Mileage

Adam and I figured out that between the Cali trip and the Washington trip, we've covered over 3,229 miles in the last 10 days. Adam checked mapquest and apparently that's just 20 miles short of a drive from Seattle to Miami. Needless to say, neither of us wants to be in a car for extended periods of time for quite a while. Of course, Nestle is very glad to have us home again. She's definitely made friends with DeVegas and she and Beckett are putting up with each other. I think we're going to Comins Lake again tomorrow.

On the job front, Adam should be getting a call tomorrow to set up a second interview over the phone. I think we both really want this opportunity to work out.

My first blog post ever!

So I promised I'd start blogging on here... I'm sure some of you were beginning to worry that I might not exist... maybe I'm a figment of Cori's imagination or something.  Those of you thinking that might be thinking that this post proves that wrong... ha!  How do you know this isn't really Cori pretending to be Adam... you'll never know.

Anyway... the blog post.  Sitting at a hotel in Boise, Idaho right now waiting for our pizza to be delivered.  Starving just a little... being the smart ones that we are we didn't eat anything real pretty much the whole day.  Breakfast for me was Jamba Juice and a muffin from the hotel we stayed at two days ago.  Now that I think about it that's the same hotel we're at now... stayed in way too many hotels lately.  Lunch was some mixed nuts, cheez-its, and a couple mini candy bars.  

So our day... started off with a quick americano from Starbucks... needed a bit of caffeine to get me going for the interview... then I left Cori there to drink her white mocha and read for a bit while I drove to Tully's Coffee for an interview.  I think it went well... most of the questions I was able to answer from personal experience from my time managing The Tea Smith.  Assuming they liked me as much as I'm hoping they did I should get a call within the next few days to set up a second interview for next week... should be a phone interview.  After the interview I picked up Cori, checked out of the hotel and headed out of Seatle to start our trip back.  Along the way we stopped (pause - pizza just got here) at a couple vineyards... at the first one we tasted 4 wines and bought two bottles... at the second I tried three different Cabernets... Cori sat and watched while I talked to the wine people.  After that we drove on to Boise to stay the night.  The drive from there took pretty much forever.  We're relatively sure that as we drove Boise was actually getting farther and farther away from us.  Anyway... we got here... ordered the pizza... and that's pretty much it.  I think the plan is to get a pretty early start tomorrow... we're both getting pretty tired of traveling at this point.

You'll probably hear from me soon... if I am indeed real that is.

Home again, home again...Just kidding!

Wow, ok, I honestly intended to be better about blogging this trip as it happened, but who knew how rediculous it would be to find free wifi in SoCal?! Ahh well, live and learn... and then let go.

When I left off last time we were staying in Monterey. The next morning we went on a serious coffee hunt. Apparently all of the coffee houses listed on the quaint Monterey Bay didn't exist! But in our search, we did see some seals chilling on the rocks, a whale/dolphin/shark drifting in the surf, and discovered that the state now charges $10 per car before they allow you on 17 Mile Beach drive. Eventually we did discover the Carmel Valley Coffee Company in Carmel-by-the-Sea. After caffienating heavily, we headed on down the coast, fighting fog and road work. We did find this amazing little beach to take a walk on and play in the surf a bit.

Further down the coast we kept encountering what we first thought was driftwood all over the beaches. Soon we discover that they're seals! This time of year, elephant seals beach themselves for day-long naps and molting their winter coats. These things were huge! Hundreds, possibly a thousand pounds each, and the beaches were piled with hundreds of seals. They were also incredibly smelly and made the rudest noises you've ever heard from an animal! Mom was overwhelmed by how many fish must have been in that area to sustain all of them. Adam loved that they all made Nestle's "bitey face".

We finally made it to the guest house in Arcadia around 8. Adam and I got the chance to hang out with Josh & Kiera Voelker (friends of mine from college), we hadn't seen each other in at least a couple years, so it was wonderful to catch up. We went to the Yard House, which is indeed famous for serving yard tall beers. They no longer serve them, but Adam did get an 18 incher, you can't tell real well from the picture, but he was uber-pleased!

On Friday, we met up with Dad's fam, coffee, shopping, etc. We found a computer desk and a new nightstand at Ikea (oh how I love Ikea)! That night we had dinner with the grandparents, Carole, Phil & the kids. Phil taught me how to make his cinnamon rolls (although I'm still going to need the recipe b/c he went so fast!). Yesterday, after dropping Mom & Dad off at their orientation, Adam and I found coffee and then got lost several times while searching for our lunch spot (the Yard House again!). We met with Adam's dad's brother & wife, and his dad's sister's 2 boys. Once again, had a great time. Their whole family has a gift for making people feel welcome. After our 3 1/2 hour lunch we headed back to pick up Mom & Dad and then met up with some of the leadership from the Chinese team for dinner. Are you getting the picture that we did a lot of eating on this trip? 'Cause it's very true. Today, we had breakfast with the grandparents and headed back to Ely. The temp was well over 100 in Vegas, but other than that, it was very tolerable.

Now I'm waiting for laundry to finish while Adam's giving the dog some TLC. Tomorrow, we re-pack our clothing and road food and head north for Adam's interview in Seattle on Wednesday. We were both surprised and relieved to learn that the drive from Ely to Seattle is only 13 hours, totally doable since we're breaking it up over two days each direction. We'd appreciate any and all prayers and positive thoughts for this interview. Everything we know about this company and Seattle itself makes us believe that this would be a perfect opportunity for us.

The only down-side to the timing of the interview is that Cassie & Marly are arriving tomorrow. They start work in Boise next Monday, so what had originally been hanging out for a week with them, will now be a day or two. Unfortunate, but unavoidable. 

Ok, so wow, that's life, for now. Christian out.