If you're glancing around and see all the black boxes, no worries, will fix soon! Simply moved all my picasa photos to new account and need to go edit urls.....

~Peter

The Beginning of Roots

We aren't wandering anymore. Unless you count the time I spend inside my head each day as I continue my journey to write a fantastic piece of fantasy fiction.

Well it's been awhile but I've decided to return to blogging for the simple joy of writing about my life again. It's a good break from fiction; one is mentally intensive, each sentence directed at penetrating the mystery of human existence and exploring an invented (yet strangely familiar) world. Blogging, on the other hand, is like a roam through the woods, following a rambling country road. Where will my post end up?

How about here?

http://inhabitat.com/nendo-house-gets-natural-moss-wallpaper/

I think having a house with moss art on the walls would be amazing. Moss gardening is not something I'm familiar with, and here in the mid-west the extreme summer and winter temperatures inhibit the growth of moss-outside, at least. Inside is a different story, or so I'm told. I have a small terrarium type jar with a little moss in it. From this perhaps I will be able to create a small moss garden myself.

For those who don't know, I've recently begun an adventure of indoor gardening. It began on a day when I felt a little crazy and needed a project to do. (Projects are great for re-directing energy that is crazy and delirious into something much more peaceful and productive!) So far, I have Black Simpson and Buttercrunch lettuce, spinach, and bush beans. I invested in only a single grow-light from Wal-Mart, as I have a southern and south-western facing window which receive plenty of light. I have sprouts already, after only five days :P

I've heard growing spinach from seeds can be difficult, so the sprouts directly above were nice to see. Hopefully will have some more in the next day or two. So far beans haven't sprouted :(

I'd like to do some DIY hydroponics or perhaps even vertical gardens, but I'm limited by the amount of money I can spend right now. While not working at Olive Garden anymore, I do plan to pick up another job in January. I do have to say, however, that spending these last couple months has been great for me-I've been cooking nearly every night, writing consistently, and developing a better picture of what living in Missouri will look like for me.

Did I say we haven't been wandering? Not entirely true: we spent a few days in Colorado, my first time in the state, and saw a few cool things (but nearly enough).

Link to Picasa web album: https://picasaweb.google.com/115430962002206742335/ColoradoTrip11?authkey=Gv1sRgCLuf8cTR1OLxKA

We also briefly visited Rocky Mountain National Park (and I do mean brief-only half a day) but the weather was misting so we didn't take pictures. We did, however, get to see wild elk, hear some elk calls, and hike around a little bit. It was almost cruel to visit such a beautiful place and only hit the tip of the iceberg of what there was to see.

All for now. Peace for the upcoming holiday season!

Home

So we've arrived at home, started applying for jobs, and are slowly settling in to "real life."  Weather is turning cold, Halloween is past, and our noses are sniffling.  Life is good, and home is the best.

But I've decided to change a few things.
 A) I'm going to do a lot more cooking.  This trip made me realized how delicious good food is, and how much I desire home made food everyday.  For starters, I plan to start baking all the bread and granola bars consumed in our household, for sandwiches, snacks,etc.  Should take about five-six hours a week.
 B) Keep in shape.  One great thing about Missouri is its a whole lot flatter!  This means I can bike farther and more leisurely and still get great exercise.

Will update about the bread adventure.  Seeing as my family has always made good bread, it's about time for to start too!

Maine

  Sorry for not posting for awhile!  We've been in Raleigh, NC, relaxing with Peter's parents and being at the NC State Fair!  But we haven't posted about Maine yet, and that place deserves its own entry.

  I think Maine has been the most beautiful place we've visited so far-this might be because we hit the fall color perfectly, or just the overwhelming natural beauty. At any rate, we drove across the state and spent three days in Acadia National Park.  (I know, know-only three days?  We would've stayed longer, but it was just going to rain.  As it was we had great weather!  Besides, Megan had a moment at Acadia where she 'hit the wall' and declared she was ready to be home!)  

   The first day we did a short, hour long hike, called the Beehive Trail.  It was cool-the trail ascends 500 feet along a beautiful cliff of pink granite and firs.  On top, we hiked along the ridgeline, saw the first color of sunset warm the sky, and viewed the Bowl, a natural granite basin the size of a small lake on top an adjacent mountain.  On the hike down we were struck by the pairing of red and orange maples with dark fir evergreens, with gorgeous pink granite in every direction.   

The Bowl

  

   That first night we had our first lobster pound eating experience.  We shared one lobster, a pile of steamed mussels, some corn on the cob, potatoes, and out of this world wild Maine blueberry pie.  

We saw Sand Beach, the only non-rocky section of shoreline on Mt. Desert Isle.  We also spent some time walking along the rockier part of shore, too.

Our other Maine adventures included kayaking Long Lake.  We didn't make out on the ocean (this time) but Long Lake was very pretty and we love kayaking: it's such great exercise for the body and soul.

We had some good local brews at a pub, some fried shrimp and chatted with locals.  Acadia has a scene drive, as well, with great views of the island.  One morning, we got up really early to watch the sunrise on Cadillac Island.  This is the first place sun rays hit the United States for a large part of the year.  BUT...it was cold!!

Gorgeous Maine coast line

Pictures from low tide pools

Harbor in Bar Harbor, Maine

That was about it for Maine.  We left and drove a really, really long ways down to Hampton Virgina to see Megan's Uncle Bill afterwards.  Got some great Chesapeake Bay crab cakes and more fried seafood! Yummy.  

We also visited Megan's cousin Jenny and her great family outside of D.C.  We went into town one afternoon and saw the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  Cool, but by that time we were kinda worn out.  It's been nice to relax these last few days in NC.  And, fair food is fabulous.  Yesterday we tried our first Krispy Kreme Burger: a patty with bacon and cheese between two Krispy Kreme donuts.  Delicious.  

We'll be in Missouri in a couple of days, and probably put up some more pictures, and maybe a trip slideshow that goes over the best pictures.  But we'll still blog about cool stuff after that, so keep checking back!

~Peter and Megan

Pictures!

Pictures we couldn't load the last time because the internet was too slow : )

Cheese room at Shelburne Farms.

We love donkeys! They're such cute little fuzzy heads!

These sandwiches were amazing!  Thick slices of local meats with yummy veggies, Vermont apple slices, and Vermont sharp cheddar of course!

The corner of one wing of the dairy barn at Shelburne!

The great Vermont Corn Maze!  It took us about an hour to get through.  I thought it would be harder, but it was still fun!

Our trip to the Ben and Jerry's Factory yielded some yummy ice cream!

Stopping by a lake in New Hampshire on "Moose Alley" highway 3.  We didn't see any moose though : (

Happy Fall everybody!

Northbound: Vermont

 Oh, and we also learned New York has the largest state park in the whole country: the Adirondack Mountains!  Weird, huh?

When we first crossed over the border into Vermont, the first thing we did was visit Shelburne Farms.  What a gorgeous place—once, it was owned and operated by a doctor who married into the Vanderbilt Family and wanted to create a working dairy farm Vanderbilt style.  The dairy barn was as nice as a mansion, and there were acres of beautiful woodlands and meadows we walked around.  It is now a non-profit used for agro-tourism, teaching kids and adults about farms, agriculture, cheese making, and animals. Megan got to milk a cow for the first time and got to pet many farm animals she’d never gotten a chance to!

The trails all over the farm were beautiful. We even found a lone apple tree with a few good apples on the ground that ended up as a good snack!

 We had our first taste of Vermont white cheddar at Shelburne, and it was yummy. 

 While color was really pretty in Vermont, we really hit the peak about a half week late, and many leaves were already fallen off the trees.  It made for great hikes though, crunching through leaves is pretty great. That was mostly because it was so darn cold already.  About 35 degrees at night!

     The first night I (Peter) got the car stuck in mud trying to get close to our lean-to shelter we stayed at.  Here’s how it went:

Megan: Don’t drive on that grass, it’s raining and there’s a hill!

Me: Nah, it’s fine.  I’ll just whip around to get it closer.

Megan: We’re close enough.

Me: It’ll be fine.

VRRRRRR.  (Tires squealing) !*#&@&@.

Husbands, listen to your wives. J  The next morning, I was able to get out after working at it for a while.

But the rest of Vermont made up for that unfortunate incident.  We visited Cabot Creamery (cheese, more cheese, and cheese heaven!), Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream (sooo good—we saw many flavors we haven’t tried yet) and beautiful vistas of the Green Mountains and Vermont farmland.  Enjoy the pictures!

We also had a blast at the Great Vermont Corn Maze which we were able to navigate in just under an hour! A nice way to be lost for a while!

A NY Minute

Here are a few thoughts and things we learned about NY State the short while we were there:

1. I always heard Niagara Falls was so romantic but never figured why, but man it really is! :) It felt like a second honeymoon us just walking around hand in hand enjoying the beauty.

2. The taxes, toll charges and gas are way too high! Yikes!

3. NY drivers really drive crazy even when not near a city. We were on a back country road and were being passed like I was going 2 mph (which I was not).

4. Several places offered discounts for paying cash which is nice if you have cash on hand and not travelling so much.

5. The state of New York is so massive, much bigger than I ever thought and we didn't even go to NYC.

   Well that's all, we'd love to come back and do The Big Apple sometime when we can do it right!