The Importance of Being a Tourist

My mother-in-law was just in town for a week which meant Mark and I had the chance to play tourist in our home area. I cannot stress how much I value exploring, touring, playing, and just being in your town of residence. How many people live in Seattle but have never been to the top of the Space Needle or rode the ducks? Haven't you always heard of people living in New York City but never visiting the Empire State Building?

But Kristen! you say. Don't you live really far from any kind of big city with touristy things?


Well... yes thanks for the reminder. But that doesn't mean we don't live somewhere with fun things to tour! Every little or big town has its own gems to explore, and with a little effort and time and the right expectations you can find them! Here's what we found out and about in and near Blacksburg, VA.

First up is the Smithfield Plantation. Mark and I took my mom here when she was in town on her birthday and I knew I wanted to go back with Toni. It is a historic plantation building located on the Virginia Tech campus, built in 1774. They give a fantastic one hour tour and you can even take pictures! I found out that apparently most people from Blacksburg have never even been there, despite it's central location on the campus. Pity!

We also took the time to tour our quaint little downtown. Of course I have been downtown several times before as it is pretty much the only place to go out to eat without driving to nearby Christiansburg. However, walking through slowly you're bound to discover new things, like historical signs that actually tell you about your town! Turns out Blacksburg was named after Mr. William Black. Essential information? Nope. But definitely fun and interesting to check out things like your local friendly historical sign, enjoy your old fashioned post office, and appreciate the fact that the random buildings in the area just look cool. This is what a tourist would do, and this is what you would do if visiting a different city. Why not enjoy it in your own town?

On one of the days Toni was here, Mark, Toni, and I drove down to the Blue Ridge Parkway. While not in Blacksburg, this definitely counts as being a tourist in our hometown. Sometimes we can't believe how close we are to national parks and forests! It was a beautiful drive and we can't wait to go back during the fall when the leaves will hopefully be all different colors. 

On the drive we stopped at the Mabry Mill where the water wheel was restored and still running! Very cool.

And what do two former apartment dwellers do with their pool towels when they move to the country? Turn them into picnic blankets, of course! We explored the nearby country roads to find two historic covered bridges, and had ourselves a nice little picnic. Little did we know this would be the last cool day before the awful, awful heat wave hit us and the rest of the country (except the the PNW, which has always done its own thing.)

Turns out even the most boring of towns (cough) have plenty of cool things to check out! Here's a last pic of Mark and I at a viewpoint on the Blue Ridge Parkway:

What about you? Have you spent your weekends exploring your hometown? Made use of your free or inexpensive landmarks nearby? Taken a tour of the modest little museums in your neighborhood? If not, I encourage you to throw your camera around your neck (or in your pocket) and go out and sight see!

Sadie

Hello folks! Pardon the silence. Mark and I have been adjusting to our new lives as DOG parents. That's right! About a month ago we adopted a dee-oh-gee! So, if you're interested in dog stuff, read on! If you stopped by for travel adventures... keep an eye out for later posts and we'll catch you later!

Sadie is just over 1 year old (15months?) and she's an Australian Cattle Dog/Rat Terrier/Mix of Other shelter rescue. Like many rescues, she came home to us with many special needs and as time has gone on, we're getting to know just how much time and effort she is going to need to recover from whatever unknown life she had previously. Her biggest needs right now are being more socialized with people and other dogs and working on her fear reactivity (also known as fear aggression.) So far we're working closely with a dog behaviorist/trainer as well as reading a lot of books. We've seen huge improvements and our trainer has called her recovery "amazing." We are exhausted though! Who knew getting a dog would be so much more than walks and fetch? If you want to know more about her needs and rehabilitation, drop me a line and I'll be happy to tell you all about it. It's been quite a process but extremely rewarding.

Sadie models her gentle leader/ head collar (not a muzzle) which works to guide her similar to how a bridle guides horses. 

The longer we've had Sadie and the more she has learned to trust us and relax, the more we are learning about her silly personality. And wowie does she have quite a character! She has earned herself the nickname "Silly Sadie" in its full right. She loves to lay on her back for belly rubs, but she'll take it a step farther and fall asleep on her back. She'll toss her toys in the air and thinks rain is fun to play in. Sadie loves to climb in our laps if we're sitting on the floor and so far she has learned to stay off the couch--when we're not looking.

She is also super smart. Every day we try to teach her a new trick or reinforce an old one. Currently I'm working on roll over and Mark is teaching her "dance". There is a really fantastic book called 101 Dog Tricks that not only has a great assortment of tricks, but it has good pictures and step by step instructions for teaching them as well as beginning-advanced rankings. For dog newbies like Mark and me, this is awesome!

A lot of people have been asking us about how things are going with the cats. Well... to be honest the cats were never going to be thrilled about us bringing a dog into the house. Can you blame them? Another four paw-ed thing has taken their space and their humans! But mostly things are going better than expected, though maybe a little slower than hoped for. Sorry stereotypers... the dog does not try to kill the cats. While there certainly are dogs out there who need to be in homes without cats, in general cats and dogs can coexist given the right circumstances. So far we have a gate up so the cats can have a "sanctuary" where they can feel like they own the place. Most of the interactions have involved nose-touching and butt-sniffing. The main problem we run into is that cats and dogs speak different languages. When Mr. Finnigan puts his paw up, he's telling Sadie "GET THE FRAK AWAY FROM ME I'M GOING TO FIGHT YOU" Well... unfortunately in dog language, a paw-up is a friendly "hey, wanna play, huh? we could wrestle yeah huh come chase me tag you're it!" So, naturally, when Mr. Finnigan walks by and puts his paw up at Sadie, thinking he's warning her to stay away, Sadie thinks "ooh fun chase!" which only freaks the cat out. You can imagine this is not making budding friendships bud any faster. But on the whole, we see at the very least a lifetime of tolerance.

Sunspot for teh kittehs

I know I've been a bit dog-obsessed lately, so thanks to all who have put up with hearing me spout every other sentence beginning with Sadie! Life is actually returning to a new normal, we've been hiking and jogging despite the heat, and generally enjoying the summer. But we can smell football in the air!

Weekend Adventures--Hiking

Our new home is located about ten minutes (fifteen?) outside of the Jefferson National Forest. We've already taken advantage of two great hikes! The first was not so much a "hike" as it was a stroll. When my mom was in town we went to Pandapas Pond. This place was great for just a nice little walk, and it seemed like it was stocked with fish, should you be interested in that kind of fishing. 

photo credit Melodee Brady

It was very peaceful. If it weren't for the bugs and the heat, I might want to sit here all day and read a book! 

photo credit Melodee Brady

There were some amazing flowers (thanks mom for the pics!)

and then there was a scary Sith Lord Duck thing. Will someone PLEASE tell me what this is so I can stop worrying about it?

photo credit Melodee Brady

    Most recently Mark and I made our way to Bald Knob. The "mountains" here are so rounded that apparently they get to be called knobs instead of points. I have to say, after hiking to the top of one, while it certainly doesn't lack altitude, knob is a way better term than point. The drive up was pretty windy, but nothing the WRX couldn't handle! I have to say the beautiful country drives are turning out to be a good chunk of the fun for our weekend adventures. 

The trail itself started out at a beautiful resort that also happened to be the location for the film Dirty Dancing! For me, having grown up watching that movie, it felt as if we drove into the movie. 

Sadly we didn't get a lot of very good pictures of the resort. I guess we'll have to go back! This is what the "pond" looks like now though.

The hike itself was amazing. We took the wooded trail up and the service road down, which seems like a common set up for trails around here. The trail was narrow and steep but well kept. 

Near the top was some beautiful rock, which reminded us a little of European ruins, though this was just natural stone. Some of it was however used to make stairs along the trail. 

Finally, we made it to the top! The view was amazing! Can you see our house?

(I couldn't find our house either...)

We make a trip to an alien planet

The next day of our trip was Monday and we headed to the Petrified Forest National Park. We woke up to a little bit of snow and hail in Flagstaff and discovered the crazy winds from the Grand Canyon were determined to accompany us through the next few days of our journey.

Petrified wood is essentially wood that has been turned to rock over a long, long time. That explanation is so boring. If you want the science and supposed "truth" of it all, google is your friend. However visiting the park with an overactive imagination it is easy to see that actually what happened is we shifted to another dimension, possibly another planet when driving through the entrance of the park. Here is a video proving that there is a clear reality shift at the entrance to the park. You can see Stephanie and I are obviously being sucked into the park by inter-dimensional force.

Once inside the park we found other proof of our shift to another planet. Take these rock trees, for example. They are clearly not normal Earth things.

The terrain was also very interesting. We are thinking that America's greatest TV and filmmakers must have visited this planet before because some of our best sci-fi has to have been at least inspired by these landscapes. 

We did find some evidence of Alien Life, but sadly it seems as if the creatures have either migrated or evolved to another place as these ruins are from hundreds of years ago. 

The last vista is apparently known as the painted dessert, and once we found it we knew we were almost back to reality. But surely, surely this kind of place can't be real?

At long last we made it out of the alien planet National Park and back to our trusty I-40. Soon after, we rolled into New Mexico!

The Grand Canyon

When I last left off, we had just checked into a hotel in Williams, AZ after a long day driving on I-40. Later we posted our Mother's Day videos and after that our lack of time and slow internet combined with exhaustion pretty much stopped me from posting. So I'll continue now starting with our day at the Grand Canyon.

Everyone experiences The Canyon differently. For me, it was my third trip there and it happens to be one of my favorite places in the world. It represents much of the Earth to me, as well as some significant personal family memories I cherish. However, the Canyon is big, and can be hard to take in. Looking at it in real life can feel like you're looking at a picture or painting. It almost seems unreal. If you're not careful, the whole thing can turn into a giant existential crisis. 

In fact despite this being my third visit, and even having experienced a trip to the bottom of the canyon and back up again, I still felt as if there was a little shield up between me and the canyon. The hazy day didn't help, and the really strong winds made it feel as if we were fighting a physical force just to be there. 

We decided to hike around some of the rim trail and also down some of the first part of the Bright Angel trail. At times, we felt like the Canyon was trying to swallow us up. Maybe it was. 

You see, the Canyon is not just a big ditch or another National Park or something to take pictures of. Maybe it was the timing, or the pace, or the vast empty space, but once we got to the Canyon we all got hit with our own versions of Crisis. Mark and I were suddenly confronted with our journey, our recent months of grief, the reality of the months and years to come, and we felt the weight of exhaustion and Life being Hard like we've never felt it before. 

The Canyon is beautiful, and Grand, but also fierce. Also it was cold and windy. We made the most of it though, and still stopped to enjoy many of its best views. 

photo credit: Stephanie Lingwood

We left the Canyon that night, tired, quiet with our own thoughts, and fully aware of many miles we had left in our journey. We made it to Flagstaff where we stopped for the night, making Sunday one of only two days in our entire expedition that we woke up and fell asleep in the same state. At the end of the day, the reality of just how far we had left to go started to sink in. But we plowed on!

photo credit: Stephanie Lingwood

A rare image of Mark in his natural habitat,
photo credit Stephanie Lingwood

FYI this is yet another post that I had a hard time picking pictures. Between Mark and Stephanie we got some amazing shots. Be sure to check out the whole album in our picasa web albums! 

Home!

Per request, I just wanted to do a quick post to let everyone know that we are in our new home, with our cats and all of our stuff, safe and sound. We've been here for a week now (with our cats since Tuesday night) and the reality has finally hit us. We're exhausted but settling in! I'll definitely be writing and posting pictures eventually so just wait longer :P

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

We made three videos to say it all. We love you! 

Dear Mom,

And

Dear Mom,

And

Dear Mom,

Love, 

Your kids.

So long, California!

First, I uploaded a few pictures from yesterday. Don't forget I have link to my picasa albums on the right column of the blog. If you want something even more obvious and easier, you can click HERE

Next, here's the run down on the last two days.

Day: Two
Miles driven: 0
City: Anaheim, California

We spent our second day of our trip enjoying the Disneyland Resort. We started the morning off in the California Adventure park (DCA as most call it) and then spent the afternoon and evening in the Disneyland park. Our evening was filled with fireworks and topped off with a quick round of last minute rides. I can't believe I won't be living close to Mickey Mouse any more. I guess I'll just have to go to Disney World!

Some quick highlights of the Disney pics for those not inclined to scroll through the picasa albums:

Toy Story Mania is the best ride ever! 

Steph and Julia have a tea party

Kristen and Mark go on a cruise

Steph and Julia on Mickey's Fun Wheel

Day: Three
Miles driven: 430
City: Williams, Arizona

Today was a driving day. we made good time on the road and we're well into I-40, which will be the interstate that we spend most of our trip on. We're all done with California and have seven states to go!




Here are the cliff notes from today's pictures:

GAS off of route 66

The cost of gas at formerly mentioned gas station

Arizona State Line

Tomorrow morning we're heading a bit north to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon! When I was seventeen I went on a very special trip there with my dad and aunt and uncle (we took the mules down to the base and back) and now I can't wait to share this fantastic place with Mark and Steph and Julia.