Austin Video

Hello all.

So we figured we’d do a video to let everyone see where we live. This is our apartment. People have asked about the type of furniture they give us so here you will see. Nothing fancy, but we are more than happy with it. We live on the top of a big hill (as you will see). It’s much bigger than the last place so we love that. Because of our nomadic life we don’t have much to put on the walls. I’d love to have more on the walls but I don’t want to move it every 3 months…

We absolutely LOVE Austin so we will probably do more videos. This is my first time making a movie so bear with me while I learn ins and outs of the process. Hope you enjoy…

Miss you guys!
Ryan

P.S. It’s a big video so it will take a while if you don’t have high speed internet. Be very very patient.

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year! We really missed all our family and friends and hope next year we'll be able to celebrate with our family. I can't believe it's already the new year. Ryan & I have made it to Austin, TX for our next assignment. We got here on Friday to an empty apartment. We had to wait around for awhile for our furniture to arrive. We're very happy we're on the first floor this time. It made moving all our stuff in a lot smoother. Loki survived yet another car trip. We were all glad it was only a three hour drive instead of a three day drive. Loki's already made himself at home. He has more room to run around in, as this place is bigger than our last apartment.

We went out exploring the city and it looks pretty cool. Lots of really cute cafe's & coffee shops. We found two of the best comic book shops within a couple miles of our house so Austin's impressing us so far. We're looking forward to listening to some good live music and having some good eats at the many different restaurants we've seen. We'll do some more exploring this week and post some pictures of the town and our apartment.

Take Care & Write Soon!!!!
P.S. We got a really cool digital picture frame for Christmas (thanks mom & dad), so please email us some pictures so we can add them to the frame. FYI don't compress the pictures before sending them, it distorts them. Thanks!!!

San Antonio, TX

On November 26-29, 2007 Ryan and I met my parents in San Antonio, TX. We visited the Alamo, the Riverwalk, the Tower of Americas, and saw the Missions. We had a lot of fun seeing the sites and visiting with my parents. San Antonio was different than I had imagined it. It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be and I also didn't realize that the Alamo was right down in the middle of the city. There's a mall right next to it. There were lots of restaurants and cute little shops on the Riverwalk. It would be nice if Richmond could try and capture some of the features of the Riverwalk. It would be great for downtown, but they have a long ways to go to get close to San Antonio.

In a shop in La Vallita.

The Riverwalk

At the Alamo.

Can you say Adobe?

Mom and Dad enjoying some margaritas our first night down at the Riverwalk.

Small little church in La Villita.

Skyline view from the Tower of Americas. Can you find the Alamo?

One of the churches on the mission trail.

Travel

September 5, 2007 we drove out of Oregon and headed towards Conroe, TX for our next 13 weeks. We drove for what seemed like forever. We arrived in Las Cruces, NM on September 6th and spent the night. We enjoyed a short visit with my parents and then we were on the road again. We were really happy to finally get to Conroe (especially Loki). By the end of the drive Loki had found his place on the floor board of the passenger seat side. Hopefully the next trip we'll be a much shorter drive.

Rogue River Oregon

August 21, 2007 we took a boat ride with Hellgate Jetboat Excursions. They get about 60 people onto one boat and send about six boats out. They run down the Rogue River out of Grants Pass, OR. The boats go really fast and slow down at different points throughout the tour to show wildlife and points of interest. They eventually take you down to their restaurant, which is basically one large patio deck. Here you're treated to a good home cooked meal with a solo guitarist for entertainment. On the ride back to Grants Pass, the driver of the boat makes sure everyone is soaking wet. Two boats pair up and spin around each other, drenching everyone on board. We had a really good time doing this. Some of the canyon pictures had movies filmed here. Enjoy the pictures:

This is the restaurant where we ate. It was a huge patio set up with long tables. We shared dinner with another couple that were a couple of years younger than us. They served barbecue chicken, ribs, potatoes, pitchers of beer and more. It was a unique experience that we'll always remember.

Crater Lake Oregon

August 7, 2007 we drove up to Crater Lake, OR. Crater Lake is located on the crest of the Cascade Mountain range, 100 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. It lies inside a volcanic basin created when the 12,000 foot high Mount Mazama collapsed 7,700 years ago following a large eruption. It was truly an amazing place to see. It was really windy and cold. Here are some pictures for our visit:

Crescent City, CA

July 2nd & 3rd, 2007 we traveled down the coast of Oregon into California to see the Redwoods.

Here are some pictures from that trip:Heather in Crescent City, CA near Battery Point Lighthouse.

Ryan gets his feet wet in the Pacific Ocean at Crescent City, CA. The morning was so foggy you couldn't even see the road from the water.

The Battery Point Lighthouse.

Ryan at the Redwoods in Klamath, CA. This tree was 19 feet wide.

The stay in Crescent City, CA wasn't what we expected. It's definately not like the beaches on the east coast. There weren't any cute little shops to browse around in. The restaurants were pretty scary looking and over priced for what they served. The hotel we stayed in didn't even have air conditioning so we had to borrow a fan from the front desk and sleep with the windows open. We'd recommend it as a place to stop to see some pretty scenery but then by all means, keep driving.