SLC

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Here's a random sampling of pictures from Salt Lake City, Park City, and Ogden, Utah. We've been staying in SLC with our friend Susan for a few days. It's exactly halfway from Portland to KC so we thought it would be nice to check out the beautiful sights and take a break from driving. More to come soon

Traveling to KC

Our journey began early Friday morning as we finished up the last of the packing and headed east through beautiful Oregon. Our first stop was at Multnomah falls.They are the second largest running waterfall in the country and oh so gorgeous.

Take a look at that...

Can you believe we've posted 3 times in a week? Neither can I so this one's just to show the world how big that leaf is. It's actually bigger than my chest. I know, I know...that really is unbelievable! As soon as I saw it while waking through the Japanese Gardens I knew it had to be mine.

fall leaves

These are some of the latest photos we have taken of our neighborhood. We attended the Japanese Garden today even though my head has been pounding all day. Not much is new. I have been working 6 days a week and haven't been able to enjoy to much. We went back up to Kruger farm to get more veggies. Our car is having some problems and we have to take her in to get a check up. Hopefully it doesn't cost too much. For right now April and I would love to come to KC around X-mas time but are still discussing it.

Fall in the NW

Sorry it's been so long. We still don't have internet. Comcast has a monopoly out here and charges a fortune. Anyway, we have been busy trying to settle in. Ikea has been our best friend lately...thank goodness for particle board furniture. It's definitely not too spendy. Yes that's right I just said spendy. That's the term used out here instead of expensive. No matter whose mouth it comes out of it always sounds so darn cute. On the cuteness scale It's the equivalent to the yeah you betcha said with a Wisconsin accent.

We did have some time last Thursday to go out to Sauvie Island which is only about 10 minutes from us. It's a small little island with lots of beautiful farm land. In the summer months you can pick your own lavender, flowers and so on from the U-pick farms. We wanted to go to the pumpkin patch and corn maze but I guess they stop on Halloween. I don't understand this. Aren't pumpkins for Thanksgiving too? I don't think the pumpkins knew it was Nov. 1. We were able to stop at Kruger Farms and get lots of veggies and fruits for little cash. It amazes me how a such an amazing and rural place is so close to downtown. You can check out Sauvie Island and Kruger Farm at www.sauvieisland.org and www.krugersfarmmarket.com

Alisha's been working at this textile factory called E.E. Schneck since last Friday. It's a two week assignment through her temp agency. We're hoping more jobs will keep coming but a permanent position would be even better. I'm still job hunting and waiting to hear back from Habitat. I went to their office and met some of the employees and will be volunteering with them next weekend. They are going to have a booth at the Give Green Holiday and Food Festival to raise money. www.givegreenfest.com It sounds like it will be a lot of fun and a great way to raise money for Habitat as well as spread the word about the different ways people can volunteer and give. Besides that, the food and entertainment sounds delightful. On Monday I'm hoping to finally check out the Japanese gardens in Washington Park. www. japanesegarden.com The gardens will be free to everyone for Veteren's Day. Yipee!!


Below are some pics from the farm, the view from our balcony of Macleay Park which is one of the little parks in Forest Park which also encompasses Washington Park. Forest Park is literally a Forest with about 30 miles of hiking and biking trails. check it out at www.friendsofforestpark.com The leaves have been really vibrant and so far the weather has been gorgeous. It's only rained one day. There's always a thick misty fog in the morning before 10 a.m but that keeps everything so green and full of color. There's also a pic of our apartment.

Kansas City Here We come

There have been some changes to our tickets and Alisha and I will both arrive in KC late at night this Wednesday the 24th and stay till Tuesday Oct. 30 in the afternoon. I'm really excited because that gives us more time to see friends and family. We have to go through our storage unit and ship some stuff to Portland, but I didn't want all our time spent on that. Anyway, we hope to see as many of our loved ones as we can in that amount of time. See you all soon! The pictures are some my dad took Fall 2005 one year before me moved into the wonderful Western Auto Building. It's been a year since we moved into the loft. It's unbelievable how much can change in a year!

Happy Birthday Alisha!

Since I can't be there to celebrate with you. I thought I'd give you this jaegermeister cake served by some beer maids. Happy Birthday!

JOBS

Since I(Alisha) have been here in Portland, I have found it very difficult to find a job. I applied to many different places. I have been recently working with an employment agency. I worked two days with them. This week there was finally a breakthrough and I went to an open interview and was hired. I was surprised but I am willing to take what I can get. It is part of a catering company and I will be doing odd work working at different locations such as the Portland Art Museum. I have also been hired to work seasonally with Banana Republic starting November 4. I am still here by myself and April is still in Florida helping her folks. She is probably getting back here the end of October. I may join her in KC on the 26 if there is no work that weekend.

Dad

As some of you know already, my dad had to have emergency surgery on his colon 3 weeks ago and wouldn't be able to do much for 6-8 weeks. With the condition of my mom's health, she isn't able to take care of him so I went home to Florida to take care of them for 3 weeks. My dad was not recovering as predicted and I had to take him to the surgeon several times in only a week and half and then on Monday our home health nurse noticed a change while putting on a new dressing. She recommended he be seen by the doctor that day if possible. they couldn't get us in till the next morning, which was yesterday and the doctor immediately admitted him and started running tests. It turns out that Dad had a ton of fluid built up on his stomach and we were very lucky they caught it in time. His white blood cell count was extremely high so they gave hims some plasma, began emptying his stomach and started prepping for surgery. I was thinking his belly looked much bigger and like he was going to have a baby. The surgeon had to go back in and see what was causing all this. They found he had 3 pockets of infection and a blockage. They removed everything but still aren't sure where the pockets were coming from so they left him on the ventilator last night and are monitoring him closely in the ICU. He's off the ventilator and says he feels better now than he did after the first surgery so that is good news! We think he will be in ICU for a day or two more and then on a general floor for at least another few. Originally I was going to head back to Portland via Kansas City next Tuesday, October 9th but it will probably be another couple of weeks now. He still has a long recovery and I want to do as much as I can to help out. It's hard to watch my parents age and as a result their health deteriorate, I'm just so glad I get so spend this time with them.

Alisha has been exploring Portland by herself and still trying to find a job. We've found it to be quite difficult to get even casual or temporary employment let alone a good job. I guess too many people have discovered it's a great place and no one leaves. That's a good thing, but bad for us right now. In the past few months a few of my friends have suffered the loss of loved ones, So despite the complications and set backs, we feel so blessed and grateful for all the love, support and prayers that have been sent our way. Thanks everyone! I wish I had some exciting news to share, but I don't so i'll just share that one of my closest friends Nanthida is pregnant again and I couldn't be happier!

Paradise for Portland

As you all may or may not know, April and I have decided to move to Portland. We arrived here a week ago on Friday and have loved every second of it. Our main reason for leaving Hawaii was that I have been accepted into the Oregon Culinary Institute and will start in January. April and I were not pleased with Maui and decided Portland was a better fit. Anyone who has been out here will agree, there is no place like it. I am excited to be here and to make Portland my home!

I have said since we got here that Portland has everything I could possible want. It is my heaven on earth. It is definitely a place for a foodie like me. There are so many restaurants, movie theaters, about 30+ micro-breweries, and wineries. I have yet to experience everything, and I will.

Rainbow

We took these two days ago when we got home from the beach. At first there was one and then a second one appeared. They were so beautiful!

Superferry

Latest update:

Maui voyages: On August 29, Judge Cardoza ruled to continue the temporary restraining order for service to Maui and has set hearing dates for September 6, 7, 10, and 11. Due to this decision we are suspending service to Maui through September 11.

So it looks like if they can start operating on September 12 that is the earliest we could have our car. We still aren't sure what we're doing.

www.hawaiisuperferry.com

Kiiki

Here is our Car which Alisha named Kiiki...we are not sure if it is an actual name or means something. Alisha was playing with sounds and really liked it. if anyone knows this means bad omen, crap pile or anything of the sort please let us know ASAP!

Boats, Planes & Automobiles

Long post below...

some of you probably heard about the Hawaii SuperFerry protests in Kauai, well now thanks to them we are stuck on Maui with our car. We had reservations for us and the car to go on the super ferry this sunday for only $15 which is amazing considering it cost us $250 to get us and the car over to Maui last week. So now we are in a pickle because the only way to get cars over to other islands is on a barge and it's kind of a pain because you drop it off, empty and then recieve it about 4 days later on the other island. The part that sucks is that you then have no car for 4 days so you are looking at rental car fees in addition to shipping the car and flying over. Plus, when they shipped it to Maui, our car arrived with a completely flat tire so we had to immediately get that fixed. Thank goodness the AAA guy was super nice and told us where to go.

Because of the superferry cancellations the barge is backed up and the earliest we can get drop our cars off is Tuesday to be picked up in Oahu on Friday. Alisha and I both have interviews scheduled in Oahu on Monday. Also, we have a place to stay at a friend of a friends for super cheap on Oahu from Sunday, Sep. 2 to Friday, Sep. 7. We only have those 5 days to look for an apartment and hopefully find jobs. So we are debating whether we should get a rental car and book flights to Oahu for sunday as planned and have the car shipped over on Tuesday or leave the car and wait to see if they ferry will be up and running at the end of next week ( both options allow someon else to ship for you if you fill out paperwork ahead of time) I believe my friend here on Maui would do that, but it's a hassle. If we go ahead and fly over to Oahu, get rental and ship the car later on the barge we are looking at a lot of money. but if we fly over get a rental and wait so see if the ferry gets up and running again we can save about $200. However there's no way to know if they can get it up running again after the next court hearing on Sep. 6 and if we wait then we have to rebook on the barge which would be Tuesday September 11 and we wouldn't have the car two whole weeks. What to do, what to do??

Needless to say we are not happy with the protesters. I am all for saving the environment but this is ridiculous even Tahiti has a ferry between Islands. My favorite part of some of those videos is that at the end of the clip the guy gets in his Monstrous gas gussling truck as so many of them drive around here and drives off. I also don't understand why it's ok to fly to another island and drive a rental car around but not bring your own over. Any thoughts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9e0clKc5Y4&mode=related&search=

Hanauma Bay

Hanauma Bay is a cove in Oahu with some of the best snorkling. We went twice because we liked it so much and it really sparked my(Alisha) interest and now I want to invest in some snorkle gear. Each time we went it was about 6:15-6:30. If you get there before 7 anyday of the week except Tuesdays, there is free parking and admission. Not many ppl know this. We were tipped off by a local. We usually stay for about an hour to an hour and a half b/c around 8am ppl by the masses start to show up and then it gets crowed and hard to see the sea life.

I had the pleasure of seeing not only two but three of Hawaiis own Honu(sea turtle). They are adorable and very much endangered, so don't touch them and give them their space!

light house hike

Nearing the end of our trip we all decided to hike up this paved path toward the Makapuu light house on the windward side. You could see bellow's beach from the top. These pictures include the best shots I got while on the highest point of our hike. You ca n't actually go to the light house and it is a lot smaller in size up close. There is a picture of me sitting on a rock I climbed. I am always having someone photo me!

Bellow's cabin

These were the cabins we stayed in for the first 15 days of our stay in Oahu. We were not directly on the beach but it was about a 200 m walk to get there. For the first half of the trip we shared a cabin with Charlotte(April's sister) and husband Aisea(pic above). Later on we shared it with April's brother and his girlfriend for the last couple of days. Most of the time we were out exploring but when we got tired of shopping and being at the beach there was cable we could zone in too. We got addicted to Rock of Love on VH1. We were easily entertained b/c April and I didn't have cable tv in KC.

A View from Oahu

When we first arrived in Oahu we stayed on the windward side(East). This is the view from our cabins. The sand is white and the water is peaceful. The only ppl on the beach are ppl staying at bellows that is why I(Alisha) preferred to swim there.

Alisha

Alisha sitting outside our new place posing for her America's Next Top Model pics. I think she's definitely gonna get on, don't you? I think the freckles are the clincher!

So we finally broke down and started a blog. Apologies to everyone for not being in touch, we arrived at our temporary place yesterday and just got internet access. Stories and pictures to follow. We miss you all!