Just Can't Get Enough...

...of friends, food and travelling. We spent yesterday and this morning in Lawrenceburg, KY, visiting our friend Keith. He took us on a private tour of the Wild Turkey whiskey distillery and I got loads of pics of the distillery process. Pretty cool. Keith is a really good cook, too, so Ads and I have eaten well these last few hours!
Kika is doing well, although she is not very happy with her new "berthing" arrangement. I got a collapsible nylon pet kennel several months ago, thinking it would be suitable for Shabbi, but never ended up using it. It has come in quite handy for Kika as we've been staying at our friends' homes. However, not only does she hate it, and try to get out, but she has actually mastered her escape plan several times now. I've had to lock the two zippers in place so she can't unzip the kennel and climb out. She has NOT been happy about this.
We are now about to get on the road to Nashville, TN to see our good friend Michelle and her family. I'm super excited about seeing them all, as it's been awhile since the last time they were in Michigan for a visit. I'll be sure to post pics of our visit, as I'm sure the camera will be flashing away in the next 24 hours.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Greetings from Louisville, Kentucky. Adam, Kika and I are here for the weekend visiting our good friend Steve and his family. From here, we head to Lexington to see yet another friend before we really hit the road toward Florida!
My very talented sister and brother-in-law were in the Macy's Day Parade today carrying the Hello Kitty float, in case you were watching. I'm sure they were great!
Hope everyone is filled to the bursting point and look forward to catching up with you all soon.
Much love,
Lauren, Ads and Kiks

more pics

just a few more for your viewing pleasure...


We made it to Yellowstone! Adam couldn't wait to see Yogi, but alas! the bear populations (both black and grizzly) had already entered hibernation, so we didn't see Yogi or any of his relatives this trip...:-( We did see tons of elk and were stopped for about an hour at the park's exit by a herd of bison that wouldn't let us pass!


The magpies were intent on tormenting poor Kiks...park regulations won't let you take your dog out on most trails for fear of wildlife encounters (Kika would definitely be a "prey" item), so we had to keep her in the car for most of the visit.


Adam in the mist...here, we were visiting one of the many thermal pools that were fantastically active during our visit. You have to be VERY careful around them, though. Loads of people have fallen in only to have their skin melt off them in a matter of seconds, and then die quickly thereafter.


Good Ole Faithful...we got to see her erupt twice. We have a great video from our first visit.

some pics...

Here are some of the places we visited on our cross-country venture. I know pictures are much more fun to see than having to read the blah-blahs of what's going on with us, so here ya go!


Adam with his hot new girlfriend in Malibu...actually, his hot and incredibly sweet cousin


Adam with his hot new boyfriend at the Getty museum...he and Leroy got to be great pals over in Iraq and we got a chance to hang out with him on several occasions once the guys were back stateside


Lover's spat


Ads in San Fran with the (Golden Gate? Bay?) bridge behind him


Whoever said 6'3" is tall?


Once we made it back up to Roseburg, we did a lot of hanging out with two of my favorite people, Janice and Art


We went into Portland with our friend Eva-Maria for a Halloween club event. Can you guess who this character is?


Bride of Frankenstein...


Alexandra and I lazing away the day in Portland, outside my new-favorite bookstore, Powell's


It's not really fall without a good leaf fight!


Catching up with an old Navy friend in Seattle


Downtown Seattle at night


Kika vs. the dinosaur at the petrified gingko forest


Kiks and Mum at Couer d'Alene Lake in Idaho


The princess and the pea...

Montana

Adam and I have fulfilled a 6-year long dream (ever since we saw "Legends of the Fall" together) to visit Montana. We crossed over the border yesterday, and spent All Hallow's Eve here last night. Toured around the Univ. of Montana campus in Missoula a bit last night, then drove to Bozeman to spend the night. Hoping to visit the Montana State campus before hitting the road today, but we really want to get into Yellowstone/Grand Teton park today before it gets too dark.

Gotta jett for now...time to check-out of the hotel...

New Profile

A few people have pointed out that I need to change my personal profile now that Adam is back, so there you go. It's a little non-descript, but that's sort of the way life is right now--not in any one place for very long, no real job to speak of, just moving through life experiencing...well, life. I kind of like it that way, at least for now. Being in Anywhereville, USA, has had a bit of a healing effect on me since Shabbi's passing. Or maybe travelling has just kept me from thinking about it too much, which isn't good. I think back yet again to the book "A Walk Across America". Peter Jenkins had his forever friend, Cooper, a malamute mix that stayed by his side, always, until his untimely passing. Reading that book has brought me some calm. It's like what Aunt May tells Peter Parker: "We have to be steady."

In any case, I didn't have the heart to change my titles to this blog, because she's still my Charley as far as I'm concerned. This is still the story about this girl and her dog...and her dog...even if it's just the memory of one of them.

A Coast Less Travelled

So here we are, back again (for the umpteenth time) in a Motel 6. They seem to have become our hotel (or motel?) chain of choice for the sheer reason that they allow pets without an extra fee. Come to any Motel 6 and you're bound to see kitties in the room windows, hear dogs barking as you walk past rooms or owners walking their pets around outside. It really has become the unofficial "pet hotel" I think.

So the last 2 weeks have been awesome. When last I wrote, we were back in Roseburg, OR, where I lived and worked for 4 1/2 months this summer. I got the chance to introduce Adam to my housemates Janice and Art and several other friends I made this summer. Our first day back, Janice held a little dinner party for us so I could see friends one last time before heading back east, and so they could meet Ads. We all had such a great time. The rest of the week was spent touring around the Umpqua Valley to Eugene and to hang out at Art's house. This vegetarian even got the chance to see my first deer processing; I helped separate the deer meat and bag it. Surprisingly enough, I wasn't disgusted at all. I wasn't tempted, but I also wasn't disgusted. I guess I've come a long way since I first moved to Michigan.

After a tearful good-bye to Janice and Art, we travelled to Corvallis to see Anita, the first "Michigan friend" to see Adam since his return from Iraq. She was able to take the afternoon off to take us around downtown Corvallis and Oregon State Univ., then off for sushi for dinner. It was great to see her one last time before leaving the PNW.

Next up was Portland to see Eva-Maria and Alexandra, our next set of "Michigan friends". Since we arrived on Halloween weekend, Eva had us meet up with her friends from "Meet in Portland", a cool social group that meets throughout the city for different social activities and outings. There was a Halloween costume party going on at a club in the city, so Ads and I dressed up in costumes we got at a Goodwill we passed on the highway. He found a grim reaper costume straight away, and I managed to find a beautiful wedding dress (reminds me of my mother's) from the 1970s for $8, and a Bride of Frankenstein wig, so that's what I went as. We had a great time and I took tons of pics of the various costumes we saw at the club. The following day, we took Alexandra to the city and hit the farmer's market, a chocolatier and Powell's bookstore, my new favorite bookstore. We all three of us got lost in there. Later that night, we went to a pretty cool haunted maze complete with ghouls, ghosts and zombies. What a weekend!

Yesterday (Sunday) we left our friends and drove up to the Olympia area to see yet another set of "Michigan friends", Kate and Brad. I don't know how many years it had been since Adam had seen them, but it was great to hang out again. Their kids Ella and Jack were cutie-pies as usual, and we had a nice walk around the neighborhood on a beautiful fall day. They have a great view of Mt. Rainier so we soaked up the sights.

After leaving their place, we drove up to Kirkland, WA, to spend the night. That's about 20 miles outside of Seattle. A good friend of Adam's from the navy, Chris, lives in these parts and met up with us at Pike Place Market this morning. We had a wonderful day walking around the city, buying pumpkin muffins for breakfast, stopping for soothing tea at a little teahouse on this overcast Seattle day, then catching lunch at an Irish pub. After we bid Chris adieu, Ads and I walked around the city a bit more, trying to decide if we could see ourselves living here. I definitely could; I think Adam might still be leaning more toward California's warm weather.

So here we are now, back at the hotel for a little QT with Kika before we head back into the city for dinner. As I remember, restaurants in Seattle close kind of early, so I guess we'd better get going. We're starting the trip back east tomorrow. As much as I'll be happy to be back in our house around our friends and all the familiar trappings of home, I am so bummed to leave the PNW. I am so sold on living out here.

See y'all soon...