Zion makes my neck hurt.

Spent the night in Zion NP. This was the view from our campsite. It was a little cool, and scattered rainshowers overnight, but not too wet. Rolled out of bed this morning, packed camp, and headed out to see the rest of Zion at sunrise. It was amazing. Too many photos to post....heading to the Grand Canyon now.

Lehi Punks

Sitting outside SLC. Todays' sponsor is Days Inn in Lehi UT.

Roads were excellent today. Smooth sailing.

Went to Shoshone Falls outside Twin Falls. Wasn't much to see.







Got to SLC and went to the LDS Temple. Weird place, but interesting. We didn't take the free tour, but we walked around the Temple Square.
Weird skies today, too.

leaving Twin Falls, ID

Well, we made it to southern Idaho. The roads were crap, averaged about 40 mph the whole way. More of the same today as we head south to Provo, UT. Phoenix is in the middle of a 100+ day drought and that's what we are looking forward to!

Mom and Dad were so great this past week. They were sad to see us go, but excited for us. A little nervous, too; you can tell by mom's expression.Yesterday was Keith's birthday, too! 37!

Yay! Internet!

Today's sponsor is Simler Tire in Kamiah, Idaho. Thanks, Jim.

We bought two new tires yesterday... Keith said the place reminded him of Cujo, but Mr. Simler was very nice and cut us a good deal on tires and there was tons of cool stuff to photograph and the fog was thick...

Cool old barn, a tire swing, and tons of parts.






See Buzznet for more.

Wrapping up the week in Idaho.

Some great friends from Missoula helped us cart all of our belongings over here and stuff them in an almost-too-small storage unit. ("Why did we keep this?") Since then, we've been vegging, dogging, unpacking and repacking. Vacation is growing on me.

We spent this week with my parents and so our adventure really begins tomorrow morning. I still can't believe it. I'm sure it will sink in as we're having a fight somewhere in desolate UT, just the kind of place one doesn't want to get left.

No photos to post b/c the laptop doesn't have internet access here and that's where the photos are, but as soon as we get to Boise there will be a deluge of photos. Warning you now. (Mom says they have wireless at her work--may try that later.)

The weather's been good. Sunny; cool, but no snow. Heard the roads were good to southern Utah. Boise> Zion> Bryce; hopefully it will warm enough to camp somewhere before we leave the States. Maybe in AZ?

Lazlo's been enjoying his freedom and we're reluctant to put him in the car for 6 hours (min.) tomorrow. Hey, it's vacation. Don't complain.

Slight break from theme: Tag

Kntgrl tagged me. So I adjusted accordingly.

Four jobs I would do in Mexico:
Drink mixer?
Tortilla maker?
Beach comber?
Hammock Sitter?

Four movies I love that reference Mexico:
Three Amigos
Y tu mamá también
From Dusk Til Dawn
Pulp Fiction

Four places I will visit in Mexico:
Chichen Itza
Oaxaca
Mexico City
Veracruz

Four TV shows I used to love before we gave our TV to my sister in preparation of going to Mexico:
The Simpsons
The Daily Show
Nip/Tuck
Bonaduce

Four places I would like to go on vacation, other than Mexico:
Alaska
South America
east coast US
Europe

Four websites I visit daily or weekly:
dooce
Google News
craigslist Mexico
waiter rant

Four foods I think I will live on while in Mexico:
beans
rice
tortillas
craisins

Four bloggers I am tagging, who are not compelled to participate:
cuchillo
amanda
orangeros
s1

My last appearance as an undergrad.

It was as tedious and drawn out as I had imagined.
Oh well.
Adios, UM.

Our Last Supper

Dinner with friends last night. With these friends, it's always a good time.

Leg 1 of The Trip: Coeur d'Alene

Keith and I are counting this as Leg One of The Trip since we are both officially unemployed and we're leaving in one week. We're eager.

We went to northern Idaho this weekend to visit my seester Amanda in her new (very cute!) apartment that overlooks Lake Coeur d'Alene. This was the sunset from her living room.

We went thrift store shopping, but didn't find much we couldn't live without.
Except some shiny surfaces and a cool mural.










We let the dog run on the beach at the lake













(hopefully the last beach we see with SNOW on it!),
ate at a couple greasy spoons,










and saw a very creative hotel.










And on the way home, we stoppped at the Old Mission near Cataldo, ID. It is said to be the first building in Idaho, built between 1850-1853. Just the size of the thing made me think of what kind of statement the missionaries were trying to make.

Now just one more week of school (it's getting hard to concentrate) and then we will head over to my parents' next Monday with all of our wordly belongings, one dog, and 2 cats we are going to beg them to foster.

We're packing up everything we don't absolutely need, making lists, trying to sell the Ranger, forwarding mail, paying bills, all the stuff you do before you move. And counting the days, of course.

The Big Push

2006! Suddenly we have only three weeks until we start our adventure.

Winter session classes start tomorrow (Jan 3-20), so I will be busy M-F, 9a-4p. Fortunately, after next Sunday my weekends will be free. We're going to visit Amanda in Coeur d'Alene on the 14th and 15th, show Keith her new apt, say goodbye. Hopefully Laura can make it over that weekend, too.

Laptop is back in the shop--still randomly freezing up. This is a Point of Contention. Update: I was issued a new laptop today, with a Pentium 4 intstead of a Celeron and with 10 more gigs of hard drive. But I still have to reinstall everything from Google Earth to my internet bookmarks. Grrrr.

Otherwise, things are proceeding as planned.

I have a feeling the next three weeks will be a blur.