Travels

South America (Sept 30- Dec 5 2012)

South America was quite the trip. Zach, Jon & flew from Miami to Lima, Peru, where we met up with Jon’s sister Rachel. From there, we adventured down the coast of Peru & Chile, stopping along the way to hike, camp & climb. We hiked the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu which took us 5 days. We found a crag just outside of Santiago, Chile where we camped and climbed for 2 weeks. Our camp was by a glacial fed river, so we filtered our water, cooked rice and played lots of rummy. Eventually, we made our way down to Patagonia where we backpacked in Torres del Paine for 3 weeks. We carried all of our food in, which made our packs extremely heavy. The views were worth it though. Incredible.

: salkantay trek machu picchu

: our couch surfer Ramon, who was a pilot and took Zach and I up over Puerto Natales

: Cusco, Peru. I was SO HAPPY to be holding that sheepie

: dune buggy rides

: We hired a guide & his mountaineering gear to help us summit pisco, turns out, he wasn’t much help. we had blinding headaches, and all were nauseous.

: machu picchu is behind us

: machu picchu

: locked out of our hostel in Cusco, Peru after a long days hike from machu picchu

: Wayna Picchu, even higher up.

: taking a flight in a little plane with our couch surfer Ramon in Puerto Natales. flew over penguins

: summit attempt of pisco

: Our couch surfer Marcelo in Puerto Natales

: We met Michael, a crazy Israeli guy with good fun ideas

: salkantay trek

: sand dune sand boarding

: hitching a ride to the trail head. Hiking the salkantay trek to machu picchu. 5 days

: mt Pisco

: dune buggy ride!

: Oasis in Ica, Peru

: Summit Attempt of Mt Pisco, 16,000ft

: feeling tired

: salkantay trek machu picchu

: our couch surfer Ramon, who was a pilot and took Zach and I up over Puerto Natales

: Cusco, Peru. I was SO HAPPY to be holding that sheepie

: dune buggy rides

: We hired a guide & his mountaineering gear to help us summit pisco, turns out, he wasn’t much help. we had blinding headaches, and all were nauseous.

: machu picchu is behind us

: machu picchu

: locked out of our hostel in Cusco, Peru after a long days hike from machu picchu

: Wayna Picchu, even higher up.

: taking a flight in a little plane with our couch surfer Ramon in Puerto Natales. flew over penguins

: summit attempt of pisco

: Our couch surfer Marcelo in Puerto Natales

: We met Michael, a crazy Israeli guy with good fun ideas

: salkantay trek

: sand dune sand boarding

: hitching a ride to the trail head. Hiking the salkantay trek to machu picchu. 5 days

: mt Pisco

: dune buggy ride!

: Oasis in Ica, Peru

: Summit Attempt of Mt Pisco, 16,000ft

: feeling tired

: Machu Picchu

: mt pisco

: Oasis in Ica, peru. Dune Buggies

: The Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu

: Mt Pisco

: Oasis in Ica, Peru

: our crag & campsite outside of Santiago.

: Lima, Peru

: Mt Pisco

: Summit of Salkantay trek tomachu picchu

: Base camp for Mt Pisco

: base camp for mt Pisco

: Wayna Picchu

: Machu Picchu in the background, we are on Wayna Picchu. the higher mountain

: our couchsurfer Ramon was a pilot

: Cusco, Peru

: Machu Picchu

: Salkantay trek to machu picchu

: beauty, Lago 69. on the way to Pisco

: on the hike to our crag just outside of Santiago, Chile

: Mt Pisco

: Cirque Hostel, Lima, Peru

: Huraz, Peru

: our first night in Lima. Cirque Hostel

: You can see mt Pisco in the background. Huraz, Peru

: machu picchu

: Patagonia

: Torres del Paine, Patagonia

: the forest in Torres del Paine

: Michaels creation, traditional Israeli cuisine.

: the treck up to pisco

: gotta wake up early if you are gunna attempt a summit

: the oasis, ica peru

: banannas hostal in ica, peru. the oasis

: climbing outside of Huraz. we missed out though, apparently there is a mecca of climbing there, and all we found was 10 routes on a short rock wall

: chilean money

Bike Tour, from UT to CT (May 1-July 25, 2012)
This is our bike tour. We rode from Utah to Connecticut, passing through Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania. 3,112 Miles, 168 pb & j’s, 9 flat tires, 4 chains, 2 crashes & 85 days later, we finally did it. We stayed with couchsurfers, warmshowers hosts & random people along the way. So many experiences, so many stories. Pictures don’t tell the whole story, they just show the moments that I happened to have my iPhone in my hand. This was an incredible journey that brought Jon and I closer, and made us stronger individuals.

: good morning, grand tetons

: we thought we were going to have to run for our lives. assuming it was a moose.

: not a moose, just an elk!

: hello elk who chews on handlebar tape

: jenny lake, grand tetons nat’l park

: continental divide

: 2 other bike tourers we met, rode with them for a few days

: on our way to thermopolis, WY

: Wind River Canyon

: big hills. BIG BIG.

: our kitchen

: Wendy gave me the last hair cut I would get for 6 months

: Thermopolis, WY

: thermal mineral springs, thermopolis, wy

: camping neighbors, wendy & gary. they cooked us dinner

: ice cream for dinner, what would your mother say?? we had to finish the carton, it wasn’t cold enough to freeze over night

: beaver trees, Tensleep Canyon, WY we are going back to this place. awesome climbing

: tensleep canyon

: straight up switch backs, no mercy

: climbed from the bottom of tensleep canyon, to 9,666ft in one day. all up. thought we were done in this pic, but it was rollers on the way down. didn’t stop pedaling until 10:30pm

: after we had set up camp in the rain, took it down cause we spotted bear poop that turned out to be cow poop. started in tensleep canyon 9am ended in buffalo, wy 10;30 PM. LONG DAY

: This is the guy who gave us a ride, we were so thankful. we bought him pie

: Finally in South Dakota, it’s 30 degrees outside, we are freezing. A guy in a pick up picks us up and gives us a ride through to Black Hills.

: it’s whats for dinner. we woke up at 4am the next morning to beat the winds, but we didn’t. 30mph head winds all the way to Wright, WY

: after my fall in ucross, we headed back to buffalo wy. we like it there

: ucross was a bust. we had heard such good things. I took my first fall on the bike this day

: Black Hills, SD

: Wild Donkey in Black Hills, SD

: We made it to Rapid City, stayed with couchsurfer who wasn’t even home.

: couchsurfers house

: cranky jeff, tuned our bikes for 5$ instead of $100

: art alley, rapid city, SD

: moments later, my rack fell off and we had to hunt for the million little pieces in the gravel. then jon got a flat

: JP’s bar, belvedere SD. free camping by the horse trailer out back. we’ll take it

: Wall Drug, SD

: wall drug, SD

: this is maude. jon’s bike is harold

: Rapid City, SD

: jon’s flat in SD, first of many on these crap roads

: 1880’s town, SD

: 1880’s town behind me, we didn’t wanna pay to go in.

: middle of nowhere, SD

: new pavement, no cars allowed yet. Best riding

: trees! We haven’t seen trees in weeks! Sioux Falls, SD We stayed with couchsurfer Sue, massage therapist:)

: We stayed with couchsurfer Moe and her kids. something about chem trails…

: the Corn Palace, Mitchell, SD

: The epitome of south dakota

: waking up by the missouri river

: celebrated one month on the trip in chamberlain, SD. TORRENTIAL rain pour, we were glad we zipped up before we left for dinner

: Jon likes to pee in all of my pics. Corn fields for as far as the eye can see.

: check out those tan lines

: sleep, sleep, sleep, nap, nap, nap

: helping turtles cross the road, I hated seeing roadkill. there was lots.

: Angella, our couchsurfer in Mankato, MN. she helped us to Minneapolis.

: MINI HORSE!!! they are like dogs, they follow you and bump your legs

: the 3 best friends that anyone could have

: first night of the tour, camping in Logan, UT at willies friends house

: maude

: packing for 3 months, SL, UT

: backroads in logan, UT

: last utah pee

: camp in strawberry pass, ID

: jon making furniture out of only tree limbs & bark

: sunny the day before, woke up to snow. wtf. strawberry pass, ID. on our way to montpillier

: on a bike path out of minneapolis, there are SO MANY bike paths there. we loved it

: they make us dinner from their garden

: at a lake in minneapolis. we like it here

: John & Mike, our warm showers hosts.

: climbing trees with Mike & John in Minneapolis, they have a tree trimming co.

: “is that a tent or a big rock?” it’s a big rock, keep walking.

: I like these old rail beds they make in to bike paths

: my view

: on our way to duluth, MN

: “how you gunna get your bike up this hill with all that shit on it?” I cried on this hill.

: lumber yards everywhere, lot’s of new growth

: what’s the big deal about duluth??

: Gerhardt, our amazing warmshowers host.

: it was a busy weekend, grandma’s marathon

: skipping stones into Lake Superior

: there were several ❤ shaped rocks

: maude does well on the dirt roads

: so we went to his dancing club! All the people were wonderful

: Gerhardt is a dancer, the waltz is his favorite.

: Gaelynn is in the wheelchair, she plays an awesome violin, and has wonderful singing voice. Murder of Crows.

: randomly ran into Gerhardt’s friends Paul & Gaelynn at pub, she was playing that night

: so many daisies, it looked like snow

: sign of relief.

: badger!

: jon is so proud of this photo.

: don’t be fooled, the bike path lasted about 10 miles, and the rest of Wisconsin was spent on dangerous roads with no shoulders.

: the storm that flooded Duluth was upon us, so we stopped at their house to ask for a place to camp out of the storm, they opened the door and before we got a word out, they asked us if we needed a place to stay, out of the storm! they were so nice. they even made us breakfast.

: you had better make a wish.

: another 130 mile day to greenbay, WI

: backroads, WI

: they rescued us from night time and drunk drivers on the outskirts of Green Bay

: sweet peas

: we have watched the corn grown from ankle high to chest high as we crossed the country. we were so proud of our corn!

: Crossed into Canada, rode with our warmshowers host and his bike club out of Sarnia

: sleeping in peoples campers was common for us. always random & unexpected, but we were always so thankful

: our new friends who gave us a ride through detroit, thanks very much.

: camping under a water tower.

: wheat & barley country

: this couple met on a bike tour. we were eating dinner at little beach in Port Stanley, and they invited us to their house. they were well traveled, and so were their daughters

: they took us to lavender gardens

: riding the canadian coast

: July 1st, Happy Canada Day! we woke up to festivities, and were very confused as to why

: Home Sweet Home

: Good night house.

: crops on the coast of canada

: a guy we met who was walking picking up trash looked EXACTLY like John Allen who also has a huge mustache and walks the roads picking up trash. weird.

: 2 guys we met touring the opposite direction, from Ithica NY

: Crystal Beach, Canada

: safety first. I wished I had these on our night rides. bugs in eyes suck.

: Hello, wyoming. we spent almost 3 weeks passing through

: jackson, wy

: We remembered that JJ lived in Buffalo! so when I went to jaclyn’s wedding, jon stayed with JJ. They played hockey, volleyball, went to concerts, went fishing, mountain biked, and went to the taste of buffalo. way cool.

: bye jackson, we’re off to the tetons

: climbing in the park, jackson wy

: sleeping jon

: Amish folk.

: James & Laura bought us breakfast in Rochester, NY. good to see familiar faces.

: riding along the erie canal

: Niagra Falls

: my birthday cake consisted of fruity pebbles in a paper cup. happy girl.

: Diana & Andrejs, our warm showers hosts in Ithica, NY. we found a thank you card from John and Mike, the warm showers hosts we stayed with in minneapolis! small world

: creepy grave yard, graves in there that are older than the United States.

: more bike paths. yay

: we stayed with a warm showers host, Beth & her husband. this is their dog George. he had smelly farts.

: Maude picks her own flowers

: she followed us, took my phone, ate my candy and wouldn’t go home.

: this picture does no justice to the steepness of this hill.

: WE MADE IT! 3,100 miles & 3 months later.

Florida with the Family (Sept 1- Sept 30)

Art Vino!

I sold my iPhone when I got to FL, and that was my only camera. so from here out, there are a lot less pictures. while I was in FL, I spent a lot of time with my family, catching up.

: Sea world

: Jon’s grandparents

: alligator with babies!

: Jon’s grandpa Milt

a month in Connecticut (July 27- September 1, 2012)
We stayed with Jon’s family, Mark, Amy & Jake. We had a wonderful time relaxing, cooking, and sailing. We went on a 9 day sailing trip around CT, RI & NY. I didn’t step onto land for days at a time! Then we took a roadtrip with Jake to tour around New England a bit. Visited New Hampshire & Massachusetts. After we left CT, we headed to FL, to visit Jon’s grandparents for a few days, then off to my parents house!