A Day in the Loop

Sometimes I feel out of the loop. Even at the ripe old age of 21, I still have trouble keeping up with the latest acronyms, fashions, movies and music! In my lifetime, I have probably watched less than 10 hours of MTV total and it's even gotten so bad to where my sister-in-law (whom I love dearly!) has said, "Ooh Kristi! I like those jeans! Just so you know, that style is totally in right now."

"Just so I know"?! I'm 21! Not 51! I can still tell a cute pair of jeans when I see one!

In any case, today I was--indisputably--"in the loop." It helps that I can say this in the most literal sense. The Loop is downtown Chicago's core--the financial and governmental hub of the city. It's called the Loop because there is a ring of elevated train tracks that encircles it. This is where Brock and I spent our entire day.

We started off by going to the Harold Washington Library Center--the largest public library in the country! A whopping NINE stories high! It was absolutely insane. If you put all of its shelving together, it would run for 70 miles! We noodled around in here for a bit and explored what it had to offer. Something it had that I thought was particularly cool was an entire half-floor devoted to books in other languages. From Afrikaans to Zulu, you were sure to find a book in any language you wanted! I love books so much. Sometimes walking around a library makes me sad because there are so many wonderful things to read and so little time! I really want to start reading Dostoyevsky. He was so ahead of his time and a great political commentator.

Then we headed into the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) building. They had a really cool little museum in there that we spent about 30 minutes in. Talk about fascinating stuff! It all started out when a few merchants back in 1898 decided that they wanted the prices of their butter and eggs to be more stable. So they formed the the Chicago Butter and Eggs Board, which later became the CME to incorporate more goods. In 2002 the CME became a public company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). This was a huge leap of faith for the CME (imagine being able to buy "stock" in the NYSE and you'll get the idea) but it's paid huge dividends. Overall, it was a fascinating visit with way too much information to absorb in one sitting. Visiting this museum got me excited to take Econ 110 in the fall!

Next stop: the Civic Opera House. I took one look at normal ticket prices (over $100 for nosebleeder seats!) and hightailed it out of there. But Brock, being his inquisitive self, found someone to talk to and asked about student discounts. As it turns out, all you have to do is sign up on an email list and you can get seats to non-sold-out shows for $24! Awesome! It always pays to ask :)

We proceeded down the road to the Chicago Temple (not of the LDS persuasion!). It was this looming, Gothic-inspired skyscraper with a beautiful chapel inside adorned with stained-glass windows. Sometimes I wish LDS buildings had those. We sat on a pew for a while and just took in the coolness of the air, the murky smell, the architecture, and overall feeling of the place. As we were doing so, we were interrupted by a poor man who was in search of tampons for his 13-year old daughter who had just started menstruating that day. He said he couldn't afford them, and was wondering if we could help me locate some. He never explicitly asked for money, but we were, of course, suspicious. The three of us went up to the second floor where a receptionist gave us a packet of all the places around town where the homeless can get free things, and we gave the man a map of the city we had in our backpack. I felt bad because a Walgreens was right down the street and tampons cost like what, $4? But still. It's just so hard to trust people in this city. Desperate people will come up with all sorts of stories as to why they need your money. And it kills me to say no sometimes--especially when you can tell that they're mentally impaired (as this man was)--but you just have to draw the line. As un-Christian as it sounds, you just can't give money to everybody. In this particular case, we did as much as we could, and sent him on his way. I guess I can't really feel guilty for that. In my point of view, I give 10% of what I have to the Lord, pray for those less fortunate, and trust that He'll provide. Hopefully that's enough to get me through the pearly gates!

We then headed over to the James R. Thompson Center (aka State of Illinois Center) which is probably one of the coolest buildings I've seen in Chicago. On a sidenote: I LOVE Chicago's architecture!! In one city block, you can see gothic, classical, art deco, Beux Arts, and contemporary styles. And in just about every public square there is a huge modern sculpture of some sort. It's amazing! Anyway, the State of Illinois center is this 17-story, tubular building with 24,000 shimmering curved glass panels comprising its exterior. Inside, there is a soaring skylit atrium (if any of you have seen the movie "Running Scared" with Billy Crystal, this atrium is in a memorable scene!) that houses all sorts of governmental offices. Brock and I rode the crazy-fast, see-through elevators up to the top and back down again...a serious vertigo rush!

Our tour of the Loop ended with a hour or so of reading at Barnes and Noble. Awesome :) We parted ways, and then I went to pick up some groceries at Dominicks (Safeway). Can I just say that I am a STUDETTE? Dominicks is about five blocks from where we live, and I managed to bike the rest of the way home with $60 worth of groceries on both my arms...into a headwind! I must of looked so ridiculous peddling down the street with about seven bulging plastic bags on each arm.

Overall: a great day in the Loop! Yet here I sit in my comfortable apartment, with fresh groceries, worrying about the poor man who approached us in the Chicago Temple. I mean, there's a 50% chance that he was lying. If he was lying, then we did the right thing. But if he was telling the truth, of which there is also a 50% chance, we sent him on his way to find free tampons somewhere for his poor 13-year old daughter, when a Walgreens was no more than 100 steps away from us (and, despite not being the richest people in the world, we could have definitely ponied up $4 to help this guy out).

Nothin'

Today. Has. Been. Awesome.

Thus far, we've spent the entire day indoors. Our sunburns from yesterday hurt so bad that we dare not step outside even for a minute! Unfortunately, this means we had to miss church. A hard dose of reality hit us when we discovered that the nearest meeting house is 7.5 miles away. We ain't in Utah anymore! A 15-mile bike ride in the heat of the day would have made our skin either:

a) disintegrate on the spot

b) fall off our bones

c) erupt in white-hot flames

So we opted to stay inside and miss church. We would have made sucky pioneers. "Um, excuse me? Brigham? Yeah we've got these sunburns, see...I think we'll just hole up in our handcart for the day. Don't worry. We'll catch up."

Today has been great. We read from the scriptures together (brownie points?), did laundry, made some chocolate chip cookies (only to remember we have no cookie sheets--the dough is the best part anyway!), and watched the USA-Brazil soccer game. 

I love Sundays. It's just nice to be able to relax, recuperate, and focus on what's important. I'm so grateful for the opportunity Brock and I have to go on this adventure, and that it appears we'll come out of it financially unscathed. If you do what you're supposed to do, God truly does provide. Granted, He doesn't give you everything, but nobody ever died from not having everything.

One of my favorite quotes is from the movie "Cool Hand Luke." At one point, Paul Newman looks up with those smoldering baby blues (which has nothing to do with why I love this quote) and says, "Sometimes nothin's a pretty cool hand." This always makes me think: what qualifies as "nothin'"? And if I ever had it, could I be as blase about it as Paul Newman is?

Brock and I definitely don't have "nothin'" (ah! double negative!) by any stretch of the imagination, but these past few months have been tight, what with neither of us having jobs. And it is frighteningly easy to lapse into self-pity when we see other married friends who are out of school, earning money, buying cars, houses, vacations. On a relative scale, sometimes it seems like we have nothin'.

But you can't think in relative terms. In that cases, how could we possibly complain about our lives? Just listen to how incredibly blessed we are:

1) We have wonderful families who love us.

2) We have an awesome dog who has the cutest face in the world.

3) We have a wonderful home and full bellies.

4) We attend a reputable university.

 5) We're both in good health.

6) We are living in Chicago!

Sometimes nothin' really is a pretty cool hand.

Taste of Chicago

It's been a few days since my last post, so I'll briefly re-cap the week!

Wednesday: We headed out in the AM to go find a place called Working Bikes, where you can get old beat up bikes that...well...work! 60-day CTA bus passes for the two of us would have cost $350, so we decided to go take a look at these banged-up bikes to see if we could save a buck!

We ran (literally) to the location that was posted online (two miles away), but they had moved. There was a cardboard sign up with sun-faded writing that was really hard to read. After staring at it for a minute, we made out "We've moved to 234 S. Western Ave"...another mile away. So we ran there but still Working Bikes was nowhere to be found! Keep in mind that it is 90+ degrees outside and incredibly muggy. We were not happy.

To top it off, we were running through a very rough neighborhood. Little punk kids yelled at us saying "Hey! I dihn't know we had white chocolate in dis neighbuhood! Yo! Looka dat white chocolate! Yeah, run away white chocolate!"

We finally ran into a gas station where they were nice enough to let us use their phone (Working Bikes' number was disconnected...awesome!) and they even went online for us. As it turned out, the store wasn't at 234 S. Western but 2434 N. Western. We had run a mile in the wrong direction and now had to run another two to get to where we needed to go! Not-so-nice words started crossing our minds. We wanted to catch a bus, but had no cash on us. And we couldn't even use the ATM because I only had a credit card on me, not a debit. @#$%

So we start running in the opposite direction when we hear this BOOM and it starts pouring rain!! Now, we're used to rain smelling good. But we live in Utah where the air is relatively clean and people aren't defecating in the streets. In Chicago, however, rain brings out all the lovely smells that have been hiding in the alleys. Nasty.

We finally found Working Bikes and found two Schwinn one-speeds from like the 60s. Niiiice. With the exception of some rust and ghettoness, they worked just fine and we only payed $125 for the two of them.

On the way home I got a flat tire.

And later that night I burned my hand on the stove really bad. The reason I haven't blogged for a few days is that it hurts my hand to type! I have gnarly blisters.

Wednesday sucked!

Thursday: Brock had work off today...yay!! We set out early to find Greenpeace's HQ...I'd called and left a message on their automated "So you want to work for Greenpeace?" machine, but hadn't received a call back in two days. Instead of accepting defeat, I decided to hunt them down!

Thus began the wild goose chase. This took us back to the scary part of town we'd been to on Wednesday. We finally found the address, 2439 N. Kedzie Avenue, and went up the stairs to suite 5W. Knock knock knock.

Nobody was there. We peered through the slit in the door where people slide mail through, only to see dusty old furniture stacked up in unused piles. 5W hadn't been used in a long time.

So that sucked. But hey, sometimes it's the searching that's the most fun. Yeah, we didn't find Greenpeace, but we did find 2439 N. Kedzie Avenue suite 5W! We grabbed an Oreo McFlurry at McDonald's to cool off, and continued on with our day. We rode our bikes east towards the lake, and ended up going to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It's free! We were pretty tired from the past two days of running/riding around all over Chicago, so we only visited half of it (warthogs, giraffes, polar bear, monkeys, etc). Right next door to the zoo is the Lincoln Park Conservatory, which is basically a huge green house with all sorts of tropical plants, flowers, and ferns. There was a lot of cool stuff to see, but it was even muggier in there than it was outside, so we didn't last long!

After the Conservatory we went to Navy Pier with the intention of seeing Transformers 2 at the IMAX, but it was sold out. Instead, we grabbed dinner at the Billy Goat Tavern (burgers and hotdogs...classic Navy Pier fare!) and even splurged on a $5 orange creamsicle...mmm!! More than worth it :)

I don't know how we had the energy to do more, but we managed to make it downtown and dink around before it got dark. We stopped by Hershey's and Ghirardelli's where I filled out job applications (not sure if Greenpeace is gonna work out!). At Hershey's we split a s'mores brownie which looked a lot better in the display window than it actually tasted in real life.

Then...home! At one point during the day I remember passing a TV in a window with the headline "Michael Jackson in hospital," and by the time we got home, Brock's dad had texted us saying he'd died. ?!?!?!!

Friday: We chilled. The past two days had been go-go-go, so we slept in until 11 AM and watched Michael Jackson videos on YouTube all morning. That man was, without a doubt, the greatest performer this world has ever known.

After Brock went to work, I began searching on Craigslist for jobs. Greenpeace still hadn't called me back, so I decided to move on. I found a listing that a grassroots campaign had put up, who was looking to hire people interested in working for environmental issues. Greenpeace on a smaller scale, basically. I called them and got set up for an interview at 5:30.

As it turned out, this grassroots campaign was comprised of WACKO LIBERALS!!! I mean, I lean to the left (about one degree) on some issues, but these guys were off-the-wall progressive politics. ACLU-loving, GOP-bashing, Prop-8-revoking crazies. And what's more, it was a bunch of college kids running the joint! In this crappy rented-out space 15 floors up in a skyscraper, with like broken tables and chairs, empty Tostitos bags and Sum 41 blaring out of a boombox. Classy.

Immediately after that interview, I found myself some WiFi (at a Corner Bakery Cafe...with those fudge brownies...how convenient...) and googled Greenpeace again. I was determined to find their offices! After some searching, I found two more possible locations which, luckily, were in the vicinity. So I set out on foot. The first location was a bust, but it sent me down State Street, which is a really cool street with a lot of history. It was nice to get acquainted with it.

The second location was...golden! I'd found it! Finally! Yes! And the irony of it all is that it's literally a stone's throw away from where Brock works! Seriously! You cross the street and you're there. I couldn't believe it lol. Anyway, the security guard, Tony (he was really nice), sent me up to the 9th floor and I FOUND THEIR DOOR! Unfortunately, nobody was there (it was kind of late in the evening) but I was just so stoked to see a door with "Greenpeace" written on it after literally looking all over the city. Sometimes the small victories mean the most :)

Walking out of the building, guess who I run in to? Anthony! What luck! I called his name and he was like "Oh my gosh! Hi!" He told me that for some reason, they weren't able to get a hold of me on the number I'd left, and that's why I hadn't gotten a call from them. He gave me his personal number and told me to call him on Monday to set up an interview for Tuesday. YES!

On that high note, I met Brock who had just gotten off work, and we went home and watched "Super Size Me" on Hulu. I will never look at fast food the same way again.

Saturday: That brings us to today! Brock and I made pancakes for breakfast and then rode our bikes to the beach. The beach is actually pretty nice, but the water is nasty. Unlike the ocean, there's no current to keep things moving, so everything just kind of sits there and stagnates. Keep your mouth closed!

After the beach we went to Taste of Chicago, which is where tons of restaurants from all over town set up booths to overcharge you on crappy food. Hahaha, no just kidding...well....not really lol. It was like $8 for 12 tickets and each food item cost so many tickets. We were able to spread them out pretty well by doing little "testers" of everything (which only cost 4 tickets each). We tried: potato pancakes (some weird Southern thing...basically like a big, extra-greasy hashbrown), an Italian fried steak sandwich (think chicken fried steak in a bun with marinara sauce on it), rib tips (excellent!), a whole wheat oatmeal raisin cookie (also excellent!), and Oreo cheesecake with ice cream. It sounds like a ton of food, but all the portions were really small. Plus we split them. So it filled us up nicely without doing us over!

They also had entertainment at Taste of Chicago. This one girl rapped about the city's crappy educational system and about the stigmas that come along with being black....she was totally legit. I got goosebumps.

By that time, Brock was due in for work. He towel-changed out of his swimsuit (yes, towel-changed! You can take the boy out of California, but you can't take the California out of the boy) under a tree in the park that was away from the crowds, and went in at about 2PM. I proceeded to find a Blockbuster and rented "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Probably not Brock's top choice, but he wasn't there to chose, now was he? ;)

Save the Whales

Another great day! We started off by walking to downtown (can't wait to get those bikes!), where our first stop was Target. Brock--with his gorgeous, yet sensitive, baby blues--was in desperate need of a pair of sunglasses. He was so stoked to find a good-looking pair of polarized lenses for $15! Oh how we love Target :)

Then we hit up the Museum of Contemporary Photography (free admission = bonus!). They had an exhibit going on entitled "The Edge of Intent," where they examined the effects that city planning has had on city-dwellers around the globe. The reason for this exhibition is that 2009 marks the centennial of the Plan of Chicago, a massive plan outlined by the famed Daniel Burnham for the revamping of the city.

The photographs in the gallery were stunning and thought provoking. Three series in particular caught my eye. One was done by a man who travelled the world and took pictures that documented how city planning and development projects often forget one crucial thing: people. His series was comprised of about ten photographs of major metropolises around the world (Mumbai, Chicago, Paris, etc) that showcased the juxtaposition between urbanization and the people left behind: the homeless. He really had some incredible perspectives. For example, in one photograph there was Notre Dame standing tall in the background--a symbol of European enlightenment and Napoleonic grandeur--with a homeless man sleeping on the ground in the foreground...it made my heart ache.

Another series focused on a set of dilapidated, elevated railroad tracks in New York City. They were once used to cart goods from across the river, but modern times have no use for them. Thus, they sit unused and abandoned between the buildings that they run through. Sometimes, city planning falls by the wayside as time progresses. The photographer took pictures of these railroad tracks during each of the four seasons, and in each photograph the poor tracks looked sad, lonely, and forgotten. I think it's probably a sign that you're a great photographer when people start feeling empathy for train tracks.

My favorite series of the entire collection was one of Detroit Central Station (think Grand Central Station, but in Michigan). Detroit Central Station was built in 1913, and is one of most historic and beautiful buildings. It's been abandoned, however, since 1988, and is destined for demolition in the near future. For Detroiters, it represents a time before the riots and before the decline of the auto industry, when Motor City was the fastest growing metropolis in the country. During its heyday, the depot was crowded with African Americans coming north from the rural South to find work, as well as an equally large influx of European immigrants who came to Detroit by train after leaving Ellis Island.

These days, Detroit Central Station tells a much different story. Its wide, gaping spaces sit eerily quiet; a whisper echoes. Voices from the past scream through the walls, but no one is there to hear them. The floors and walls are cracking, breaking. Gangbangers have come in and graffitied nearly every surface.

Though in that graffiti, there is eloquence. It is a symbol of modernity, of where the world is now. Contrasted against the Romanesque columns and architecture of the Station, one cannot help but think: has America, too, reached its heyday? Will it, like Detroit Central Station and the Roman Empire, decay into nothing but transient memories? As with all things, time will tell.

After the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Brock and I headed over to the Chicago Architecture Foundation, where there was a huge, 370-sq. foot 3D model of downtown Chicago. Once again, this was to commemorate the 1909 Plan of Chicago, which we learned all about as we moseyed through the exhibition. Who would have thought that city planning would be so interesting!

As we continued to walk down the street, we saw that SuperCuts was having a special ($10 cuts on Tuesday), so Brock got a desperately-needed clip. He looks awesome! He told the lady to give him a "business man" cut, and she did a great job! $15 to look like a million? I'll take it :) One thing I admire about Brock is that he always lifts people up and makes them laugh. Whether its the woman ringing up your sunglasses at Target, or the person giving you a cheap haircut, he always finds a way to strike conversation and brighten people's day by making them feel like a person, not a service. I love that about him. It will be a great asset to him throughout his life.

After SuperCuts we stopped by Millennium Park, where we took pictures at "the Bean" and walked around the grounds. Chicago truly does have an awesome parks system with lots of free things to do during the summer. Thanks Daniel Burnham!

From there, we grabbed brownies as the Corner Bakery (I'm sensing a theme....) and wandered down the Magnificent Mile for a bit until Brock had to go to work. The Magnificent Mile is a segment of Michigan Avenue where all the ritzy boutiques are (including La Perla, where I got rejected yesterday haha). When we came across the four-stories-high Nordstrom, we just had to call Brock's mom and let her know what we were standing in front of. I think she cried.

We then parted ways and I went to Trader Joe's to grab some fresh fruit. I inquired about a job there, but alas, they weren't hiring. Neither was Pizzeria Uno, where we'd eaten dinner the night before (best.pizza.ever.). So I'm walking back to the bus station, somewhat disheartened, with my recyclable Trader Joe bags in hand, when who do I get stopped by? Greenpeace. You know, those crazy hippies who put their lives on the line to save whales and polar bears and rainforests and stuff? Anyway, I'd heard of them in my World Politics this past semester, and I remember my professor saying that out of all the environmental NGOs, Greenpeace is the most powerful.

I've kind of had a hankering to get involved with an NGO and be involved in a cause that's larger than myself, but I had no idea where to start. Then BAM here was an NGO literally standing right in front of me, so I decided to actually allow myself to be stopped by him. Anthony was his name. He was really nice and had a lot of good things to say, but about halfway through his spiel the wheels in my head started turning: I'm looking for a job, and I would prefer to have a job that's political in some way. Could Greenpeace be the answer?

As it turns out, Anthony runs Greenpeace's Chicago branch! I signed up to make a small monthly donation and then asked if he was hiring...to which he said YES and that he'd absolutely love to have me work for them! Yay!!! So I'm going to call him tomorrow and basically get started right away! What will my job entail, you ask? I like to think of it as being an "environmental missionary": I'll stand on the corner, preach the virtues of environmentalism, ask people to get involved, and they'll reject me. Niiiice. :) But hey, at least it's a job! And even though I'll probably be the only Fox News-watching, Reagan conservative working for Greenpeace, I'm sure it'll be great. I'll definitely learn something new, I'll feel good knowing that I'm working for a good cause, and working for an NGO will look awesome on a resume. Who knows? I might even become a tree-hugger :)

First Day in the City

So, here we are. In Chicago. Crazy! We got in at about 1AM last night, after a flight out of DIA and adventure on the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), where we listened to a drag queen complain about his(her?) cell phone bill. Apparently, s/he was called collect from Nigeria and it cost him/her $500. You know what, I'm just going to call him a "he" because he did not--by any stretch of the imagination--look like a woman! He was wearing a white cowgirl hat (complete with blinking lights), a rainbow cape (yes, cape!), gogo boots, and a mini-skirt. Oh, and his legs weren't shaved. That was nice. Haha anyways, it was our first taste of city life! I'm sure in three days I won't blink an eye at a drag queen.

Walking through the door of our apartment was a pleasant surprise! It's actually pretty nice. We've got a living room, a kitchen, a breakfast table, our own bathroom, and two bedrooms. With two twin beds. Sexy, I know! ;) We pushed the beds together but, of course, there is a huge gap in the middle. Haha but it's all good! We've got a great view of Sears tower from our bedroom and there's a Jamba Juice, bookstore, and Italian cafe right below us. Not much to complain about! :)

Today we woke up and ran around town. No, literally. We ran everywhere. I would say probably 8 miles total. We ran a mile down the road to a Target (two stories...HEAVEN) and bought groceries. Then we lugged them all back to our place...you have no idea how slow a mile-long walk is in 85 degree, humid weather with 15 pounds on each arm.

After dropping off the groceries, we hit the road again. We ran to the building where Brock's internship is at. It's smack dab in the middle of downtown right across from the Trump International Hotel and the Chicago Tribune Tower. Awesome!

We refueled with paninis at The Corner Bakery Cafe, and hit the road again--this time running along the shore of Lake Michigan. There are some gorgeous parks all up and down the road. We can't wait to go to festivals there later in the summer! Tomorrow there's an Olympic Day Celebration that we might go to...Chicago is a 2016 candidate city.

After we ran back home, we showered and Brock got ready to go to work at 4:30. We left at 3:30 to allow for ample time to get there, and it's a good thing we did because it took us 45 minutes to go 2.5 miles! Welcome to the city, eh? We started by walking a mile to the bus station on Michigan (to save money by not having to pay two fares) and then rode the CTA from there.

Brock is currently at work, and I am currently at the Corner Bakery Cafe (again) eating the most divine powder-sugar-dusted brownie I've had in a long time, possibly ever. I've spent the last couple hours moseying about downtown, getting acquainted, and running a few errands. I even went into La Perla (a $$ lingerie boutique) and inquired about a job. The uppity employee (and chubby, I might add) who greeted me cocked a disgusted eyebrow when I told her I had never worked in high-end retail before, and practically shoved me out the door when I told I was just looking for something temporary.

Someday I'll go in there and buy a $700 bustiere. And she'll still be working there, I'm sure, since she apparently thinks it's the most prestigious job downtown. I will make her give me a bra fitting, fetch me a cold glass of ice water, and flash my black American Express card in her face as I pay for that bustiere. We'll see if she cocks an eyebrow then.

Anyway, that's enough vindictive thinking for now. I'm going to go read a book until Brock gets off of work, and then we're off to Pizzeria Uno--the restaurant that, in 1943, invented the Chicago-style deep dish pizza. (Hey, we didn't run 8 miles today for nothin!)

In the Airport!

I am currently sitting at Pour la France...a cute little Parisian bistro restaurant inside of Denver International Airport. My family and I always grabbed cinnamon rolls here before embarking on travels, so I just HAD to get myself one to commemorate the beginning of a new adventure! (Even though I've already eaten French toast, Pizza Hut and candy today....wow, just typing that makes me want to brush my teeth and go for a run!)

Our flight leaves in one hour. Yaaayy!!!

Lake City, CO

Our first day in Lake City! It's gorgeous here, but man is it out the way! Talk about the middle of nowhere. It's an old mining town settled right in the heart of the San Juan mountains.

We finally arrived at about 1:30am last night after a very creepy 40 mile drive on Colorado Highway 149. It's this long, serpentine two-lane highway that runs through the heart of the mountains. At night, there are big looming trees all around, and you are most likely to be theonly car on the road. No houses. No lights. Totally Texas chainsaw massacre.

Anyway, so we're going down this highway and we hear a thud. Under our car. "Ohmygosh ohmygosh I just hit a baby deer!" said Brock. "It jumped out in the middle of the road!" We turned around to go check it out and it ended up not being a deer, but the cutest, fluffiest bunny rabbit you've ever seen...and it was still moving. So we did we do? We put it out of its misery and ran over it again. Somebody call the PETA police!

So we're officially freaked out now and start watching the road intensely to keep an eye out for all the other little critters. All of a sudden, this huge owl swoops down right near our windshield. It was ridiculous! We all started screaming bloody murder. I bet the ghost of Fluffy called him up and asked him to seek revenge...

The drive after that was less eventful, with the exception of running into a few bugs every now and then. We did, however, rename our Camry the "Death Train."

After a good night's sleep we woke up and explored Lake City. That took all of about five seconds. Haha just kidding! First stop: the Alfred Packer Massacre Memorial. Charming, I know. As it turns out, this Packer guy was leading a group of people from Utah to Colorado, when they got caught in a terrible snowstorm. When they found Packer, his comrades were nowhere in sight but HE looked mighty healthy despite weeks of starvation.

Then they found the remains of human flesh in his pockets. Yes, cannibalism. There are five white crosses at this memorial that stand in memory of his...dinner. Of course, Packer has his own side of the story. Google it if you're interested!

We proceeded to go on a lovely drive through the mountains, and ended up at a lake where we attempted to fish. We could see the fish jumping, but--of course--we caught nothing. It was still tons of fun though!

Poor Brock. Casting to no avail.

Mojo watching the action...or lack thereof.

Gorgeous!

The view from our cabin.

The lake we went fishing at.

A New Adventure

No, not blogging. We're a bit more daring than that!

Today is our last day in Utah! Not forever, mind you, but for two months. Brock has an internship in Chicago working with the local Fox news station affiliate covering sports. Me? I'm going to funnel my resume into every temp agency that'll accept it and pick up jobs here and there. And least that's the plan! I'll also have ample time to read, write, take pictures and study for the Foreign Service Officer Test coming up in October. All in all: these two months have the makings of being fantastic!

We're sad to leave though. As much as we hate on Provo, there truly is no place like home. Also, we're leaving our dog Mojo behind! My parents have graciously offered to tend him while we're gone. Well, my dad has graciously offered. He kind of did that without my mom knowing, so who knows how "gracious" she is about it. Hehe :)

Before we leave on Sunday night, we're spending a few days in Lake City, CO with my family. My dad has a 50 mile race (in Thomas terms: a 10K) down there this Saturday and my parents have rented a house for us all to play at for the weekend. Sounds like fun! I've never been to Lake City before, but I've heard it's gorgeous.

On Pier 39 in San Francisco. That was last year's adventure.

Bring on Chicago!