From Maine to Cali

So the big day came and went. Congratulations Hailey & Will Davis on getting hitched and being awesome! The festivities started in Kennebunk, Maine at my Aunt’s adorable new house (SO COOL!) with a big MacNichol/Orser family lunch and get together, after which we all carpooled into Portland to check into our hotel to do some more visiting. The following evening the wedding was lovely even though it rained constantly! We ate wonderful food (prepared by the grooms family) and chatted with far away cousins and danced to keep warm. Toasts were made and thank you’s said before we polished off the night with some of the best home made pie I’ve ever had in my life! You go guys! Thanks for inviting us to share your special day! Good luck for the coming lifetime and we hope to see you all again very soon!

After the family festivities were over, Patrick and I rented a car and drove north to Bangor, Maine where we met up with his friend Frank who lives there. We stayed one night there and then all continued up to Acadia National Park to get some out outdoor adventures in. We stayed at a hotel just outside the park and did a few short hikes in the area, including the famous Precipice Trail. The hike is only 1.3 miles round trip but requires rock scaling and ladder climbing almost every step of the way. It was a fabulous hike ending in a stellar view. Our timing proved excellent as the sun hid away behind some clouds soon after we reached the top!  The rest of the day was dreary and cold so we walked around adorable downtown Bar Harbor and ended the day with hot soup and a movie. What a life! Thanks Frank for showing us around and taking some time off to meet up! It was great! :D

Shockingly enough that was the end of our adventure here on the East Coast! After Acadia, we said goodbye to this side of the country, returned our rental car and hopped a plane to Davis, California where Patrick, Charlie and I will be spending the next chunk of our lives! We don’t have everything figured out yet but are excited to unpack and get started on everything! So stay tuned for how that all goes…

Also, as you all know, elections are coming up soon and I want to abuse my power as a blog writer and encourage you all to get out a vote on November 8th! So pray, cross your fingers, hope, wish, shout, cry or whatever makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside, but cast those ballots! This should prove to be an interesting ride…

That’s all for now! Sending more love and hugs as always! And in case anyone was wondering how Charlie Pants is doing, this about sums it up:

xoxoxo

East Coast Adventures

It has only been two weeks since I left McCall (which in itself seems crazy!) and I cannot believe all the traveling that has been packed into that short amount of time! I must say, although I dearly love to be on the road, typically I prefer to stay in each place for a longer period of time, but hey, lovely people and opportunities are just not to be passed up!

After a little Mother/Daughter time in Boise, Mom dropped me off at the airport where Charlie and I caught a plane to Roanoke, Virginia to visit my dear friend Jessica for a few days. Jess lives with her boyfriend in a charming southern style house close to the center of Roanoke, and although she was busy working a lot we managed squeeze in a few hikes, a sushi dinner date and a pumpkin carving session! Her boyfriend even made us his special pancakes for breakfast one morning, which were AMAZING! Turns our the secret ingreients are cocnut oil and cinnamon…shhhhhh! ;) Thanks Jason & Jess! It was awesome to see you again and I hope to do it again soon!

 

Ok now, here is where it gets a bit chaotic… In order to avoid making you read page after page of incoherent rambling about busses and trains and planes (oh my!), I will employ the master of organization: the bullet point, and do my best to be concise. SO here we go:

• After catching up with Jess, we (we=Charlie & I) took a train to Washington DC, where I met up with this guy again!  Patrick’s Mom and older sister live in DC and we exchanged our room and board with Partick’s Mom for painting her living room. We aren’t pro’s, but it turned out "not horrible". We also did a bit of rainy tourism, met up with my friends from the Netherlands for dinner (So awesome to see you guys again!!! Good luck in DC over the next year!) , and had a get together with Patrick’s sister Stephanie and her girlfriend Kim.

 

•  A short three days later we (this time we= Patrick, Charlie & I!) were off to Philadelphia! Patrick’s good friend and his wife live just outside Phili with their three kids and we stayed with them for two nights. It was a short but relaxing visit, which included a trip to the botanical gardens and watching the second presidential debate (mostly slack-jawed in amazement at the whole show). They are a super cool family and I was so happy to meet them. (Thanks Alex and Nichole! I hope to see you again soon!) ...And YES! We are having a coloring party in the photo below! Such fun! :D

• Post-Phili the three of us caught a bus to New York City where we stayed with my Aunt Sally for a few days while we basked in the spotlight of the city, went to the Museum of Natural History, Time Square, Central Park, The Statue of Liberty AND Ellis Island. In addition I was able to have a short visit with my dear friend Franzi, who just started her PhD at NYU. (I am so proud of you girl!! Keep up the good work! :D ) In between, we managed to chat with my aunt quite a bit about politics, religion and all those fun taboo topics which was super interesting and engaging. I felt a huge amount of appreciation to be related so such an excellent human! (Lots of love Sally! See you soon!)

  

 

•  Did I mention we were only in NYC for two days?! Well after that whirlwind, we arrived in Essex, Connecticut at my Grandparents house totally exhausted. Luckily grandparents houses are always the perfect places to relax. We had a bit a of down time, napped, washed clothes, took a hot tub and just recovered from the chaos that is New York City. Grammy and I got to catch up on everything and really chat which doesn’t happen often enough these days it seems. It was really great and I was so pleased to spend some extra time with them.

• The next morning, Patrick’s friend Carlos picked us up and drove us to his house in Providence, Rhode Island. We stopped at the National Submarine museum along the way where we go to walk around inside one and soak up an absolutely gorgeous day! After a much needed good nights sleep, we all took a day trip to Newport and hit up a seafood festival. Although it was quite windy, it was really lovely and there was live music and lots of shops to poke around in.  We appropriately, polished off our day with Chinese food and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. (Thank you Carlos for letting us invade your home for a week! It is MUCH appreciated!)

  

Whew! Still with me?! Ok so, here were are still in Providence for a few days and our next stop is Portland, Maine for the big wedding! The excitement is growing…I cannot wait to see all of you I haven’t already seen yet! Travel safe, take care & lots of love to everone! xoxox

P.S. A big shout out to this little guy (maybe I should say bark out?!) who makes me so proud! He is really the best and most patient traveling companion there ever was. He is always happy and ready to adventure with his mama. You make my day with your awesomeness Mr. Charlie Pants! 

The End of Summer and the Beginning of Something New

I just have to say, it has been quite some time since I was in McCall for Fall (like 5 years!) and had forgotten how amazing it is! SUPER AMAZING! The crisp sunny mornings, the changing aspens, the quietness of town, the fluffy sweaters and all the incredible squash in the markets make me happy to just exist in such a place! Fall for me, like many, is my favorite season. Everything about it makes me feel fresh, new, vibrant and most of all restless! It makes we want to hit the road to anywhere and see new things and meet new people and make new memories. Oh my gosh, I sound so CORNY!!!! I know, I know. Forgive me, it’s just too true to contain! Well anyway, lucky for me, I get to scratch my traveling itch, as I will be moving out of McCall in a week! That’s right folks, I finally made a “plan” for my life…or the near future at least…

 

Next Thursday I will be flying out of Boise, headed back East to spend three weeks visiting friends and family and attending my cousins wedding. YEY!! After that I will be moving to Davis, California to ride out the winter! Why Davis? Well, the weather is agreeable, I can ride my bike, I can find work and this guy will be there! A few weeks ago, Patrick came through McCall on his way from Glacier to Seattle for a quick visit and we hatched a plan to head to California and enjoy the colder part of the year in a not so cold place, so more to come on that later!

So for the last few weeks here in McCall, Mom and I have been doing all kinds of fun things to wrap up the current season, including a camping trip in Neil’s old trailer. This was quite an ordeal because Mom and I pulled it out, fixed it up and then had a dance party inside. Perfection. Everything about that trailer reminds me of Spud and it was really lovely to spend a night in it. 

Mom and I also took a trip into the backcountry to John’s ranch 

 

and another to Sedona, Arizona! 

 

AND on top of all that, we canned pickles and did this fab puzzle…because puzzles are was cooler than I remember! 

 

All in all, it’s been quite a busy but satisfying Autumn. I feel great about spending some time here at home before starting my next adventure and I cannot wait to see how it goes! I have high expectations as always :) I will be seeing many of you very soon at the wedding and I HOPE to see the rest of you soon as well! Love and miss you all, and remember it’s Fall, so give lots of extra hugs and snuggles to all the people you love…and maybe even those you don’t! Take care and until next time! xoxo

Glacier National Park

Hello again everyone! I must confess this blog is nearly a week late! I returned home 6 days ago and have been working nearly everyday since! So here we go, nearly 3 weeks ago, Mom, the dogs and I took advantage of an early cooling trend here in McCall and had ourselves a quaint hike up to Grassy Twin Lakes out by Brundage. We had an awesome time although the sun was still getting too hot by the time we were on the turnaround and the blackflies were swarming the pups every time we stopped for a water break!

Shortly after that, I attended the wedding of a friend’s friend in Boise. It was great catching up with you Justin! Hope to do it again soon! :D

Ok, my biggest adventure lately has been a week long trip to Glacier National Park to visit Mr. Patrick Miles! Yup, that’s right, Team Matrick was reunited again! Patrick is a park ranger there for the season, which meant I was privileged enough to be an honorary ride-along junior-ranger for 2 whole days! I had a badge and everything haha

It was good fun as we ticketed improperly parked vehicles, answered tourist questions and were on the look out for bears and mountain goats. The park is full of countless amazing views and home to the friendliest ground squirrels you will ever come across anywhere. Did you know Glacier Park will have no glaciers by 2030?! They are melting at an alarming rate, so if you haven’t been yet by God, get yourself together and scoot on over there while they last…and do you part to reduce global warming in the meantime!

When we were not on ranger duty, we tried to be outside as much as possible! Team Matrick went for a few great hikes including the famous Hidden Lake Overlook, which leaves straight out of Logan’s Pass Visitors Center (which is the highest point on the main scenic road through the park) , and to St. Mary Falls. We attempted to swim at the falls, but bailed as it was waaaaaaaay too cold! Like freeze you to the core, gasping for breath, loose all your toes cold… Yeah, no thank you!

We also took a boat ride on St. Mary Lake around past iconic Wild Goose Island, which was lovely. One of the highlights of the week (for me anyway) was a rowboat ride out by Many Glacier. It was my first time and I cannot believe what I have been missing out on!

The weather was beautiful nearly all the time, although we had one rainy day which chased us indoors so we filled our day with a scenic drive all around the park and ended it watching Wall-E. Such a cute movie! The whole trip was a huge success and I simply cannot wait until the team gets back together again!! :D Until then Mr. P!

  

Sadly Charlie was not able to come to Glacier as there are just too many bears and other animals. So he stayed at home with Mom and the rest of the pack for a week. Sad baby Bean….

I realize this blog doesn’t really do the beauty of Glacier justice, which is why I will leave it up to the photos! On another note I am getting very excited to see so many of you on the East Coast this Autumn!!! Take care everyone! Love and miss you as always! xoxo