Damn Hippies

Hello all.  I know it's been awhile, but we have had a whirlwind of visits the last few months and just have not got a chance to sit down and share what's been happening.  So, here I am, ready to share.  The first thing I have to share on is a yoga experience I had this week.  Now, back home I would probably be considered somewhat of a liberal "hippie-ish" person; here not even close.  This was especially apparent during a yoga class I attended this week with my friend Jeannine.  The class was called "Nia" and here is a brief description:

"Nia is a sensory-based movement practice that leads to health, wellness and fitness. It empowers people of all shapes and sizes by connecting the body, mind, emotions and spirit. Every experience can be adapted to individual needs and abilities. Step into your own joyful journey with Nia, and positively shape the way you feel, look, think and live. Nia draws from disciplines of the martial arts, dance arts and healing arts. Every class offers a unique combination of 52 moves that correspond with the main areas of the body: the base, the core and the upper extremities. Stiff beginners and highly fit athletes alike can adapt Nia to meet their needs. We believe every person can discover, explore, unleash and enhance their individual potential to live a fulfilling and meaningful life – by engaging their senses and listening to their bodies."

I'll admit, the description made me kinda wary, but it was one of the only times we could go and, you know, I like dance, I like martial arts, and I like healing, we'll give it a shot.  We got there and it seemed to have a pretty good following, lots of different ages, men, women, seemed like a regular yoga class.  And then the instructor started talking.  The discussion was of how our cells embody the four elements.  The first 5 minutes or so was standing with our eyes closed, trying to get in touch with our bodies and have a discussion with our cells on which would be more "healing" to focus on during our practice, earth, wind, water, or fire.  And thus the theme of our class.  Our cues during what could only be described as small intermittent parts of instructor lead group kick-boxing/zumba type exercise with looonnnnnnggggg bits of interpretive "free dance" where we were told to "know let your feet feel air,  and this is what it looked like:

now fire, and this is what it looked like:

now bring water into your arms, and this is what it looked like:

And during class, we were encouraged to "play with our voices" which led to people making intermittent animal, grunting, loud exhaling, and other very awkward noises.  To top of the whole experience, during the last 5 minutes of class, we vibrated (which is exactly what it sounds like) our hands over our bodies to, I don't know, cleanse our auras or something, I never really figured out what the purpose of that was, but it didn't include more voice exploration.  I have learned from this experience that while I do consider myself "in touch" with my body and my inner voice, I am not on the same level as some, and I left the class feeling confused, awkward and not at all relaxed.  But hey, if your local yoga studio starts offering Nia classes, definitely go try one for yourself, it definitely gave me lots of giggles in my head and smiles on my face, which then made me feel guilty because the instructor kept seeing me smile and that only encouraged more verbalizations about "letting your inner joy out through dance."  More to come.......

PS: Google pictures of Nia Yoga if you would like to see actual photos, it's very interesting.....

Rundown of latest adventures.....

Hello all!  This is Mandi, I thought I would take a few minutes and put some updated adventures up like I'd been promising a few of you :)

So, probably more than a month ago, our neighbor who has now moved back home to the midwest, Shawn, took us to one of his favorite hotsprings locations.  On the way up we passed by Cougar reservoir. It was truly one of the most beautiful bodies of water I had seen in Oregon thus far.  I'm told that it is in no comparison to a couple of more pristine ones.

On our way to the hotsprings, we walked on a trail about a little less than a mile which took us by this pool of water and waterfall.  Waterfalls are everywhere here in Oregon.  I am planning a trip with a co-worker right now to some of the pretties ones (in her opinion) so I can take whoever comes to visit if they should so desire.  Oh, and you'll also notice how I do not have any pictures of the hotsprings.....I figured I would save my audience from having to look at a bunch of naked old hippie men cause apparently hotsprings are where they all hang out.  You're welcome.

While Luke was here for a few weeks, we decided to go explore the coast on lookouts for good spots for future visitors.  We had used some of our tax return money to buy a new couch, and our salesman had told us of a place called Depoe Bay which is his favorite spot on the coast, little town which is know for it's whale watching observatory and the smallest harbor in the world.  On our way there, we stopped at a couple places on the way.  Most of you know that we took the 101 up from California when we first came up here.  The 101 continues all the way up the Oregon coast as well and is one of the prettiest drives I've been on.  Here are a few pictures.

So I'm exploring and getting all super nerdy over all the awesome nature things on this beach while the boys are wondering and throwing the frisbee around.  I walk over to some rocks and notice that they're an interesting texture.  I walk a little closer and see that 's cause they're covered in something.

I had no idea that mussels grew like this!  And there are thousands upon thousands of them, you can especially tell where the tidal water come up to, cause there will be an abundance of them and then they will stop as you look higher on the cliffs.  Absolutely fascinating.

This was another cool discovery.  This appears to be a sea urchin that is in the midst of digesting a crustacean.....I didn't really know they did that, but really cool and somewhat creepy.

So, if you can imagine, I'm at this point running over the rocks, giddy like the nerd I am, shouting at the boys that they're missing all the super cool stuff.  Then, in one of the tidal pools I see this:  a real starfish!  Don't really get to see those often in the gulf.  To get this picture I'm precariously straddling between two dangerously uneven rocks trying, unsuccessfully, to get a picture without my shadow, and this is about where my phone drops into the ocean water, never to be revived again.  Small loss for a nature nerd.












Then we get to Depot Bay.

Absolutely beautiful.

This is the world's smallest harbor.  It doesn't look too small until you get a boat in it, which I didn't get a picture of.  I would not want o be the captain of a boat going in here; I sat and watched a boat sit at the mouth of the harbor for about 15 minutes trying to wait for the swells to go down so they could get in the harbor straight on cause they couldn't fit in sideways.  And then they had to fit under this bridge, which if you look at the picture on the bottom right side where the water is broken up, you can see how they have to maneuver just right though to get to the docks on the other side of the bridge.

In this picture, you can see a seal/sea lion (I don't know which) coming up onto the rocks.  The white board in the bottom left corner is a long cutting board on which fish is being chopped up to be served in the adjoining restaurant.  The scraps are being tossed out onto the rocks.  This seal is very eager to get at some, but his poor little body just can't make it up all the way.  The seagulls apparently are used to this because they grab it up and fly right by him as if taunting him.  He eventually gives up and swims away.  I wish I had some food for him.

On the way back home, the boys humor me and we stop at a lighthouse.  I don't know if you all know this about me but I love lighthouses.  I would love to live in one I think.  Josh tells me I would hate it the first storm I went through in one, but I like to still believe it would be awesome.  I think it's from watching Pete's Dragon so much growing up.

I love you all and sorry it took so long to get these up.  Hope you enjoy!

The Weekend

So Saturday was Trails Day and that was good. We went out and did some park cleanup and Mandi made friends with another married couple that also moved here recently. Nice people. A librarian and a forest service worker. I can't remember their names but I bet Mandi does. I think the guy's name was Matt. That was the exciting part of Saturday. On Sunday morning we got a call from our realtor who told us we'd gotten an offer on our house. Not a bad one but not great. After we countered back and forth a few times Mandi and I decided to stick at a certain price which we won't drop below. We haven't heard back from them yet but who knows, maybe they'll accept it. We'll just have to wait and see. Keep your fingers crossed!

National Trails Day

Tomorrow is National Trails Day and REI stores and employees volunteer to help out with this all across the country. I planning on being there and if any of your are somewhere you can join in on this, you should. You might even get a free REI t-shirt! Anyway, it's a really good cause and it mostly involves doing maintenance and repair work in natural areas. If I end up with any pictures of this I'll try to post them later. For now, I've gotta go get ready for work.

BYE!

New Job

For those of you that don't know, I've been working on getting a job at REI since we got to Eugene. It is easily the most drawn out and intense application and interview process I've ever been through. However, yesterday I got a call back from them and they've hired me for a cashier position. It's is seasonal, lasting until July, but I'm told they rarely let go of their seasonal employees at the end of the season. I've met a number of their employees now and everyone seems really nice and most of them have been with REI for a really long time. I'm looking forward to working with people that share so many of my interests.

On another note, we were walking around Skinner Butte the other day and saw this.

These are the Skinner Butte Columns and they're a natural formation and a super popular rock climbing location. They're also only about 1/4 mile from REI and maybe 3 miles from our house. Apparently Eugene also has a lot of climbing gyms and REI employees get discounts on fees. This could work out really well for me.

After I got the call about the job Mandi and I went out to celebrate. This is from the patio of a local brewpub called McMenamin's which is right on the river. Both sides of the river are basically one giant park that runs almost the length of the town and that sidewalk you can see goes the whole way. Every mile or so has a footbridge that crosses the river and it's an amazing place to go walk or ride a bike. It's called Alton Baker Park if anyone wants to check it out online. 

I hope all is well with all of you. Enjoy the rest of the week and the weekend too. I'll try to get another post up next week. 

Weekend Fun

Ronnie kindly pointed out to me that it had been awhile since I posted and lucky for him I've got some pictures from a few weekends ago. This was the first sunny

Saturday we'd had followed by a more typical Sunday. In no particular order, this is the hike we took to the top of Spencer Butte.

The fella down below Mandi in this picture is Shawn, our next door neighbor. He's kindly been showing us around since we got here.

The prettiest boy around.
As you can see Spencer Butte is the highest point nearby so

you can see a large chunk of the area from the top of it.

The forest on the way back down.

Here's a video from the top. It's not very good but that's Shawn doing yoga (I guess) and behind him down in the valley is Eugene.

The next day we went to the beach. It was about an hour an

d a half drive and unfortunately it rained the whole time. I only got a couple of pictures since we didn't want to get the camera wet.

It's hard to tell but it really was rainy and windy. I did find a whole sand dollar though, so that was cool.

We haven't been able to do a whole lot since this trip. The movers did finally get here and it seems our stuff did make it here unscathed. I've been unpacking while Mandi's working. It's going slowly. I kinda feel like most of our stuff is useless junk. It seemed important when we were packing it but now I'm not so sure.

I got a call from REI two days ago and they asked me to come in for an interview a week from Saturday. Hopefully I can convince them to hire me. On the other hand Mandi got her first paycheck last week so I'm not super worried about it. The house has still not sold so we're about to drop the price and see what that does. Renting it out is starting to look more attractive, but I'm not there yet.

Everything seems to be going well. We haven't run out of money yet and the weather seems to be improving. Everything is starting to bloom. Luke has been here for the past week and a half so we've had some company which has been nice.

I think that's it for this post. I gotta get back to unpacking before the boss gets home to find me slacking. I assure you there will be more later even if it takes me awhile. I get distracted easy.

-This post dedicated to Mr. Patillo.

Deep Powder Snowboarding

So I finally got up to the mountain for a day of snowboarding. This is Willamette Pass Ski Area. It had snowed about 12 per day for the 4 days leading up to this so there was an incredible amount of fresh powder. I don't think I've ever boarded on so much. I forgot how exhausting it is. I went alone so I don't know any of the people in the pictures.

This is from the top of the main lift. I don't know which lake that is. Waldo maybe? It was an incredible view from up there.
Same place, different direction. I just sort of spun in a circle taking pictures.

As you can see I was the first person down this run. That is 8 to 15 inches of powder depending on where you fall.


Ok all the rest of these are from the peak. Side note: I am sitting in the coffeehouse in Eugene right now and, I shit you not, the radio is for some reason playing "The Yellow Rose of Texas". The old one. Wierd.

Willamette Pass was an interesting resort. The main lodge looks like many a ski lodge except for that it is so poorly designed, in my opinion, that at least 2/3 to 3/4 of the space is wasted. It has a wrap around deck that, whenever they get snow, they have to close it off to protect people from snow falling off the roof of the lodge. This begs the question, "Aren't snow days the times you need the decks open most?" Then, of course, there's the fact that the lodge could be 3 stories and if fact looks like it is from the outside. Instead, it's one monstrous room where you sit down, lean back, look at the ceiling 40 to 50 feet away and wonder "why?". Also the food sucked. This is a thing I've never understood about resorts in general. Why would you get people all the way out to your place, charge extortionate prices, and then serve crap or at the very least mediocrity? Why? Why would you want people to go home saying "well the skiing was good but everything else was painful. I spent a months worth of money but the only bit that didn't suck was the skiing. I guess it was so they could build a monstrous empty space and then spend a fortune heating it to the extent that they don't have enough money left over to buy good quality food much less prepare it in such a way that it doesn't insult the people who they just charged three to five times it's value." At the same time in an office somewhere I imagine the resort manager is thinking "maybe they won't notice. Maybe our really really big room will distract them and they'll dazedly eat their food and before they regain total clarity it will be gone and they'll think "well it must have been worth all that money cause I ate it all without realizing it". Maybe" Well this is not the case. The food is expensive and mediocre as is generally the case. The beer was good though.

And the boarding was great! Come visit! I'll take you! We'll take our own food! We'll marvel at the monstrosity that is their lodge from a distance since we can't sit on the deck cause it might kill us! We'll drink the good beer! We'll laugh at the people eating the bad food! It'll be wonderful!

Until next time. Get them pigs off the porch!

Food and Bed!

So this was lunch yesterday. The pizza place across the street from me does pizza by the slice, as I'm sure I've told everyone by now. It is always super good AND they have local beer on tap. Since we've been here they've done either a local beer tasting or a local wine tasting every Friday. Tomorrow is wine. That is the red ale, can't remember the brewer. It was good. Pepp and mush pizza obviously.
This was dinner. There is a fresh fish market about 3 blocks from our house (I feel like this is my reward for driving all day for the past 2+ years) and on Wednesdays you can get a salmon burger and a microbrew for $8. Ninkasi brewery is a few blocks further from here and they were there doing a tasting on their new spring beer. Also super good. Tartar sauce needs horseradish though.
This was dessert. Sweet Life Bakery. 2 blocks from our house. Coconut cream pie. Mandi would live here if she could. I like the coffee though. The desserts, even though I usually only have a bite or two, are pretty great. For sweet lovers this place is worth the trip to Oregon by itself. Even on a Wednesday night the line was 20 people deep. On weekends it is often out the door.
This was the absolute best part of the day. We finally got a bed to sleep on and this morning I can tell you it was worth the wait. We don't have anything else, but we do have a bed! That's all for today. There is no spoon.

The Drive

So these pictures uploaded in the opposite order for some reason and I'm too lazy to redo it so here are the five pictures we got of our drive. I thought we'd taken more but I can't find them. This one and the one below are from a ski area near Lake Tahoe. That's a frozen lake that I'm pretty sure Mandi walked out onto to get the pictures.
Or maybe she was standing on a bridge. There's no way to tell.
This was hands down the best burrito/chile relleno/margarita I've ever had. It was at a restaurant named Quince in a town called Jerome that Dusty took us to between Sedona and Prescott I'm pretty sure. The burrito I ordered was wild mushroom and other stuff. Unbelievable. The thing Mandi and Dusty got was a chile relleno IN a burrito with green chile sauce all over it. MIND BLOWING. The margarita had some fancy stuff in it that I forget but is was amazing too. We also got a dip sampler that had guacamole and three different kinds of salsa in increasing heats. The hotest was ghost chile. It was definitely a food coma situation but it was unreal. I think my camera ran out of memory after this but the town is a old mining town that it built up on a cliffside. It looks like the kind of thing you'd see in Greece or something. It's become an art colony and it's super cool. Mom if you ever do this drive you should definitely stop here. It's right up your alley. I think i even saw some really cool B&Bs while we were walking around. Mandi also bought a neat little tea mug from a local potter while we were there.
This is at a roadside stop right outside of Flagstaff. We had just driven through a few hours of snow and rain and it was starting to clear off as we descended out of the mountains. By the time we got to Haley and Dusty's it wasn't even very cold anymore.
And then there's Frontier. In my opinion on of the best and only reasons to visit Albuquerque. It is the town of my birth, but there are few things about it I like. One the that that do well, however, is food. If you know the right places you can get some amazing food. Frontier has some of the best sweet rolls in the world and they make a mean huevos rancheros or breakfast burrito. Where else is there a pot of green chile sauce in the dining room where you can put as much of it as you want on your own food. I really need to learn to make green chile sauce. It's on my list of things to do. That's it for today. This is the second post of the day so don't miss the one down below. Hopefully I'll have some good pics of snowboarding after Friday so I can do a post on Willamette Pass. That's pronounced like you would dammit for those of us from the south. They make fun of you otherwise. Remember, Willdammit. Willamette. I still pronounce it wrong every day.