A five week journey, Part 6: Winter in Winthrop

We spent the last week of the trip back in Winthrop again. One of the nice things about small towns is that if you know the right people, you can get part-time work, and we know the right people. We both got to work for a few days, but also had lots of nice time to enjoy the winter. We went for splendid walks through the snow, and admired the breath-taking views of the valley dressed in white. We went to a fun house concert, learned to swing dance, played lots of games with Tom and Carolyn, and enjoyed the season. We had a great Thanksgiving, and also got to set up the Christmas tree.

Pretty brigde 

Sunrise  

Carolyn and I 

Ya better watch out!

We had a blast taking old time pictures with Tom and Carolyn. 

Another pretty walk. 

The Sullivan's pretty house

A five week journey, Part 5: Back to the Northwest

At this point, Korean Air allowed us to switch to an open-ended ticket, since we had no idea when we would be able to get back. We decided to go back to Winthrop for a while longer before heading back down to Oregon for Nicole’s wedding. On a side note, God is so good to surprise us with this trip at this exact time. I was heart-broken sitting in Bangkok wishing I could make it to these weddings, and God knew all along that I would be going to both! He is so good to bless us above and beyond our wildest dreams! The weather in Winthrop was still beautiful (albeit cold to us), and we enjoyed every minute of our time there. Aren’t slow days the most wonderful thing? Especially when you are in such a lovely place! 

We did a lot of raking...

After four days, it was time to leave the Methow Valley again and drive back down to Oregon. While in Phoenix, we made friends with some of Julie’s relatives who live near Newberg, and they opened their house to us for a few days. They are a game-playing family, too, so we had a blast hanging out with them in the beautiful Oregon fall. Is there anything prettier than a Japanese maple dressed in red? Really? 

                                                                       

Playing Taboo with the Pauls

We got to watch Sarah ride. 

One day, we were looking for a winter coat for me and we passed by Brittany's house, so we dropped in unannounced. Fortunately they were home!!

And finally, the big day arrived. Nicole's wedding was wonderful, and it was so fun to see friends!

Our new friend, Leslie, one of Kevin's cousins.

Some Theatre friends from Fox.

Yeah!

A five week journey, Part 4: Phoenix and the Tarbutton Wedding

Next stop: Phoenix, Arizona, to see our friend Julie. She got married on November 11^th (11/11/11), and we weren’t originally going to be there for the wedding, but since school got postponed, we got to be there after all! She picked us up at the airport and took us to In and Out for lunch. For those of you not from California (or AZ, I guess), In and Out is a burger chain that has something like a cult following.

 We spent five awesome days with Julie and Matt and her family, just hanging out, running errands, and talking… a lot! (and hugging too, Julie is a hugger J) Her family was so generous to us: Julie’s grandma let us stay in her guestroom, and her parents lent us their car and cell phone. Julie’s sister even lent me a dress for the wedding. We got to help set up for the reception the morning of the wedding, and decorate the get-away vehicle, in this case, a golf cart. The wedding was simple and beautiful and the whole thing was a ton of fun. Thanks to her folks for helping us fly out there: it was wonderful!

Playing games at Dave and Busters for the rehearsal dinner.  

The Bachelorette Party 

John playing Minute and Win-It. Matt won. 

A five week journey, Part 3: The Northwest in the Fall

I didn’t realize how much I had missed the fall colors until we arrive in the Northwest and saw the leaves turning. I could have stood there watching them for hours. We spent three, stunningly-beautiful days in Winthrop with John’s folks. We ate all the fresh apples we could get our hands on, went on some lovely walks, and enjoyed spending time with other people who speak English! 

 Breakfast at the Cinnamon Twisp Bakery.                                                                   

Eve :) Aren't those leaves amazing?

 

Isn't my husband handsome?

Making homemade onion rings with onions from a friend's garden. 

 

Beautiful Patterson Lake. This is the same lake that I lost my glasses in the month after we got married. We had at least 10 people diving to the bottom and looking for them, and miraculously, someone found them!

 

Aren't we cute?

Brrrrr! 

                Touring a friend's apple orchard. The best apples you will ever eat!

 

Our first glimpse of snow in a long time. 

After a few days, Carolyn drove us back to Seattle, where we met John Blakeney for dinner at Outback Steak House. We spent the night with some friends, Chuck and Robin Gleicer, who are so kind to open up their home to us every time we need it. They drove us down towards Portland, where another friend picked us up and drove us the rest of the way. It was terrific to hang out with friends all day and catch up with people we hadn't seen in a long time! 

Neil and Cambria: thanks for the drive, lunch, and a great afternoon!

Stephanie Fagerstrom: thanks for the ride, dinner, and great conversation! 

We spent a couple of days with Grandma Larson in Salem and had a great time! She took us to the Oregon Coast for a day, played lots of games, fed us all our favorite food, and even went to see Steal Magnolias at Fox with us. 

What a gorgeous day at the Oregon Coast!

Selecting salt water taffy with Grandma, a must if you're in Depoe Bay.

Back in Woodmar, my old theatre building. 

On Friday, Grandma drove us to Newberg where we had lunch with Steven and Barbara Hardgrove and saw some friends from small group. We are so blessed to have the friends we have!!

 Nicole Hopper (who was about to get married) took us to her apartment for the evening, cooked us dinner, and introduced us to Kevin (her now husband). 

We had an awesome time getting to know him, and we were so impressed that by how calmly he took our grilling (after all, Nicole is one of our closest friends). He is a terrific guy and we are so happy for both us them. The next day, the four of us drove back up to Washington to meet his entire family and go to one of Nicole's bridal showers. Kevin also has a really special family, and we made a lot of new friends. God is so good!

John and the dog from outer space!! 

My beautiful friend.

From there, we drove further up into Washington and worked our way back to Seattle.

Photos of "Post-flood" Bangkok

 Here are some pictures of our neighborhood, to give you an idea of what it looks like. Keep in mind that the main street is clear, but ALL of the neighborhoods are flooded. 

Trying to keep the water at bay. 

Noah's Arc on Mount Ararat

 Empty food shelves. Many stores are still really low on food, even basics like rice and drinking water. We had to try five stores to find milk.

 We walk along this street all the time to get food. People are now travelling in boats, but everyone came together and build the temporary elevated boardwalk for pedestrians. The trash is everywhere, though.

Please keep the people of Thailand in your prayers, and if you have a Thai relief organization near you, we really encourage you to donate.

A five week journey, Part 2: Evacuation

After the Larsons left, we tried to decide what to do with the last week of our vacation. With little motivation and even less money, we weren't having too much fun. We thought we should try out one new city, so we booked a bus to Pai, a city way up in the mountains. The scenery was breathtaking, but the town was overrun by tourists and Thai people who spook way too much English. Also, we were there during a heat wave and there was no air-conditioning anywhere, so we left after less than 24 hours. While we were in line to get tickets back to Bangkok, our land lady called and told us that the apartment complex was flooded and that we should not come back to Bangkok. We called a fellow teacher from school and found out that school was canceled for another two weeks and again told us not to come back. So, we didn't... We went to the US instead. We booked the tickets spur of the moment, and within 24 hours, we were on a plane. I don't have time to write all the details, but God's favor was certainly with us on this trip, paving the way for us wherever we went. We got our Visa in less than an hour, even though we were told there was no way we could get it in a day, we nearly missed all of our flights, but they kept holding them for us, and we had a lot of wonderful surprises along the way.

Our flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok was significantly delayed because of the floods, so we arrived in BKK 10 minutes before our next flight was supposed to leave. Air Asia was so helpful to us, even though on the website they say that they are not responsible for delays, etc. Before the plane came to a complete stop, the flight attendant had opened the emergency door for us, and put us on a bus to the International Terminal. The airline sent an employee to run us to the check-in desk, get us our boarding passes, and then run with us the entire way to the gate, which unfortunately, was as far from the desk as physically possible at BKK. We arrived out of breath, in a sweat, and with aching calves, but we made it on the plane. They had held it for us. Praise God. We flew all night and landed in Seoul just before sunrise. Without even catching a bite to eat, we jumped on a 2 1/2 hour bus to Cheonan, where my best friend Nikki lives, got on a city bus, and then walked the few blocks to her apartment. Here we encountered our next obstacle: the printer I used to print directions turned all the numbers in Nikki's email to symbols, so although we remembered which apartment complex was hers, we had to find her apartment. There are 12 or 13 floors in her building, and they all have identical bags hanging outside (that's where the key was to be hiden). Oh man! We walked around for a long time, stopping at each floor and trying to remember if the view looked correct or not. After much looking, we found her place, let ourselves it, and took a nap in her room. When she got home from school, we went to an awesome restaurant for Shabu Shabu, and then jumped right back on the bus to go back to the airport. (She came with us this time, though). It was nearly her birthday, so it was a wonderful treat to see her on our way to the US.

Shabu Shabu 

Aren't friends wonderful? 

Once again, we had to run to catch our flight, but we made it, and settled down for the long flight to Seattle. Carolyn met us at the airport and drove us to Winthrop, John's hometown in the Cascade Mountains. We completely forgot that it was fall: the leaves were changing and everything was beautiful, especially the bed that was awaiting us at the end of our evacuation journey.

First meal back in the US: Kettle Chips. Healthy? No. Delicious? Yes!

Freezing in our summer clothes. It was 95 when we got on the plane, and 30 when we got off, still wearing flip flops and short sleeved shirts.