There's no place like...

 I have been thoroughly enjoying being in a snow-less land this winter!  There is such a beauty in the earth that I am so happy to witness that had been previously covered in feet of snow by this time of year in Alaska.  Being able to walk to a lovely park just across the river behind the house is a real treat (though don't think my walks are without my Alaska Bear Spray in hand - one just never knows what lurks behind those menacing cottonwood trunks!)

 I was able to take in some Christmas joys like Christmas Windows and lights recently with my "Beaches" friend.  To clarify if you haven't ever seen the epic friendship film, we connected many years ago and now see each other rarely (much less than we'd like), but I would do just about anything for her and we pick up like we haven't been apart at all!  Unlike "Beaches," we are not competitive, and neither of us has any life-threatening disease.  I'm waiting for her to begin her singing career though.

M has this neighbor who I think is just hilarious.  He is slowly decorating his car.  Notice the "YOLO" shout out.  The tree on the top of his car is not en-route to any further location.  It is for the car.  He has a Christmas Tree for his car.  I find this fascinating.

 I have finally decided to begin preparing Christmas cards.  I am about 2 weeks late.  I know. You may not even get one because in reality, just because I have purchased the cards does not mean I will get these out.  I don't believe the meaning of Christmas is to update all my friends and family of my goings-on.  I do want to share what we are doing, though, so I will try.  Plus, I like to get your cards!

 Speaking of the meaning of Christmas, I want to share one of my favorite things with you.  If you have been around me much during Christmas, you know I love the music of the Charlie Brown Christmas. (Charlie Brown music is pretty fabulous anyway.)  I love the jazzy low-key flow of the tunes in a total juxtaposition of the chaos that the commercial Christmas brings.  In fact, the true meaning of Christmas, that being the momentous miracle of the coming of the Savior of the world in human form, is the pivotal message in the classic tale of "A Charlie Brown Christmas."  The boldness, and consequent staying power of this Peanuts cartoon special are such a sweet surprise to me every year.

Pella Build: Week 1

This has been an interesting week!  We have been introduced to Pella, Iowa and several of it's lovely people, specifically ones who have an interest in what we are doing!  

What are we doing, you ask?  Why, let me tell you!

We are doing a lot of discussing, planning, figuring, thinking, explaining and the like.

We are doing a lot of calling, driving, searching, measuring, searching again...(though this fabulous category mostly falls to Adam).

We are doing a moderate bit of fitting, tacking, welding, grinding, cutting and other metal work.

We are doing some axle breakdown, break replacement, gasket replacement, differential examinations, and more fun auto-learning things.

We are doing some website design, logo research, timelapse photography, web design research, and even some marketing book purchasing.

 And by "we" I do mean "we!"
Notice my dedication to working: I put my work gloves on my head so the hood will fit. 

 Yes, I have had the privilege of getting into a little bit of everything, and I am learning a ton.  I feel a little bit like I'm on overload with it all, but I'll catch up.  We are working long hours, naturally.  You know how Pat is...never a moment without something to do!  I'm trying to keep up with him, but I'm enjoying a blissful moment of internet connection (thank you wb0rn, whose connection I'm using!), to catch you all up on our super exciting and immensely glamorous life right now.

We did get to take a fun trip with our Leader, Don and his family to a pumpkin patch this last Sunday.

 I'm not entirely sure how these are related, so I just leave it to your imagination.

 Hay Jumping has become a new favorite sport among those 4 feet and shorter.  We all took a turn and will probably be coughing the last of the hay dust from our lungs in a few short weeks.

 Taking a hay-less-rack-ride out to the pumpkin patch was a fun activity, with so many sizes and colors to whisk away those boring bills inside one's wallet.  I found a perfect sized one: it fit inside the palm of my hand, but upon further inspection, the squishy-ness of it caused me to decide to save my coins.

 Fortunately for Don and Erin, their 5 kiddo's were all about finding their perfect pumpkin!  I believe they settled for a family representative, and I was impressed by their satisfaction of the singular choice.

 This place seemed to scream Where the Wild Things Are to me, and no more so than when I spotted the fort/teepee made of corn.  We spent the evening exploring the hay train, complete with bell...

 ...and you know Pat was all about the goat education.  Being the frugal folk that we are, Pat showed the kids how to pick up the corn that was left by other obviously financially irresponsible people.  Later we found out the corn was free.  Still, a lesson on waste was learned, maybe.  We finished the evening with a fire and roasted hotdogs and Smores.  A really lovely day off!

 Back to work...things have slowly and methodically progressed.

There have been lots of notes taken and prints consulted.  

 Then this week, Don and I went to an in-town office due to the lack of internet service (except for now!!), and have been working in this super adorable and historic upper level space!  Those stairs are just about the most amazing thing ever.  I love them.  And then look at the view from the windows!

 Seriously the most adorable town I have ever been in.  I think they all mow their yards on the same day and everything.  In this downtown area there is a clock tower that chimes the quarter hours and then on the hour, it plays about 5-6 minutes worth of tunes.  I found myself singing along to "Home on the Range!"

 This place is just too cute.  There are some really fun shops that I may just have to visit one of these days.  Lot's of antiques, a couple coffee shops, gift stores and other quaint shops line the fabulously non-parallel parking streets!  I'm kinda watching for the "Truman Show" staff to accidentally show themselves...

 Yesterday we got to go on a "field trip" to Vermeer production facility, just down the road.  We were able to see a large factory structure and how they operated a $1 billion company.  It was really interesting.  It may be a few years before Vytrak gets to this level, but I could see one thing that we could totally take away from our trip:

Recent Goings On

Most of you know by now that we have plans to go to Ghana, Africa next year.  These plans are going forward and from what I can tell, are going well.  We were able to go out this last weekend for a long weekend of team meeting and greeting out at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.  It was a great time of getting to know one another and get updated on the latest progress.

Pat had met most of the team, but until now I had not.  Would they like me?  Yep, I'm a little insecure.  I also wondered how well they had gotten to know Pat!  We made sure to show our true selves, made even easier by the fact that we had a serious hit of allergies.  We just didn't feel the energy to fake anything, not that we do that sort of thing anyway! So they all got to see our snorting, nose-blowing, sneezy selves.  I know they were thrilled.

Fortunately, we stayed in a beautiful place made possible by some friends of Don, our fearless leader.  Because I was horrible with taking pictures, I have very few, and even less of actual people.  Someday I will steal respectfully ask to borrow and repost pictures that others took!  Then you can see who we are.  I am the only one with wild hair.  All the other women have this beautiful smooth hair.  I expect I'll live.  Digression...back to all seriousness.

Pat was able to show his exceptional outdoor skills by arranging a scavenger hunt/race for the kids one of the days, which included the use of our two canoes!  He was also the king of fishing, setting up pole fishing for bluegill off the docks.

  Eventually, he was able to teach the 3 older girls how to use grown-up fishing rods and reels to fish for large mouth bass, white bass, and even a blue catfish!  Those girls weren't afraid to bait with worms or "pet" their catches, which of course were all christened before returning to their watery homes.  In case you were worried, we did keep one day's catch and fried it up to reward all the new anglers.  Fun was had by all, and thankfully, no hooks ended up in fingers, toes or any other body part.

Our next step in this journey is to spend some time in Pella, Iowa to manufacture two prototypes of the vehicle we will be manufacturing in Africa.  Once this is complete, our fearless leader and his family will blaze the trail for the rest of us in Ghana where we will meet them in January to build two more in country.  We will then return to the U.S. and complete more of the business side of things before we return to Africa, hopefully in March(ish).  That's the nutshell!  Again, if you are interested in Vytrak or have more questions for us, please give us a call/email/skype/whatever!  We, and especially our team, will love to have your prayers as we go forward.

So, since that was informational but less photographic, I'll finish with a few pictures of a walk we took to see some ruins of an estate that was built in the early 1900's, and burned in the '40's.  It was a beautiful day and had some gorgeous views!

 The ruins of the "castle" were captivating.  In the midst of the awe, it seemed sad to me that so much effort was put into something to serve himself and now literally lays in ruins.  It made me really think about what I put my efforts and resources toward and what others will see when I am gone.

 It was a beautiful place and I am thankful for the people who let us stay in their condo's.  It was a real retreat for all of us, and a perfect place for us to connect with the people who will be our closest connections for a while - snot and all!

Portland Beauty

 I guess I've taken the role of not taking pictures, but I did manage to take a few during our recent trip to Portland to visit our friends there (which, again, we didn't take any pictures together!  Actually, they may have, but I didn't.  Boo).  We had a very fun wine-tasting tour in a limo to celebrate Stacey's birthday, which took us to some very lovely places!

 Pat, being the special person that he is, found a perfect helmet for himself at a trip to a motorcycle shop!  I think it makes him look so tough.  That's what I told him, anyway.  He did strengthen his image when he took his place on their drum kit.  It was so good to listen to him play again!

 Speaking of play, Pat was able to work out a little during the day on the kid's toys.  (on a gardener's note, isn't it so gorgeous and green there?!)

 The sights around the Portland area are so beautiful.  There was a fire in the hills, so I never saw Mt. Hood, but what we did see was gorgeous.  This little island in the river was so fun and made me envious of large trees and manicured gardens.  It wasn't overdone, but just perfect.

Pictures just don't do justice to the beauty of the land in this place.

I was finally able to experience the fabulousness of Sushi Hana. The conveyor belt in the background is the way you choose your dishes and at the end you basically count your plates and pay accordingly.  Fortunately, as you can see the vast mountain of empty plates on our table, the dishes are not expensive.  It was very delicious!

Our friends took us out to the river on our final evening to have dinner out on the deck.  It was perfect!  Pat had a gluten-free bun for his hamburger, and we had great dinner and company!

Thank you, Aaron and Stacey for a wonderful time!  It was great to be with you.  We miss you tons!

Last Days and Long Drives

Before we headed off on our way out of Alaska, we had to fit in one last trip on the Kenai River!  We went out with Ed O'Connor with Advantage Angling (nice plug, eh?), and we had a great time! The river was brisk in the wee hours of the morning, but we fought our way to our 3 Silver Salmon.

 We decided that on the way out, we would take a little detour to Seward and take another Glacier Wildlife Cruise.  The waves were the choppiest I've ever had and I felt more seasick than I had ever felt on one of these cruises, but we had a spectacular display of calving and wildlife viewing!  We saw/heard/felt a huge chunk of ice fall and saw a large amount of sea wildlife including a very spirited humpback that kept slapping his tail for us!

 It wasn't long before Dad, Rowdy, Pat and I left our home state of 7 years behind.  I am often asked if I was sad, but I can honestly say that I have loved it all but am ready for the next adventure!  This is the scene I had for most of the trip:

 We chose a lovely spot at Teslin Lake to have our plans adjusted a bit.  When we got out at the camp spot, I heard a hissing sound.  This is not a pleasant noise to behold when partaking of a long journey by automobile.  Sure enough, we found the tire and the hole in said tire from which the air was emanating.  Fortunately, there happened to be help nearby, and the gentleman who fixed our tire, for not a small price, advised us to rethink our trailer situation as he felt one of the axles on the large trailer was bent and would not make the rest of our trip as we were.  After assessing the situation and processing this bit of bad news, we did remove approximately 500lbs. from the large trailer and stacked it on the small one.  As you can see above, the small trailer had previously been the deck for Pat and my small tent, but it ended up being an upgrade for us as we were "forced" to use our large tent which held our foam sleeping pads much more easily.

 We made the stop in Watson Lake to the Sign Post Forest.  This is truly a sight to behold.  It began in 1942 by a serviceman who put up a sign to mark how far away his hometown was.  I believe there are over 55,000 signs there today.  We had put one up on our trip 7 years ago and we spent a bit of time trying to find it again.  We recognized certain signs that were markers to us before and that gave us hope.  After a long search, we began to give up and true to movie-magic, I saw it!

 We had been looking for a much more silver coffee-can lid, and laughed at ourselves for not realizing it would be rusty!  We decided to add our next stage onto the "sign" and hope we see it again someday.

 You know things are getting exciting when you begin to see the Bison on the road!  This is a clear indication you are nearing Liard Hot Springs!  It was a heavenly place years ago, and we made it a point to stop here again.  On a little side note, we ate very well on our trip.  I had just a little bit of Halibut left in the freezer, so we took it along and at this fabulous location took it out to make my famous Halibut Parmesan.  It is really delicious, and super simple to make which is a good thing on a camping trip.  I would have liked to smile more, but I was fighting a cold sore that had threatened to take away all my fun.  I won.

 Pat jumped right in to the hot side of the pool and Dad followed.  I, however, am not one to follow the crowd, so I went down to the "cool" 100*F side and tried to ease myself into the warmth.  I must admit that the warmer temperatures on this trip made this stop a bit less refreshing than our late September trip of yore, but it still felt very good despite the sulfur smells.  I did enjoy the massage feeling of sitting beneath the hot falls and did eventually head into the hot side of the pools.  I didn't last long in the super heat and with all the light-headed strength we could muster, we took a short walk to see some of the falls that the minerals create.  I'm pretty sure that this walk was when I became a buffet table to the mosquitoes in the area.  I looked like I had chicken pox for several days after.

We have recently lamented the lack of pictures of our camping spots.  We aren't sure if anyone else cares, but posterity should have demanded it.  Posterity needs to make its voice a bit louder.  We had a lovely spot in Alberta, not too far south of Calgary, that had we not stopped and asked a local walker (who was super nice and helpful) we would have never seen it.  It was a park in the middle of this little town called High River and it was really lovely.  It was where we heard and saw our first real thunderstorm in 7 years!  It was so fabulous and we were so giddy that our camping neighbors just had to laugh!  They were super nice, too!

We made it into the States with little fanfare.  There was a long line of cars and we went through all the paperwork for our firearms and animal trophies.  It was beginning to get really hot.  I was glad to have another detour arrive that took us into Yellowstone!  Dad nor I had ever been there, and it was a really lovely day of driving and hiking to various sights.

 Our lunches were typically sandwiches or salads eaten on the tailgate of the truck.  Pretty simple fare, but I enjoyed it!

 This particular waterfall is a bit of a famous one of Yellowstone, and Pat remembered it from his childhood.  It had a strange green streak that runs down the left side of it, and we spent some time considering reasons for its existence.  This was in part to help us recover from the almost 400 steps it took to get down to the viewing deck and to prepare to walk back up.  It was a beautiful place to take in.

 Did I mention how friendly Pat was?  Just look at him stepping in to get that perfect shot for those three.  What a guy.

 Yellowstone would not be complete without "Buffalo Pictures!"  Let me explain.  Many years ago, when I was but a small child, an uncle and aunt of mine took their 4 children on a summer vacation to Yellowstone.  They came home with a plethora of pictures to share, and like the supportive family members we all were, we gathered around the projection unit to watch their vacation slideshow.  To say they had many pictures of the Bison would be a gross understatement and thus began our family tradition of calling multiple pictures of one subject, "Buffalo Pictures."  So, to continue, I have a few of my own.  This particular fellow came strolling by, a mere two feet or less from our truck.  Dad could have reached out and pet him.  He opted for a Buffalo Picture.

 We did stop at a couple of the thermal sites and saw the colorful algae that grow in the pools.  I was fascinated at the moonscape with steam popping out of many random places and the other gasses bubbling out which created a strange soundtrack.

 The wildlife here was easy to spot: look for the mass of cars stopped on the road.  We were shooed out of one elk spotting area by the wildlife troopers, but were able to capture this bull elk just walking right beside us.  Pat later let him cross the road right in front of him.  It seemed there just wasn't enough room for the both of them; the elk and the bison that is.  This bison walked right past my window as we were leaving the elk.  I wasn't close enough to pet him, which was just fine with me.

 And yes, we saw Old Faithful.  As Murphy would have it, we arrived at the site just after it had blown, so we hoofed it back to our rigs and had an early supper before coming back to the crowds to watch.  It was pretty fascinating to realize the regularity of such an occurrence and I wondered that God would make something like this.   

 On the way out we saw a pair of deer munching in the woods.  Can you see this one?  We had a staring contest.  I don't know who won as my contacts glazed over and I couldn't see anything.

 As we were driving away from the Grand Tetons of Jackson Hole, we began to lose the big mountain feel.  As the land began to change into dryer, less treed ground we thought we'd seen our last really scenic views, but Wyoming was really quite surprising and gave us some lovely desert red to awe.

 The antelope were plentiful in Wyoming and we began to try to out-spot Pat, but to no avail.  His game eyes were on and though we were two, we could barely keep up.

Finally, after 10 days of driving we were welcomed back by family in Wichita!  It was a warm welcome in many ways, and it was good to be back.