StepHan and UndErwoOd ToUr De WasHinGton! ... (part one)

The day after my parents moved to Oregon (still crazy to think about, but we are so pumped to visit their new place in Bend - we'll be there tomorrow and can't wait!), our friends Brian and Andrea drove up from Cali to visit us and check out the beautiful state of Washington! Curt and I were so excited to have an excuse to check out parts of the state we hadn't yet explored; bring on the adventures! Our dear friends Jill and Corey were kind enough to house all four of us, since our pool-side pad was now in new hands (thanks guys!). The first night they arrived we had dinner at Sweet Basil (sooo yummmy; best pizza ever)... and then took them on a drive around the near countryside, catching a gorgeous sunset up in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. Here's Andrea and I chewing on a little wheat and Curt and Brian doing... I don't know exactly what...(pretending to be some kind of creatures??)

We tried to catch an action shot of Curt -- and this is the best of what we came up with: Blurry face, aka: slightly scary. Haha.

Our fantastically amazing generous hosts and wonderful friends Jill and Corey.... A million thanks again you two!

Saturday found us up bright and early and on our way for a day full of wine tasting! We'll be able to hit up 10 or so wineries, right? ahahahhhahaha. Here's stop number 1: Cougar Crest - which actually ended up being some of our favorite wine of the day. Brain and Andrea toasting our tour off - Cheers!

Next stop, Reininger Winery, where we grabbed a quick shot out front and Curt had a chance to do a little bull roping (which he LOVED).

Then it was on to Three Rivers (another fav. with great wine). Oh! And just so you know, we did have a designated driver. That would've been me. Note to self, great time was had, but even better time could be had next time if someone else is given the job. :)

After a yummy lunch at the Farmer's Market in downtown Walla Walla, giving us some much needed food in the stomach, it was on to Patit Creek Cellars where my dear friend Amy works serving up wine in the summer!

Here's Amy pouring! Curt and Brian checking out the goods in our behind-the-scenes tour (would not recommend Grain Alcohol people - and we didn't sample it, but we imagine it's close to rubbing alcohol), and Curt also helping himself to some bulk wine. Uummm, I'm sure that's kosher... and sanitary, right?

Amy also showed us the barrel room... Ooooooo. (Is that what it's called??) Anyway, it was cool.

From there we checked out a little winery across the way (that's Andy and I in front of a huge wine barrel), and then K Vintners out on Mill Creek Road. SUPer cool winery -- probably the most unique we visited (that's the four of us by the large K. I'm also sure I needed to include this explanation given its name, haha). :)

After a quick stop at Klickers for some much needed cheese, fruit, and chocolate (Our snacks were perfect for wine tasting, were they not?) We were off to our final winery of the day, Basil Cellars. Gorgeous winery up on a hill overlooking part of Walla Walla valley and a killer view of the Blue Mountains. The wine wasn't too shabby either! Andrea and I can be seen taking a load off below (my feet had it in for me! So much for being cute - Give me some flip flops or slippers stat!!)

Needless to say, we did not make it to 10+ wineries. What were we thinking??! Even so, making it to 8 was quite respectable! Or should I say, ridiculous. Ha :) Anyway, it was a blast, but we were happy to hit up some delicious Walla Walla tacos before heading back home and taking in a quick nap before getting ready and heading out to Whoop-em-Up Hollow Cafe for dinner in Waitsburg. (If you haven't been, and are planning a trip to WW anytime in the future - I highly recommend it's scrumptious, southern style, Cajun food... Uummmm).

Here's just a couple shots of us girls at dinner and outside the restaurant. So fun!

We unabashedly asked one of the staff to hop out and snap our picture, though we're pretty sure she was slightly irritated at our being so excited for a group shot outside the place. The look on her face screamed: You are SO annoying; please leave already. (needless to say, we did not linger long. Thank you sweet bus-girl!)

Ahhh... Our adventures with Brian and Andrea have barely begun! Next stop, a drive to Chelan; camping; a ferry ride up the lake; backpacking; driving over the North Cascade's Pass... and then on to Bellingham! More to come, so stay tuned.... And happy adventures to you all! :)

MinnEsOta to WalLa wAlLa!

The summer has continued rolling along.... I can't believe it's the 19th of July already! Crazy, crazy. I'm so anxious to post pictures of what we have been up to lately (especially the time spent with our adorable twin nieces!), but I am so behind with our adventures from earlier this summer, and I wanted to finish posting those first. :) We'll be in Bellingham a couple more days, then it's on to Portland, then Bend to see my parents new house, then home to Cali.

These pictures take us back to the middle of June as we left Minnesota. As we were driving along, we happened upon a little farm town called...dun-da-da-dah!.... Bellingham! What??! Curt was compelled to take a confused picture to symbolize his surprise that another Bellingham does indeed exist:

Here we are in North Dakota at the Theodore Roosevelt Natl' Park (this made a total of 4 Natl' Park visits so far, with one more to come). Here I am trying out another pose to keep things interesting, haha. It's hard to keep our pics lively when only Curt or I end up in them!

Contrary to your pre-conceived notions regarding North Dakota (and South Dakota for that matter), it is really pretty there! Rolling green hills and "painted," desert like rocks cutting deep valleys; it's not all prairie people! :) We even saw a buffalo...ooohh yeeeah. Although the picture we took ended up making it look like an ant. As an added FYI, this is not the buffalo picture below, so don't strain your eyes looking for it!

We finally reached home.... good old Walla Walla! (Though now it's just a fond memory! Sweet, blissful memories! - definitely being overly dramatic here, as we will certainly be back to visit our wonderful friends who still live there). After a few last days relaxing at my parents house pool-side, we were off for a fun day on the Snake River! Hello warm weather, good friends, and a jet ski! Here's Jilly and I cruising...

....and done cruising!
Ah, a man and his grill. Curt and Corey getting ready to prepare a tasty fare; BBQed burgers, along with 3 varieties of chips, and a huge bag of delicious cherries! YUmmY. (They kind-of have the Captain Morgan's Rum look going on, wouldn't you say?)
All fun must come to an end, but we stretched it out by stopping along the road to catch some pictures of the sunset on the drive home... it was gorgeous! Although, not so much this picture of me below hugging the air, haha.

Ahhhh, much better sunset shot. I wasn't lying! Awww, we miss you Jill and Corey :)

And wouldn't you know, the very next day, all that was left of my childhood home was a bunch of big empty rooms! The final night was spent on the blow-up mattress (back to camping we go! although house-camping comes complete with latrine, air conditioning, t.v., and meals out, you gotta love that). Here's some final shots of the house all packed up. Craziness!

Here's mom and I posing for one last picture outside... You were good to us "pizza hut"! We will miss you!!! (For those of you who may not know, all growing up my friends always thought the shape of the roof of our house was similar to that of a greasy pizza joint - so I adopted it as a fabulous navigation tool! Handy dandy I tell ya!)

More adventures soon to come.... Especially as our friends Brian and Andrea arrived from California to explore the grand state of Washington with us! We miss you guys already and had a blast -- I'll be updating our blog with those travels later this week. Until then.... :)

Colorado Springs to Minnesota! Summer travels continue...

Thought I would update the blog with more adventures from our summer! Here's a look back in June at our time in Colorado and Minnesota. :)

After leaving The Black Canyon of the Gunnison Natl' Park, we were on our way to Colorado Springs! Here we are on Monarch Pass (11,312 ft)... it was gorgeous!

We stayed with our friends Mark and Tiffany, (Thanks guys! We miss you!) and they showed us around their beautiful town. First stop, the Garden of the Gods. Here we are in front of some of the huge, jutting, red rocks... and Curt and Mark climbed up between a couple spires so I could catch this shot:


Here's my favorite pic overlooking the Garden - it was simply breathtaking!

We checked out Denver the next day, and a rockin' REI downtown in a huge old train station that had been remodeled. From there we took off and traveled up to Boulder where we hooked up with my friend Laura and her husband Travis, who graciously showed us around and took us to the BEST Mediterranean restaurant we have ever been to. YUMMY. Lamb meatballs, bacon wrapped dates, cheeses, humus and spreads, pizza, smoked trout, and... well, you get the idea. :) It was off the hook! (Thanks guys!!)

Here's a quick morning shot as we are saying goodbye and about to take off for Minnesota.

We drove straight from Boulder to my grandparents farm in central western Minnesota; 15 hours later, we had arrived. Yiiippppeeeee! We had a WoNdErFuL time visiting with family and friends. My little sis (Mark, we missed you!), brother Chris and his wife Karen, and my mom all stayed at my grandparents farm, and though it was bitter sweet being there with both my grandparents now passed away, we had a wonderful time going through all the memories contained in the house. Old trunks and boxes explored turned up videos dating back to my mom's first steps and pictures of my grandpa on family road trips from the 1930s! It was so fun.

Here's a few pics from our time out there... Here's my sis, mom, me, and my uncle Curtis outside my grandparents farm house:

My uncle Mark and aunt Elaine and cousins Lance and Rosina:We had a great wiffle ball game out in the front lawn one afternoon... I have to say, I was hitting 'em out of the park!

A quick pic of us girls after the big game:

We also had fun exploring "the old farm house" as we call it -- the farm place a mile from my grandparents house that my grandpa was born in!

Here's Curt and I in front of one of the old out buildings... and we even ran into a wild turkey!

We also spent lots of time over at my Uncle Mark and Aunt Elaine's as well... They have a beautiful place, full of warmth, and lots of adorable cats to boot!

Here's a pic of the fountain my aunt built all herself -- I want one of these for our house some day! They are so crafty! :)

We also had a ton of fun checking out some of old relics we found -- here's Jen and I sporting some old glasses, and my bro talkin' on the original cell phone.

Here my bro is wearing my grandpa's original American Airlines hat and shirt, posing by one of the ultralight airplanes my grandpa built.

We love and miss you grandpa and grandma, thank you for some of the most wonderful memories of my whole life out at the farm in Minnesota. It will always be a second home to me :)

More summer adventures and updates to come as I try to catch up our activities with our blog. :) I gotta get on this! Love to you all, and we hope you are having a wonderful summer filled with your own adventures!