San Francisco and Oregon Sand Dunes

San Francisco and Oregon Sand Dunes are next.  Just a few thoughts.
We spent about 5 day in San Francisco.  It was absolutely fantastic!  We loved, loved, loved the city and walked about 35-40 miles in our time there (We like to walk).  Perhaps the best part was that instead of heading to the nearest Walmart parking lot to sleep, we got to stay with our friend Rachel in the city.  She was gracious enough to open her apartment to us and we returned the favor with eggplant parmesan.  We hung out with her and her boyfriend Garrett (Both friends of ours from good 'ol Manhattan, KS) every night.  We ate tacos and donuts and watched two movies that I may or may not recommend depending on what day you catch me on (Wild Hunt and Weird Science).  It was so good to see some familiar faces and get to spend time with them!

Oregon Sand Dunes.  They may look fun, but trust us, they are WAY more fun than they even look.  We could have spent days there, instead we're spending days discovering sand in our ears, hair and everything we own.

We're now in Portland.  This is my (Tyler) idea of a perfect city.  Absolutely love it.  Tiffany and I are still working through details of what it would look like for us to end up here.  We'll keep you posted!

Flagstaff -> Las Vegas -> LA -> Yosemite!

Alright, here is the next leg of our journey!

We loved Flagstaff.  It was a cool little town reminiscent of a Lawrence or Boulder.  We tried to watch a free movie in their town square, but it was one we had just seen . . . Rango.

Las Vegas.  Meh.  Wouldn't have gone if we weren't so close and figured we could land some cheap food or a show.  Neither happened.  Can't see why we'd ever go back.

LA was great!  The beach was wonderful . . . and so was the coffee!  Going to the Price is Right was a blast, the whole experience of it was great.  We got to meet and talk to Drew Carey which was in itself a highlight for me, because I love him!  However, if you want to see what was the best part of the experience, tune in on December 9th!

Next we drove down Highway 1 through Big Sur.  It was pretty gray and foggy most of the way, but still it was absolutely beautiful. 

From there we headed on over to Yosemite.  It turned into one of those places where we spend most of our time just trying to figure out where to go.  We finally found the right place that seemed like what we would want to see and made a nice long hike. 

Now we're in San Francisco, staying with our friend Rachel (and seeing our friend Garrett).  We're having a blast and its a lot of fun to see familiar faces.

Travels to the Grand Canyon

 

Tiffany and I are currently sitting in a coffee shop in Flagstaff, AZ, for the first time, as the smelliest people in such a a place.  5 days without a shower after mass amounts of sweating and a 6 mile hike in the grand canyon has left us a little self conscious as we are tightly packed amongst people in the very busy Macys Cafe.

Our trip so far as been Manhattan, KS --> OKC --> Santa Fe --> Farmington --> Grand Canyon --> Flagstaff.

It was great to see the Schwartz's and their new son Jensen, as well as Annie Stuckey in Manhattan.  Then, we had a family gathering in OKC, in which it was awesome great to see family I haven't seen in awhile.

Santa Fe was a wonderful little town in the mountains.  After arriving, we found a bench to make a little picnic and unwind a bit.  Not long, a couple saw us and our van and invited us to dinner at a beautiful Santa Fe home.  It was my jar of JIF peanut butter that made them unable to NOT invite us to dinner.  So off we went for a wonderful meal.  We stayed up and talked to them about all the travels they have taken all over the world.  After sleeping in their driveway, we got up for an early morning bike ride with them to the mountains!  The air at 7200ft was not friendly to us, but we made it!  We were blessed to have this happen during our short time their, and as one of my buddies put it, we felt we had favor here.

We left midday from Santa Fe, planning to stay the night in Farmington, hoping the next day to go to the four corners, valley of the gods, monument valley and the Grand Canyon all in one day.  Things were on course until, literally as we made the turn into valley of the gods, a pulley broke, undoing our serpentine belt.  Amazingly enough, I put in a call to AAA at 12:15pm and by 3:45pm we were back on the road again even though the tow was an hour away.  When we got back to the entrance of valley of the gods (17 miles of scenic, but very rugged terrain) we decided not to go in.  We learned from our tow truck driver that our van probably wouldn't have made it given the roads and recent rains and we could have found ourself in big trouble.  So, as much as we can, we saw our breaking down when we did as a blessing in disguise and decided not to push our luck.  So, we went on our way, through monument valley (and past mile marker 13 where Forrest Gump quit running) and made it to the Grand Canyon just in time for sunset!  The next day we did a 6 hour hike in 4 hours and it destroyed us on the way back up . . . toughest hike I've been on.  We saw about all we needed to see there, so to Flagstaff to pass the night and are excited for the next place on our journey.

Good Bye Kansas City

 This is a video of our last days in community in Kansas City.  We leave loved ones, who have become more family than friends.  We have been immensely blessed by this group of people and our last 2 years as part of Oak Park Community.   It is with both joy and grief that we begin our journey at the end of our time here.

Update: Tiffany and I are now in Santa Fe.  We've made some surprise friends and are having a great time.  Video soon to come.  :-)