Familiar Faces (for some)

The twins were preparing some food for us.

Austen and Jeff meet the Pacific Ocean

We had an enjoyable day at the beach yesterday on our way up from the redwood forest to Portland, OR.

Best in the southland.

While we were at L'abri we were there with quite a few people from the south. Almost all of them could hardly believe we had never been to a Waffle House. Waffle House is this wonderfully magical chain of restaurants where they serve good food at a better price. We were tempted to stop in at one many times along the road and finally did in Little Rock, AK. It was about 4, apparently a slow time as we were the only customers in there. The service was great- Renae treated us real nice. We enjoyed some waffles and a mighty fine cup of coffee. The experience couldn't have been better.

Now that we are in California, I'm not sure we'll have another opportunity to get to one. The last one we saw was in Dallas.

Petrified Forest Nat'l Park

This was at the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. Sorry for the up close shots.

New Mexico Camping

The adventures continue...

Philadelphia/D.C.

Just some shots from the last few days.

Originator of the "Philly Cheese Steak"

Liberty Bell

Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts

D.C.

Abe Lincoln

Well it was just another manic monday for jeff and austen. We left our friend josh's at 7am (which meant getting up at 6am...) to take our other friend ben to the bus station and so we could get on the road again! We made our way to Washington DC before lunch and decided to look around! Neither of us had ever been there, so it was quite the experience. The abraham lincoln memorial, washington monument and others! here's a video from the WWII memorial:



now we are in the "rodeside inn" in roanoke virginia! its a pretty classy place. we had kinda planned on camping tonight, but hit some serious snow/fog/bad weather on the way, so we splurged for the $60 hotel!

anyway, it was a full day, and we hope to get to Nashville tomorrow to visit our friend June! Stay tuned.

Cathedral

This is supposedly the biggest cathedral in the world- right in New York City. Sorry for the poor cinematography I always forget when you turn your camera, it doesn't turn on the computer.

Side note:
Apparently I'm (Jeff) a famous person magnet because we saw Alec Baldwin when we were in the city. That puts me at 2 for 2 as far as famous person sitings in New York go.

On the Road Again

We packed up and left L'abri this morning and made our way down to the Big Apple. It was sad to leave after making so many good friends and great memories, but we're looking forward to our impending trek. We're currently in Queens at my (Jeff) cousins apartment and plan to spend the day in the city tomorrow. This is a quick update and the beginning of a more consistent account of our travels as gallivant across the country.

Rainy Day Adventure.

This is a video from a little adventure we had two weeks ago.

a fireman with a nice handle bar mustache.

this is Portland's town hall

found the bank of the homeland. too bad i can't keep my eyes open.

Jeff's lovely friend, and our travelling companion sarah. (also the only picture he took all day that has a person in it)

we travelled through new hampshire, thanks for quick picture taking skills sarah

As promised here are pictures from our adventure to Portland!

Other than taking adventures to far away lands we have not been up to too much. As a canadian in america though, i am very excited about the upcoming election! i think it's pretty cool that i will be here during this momentus time! the countdown is on. oh and american thanksgiving, looking forward to that too. the other countdown is on.

please forgive the briefness and poor quality of our blogs. we seem to only be able to do it here and there at the library for 45 minutes. hope everyone reading is well!

Update

Just a quick update while I'm (jeff) at the library. Not too much to report- we took a day trip up to Maine last Thursdays (pictures to come) and we were lucky enough to attend a good Lutheran church for Reformation Sunday. A high emphasis on Lutheran. It was good. I'm not good at multi-tasking. more later.

NYC Baby!

Hey guess what, this is Paul McCartney's bass guitar. we saw it at the Hard Rock Cafe. Believe it.

Our lovely female traveling companions. Nice to know you Mishka.

Look how darling the siblings are at Battery Park.

Greenwhich Village. Moments before I (Jeff) saw Halle Berry.

Just us enjoying some coffee in New York City.

All of us. Special thanks to traveling stranger who took the picture and kindly returned the camera.

NBC. The GE building is tall.

Last thursday we made a little trip to the city to do some exploring. A good was had by one and all. We met up with Mishka (who had spent some time with us at l'abri) before she flew back to Slovakia! The Girls didn't shop as much as we thought they would, but fortunately Anna found some shoes. She was in dire need, or so she says. We also saw bandana's in a "second hand" store, they were $150. yikes. Oh, and as was afforementioned, Jeff and Josh happened upon Halle Berry. Just another day in the big apple.

Finally an update to anyone still checking the blog!

We've been living in Southborough at L'abri for almost 3 weeks now! There's about 15 other guys and gals living with us in the 19th century Massachusetts Mansion! So far it's been a pretty neat experience and we've met some interesting people! For those of you who we haven't explained L'abri to, we're not going to now. or ever. it's too hard to explain. essentially we're living in a commune out here. Our day consists of individual study time, household and outdoor work, 3 meals, lots of tea breaks and the odd lecture and discussion. We quite enjoy the pace as it is relatively slow. everyone's pretty relaxed, and the people that run the show have a good attidue about life.

we've included some pictures here for your viewing pleasure. please be pleasured.


All in all we're enjoying ourselves. time seems to be going be slow and fast at the same time. it doesn't feel like we've been here all that long, but time is flying. at the same time.

p.s. bonnie kaack, everyone here who knits thinks your slippers are incredible, and those who don't knit, agree.

I bet you thought we flaked out and stopped blogging, didn't you

So we don't have an internet connection at L'abri. Your patience is appreciated as we figure out a plan...

Boston

We've been in Boston for a couple days now. We're staying at some friends of mine (Jeff) here, Eric is attending seminary just north of Boston. Last night we got to see Ryan Adams in concert. It was a killer show. Absolutely stellar. Today we enjoyed being able to sleep in this morning and being in one place for more than one night. Austen and I took a little trip into Boston- strolled around Harvard drove around downtown, made our way out to the airport, etc. etc.

Anna has made it in safe and sound and seems to have had a good first flight experience. We head out to L'abri tomorrow so this could be the last post for a few days, we'll see.

Kingston: In Pictures

Kingston: Canada's best kept secret

After a wonderful day of travelling and visiting Austen's friends, we made it to our destination of Kingston, Ontario. We made stops in Detroit, a lovely visit with Laurie in London, and we got to see Austen's friend Rob in Toronto. We were greeted in Kingston by Austen's relatives and a dynamite meal prepared by Marlene. It really hit the spot after a long day on the road. After supper and light table talk, we took a fun walk around of Kingston lead by Joel, with many interesting facts included. Kingston is sweet. Did you know it is Canada's original choice for capital city? Neither of us did.

Ironically the pictures of Kingston will be on the next post, as the ones we had got accidentily deleted... so we're taking more in the morning. stay tuned. and don't be afraid to comment, it's twelve o'clock and no one has even acknowledged that we blogged last night. at a very late hour. a little encouragement please and thank you.

Greetings from Ann Arbor

We drove nearly 500 miles today from Minneapolis to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Stopping for fuel at various locations and lunch in Janesville, DQ of course. We conquered the mighty Chicago, it was no problem. Although we did inch along in rush hour for about an hour...

The trip is going well so far. The roads are good and the traffic is fair. Our plan is to hit up London, Toronto, and Kingston tomorrow. We'll stay at Austen's relatives in Kingston for the night!

We apologize for the lack of exciting-ness in this blog. We rolled into Ann Arbor pretty late and are planning to get and early start tomorrow. sooooo this is just a temporary blog to tide you over till tomorrow, when we will blog for real.

Anyhow, tell your friends the blog is back. and if you get a chance call Austen's mom, Karen, tomorrow. it's her birthday. seriously, call her.

stay tuned

many blogs to follow soon, stay tuned

Give Me a Good Reason Not To

I gave blood today.  It was awesome, as usual.  Except for this stupid lady who was in-front of me in line.  We were sitting in a row of chairs and as people were called to give blood we would move down towards the end.  The way it went was like move down one and then right away again and then wait 10 minutes and then move down and then immediately again and then wait.  Kind of annoying, but whatever.  So we get to the end of the chairs me, this lady in front of me and the lady ahead of her and a cot opens up so the lady on the end leaves, leaving the lady and I and an open chairs and several other people behind me.  Now, this lady wasn't morbidly obese, but she wasn't thin, either. She looks at me and looks down the line of chairs and says something about how she's not going to move over one chair.  ONE CHAIR! Lady, it's not that big of nuisance.  A minute later someone needed a place to sit, so she was FORCED to move down and moments later she was called. I just don't understand some people.  Now go give blood.  

j.

Flight of the Conchords

Joint blogging is the preferred method and luckily enough we got some in this weekend. So we hope you enjoy these funny guys from New Zealand. Inconsistency is the key to good blogging, it keeps you wanting more.

PHFF IX

Hello blog world!

I'm here to tell you all about the wonderful weekend I had out at Pretty Hill (Armena area). The Olson family put on another wonderful film festival. I, among others, enjoyed 13 different films from all over the world and from many different decades. The movie that received the highest rating was Once, an Irish film about friendship, you could say. The highlight of the weekend was of course spending it in good company. I got to hang out with Mr. Graham Jensen and Ms. Jannaya Friggstad all weekend, which was most satisfactory. Here is a lovely picutre that I took of them on my new camera.

Also, Parker and I are hopefully coming out to Saskatoon for the weekend, so heads up all of you in Saskatoon.

j.

indeed, i am sick

Well it's official - I am sick. Oddly enough it hasn't just blown over either. Usually I don't get sick, and if i do, it's for a day - two. But as today draws to a close, it is now 4 days. Headache and sore throat mostly, a little stuffiness and now losing of voice. i think i should be coming out of it pretty soon though, so i feel good about that. Both Heather and Avey prescribed Cold Fx, but I'm not a believer... to be fair I've never tried it. and to be fair again, I've only heard good things, but still. I've just been drinking a lot of tea with lemon and honey. taking the odd advil now and then. oh and vitamin c pills courtesy of Heather. I was eating them like candy, when she told me to cut back, as you can OD and get the runs... the jury is still out on that one.
Anyway, I have a mid term tomorrow and friday. If i don't do well at least i can blame it on the sickness.

Fisherman's Friend are my friends. that is all.

austen

Terrible Sleep

I had the worst sleep ever last night. It's been a really long time since I didn't enjoy my sleep - ever night I am loving life as soon as I get into bed. I didn't do much of anything yesterday, slept in, read, ate. I didn't actually leave the house till 9:30 at night to go return a movie and cruise around for a bit. When I got home I was quite tired, so went to bed before 12! Thinking I would have a nice long peaceful sleep, catching up for my lack of it during the week. No such luck. I kept having these weird dreams about indoor soccer and science. and climbing shelves like a climbing wall. I don't know. anyway, I woke up at like 4:30, 7:00, and 8:40 and got out of bed at 9! it's now 10:12. church isn't for another hour! oh not to mention when i got out of bed my head hurt and i was all achey. i hope its not the flu.

austen

Turn It Up....

I'm aware that Austen I have been "tagged." And we toyed with the idea of complying with it- but I'm more interested in seeing what happens if we don't, because so far there haven't been any ramifications.

Instead I'd like tell you all what I've been listening to lately since that was one Austen and I's main goals when we initially started the blog.

Simon and Garfunkel- Kathy's Song
Ben Folds- Jesusland
Sufjan Stevens- The Transfiguration
Bob Dylan- Ballad in Plain D
Neil Young- Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Ryan Adams- September

This is kind of a recap of the last week/week and a half. So go legally download some it and expand your musical horizons!

j.