It's Official: We're Hittin' the Road
Seneca and I have a dream. It involves a
VW bus that runs on bio-fuels, a happy pooch, and the two of us. And we're officially making our dream a reality.
We have been trying to decide where to move since we graduated two years ago. We love Moscow, but we've both grown up in Idaho and want to expand our horizons a bit. Speicifcally, we're looking for a small, sustainable co-housing community where we can own our own home while being part of a thriving group of like-minded people. Many of the communities we're looking at feature sustainable buildings, off-grid energy systems, organic gardens and community classes. We have to visit the ones we're considering (many offer workshops so we'll try to go to some) and find a place that feels like home before we can make a decision. We're also interested in visiting cities we'd like to live in like Eugene, Mendocino, Portland, Bend, Arcata, or Willits... there's a lot of possibilities and a lot to see, so we're going to see as much as possible this summer!
The decision has been made and now we're quitting jobs (which was very hard for me, but I hope to go back), getting the bus ready to go, and planning the trip. A new engine is going in the bus this week, it's a Turbo Diesel with low miles that will actually be powerful enough for the bus (no more crawling up hills in second gear going 30!). Seneca and a couple of knowledgeable friends will be installing it, and then we'll finish up the interior - it needs a good cleaning and new upholstery. Sen is working on installing a second battery so we can have back-up power for things like the fan, fridge, and my laptop. I'll be taking a couple freelance projects on the way, and we hope to check in semi-regularly and document our trip on
Our Volksvegan Adventure.
So now comes more crunch time: selling most of what we own and figuring out where to store the rest, packing, planning the trip, finding grease and bio-diesel fill-up spots, figuring out our budget, finding someone to move into our place, etc. etc... One great thing about this trip is that it will truly get me to simplify. I have always been a pack rat and it's time to de-clutter, find out what I truly need to be happy, and live more simply.
Along the journey (which is the most important - especially since we don't know the destination) we will be visiting friends who have moved away, doing some backpacking and hiking, promoting sustainable travel, and maybe even leafleting at KFCs in strange towns... we're leaving a lot of it open-ended. We're planning for a concert or two, my cousin's wedding in Portland, visiting our friends in Glacier National Park and Bozeman Montana, checking out Eugene and the surrounding area, and visiting the Redwoods and communities in Oregon and Northern California. Then, depending on how we like living on the road (and how much money we have), we'd love to go Southwest and visit friends, see the string of beautiful National Parks, and just experience the desert. This will probably have to wait until fall though, something tells me a husky doesn't belong in the Southwest in the summer!
The more I think about it and start planning the trip, the more it feels like the right decision. It's probably the craziest thing I've ever done, but I'm young and I might as well do it now! We are soooo excited and will keep you updated about the trip. We are hoping to be on the road by mid-June, experiencing the ultimate road trip. :)
Labels: change, green living, vacation/trips, volksvegan grease bus
Reflections on Spain...
I'm in the midst of post-vacation catch-up and can't believe I returned from Spain almost a week ago! The trip went splendidly, and despite the rain that kept following us around, we managed to have a great time and see some amazing things. We went to Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, Sevilla, and Cordoba. All were beautiful cities, but my favorite was Barcelona. It is on the Mediterranean coast and like a lot of coastal cities, it seemed to have a very laid-back vibe and LOTS of organic & vegetarian restaurants. I got my fill of great art and architecture on this trip: the Picasso museum and Gaudi's unique architecture in Barcelona, the Reina Sofia Modern Art Gallery and the Prado in Madrid, and even some intricate Muslim designs in Granada and Cordoba.
Rachel was a great tour guide and translator, she had planned the entire trip and somehow managed to navigate the busy metro stations, bus stations, train stations, and other places that would have confused the hell out of me. And I am happy to report that Spain DOES have vegetarian food! I had some great food over there—falafel kebap, veggie paella, potato croquettes, gazpacho—but my favorite thing was sangria! :)
I have all my photos up on Flickr in my
Semana Santa in Spain set, but I still have some organizing, labeling, and weeding out to do. So give me a week or two if you want to know where all the pictures were taken. I am worse than a Japanese tourist and took a picture of darn near everything!
In this post are pictures of the Cathedral in Cordoba seen through a narrow "kissing lane" (above), and a view of La Alhambra in Granada (left), as seen from a very steep hill that we climbed in the rain. La Alhambra was beautiful inside, it is an old Muslim palace with a great view of Granada. Rachel has been studying there this semester, and it was great to see her and the country she's been calling home for the past few months. She even has
a blog about her studying abroad experience, although she's not quite as much of a blog addict as her older sis...
Labels: family, vacation/trips
Woah, what happened to February?
February always catches me by surprise because it's a short month. I can't believe it's almost over already! It's been a busy month, and I have a feeling March will be even busier, since I'm trying to finish up a lot of projects before I leave for Spain. So, what did I do this month? Well, since Seneca and I don't normally do much for Valentine's Day (it's an over commercialized holiday and we prefer to celebrate our love all the time instead of one day a year), we decided to show some love for animals by
protesting at KFC. We joined Compassion Speaks in a Valentine's Day themed protest (see picture). Seneca dressed up as a chicken and clucked angrily (which was quite hilarious) as people pulled into the KFC drive-thru, and I wore an evil Colonel Sanders mask and chased him around. Seneca carried a sign that said "KFC Broke My Heart (and My Legs)" and I made one that said "Have a Heart, Boycott KFC." It was lots of fun and we got a variety of different reactions as usual. We also went to the Compassion Speaks Vegan Potluck a couple days before V-day, which is always delicious and fun.
For President's Day weekend we went to McCall to visit my parents and go snowboarding. We have only gone snowboarding twice this entire season now, because of less-than-ideal snow conditions and lack of money, but thankfully my parents were kind enough to take us to Brundage in McCall (thanks Mom & Dad!). I can actually keep up with Seneca pretty well, although he likes to dart through the trees and I suck at that part. Juneau got to play in the snow, which he absolutely loved, since Moscow's snow has all melted. We went out to dinner and went on several walks to the frozen lake with the dogs. It was a nice little vacation and as always it was good to see my family.
I have been busy working on a site redesign at work, which is going smoothly now that the layout has been pretty well hammered out. As for freelance projects, I am finishing up the
T & D Landscaping site, and have been keeping busy designing flyers and other promotional items for the Moscow CommUNITY Walk, a new event with the theme "Walking on Common Ground" that will be taking place in Moscow on April 28. I am also planning to design the graphics for the posters and t-shirts for Moscow's Hempfest again this year, so I recently began the brainstorming process for that. And of course, I still design the Moscow Food Co-op's monthly newsletter.
I have made quite a few posts about green art and design on
Green Options (the link takes you directly to a list of my blog entries) and I am enjoying the opportunity to research and write about sustainable design. The site has really taken off and more content is added every day, it is a great resource for all things green. Now, if only we could get more people to start living more sustainably, maybe we'd stand a chance at combatting global warming...
This week is Jazz Fest in Moscow, and Seneca's dad, John, is visiting from Pennsylvania to check out all the great music. We'll probably be going to several jazz shows this week. John is a lot like Seneca: very progressive, vegetarian, and passionate about alternative energy and living sustainably. We certainly enjoy his visits, and are very glad to see that he is recovering from the colon cancer he had last year (he sends a warning to everyone: a lifetime of eating meat can lead to colon cancer!). Last time he was here we took him to a KFC protest and Seneca put him to work fixing the bus. This time around, they're playing lots of poker together and enjoying the jazz music (although I probably can't promise that Sen won't want some help with the bus this week).
And, some good news about the bus: SHE RUNS! Seneca fixed the starter switch and got the electrical problems all figured out, and just got it back from the shop, where they re-timed it and did some other minor repairs. We recently ordered some new upholstery for the interior walls and cabinets, so that's our next project. We haven't been collecting grease much this winter since she hasn't been running, so now we hope to get back to a regular grease-collecting schedule as well. Hopefully many trips await us in the grease bus!
And now, back to being busy busy busy and hopefully getting some work done. :)
Labels: family, vacation/trips, volksvegan grease bus
West meets East... Nofolk & DC
Some people don't like to travel for work, but I gotta admit I love it. Possibly because I work from home, and strangely the office is a nice welcome escape. Or perhaps because my co-workers kick ass. :) On Saturday I got back from a week on the East Coast. I flew to Norfolk for the web dept. retreat, and got in early to go to Washington DC with my friend Jessica. We had an awesome time being tourists and seeing the monuments, and of course we went to the National Gallery of Art so I could squeal over the Picassos, Monets, Van Goghs, Braques, and even a Dali and a DaVinci! We even managed to accomplish my main goal for the DC trip: flipping off the white house. (Eating vegan food at tons of yummy veggie restaurants was a close second, and was also accomplished). Of course, I took tons of
pictures!!!
The working part was fun, too, we had a 2-day meeting/planning retreat, and I worked from the office for the rest of the week and hung out with all kinds of PETA people. Norfolk is quite used to vegans, so there were tons of delicious restaurants with vegetarian menus. We went to several on the DC trip as well, including a vegan bakery called Sticky Fingers. :) Hanging out with everyone at work was fun, and I got to stock up on stickers, vegetarian starter kits, posters, and goodies from the
PETA Catalog. Good times.
Labels: vacation/trips, work
Ahhhhh.... vacation!
I got back on Tuesday from a long-awaited (and much deserved) vacation. We took our bus on her maiden voyage and she ran wonderfully the entire time. We were heading to the Rainbow Family Gathering near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, but we made sure to stop at lots of fun places along the way...
Juneau, Seneca, the bus, and I embarked on our journey and first went to Jerry Johnson hot springs (in Idaho on the way to Montana). There we saw a mama & baby moose across the river, and several fellow Moscowvites in the hot springs. We hung out for a bit and then camped just after Lolo Pass in Montana. It's so nice that we can pull over and camp anywhere in the bus, all we do is pop the top, put our stuff on the top bunk, and sleep on the bottom (or the top). The fridge and stove work but we couldn't get the sink to work and probably need a new water pump.
We continued through Montana and into Yellowstone National Park's West entrance on day 2. Neither of us had been to Yellowstone since we were kids, so it was a great experience! We saw all sorts of geysers, elk, bison, hot springs, and of course the beautiful landscapes of Yellowstone, dotted with way too many tourists (remind me to steer clear of Yellowstone in early July next time!). Yellowstone is still recovering from a forest fire (I think it was in '88) so there are parts of the park full of skeletal trees and little baby trees below them. We saw Old Faithful erupt at sunset, what perfect timing! We walked around Geyser hill and camped in the park that night. We got up the next morning and headed to Grand Teton National Park, just below Yellowstone. I am in love with the Tetons, those mountains are beautiful! They rise out of nowhere and tower over everything around. After the tetons (and getting our National Parks pass so we could return), we drove through Wyoming and into Colorado. We got into the Gathering (with no cop intervention, despite lots of rumors about roadblocks and tickets) late at night.
When we awoke we were in Rainbow land (ok, well, the parking lot of it anyway), the area was absolutely beautiful! We hiked into the Gathering (a couple of miles from parking) and were greeted with calls of "Welcome Home!" and lots of good vibes and hug by the Rainbow Family. It did feel like home, a place where an alternative to society (and to capitalism) thrives and people genuinely care about one another. Seneca volunteered for a kitchen (grating ginger) and I walked around with Juneau. We ended up camping near Yoga Camp the first night.
The 4th of July is a big event at the Gathering. Everyone is silent in the morning, and gradually more and more people come to the main meadow and wait for noon. Around noon we all formed a giant circle around the meadow, joined hands, and prayed/wished/manifested world peace. Low, booming chants of "ooooooooohhhhhhhhmmmmmmm" were all we could hear. Then the children came in from Kiddie Village and paraded into the center of the circle. Once they reached the middle everyone went crazy, cheering and celebrating. A drum circle began in the center of the meadow and musicians and dancers filled the valley. It felt much more patriotic to gather with my brothers and sisters and focus on peace, celebrate our freedom and our rights to gather, and make music than lighting fireworks and wearing red, white, and blue ever did. :) We also met up with our friend Jake at the main circle, and hung out with him for the rest of the Gathering.
The Gathering is a very unique place. There is no money involved (except donated "green energy" to help pay for food, supplies, and probably a few Rainbows' citation fees) and everything is done on a volunteer, donation, and bartering basis. The trade circle was awesome, I brought my homemade soaps, oils, and jewelry and traded for all kinds of awesome stuff, including some sweet patchwork pants, a shirt, and some beads. There are numerous kitchens serving mostly vegetarian & vegan food, and boy is it delicious! Every evening people gather in the main meadow and kitchens serve huge meals out of coolers on carts, 5 gallon buckets, and huge pots. There are lots of things to do as well, yoga classes, volunteering at kitchens, hiking, trading, and at night there are community fires with drum circles and fire dancers, and there's one camp that built a pirate ship stage for talent & variety shows. Nearby our camp was "Popcorner," a kitchen that served popcorn and tea all night. They got really creative with their popcorn, too, and the chai there was delicious.
Unfortunately there is always drama at the Gathering, since it draws in a very diverse crowd and the Forest Service & cops don't seem to like hippies. This year the Forest Service (we decided to call them the Fascist Service since the Bush Administration sent them to try to stop the Gathering, wasting millions of dollars on spying on, arresting, and harassing the Rainbows) actually set up road blocks and ticketed many of the early arrivals. They then forced them to appear in a nearby town for a private group hearing (is this starting to sound fascist yet?) where no one was allowed access to a lawyer. The Rainbows have tried applying for permits the last few Gatherings, even though we shouldn't have to since we always gather on public land that our tax dollars pay for... but the FS always denies the permit applications so they can cite people, and cite people they did. We were lucky not to even get pulled over, probably because we travelled in & out with the bulk of the people. But they could not stop the Rainbow Gathering from happening, nor will they ever be able to, although they certainly like eroding our constitutional rights such as the right to freely assemble.
Anyway, after many days of delicious vegan food, volunteering, trading, and enjoying the beautiful forests and people, we headed out to Denver with Jake and a new friend we'd met. Jake's parents live in Denver (they were so nice to let us stay with them) and we got to shower at last! ;) We went to Boulder the next day, and hung out at the Co-op (they have a really nice little vegetarian Co-op there) and a beautiful teahouse. We filled up on a bio-diesel blend & headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. We dropped off Jake with his family since they were vacationing there, and took the bus up the highest paved highway in the country, through the Rocky Mountains. It had been raining the last couple days and was still wet and very foggy the whole way through the park. So we didn't see too much of the mountains. The park is so high that the top of the road is above the treeline, in tundra. We drove back to Steamboat Springs and then back up North.
On the way back we went a different way and came up to Grand Teton National Park through the East entrance. We also took a different route through Yellowstone so we could see Lower Falls, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and Mammoth Hot Springs. There were so many bison everywhere, and lots of elk by the road as well. You can tell they've gotten used to the tourists. The funniest bison we saw was crossing the river, so we pulled over to watch him. Once across the river he walked up to a Geyser. He immediately realized it was really hot and bolted it in the opposite direction. It was pretty funny to watch him learn a lesson. We hiked down to the bottom of the beautiful Lower Falls, took way too many pictures, and left the park through the North entrance after seeing Mammoth Hot Springs. Yellowstone is truly a magical place, I'm so glad we got to see it twice! :)
On the way home we stopped in Bozeman, Montana to see our friend Joe who is living there this summer. It was another beautiful mountain resort town, surrounded by mountains. The bus held up well the entire way back, but now she's a bit dirty and in need of another oil change & new tires. Seneca's brother ordered our
greasecar kit so we'll be starting the grease conversion soon, but we're hoping to put in a higher powered engine first, too. Hopefully we'll be running on waste vegetable oil soon!
See
Flickr photo page for all my vacation photos... I took about 900 shots on the trip, it was hard to narrow them down! ;) And now, it's back to the daily grind...
Labels: vacation/trips, volksvegan grease bus
Tuscany, Pisa, and Venice, oh my!
We have been all over Italy in the last few days, from South to North and now East to West. Today we arrived in Montecatini in the Tuscany region, after visiting Pisa earlier today. I made sure to get pictures of the leaning tower, but we didn't have too much time there.
Yesterday we spent the day in Venice, which was a very unique place with canals instead of streets and boats instead of cars. The canals are pretty dirty, and the streets are very narrow and easy to get lost in. The night before we went on a boat ride to the island of Burano in the Venice lagoon. All the houses were different bright colors, and we had an excellent dinner. Many of the large buildings and towers in Venice are leaning or uneven, because it was built on logs on a sandy bottom. It's like no other place on earth, though. We didn't get to do a Gondola ride, because they're very expensive, so I guess I'll have an excuse to come back someday!
Italy is bellissimo! We have been covering a lot of countryside along the way, and getting to a new city almost every other day. The next stop is Sienna on the way to Rome, where we will finish up our trip. Tomorrow we get to go to Florence where I will be going to the Ufizzi gallery, the most famous collection of Italian Renaissance art. We went to the Peggy Guggenheim collection in Venice yesterday, which was awesome and had modern artists like Dali, Picasso, and Pollock. So I'm feeling very cultured! I'm also becoming quite addicted to gelato, it is way better than ice cream, I sure will miss it!
Ciao!
Labels: family, vacation/trips, volksvegan grease bus
Italia!
What an adventure Italy has been, and it has only been 2 days (plus a very long day spent on planes). We landed in Rome yesterday, only to find out that my luggage had been lost by the airline. So I had to wear Rachel's clothes for a day, and even went out and bought some new clothes and underwear. Of course, after I bought new clothes and went to the hotel, I found out that my suitcase had arrived (yay!). Roma is bellisimo! We spent an afternoon/evening in Rome, and were very tired after being up for 30 hours. Today we left Rome for Pompeii and saw the ancient city that was covered by volcanic ash in 79 AD. I didn't get to see as much of it as I would have liked, since the city is huge, but the ruins were amazing.
After Pompeii we stopped in the coastal city of Sorrento, which is up on rocky cliffs above the Mediterranean. We did some shopping and then headed to the island of Capri, where we came to our beautiful hotel and I finally found some wireless internet. The island is rocky and our hotel is at the very top of steep cliffs. The Mediterranean is a deep blue and the area is lush with life, especially lemon and olive trees, flowers, and vineyards. Tomorrow we will be going to the Blue Grotto here at Capri, and the day after that we will head to Naples, then up to Tuscany. I can't believe how much I've seen in such a short time, it is amazing!
I will post more later, my internet is on a time limit and my photoblog is not behaving very well today... :)
Labels: family, vacation/trips, volksvegan grease bus
Archives
subscribe to feed
