and the Journey ends....

24 days and 4,971 miles; we have finally landed at our destination! Sun shined in our faces as we made our descent from the snow packed Cascades onto the Puget Sound. Too many experiences to fully explain have filled our lives over the past month. We both are a changed people, having grown from shared experience. Now reality is setting in, rent, utilities, groceries, credit card bills, furnishing the new apartment, aigh. Something in both of us, as we opened the door to our new apartment, in the out-flowing of pure excitement seeing our new life, the question was asked "do you want to get back on the road?" We laughed, truly happy with our new home, the transient time we spent on the road will always stay with us, where ever our lives lead us to. Since Sedona, or trip has sped up a bit from the multiple month long anticipation of our new apartment neither of us has seen. Rented over the internet on craigslist, based off only blurry pictures of only parts of the place, we were in store for a treat. We were pleasantly surprised about what we found; The location, extra space, and a garage!

The final leg of our journey: Scottsdale, AZ: Much enjoyed time with Ed and Jackie at their home below Camelback Mountain.

Grand Canyon National Park:  What a big canyon.  Our jaws dropped and we approached the rim.  The sheer sight of the canyon puts life into perspective, one sees how little they are in the world.  Exiting the chaos the grand canyon village is, we found a few great look-outs.   That's me looking the wrong way.

Zion National Park:  Great park.  Another visit is in store for us.  Absolutely majestic.
Provo, UT: Kelly's was born in Provo, so we thought a stop for the night was needed, to see her baby stomping grounds.

Great Salt Basin: Great 15 min stop to get out and run around.  This is where they do speed tests. Endless tire track go off into the distance.

Boise, ID: Very clean, newly built, and surprisingly warm. This city surprised us both, I guess we had little to base any assumption off for it. Yakima, WA: This city looks like it is about to blossom. Washington is now the 2nd largest producer of Vino behind California. Yakima sits very close to the Columbia River Valley's explosion of new vineyard that I can say produce pretty darn good wine. 10 years ago the land that hold these new vines were simply wheat fields. Alki Beach, Seattle WA: Well, this is us now. View of Bainbridge Island, Vashon Island, Olympic National Park, and of course the Puget Sound.  A hundred years ago this place was called New York Alke, ironic ending from where we started.
Thanks to all and let us know if you are in town! Kelly and Fraser

The Journey Begins

New York to Seattle Washington by way of the southwest.  We are in the middle of our journey about to pack up and head to our next destination.  Sedona, AZ has been great to us and presented motivation to keep all friends and family up to date on our travels.  The miles are adding up, almost at 3,000 so far.  The road is a great place to be, we have been meeting some fascinating people and seeing some amazing sites.  Only so much can be written. Our Driveabout so far: Richmond, VA:  Debbi surprised us with some homemade Eggplant Parmigiana, yum.  Went to Debbi & Ed's favorite little jazz place and experienced some great music.  It was a quick stop, but so great to see Debbi & Ed, & the dogs.  Crossing over the Blue Ridge Mountains was pretty spectacular.  I think Kelly and I found a new love for the beauty in Virginia. Nashville, TN:  Country Music and fried pickles.  Only one is good, can you guess which? Memphis TN: Best Ribs on my life.  No question.  You can order the vacuum sealed seasoned spectacular. Charles Vergos' Rendezvous Charcoal Ribs.  And well there is Elvis, we have never seen so many gold records in our lives (next to the carpet on the ceiling of course... Yes there is green carpet on his ceiling in his party room... Those of you who lived through the 70's probably aren't too surprised by that).  If you didn't guess by now, this is Elvis's couch in the 'Jungle Room'. Hot Springs, AR: Dilapidated Victorian mansions show the reminisce of a once thriving oasis.  Natural hot springs feed these beautiful bath houses, bringing the Roman bath to the early 20th century.  Tucked away in Arkansas, a hidden gem. Amarillo, TX:  Well, West Texas.  We don't want to offend anyone, but it is West Texas.  A free 72oz steak if you can eat it in under an hour (plus a couple of sides).  We had the police chauffeur us in and out of the restaurant because the WWE was in town with crazy fans outside.  We saw the wrestler Big Show, he literally sat on a chair and it collapsed! Santa Fe, NM:  One of Kelly's favorites so far.  It feels like the center of Native American Art.  We got to see Jed's business, The Shiprock Trading Post, the most beautiful gallery we saw (we are NOT being biased).  Not too dog friendly of a city, for we had animal control called on us when we tied Cassius up outside a restaurant for 15 min.  We bought a great piece of Zuni Pueblo Pottery.  Jackalope furniture, sat next to our Silver Saddle motel and held great pieces, we found a flawless deer skull.  Tons of great Salsa and people. Gallop, NM:  Quick stop. We stayed in the famous El Rancho Hotel, where old western movie stars frequented.  The history was interesting, the food - not so much. Petrified Forest National Park:  The sheer energy in that wood, wow.  Every stop we made we had ancient Native Spirits in the insanely large crows, protecting each area like sentinels.  Kelly is certain they were Chief Spirits.
Sedona, AZ:  We have spent the past week on a spiritual retreat, soaking up the essence of what it means to be alive.  So much personal and shared growth has occurred.  The energy here is trans-formative.   We both feel almost bombarded from it all, it will take us a good amount of time to fully digest.

 
Now off to the Grand Canyon, then Scottsdale, then who knows.... But eventually we will be in Seattle!