Friday, March 25, 2011

Headed West... again...




Here we are again, after another long dry spell, our two travelers have finally decided to update us on their whereabouts and whatabouts. Last we heard, they were in Vermont, working a variety of jobs and freezing their rears off in the land of maple and cheddar. Lets check out where they are now and what they have been up to...


After they got the good news that Tasha had a job back in Washington state, they packed up the Rav4 with the essentials and took off at 3:00 AM on the first day with their sights set on a cheap hotel outside of Chicago. From there, they would push on to see Kevin's family in Nebraska.



Luckily, before they left, their young friend, Finn, outfitted the pair with enough chewing gum for their entire trip!


Which was helpful for when Kevin woke up from particularly disgusting dreams (which were nevertheless quite restful thanks to the neck pillow that Finn also bestowed upon the travelers)


Somewhere in the Midwest, the Ravioli rolled past the world's largest Truck stop!! welcome to middle america, suckers!!



Frozen banana on a dashboard? deja-vu?


Here, Kevin ant Tasha pose with Kevin's new second-cousin, Olivia, while Kevin pretends to be a Robot with no emotion or awareness of the angle of the baby in his lap....



Robbie, Kevin's Cousin's Husband, with his twin girls.


Kevin, not having the same control over the twins.


Baby Olivia, confirmed by the hospital to be a healthy little baby comprised of 85% cheek tissue.



After a brief stop in Salt Lake City, and an overnight in Bend, OR, the couple made it to grant's pass, where Kevin practiced his snuggling skills with Tasha's Mother's rottwieler, Sonya.


John (Susan's BF), Susan, Tasha and Kevin on Susan's porch in Grant's pass, OR.


Susan and Tasha, revealing their genetic similarities.


Tasha, pretending to give Kevin Piggy-Back ride.


And so, after a week of travel, the couple finally landed in Blaine, WA, to stay with friends. While driving around town, they happened upon this little four-plex near the water in Bellingham, and the price was right for them to move in a week later.


They even have a view of the water and the mountains across the way between the houses across the street!


Once they got a place, though, they decided to head out on another little excursion down to Seattle and Olympia to see friends and go for a bike ride. Above from the left is Kevin, Shane (Adam's roomate) and Adam (an old friend of Kevin's from Vermont) on a bridge over a creek on a beautiful mountain bike ride along the Skokomish river on the Olympic peninsula.



Lots of moss and downed trees... welcome back to Washington =)



After their bike ride, Shane brought the group to this old, abandoned railroad trestle, perched high above a river.



The view out from the tracks was pretty amazing.



Tasha was just a little blue spot back near the beginning of the trestle, with this picture taken from only half way across.


Adam and Shane, taking in the view.



When it was time to part ways, the Ravioli drove north along the west side of puget sound to Port Townsend, where our friends caught a ferry across the water to Coupeville, and continued on Highway 20 back tot he highway, grateful for having bypassed all of Tacoma, Seattle, and Everett traffic.



Port Townsend, as the ferry pulled away from the dock.



What a fun weekend!


So fun that Kevin decided to do some exploring later that week on his bike. He figured out how to mount the bike rack on his motorcycle, and rode down to the Chuckanut mountains, just south of town, and headed up to find Lost Lake.


Ta daaah! He Found it!


On his way back, he noticed this massive root wad sticking up into the forest almost 20 feet!



With his bike on the back, he then headed up a small road that ends at this lookout over Chuckanut bay and the San Juan Islands. Spring is officially here, and the pair are glad to be back in Washington.

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more adventures on the way!!