The job was only granted a 6 month contract though, and sadly I had to leave it May 30th. I was happy at the time to be done with the job, since I had so many plans for the summer. First Erik and I went camping together in his freshly running '74 VW Bus, to Detroit Lake and Silver Falls State Park. He had bought the bus not running, and fixed it up himself.
This was followed by taking a road trip with my friend Sheila to the Sierra Nevadas, CA, where my dad manages a resort, Reds Meadow. I have practically grown up there since I have gone every summer of my life (skipping a few when I was really young) and first learned to ride horses and discover my love for nature and wildlife. I visited my old friends and even took a few rides out for a little tip money ;).
Soon after our little trip to CA, my next stop was Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, where I went for the first time in my life with my grandma, aunt and cousin on my dad's side. It is such an amazing place, I just wish it wasn't so freaking crowded with people! We went in July, which is probably the worst time to go because of crowds, but it was still worth it. We were there for 10 days which was a perfect amount of time. We saw everything we came to see and more. I can't even go into too much detail about the place since it was so amazing to me and it would take up this entire webpage, but we definitely had our share of experiences there with both wildlife and nature. I just have to say, if you have not gone, you must.
After getting back from Yellowstone, Erik and I went to the coast for our last little bit of time together before he had to move to Arizona. He had been called for an interview about a month before he even graduated from college for a job with Intel, and was accepted soon after, so how could he not take it? And since distance with us is so difficult, we both new deep down it wouldn't work between us, so it was a hard time for me that last weekend. Our last day at the coast, he asked me if I would like to take a little road trip. Well that meant driving down with him in his VW bus from Oregon to Arizona! I said yes of course, and we left the next day.
We took the Sierra Nevada route, and went by Reds Meadow again, after camping and exploring Yosemite for 2 nights, and then made our way around Death Valley (no air conditioning, so we avoided it as much as possible!) and to Vegas where we stayed one night at the MGM Grand, which was great after sleeping in a van the last 3 nights! It was my first time to Vegas, and unfortunately since we were both broke, we didn't do or spend much, but we still had fun. My favorite casino was definitely Paris!
After getting to Phoenix with no bus troubles whatsoever, Erik and I spent 4 more days together finding things to do around Tempe. It reached 115 degrees, and not having air conditioning in the bus made it very hard to get around and see things! I also started to get very moody because I new we would have to say goodbye soon, for a very long time, and with the possibility of having to end our relationship because of the distance. The last day was very hard for me, as I am the worst at goodbyes. I flew back to Oregon after a great trip together that I will never forget.
A month went by, and during that time Erik and I tried to make it work as hard as we could, but things were getting harder and harder. I was not finding a job, I hated living back at my mom's after not living there for 5 years, and I was just in a bad place in life where time stood completely still. I'd never experienced that before, and I hated it. I've always been so lucky with jobs, and not having one was driving me insane, not to mention Erik's and my relationship falling apart. I needed to get out of Oregon, and start over. Finally Erik invited me to come down and live with him, and I did so in 2 weeks. In those 2 weeks, I had taken all of my things out of storage where my entire apartment had been the last 6 months, set up a garage sale all by myself and sold all my stuff for $300, giving the remains away to the Humane Society Donation Center. I only kept what I could shove into my little VW Jetta that Erik and I would drive down in together in 2 days. It was a very exciting, fast-paced couple of weeks. I knew it would be hard for me to find a job in my field in Arizona, but it was worth it to me to save Erik's and my relationship. I guess I'm in love ;).
So, this is where I started my blog. My first day in Arizona was my first blog on Hug a Cactus, and it goes on from there to finish off 2008. It was a great year, so full of every up and down, and so many different experiences! I'm really hoping that 2009 will be just as great, if not even better, and I hope the same for you!
Happy New Year.
2 comments:
wow, that was such a well written story. you did have a full 2008! I wish I was as motivated as you to do a recap like that. those animal pictures, did you see all that in person? the bears?
Ya, all the pics were taken in person, that's how awesome Yellowstone is! The grizzlies were at a rehabilitation center though, so that's why I was able to get so close to them. There was no fence between us, but a large gap in the ground that they couldn't cross ;)
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