A Western Escape

The thought of "going on vacation" doesn't usually inspire images of returning home, but for Alison and I this summer that is precisely what it meant. Or at least it meant returning to each of our state's of origin to spend time with our families. For some time now we have been aware of two facts about our life together: we had never been west together in the summer and both of us had a significant piece of our before-married life that the other had never experienced. For Alison it was spending time in Lake Tahoe. For me it was Camp Meeting.

For the first 25 years of my life I never missed (the Arizona District of the Nazarene Church) Camp Meeting. Since I started working for the National Park Service in 2009, however, I had not been able to go. Thus Alison had never experienced something that played a key role in my childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood.

Alison's family owns a cabin above Lake Tahoe in California. I had been to Tahoe in the winter to go skiing when I lived in Oroville and visited the cabin with Alison and her family over Christmas in 2010 and again very briefly to go skiing the following March. I had not ever seen the lake or area in the summer, however, something which she wished to rectify.

As we looked at our calendar and responsibilities for 2013 we concluded that this summer offered an opportunity to not only do something about changing the circumstances described above, but also to spend time with both of our families, something we would otherwise have been unable to do until the fall. So we committed to focusing all of our vacation time, money, and effort on going west and returning home during the summer.

As plans developed the visit became even more important as it offered the additional opportunities of celebrating my Dad's 60th birthday and seeing our new nephew, born to Alison's sister Melanie last December, while we were in California.

The shenanigans began with a 60th birthday celebration for my Dad which took place on Kristen's 27th birthday at my Dad's house in Glendale. The weather was actually quite nice (for mid-July) and we enjoyed a dip in the pool before the party officially began. In addition to partaking of tasty Mexican food and cake we also played games in which we had to guess how my Dad and Kristen answered questions about themselves and guess trivia about the decades in which they were born. We also, naturally, took a series of ridiculous pictures with the aid of all manor of silly costumes and props. This is one of the highlights.

The day after the party we headed north to Prescott for Camp Meeting. Before camp officially began Alison and I went up to Flagstaff to visit my good friend Brian, his wife Andrea, and their new daughter Charlotte, born only three weeks earlier. Camp itself was filled with lots of tasty food, church services, and games including cranium, guillotine, squabble, and of course the ever-present pit and rook. We also had a couple of epic night ultimate frisbee matches complete with a light-up frisbee and glowsticks to identify who was on which team. This photo captures what we looked like after such a match.

Camp would not have been complete without some ridiculous family photos, which we captured on the final day. This one, with the addition of a few props, is a particular favorite.

From Arizona we flew to Salt Lake City and then to Reno, Nevada, where Alison's Dad picked us up at the airport and took us out to Lake Tahoe. It was quite late when we arrived so I didn't fully appreciate the difference between winter and summer until the next morning when I could actually see outside. It is certainly a very different place! The picture below includes the immediate family and Bart (the Scottie) sitting in front of the cabin. As you can see the view is pretty spectacular!

We didn't get to out on the lake, but we definitely enjoyed walking along its shore, driving all the way around the lake, playing mini golf, and spending time in and around the cabin and Tahoe City. Among the highlights of the trip was the Living History Day at Sugar Pine Point State Park, which included a tour of the Ehrman Mansion and a picnic down by the water. We also had plenty of time to enjoy the company of baby Noah, who was seven months old during the visit.

Now it is back to the grindstone of work and real life, but at least I still have a couple more weeks before school begins again! This is going to be a tough semester, so the break and time spent away with family in cooler climes was welcome indeed. 

For more details and a lot more pictures of the entire trip, take a look at This Album.

Retreating to the Atlantic: A Weekend in Cape May

May always seems to be a busy month, marked by the end of the school year (at least in college), Mother's Day, my Dad's birthday, and my own birthday, amongst other things. This May has certainly been no exception. In addition to the usual activities I had to finish a major research paper by May 1 in order to complete my third semester of graduate school. I also began and will end this month with major sesquicentennial Civil War commemorations. I was down in Chancellorsville for the first week of May and leave for Vicksburg on Monday morning.

In the midst of all this business Alison and I decided we should take advantage of the one unoccupied weekend of the month to take a mini vacation before I set off for another Civil War commemoration. For our first wedding anniversary in January she gave me a pass for two tickets on the "Cape May Whale Watcher," a whale watching expedition out of Cape May, New Jersey. Up until that moment I didn't even know it was possible to go whale watching in the Atlantic. I thought it was a Pacific coast thing.

Since we wanted to do something special to spend time together in between the commemorations it seemed like the perfect time to cash in the whale watching voucher and explore the New Jersey coast. As an added bonus, Mother's Day weekend is still considered the off-season (the summer season begins Memorial Day weekend), so we were able to find a charming bed and breakfast at a pretty  substantially discounted price.

I started work at 6 am on Friday and worked from home so that once Alison got off work, we were able to leave the DC area and head for Jersey. We arrived with just enough daylight left for a short walk on the boardwalk and initial exploration of Cape May. It was far more charming and had a great deal more character than I had anticipated. It turns out that Cape May was the first ocean resort get-away spot in America, with people first flocking to it for that purpose in the 1700s. Much of the town still reflects the influence of the Victorian era when it really took off and beautiful Victorian homes dot the landscape.

Our Bed and Breakfast was one such home, located a stones throw from the beach. It turned out we were the only ones there the entire weekend, so we had the 9-bedroom house to ourselves. For pictures of the B & B, our room, and the trip in general, Take a Look at this Album.

Aside:
    I discovered that there is a finite limit to the number of pictures that I can include in these blog
    posts, and I am rapidly approaching that limit, so I will be shifting to linking to albums on
    facebook rather than including most pictures directly in these posts. I know it's an extra step and it
    doesn't look as exciting, but what can you do?

Saturday dawned grey and rainy so we were worried that our boat trip would be canceled, but it turned out that the three hours we were on the boat were the only clear hours of the day. We didn't see any whales (we were looking for humpbacks and finbacks), but we had a great tour of the area by boat, and enjoyed watching quite a lot of bottlenose dolphins. It was definitely well worth the trip!

Since I will be in Mississippi for my 30th birthday next week we decided we would celebrate in Cape May instead. After returning from the whale watching expedition we walked along the boardwalk and stopped to enjoy an excellent 3 course meal at a nearby restaurant. Since we were seated early in the evening and before it was busy, we got our food at the early bird price. You can't beat good food for cheap!

Directly across the street from the restaurant was an arcade which included a whole line of skee ball. It was too good an opportunity to pass up and Alison proceeded to show me how much better she is at the game than I am. Our collective efforts earned enough tickets to redeem them for a bouncy ball, a pack of mini playing cards, and two army men.

Sunday was a spectacular day and we took advantage of it to walk a couple miles down the beach from where we were staying to reach the Cape May lighthouse. This lighthouse is unique in that it has Been There Since 1859, is still in use today, and allows visitation. 

The view from the top was magnificent and it was easy to imagine how important that light was to so many mariners. Near the lighthouse we also saw a WWII bunker where two guns guarded the harbor from potential assault and lookouts kept a sharp eye for U-boats. Having gone to school on Point Loma in San Diego, the concept of harbor fortifications is nothing new, but it was quite interesting to see them on the east coast as well. 

It turns out that Cape May is a fascinating place and well worth the visit. Perhaps we'll make it a yearly occurrence!

 Again, This Album includes many more pictures from the trip as well as accompanying descriptions of what you are seeing! 

A Visit From Family = A Tour of History and National Parks!

For the past four years I have spent much of my life and energy investing in helping people to better understand and appreciate the resources preserved by the National Park Service. I began by giving tours of (what was then) the fourth longest gave in the world and campfire programs about the mission and purpose of the Park Service. I then transitioned into interpreting the memorials and history of our nation's capitol in Washington, DC. I spent eight months living in the Blue Ridge Mountains and helping visitors better appreciate the resources contained therein. For the last year I have worked on a variety of projects all centered on widening opportunities for understanding and finding meaning in the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

I have led a myriad of tours, given a wide variety of programs, answered a slew of questions, written articles, designed magazines and banners, and posted hundreds of pictures on NPS facebook pages.  I have greatly enjoyed each of these opportunities to help visitors understand the importance and value of our national parks and I have connected with a lot of people through these capacities in the last four years. Yet, of all of the thousands of people I have interacted with in our national parks, my absolute favorite audiences have indisputably been my family.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to interpret each of the parks I have worked at for at least one member of my family. At the beginning of march my Dad and stepmother came to visit and I had the chance to share stories about several different parks I know and have worked at in Washington, DC and Virginia.

The first was Ford's Theater, where Alison and I met each other for the first time on April 19, 2010. We went to Ford's to see a production of "Our Town," but also got to enjoy the theater and education center before the show started.

The next day began at Manassas with a quick tour of the key points of the first battle and an explanation of where I work and what I do on a daily basis.

We continued on to Shenandoah National Park. Unfortunately a recent snowstorm had closed Skyline Drive and only the center section was accessible, which limited our options. We still found our way to some beautiful overlooks and got a sense of the beauty of the park though. 

Old Rags and Old Rag

It was especially fun to visit the park on February 15, because it was on that very day that I proposed to Alison on the Rose River Loop Trail two years earlier.

When we got to the visitor center it was closed (as was to be expected since it had not yet opened for the season) but Alison found an easy way to change the status for us!

None Shall Pass!!

We didn't have much time for hiking, but we were able to enjoy at least a little of what the park has to offer.

Hiking in Shenandoah National Park

Continuing the Civil War thread, the next day we went up to Gettysburg and I shared an abridged version of what transpired there. This was signifcant for me since it was my study of Gettysburg that helped to first spark an interest in the Civil War, and I am currently working on projects related to the sesquicentennial at the park this summer.

Standing next to the marker of the 20th Maine, where one of my heroes became the "Lion of Little Round Top"

The sun sets over the battlefield

Our final adventure was a trip to George Washington's home on President's Day. It was not only an appropriate day to visit, but also free!

We had no problem finding random things to entertain us like cows and a spot to sit in a tree!

Or costumed interpreters to pose with in pictures!



Not to mention the necessary!

My Dad and Alison had already sat down on Washington's porch for this picture, but before I could, this kid came running out of nowhere and took my spot!

This was our second try at looking... presidential??

It was a fun visit filled with lots of good winter exploration! For more pictures check out This Album
on facebook.

Three states: Six plane flights: Christmas Adventure in the West

On Monday my wife celebrates her 27^th birthday. One week after that we celebrate our first anniversary as a married couple! This year has gone by quickly despite its many changes and adjustments. Even as we have forged our own new life here in Virginia, one thing that hasn’t changed is that we both wish that we lived closer to the rest of our families in the western United States.

Last year we were not able to spend time with either of our families with the wedding coming so close on the heels of the holidays. This year we sought to make up for it by visiting both families in a two week excursion across the country.

The journey began in Arizona where we ate lots of tasty food, hiked in the mountain preserves, played games, and packed as much as possible into the few days we had. We managed to fit in a trip to Kristen (my sister) and Corey’s house in Prescott, complete with venison stew and a walk down to the light display in the square. The next day we visited both ranches to meet our new cousin once removed and see everyone there. We also met up with one of my best friends from high school and his family to continue a long standing Christmas tradition of playing games together.

Corey Playing "Just Dance" on the wii

Playing Stone Age

Scenes from "Les Mis"

We additionally managed to see both “The Hobbit” and “Les Miserables” while we were in Arizona, which were each excellent adaptations of two of my favorite stories.  

Inspired by these films we recreated scenes from the latter in our family Christmas picture in front of the tree. We then took the hobbits to Isengard and engaged in general silliness before departing from Arizona and heading to Colorado to meet the newest member of the family, Noah Robert Zigler, born to Alison’s sister Melanie and her husband on 12/20/2012.

Taking the Hobbits to Isengard!

In sharp contrast to me, who looks as though I had just gotten out of bed in this picture (I had),  Alison dressed to match her new nephew with a special shirt she had designed for the occasion.

Our original Christmas plans were modified when we found out Stanford was going to the Rose Bowl.

Rather than remaining in Colorado for New Years, Alison, her Dad, and I flew to California and joined her uncles, aunt, and cousin in LA. We spent our New Years Day following Stanford around the region. We took the metro (who knew LA even had a metro?!) from our hotel to Pasadena where we arrived just in time to watch the Rose Bowl Parade. The experience was made more exciting since Alison’s uncle actually marched with the Stanford Band in the parade. I climbed up a tree just before they passed our viewpoint and spotted him marching by.

Uncle Sandy with the Stanford band

Entering the tailgate party

We then wound our way through the city to the Rose Bowl Stadium where we found the Stanford tailgate party and lots of tasty food!

Enjoying "It's Its" at the tailgate party

Our seats were only three rows from the bottom, so it felt like we were practically on the field. This actually made it challenging to follow the game, but positioned us quite well for the explosion of confetti following Stanford’s victory.

It was quite a unique experience and an excellent first direct exposure to Stanford Football for me!

When we arrived back in Denver we connected with one last element of the family when we were picked up at the airport by my cousin and his wife. After enjoying dinner with them, we managed to fit nearly everything into our bags before heading back home the next morning.

It was a busy two weeks, but a very memorable chance to share a wide variety of Christmas memories with our families in the final days of our first year of marriage. :)

To see more pictures check out:

Christmas 2012