Scotland III - Exploring the West Coast (Dunstaffnage)

Ft William was the northernmost point on our Highland Loop. On Wednesday morning, we packed up our trusty Vauxhall and wound our way back down along the coast towards Oban. Our plan was to wander leisurely southward, catch the ferry in Oban, and spend the afternoon duffing about on the Isle of Mull. Things didn't go exactly as planned, but plans are flexible, and we had a stellar day regardless. It helped that our first stop was a castle, which we would have missed except that it popped up on Google Maps as I was looking at our route!

The MacDougall family chapel at Dunstaffnage 

Burg Hohenneufen, und Auf Wiedersehen

Auf Wiedersehen, Deutschland! Another trip in the books, we're homeward bound. We did a little final shopping in Stuttgart, including a visit to the tower at Killesberg and some refreshing Schorle (fruit juice mixed with sparkling water, coming soon to a cider pressing near you!) in the park. We missed out on visiting the museum of Jon's new employer (the Mercedes-Benz museum is closed on Monday, Google lied to us!), and Jon had blisters from previous weeks of hiking up and down mountains, and it was bloody hot... but the Apfelschorle was all the more refreshing for it!

Finding magic in Prague

Prague is one of my favorite cities, and not just because far-away friends often come and wander about with me when I'm there. It is truly a gorgeous city, with gilded theaters and graceful arched bridges, and the thousand spires it is famous for. The one thing I don't care for is the press of tourists, from gangs of Brits on stag parties to flag waving tour group leaders trailing mats of cameras like boats trail millfoil. It is frantic, loud, a press of people. But there is a magic moment in the day, after the sun rises but before the tourists do, when cafés are grinding espresso and shopkeepers flick cigarette butts from their doorsteps with straw brooms. 

the canal on the south side of the river, looking towards the National Theater

PDX Layover

I’ve traveled frequently in the last several months, but for some reason they didn’t feel like things I wanted to write about. Portland explorations have been occupying most of my time, mixed in with my work trips. My new home base is in Northeast, an ideal start point for wanderings through Portland’s many neighborhoods. Hollywood, Alberta, Belmont, Ladd’s, and Kerns, to name a few, have lured me on adventures. Work has sent me to Ohio, Texas, up to Washington, out to Quebec… but as I sit here in the Delta lounge at PDX (Portland International Airport), I’m waiting for my first “vacation” in almost a year to take off. A trip entirely unattached to work or a holiday.

It's true, we love it in Oregon!

a Preview of San Francisco

My current sunny coffee shop seat is sun warmed and the familiar sounds of steam foaming milk, mugs clinking into their saucers, humming conversation between the silent page turners and highlighters bent over texts. Since this will also be at least a 3-part trip, I had better get caught up... I'm only a month behind! So, today, here's my walk through San Francisco.

Change at the Year's End

There has been so much going on in the past few weeks and months, and not many pictures to show for it. Here's the bullet list, in no particular order:

• Loki didn't work out. He had an aggressive streak that an expert rainer could have handled, but expert trainers we are not. 
• We bought a house
• Flew to Quebec and back
• Started a business
• Quit a job
• Got lasik eye surgery
• Had Thanksgiving in Canada
• Flew to Quebec and back
• Started a half-marathon training program
• ...

After the disappointment of Loki, it has been hard to pick this up again and want to post... but since so much has happened and there is another trip coming up, here are some Quebec photos to start out the new year. 

 

 And a few photos from the beginning-of-January trip...

Loki the Trickster Dog

We adopted a pet. He's brunet with a squiggly white blaze that falls off the left side of his nose and a coat that makes him look like an old bearskin rug when he is most relaxed, at which point he kicks his back legs out behind him and lays flat out with his tummy on the ground.

Loki

Home away from home

I love seeing new places when I travel, but I also tend to keep coming back to the same places and people that I fell in love with the first time around. Places that I feel comfortable, at home. Gästehaus Kolp in the village of St Jakob is one of those places. Each apartment comes with mountain views and the most wonderful hosts. 

Morning coffee with a view towards Petteneu

More NY history

Monday was a free day for me, so I got out to check a few of my travel goals off my list. Things like "Visit the Erie Canal," "find a local coffee roaster to bring back beans for M," and "take pictures with Buckley at obscure places." I was able to cross all of those off in one day by heading to the Finger Lakes region. First stop:  Finger Lakes Coffee.

Catchup with Friends in Suburbia

I don't much care for Suburbia, specifically Midwestern suburbia. Novi, Michigan was not my first choice for a training location. It is basically a mass of shopping centers and chain stores off I-96, 30 minutes West of Detroit. To me, though, it has one endearing trait. It is close to several of my Calvin friends!

Euskal Herria

People ask me why I keep going back to the same places (Basque Country, Germany, Europe in general), our for that matter, why travel? I think my reasoning breakdown looks like this: 40% friends (old and new!), 40% food, 20% culture, history, and all that good stuff.

Stuttgart Preview and Quiet History

I am realizing throughout this trip just how amazing my friends are. It isn't really news (they've always been great), but every once in a while it hits me even harder. I spent a few days in Stuttgart this week, and it was one of those moments.

Myself, Anne, and Bea in Heilbronn

Anne, Bea, and I hung out Thursday evening in Heilbronn for pasta, ice cream, and swapping stories an a mash up of English and German (I think Anne is the only person who got 100% of it!)

Tulsa Stopover

I was priviledged to fly home in November for my good friend Erin's wedding, getting to have my friend Anne from Germany stay with me (and be a bridesmaid, too!), and have a stopover with my extended family in Tulsa. Does it get any better?

Luke picked me up in that same old beat up Ford Ranger we rolled in high school. From there, it was the same old routine - cook with C, play with Miss Magoo, shoot guns, plan for when everyone moves back to the beautiful Northwest, build a wood storage rack in the backyard out of stuff stacked in the backyard, walk with Cabree...

There's something beautiful about being with family. The feeling of hanging up your everyday mask at the door, slipping into your lazy day sweats and not brushing your hair, and being free to casually toss your dreams and ambitions against the steady sounding boards of people who truly know you.

Luke and Miss Magoo - I wish I would have waited a second and gotten C in the photo!

"Friend"

"Friend" is a flexible word. There are Facebook friends, good friends, childhood friends, BFFs, boyfriends, former friends, frenemies... In fact, some people consider the colloquial english use of the term a little loose and would put many of those people into the "acquaintance" category. It was pointed out to me a few days ago that I tend to call lots of people my friends, even when we are not actively involved in each other's lives - and that got me thinking.
I had just hung out with a couple of friends who I hadn't seen in a while. Ok, in several years - but I still consider them my friends. How can I call people "friends" when our lives have diverged significantly since high school? I don't even really know anything about their lives any more.
I realized that it has something to do with how I think of them; I would go out of my way to give them a hand if it were needed. Ah-ha. So Friend isn't a title I hand out based on how much I know about you. It's based on my actions. When I say "they are my friend," what I really mean is that I am a friend to them (at least most of the time I try!). 
I think this puts friendship in the same category as a bunch of those other great things in life - love, grace, peace... We like to believe that they're just phenomena or emotions that occur when conditions are right. It really isn't so! It's how we choose to live with people on an everyday basis. 
So to the person who told me recently that they did not have many friends, my question is: how many people are you a friend to?

Trip hangover...

I just set the background on my computer to be photos from the trip. I was distracted for the 2 weeks (okay, more like a month) before Mom and I left, and I think that Mom hoped that I would have less "Fernweh" (in english we would say Wanderlust, but that isn't even really a word in German!) when we got back. It didn't work. The memories are swirling around my head and making me want to go back even more. Sometimes I think that it would have been easier for me to never have gone to Germany 4 years ago- maybe then this feeling would just be a vague curiosity of what is on the other side of the world. I think that you can fall in love with places, but it is the people who you meet there that bring those places to life. 

Even so, I feel like part of me is being pulled back to Austria, Germany, the Czech, and the Basque Country... I know that I need to finish a second year at Janicki Industries and that a lot could happen in the next 11 months, but that will never keep me from dreaming! Maybe I need to find an engineering internship in central Europe! The only other problem (besides the fact that I have a good job here) is that I really am loving living so close to my family. They are fantastic, and Washington is a great place to live. I know that this nomadic life will wear down on me eventually.  Pulling up and putting down roots spread out around the world is emotionally exhausting. I really do need to share life with people who are close to me and who I trust. Unhappiness is the only result of wanting it both ways, so how can I best discipline myself to be happy wherever I am?

You don't know me...

There always seems to be a point in the semester when I am frustrated with something and physically tired that I get emotionally drained. Often my first reaction is to run- get out of town, distance myself from the problem. When that is impossible, physical running helps me get my thoughts in order. When my body doesn't allow that, just walking might work... But really, what is the problem? I need a bestie in Graz. I may be getting a little tired of getting to know people, trying to remember names, being a little embarrassed about my language level, and just wishing that I had a bestie to hang out with, talk with... There is always a hope that someone who lives near to you will be that person, but I guess I haven't found them yet- I only know a few people in this building!