A Very White Christmas!

Well I must appologize it's been two weeks since my last posting! Soon after going to the Grand Canyon, I went home to Salem to have Christmas with the family. I was one of the very lucky ones who only had a delayed flight, and no cancelations. Erik was not so lucky, and since he was planning on coming home three days after me, he had 2 cancelations in a row, followed by being stranded in Salt Lake City. He did get a flight into Eugene though, a day later than he had hoped to get home, and got a ride to Salem.

It was so wonderful coming home to almost a foot of snow! Salem hadn't had a white christmas since 1990, the first year we moved to Salem. So I immediately took advantage of the wintery wonderland, and went out with my dog. For those of you that have long-haired dogs and snowy winters, you'd know that snow gathers on the hair on their legs like snowballs, and just get bigger and bigger until they can no longer pick up their feet! Poor Hoss only got to this point about 2 blocks away where we had to turn around and go back.




The next day we had an ice storm, which I enjoy because of the beauty, but it really sucks trying to get anywhere. Many people were hospitalized due to falls and car accidents, and a lot of people didn't get to finish their last minute Christmas shopping.



And because of this ice storm, Erik couldn't come home yet, and our power went out for 3 miserable days. (The picture above of the fallen tree is the culprit.) It got down to 47 degrees in the house, and we had to decorate our tree in the dark :(. Apparently about 1400 people were out of power in Salem for at least 8 hours. I'm just happy it came back just in time for Christmas Eve cooking so we could eat a huge hot meal of my Granny's traditional Christmas dinner: ham, yams, potatoes, green beans with almonds, rolls and jello salad, all of which I made (except for the smoked ham, Tom did that) all by myself ;).

The next morning we awoke to snow on the ground (yay!) and my Gran and Bump came over for presents. This was the first Chritmas we were able to have them since 1993, so it was great having them with us. Hoss even helped my gpa open his present!

It did turn out to be a very nice Christmas, and I'm glad the ice storm left us just in time. Hope you all had a great Christmas as well!

The Grand Canyon!

This last weekend Erik and I met his parents up in Sedona, AZ (about 115 miles North of Phoenix) where they were staying the past week at a resort. The whole area is completely different from Phoenix. The elevation is about 3000ft higher, so it was felt more like winter there! The area is so amazing. Sedona is quite the resort town, with little shops and hotels along the strip. Beautiful Red Rock was all around us. They are all completely different, with names very fitting, such as "Coffee Pot", "Bell Rock", and even "Linus and Lucy" and "Snoopy and Woodstock".

Erik's parents kept good care of us while we were there and spoiled us with 4 big meals that Sedona Restaurants had to offer. I highly recommend ordering the belgian waffle at The Coffee Pot Restaurant. They also drove us all around the area to show us different sites, and tell us about the dino tracks, hiking trails, and "vortexes" (nothing like the Oregon Vortex I must add!) Sedona also still had leaves on most of the deciduous trees, so this left for a very nice view of colors in the valley.


Well the biggest reason to go North, was to of course see the Grand Canyon! The drive to the canyon was pretty cool, because of how different the land seems from just 200 miles to the South, in Phoenix. The Flagstaff area reminds me a lot of Central Oregon, with a lot of Ponderosa Pine and Juniper, as opposed to nothing but cactus and sagebrush in Phoenix. There of course is a lot more wildlife there, with mule deer, elk, and even black bear. And as a side-note, driving along the interstate we almost hit a tumbleweed the size of our car...

When we reached the Grand Canyon, it was very cloudy. But it cleared away fast because the winds were blowing between 20 and 40mph, with gusts up to 60mph! There were moments we were almost blown over. So with the cold winter weather, adding wind chill, the temperature was around freezing. So you can see why we are all bundled up ;) (P.S. the low that night was 1 degree, and it snowed 3 inches.)




It was jaw-dropping. It was my first time ever going to the Grand Canyon, and it was much more amazing than I imagined. I thought we were going to go and do the Chevy Chase bit in "Vacation" and walk up to the edge, stand there for 2 seconds and go "ok, I've seen it", but it was much more amazing than that. We stopped at every lookout we could, since every view was completely different. It was so picturesque, and almost unreal. I felt like I was staring into a large photograph. Erik and I will definitely be going back in the spring, and do some hiking, and for SURE some mule-back riding down to the bottom!

The Arizona "Hippie"

Today at Walmart I saw a personalized licence plate on a huge over-sized gas-guzzling truck that read "Protect our Environment". Are you freaking KIDDING me?? It might as well have been a Hummer driver shopping for organic foods. And I must add there are plenty of those people down here.

Thanksgiving!

I just spent the last week and a half all over the place... Let's see... Started out in Tucson, AZ for the OSU/UofA game, where the Beavers ROCKED IT!

Then had FriendsGiving at a friends house where I got to meet a lot more people our age from the area (Intel people and their girlfriends/wives). Then Erik and I flew into Oregon on the 24th. I had a great time catching up with the fam and friends, and cooking most of the Thanksgiving meals (Tom did the smoked turkey and desert (pumpkin crembule), and I did the rest: mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans w/almonds, etc.) We had my grandparents over, who haven't had Thanksgiving in Oregon since the early 90's! It was perfect. As you can see my Gpa, "Bumper", loved the turkey!

That weekend Erik and I went to Newport, OR to camp in a yurt (see image below) and go crabbing with 6 other friends from Corvallis. We had a blast, although we had the worst luck ever that weekend! The Beavers LOST the Civil War game horribly (if they had won we would have had a big chance at the Rose Bowl), the girls lost all our money at the casino, the racoons ate our apple pie (yes, Kevin did leave it out on the porch while we were gone), and after 5 hours of crabbing, the guys only caught ONE CRAB! Pretty lame. But the weather was beautiful and the company was great.

After getting back in Salem, my Uncle Mike and I helped my grandparents get organized in their NEW HOME. For those of you family members reading this, I will be sure and take pictures of it for you when it's all finished (when I go back for Christmas). It is SO much nicer than their other place. This is more of a house than an apartment; it has a large living room, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a FULL KITCHEN which of course Bumper LOVES, a gas fireplace, and get a load of the backyard: a duck pond with a waterfall in view of their living room window, with 2 swans that hang out there almost every day. It's wonderful. They are both so much happier.

So that was the end of a great week. Now Erik and I are back in Arizona, with him working and me getting back to figuring out things to do around here!

Camelback Mountain Climb

Yesterday Erik and I climbed Camelback Mountain in the heart of Phoenix. At only a mile in length, the elevation gain was 1,264ft (total elevation of the mountain 2,704ft). So it was a very strenuous hike, and pretty difficult for someone that has not done any strenuous activity in over a month! Getting my fat ass up that mountain took 2.5 hours. The "trail" was either steep steps, boulder hopping/climbing, or there were a couple points where there was a rail to help pull yourself up the rocks, it was so steep.

This is a view from about 1/4 of the way up:

To the right is the summit of Camelback:

Roadrunner!
The view was pretty awesome once we got to the summit.

Some people are freaking insane! Apparently people race up that thing in less than 30 minutes, and some people even bring their toddlers up! I don't see how... But I must say, coming down was almost more difficult than going up because our legs were so tired. It was intense. Great workout, but definitely something to do when you're in better shape!

1st Dust Storm

Yesterday we had the first dust storm since I have arrived here. It started out really windy, and thunderclouds were rolling in, so we were sure we were going to get some rain, but just as the rain started, it got even windier (and the rain stopped only minutes after it started), and a half hour later we looked out the window and could barely see across the street! We live in Chandler, which is on the outskirts of Phoenix, and passed the suburban area is nothing but desert dirt. Well most of it ended up covering Chandler. It was pretty insane!
This was around 4pm at our apartments:



Pretty gross, huh? I even thought about washing my car that day before this happened, and I'm glad I didn't!

This is a video from last year, in Phoenix:


Apparently we have a lot of dust storms to look forward to until May... Welcome to the desert!

Phoenix Zoo vs. Portland Zoo

Erik and I went to the Phoenix Zoo yesterday. For those of you that don't know, I had applied there before moving down here, to work as an interprative speaker, but did not get the job (I must add I was the only phone interviewee). But now I can say that I am very happy I did not get it. First thing we come to at the entrance is a woman asking if we would like our picture taken together. Um, no thanks, can you not see this large camera slung around my neck? I'm not going to pay $20 for a picture you take of us on your dinky little digital when I can do it myself the "fun way". So that was annoying. But the thing that bothered us most was, at every single animal exibit, the animals were so depressed. They looked terrible. I didn't see one that looked happy. It WAS the middle of the day, and quite warm out, so most of them probably would be sleepy and "deperessed looking" anyway, but I know the difference between hot and tired and depressed. I understand zoos are places animals go when the other option is to be euthinized, but sometimes I think that that's a better way to go.
I've been to the Portland Zoo many times, and the animals there definitely are happier. They play with each other, have more space to run, and you just leave feeling good about the place. I felt so different leaving the Phoenix Zoo. The animals each had a very small fraction of what they would normally need (not necessarily in the wild, since most animals have a very large range and that is impossible to do in a zoo, but enough to make them happy). For example the bald eagle cage was about half the size of my apartment... And take a look at this:

You can just see it in the rino's eyes :(.

Then there's the Portland Zoo. I took this a few months ago when we went to visit the baby elephant. This polor bear was one of many happy looking animals. This guy played and played while we were watching him, and was before and after we left. I was very happy leaving the Portland Zoo after the account. The first one is of him sunbathing taking a "breather" from throwing around the pink thing that's with him, and the second is of the same one with a bucket over his head swimming on his back. This is all after watching him take a running leap into the pool like a dog to catch his toy he flung in. So dang cute.

Anyway, I'm just glad I'm not working at the Phoenix Zoo cuz I would just come home depressed every day! Don't think I'll be going back there any time soon. Go Portland Zoo!

Hollyween!

So I tried something new this Halloween and went scary instead of funny or the normal everyday black cat or hippie. I thought I'd show you my totally awesome costume since it seriously took me 15 minutes to get ready and it cost me NOTHING!! Now that's the way to go. Why spend over $50 on something that was made for $10 or less?? Homemade costumes are the best. I borrowed the hideous dress from Erik's friend's wife, and death-ified my face with light make-up and dark eyes... Oh and the blood I borrowed from some random guy at the bar. We went to a brewery in Chandler, with a live band, where everyone else in Chandler hangs out. Pretty fun!

Hiking the "Lost Dutchman"

Yesterday Erik and I drove about 40 minutes away to Lost Dutchman State Park to go hiking. It's one of the closest mountains to Chandler, and it has some pretty awesome geology going on. We left around 10am to get most of the hiking done in the cooler hours of the day. It really wasn't bad at all, considering we did leave later than planned... It was probably in the mid-80's but the breeze was nice and cool. It was so great to get out and go hiking! And to be able to see more of Arizona wildness, not just civilization like we see every day.

Cacti are seriously quite crazy to me still. They are so much like trees (in areas that have died it looks like bark of a tree!). And they have roots like a tree, and everything. I might be sounding silly, but hey, this is the first time I really have been up close to these things! These large ones are called Saguaro Cacti.

These were taken at the top of the trail that we took. Quite a view we had. Next time we'll go even further.


This one is called a Cholla Cactus, and is apparently the most common cactus in Arizona. The first pic is a baby of the 2nd pic (the first one is about a foot tall, and the 2nd is about 6 ft).


I just liked this one cuz of the odd cactus...

And this one I HAD to throw up here, just for this blog! I'm huggin' a cactus (a.k.a the title of this blog..)! And I would advise you to do otherwise cuz it wasn't the most comforting hug I have had...

And the end of our hike..

We were back by noon and had a refreshing rest of the day relaxing.

Our home

If you're wondering what our apartment looks like well here's a little summary. When I first moved in, all we had furniture wise was a coffee table but no couch, a desk but no chair, and a bed. We used Erik's couch/bed mat from his VAN for the couch, and a stool thing from his van for the desk.
BEFORE:








The past week we have gotten a lot done--The kitchen is now stocked with food, we have a $995 couch that we bought for $381(!) (JC Penny Furniture going-out-of-business sale, baby!), a bookshelf, and floor lamp. Feelin' pretty good about the place.
AFTER:









Looks a little better, huh? Here's a little more of the place--the deck, and rest of the complex....

We also have 2 pools, and a lake/pond on the property. That's another thing about Phoenix; everywhere you go there are pools, lakes, fountains, waterfalls. The landscaping is insane here. There's no litter on the ground and it's very well kept up.

If anyone ever wants to come down and visit (please do) we have an extra bedroom! We are also looking into getting a dining room table here eventually (Erik calls it a breakfast room table cuz it's going to be small) and hopefully something for our guests to sleep on when they come. Chandler is a nice place, but I must warn you: everyone drives like a bat outa hell, and every once in a while the air smells of poo...