Catching Up
- Meredith Andersen
- Oct 1, 2012
- 4 min read
As you may have noticed, I have been lazy when it comes to blogging for the past few months. I apologize. I have found myself pretty easily distracted in the good ol’ U.S. of A.
When I last blogged we were just arriving in Shaver Lake, California to work for a friend we met in La Paz. Our main goal, however was to explore, of course. Every day we were not working – Tim at the lake dock and me at the restaurant – we were out hiking. The area surrounding Shaver Lake is beautiful! Stunning views, streams and giant sequoias in Mckinley Grove. We really enjoyed our time working and playing in the central california area. And, Tim finally got sick of his long locks and buzzed his hair off while we were in Shaver (ironic, eh?).
Tim said he could sit and contemplate these giants for hours.
Us enjoying Huntington Lake.
Overlooking the valley near Mushroom Rock in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
The top of Black Point trailhead overlooking Huntington Lake, I think.
One of our favorite discoveries in the Shaver Lake area was the Dinkey Creek granite pools. Over centuries, the streams of snow runoff running through the heavily granite Sierra Nevada mountains carving out pools in the rock. The “Dinkey Pools” are one such series of pooling streams connected by waterfalls creating natural water slides. It took us some time to find the trailhead to hike back to the pools because it is not a marked trail, but it is a popular destination with the locals. After hiking about a mile, we found the pools and went swimming.
We found the Dinkey Pools… not sure if we should get in.
Tim climbing one of the waterfalls at Dinkey Pools.
The views were beautiful, and the water was cold!
Although we planned to spend most of the summer in Shaver Lake, I knew I would be spending July in Colorado waiting for my new niece to be born. I went to stay with my parents and sister for most of July in anticipation of Cora June Gregory, who arrived a week late on July 20, 2012. Tim flew out for the week we thought she would be born and got to meet her about an hour before he had to be back at the airport. She came just in the nick of time. While we were waiting for her, we did a lot of hiking in the area with my family in Evergreen, Colorado.
Tim and my niece hiking ahead in Colorado.
Me holding my new niece Cora.
A shot from Cora’s newborn photos. I couldn’t resist sharing.
After the excitement of welcoming our new niece, we headed back to California to pack up and prepare for our ’round the country visits with friends and family. We added a couple stops along the way so we went back down to Newport to visit David and Katie – some good friends we made while in Baja. Then we headed to Oregon to visit my long-time-friend Lauren who had recently taken a new job in Eugene. From there we went back over to Colorado, and Tim flew to Texas and back for his sister’s graduation from nursing school. When we left, we drove over to Ohio, Michigan and back down to Texas. Yup, I wasn’t kidding about our U.S. tour.
We went to the Orange County Fair in Newport, California. You must have a corn dog at the fair.
There was a surfing competition at Huntington Beach, so It was packed. Nothing like SoCal beaches.
We drove all the way from Newport to Eugene, Oregon, seeing most of California. We went through wine country and tons of golden rolling hills. Northern California and Oregon are so green, which was a nice change from the Baja desert. We explored the town of Eugene, the coast directly west, and the mountains to the east. We saw a lot in a weekend.
The coast was foggy and chilly, unlike the beaches we were used to. It was still very pretty.
Our feet went numb in the water for this picture!
Sunset on the historic bridge.
Sunset on the Oregon cost. We climbed sand dunes to get the view.
Tim at the base of the huge Proxy waterfall we hiked to in Oregon. It was so lush.
Me climbing up near the lower Proxy Falls.
Evergreen, Colorado was our next destination, but we knew we wanted to break it up into a two-day drive. We stopped in Salt Lake City and explored a little bit that evening and morning before heading along our way. Tim loved driving on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Stopping at the Salt Flats.
Sun setting over the mountains surrounding the Salt Flats.
The Great Salt Lake was huge and strangely calm. It was weird for us for to see such flat water.
We arrived in Colorado and stayed with my parents for most of August before going to Ohio and Michigan during Labor Day weekend to hang out with Tim’s extended family. They are some of the sweetest people ever. We had a lot of fun enjoying everyone’s company.
Tim’s grandparents are the most loving people. Grandpa Yoder turned 97 on Sept. 30.
Walking the pier over Lake Michigan.
Lake Michigan is so cool. It is just like the ocean, only no salt!
After Michigan came Texas, we’ve come full circle 9k miles. It had been a while since I had been there. It was 108 degrees when we arrived, but thankfully a cool front came through the next day and evened out the temperature for the couple of weeks we were there catching up with everyone. I got to meet my cousin’s new baby girl and play game nights with Tim and his parents.
I have to say, we really enjoyed getting to visit all our friends and family around the country. But we did find ourselves exhausted from traveling about 5,600 miles and living out of a bag for three months. I miss the homeyness of our boat, and we find ourselves longing for our own stability. We have been traveling for a full year now, which I am surprised we made it as long as we have. We still plan to go to our boat again early next year and sail the sea for a few months. Stability with freedom to travel is our long-term goal.
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