It's raining!

We've officially left the desert.  

We're now in Colorado.

It is raining...

Let me be more specific,

It is hailing.

And thundering

And lightening

And the wind may very well blow our tent over one of these days...

even with the stakes.

I like Colorado though.

A lot of cars look like ours... decked out with toys.  

AND there's a hot spring pool 

(I MEAN HUGE!)

AND no one has made fun of me yet for my SOAKING WET behind... my purse/camelback mouthpiece fell off and a liter of water shared its contents with by butt. 

As Suzanne says, it looks like my it only rains on my hips.

Now, I'll write a post about the desert, I just wanted to share my fun facts for the day.

Circus, Circus!

As I'm sitting here in my Circus Circus hotel room on the strip of Las Vegas, I can't help but be awed by how life, how this world, is a circus. I don't just mean the busyness of life... yes, that definitely is a circus, but it often is a circus that we cause ourselves.  When I began this trip, I thought that the circus of life, the chaos that surrounded my world in Walla Walla (that both stressed me and fueled me) would suddenly be gone.  I thought that the circus, informally defined  as "Something suggestive of a circus, as in frenetic activity or noisy disorder:" would disappear and life would have order, relaxation, and simplicity.  

However, as I've reflected  on the past week (I announced to Suzanne that we had our 168th hour anniversary of the roadtrip at noon today), I'm beginning to see that this world is a circus.  We have gone from cloudy Walla Walla to the rainy, tree covered Strawberry Mountains, Oregon, to desolate (and awesome) Christmas Valley, Oregon, to the clay-based Sage Hills Reservoir of California to Reno to the snow of Lake Tahoe to the massive red rocks and wind of Red Rock Canyon state park to the sea breeze of San Diego to the dilapidated Salton Sea to the beautiful desert of Joshua Tree to the bustle of Vegas.  In 1600 miles, 2 fruit customs, and 2 random border patrol checks, we have seen a circus of sites.

If this can happen just in the Pacific Time Zone, I can't even begin to realize what a circus of sites our country must be... our world.  OH MAN!  I'm so excited for Guatemala!  Being near the border pulled so many social justice strings in me... the fence, the guards, the many, many border patrol cars.  It all just makes you think about problems, policies, the circus of life, and hope for a better solution someday.  I really hope that God uses me somewhere, somehow, to find solutions.

As a synopsis of our adventures since I posted Sunday night... we woke up Monday morning in Vegas. After saying goodbye to the illustrious hostess and great friend,Carrie, S and I set out on our own in SD looking for a beach.  We found one and mapped out the next few weeks. Having a map and schedule helps put some order in this circus... and that's good.  After planning, we headed to Old Town to buy tortillas (shocking, me eating tortillas?!?!?(PS i'm obsessed)) and hit the road.  We headed to the Salton Sea, something I was really excited to see. Salt?  Sea?  Water? It sounded amazing. And it was... it was gorgeous!  The strange thing was where it was placed. In the middle of no where, surrounded by almost a ghost town of double wide trailers placed on streets with nautical names.  There were no boats, no fish shops, and not many people.  It wasn't until we got closer that I realized why...  

 

The shores are lined with dead fish.  The water bobs with dead fish...Why?  I have no idea.  But it really makes me sad.  When it's not so late and I'm not in Vegas, I'll do some research, but until then, I guess I'll just keep asking questions.  After Salton Lake, we stopped in the town of West Morland for some food/gas/coldgoodness. We went into a market that sold the bare necessities of food and every type of alcohol and tobacco you can imagine.  As we talked to the owner, he told us that he's from out of town, but the people in this town were sick. His proof was that one of the men who frequently comes to the store sold his daughter for $5. oh my goodness... am I ready for the hard facts of poverty?  

Anyway, after Salton Sea,we continued along our jolly way to Joshua Tree.  Joshua Tree is also something I would like to research.  My very early reading has told me that it's where the Mojave and High Colorado Deserts converge and they create a unique ecosystem.  This ecosystem supported (very hardy) Native Americans and has unique trees called Joshua Trees.  The trees are called so because the (Mormons?) traveling across the states saw the trees and thought they looked like Joshua, reaching up toward the Lord.  They kind of do... they're quite impressive!  The rocks in this National Park are amazing. During our bike ride, we were so frustrated that we didn't have the camera with us. But, as we scrambled over various sedimentary rocks, the views and awe of rock formation was astounding.

And then...  we went to Vegas.  That's where we are now.  Vegas is a circus within a circus.  It's totally crazy, yet enchanting.  There are so many things that make me sad, yet I'm so awed by this "oasis" in the desert, by all the people, all the walks of life, and how in the world those machines work. The lights, the music, the security, the dueling pianos, the buildings... all amazing, yet all built by man.  It's crazy how different man built and God built structures are, yet both are awe inspiring. I'm sure we'll see more of these facts in the time to come.

As always, Suzanne has more and better pictures! (www.theenlightenment.shutterfly.com   And the password is 48 states.  (Note: Don’t give that to creepers.)

Take care!

a great day in san diego with carrie!

Today was a day of safaris and seals... and without any extensive driving!  

Thank goodness for the San Diego Wild Animal Park and beaches!!! 

Enjoy the pictures!

None of these are rocks...  Look for the rhino!

Reno to Red Rock Canyon State Park to San Diego

Hello again!

So, we've had a huge variety of adventures!

We started yesterday morning in Reno after a great dinner with my cousin and aunt who I haven't seen in almost 10 years.  It was so great to reunite with that side of the family.  Reno was a crazy city ...  kind of scary ... BUT it had some redeeming qualities such as...

ALL DOWNTOWN!

Although the downtown kayak route in Reno gave the city a redeeming quality, we were still quite happy to leave the next morning.  As we headed down 395S, we got detoured, unintentionally, up to Lake Tahoe.  SO... then, we got to see snow and a pretty lake.  Suzanne took lots of pictures - she may quite possibly move there.  

After Lake Tahoe, we headed back down the mountain over lots and lots of mountain passes. We even saw a covered caravan of covered wagons heading down US-395!  (Pictures of that will be on Suzanne's blog).  Along our drive, we saw dry lakes, full lakes, and a really really cool lake...  

Meet Mono Lake.  It's gorgeous.  This picture does not do it justice... but take my word for it or look at Suz's blog... IT'S AMAZING!

After Mono Lake, we continued our driveathon south.  We drove through the desert and for two Washington kids, that was real cool!

We drove through sunset...

And camped at the most gorgeous spot in the world.  (I may say that a lot...)  It was Red Rock Canyon State Park.  The downside of the state park was that it was a bit windy so we had to tie the tent to the car... and the tent still moved and felt like it was collapsing on us!

This morning, we took a bike ride to take in the sights... it was so pretty!

I'll leave you with the pictures from the canyon... stay tuned for stories and pictures from San Diego (where the covered wagons from yesterday are replaced with porsches and lamborghinis)

Take care!   Katharine

we're on the road!

Hello from sunny Nevada.  I’m currently in the UNR lunch area strategizing how to get wifi so I can take my last final and be done with school… forever… well, until I decide I miss it too much and go get my PhD.   That will be a while though…  Hopefully the posting of this blog entry will coincide with the completion of this test and therefore, one of the last institutional stressors in my life.   WHOOP WHOOP!

Anyways, you’re not checking this to hear about academia… you want to know about where we are and how I’m getting to Guatemala.

So… about Guatemala: God is amazing!  I have more than half my fundraising already in the bank. That is way more than I ever imagined!  I am so grateful and feel so loved and now am concerned about what I do if there’s too much money… what a great problem to have!  All my paperwork is now turned in… that’s a relief… and now it’s just a waiting game to see where I’ll be placed.  If you can be praying for the country, that would be great.  It recently had a volcano blow and spout ash, then the tropical storm came and the ash got wet, turning cementish, so the roofs are caving in. Just pray that people stay safe and God helps everything get better fast.  Also, Doug is taking a group of 30 from the church (CPPC) to Guatemala in 2 weeks… pray for a safe adventure that God guides… they may be changing tasks. 

Now… on to the trip!  As I said in the greeting, I’m in Nevada.   The last few days… weeks?... have been a whirlwind.  Saying goodbye is hard, so I replaced the goodbyes with “see you laters” but those are also hard.  It’s comforting to know that I’ll be back in the valley, at least to visit, by Fair 2011… but that’s a long ways away, and there’s much that will happen in my life and the lives of those I love back there between now and then. The seniors graduate this weekend, 8th graders get promoted the next week, there’s summer, and a whole new year of school… not to mention all the new great achievements that the swimmers will have with their upcoming seasons. Wow. I feel like a sentimental mother, but Walla Walla really has taken a hold of my heart and become my home. 

That was a deviation… anyway, I’m still in Nevada.  Last night, we slept in California.  It wasn’t raining.  And that was a really good and refreshing aspect of the night. Rain isn’t fun.  It was gorgeous too!   Tuesday and Wednesday were mostly spent going through Oregon.  It was raining and not super duper exciting, until we went to Riley.  Riley is a great little town.  I went to the post office to purchase stamps and I was the first customer of the day… it was 12:30.  I asked the lady how many people their office served and she said about 100.  The kicker is that those 100 people live in 100 square miles!  Great population density statistics!  After purchasing my 100 postcard stamps and 100 letter stamps (I plan on writing a lot), she thanked us profusely for our business and we continued along our way to Christmas Valley and 

Yep.  Crack in the Ground.  A place with that descriptive of a name had to be worth visiting, and it was.

SO COOL!  Suzanne took better pictures… her camera is pretty and I was pretty busy scampering around.  Her picture site is www.theenlightenment.shutterfly.com   And the password is 48 states.  (Note: Don’t give that to creepers.)

Well, We’re going to meet up with my aunt tonight… I haven’t seen her since I was 16… so that will be fun.  Then, we’ll continue south.  We’re on a quest for the sun!   Hope all is well with you guys!   I am incredibly nostalgic about WA right now. 

Katharine