HAPPY ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY FINDING NOWHERE!

abandon. explore. find.

it's been exactly one year since we started this online journal. we were hesitant that we'd be able to keep up with it...and keep the audience interested. it's been great laying down our thoughts for family and friends to read. thank you.

we remember driving across the country [kansas to be exact] this time last year, brainstorming names for our journal. we pulled an old arby's napkin out of the glovebox and started scratching down names. we just found that same napkin a few weeks ago; still in our glove box. here are the titles that didn't get used. we're very pleased with the name 'finding nowhere.' a close second was 'the world can wait.'


it's been one year since we've left cincinnati, and we've seen more then we could have imagined. we've taken some time to reflect on all the miles we drove, all the photos we've taken, national parks we've visited, events that happened and people we've met.

in the past year...

we've driven through 19 states. and 2 countries [usa and canada].
and seen 4 of the 5 great lakes.

visited 8 national parks: rocky mountain np, grand tetons np,
mount rainier np, yellowstone np, glacier np, pacific rim np,
badlands np, and theodore roosevelt np.

we've taken 4089 photographs.


driven 22,871 miles

9106 miles were for trips between ohio & washington and
washington & montana. we want to be better about this next year.

price of gas in 7/07: $3.09 per gallon
price of gas in 7/08: $4.50 per gallon
average price of gas: $3.80 per gallon

27,871 miles @ $3.80 average gas price = $4138.56 spent on gas.
we definitely need to be better about this next year!

we've gotten three nails in our tires. all of
which we ran over in our parking garage.

we've tried to eat better. andrea hasn't had 'fast food' once.
brooke's eaten taco bell three times.


andrea hasn't had starbucks once! brooke has had way
more espresso than he should!


felt freer than ever!


all this to say... we're not done yet! andrea still has many more mountains to explore and brooke still has a lot more espresso to drink! we feel we've changed a bit; we feel a little wiser...about each other and the world. but our core values are still the same: we love god, we love each other, and we have an unquenchable hunger for this creation. our travels continue...in search of 'nowhere.'

don't worry... we'll keep you posted.

i went back to ohio...

in the words of chrissie hynde...'i went back to ohio...'
it was time to see some friends, help brooke's parents move, and return to seattle with another uHaul. it was a very interesting trip to ohio, aside from the twelve-hour days spent in the car! here are some photos from our stops along the way.

7th cavalry monument at little big horn.

general custer's first grave. that's right, his first.
can you guess the second?

indian memorial at custer's last stand.

sidewalk art in sheridan, wy.

sidewalk art in sheridan, wy.

only in south dakota.

the badlands.

the beauty and the badlands.

bad ass.

iowa. that's right...this is iowa.
after 14 hours in the car we decided we wanted to stay longer.
we pulled into a rest stop, folded the seats down in the xterra
and 'slept' the night away! note to self: don't think that you
can sleep for seven hours comfortably in a space that is
one foot shorter than your body length!

canaan, indiana.
feels good (except for the heat and humidity)
to be back in the midwest.

it was a good (quick) trip to cincinnati to visit with some friends, family and eat some la rosas before heading on up to lake erie....

stay tuned for more details for the great ohio trip of 08.

snoqualmie river valley farm tour: last weekend

we know that this is a little late, but last weekend we took some time to partake in the festivities of the snoqualmie river valley farm tour. washington state university and a bunch of farms partner together to open the farms to the public for tours, demonstrations, edibles, music, and good-old-fashioned-family fun. we hit up about a half dozen farms and had a blast!

full circle farm is a certified organic farm that supplies a lot of the
seattle-area high-end restaurants with amazing fresh produce.

here you can read more about the historic hjertoos farm. the barn is
currently being restored and was opened for tours.

jubilee farm: nothing says fall like a wagon full of pumkins.

we looked out to the clouds, surveying the fields that surrounded us,
and quietly dreamed about how nice it would be to have this
area to wander at our leisure.

meet you at the market

every tuesday during the summer months, renton puts on a downtown farmer's market, bringing in fresh, organic food from local farms and orchards around the area. it is located right across the street from our apartment in the downtown piazza, and is something we both look forward to throughout our week.

look at this stuff! how can we resist?


peaches from a local orchard


a beautiful bouquet like this costs only $5, and the smell of those star-gazer lillies fills our apartment each week with an incredible aroma.


each new week brings a fresh performance. here: a men's choir.


an older gentleman picking out the perfect ear of corn.


a small overview of the hustle and bustle of this small town farmer's market...


...on a cloudless sunny day.


some seasonal veggies


jay here, working his 'pluot' madness. ok...who here has heard of a pluot? they're amazing. 50% plum, 50% apricot.....100% delicious! jay's father owns the tiny's orchard in wenatchee, wa. hopefully we'll make it out there for a 'pick-your-own' apple fest.


these have been the best raspberries i've had in my life.


more veggies


kids play in the (manmade) stream that cuts through the piazza.

why shop at your local farmer's market? here are a few reasons:
1. all the food tastes great!
2. helps support your local farmers
3. builds community
4. you have the opportunity to personally meet the one growing your food
5. a lot of times it's cheaper than shopping at your local grocer.
6. you're eating 100% healthy, organic, and sustainable food
7. have you heard about all the (non-edible) crap we take into our bodies when we eat crops that are grown conventionally? it will make you sick. check out Cindy Burke's, 'to buy or not to buy organic.' it's a great book.

click here if you're looking for farms, restaurants and stores that offer fresh, sustainable food in your area.

labor day weekend [pacific coast style]

labor day this year held no big plans, so we decided to take it day-by-day to see what might unfold.

friday: liz
we got to see one of andrea's good friends, liz. she was in town for a wedding and was able to stop by to hang out and catch up on friday and monday.

liz m.

saturday: 21 arces
we arose to blue skies and a world of possibilities. we have been buying a lot of our fruit and vegetables at the local farmers market [right across the street] and have decided to look more into organic and sustainable foods. through some studying we found a local organic farm about thirty minutes away that was open for tours and decided what better way to spend a sunny saturday then to walk through a farm!

the 21 acres community garden behind sits behind us.

andrea found a new good friend.
when we arrived back home we started browsing through craigslist for goats;
$50.00- $100.00 isn't bad at all!
can he survive on our balcony?!

total BFF!

strange bird house.

plenty of these guys.

sunday: harambee & matt & danelle
one church we've found that we really like is just a block away and looks like, from the outside, an indoor skateboard park! it's amazing. great people, great ministry. after church we grabbed some food and then hung out with our friends matt and danelle all afternoon. danelle and matt are getting married on friday. andrea and danelle worked on their programs and thank you cards, and matt and i listened to a lot of music, told stories about teaching, and checked in with mapsforus.org. [thanks scott!]

monday:
we woke in time to have an early lunch at a thai place with liz before she was off to return her wrecked rental car and to hop a train to portland. on the way home andrea and i brainstormed what our afternoon might look like. we decided to head for up the coast for bellingham, wa.

on chuckanut drive.
right after we stopped at samish bay organic cheese farm.
some of the best cheese ever!

san juan islands in the background.

found the above painted on an old building in fairhaven. one of our favorite towns.
history: i thought rainier beer was a cheep beer my dad would bay for $2 dollars a flat.
my family nicknamed it 'the slug killer.' boy was i wrong!

next to the rainier wall.

monday night: the world is too big for us to have bed times
what to do when you're two hours from home and it's seven pm? take all back roads. we knew right away that we'd make the trip again, so we didn't stop a lot for photos.

deception pass.
a bridge connects fidalgo island and whidbey island.

deception pass.

deception pass.

on last years trip we stopped by this place and bought a brown crock. some of you may remember it; it sat next to the bench in our house. although they were closed, we stopped out front to photograph steve's awesome building. it's sits north of coupeville on penn cove. steve, the owner, is a nice guy who graduated from calvin college in michigan. he told us stories of driving from grand rapids michigan to coupeville, wa in two days when he was in college! crazy.

we arrived home after hours of driving and a ferry boat ride, tired and in need of rest.