Let's Go to New England!

Yep.  That was the little phrase that saved my sanity.
 
And then occasionally in the ensuing weeks - he would walk around humming "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year".  Because, well, we all know how I feel about fall.

And then he really made it happen LAST WEEK, and it was everything we hoped it would be, except for the part where we didn't stay for weeks.   Because I'm pretty sure that at least one of us was kinda hoping for that.  But "New England for Two Weeks In the Fall" is way more than 5 words, and way more than our budget could handle, even if you count all the frequent flyer miles, so it couldn't work out at all.  But hey, 4 days in New England in the fall?  AWE-SOME.

Now, I know I promised pictures, but here's the thing.

One of us (who shall remain nameless) was offered a really great camera for Christmas a couple of years ago.  But said person (who I think we have already established has mental problems) turned down the camera offer because it seemed really bulky and, you know, that person would have to carry it around and stuff.  And it really didn't seem that important when you could get a perfectly good camera the size of a credit card which would fit in your pocket or purse (I mean if you were the gender that would carry a purse)  (not that there's anything wrong with that) and keep your hands free for other things.  Like 44oz drinks.

Anyway, the other person in our marriage (who shall also remain nameless) really kind of wanted the camera and wanted to be able to figure out cool effects and stuff and so either way we ended up with this great (and heavy) camera.  Which one of us uses A LOT.  And so, if you were the other person, you might think to yourself - "hey! why carry around 2 cameras, when one of us takes really great pictures and has this really great camera.  I mean, look at all the room in your pocket you could save if you didn't take that camera.  You could even carry an extra pack of gum or something."

Or some other completely random - yet clearly RATIONAL thought such as that.

In any case, as it turns out, only one of us carried a camera and took pictures and hasn't downloaded or edited them yet, while the other of us only has a few measly pictures from a phone camera.

Here are the 5 (yes, five) random pictures I took.

 Some cool church in downtown Boston.

 Cemetary pictures from my morning run in Salem, MA.  I liked these headstones because they are so close together, and i like to think its a sweet old married couple. 

 Blurry photo from 55 miles an hour in a 45 mph zone.

This is what happens when city planners have a bad day, and still have to come up with a town name to put on the sign.

I was still laughing 14 miles later. And I will tell you that I'm much more likely to stop for gas in a town named Effingham, than a town with a regular old name like Freedom.  Well, idk, Freedom is really a pretty good name for a town.

More pictures coming... eventually.

The Trek!

It's possible that I am the last lds person on earth to go on a pioneer trek.  For those who are not lds, a pioneer trek is a reenactment of some portion of the Mormon Pioneers' journey across the central plains and mountains to Salt Lake City.  Generally (but not always) it's a youth activity, and it takes various forms, and is done in various places, but it always involves loaded handcarts being pushed and pulled by people--- as they were in that great migration of the 1850's.

 Handcart

So a year ago, when I found out that not only were we going, but we we had a chance to go on the real National Historic Trail, and push handcarts up this historically notorious place:

Rocky Ridge

I was IN.  Which was good, because The Brain and I were also in Charge.

Anyway - It was amazing.  There's no way to do an event like this without a crazy supportive ward -- and our ward jumped in right from the start. Then the committee, the support crew, the leaders, and the kids were all beyond wonderful - which really made it so we could do and see a LOT of cool things.

Silent River Crossings

 Noisy River Crossings

 Independence Rock

 Martin's Cove

 and of course

Rock Creek Hollow

And through the week, even through all the 

Wind

Rain

Mud

And seemingly endless walking...

...every single kid made it the whole 47 miles.  And some of us even walked an extra 3 so we could have bragging rights to 50 miles.

We had a blast!   We learned a ton about the pioneers, and why they did what they did.  But that wasn't really the point of the experience.  We never wanted anyone to have a testimony of the pioneers, or the trek. We wanted them to have a deeper relationship with their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

I was so proud of the youth for making the connection that Heavenly Father loves ALL his children, and he asks all of them to do hard things.  The hard things in our lives are different from the hard things the pioneers did, but that doesn't mean he loves any of us better or worse.   He just wants us all to know that we can do hard things with His help.  And that is the key -- to ask for His help.  Because with Him, we can and will get through all life's mud, wind, and rainstorms, and we will come through the other side more devoted to Him and to the gospel, and to our families, and to serving others.

I think they got it, because we had a special testimony meeting in Sacrament Meeting last Sunday after we got home.  And the bishop didn't want to cut the kids off, so he kept extending the time, and extending the time, until finally he had to cut it off at 2 1/2 hours because the next ward needed the chapel.  So basically I think we all understood a little better after last week, that when we do hard things, it becomes an opportunity to get closer to the Lord.

And that was really the point.

---------------------------------------------

 incidentally - -MY hardest thing of the week?
the absence of THESE along the trail.

I mean, srsly - how did people survive? 

luckily I have amazing people in my life who kept me hooked up to civilization.  

Oh, Hello!

 I have a blog?  Really?  Let's see, I think I vaguely remember something about that....


Over the last few weeks I've had a chance to drive all over the state of Colorado.  Truth be told, it's one of my favorite things to do. I have a hard time resisting the pull of a little mining town, and driving slowly through it while looking at the different buildings, and seeing things like the general stores and tiny post offices.
Real Small Towns look like this:

Creede, CO

Towns that used to be Real Small Towns but have gone commercial look like this:

Telluride, CO

I mean, it's cleaner and newer, but for me it loses it's charm a little bit when they commercialize it like that. 

But they're both really fun towns, and there are plenty of both in Colorado.

There is, however, a uniform you should be aware of if you visit any of the mountain towns of Colorado.  I've studied it, and the people who are super-hip all wear the same thing:  Tan cargo shorts, and a t-shirt, preferrably with some environmental slogan on it.  The t-shirt may be either long or short sleeved -- your call. The point is, you should look like you're ready to climb a mountain or go river rafting on a moment's notice. 

Which works out well, because that's the reason 90% of the people are in the small town in the first place. 

This confirms my suspicion that I'm not super-hip.  I only own one pair of tan cargo shorts, and my wardrobe of environmental t-shirts is definitely lacking.  And probably will be for some time.  

I mean, I can't really see myself wearing either of these in the near future:

But if you have a suggestion for me, send me a link and I'll post the image.  Because, you know, whatever it takes, I want to be cool.

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Goddess Divine suggests one like this. (I couldn't copy the exact one)  I kinda like it.

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JJ likes this one, which made me laugh out loud. (click to biggify)

Lost in Translation

Asian sign translations have this reputation for being, you know, interesting.  And they didn't disappoint us. Oh the signs made us doubletake.    There were the ones that were just translated funny, and then some that we never actually understood...

So if you steal a Busta Rhymes cd, would you have to take the rap for taking the rap?

I'm not exactly sure which treasures it meant.  

But I took care of everything I brought into the bathroom with me ...just in case.

I mean, relics are one thing...

But if you mess up the railings, that's gonna become another whole government project.

This must be what Caucasion women look like to the Chinese.

Oh.  Ok.

I just want to know where I can get that  Longevity Card. 

I hate when my clothes do that.

I thought 2 "no biking" signs might have been overkill, but they really lost me at "no bugling"

Some Things Transcend Borders

One of the things I like about traveling is getting to see how other people live, and compare it to the way I live. There are always a few surprises but pretty much, no matter where you go; everything's more expensive at the airport, McDonalds' french fries will always taste the same, and at some point, we all have to do our laundry.  Here are a few other universal truths that I learned more about in China!

Road crew supervisors always outnumber workers.

Doesn't matter where in the world you are.

Parents will always smile at you if you think their kid is cute.

(The only place I've ever experienced anything different was in the Grand Canyon with the Havasupi Indians.  They would smack their kids if they caught them being friendly with white people.)

The back row of Relief Society fills up first.

Rogue and blurry picture from the back row of Relief Society, held in the lower conference rooms of a nice hotel. Legally the branch can only include people with non-Chinese passports. Chinese nationals have their own branch, and never the twain shall meet. (But I'm pretty sure if they ever DO meet, they will have to arm wrestle over who gets the back row.)

Some signs are more helpful than others.
But this one wins! What else do you need, right?

No matter where you are in the world, you can most likely find a WalMart.
And we were very happy to see it!

Your WalMart has a seafood area too, right?

It's always hard to find a parking place.

Sometimes you have to go out of your way to get a good deal. 
This is the back alley we took to get to the purse shop. Down an alley, around the corner, ups some stairs, and through a dark hall. It occurred to me later that this was the equivalent of following someone through dark back alleys to get to a souvenir shop in Tijuana.

 Except that we lived to tell about it.

And I found one more universal truth:

 Women will do just about anything for a killer deal on a purse!

Ni Hao!

alternate title:
We Had a Fantastic 2 weeks in China, But I'm So Glad to be Home - or at Least I'm Pretty Sure I Would Be if I Could Wake Up Enough To Be Over The Jet Lag.

Although we got back from China last night, I don't think I've actually used the word "ni hao" (the Chinese word for "hello") for at least a week.  The Chinese seem to prefer to be greeted in English - for some I'm pretty sure it's the only English word they know - and they love to both use it and hear it! It was very charming.

The trip was amazing.  I should probably be opening mail or something, but I'm not really coherent enough to do something that takes brain power, so naturally blogging comes to mind! Anyway, here are some of the highlights!

First day in China and we discovered that there really are these oriental buildings everywhere!  I thought they would only be in museums and older parts of town.

We rode bikes on the wall around Xi'an.  The wall is about an 8 mile perimeter around the original city, and so beautiful.  It was a super fun, though we wished we'd started earlier in the day and beat the heat a little.

If there's one thing they do well over there, it's architecture and lighting.  It was fascinating.

How do you go to China and not have Peking Duck?  (Which apparently they are trying very hard to rename Bejing Duck)  It was very very good.  I've never had duck before, but it certainly wasn't the strangest thing I ate.

Of course, the Great Wall.  See how steep it looks?   Seriously,  they should have named it the Great Stairs.
My sisters and I wore our running clothes so we could run on the Great Wall.  We got about 2 miles in, but it was definitely not the smooth continuous run we anticipated.

Street Food.  Chicken, pork, lamb, yes that is squid, and there are several other things I never did identify.

 Scorpions

 Oh yes I did! (well, at least the tail!) It tastes like chicken.
Really.

 The Brain ate 5 whole ones.  

That was as close to eating a spider as I ever want to get.  EV-ER. 
More to come, but first... sleep! (because heaven knows I don't want to do some laundry or open my email or something constructive!)