planning a wedding is, we felt like it was smooth sailing. Then about 20 minutes before the ceremony started, there was some stress and anxiety as we were standing in the barn for pictures and just over our photographer's shoulder, we could see all the tables and linens still pushed to the side, not even close to ready for 200 people to eat dinner at. Knowing there was nothing we could do, we just went with it; luckily, our caterer had everything ready by the time it needed to be.

Micah and I talked to each other and to other recently married couples a lot about "the big day." While planning the wedding, it mostly felt like we were throwing a party for 200 of our closest friends, which we were thrilled to be doing. The significance of it for us as a couple wasn't always at the forefront of our minds. We chalked it up to the fact that we'd been together for 4.5 years already and that for the past 2+ years, we had lived in so many places where we knew no one but each other, and had learned to rely solely on each other for all of our needs. We already felt like we were there, committed for life- so maybe that was why, during the planning of the wedding, it didn't feel like this specific day was going to change much. And then the time finally came for the ceremony, and it instantly went from an event for 200 of our friends to a day created only for us. For all I know, no one else was present for the ceremony except Micah and I (and his dad, Mark, who officiated). The day was ideal, everything we had hoped for.... 100 degree atypical PNW weather and all.

 

If you want to check out a few more (655 more) pictures, feel free to see them here: https://damianblacklock.smugmug.com/Julia-Micah-Wedding-Day/n-V8Z8hL/
(shoutout to the best photographer around, Damian Blacklock!)

Signing off for now, Mr & Mrs. Hoelter.

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

The quick and dirty summary of the past five days is as follows: hours upon hours driving in beautiful highlands; simple but unique Mayan ruins; and rain. Lots of rain.

If you want more details, continue to read.

Before I begin though, I feel inclined to talk about Honduras, the country we've lived in for two weeks now. When Micah and I would talk about traveling Central America, as the conversation shifted to Honduras I would say something to the effect of "oh, the place we won't spend much time in, besides the isolated and safe island of Roatán". I've been nervous about Honduras the entire time and the few travelers we met with horror stories about buses getting hijacked didn't help my situation. But we've heard scary stories about every country we've visited thus far and we have yet to have a scary story ourselves. Reality is, if you don't flaunt your stuff and you stay out of the big dangerous cities, Honduras ain't that bad. I wouldn't travel here alone but I also wouldn't travel in Belize (the country I initially thought would be the safest) as a single female... unless you enjoy feeling like a walking piece of meat. I'm amazed and saddened that Central America is perceived as such a dangerous place when the people, for the most part, are friendly and helpful and the land is beautiful.

That being said, we might have witnessed a murder on Tuesday. We had survived the 90 minute ferry ride from Roatán to La Ceiba without feelings of nausea, bussed to San Pedro and were now on a bus from San Pedro to Copán Ruinas. We were pulling out of the terminal and our bus began to slow down before taking a left turn onto the main road. I heard commotion out the window and when I stuck my head out, there were about 5 local men crammed in a small space bordered by two collectivos and our large bus. It was obvious within seconds that there was a fight brewing between two of the men, the drivers of the collectivos. The collectivos didn't appear to have been damaged but from the position they were parked, must have almost hit. There were some punches thrown, a few cheap kicks to the ribs, and then the younger guy turned and walked back to his van. I was doing some quick math in my head: the murder rate in San Pedro Sula is 187/100,000 people, which breaks down to 1 in every 54 people are murdered. Those are bad odds! As our bus drove away, I kept my visual and saw the driver that I had thought was retreating back to his van instead pull a long machete out and showed off his weapon by jabbing it in the direction of the other driver. I think your odds of being murdered change significantly if you piss off a guy with a machete. We drove away before we saw it get ugly(-ier).

We set a new longest travel day record on Tuesday, starting with a taxi at 6am and arriving in Copán Ruinas at 7pm that evening. I always feel like we should be energized after simply sitting in a bus all day and ready to explore after traveling, but it's not the case... we're pooped the next day. Wednesday was our recovery day; we read in our room, swung in the hammocks on the terrace, and Micah made a scrumptious chicken curry for dinner in the hotel kitchen. 

  Taking advantage of the terrace which also included a small soaking pool (which we didn't use)

                                      Micah doing his thing in the kitchen

Thursday we got an early start and walked the 1 km to Copán Ruins. I'm becoming a pro at writing about ruins, as this was our sixth of the trip. I'll summarize its differences from the others and let the pictures do the rest of the talking. Copán covers a much smaller area and doesn't boast the grandiose temples that reach the sky, as the others have. But it does have macaws in the trees, beautiful backdrops of hills and valleys, and the largest Mayan hieroglyphic known to date. It was also discovered that the Mayans built temples on top of existing temples, so underground tunnels were constructed that link the older temples to each other for tourist exploration. The park entrance was $15 and to see the tunnels was $15 more, so we opted to stay above ground.

 El Cementerio- for residential living and inhabitants were then buried next to their home when they passed away so it doubles as their cemetery

                  Copán is best known for its sculptures, pottery and hieroglyphics

The Hieroglyphic Stairway, largest known Mayan hieroglyph discovered to date. Several thousand glyphs on 63 steps tell the history of the city.

                                            Patio de Los Jaguares

                                          Sculptures on front of a temple

On our walk back to town we hiked up a steep cobblestone street for a lookout of the small city with red-tile roofs. We enjoyed the left-over curry for lunch and again for dinner. Between the meals, we hung out on the partially covered rooftop terrace for the best view of the afternoon thunderstorm. The rain hit the scrap metal roof with such power that we couldn't hear each other speaking and the loud clapping of thunder made us question our choice to be on the highest point in the city, surrounded by metal. At one point, we were thankful we weren't still at the ruins. And then even more thankful we weren't in the tunnels at the ruins.

                                      View of Copán Ruinas from Mirador El Cuartel

                The clouds rolling in

8am the next morning, we caught a collectivo for a windy ride through the hills to Gracias. For the second time since our travels began, a little girl got motion sickness and threw up in the van. I, for the second time since our travels began, felt like the super hero when I handed baby wipes to the parent to clean the child and the unfortunate person sitting next to them. We walked in search of the perfect hostal in Gracias, which doesn't exist as they were all very expensive or dirty and small. We chose the second dirtiest one we found that had a shared bathroom with a door on the single toilet that didn't latch, two very used twin beds in a small room and to our horror, more cockroaches (who didn't show their faces until that evening). It was also our second cheapest hostal of the trip at $9.10.

We had arrived early with plenty of time to explore, so we threw our packs down and headed out the door. Had our typical plate lunch which included rice, small baked potatoes, salad, beef for me and chicharron for Micah and a drink, each for $2.55. As we were pondering whether to walk to the fortress after lunch, another downpour began. We ran back to our room and spent a couple hours playing online and reading until it let up. With our rain jackets on, we ventured out in the light drizzle and tried to walk to the fortress but decided against it when we were unexpectedly told it cost 50 lempiras each. We noticed that carts were beginning to pop up on the corners and planned to find our dinner here. The Central Park had 3 stands and we chose the one where the gal in charge asked "que quieres, mi amor?" (what do you want, my love) when we walked up. We sat under the tent to take cover from the constant shower and indulged in tacos, baleadas and pastalitas, all plus a drink for 100 lempiras or $4.50.

                                                          Gracias

                                    Happy señoritas making yummy food

Arriving back to our room, Micah rearranged items on the nightstand between beds and jumped when something moved on its own. Convinced it was a large spider, his search began and I stood as far away from the nightstand as possible. Once the nightstand was cleared and upside down, the antenna of the momma cockroach and all the baby cockroaches were visible. The next five minutes were spent with Micah and the nightstand outside, flip flop in hand, and I documented from the safety of my bed. See below.

Micah asked if I would hold the flip flop while he moved the nightstand. I would not.

                              So brave

Saturday morning we again boarded a collectivo and arrived in La Esperanza after 2.5 hours. We decided the rain wouldn't start before 2pm when we would arrive, so Micah didn't cover his pack with it's rain fly. I am without one since I accidently left it in Nicaragua and have paid the price with a thoroughly soaked bag numerous times. As it began to rain AGAIN with our bags on top of the van, I apologized to Micah but hey, misery loves company. Luckily we were both saved since at some point, the attendant guy had put our bags in the covered back of the van and they were perfectly dry. We got out our rain jackets and put garbage bags over our packs to walk in to town.

          Locals walked by and laughed at us

We went with the first hotel we could find to catch the end of the UEFA Champions League Final (European soccer match). Feeling our options were to stay inside and be dry or chance the rain, we put on our big kid pants and went for a walk. We meandered through the street market and managed to make it to the top of a hill overlooking the town before the rain resumed. At the top of this hill was a cave that had been made in to a chapel, so we glanced in and then headed back to the safety of our room. 

  Our room at Hotel El Rey. No standing room, curtain for a bathroom door, but there is a flat screen tv!

                             View of La Esperanza from La Gruta cave/cathedral

From the quiet of our room, we heard some chanting and ended up watching a crowd march down main street in protest of the government. It's been on the news here lately so we knew it wasn't against the U.S. and we were safe to stand on the porch and watch. Apparently the government used some social security funds for a political campaign and that's recently been brought to the public's attention. No Bueno. Afterwards, still raining, we walked to the closest restaurant we could for dinner before it was lights out.

                             Protesters

Today, Sunday, we continue this trend of finding a new town to explore each day. We are heading towards Lago de Yojoa, a lake high enough in the mountains to require a long sleeve shirt in the evening and there's likely another thunderstorm there waiting for us. We loved the heat of the Carribean but we still welcome this change with open arms.

The road has treated us well but has begun to take its toll. We both agree we could live out of hostals and backpacks for another few months, but since we know that we will soon return to Nicaragua, we are tired. Our bodies crave well rounded meals, our backs crave good mattresses. We safety pin our shorts to keep them on our thinner bodies and we smell our clothes to determine if they are clean enough to wear. In days, we will be reunited with my sister and her family. I look forward to smothering my nephew in hugs and drinking a glass of wine with my sis and bro-in-law while Micah and I divulge them with our favorite travel stories. It will be good to have a break from the road, but I will anxiously await the day this fall when I put my pack back on.