ON THE ROAD: PARKER, CO--LAWRENCE, KS

Set off from Parker to Kansas fairly uneventfully. Windy, hilly roads through small towns and countryside...nothing much to report. (Left, a standard sample of my view for hours.) I’ve started my book on tape, which has a somewhat hypnotic effect on me, and although I can drive safely, I zone out. Hit a storm before the Kansas border and, unfortunately, ended up driving with it for hours. Picture a dark raincloud over my car only. I was really paranoid about tornadoes (well, duh, I was in Kansas right? I’ve seen the Wizard of Oz enough to know what goes on out there!) so I had to turn off my book on tape and scan the local radio for weather reports. As it was perfectly normal and safe storm (and not the doom-storm I was making it out to be), the weather was not reported frequently, so this resulted in my listening to the entire radio dial scanned for at least half an hour (think 15 second snippets of every country song known to man and throw in a 15 second bible lecture between every two or three of them). Kansas also has more pro-life billboards than I’ve ever seen in my life. Every few miles there’s a huge picture of a blonde, blue-eyed baby with sayings like “God knows their souls before they’re born” and “Did you know babies can smile before they’re born?” I would venture to say they are more frequent than fast food signs here. That, and the billboards and graffiti that simply state “JESUS IS REAL”.

In the animal department, Kansas apparently has a lot to offer, including a 5 legged steer, a 6 legged cow, and the world’s largest prarie dog, weighing in at 800 lbs. I would have been temped to see the latter, but was tipped off before I left that it is a stuffed animal and not worth the time. Of the animal life I did see, the most exciting was a spikey-looking turtle preparing to cross the road. Long neck and tail....I actually thought it was an iguana from a distance. Poor guy is probably no longer with us, as there were many cars behind me, and I doubt he had the manuerverability and speed to cross safely.

My bit of good luck for the day came when I realized I was about to get on a toll road (and after my Colorado experience, I avoid these like the plague). I blindly exited without a plan and tried to get myself to a place where I could study the map...and somehow wound up at a scenic highway that led straight to Lawrence, my destination for the night! No toll AND a view... bonus!

My bad luck, which followed immediately, was to get really, really lost in Lawrence trying to find Clinton Lake State Park, where I wanted to camp for the night. At least an hour was spent circling, doubling back, and asking strangers until I was finally on the right track, losing daylight quickly. I set up camp around 8:30 and used my brand new stove to heat up some water for a noodle bowl.

I never thought I would appreciate the bitter cold temps of Yellowstone car camping, but I have decided it’s much harder to fall asleep in hot, muggy cars with the windows rolled up (on account of the bugs). Around midnight I decided something had to be done and pulled out my roll of duct tape to McGuiyver a bug screen over the window so I could sleep with the window rolled down. Version #3 worked best, using my pillowcase duct taped to the ceiling, side doors, and the door itself. Worked rather nicely. (see right. yes, I took a picture, I was damn proud of my resourcefulness at midnight!)

THAT COSTA RICA THING...

Andy and Jenny invited their friends to go on their honeymoon with them. They want to rent a little villa and surf for a week in Puerto Viejo (Caribbean side, near the Panamanian border). They found pretty cheap tickets, and so, after mulling it over for a few days (yeah, what a hard decision huh?) I hopped on board. Only a bit scary after I found out I was the only friend who had bought tickets (aw, just the three of us!), but have since found out there’s at least one other couple going. Fifth wheel can’t be too bad, if you’re beach-bumming around in Costa.
We've reached a point where nicknames have evolved: Toona, Boop, and Droop do Castlewood Canyon. Next stop: Puerto Viejo!

As I have made this spontaneous travel plan in the middle of my already spontaneous traveling plan, I haven’t had to adjust too much. I’ve got to make it to the east coast, down through the south, and back up to Denver before the end of July (the cheapest flight left from Denver anyway...). So, back to the road...

THE WEDDING

The night before the big day, Andy and Jenny stayed up late writing their vows. I searched for airline tickets to Costa Rica at the table as well(a spontaneous decision, more on this later), and served as the third party for veto-ing or approving phrases for the bride and groom (among phrases vetoed: you are the peanut butter in my pb & j...although it would have been very cute). At almost the stroke of midnight, they finished the vows and I clicked the “purchase now” button, and we all went to bed.

I was awoken the next morning by Andy running into my room and jumping on the bed, saying “Get up! get up! It’s my wedding day!!”. This story is now infamous, as Auntie Kris was standing by and relayed the story over the phone to my mom, who got all emotional over it and now it has become the morning mom cried over the way Andy woke me up.

Jenny has got to be the most calm bride there ever was. I think I was more nervous than she was, because I had been chosen to do her hair and if I messed up, it would be thoroughly documented in all the wedding pictures and passed on to her children and children’s children and one day, a distant relative will say “wow, she’s beautiful, but what kind of a hack did her hair?”. So you see the pressure here.
I accompanied Jenny to her mom’s house to assist with her preparations. Which was pretty much nothing; she took a shower, we sniffed some body lotions to decide what was best, and then we sat out on the porch in the sun to let her hair air dry while we sipped some wine, ate blueberries, and did the crossword puzzle. We got intermittent calls from the rest of the wedding party; quick, out of breath cell phone reports on the status of the preparations elsewhere: of the rest of the family, stressed and sweaty and running around setting up at the spot, the emergency bee-exterminator call, the flowers, the table settings. When they asked how Jenny and I were doing, I told them that she was starting to stress out too, and that we were working to calm her down and get everything ready. Then I hung up the phone and we laughed and poured a little more wine... (sorry fam! the truth comes out...)
(Above, just hours away from the wedding, we're clearly stressing out...)

The ceremony was beautiful. The weather, which had been looking really threatening, cleared up just in time for the outdoor event. Jenny’s brother Dave and I served as best man/lady and managed not to trip on the walk to the front (success!) I have to admit I almost lost my composure when a bird sitting on a tree above the officiator pooped and narrowly, NARROWLY missed his shoulder. I think only Dave and I saw it, and we looked at each other and I almost burst out laughing. Jenny and Andy told me later the officiator also had a huge mosquito on his forehead the whole time, getting fatter and fatter, but they couldn’t very well slap his face as he gave a speech about love at their wedding.

Andy’s dad Steve and his uncle Bob played a guitar/mandolin duet of a Beatles song which was beautiful. Steve’s guitar strap broke in the middle of the song but he caught it before it fell, barely missing a beat. I think that made the performance that much more amazing.

The reception was great; dancing, food, australian horseshoes and games of cornhole and croquet... a lovely night and a huge success. (Unfortunately, in all the hubub of preparations and whatnot, I left my camera upstairs the entire time, so I can’t post pics!) And for the record: her hair stayed put all night! What a gorgeous bride :)

REUNITED: Denver, CO

(For those of you who are up to date on my travels, I apologize for the lagging posts...but I'm working on it!)

My quick story of the day here begins a long time ago, all the way back to my time as a Westlake Elementary Wildcat. I was best friends with a girl named Kate, and we used to tromp around the woods behind UCSC family student housing together, climb trees, and make obstacle courses for her pet rat. When she moved away in fourth grade, we decided to carry on our friendship via pen-palmanship. Surprisingly, somehow, we have remained pen pals (the old-fashioned, snail-mail type, even in this age of the internet) for some 15 odd years! Despite the fact that she has been teaching physics in Micronesia for the past year, we figured out we'd both be in Denver at the same time! (Okay, so a little internet was invloved...but still!) We had a lovely coffee and lunch catch-up session before she had to hop on a bus to the airport.Above, Kate and I. We hadn't seen each other for at least 12 years!

A CLOSE CALL: Denver, CO

Driving across the country has resulted in a somewhat unnatural relationship between myself and my trusty little matrix. As it is basically my little house on wheels, I get a little anxious when I can't see it, or have to park it on a traffic-prone street. Denver has been especially taxing on this neurotic tendency, as my cousin lives on a pretty busy area. Recently he convinced me I could park it on a side street, where I can't run to the window and check on it. I was very reluctant, but he assured me over and over that nothing would happen to it. The weather turned super stormy that night and the next morning I got a call from Andy, who had left for work early. He had passed my car and wanted to tell me that it was okay before I came upon the scene: traffic cones surrounding my car, and not two inches behind, a giant fallen branch. Had I backed up even a foot more, poor little matrix would have suffered a mighty blow.

June: Sounds of Parker

Wedding fast approaching; days have been spent sewing pearls onto the veil, designing the seating chart, getting hair accessories for the bride, and playing ukulele with my grandmother. Not much time for a full blog update, but wanted to share what Parker sounds like at night. Wildlife points to anyone who can identify what animal sounds are filling the canyon behind the house (and sometimes underneath my bedroom window!) in the following clip. Hint: It doesn't have feathers.

MAY 27: CASTLEWOOD CANYON

Andy and Jenny came down from Denver today and took me bouldering in Castlewood Canyon. Really fun...you're not as high up, but you don't have a rope, either. Instead you pack in these big packs of crash pads (see left) to set up below the rock in case you fall. So much fun to watch these two climb, but when it came to be my turn, I think I set new records in awkwardness. I found that one of the hardest parts of bouldering is actually getting back down again! I spent a lot of time hugging rock.































































Luckily, I improved a bit with practice, and by the end of the day I had climbed a V1 problem! (see above: how do I get down now?)

MAY 26+ LIFE IN PARKER

I'm being a super slug about updating blogs...
Life in Parker is nice and mellow, doing painting and reading with Auntie Kris. On Wednesdays she babysits for her art teacher's children, Ella and Sam. I'm not much help here; Ella cries simply when I walk into the room, apparently because I have dark hair (her entire family is blonde...). So, that always starts us off on the right foot. Sam, who is 3, is obsessed with the letter W. He carries a foam W around and shows it to everybody and is also a whiz at spelling. He arranges his foam alphabet into various 3-letter words. As a joke, his dad asked him to spell butterfly. Sam looked up and said 'no dad, we don't have two T's'. Scary smart kid.

I posed for photos that Kris is going to use in her new paintings. Lots of wardrobe changes...including my pajamas, three different wedding dresses, a sarong, and a raincoat. Interested to see how the paintings come out...

I've also been helping Kris teach her kid's art class. The biggest challenge has turned out to be not lesson planning, but keeping the conversation less Britney Spears and more Frida Kahlo. We'll be doing self portraits soon... should be interesting.

Bolder Boulder operations continue to impress me; I just got an email with a link to all the photos that were taken of me during the race. Too cheap to actually buy any, but pulled the copyrighted images to at least prove I ran...and that I had a huge goofy grin on my face the entire time! An example: