backpacking beauty.

Before embarking on yet another adventure in a foreign land (Guatemala and Southern Mexico), Lebn and I decided to explore the land that we call home. So we went to the closest place that resembled the forests surrounding Bellingham. And we discovered wondrous, magical beauty. It is about a half an hour from Portland, so lots of others were discovering it too.


It is called the Eagle Creek Tanner Butte Loop. Eagle Creek was the first Forest Service campground in the country. You can see little bits of why.












Walking through a waterfall cave tunnel.
Note the cable hand rail and tiny path.















See that little blue and orange speck to the right? that is little me. Holy toledo this is a big powerful tower of falling water.













In order to attempt the loop, we had to forge this river. note the rapid below. and imagine that the water is 35 degrees Fahrenheit. i am not made for cold things. i had a bit of a panic attack. oh jeez, can you imagine? river beds are slippery places. alas, with the gracious help of lebn we successfully crossed bags and all.









Where is the trail?

At 2800 feet, stupid snow ruined our loop. what a wild winter! snow in late June. we had a GPS and boots. yet we still could not quite find any resemblance to a trail. so we had to camp in the only flatish dry spot that we could. we made our first tent bed out of pine boughs. and the next day turn around.








back to the glorious waterfalls.

thank you Bend

Bend, Or. This is the first time that I have ever lived in a city that is a sentence fragment. Try google searching anything within Bend, Or and it often says something about "or" not being included in the search. I have been here for longer than I expected and longer than I perhaps would have liked. I made no attempts to make friends outside of Lebn's family, which is strangely peaceful. Sometimes I find great comfort in anonymity. As my time here comes to a close, my heart brain starts to unravel my adventures here. I am immensely grateful for my time here.

Some highlights:
~Getting to know Lebn's family and becoming part of it.
~Listening to nearly all of the Harry Potter audiobooks, the British version. Stephen Fry I love you.
~Lebn and NPR are my best friends.
~Falling in love with snow. Well, sometimes.
~I discovered Sivananda yoga. It is everything i have ever hoped for...everything i need. you are so beautiful to me. i now know what kind of yoga I will teach.
~i am a landscape designer and plant mommy.
~i am now a fully trained advocate for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault
~oh my gosh substitute teaching. at first terrifying. you remember how you treated the sub right? and now i have renewed inspiration to be an amazing teacher.






Lebn putting together Paulina Springs Books in Redmond, Or. Lebn's dad's new bookstore. Brad is his name.














One of the strange tasks given to Lebn and I in regard to the bookstore. Notice the porch and the ice skating rink. so good.










kaiya. this is the special doggy that has enabled me to love all other dogs. we had to put her to sleep a few weeks ago.












easter at the schuyler-smiths. and these are the mediocre eggs. whoa. egg dying is serious business around here. day long creative magical wonder and beauty.










we put in all of these bookshelves and then put the books on them. so i now have the strange skill of helping to set up a new bookstore. this was back in december. lebn and a man named brian. This is now a very well stocked and beautifully decorated bookstore complete with murals and occasional customers.















Bend. the high desert. it gets cold here. i am not made for such a climate. i need to make additions.




















Carolyn, Nick, and the miraculous head scratcher.
Lebn's cousin and her husband and our only friends here. ;)
They also lived with their parents. And this is only the beginning of the commonalities we share.











On a little hill hike.
Snow capped peaks all around.















love is all around.
even in lava rock.

Lebn, me, Randi, and Brad.