How Could I Forget About Utah?!

Sooo, apparently it's been longer since I've last blogged than I thought. I forgot to tell you all what we did in Utah!

We stayed with our friends Jeff and Rebecca Shores in Orem, which is a little south of Salt Lake City. We originally planned on staying with them for one night, then driving to Arches National Park, but we decided it was a much better idea to hang out with them for an extra day so we could take some time to relax.

On Saturday, we drove into Salt Lake City and looked around at two malls (yes, malls... it was so fun and entertaining). The first mall (which I can't remember the name) was the biggest mall I have ever been to! It was more like an outlet-type mall, where all the store entrances are outside. Next, we went over to the LDS Temple, which, for being a famous religious site, was extremely tourist-y. It also could have been because there were probably five or six weddings happening there as well, but there were loads of people walking around and taking photos.

After that, we went to the world's cleanest, fanciest mall: City Creek Center. Apparently, Rebecca claims she has seen its custodial staff walk around and clean up the tiniest of messes off the ground before anyone could even notice it. We got lunch in the food court, where I had the most delicious gyro from Mykonos, then we headed back to the Shores' place. Rebecca is an amazing cook, so we were pretty darn spoiled while we were there. Friday night she made us shrimp scampi, homemade biscuit and gravy for breakfast on Saturday, steak for dinner, and homemade strawberry compote to put on waffles on Sunday morning.

Even though we didn't do much, it is probably one of my favorite stops so far. It was great to just take a day to chill out, not worry about much, and site-see.

Dear Utah,
I'm sorry I forgot to blog about you before I blogged about Colorado.
Can we still be friends?

Sincerely,
Emily (and Keith)

Colo-rad-bro!

Sorry for the delay, everyone! We had a loooong (but good) day yesterday.

Sunday night, we arrived in Erie, CO, where our buddy Doug lives. We didn't plan our day super well, so we left Orem, UT at around 11:00 a.m. hoping to get to Doug's before too late. The drive ended up taking us around 11+ hours, with stops for gas, food, and stretching in between. The night before we looked up the drive on Google maps, and either had the faster options of going back up through UT, through Wyoming, then down to Colorado, or taking the pretty, scenic route straight through to Denver.

Of course, we chose the pretty route. And it was a great decision! The scenery started off looking a lot like Utah--big canyons, pretty red rock, the occasional brown river. The highway then started gaining elevation. Green trees starting popping up. Huge hills with ski lifts appeared. Then, we realized, we had chosen the route which takes you by some of the country's most famous ski resorts: Aspen, Vail, Breckenridge, etc. Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pics, but these resorts were huge! And still beautiful even without the snow.

Eventually, we made it down, past Denver, and on to Doug's place in Erie, which is barely outside of Boulder. We decided that it was a good idea to wake up at six (even though we got there around 11:30 or so), so that we could climb the First Flatiron and beat the heat. We (planned on) climbing the direct face route, but Doug apparently went off route and took up up through this little slot about 300 feet shy of the top.  If he hadn't told us, we would have assumed it was right, but he was pretty bummed that we missed

it. Overall, it wasn't a bust, and we had a blast.

After the climbing and hiking, Doug took us in to downtown Boulder to look around. After hanging out there for a day, I've decided Boulder is a combination of Portland and Eugene... There are hipsters who claim to be hippies, loads of outdoor enthusiasts, funny shops, a big university, and strange one-way streets. To be honest, it's the most at home I have felt since my last visit to Eugene. I'm seriously considering moving there someday...

After walking around for a bit, we met Doug's brother Codey and his son Michael (the funniest four-year-old ever) at Beau Jo's. The pizza was amazing! Apparently, the crust is meant to be eaten with honey once you've finished your pizza, so it's like getting dinner and dessert all in one. This crust probably rivals American Dream's in Corvallis, and I hope I won't lose my Oregonian status by saying that... After dinner, we grabbed some beer, went back to the house, had a little bonfire in the backyard, and just chilled out for the night.

Thoughts on
Boulder, CO:
Food: Great.
Coffee: Great (lots of hipster coffee shops).
Beer: Mediocre (but I mean, really... Who can beat Oregon?).
Scenery: Top notch.
Outdoor activities: Surprisingly accessible, beautiful, and abundant.
Weather: Well, it rained yesterday. And I love rain. But apparently it's not usually like that. But I'll give it a thumbs up.
Location: Cool. Close to Denver, near a bunch of smaller cities. Lots to do.
Possibility of living here someday: High.

Now, we're hanging out in 2914 Coffee (serves Kaladi Coffee Roasters beans),  a little shop off the I-25 in Denver. I give it the stamp of approval. Reminds me a lot of the clean hipsters coffee shops in Portland. Today, we're diving south and hoping to find somewhere in northern Texas to stay. Tomorrow, we're planning on driving to San Angelo to visit Jeremiah Bridges while he's still at the Air Force base. We should be in Austin by Thursday!

Thanks for reading. Wish us luck!

-Emily (and Keith)

City of (really hot) Rocks

Greetings, blog-readers! Here's the next update from our trip to Texas!

Wednesday night, we drove from Twin Falls, ID to City of Rocks National Reserve, just outside of Castle Rock State Park.

Before we left, we went to the bookstore to grab the CoR guidebook. There were two options: a big, blue book that had a lot of information and cost $24, or a small Falcon Guide that was $8... Having great success with our Falcon Guide to Smith, we chose the cheaper. However, after hours of confusion, misdirection, and anger, we realized this book was last updated in 1997... Fortunately, we met a couple guys who guide in Moab, UT who let us peek at their book. Unfortunately, most of the routes required either two ropes (we have one), a 70m rope (we have a 60m), or trad gear (we only have four pieces).

By lunch time, we were feeling rather defeated by the heat. Instead of trying to chase the shade and find more climbs, we went scrambling down this sweet canyon, into

a sea of rock towers and trees. We found this secluded cave where we decided to take a book break (with Bart, of course).

After we found our actual campsite (we slept off the road the night before because we couldn't find it), we went down towards the Visitor Center in Almo, and found Rock City, a convenience store/restaurant. There, we had the most delicious pizza ever, but then again, our standards were pretty low because we had Tootie Frooties for breakfast and lunch. After pizza and a cold beer, we went down the road to Durfee Hot Springs, where we spent about three hours chilling in a hot pool, discussing our road trip plans with a couple women (who also asked if we were "rappellers," to which we just said yes to avoid any confusion).

The night ended with a nice fire and a couple chapters of the audiobook "Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls" by David Sedaris. We fell asleep to a beautiful moon peaking over the large rock formation in front of us, and woke up in a pool of sweat from the 80 degree morning weather. Overall, it was worth the trip, and we definitely want to go back!

We just went to lunch at the Bayou in downtown Salt Lake City, UT for lunch. Now, we're taking a wifi break at Millcreek Coffee Roasters before we hit the road for another hour to see Jeff and Rebecca in Orem!

Keep checking out our Facebook pages for photos!

Peace out for now,
Emily (and Keith)

Idaho, huh?

So, Idaho's a fun place. Sorta.

As we left Portland yesterday morning, we were in denial that Oregon would soon be gone. Within 30 minutes of leaving Allie and Aaron's house, we stopped at Multnomah Falls. Also, as you may have noticed on Facebook, we have a little travel buddy with us now, Bart the Adventure Beaver. Bart was a huge fan of the falls, as most usually are. Not even five minutes away from the falls, we pulled over to a fish hatchery... Check out what we saw! Crazy-huge Sturgeon! (see pic below with Bart).

After a good pep talk, we finally decided it was time to focus and make it to our first destination: Twin Falls, Idaho. We passed through a few noteworthy eastern Oregon cities, such as Pendleton, La Grande, and... Well, that's about it. Not much happened other than almost running out of gas (because Keith misread the miles on a sign), almost hitting an old lady with our car, and spending way too much time and math thinking about how good of mileage our car was getting.

Then, Idaho.

Fields of yellow-ish brown, flat landscapes, straight highways, the occasional cow. Really makes me wonder why people would live anywhere other than Boise (fun fact: Boise is the largest city between Salt Lake City and Portland, at around 215,000 peeps).

When we got to Twin Falls, where Keith's buddy Heath and his wife live, we went to Gertie's Brick Oven Cookery, where they basically make every pizza combination imaginable, walk around to your table and offer you a slice, and all you have to do is sit there, eat loads, and then eat more loads. They also had dessert pizza, which was hard to say no, so, I didn't... And I think I tried ten different dessert slices alone. After our pizza coma had commenced, we went back to Heath and Casey's, watched some Parks and Rec, and slept on the most comfortable air mattress ever (however, we've been sleeping on the floor for a month, so our standards are pretty low).

Fun facts about Idaho:
It's pretty flat in Southern Idaho.
Twin Falls is located right next to a decently sized canyon, and you can base jump off the bridge without a permit.
The first characters on car plates indicate which county the car was registered.
Boise is really the only noteworthy city.
You can drive to a lot of fun places from Southern Idaho: Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons. Which makes it really easy to not stay in Idaho.
Idaho is really tall.
That's about it.

Tonight we're heading to City of Rocks National Reserve and Castle Rock State Park in the south eastern corner of Idaho. We'll be staying there for a couple nights, then heading to Orem, UT to see Jeff and Rebecca!

If you would like to see more pics from our trip, check out my Facebook! I'll be adding them soon. Also, for more fun updates and such, be sure to check out the tag #oregon2texas on Facebook and Instagram. Yay, hashtags! 

America!

#Oregon2Texas

As many of you know, Keith and I are about to make the trek from Corvallis, OR to Austin, TX.

For those who don't know much about Texas (which was me several months ago) often ask why while also having some tone in their voice that suggests our move is a strange decision. Why move away from Oregon? Why aren't you moving back to Eugene? Or to Portland?

Great questions! I'm here to answer those for you.

Back in November, I went to the Association for Outdoor Recreation and Education (AORE) Conference in Salt Lake City, UT. Before then, I didn't really know what I wanted to do after OSU. My major was Digital Communication Arts (which is basically a fancy way of saying I studied social media and journalism), but I didn't really want to do anything in that field. I had no idea what I wanted to do. At AORE, I was surrounded by professionals from all sorts of companies and universities around the country who value outdoor experiences, recreational and educational, and are totally psyched on exploring our world and appreciating its beauty. After thinking about it, I realized that adventure education provides me with the opportunity to do everything I've ever wanted: play outside, learn new sports, teach others, provide students with leadership opportunities, develop programs where students can experience the outdoors for the first time.

Ok, check. I figured out what I want to do. Now, where do I go?

Just before Christmas, one of my bosses sent me a link to a graduate assistantship posting for the University of Texas at Austin. I checked it out. It looked legit. I quickly signed up for the GREs (the worst test I have EVER taken), and scrambled to get my references and application finished in a very short time. Long story short, I was offered the GA position, eventually accepted in to the Higher Education Administration Program, then broke the news to our family and friends that we'll be moving to Austin in late July (which is right now...  in case anyone didn't know that).

Keith and I leave tonight for our new adventure. We're starting in Portland and heading to Twin Falls, ID tomorrow to stay with some friends.
Here's some FAQs:
Are you driving to Austin?: Yes.
Are you bringing a U-Haul?: No, we're only taking what fits in our car. Just clothes, outdoor gear, and kitchen stuff (the essentials).
Are you going to die from the heat down there?: Yes, what a stupid question. It's hot as balls down there.
Are you excited?: Yes, of course. It'll be more exciting though if people started making plans to visit us right now...
What's Keith going to do?: He's looking in to carpentry apprenticeship programs. If that doesn't pan out, there's a local outdoor gear company and a rock gym who are asking for him.
How long is your program?: 2 years.
Are you going to move back to Oregon?: Some day! I don't really know when... Calm down people.
Are you going to be back to visit?: Hopefully Christmas, maybe next summer.

Yes, we're excited. No, we're not really ready. But we're leaving tonight either way.

Thanks for reading this! We'll be posting our stops along the way! First stop Idaho, then Utah, Colorado, and then straight down to Texas.

We'll keep you updated!
-Emily (and Keith)

College Knowledge

Here are some helpful hints I've learned through my five years of college. Don't worry, it's nothing mushy... But, to all you high school grads, I hope this finds you well and helps you in your journey!

College Knowledge

1. Buy a Razor Scooter. And make your friends get one, too.

2. Keep an old sleeping bag in your car. Makes for a good blanket any time of day.

3. Drink coffee. If you don't like coffee, learn to like it. It's worth it.

4. Buy a coffee maker, and, most importantly, learn how to use it correctly.

5. Invest in a road bike. You look cooler and they go faster.

6. Become an expert on some TV sitcom. You'll meet someone with the same passion, and you'll instantly be best friends.

7. Hot pockets are delicious... And don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

8. Go to Smith Rock State Park. At least once. It's beautiful. Oh, and make someone take you climbing.

9. Reread Harry Potter. If you never read them as a child, find out what you've been missing.

10. Get involved in some on-campus group or club. You'll quickly find that there are lots of people with weird interests... Just like you.

11. Bunk beds are one of the best space savers ever.

12. Never underestimate the power of candles and air fresheners--A college household necessity.

13. You can put anything in pancakes. Bacon, raspberries, Charleston Chews, etc. Seriously.

14. Don't eat too much Ramen.

15. Expired milk is usually OK. Usually...

16. Find out where your local Applebee's is. Half-priced appetizers after 9:00 p.m. if you buy a drink. Best. Deal. Ever.

17. Never take an 8 a.m. class during winter term. Bad things happen.

18. You'll end up spending most of your time doing stuff like this:

 

Don't worry. This kind of behavior is encouraged.

19. Invest in a box of Otter Pops. Seriously, it's only $3 and you get 100.

20. Learn how to Slack line. If you don't know what that is, look it up.

21. Make forts. At least once a term.

22.  Avocados go good with every thing. Every. Thing.

23. Don't take life too seriously. It's not like you're getting educated for your future or anything like that...

24. Don't freak out if you change majors. It's better to be more well-rounded.

25. Buy a giant stuffed bear from Costco. Trust me.

Well, that's it for now! Thanks to all my friends, past roommates, and co-workers for inspiring my list. I'm sure it will grow as I finish my last two terms of college.

Yay!

I have to be a grown-up

I came to the realization the other day that I'm getting married in less than three months.
More specifically, in 82 days.
What freaked me out the most was realizing that once I get married, I'm basically old... A big grown-up. I'll probably have to learn how to cook, take better care of my home, probably join some type of book club and learn how to knit.
Yes, I realize that may be a little off, but Keith and I were talking about this the other day: Once I find out that someone in college is married, I instantly feel as if they have so much more life experience than me. And the more planning and organizing I'm having to do for my own wedding, the more respect I have for others who have done all this while still in school.

Most blogs tend to have a theme... And I honestly don't know if I have one. So, I've decided one of the things I'll write about: engagement and married-people things. The closer I get to the date of our wedding, the more I realize I have no idea what it's like to be a grown-up, or even a wife. So perhaps you fine people who read this can offer some advice.

Another freak out I've had is realizing that in 82 days, I have to look super hot. 200+ people will be staring at me for the majority of the evening. Those of you who know me well know that I have no issues being up in front of a lot of people. But when the focus becomes how pretty I look, it terrifies me.

Anyway, I've started a work-out plan. So far (a whole four days...) it's been working pretty well. And it helps that the weather's been decent lately. Like many Oregonians, my productivity is highly dependent on the weather.

Here's my plan so far:
Monday: Run 3 miles, do 30 min of exercises, Yoga
Tuesday: Run 3 miles, do 30 min of exercises
Wednesday: Yoga, climbing
Thursday: 30 min of exercises
Friday: Run 3 miles
Saturday: Time permitting, do something...
Sunday: Take the day off

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Helpful hints?