Walking, Walking Everywhere!

I can honestly say that I saw Seattle today!  Bekah, four other couch surfers, and I took the ferry into the city this morning and we totally conquered it!  We started in Pike's Place Market, and ended at the troll under the Fremont bridge.... Gotta love the diversity that Seattle has to offer!  (I also love how we can just do things with the other surfers!  That's got to be the best part about there being so many of us staying with the same hosts because we're like a makeshift family.  I mean seriously, I met these people last night, and we're just spending the day together in the city.  It's awesome!  It's almost like hanging out with siblings. :)

Pike's Place was awesome just because it was so huge!  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly was not the open air market/bazar/food court that we discovered!  The very first thing we saw was a 'Fresh Fish' sign that did not lie!  Some of the shrimp was literally still flopping around!  i wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to do with that, so I took a picture and moved on to the next booth.

This one had chocolate flavored pasta!  I mean, what are you supposed to do with that stuff?!!  I ended up buying some sweet red onion flavored pasta, and Bekah and I are going to cook it for Christine and Nate once we get to Holland :D  I'm super excited for that!

We spent several hours at Pike's Market, and then we went to the home of the 'best macaroni in the world.'  Haha honestly, I prefer Kraft, but hey not everyone can appreciate fine cheese preservatives as well as me.  I have to be sensitive of those who don't have quite as fine a palate ;)

The restaurant was really cool though because as we sat and ate our pasta, we could watch the people making the cheese curds!  They were slicing it and stacking it.... basically making a fortress out of cheese!  Only in America right??

After we ate, a few people left our group and the rest of us went on this Underground Tour.  I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but I was kind of picturing a bus tour around an underground Atlantis or something.  I couldn't have been more wrong!  It turned out to be a walking tour of Seattle that contained brief exertions underneath the city to see the old buildings.  It was pretty weird, but apparently Seattle was built right at sea level so they had so many issues (especially with sewage) that they had to rebuild the city on top of the other buildings just so things didn't get backed up as much.  It was a very interesting tour, but I wouldn't pay to go on it again. (Even though the tour guide told some really great jokes!)

Our group shrank again after the tour, and it was me and two other suffers.  We had one thing left on our itinerary, and that was seeing the troll under the Fremont Bridge.  Yes, there is an artist district just outside of Seattle, and they built a troll underneath one of their bridges.  Again, I had absolutely no clue what to expect, and again I was delighted by what I found!  The troll was HUGE and we got to climb up on him and take pictures and be goofy.  It was wonderful!  I'm so excited to share those pictures with you :D

It's really late and Bekah and I have to leave super early in order to make it to the food pantry on time tomorrow, so that's going to be all for now :D  Goodnight!

Rebekah

The SUPER fresh shrimp

CHEESE CURDS
*not from Wisconsin*

Our tour guide standing underneath a "skylight" in old Seattle which was
technically part of the sidewalk in modern Seattle!  So weird!

Speaking of weird... here's the troll under the Fremont Bridge!

Next Up.... SEATTLE!

Bekah and I were up at 4am this morning in order to make it to our train from Eugene to Portland.  Darcy and Mike saw us off, and I thought it was totally awesome that they said I could come back anytime!  I would be surprised if I didn't take them up on that at some point.  Oregon was fabulous, and I'm sure that has everything to do with their hospitality :D

Once we got into Portland we went to this donut shop that my friend told us about called Voodoo Donuts, and omg if you're ever in Eugene or Portland you HAVE GOT to check it out!  They have donuts with literally every type of toppings possible!  I got the maple glaze donut with bacon on top, and it was awesome!  I kind of enjoyed the sweet/smokey flavor  :D

We spent the rest of our layover exploring basically every single coffee shop and record store in all of Portland.  (I think Bekah might have finally gotten tired of drinking chai tea lattes ;)

Our next stop was Seattle!  We got in and had an interesting trek through the city with all our luggage (I swear we're both going to pack SO MUCH lighter next time we travel!  I'll totally pack what I need, and not one thing more!)

After about a mile, we hopped on the ferry, which we made literally moments before it left, and headed off.  Our hosts picked us up about an hour after our boat landed, and they brought us back to their house.  These are the most dedicated CouchSurfer hosts we've stayed with yet!  Today, counting Bekah and I, they have 12 couchsurfers staying with them, and from at least four different countries!

It's a full house, but you know, I totally love how there's constant laughter.  There are so many conversations going, so many people meeting each other, so many stories being shared, and so many jokes being told.... it's a great way to live!  I definitely want to open my house up like this... you know, once I get a house.  Kind of an important step there I think ;)

So that's going to be all for tonight.  I'm going to go be a social butterfly now :D

Rebekah

To Oregon and the North!

Ok so we didn’t have wifi in Oregon, so this post consists of several days worth of blogging.  Feel free to read it all at once, or at intervals, just know that you have been duly warned!

Well, for the first time since I started blogging, this post is NOT being sent from California.  Woah, let me repeat that:  I am no longer in California.  We have officially moved on to stage two of our road trip!  That is super exciting, but kind of bittersweet because I have totally fallen in love with California!  I think it’s my favorite state that I’ve ever been to.  (I think I’ve been to over 40 of them!)

Bekah and I boarded the train in Sacramento at 2:45am on July 6, and began the 17 hour journey to her aunt’s house in Oregon.  We were on the train until 2:30pm, and then were picked up by Bekah’s Aunt at the train station.  Next up was the 4½ hour drive from Eugene to Gold Beach. 

We slept REALLY well that night!

First full day in Oregon- July 7.

Our first day in Oregon was crammed full of exploring the beach, zip lining, and swimming in Deep Creek.  (and yes, it is exactly what it’s name implies!  I tell you, the people up here don’t waste words! ;)

Let’s start with the beach.  Bekah’s Aunt Darcy and Uncle Mike took us out there, and her uncle showed us how to open mollusks with a pocketknife—very handy stuff if you’re ever stranded on an island like Tom Hanks was in Castaway.  If he had known this skill he would have had another use for that ice skate blade besides impromptu dentistry…. Yeah anyway…  back to the beach!

The little girl that Darcy babysits, Makayla, came to the beach with us.  I loved to see her get so excited about each thing that we found.  Her favorite, and mine, was definitely the starfish.  We found two purple ones, and an orange one.  They were so cool!  Bekah put some wet seaweed on the orange starfishes little sucker things and we saw the tentacles come out and attach to the seaweed!  I tell ya, it doesn’t take much for this city girl to be impressed! 

After the beach, we went to their friend’s house and guess what?  They had a 500ft zip line in their back yard!  It was the most elaborate zip line in the history of zip lines!  Let me explain: first, they would strap you into a harness and strap that harness to the zip line.  Second, they would give you a running push and send you flying through the air.  Sounds pretty straight forward, but never fear!  The complicated part is coming oh so soon.

The third step is when things start to get complicated.  See, the mighty swing they would use to get you started didn’t generate quite enough momentum to get you all 500ft across the zip line, but it did a marvelous job at getting you through the first 300ft or so.  Then you’d find yourself dangling 30ish feet in the air just kind of taking in the scenery —which was gorgeous don’t get me wrong!  You could see cows, mountains, trees… let’s just say I could see the better part of Oregon from up there!

Just as you started to think, “Gorgeous view but umm…. I’m dangling 30 feet in the air here!”  You would hear an engine roar into life, glance down at the earth oh so very far away, and see a miniature four-wheeler zooming towards you with two men sitting on it. 

As they got under you, you would drop the towrope to them, which they would tie to the back of the four-wheeler and proceed to tow you up the hill to a tree.

Step four:  After you unhooked the towrope from your harness, one of the guys would SWING you out from under the tree, and you would be soaring through the air!!!!

The fifth and final step required the third guy to slow down your momentum once you’d reached the end of the zip line using a well-placed wooden block.  There you go.  The world’s most epically complicated zip line! ‘Twas awesome :D I got to go twice, and I took my camera with me the second time!  I have some amazing pictures for you guys!

You’d think that we’d be all done for they day after that adventure, but not so!  We headed straight for the Deep Creek and we all plunged into the 50 degree fresh water.  It was an interesting sensation to be outside in water, and not feel all salty.  I believe I could easily get used to it!!! 

We had these awesome inner tubes that we used to float down the little rapids by the creek…. Again, we’re so smart!  The only problem was that it was really shallow so I got all bruised from bumping over the rocks, but it was still totally worth it!  Did you know that if you lay on your stomach and use your arms and legs to climb up the rapids it totally feels like you’re climbing up a waterfall?!! I can totally check ‘climbing up a waterfall’ off my bucket list now! Score!

You know what I’ve learned about myself on this trip?  I absolutely LOVE being outside!  I love being active and having fun, and I think it took me so long to figure this out because I grew up mostly in the south and I certainly do not like being hot and feeling sticky.  But hey, better late than never right?! ;)

Second day in Oregon- July 8.

We woke up early this Sunday morning to head to the beach to go surfing!  I’ve never ever gone surfing in my entire life, but I’ve wanted to learn how to surf for at least the past year.   I was really excited, but thankfully not nervous at all.  I LOVE the ocean, and I was excited to get out there and catch some waves!

We met up with a 4H group and they had wetsuits, booties, and boards for us.  That wetsuit became my best friend in like half a second of being in the water!  It was 50 degrees at best!

We waded in until we were about waist deep, and then we turned our boards to the shore and waited for the opportune moment… We never had to wait long!  The waves were coming hard and fast for almost the entire four hours or so that we were out there so we had ample opportunity to get a feel for the board and the waves.  It didn’t take me long to figure out when I was to far up on the board, or when I had tried to catch a wave that was just a little bit out of my league. 

I frequently overestimated my surfing capability and found myself swirling underwater more often than actually riding the waves towards shore!  All that trial and error paid off though!  Before to long I started to pick up on how to balance (Hooray for gymnastics core training!) on the board and guide it in whatever direction I wanted to go.  That’s when things started to get interesting!  The coach told me that it was time to get off my knees and actually ride the waves in.  I was like, “Oh yeah, I’m all over it!”

Now I’m not going to say that I was an instant pro and soon had everyone gasping at my amazing skills, nor am I saying that it was super easy and I started doing flips and stuff.  It was tough, and I certainly didn’t get that fluid belly to feet motion down, but I did actually get all the way up a few times—if only for a few seconds!  I was satisfied, for now.  ;)

Once, while I was heading back out to the waves after I had ridden one in, I saw Bekah getting ready to catch a wave.  She was paddling frantically in front of this huge wave and for a few moments it didn’t seem like she was going anywhere, than it seemed like she was being sucked into the wave, and then the next thing I knew, she was on top of it riding ecstatically towards the beach.  It was awe-inspiring to witness the power of the waves, and to think that Jesus controlled them with just a word!  Woah.  I can’t ever hope to control the waves, no matter how good I get at surfing.  Realistically, I’ll always be at their mercy.  Like I said, awe-inspiring, and humbling!

Third day in Oregon-

I got to see Redwoods for the first time today!!! Aunt Darcy took Bekah and I to northern California so we could go to this park and see them.  It was awesome!!! The trees were (of course) absolutely ginormous!!!!  I took a ton of pictures and never even cared that I looked like a tourist!  Come on, like my Disneyland sweatshirt wasn’t enough of a clue ;)

It was fun to get out and marvel at God’s creation and hike around a little bit.  Bekah and I had a bit of a misadventure while we were hiking.  It involved an unmarked trail, me eating a bug, and us walking through so many plants that it was a blessing neither of us ended up with ticks or poison ivy!  But it was fun, and it ended in a gorgeous view! 

Now we’re in a hotel near the train station ready to take off way too bright and early tomorrow morning!  Seattle, here we come!

Rebekah

New Friends, New Experiences 

So Sacramento right?  Bekah and I were talking while we were in LA, and we were like, “Why are we going to Sacramento again?”  We weren’t even sure what was here, but you know, it turned out to be one of the best stops on our trip!  For totally different reasons than all of our other stops though.

We stopped in Tucson because Bekah’s family lives there.  We stopped in San Diego for the beaches, and in LA for Disneyland.  We chose Sacramento because we wanted to go somewhere for the 4^th of July where we would be able to see some really great fireworks.  However, this stop turned out to be so much more valuable than that.

Our host here in Sacramento is a pastor, and the day Bekah and I arrived happened to be the day that they had their weekly college age worship night at the church.  He invited us, and we decided that it would be fun to go.

The people we met at this worship night were just amazing, and God worked it our so we’d get to see them again.   Yesterday, the 4^th, our hosts held a barbecue for all of the college students from their church, and almost all of the people we met at the worship night were there!

We had so much fun hanging out, eating, swimming, playing Just Dance, and of course, setting off fireworks!  It’s one thing to go somewhere and watch a gorgeous display, but there’s something different about setting them off yourself with a bunch of friends.  It’s definitely not as glamorous, but I loved running around with sparklers and squealing with delight when a fire cracker I had just lit exploded into a million (well three) different colors!  It was a totally different experience than we were expecting, but it's one that I wouldn't trade for a front row seat at the most prestigious 4th of July firework display.  

I'm so thankful that we had the opportunity to do more than site see here in Sacramento!  You can do that anywhere, and at any time, but to meet so many people who share your faith all at once... that's pretty special!  I know that I'm going to value the friendship of these people for years to come, and that's way more important than taking some fabulous pictures of fireworks, at least in my book!

I think the theme of this blog is people.  Meeting, loving, and hearing them. I love that that has been the story of this trip, and I pray that one day it will be the story of my life.  Thanks for reading :)

Rebekah

Old Sac!

Bekah and I made it to Sacramento!  Our train was two hours late getting into the station, but our fabulous host waited and was there when we got in so he could bring us home.  God has blessed us with wonderful people to meet and stay with on this trip, and I’m so thankful! 

We definitely couldn’t have done any better with our first day in Sacramento!  We went downtown and the first thing we did was check out the Farmers Market.  This was so awesome because I absolutely love fresh fruits and vegetables, the people at the stands were so nice, and there were huge shady trees everywhere!

Bekah walked a little bit ahead of me and when she got to the end of the row she turned around to see where I was, and all she could do was shake her head and laugh at me!  This was because in five minutes I had managed to get my hands full of a big bushy bunch of some sort of vegetable and some HUGE breadsticks!  I hadn’t meant to buy anything, especially the vegetables, but it just kind of happened!

Here’s how it went down: I had been talking to one of the vegetable vendors about his produce, and I hadn’t known what one of the things was so he gave me a bunch of it and told me to go home and try it— he recommended frying it up with bacon!  After I had thanked him, I moved on to the next booth and started talking to the vendor that was selling fresh bread.  We were chatting about the different kinds of bread and how it had all been made last night and packaged that morning and stuff and I ended up buying breadsticks for Bekah and I (thinking they would be about the size of a Fazoli’s or Olive Garden breadstick) only to find out that each breadstick was the size of a loaf of French bread! 

Thus Bekah turned around to see me loaded down with some sort of leafy vegetable and two huge sticks of bread!  Haha see what I mean that it just happened?! ;)  It was all ok though because Bekah ended up buying some cherries and nuts and stuff so I wasn’t the only one unable to resist the fresh deliciousness of the Farmers Market!

When we had finished up at the market, we kept walking until we came to a cute little coffee shop called the Chocolate Fish (the name alone was enough to make us go in!).  The guy who was at the counter gave us a ton of good suggestions of things we could check out, the best of which was Old Sacramento.  Cobblestone streets, dozens of little shops and café’s, an old school house... oh yeah, we were so there!

I was shocked by how many candy shops there were in Old Sac!  The first place Bekah and I stopped sold a million different kinds of candy apples, so we bought the one that had every kind of candy imaginable on it (of course) and they sliced it for us and ohmygoodness,  IT WAS SO GOOD!  It was called the Monster, and I’m going to post a picture of it so you can marvel at its sugariness! 

We spent the next few hours exploring Old Sac and stopping in pretty much every boutique and shop (candy and otherwise) and browsing and buying postcards or whatever.  We got to meet a ton of nice people, and snack on so many deliciously unhealthy foods!  I have no regrets. ;)

I think Bekah especially liked when we stopped at the old school house.  It was so cute, and they even had a lady dressed up like an old-fashioned schoolteacher standing inside!  There were readers and little chalkboards on every desk, and of course there were huge chalkboards covering each of the main walls! 

The thing that got me was the list of actions students would be punished for, along with the corresponding amount of lashes a disobedient student would receive for his or her actions.  If a student came to school with a dirty face or hands, they would get eight lashes!  That seems a little excessive, but I guess it was effective! 

After the schoolhouse, we took the train home and just relaxed until we left for the college age worship night at their church.

The worship night was absolutely fantastic!  We got to meet a ton of awesome people, and we even ended up going to Buffalo Wild Wings with a lot of them after the service!  (I’m glad that we got to know everyone tonight because our hosts are having a 4^th of July barbeque for all these people tomorrow and now we’ve done all the get to know you stuff so we’ll be able to just have fun!)

The message that Sean preached about tonight was really interesting.  He was talking about James 3:1-12 and the importance of guarding our tongues and using our words to build others up.  I absolutely love how often the Bible talks about watching your words, and I think it’s fabulous how honest and in your face a lot of these verses are. 

Sean challenged us to take James 1:19 to heart and practice being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.  He also suggested that we try using our words to build others up, and to remember that our words reflect what’s in our hearts.

These things are so vital to being Christ-like!   Jesus heard not only what people were saying with their mouths, he also knew what they meant in their hearts.  He always spoke the truth, yet he also spoke in love. Jesus always used his words to teach people about God’s kingdom and God’s character. 

That’s how we’re called to use our words as well!  It’s definitely not an easy task, but because talking is something we all do on such a regular basis, we always have another chance to speak in love, listen to people’s hearts, and share with them about God.  It’s nice to know that we never have to look far for an opportunity to try again!  After all, God is all about second chances ;)

Rebekah

The Monster!

The Capitol :D

Farmers Market

School House...

School Teacher Bekah!

All the super strict rules/punishments... Yikes!

Catching Up

All right!  Today is my catch up day for blogging, journaling, and Bible study.  We were certainly busy during our stay in LA!  I literally fell into our cloud-like bed utterly exhausted at the end of each day.  (Good thing we’ll be on the train all day today! This way I’ll have plenty of time to catch up on everything… maybe even sleep!)

Bekah and I spent all of yesterday exploring Disneyland, California Adventure Park, and Downtown Disney.  It doesn’t get much better than that!  We got to the parks early, and power walked to get fast passes for the long line rides, and got into line for the short line rides until we had pretty much conquered the entire park (by noon)! 

My favorite ride was Soaring Over California.  This was a simulation of parasailing over some of the most famous and scenic places in California.  We burst out of the clouds and soared over San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge, glided over the ocean and surfers off the coast of Malibu, saw the Navy base and skyline of San Diego, and gazed at so many mountain and valleys that my head started spinning!  It was crazy to see so many diverse landscapes in just one of the fifty states of the US! 

My family moves around a lot, and I’ve lived in a lot of places, but too often I think that my world is small and confined to just what I can see.  The world is an enormously vast place full of new things to experience and enjoy!  I’m so thankful for this opportunity to travel through, and learn more about, my country and the things that the world has to offer.

This makes me think about that ride at Disney, you know the one I mean.  It has that horrible song that gets stuck in your head and torments you day and night, night and day, until you finally crack and start singing it—mimicking all those little voices that have been mercilessly serenading you for the past… wait, you can’t remember how long it’s been!  It just seems to go on forever and ever and ever…. 

Ok enough of being dramatic ;) (I never thought I would be saying those words!)  I’m sure by now you know that the ride I’m ever so subtlety alluding to is the It’s A Small World ride that they have at Disney.  The ride where you get in a little boat thing and it takes you on a tour of all the countries of the world while little ceramic people in ethnic garb sing, “It’s a small world after all!”  over and over.  All the kids love it, and it is good to illustrate my point.

No matter where you live, the world is bigger than your area.  No matter who you are and how many people you know, there will always be more people to meet.  No matter how far you travel, there will always be more to see.  Regardless of all that, our world isn’t so big.  The differences that seem to divide us and confine us to the familiar things in our lives are just a façade masking the similarities that we all share.  (Which, I believe, is the point of the Small World ride.)  The differences that seem too big to overcome are just hiding the opportunity to explore and learn new things.

Isn’t it wonderful that we can never stop learning and discovering things about our world and ourselves?  Life doesn’t have to be tiresome, there’s no need for it to be dull!  We never have to go far before we find someone with a different background or different values than our own.   In fact, we rarely need to go farther than our own street before we meet people who see the world in a different way than us.  That’s why there’s no way we can ever explore everything.  That’s why there’s always so much more we can learn!  Everyone has a story, and they’re just waiting for someone to share it with. 

So go learn, explore, and have conversations with people!  You don’t have to go cross-country in a train in order to have adventures and meet new people.  Don’t let me and Bekah have all the fun ;)

Speaking of trains, we are boarded and about to leave the station for Sacramento.  I have no idea what this city will hold for us, but I’m excited to get there and find out!  Happy exploring!

Rebekah

Exhaustion Strikes!

Full day of Disney today, full day of train tomorrow.  So tired I can't think of what to write... I'll blog tomorrow on the train!  Yep, sounds like a great idea to exhausted me!  (Thanks for reading :)

Rebekah