Well, hello there!

My sincerest apologies for not having posted anything on this neglected blog for, oh, well over a month!

Alaska was phenomenal. Perfect. Beautiful. Just what we needed.

Since our return home, we’ve been super busy with work, the house and life. So it goes, right?

I figured I would go ahead and post some of my favorite pictures from our trip! If you would like to see more pictures, as the selection posted here is rather meager, you’re welcome to click on over to our Picasa Album to view all the photos from our trip!

The scenery was definitely better to look at than us, but what can I say, we’re pretty cute, too! Haha

One of our on-shore excursions was a kayaking trip. We were in two-man kayaks and we traveled probably five miles or so. It was a great workout and a lot of fun! We saw tons of bald eagles and even saw one snatch a fish out of the ocean. It sure beat watching National Geographic or the Discovery Channel!

One of our favorite excursions was a ziplining, eco-tour through the Alaskan Rainforest. It was gorgeous, no two ways about it. We zipped across five lines and braved a suspension bridge. It was amazing.

This was the night of our anniversary. Since we so rarely “dress up” I couldn’t resist posting this one. It’s quite obvious we weren’t prepared for the sun earlier in the day, as we’re both sun-burnt from our kayaking trip! Who’d have thought we’d get a tan in Alaska?

Of course, we made time for Geocaching. Woohoo! We had a few hours between excursions and stuffing our faces to hoof it around our ports of call. It was a great way to explore!

Of course, we had to spread the travel love and drop a Travel Bug off in Alaska. The token you see there is from our trip to the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. It only made sense to drop it at a new favorite vacation destination!

I hope you enjoyed the brief synopsis of our most-recent trip. It was truly an amazing time.

Oh, vacation. I miss it already!

I’ll be posting more updates including recent sessions, business news and house updates. Stay tuned!

Guilt Trip.

Some of you may be under the impression that we’re going on some trip this week. As in, leaving tomorrow for Vancouver. So that we can board a ship for an Alaskan cruise.

I’m here to tell you that you’re dead wrong.

The only trip we’re taking is a guilt trip.

That’d be true if Teddy got his way, anyhow

We’ll see y’all next weekend!

Bon voyage

Charles C Deam Wilderness = Our Paradise

So, I realize Abe and I have been home from our backpacking weekend for a week now. I realize that I’ve stunk at blogging lately and all that. I’m sorry. We HAVE been really busy though!

Our backpacking weekend was rockin’ awesome! We had such a great time out in the wilderness – hiking, climbing, looking, caching, relaxing, being. It was great to “escape” from the routine for the weekend and spend some time outdoors. It was the perfect weekend – perfect weather, perfect company. We basically can’t wait to go back out!

We hiked in Friday evening, after eight o’clock. I (Jacquie) had to close at work, so we didn’t hit the road until after six thirty. Of course, if I am not fed, I am not happy, so we had to stop for some grub on the way out We met up with Julian, Brooks and Dietrich at a campsite about a mile into the trail. It was an easy hike in the dark and so incredibly peaceful. We didn’t talk on the way in, just listened to the sounds of the night that surrounded us. It was an excellent way to start off the trip.

This shot is deceiving. In actuality, I couldn’t see a darn thing but Abe’s headlamp and the trail immediately in front of it. After awhile, our eyes adjusted to the light and though we couldn’t see much other than the trail, the going became a little easier.

We slept well the first night in our teeny tiny tent Ted was wedged up in the top by our heads while Abe and I were sandwiched together in the rest of the tent. It was funny I would prefer not to sleep like that every night but it wasn’t bad for a weekend.

In the morning, we got up bright and early. We got had our coffee along with power bars, peanut butter and trail mix. Then we suited up…

…and hit the trail!

That Saturday consisted of a lot, lot, lot of hiking! In addition to the hiking, we found and explored a cave, chilled out on the trail and found a few caches

Dinner was, surprisingly, good! It was my first time experiencing an MRE, or Meal-Ready-to-Eat. It’s an Army thing

Yum, yum!

There’s nothing like posting embarrassing pictures of yourself on the Internet

On Sunday, we hiked back to the cave – Patton cave – as a group. It was fun to go back and hang out inside again! It was nice and cool in there. The sound of running water was very soothing! I think I want a cave at our next house

Unfortunately, because of the threat of rain, I packed my camera away, deep into the bowels of my pack and didn’t get any photos. We snagged a few more caches on the way out of the woods and made it back to the vehicle by about two o’clock. It was a pretty easy hike out, definitely not as challenging as the hike in!

All in all, it was a great weekend and we cannot wait until our next opportunity to venture out for the weekend or even for a week! It’s nice just to have only what you need, no extra “fluff” or distractions. It was awesome. I highly recommend it

The Getaway: Part Two – Northern Indiana

So, we got off of I-80 at Angola and headed into a town Abe and I know fairly well – Ligonier! We drive through this town a couple times a year when we trek “up north” to visit my family in Shipshewana. On the way out of Cleveland, I used our handy, dandy new Garmin to search for lodging near Angola. Apparently, Bed & Breakfast-es (is that even right?) book up to no vacancy pretty quick around the holidays! We weren’t aware of this fact… So, we had to drive an additional hour off the interstate to find a Bed & Breakfast that had a vacancy.

We found a GEM! We stayed at the Solomon Mier Manor in Ligonier and it was fabulous! Brenda and Homer, the owners of the B&B were just great! They served us banana cake for desert after we arrived for the evening and loaned us a book on the history of Ligonier. As history buffs, we were stoked to have a little local history to dive into The next morning, Brenda served us a fabulous breakfast of quiche, fruit, homemade breads and jam, sausage, orange juice and coffee. It was wonderful!

Aaaand, we discovered that Homer and I are distant relatives through my paternal grandmother’s family! Apparently, my maiden name is pretty common up in Amish Country He recognized it right away, so we discussed our “blood lines” and made the discovery! Too fun

The B&B not only provided wonderful food and conversation, it was STUNNING, as well!

Sadly, we only booked the B&B for one night and left just after breakfast the next morning. We will DEFINITELY look into staying here the next time we head “up north” and would recommend it to anyone wanting to explore the area.

After we checked out of the B&B we headed up and over to Shipshewana to visit my grandparents, aka Mammi and Dawdi. Though it was a brief visit, it was soooo good to pop in for a surprise visit Mammi, of course, had snacks at the ready and we settled in for some good conversation. Hopefully, we’ll make it back up this Spring.

After we left Mammi and Dawdi’s house, we began heading south again in a VERY roundabout manner, taking time to do some Geocaching on the way home The trip, which usually takes about four hours to complete, took more like seven hours! It was fantastic

We headed to cemeteries…

Into the woods…

…and onto gravel roads!

We took a break in the town of Auburn to grab some fuel at this old school pump

And some AWESOME lunch at this deli/bakery called The Bread Basket. SO good. We also stopped in this shop, though I can’t remember the name of it now, that was filled with country/primitive treasures and handmade goods. I loved it! We refrained from buying anything, though, since we don’t really have a house to furnish or decorate at the moment

Our caching adventure continued till we made it to Huntington and it got dark. Before it go dark, we were given this AWESOME sky, just before sunset.

It was, basically, a fantastic trip Not exactly what we’d planned, but perfect nonetheless!

The Getaway: Part One – Cleveland

So, Abe and I had this brilliant idea that we should get away for a few days this week. I was off work Monday evening through yesterday, allowing three glorious, wide-open days to appear before us. We tried to come up with different ideas of what to do, something we hadn’t done before. After flip-flopping on booking a cabin for a week or so, it was too late to reserve one. So, Friday afternoon of last week, Abe texts me while I’m at work. It’s a picture of the house from A Christmas Story! We were heading to Cleveland! Woohoo! We left Monday afternoon and drove straight up to the northeastern Ohio city, arriving at about 7:30. My view for the long ride was stunning

He’s all beard-y right now… and I LOVE it

The first night was great. We found our Bed & Breakfast, The Brownstone Inn, with no problems (thanks to the awesome Garmin).

We drove about thirty blocks down from our inn to find a great pub, where we supped on traditional Irish foods and a pint o’ Guinness each. That evening, though the old brownstone was creaky (and possibly haunted), we slept great on our comfy, fluffy bed to wake up refreshed and recharged. I was prepared for the pop culture pilgrimage of a lifetime – visiting the site where my most favorite film in the history of time was created!

Unfortunately, this was all of the house we got to see. The house, museum and gift shop were ALL closed till the 8th of this month! Are ya kiddin?! We were ticked. We were also taught a lesson in last-minute planning and researching further the hours of various establishments before planning trips that involve several hours of unnecessary travel in the car – especially around the holidays.

Humph.

Pout.

Needless to say, our figurative bubbles were blown to smithereens.

Since we are not – by ANY MEANS WHATSOEVER – big city type folk, we decided to hit the road and head back to Indiana. We didn’t head straight home, though. Don’t you worry We hit I-80 and headed to northern Indiana, one of my most favorite places in the whole, entire world!

Above is our parting gift from Cleveland. Our little consolation prize for not getting to tour A Christmas Story house.

The Getaway: Part Two – coming soon!