Internet Job Searches: Half The Time, Twice As Difficult

I have been trying for some time now to find a career with a little more meaning. I have been looking online throughout the Northwest (I define the Northwest as Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, parts of Colorado, and Taos, New Mexico.) The search is tedious and frustrating.

When I was younger, I remember job searching was a 3 step process:

1. Find open positions in the newspaper
2. Go to the hiring business and ask for an application
3. Fill out application (bonus for typing) and return to potential employer

Back then it was a very simple task and most times I would even have the opportunity to shake hands with a "personnel manager." Sometimes I would get a call back and sometimes I wouldn't. Every week a new job listing would come out in the local paper and the process would begin all over again.

When the internet hit the mainstream I thought that hiring would become this simple process, and that unemployment would be left to those who just didn't want to work. In the early 2000s, I put my resume online expecting Donald Trump and Bill Gates to get into a bidding war over who could have me. Surprisingly, nothing happened and I ended up getting a great job from an inside recommendation.


Today, job hunting can appear to be pretty daunting. Walk near a business section of a bookstore and you will see an entire aisle dedicated to resume writing, interviewing, and job hunting. I know people who are too scared to leave their jobs to find a better one, just because they feel like they don't know how to do a 21st century job search.

Job hunting via the internet requires a little bit of knowledge and plenty of patience. First, one must know WHICH job search engines to use. Years ago it was Monster, Hotjobs, etc. Today web 2.0 has made things much easier.

Here are my favorites:

• Indeed.com
• Simplyhired.com
• craigslist.org (I recommend using crazedlist.org - it searches multiple craigslist sites at the same time)

The next step is one that requires plenty of time and reading. Before you submit your cover letter and resume you must research the company. This requires looking for press releases, browsing their website, and if applicable, looking at their Wall Street data. After you have completed your research you will either feel extremely excited to work for them, or you might not be interested in their business. I recommend writing your cover letter immediately after you have completed this process.

The options to get your resume to the employer can be varied. Some employers want you to email a cover letter and resume, while others have a custom interface that allows you to cut and paste your cover letter and resume (goodbye hours of formatting.) Other employers have online applications that require you to nearly rewrite your entire resume.

After you submit the required materials you have to wait. Most sites say "no phone calls" so you can't call to see if they received your resume and cover letter. I find myself checking their employment page hoping that I get an email or a phone call before the posting disappears. On a daily basis I repeat this process...it can be pretty depressing.

I might add that November and December have been challenging months to find a job. I refuse to blindly blame the economy...instead I point the finger at the Thanksgiving and winter holidays. This time of year there are more people on vacation, more office functions, and a desire to postpone projects to 2009. I have high hopes for January!

Stress, Traffic Jams, And Shopping Lists

I was emailed the below video a couple of days ago and it affects me every time I watch it. Though the message is Christian based, the concept is one that everybody can grasp.

Last year (around this time) we learned about how much money is spent "around" (double meaning) Christmas and how little of it actually trickles down to those who need it. Of course water is one example as cited in this video, but you could easily find somebody in your own neighborhood that could use help (time, money, friendship, etc.)

I post this video for those who feel like something has been missing during Christmas (and a couple of examples of what they could do.)

An Anthropological Introduction To YouTube

My wife and I found this to be extremely captivating (but beware...it's almost an hour long.) I believe that this is one of the most important videos of 2008 (and it's not even about global warming climate change!)



Special thanks to Peter for sharing this with me!

Your insights welcome . . .

Fitness Gadget For Desk Jockies (Or How To Get More Activity Back In Your Day)

I used to spend my entire day at a desk (yes...there was ping pong...thank goodness.) My problem was that I never got enough exercise during the work week. My commute was almost an hour each way and by the time I got home I was in no mood to go to the gym. I tried some of the old tricks such as moving my printer out of my office (which did help) and I tried to get out of my chair and meeting people face to face (instead of calling or emailing someone who was just down the hall.) I am no longer working there yet I have to be on top of my activity level and monitor it so I don't go the way of the couch potato.

Sometime last year I became fascinated with the concept of the pedometer. Previously I thought of a pedometer as one of those devices that someone buys in hopes to see how FAR they walk. My mother even had one years ago and we all agreed it was truly inconvenient. Back then you had to wear it on your waist, it looked like a garage door opener, and it never really did the job in a useful manner (it was just easier to drive in a car to calculate how far you walked.)

So sometime at the beginning of 2008 I did some new research to see if pedometers had improved. Much to my surprise, pedometers had come a long way. In my research I found one in particular that seemed to be a favorite: the Omron HJ-112 Digital Premium Pedometer.

This pedometer has an amazing 1,933 customer reviews (at the time of this post) on Amazon and has a score of 4.5 out of 5 stars. I decided to order two of these (one for me, one for my wife) and see if I could use it as an "activity motivator."

The device has some really cool (and critical) features:

1. Seven day memory
2. Tracks: [STEPS, AEROBIC STEPS, KCAL, AND MILES]
3. Can be carried anywhere on the body (including a purse)
4. Resets itself at midnight (and sends your work to the memory)

Now all I have described is a pedometer (a good one at that) but what I really want to point out is how having a device like this in your pocket everyday helps motivate you. You can obsess about kcals, miles, and steps all you want, but that is unnecessarily complicated. All that REALLY matters is that you are active and are trying to be MORE active. This is where the memory on this device is crucial (and essentially why you should by the model I recommended.)

After only a week of putting this thing in my pocket as I dressed everyday I realized that the "Steps" category for all practical purposes SHOULD be used ONLY as an index. Like television ratings are to programs, broadcast executives care more about how ratings are up and down, not necessarily what the number indicates (and I might add that very few people actually know what a rating point is.) The "Steps" you take in one day is completely relative to the day before (and the day following.) If you are only starting with 1000 steps on your first day then you walk 2000 steps on your second day, you have DOUBLED your activity level (better than doing nothing.) We can't all walk 10,000 steps in a day (as recommended by sources on the web) the very first day or even a year later for that matter. But you can walk more than you did the day before and that is progress.

I created this chart quickly in Excel.

(Important note: I JUST started using my pedometer again on the 26th of November...it had been in storage for several months before so this is "out of the gate" data)



What is important to note is that my activity level went UP when I started putting it in my pocket again (Sunday was a very lazy day and Monday we were in the car delivering meals to home bound folks.) Today (which is not listed because it ends at midnight) I looked at my 7 day history and decided to try to beat yesterday's steps (6247) and ended up RUNNING a couple of miles which I haven't done for MONTHS (btw the pedometer works just fine if you run with it too.)

In summary, I want to push all of you out there who know that they are having a hard time getting to the gym and want to move in a positive direction. I believe if you use this on a daily basis, you will become more active and those other goals such as losing weight, running more, going to the gym more will follow. This device is the first step in getting you out of the "desk rut" that you may be in.

Where to order: http://www.amazon.com/Omron-HJ-112-Digital-Premium-Pedometer/dp/B0000U1OCI

It's the perfect gadget for a New Year's Resolution . . .

Off The Radar Until Next Year

(Please Note...I had been working on a huge blog about cell phones and how the wireless industry has steered so far away from functionality to "gadgetality." If you would like me to post it, please let me know...otherwise I will file it away.)

I've read time and time again that I should update this blog more often if I want to maintain interest. Because a lot of other things are going on in our lives currently I have put the writing to a lower priority. Expect to see something around the first of the year.

In the meantime I have been trying to catch up on my reading. I have been reading 6 books below at the same time and all of them are very interesting!

(all reviews below taken from the web):

Term Limits - Vince Flynn (Fiction)
In a night of shattering brutality, three of Washington's most powerful and unscrupulous politicians have been executed with surgical precision. Their assassins, vanishing without a trace, have delivered a shocking ultimatum to the leaders of the American government: set aside petty, partisan politics and restore power to the people, or be held to deadly account. No one, they warn, is out of their reach -- not even the president. A joint FBI-CIA task force reveals that the killers are elite military commandos, but no one knows exactly who they are or when they will strike next. Only Michael O'Rourke, a former U.S. Marine and freshman congressman, holds a clue to the violence: a haunting incident in his own past with explosive implications for his country's future.... In a tour de force of action and suspense, Vince Flynn takes the ultimate American ideal -- a government of the people -- to a devastating extreme.

Creating A World Without Poverty: Social Business And The Future Of Capitalism - Muhammad Yunnus (Non-Fiction)
The winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize outlines his vision for a new business model that combines the power of free markets with the quest for a more humane world - and tells the inspiring stories of companies that are doing this work today. Over the last two decades, free markets have swept the globe, bringing with them enormous potential for positive change. But traditional capitalism cannot solve problems like inequality and poverty, because it is hampered by a narrow view of human nature in which people are one-dimensional beings concerned only with profit. In fact, human beings have many other drives and passions, including the spiritual, the social and the altruistic. Welcome to the world of social business, where the creative vision of the entrepreneur is applied to today's most serious problems: feeding the poor, housing the homeless, healing the sick and protecting the planet. Creating a World Without Poverty tells the stories of some of the earliest examples of social business, including Yunus's own Grameen Bank. It reveals the next phase in a hopeful economic and social revolution that is already under way - and in the worldwide effort to eliminate poverty by unleashing the productive energy of every human being.

Getting Things Done: The Art Of Stress-Free Productivity - David Allen (Non-Fiction)
In today's world, yesterday's methods just don't work. Veteran coach and management consultant Allen shares the breakthrough methods for stress-free performance that he has introduced to thousands. He shows how to assess goals, relax, and stay focused.







The Laws Of Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life - John Maeda (Non-Fiction)
Finally, we are learning that simplicity equals sanity. We're rebelling against technology that's too complicated, DVD players with too many menus, and software accompanied by 75-megabyte "read me" manuals. The iPod's clean gadgetry has made simplicity hip. But sometimes we find ourselves caught up in the simplicity paradox: we want something that's simple and easy to use, but also does all the complex things we might ever want it to do. In The Laws of Simplicity, John Maeda offers ten laws for balancing simplicity and complexity in business, technology, and design—guidelines for needing less and actually getting more. Maeda—a professor in MIT's Media Lab and a world-renowned graphic designer—explores the question of how we can redefine the notion of "improved" so that it doesn't always mean something more, something added on. Maeda's first law of simplicity is "Reduce." It's not necessarily beneficial to add technology features just because we can. And the features that we do have must be organized (Law 2) in a sensible hierarchy so users aren't distracted by features and functions they don't need. But simplicity is not less just for the sake of less. Skip ahead to Law 9: "Failure: Accept the fact that some things can never be made simple." Maeda's concise guide to simplicity in the digital age shows us how this idea can be a cornerstone of organizations and their products—how it can drive both business and technology. We can learn to simplify without sacrificing comfort and meaning, and we can achieve the balance described in Law 10. This law, which Maeda calls "The One," tells us: "Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful."

Dune - Frank Herbert (Fiction)
Here is the novel that will be forever considered a triumph of the imagination. Set on the desert planet Arrakis, DUNE is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, who would become the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib. He would avenge the traitorous plot against his noble family—and would bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream. A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, DUNE formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.

Outliers: The Story Of Success - Malcolm Gladwell (Non-Fiction)
Amazon Best of the Month, November 2008: Now that he's gotten us talking about the viral life of ideas and the power of gut reactions, Malcolm Gladwell poses a more provocative question in Outliers: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential? Challenging our cherished belief of the "self-made man," he makes the democratic assertion that superstars don't arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent: "they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot." Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, he builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages, "some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky." Outliers can be enjoyed for its bits of trivia, like why most pro hockey players were born in January, how many hours of practice it takes to master a skill, why the descendants of Jewish immigrant garment workers became the most powerful lawyers in New York, how a pilots' culture impacts their crash record, how a centuries-old culture of rice farming helps Asian kids master math. But there's more to it than that. Throughout all of these examples--and in more that delve into the social benefits of lighter skin color, and the reasons for school achievement gaps--Gladwell invites conversations about the complex ways privilege manifests in our culture. He leaves us pondering the gifts of our own history, and how the world could benefit if more of our kids were granted the opportunities to fulfill their remarkable potential.



Here is my progress on reading all of these as of 10:18am on December 2, 2008:

The Northwest's Never Never Land

A couple of weeks ago we were planning a business trip to Seattle when I offhandedly suggested that we should go to Victoria, British Columbia afterward. We had an unused train ticket from Whitefish, Montana to Vancouver, Washington that needed to be either used or charged backed to our card so we were able to rationalize a low cost vacation without spending much extra. I had no idea that this very simply put together plan would be one of our favorite trips that we have been on together.

We headed up to Seattle on the train early Wednesday morning on the Amtrak Cascades which is our favorite train because of it travels 80+ MPH in some places (I used my GPS.) It was a cold clear morning and the leaves in most of the northwest had already turned yellow and orange. All of this color at 80 miles per hour made the train ride to Seattle feel like the beginning of the old Dr. Who program.

We actually arrived in Seattle a little before our scheduled time so Nicole and I walked from the station, to downtown, to Pike's Place Market, to Belltown, and finally to the Space Needle.

In order to be "mobile" we had packed 4 nights worth of clothes in our respective backpacks. In the planning phase this seemed completely rational. Around the Belltown portion of our trip Nicole was in complete agony. She had injured her back (most likely from ping pong) a week earlier (but after we had made arrangements for the trip) and had thought that it was in shape to carry a pack. I could tell by her face that the whole "backpacking around Seattle and Victoria" wasn't realistic.

We sat down at Zeek's Pizza and discussed scenarios from going home (right then) to pushing through with pain killers and buying a huge pack for me to carry everything in. After a long discussion, Nicole surrendered her mind (pain does that) and asked me to make the best choice. I sat there staring into space for a very long time. After pushing around ideas I called a cab and we rode up to that evenings destination near Green Lake.

That first evening (our business portion of the trip) was with the organizers of Club Rust and managers of Rancho La Paloma. (I wrote back in July about how that experience affected me and gave me the desire to be a part of something like this.) We enjoyed an incredible dinner with them and great conversation. We had the most wonderful time with their family and can't wait to see them again.

The alarm was very unwelcome at 5:30am. It took me nearly two minutes to find my cell phone (alarm) and make it stop beeping. It was of course pitch black outside and the house was completely silent. We had to catch the bus to the Ferry before 6:15am so Nicole shuffled to the shower and I repacked our bags. We tried as quietly as possible to not wake anyone as we walked through the complete darkness of a home we barely knew. I'm sure everyone woke up as I walked awkwardly up the stairs without any lights carrying two giant backpacks. Nicole's back had reached its peak in pain the night before and in the morning felt somewhat better. I still decided to carry both packs for now, despite Nicole's protests.

Once out on the street we walked a couple of blocks to a gas station to get change for the bus. I had forgotten how many people in Seattle commute at such an early hour. Even at the bus stop there were a handful of people wearing business attire for work and it was barely after 6am.

We boarded the bus and I was once in awe of the Seattle phenomenon of a completely full bus (people standing too) yet there was absolutely no talking. I could only hear the sound of the bus brakes and the occasional "ding" informing the operator that a stop has been requested. It reminded me of when I was riding the same bus system years ago:

(by the way...below is a flashback story so if you want to skip down to the current event, read past the italics.)

I had a morning routine. Living alone on Queen Anne made me very regimented. Every workday I would get up, turn on the TV (I worked in TV so I had to see what was going on in the world as it was going to be what my day was focused on.) After absorbing the headlines, I would head to the shower, get dressed and walk out the door.

I liked to leave a little early in the morning (didn't have to be to work until 8am) so I could get in a long walk to the Starbucks (I think it was on Boston and Queen Anne Ave.) I loved walking there for several reasons. First was for the mocha. This was my kick-start for the high energy environment that I was headed to (a newsroom.) Second was (and this is sorta sad) that it was the first place every day where I would actually talk to another person. I'm guessing that for many of those who are single and live in the city, the first thing you hear from another person at the beginning of the day is "Welcome to Starbucks, can I take your order?"

The third reason I walked up to this location was because the bus route originated (i.e. first stop.). This meant I could guarantee a seat anywhere on the bus. After much thought and many bus rides I determined that the best seat was behind the back door on the right-hand side of the bus. From this perch, I could see everyone in front of me and because there is a Plexiglas shield separating the doorway and that elevated position, I could see reflections behind me. I could see all.

Typically I would sit in this seat, drink my Starbucks, listen to music, and read (all at the same time.) From time to time I would remove my headphones just to listen to a quiet, full bus. Again, full bus...people standing in the aisle...no sound, just engine noise.

Until the morning I changed all of that--if only for a moment. On that particular day, I rode the bus sitting at my typical perch, listening to Cirrus and reading "Fight Club" for the tenth time. It was a warmer day because I remember feeling the sun on my arm and wearing short sleeves.

I was halfway to my destination and fully involved with my book when the hair on my right arm kept twitching like a piece of lint was caught in it. With my coffee in my left hand and my headphones in my ears I looked to my right and saw the biggest, hairiest spider I had ever seen in my life, headed up my arm toward the open part of my sleeve.

My reaction was what you would expect of any twenty-something former Marine. I screamed like a little girl. Not only did I scream, but I screamed until I could hear myself over the music in my headphones. The coffee in my left hand flew up and mocha coated the Plexiglas in front of me. I brushed the hairy spider off my arm and it fell to the floor in front of me. I stomped and stomped HARD until I was convinced that I had killed it by observing the bug juices smeared on the floor.

At this point I was oblivious to anything else around me and my headphones were still in my ears. I regained my composure and looked around the bus. Everyone was staring at me like I was crazy. To them I had screamed and stomped the floor for no apparent reason. I tried to explain it to the one person who maintained eye contact with me, but he just shook his head.

After a couple of minutes I could see other people giggling to each other about my reaction--I laughed pretty hard at myself, too. I tried to imagine what it must have looked like to all the other business commuters on that dead silent bus.

Starting the next day I took an earlier bus and did so for the rest of my time in Seattle.

Now...back to our story . . .

(just after 6am on the bus going to the ferry terminal)

We hopped off the bus near the Space Needle and walked the remaining 1/2 mile to Pier 69 where we were to catch the Victoria Clipper. It was just before 7am and the sun was still down. It felt like we were the only people on the waterfront. Once inside the terminal we got in line, passed through security and got on board.

The Victoria Clipper is a relatively high speed, fully enclosed passenger ferry that takes people from Seattle to Victoria, British Columbia in about 2 and a half hours. The ferry we were on had two levels with a view from nearly every seat. There were also food and beverages served on board so Nicole and I were able to wake up with a fresh cup of coffee.

About an hour after leaving Seattle the sun broke through the clouds and we were able to see the many islands and the shoreline of the Olympic Peninsula. For the time remaining on the boat I watched for any signs of a breaching killer whale while Nicole spread out over 3 seats and was swayed asleep by the gentle rocking of the boat.

I had never been to Victoria and to be honest, had always been turned off by what I had heard. "Oh the gardens and flowers are so beautiful," or "You must have high tea at the Empress Hotel". The more I heard about it, the more it sounded like something that would never appeal to me.

The boat slowed and eventually we made our way through Outer Victoria Harbor (or should I say Harbour?) As we entered the Inner Harbour I felt like we were arriving on the shores of some European country. The unique, modern architecture of the condos and homes were a refreshing change from the typical style that line the streets of the Pearl District in downtown Portland. Mixed in with new was the old...Victorian old. The Empress Hotel is on the elbow of the Inner Harbour and as we approached the still waters reflected the red ivy that covered the building. I could tell by looking that Victoria wasn't just a city of flowers and tea; it was a cosmopolitan town with international influence.

We hardly took two steps out of Canadian Customs before I pulled my camera out and started taking pictures of everything. On each trip I try to learn a little more about my camera and photography, and I think that on this trip it paid off. Because the sun was so low in the sky (even at midday) the lighting was perfect for pictures. The majority of the pictures I took were a little on the dark side, but that touch made the photos even more "European." (When was the last time you saw a bright picture of London, Paris, or Amsterdam?)

We walked to our hostel (near Chinatown) and checked our packs in (we couldn't check in until 3pm) and headed back to town to find a bite to eat. Nicole had done research before our trip and found a very good (and cheap) sushi restaurant, Sushi Plus. For those of you that need sushi to be served in a neo-uber-space age-sterile-swanky-pretentious-environment, Sushi Plus is not for you. It was a very small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant where you can see all of the food being prepared. The nigiri wasn't dyed which made the whole experience seem a lot more legitimate. It was obviously a local choice because it was packed with business people (not tourists...except us.)

We visited the many restaurants, stores, and sights of the area-all of them wonderful. I do want to list the restaurants and our hostel as it may be useful for those who need some travel ideas:

Our accommodations:

Ocean Island Backpackers Inn
http://www.oceanisland.com/
1-888-888-4180
791 Pandora Avenue
Victoria, British Columbia
Canada

Cons: If you want to go to sleep before 1am...bring earplugs.

Pros: Clean rooms, great functional furniture (think IKEA), infinite hot water, little cafe/bar on premises, travel information galore, and international traveler energy.

- - -

Places We Ate:

Sushi Plus
Irish Times
Demitasse
Green Cuisine
Siam Thai
The Mint
Mirage Coffee

The next day we walked all over Victoria. We went to hat shops, vegan restaurants (I drank water), many clothing stores and walked around the harbour.

I could spend all day taking pictures. We stood out on a rocky point in the cold, snapping photos of ferries, planes, and boats that seemed to go in and out of the harbor non-stop.

The planes were fun to watch because (on this day) they were flying in from the west, dropping down near the bridge, then suddenly banking to the right just before touching down on the water. It is definitely worth watching if you are ever in Victoria.

That evening (Friday night) Nicole and I hit the town...to the best of our ability. We had incredible Thai food and I am convinced that I ate an entire red onion (my dish was ground chicken, cilantro, red onion, and a little bit of lemon or lime juice).

After we finished we decided to go to a pub for a drink and desert. The whole town was packed with locals (mostly students from University of Victoria) so it was a little hard to find a place that wasn't standing room only. We eventually found a nice, down-tempo bar known as The Mint. Admittedly, we stood out like sore thumbs in our sensible clothing amongst the swankiest of swanky. That didn't stop me from ordering a Phillips Chocolate Porter and a piece of chocolate cake. Nicole ordered a fresh raspberry pureed mint julep. Though we didn't stay there long, we enjoyed sitting at the bar, looking around at the artwork and watching people. The bartenders were very nice and hospitable. The Mint is a place where you can hang out, listen to live music (that night there was a DJ) and "be cool" for hours on end.

The next day we took the public bus to Butchart Gardens. We had procrastinated this trip because the weather the day before was so gloomy. Saturday ended up being the best day because it was sunny and gorgeous outside.

The bus ride from Victoria was just under 45 minutes but that was because it was public transit. There are buses that go straight there, but they cost more than we were willing to shell out. It's also nice to ride the public bus because you meet some interesting people...but I'll get to that in a little bit.

The gardens are spectacular (even though there are far fewer flowers than spring and summer.) Nicole and I fought over the camera as we walked around the fifty acre park. The gardens are split into several sections such as a Japaneese garden, Rose garden, Chinese garden, etc. At the bottom of this entry is a link to more pictures of our trip and of the gardens.

Our plan was to go to a nearby Cajun restaurant that served alligator meat, but after walking through the gardens, I talked Nicole out of it because of time considerations (we had to be back to the ferry by 5pm.) After my hotdog at the visitor center, we hopped back onto the public transit bus to town.

As I mentioned, public transportation can help travelers meet interesting people. Because the bus was completely packed Nicole and I were forced to stand with many others in the aisle. About halfway through the trip I turned to see Nicole talking with someone at the very back of the bus. The girl she was talking to had a white face, black hair, and fake blood running from her mouth to her neck. Nicole asked if the girl was on her way to a Halloween party. The girl explained that the makeup was for something completely different.

Apparently in towns across the world there are random "flash mob" events called....wait for it...wait for it...Zombie Walks. The way it works is people go to a website (such as this one zombiewalk.com) and find out when and where a zombie walk will be held. At the time and place the zombie walk will be held people show up in full zombie costumes and makeup. Once assembled, they depart from the meeting location and walk around acting like zombies to another destination. The mob will go through malls, town squares, and even clog intersections all while holding their arms out in front of them and screaming "more brains" (you may need to do your zombie research to understand.)

After quizzing this girl, Nicole found out that the Zombie Walk was at 4 pm at a square close to our hostel. Excited for the photo opportunity, we got off at our stop, grabbed a quick bite to eat and went to the square and waited for them to gather.

I could not believe the number of people that showed up for this event. There were zombies everywhere. From little children to seniors, there were people who had spent hours on makeup. Nicole and I felt like press photographers as we ran around snapping photos at the very willing subjects.

Just before 4pm the mob came to life and started zombie-ing across the square and into town. I have to admit it was very eerie to have hundreds of people walk toward you (all in character) and scream "we want to eat brains!" In a few minutes the mob of nearly a thousand people filtered into the city and out of sight.

Here is a handful of the zombie pictures we took: http://picasaweb.google.com/NicoleandJeff/ZombiesInVictoria#

On our trip to catch the ferry (half an hour later) we ran into the mob again. This time they were far more dispersed and taking advantage of the uneasiness that it caused tourists on the street. Zombies were chasing people, walking up to cars at stoplights, and posing at every photo opportunity. We found ourselves captivated...so much so that we had to rush to catch our ferry.

On the ferry Nicole faded in and out of sleep, while I sat with a recently retired couple who were on their last leg of an around-the-world trip. They had gone from Chicago to Poland to India to Thailand to South Korea to Canada (Vancouver then Victoria) and were going to Seattle before returning to Illinois. Apparently they have been doing these 3 week "around the world" trips for the last 15 years. Each time they change it up a bit and visit different countries. The husband and I talked almost the entire trip about cameras, GPS devices, and the many places they have been.

We arrived in Seattle near 9pm and we had no idea where we were going to stay. You think we would have learned after THIS incident.

We walked up to the hostel near Pike's Place Market and checked to see if they had any private rooms. The guy at the front desk told us that they didn't but that we should check up the street at a place called the Moore Hotel. I barely wanted to stay at a hostel and the idea of staying in a cheap hotel nearby made me uneasy. At this point, Nicole and I talked about splurging on a really nice hotel.

Nevertheless, we walked the three or four blocks up the street to check out the Moore Hotel. Before walking in I told Nicole "let's ask to SEE the room before doing this." I was a little jaded from our Lynnwood experience a couple of months earlier.

At the front desk was Bob. Bob was about our age, energetic, clean cut yet Seattle-esque. He told us that the rooms were just over 60 bucks (not including tax) and that some had shared bathrooms. We decided to check out a room with its own bathroom. The room we checked out was clean, simple and seemed like a bargain so Nicole and I went back down and told him that we would take it (or one like it.)

Nicole asked Bob point-blank what the catch was. The entire lobby was marble and the building was vintage and clean. The rooms were very nice, very clean, and quiet, but the price seemed too good to be true. We had just called the Westin to check their rates (just a few blocks away) and they wanted 280 bucks a night. Nicole asked without any hesitation, "Is this place haunted?" Bob explained that the Moore Hotel was left to the wife and daughters of the prior owner and that the family isn't interested in turning the place into a swanky hotel. With that, Bob checked us into our room (mumbling something about an upgrade) and we took the ancient, tiny elevator to the fifth floor.

After walking down the longest, quietest hallway, we arrived at our room. Nicole gasped when she opened the door. Bob had REALLY upgraded us. We had expected to see a bed and a window like the first room we checked. Instead, it was a dining area (with a table for 8) a living room, a kitchen, and in the distance a glass door to the bedroom. It was huge. The windows were gigantic. There was a couch and two love seats, a refrigerator, stove top, and a flat screen TV. The bedroom had a gigantic bed and a view of the Sound (between buildings.) I was shocked at what we got for such a great price.

We went back downstairs to get suggestions for late night food and to thank Bob for the upgrade. He named off a few places to grab a late night snack and we decided to go with his suggestion for an Italian restaurant called La Vita E Bella in Belltown.

The food there was incredible! I actually found myself staring at my food trying to figure out how to prolong my meal (I got a mushroom ravioli) so it would never end. Our server was very helpful and we ended up talking with her for the majority of the meal. I highly recommend this place if you are ever in Seattle.

The next morning we walked to the train station, discussing our trip the whole time. We swung by a great coffee joint just before boarding the train, called Zeitgeist Coffee. Nicole even made the claim that they made the best rice latte she has ever had.

Eventually we boarded our train bound for Portland excited for our next adventure...whatever it may be.

Here are more photos from the trip: http://picasaweb.google.com/NicoleandJeff/VictoriaTrip#

Intermission

We are still here.

Nicole and I have been reading and researching as much as possible in preparation for our next step. Unfortunately, the state of the economic world has made things seem like it may be more challenging. I make the mistake (daily) of looking at the gloom and doom that is being constantly reported and can't help but get sucked in. It's also fair to say that I really don't know how this "situation" will affect our future. Needless to say, I'm not too worried. . .we have worked really hard to break the chains that connect us to it.

I've been wondering if the movie "Fight Club" is being rented more often right now. I used to watch that movie nearly everyday before I went to work at a restaurant on NW 23rd in Portland. The year was 1999, everybody was drinking Starbucks, talking on cell phones, and spending money on knickknacks for their condos:

~ ~ ~

The NW Portland Years (1999-2000)
I hated living in that part of Portland, yet I had worked really hard to find this "Shangri la" when I had been living in Bend. Don't get me wrong, Bend was great at the time. I ran everyday and mountain biked every other day but Bend at the time lacked the cosmopolitan experience for someone my age (25) . . . so I set my sights on Northwest Portland.

Northwest Portland is more than just a geographical reference to a part of Portland, it's more of a neighborhood. In the late 1990s it was an up and coming shopping district with boutique shops, outdoor dining, and coffee shops with parking spots for your dot-com Lamborghini.

I initially moved to NW 21st with a friend who also thought it would be fun to move from the small town of Bend to the giant city of Portland. He and I had already been roommates for a while in Central Oregon so we knew that we could get along. After only a few months in Portland, he bought a dog and moved back to Bend (then joined the Air Force and has been in for 8 years.)

Eventually it was only me in a two bedroom apartment overlooking The Gypsy (restaurant.) The apartment was the cheapest thing I could find in that neighborhood and it showed from time to time. An example of how "affordable" it was became evident when one morning I woke up to find that the walls of my bathroom were ballooning. It looked like giant moles had burrowed down the wall from the ceiling and were making their way to the floor. I lived on the 3rd floor of a 4 story apartment building so I knew that trouble was coming from above. The curious boy in me decided to push with my finger on these raised portions of the wall. The paint immediately gave way and a steady stream of warm soapy water sprayed all over my bathroom. Apparently the pipes above my bathroom had broken just below their bathtub.

What was funny about that experience is that in the days following, the management worked to fix it at a snails pace. At one point (or should I say the breaking point) the maintenance guy cut a hole in my ceiling (my upstairs neighbor's floor) right in front of their toilet. I walked in there and looked up to only see a pair of crumpled Levi jeans covering the a 5 inch by 5 inch hole. Minutes later there was a flush and the jeans disappeared and I could see my neighbor's bathroom ceiling. I was on the phone within minutes demanding resolution to this problem and used the whole situation as leverage for the best apartment in the building (at the same rent.) I moved to the fourth floor the very next day.

So now that I had the coolest apartment, in the hippest part of town, one would think I would have been happy. It didn't work that way at all. Because living in that part of town everyone would put on their best outfit to shop or "be cool" on a restaurant patio, I felt like I needed to look my best even when I would walk to the store for bread. Being single at the time compounded this environmental insecurity.

I eventually learned to tune out most of the neighborhood. I would listen to headphones if I was studying at a coffee shop, go on long drives out of the city, and I also kept a bag of water balloons next to my bed.

As mentioned earlier, I lived right next to a restaurant called The Gypsy. This place (at the time) was not really a destination restaurant, more of a "Let's meet at The Gypsy before we go dancing" or "Let's all go to the Gypsy now that we have been dancing." Get the picture?

I had no AC and in the summer everyone in that apartment had to leave their window open to stay cool. It was wonderful to be on the top floor with my windows open because the breeze kept it just right. The only problem was that The Gypsy down below tended to attract young drunk males who typically would take fights out to the sidewalk...at 2 in the morning. Because my sleep was valuable to me, I became very irritated with the constant scuffles that occurred just 4 stories below my window. The solution: water balloons.

To be clear, I had a couple of tactical advantages to my location.

1. I lived on the 4th floor
2. I lived above a huge tree (the tree top was around the 3rd floor)
3. The street lights were below my position
4. I lived in a keypad secured building
5. Everyone had their window open with the lights off
6. My door had double locks
7. They were drunk
8. I was sober

Nothing changes the attitude of two drunk alpha males like a water balloon to the head. Typically I would lob the balloon (this helped mask the point of origin) on to the head of the more aggressive of the two. After impact I would hide for a moment or two and listen to the reaction of the targets. Surprisingly it was often the same reaction. They would instantly befriend each other in the name of finding whoever threw the water balloon. "You go that way around the block and I will go this way and we'll beat the crap out of him." This response happened most of the time. Two would-be enemies would team up to fight a new bad guy. Fortunately for me, no one ever had the sense to look up to the apartments...thank goodness for alcohol.

This annoyance along with many others made Northwest Portland a tough place for me to be happy. Near the end I made the best of it. My form of entertainment was going to the Starbucks on the corner of 23rd and Hoyt and people watching. It is still a great place to watch people to this day.

One day just for fun outside of that Starbucks I pretended to tie my shoe on the sidewalk and instead affixed a quarter to the sidewalk with superglue. I stood on it for a couple minutes before going back inside. I sat at the bar inside Starbucks facing the window for over an hour watching people try to pry that quarter from the sidewalk. I watched as older women would pull out tools from their purse such as a metal nail file trying to get it. I had no idea a glob of glue and a quarter could provide so much entertainment.

I eventually moved far away from that part of town and look back at those years as a "growing experience." Years later I would learn that the love of my life, my wife Nicole, worked two blocks away from that apartment during the same time. I find myself constantly wondering how close we came to each other without meeting. I know that my whole perspective would have been different if I had met her then.

~ ~ ~

I will try to write more little historical "episodes" when we have gaps between our adventures. Hopefully this will help provide insight for the inspiration of our journey.

Lastly, Nicole and I might be close to another adventure...but we have to keep it under wraps for now.

The Drawing Board . . .

We are still in the Portland area, examining opportunities near and far. As fall approaches we have taken some extra efforts to add structure to our daily activities to keep us on track. I even bought the book "Getting Things Done" to help further our efforts. After rethinking our Whitefish experience we have re-focused our efforts and have been volunteering locally while still looking for our "place."

Throughout the summer we have been exposed to a number of volunteer resources, programs, and other organizations that are worth looking into. If you have ever wanted to volunteer (even briefly) or are looking into a career path that might be rewarding I recommend looking into the below websites (or search here: http://www.volunteermatch.org/) Also share some of your own as a comment...we would love to create a larger list!

(In Random Order)

Quest Aircraft:
Quest Aircraft Company, located in Sandpoint, Idaho, USA, produces the Kodiak, a single engine turboprop high wing STOL aircraft. The company was started in an effort to design an aircraft suitable for humanitarian applications throughout the world. The Kodiak's high useful-load is approximately equal to its empty weight, making it a very effective cargo airplane. An effort was made with the design and production of the Kodiak to produce an aircraft that outperformed its competition while selling for significantly less.

Forward Edge International:
Forward Edge International alleviates suffering through disaster-response work, health-care projects and programs for at-risk children. Since 1983, more than 10,000 ordinary people have found extraordinary purpose through serving with Forward Edge in many parts of the U.S. and 34 nations.

Club Rust:
ClubRust is a Christ-centered group of men and women that travel from the Pacific North West to Baja, Northern Mexico every year to build homes for the people living in make-shift shelters. It takes 3 days of hard work for a team of around 20 people to put up one of these homes. Families with kids are also welcome on trips.

~ ~ ~

Since we have been back (just over a week) we have renewed our interest in hot yoga, eating locally grown produce (expect an entry devoted to this in the future), and for our dog...rolling in horse poop (see photo right.)

Oh...and by the way...our dog now has a blog.
http://amusingmutt.blogspot.com/

The Return To Whitefish, Montana

The best part of life is that one never knows what will happen after waking up. Some of us have routines or schedules that we follow to help frame the day, but at any given moment plans could change and at the end of the day something could redefine a new routine or path for the rest of your life.

Nicole and I had a list of goals for our most recent trip to Whitefish:

1. Drive to Whitefish
2. Find a temporary (6 months or less) place to live
3. Follow up on job leads
4. Park car at new residence
5. Take the train back to Portland
   
6. Pack up everything (95% is ready to go)
7. Drive the truck with a U-Haul trailer to Whitefish
8. Start a new life in Montana.

We left early Labor Day morning (we were out the door around 6:30am) for our long drive to Whitefish, Montana. The trip according to Google maps is roughly 10 hours. We tend to take a break every 60 miles on windy roads and every 100 miles on interstates. Though it adds about an hour to every 4th hour of predicted time by Google, it really helps keep our energy up.

As with most road trips to someplace exciting, we were buzzing about our future in Whitefish. We talked about what we would like to do and I emphasized that we would probably make less money than the big city and that it would be COLD during the winter (think snow on the ground for 3 months.) Together we attempted to acclimatize each other so we could hit the ground running.

In the back of my mind, I was dreading the stretch between The Dalles and Spokane. I'm not sure if it's the lack of mountains or the permanent orange hue that blankets the landscape in fall. We borrowed the book on CD "Blink" (which I had read) and listened to it as a distraction to the bleakness. This stretch is four hours long, but felt longer than our entire trip across the country. If anyone knows of an alternate route to Spokane from Portland, please let us know!

We did finally make it through and we stopped just beyond Spokane in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. We ate a couple of burgers from Red Robin and I took a little nap in the parking lot afterward. Feeling like we were falling behind schedule we stretched a little and headed out of Idaho.

One of the most beautiful places on earth is just off of I-90 in Montana. We turned off of the road at St Regis and drove north along the Clark Fork River. This river is what I imagined Norman Maclean was trying to convey about Montana in his book "A River Runs Through It." This river is so incredible and I instantly made plans in my head to go fly fishing with my father someday in the future. I could care less if I didn't catch anything.

After this turn off to the north, the scenery only got more beautiful. Towns like Paradise (aptly named) and Plains had me wondering if Nicole and I could ever retire in such a remote and beautiful river valley. We made our turn just short of Plains and drove through the Flathead Indian Reservation.

We finally arrived in Whitefish just before sundown. Just prior to checking into a hotel we drove all through town looking at shops, homes, and neighborhoods. There were deer everywhere on the road up to the mountain. It was 38 degrees outside (September 1st!). We found our hotel, checked in and went to bed excited to explore and check off the items on our list.

We woke up early the next morning (6am MDT) and quickly got ready to check out a cabin just outside of town. Nicole had found an ad in the paper or online (not sure which) that didn't describe the place at all and had no pictures. We drove out there after getting some directions from the real estate agent.

Immediately after seeing this cabin I knew I wanted to live there. Situated on 10 acres in the forest was a simple cabin on the top of a small rise with a pathway/staircase leading to it. Getting out of the car you could hear nothing but the wind in the tall trees and our feet scrunching on pine needles. This sturdy cabin (with a detached garage) was exactly what we were looking for.

We ran up to the log cabin (we didn't have keys nor was anyone living there) and looked in every available window to peek inside. We could see a stone fireplace, a kitchen, a large sun room, a guest room and a bathroom just from walking to each window.

Walking around the garage I spooked a large doe which ran around the garage and spooked Nicole. Given that the house was in a draw I suspect that a lot of wildlife would cut through this part of the woods. Nicole called up the rental agent to see what we needed to do to get an inside look.

After hearing that all we needed to do was get keys from the agent, we jumped in the car and drove back to town. On the trip to town, I timed how long it took to get from the cabin back to town. In just 14 short minutes we were in downtown Whitefish now with keys in hand.

This time I drove (to see if I could beat the 14 minutes) back up to the cabin. The whole way there I was trying to imagine how much longer it would take in snow. The roads didn't really allow for speeds greater than 35 so it wouldn't be too much longer if the roads were icy or snowy. It was important to us not to be too far out of town as we would have jobs that we would need to get to regardless of weather conditions.

I was blowing Nicole's time out of the water when I saw a dog sitting out in a field. It was a little bit bigger than our dog (of 65+ pounds) and had a black body and a white head. It looked like it was just sitting there waiting for his master.

As we got closer I slammed on the brakes. It was no dog. It was the biggest Bald Eagle I had ever seen in my life. I've seen Golden Eagles (which I believe are typically bigger than Bald Eagles) and it seemed to be even larger. Nicole gasped and I scrambled to put on the zoom lens for the camera. A couple of bicyclists rode by as I was taking pictures and nearly crashed when they saw this bird. Though there was nothing close by to show scale I took pictures of this mighty bird.

We drove away stunned, toward the cabin and Nicole's time to town would remain unbeaten for now. At the cabin, we ran up to the door and started taking pictures. The inside was more incredible than the outside. The house was made from whole logs and felt like a meteor could hit it and it would remain intact. Every room was amazing and felt like home. We went upstairs and playfully argued about which room would be the bedroom and which would be the craft/office room. My stomach ached I was so excited.

We drove back to town and filled out the application for this dream home. This rent was half of our former mortgage payment and we were excited to follow up on some jobs in the area now that we had figured out where we were going to be. We ate lunch nearby and I was a little edgy (tired mixed with stress of everything.) Nicole drove me back to the hotel and I took a needed nap.

After waking up we had still not heard back from the rental agency, so in the name of caution, we looked up some other properties and planned an afternoon of looking at other homes. Because of our time line we needed to have a place nailed down by the next day before noon (our train left that night.)

Nicole went back into the rental agency to get keys to another place in town when she got the news. The cabin that we loved . . . had been rented to another person who had filled out an application the Saturday before we arrived. The morning agent didn't know this because she had been out of town and thought we were the first to inquire and apply. The owner of the company had already shown the house to this person and the deal was 99% done.

Nicole and I did our best not to be upset over this setback and spent the remainder of the afternoon looking at places around town. Unfortunately we couldn't push the cabin out of our minds for many reasons. Seeing the cabin helped us realize that we really DO want to be out of town and in the woods. Also we were shown huge houses all within our price range (one even had a hot tub) and it felt like too much house for us. We wanted simple.

Nicole and I sat in the parking lot of another rental agency discussing the future. We talked about Whitefish and the concept of Small Town USA. We sat in that car for a very long time. We knew that it wasn't the right time for Whitefish. If you want to know specifics, I'd love to tell anyone in person what we talked about in the car, but I won't go into it here; I don't want to minimalize by posting it on a blog.

It was the end of the day on Tuesday and we had just gone from future residents of Whitefish to tourists! We went back to our hotel room, ate leftovers from the night before and sat in the hot tub still spinning from our sudden change of plans.

We woke up the next morning and hit the road out of town. As I mentioned earlier, the one who applied before us for the cabin had only completed 99% of the process to get the cabin which meant that there was a remote chance of getting it. Knowing this we still drove out of town, out of cell phone range, chattering all the way about what exciting things lay ahead for us.

We stopped at many roadside vistas. Thompson Lake was our first stop. Nicole I walked out to a small pier to look out into one of the clearest lakes I have ever seen. The lake was so clear that when you went out on the dock it felt like you were high off the ground (the underwater drop off was dramatic and visible probably 100 feet below!)

We stopped in Libby, Montana which is a really neat town with nothing going for it. It's a former logging town situated at the base of the Cabinet Mountains and has the feel of a resort location (minus the resort)with the skeleton of blue collar industry. The movie "Always" was filmed in the area of Libby and Bull Lake.

The local gas station attendant told us to stop by Kootenai Falls on our way out of the area. She mentioned a swing bridge near the falls and I really didn't think much of it. This swing bridge turned out to be pretty dramatic. After a short walk down the trail to the falls, we arrived at the bridge which hung 100 feet or so over the raging Kootenai River. I'm not scared of heights (anymore) but this bridge made me a little nervous.

Surprisingly, Nicole who is afraid of heights (or as she now says "has an appropriate respect for high places") climbed to the top of the stairs leading to the bridge and told me she would like to try to go out on the bridge.

We waited for a few people to cross because the bridge literally does swing and has a five person limit. Nicole then started across the bridge. I can't tell you what it was like to watch her face her fear like this. She stepped one cross beam at a time holding on to the rope railings pausing when the bridge would start to sway. Watching her I could see her actively fighting her fears (and winning) and at times it was as if she wasn't even on the bridge at all, but in some distant place defeating a faceless monster. She made it halfway across and felt satisfied (and a little exausted) and turned around and made her trip back to the cliff edge. I am so proud of her, not for crossing the bridge, but for facing her fear so willingly and with determination to set a new standard for herself.

Nicole had a spring in her step as we walked to the falls nearby. The falls were not a huge drop, but the volume of water that flowed down was amazing. Nicole mentioned that she expected to see a bear at the top of the falls swiping at jumping fish (it really looked like that scene from a wildlife video...minus any bears.)

Ironically, Nicole and I were looking down at the falls when a man and his wife (whom we had met on the bridge earlier and watched Nicole start her bridge crossing) came up from behind and nearly scared us off the cliff. The man was very embarrassed knowing that Nicole was a little acrofobic and apologized for giving her a heart attack; they had only wanted us to take their picture in front of the falls.

Eventually we got back on the road again and drove down to Sandpoint, Idaho stopping for lunch at the best potato restaurant in the world. We walked by real estate offices and dreamed of owning a small piece of land in the area.

Just west of Sandpoint we managed to stop by two animal shelters/stores (one in Priest River and the other in Oldtown, Idaho.) At the first shelter we played in a cat room for half an hour then hung out with the local stray and rescued dogs for another 30 minutes. Nicole and I wanted to take them all home, but for a variety of reasons, we didn't. Similarly in Newport we visited all the exotic animals (including a Bengal Tiger that I made friends with) for another hour. As much I wanted to, I couldn't bring myself to buy the Vietnamese potbelly pig, emu, and two pug/dachshund puppies that Nicole so desperately needed.

We eventually spent the night in Spokane and ordered Red Robin (again) this time as a "to go" order. We got back to our room and found that they had gotten both of our orders wrong so Nicole called the manager. Though our orders were not that far off from what we had wanted (meaning I ate mine anyway) the manager insisted that he brought us the food that we originally had ordered and delivered it to our hotel! Joe (the manager at this particular location) said to Nicole, "Red Robin is known for 'Gourmet' burgers and if that isn't what you get then they aren't doing their jobs." Our revised order came 15 minutes later and he threw in two cokes free of charge. It's nice to see customer service taken to that level in a day and age where it's tough to get a cashier just to make eye contact with you.

The next morning we drove home (again through the painful orange dreary between Spokane and the Gorge) and were happy to be 'home.'

We are going to spend the next week or so working on a new plan and hope to share it with everyone really soon!

PHOTOS FROM THE TRIP: http://picasaweb.google.com/NicoleandJeff/AnotherTripToWhitefishMontana#

What's Next!?!?

Most of our summer goals (which changed frequently) have been completed and we are starting the next phase: relocation. One of our goals on this long road trip (and others that we did over the summer) was to research moving to a smaller town and attempt to start a life there. On our most recent "X-ing America" adventure we intentionally went out of our way to drive to many tiny towns and one stuck out a little more than the rest.

We are actively researching the beautiful town of Whitefish, Montana. Nestled in the northwest corner of the state, Whitefish is a small town of around 6,000 people that has a ski area overlooking the city. The downtown area consists of great restaurants and shops all nestled tightly together in a handful of city blocks.

The Whitefish Chamber Of Commerce describes the town like this:

"There is only one Whitefish. Tucked tight against Big Mountain and the stunning peaks of Glacier National Park, Whitefish is a year-round playground steeped in the romance of the rails. From its historic railroad depot to its charming Central Avenue, Whitefish was built on the personalities, generosity, and wisdom of its residents. Cafes mingle with gourmet restaurants, general stores share the downtown with galleries and boutiques, and a variety of western bars will suit any mood. You will also find sophisticated amenities like inns, hotels, rustic lodges, ski and board shops, outdoor gear stores and more. Whatever leads you to Whitefish - the historic downtown, the dramatic landscape, or your own wanderlust- you'll be glad you followed it."

There are a number of requirements that a small town must have for us to consider living there.

1. Must be under 10,000 people
2. Must have a reputable hospital
3. Must have a reputable school system
4. Must have a larger city nearby (within an hour's drive)
5. Housing must be affordable
   
6. Must have a way for us to stay healthy and active year round
7. Must be dog friendly
8. Lakes and/or streams must be nearby
9. Mountains and forest must be nearby
10. Should not be on an interstate or "through road"

There are many more standards that Nicole and I have created, but I wanted to illustrate that there is a method to our selections. Geography (economic, cultural, physical, etc) is one of my passions and has had a major influence in our decision making and I believe that Whitefish is ideal for a number of reasons.

First, there is water everywhere. Whitefish Lake, Flathead Lake, Hungry Horse Reservoir along with the rivers and streams that flow in and our of them. I think with any great place in the world, one will find water nearby. Conversely, an area that has little water seems to have problems down the road.

Second, the proximity of Kalispell to Whitefish makes it very appealing. I read somewhere that "Migration between two cities is proportional to the product of the two cities' populations and inversely proportional to the intervening distance" (if it seems familiar that's because it's similar to that of the theory of gravity.) I haven't exactly put exact figures into this equation yet, but my gut feeling says that that Kalispell helps keep Whitefish going (along with nearby Columbia Falls.)

Nicole and I are continuing to research and budget the feasibility of relocating there for the next week or so. We would need to spend at least four months there before we could really determine if this is where we want to stay for years to follow.

We will keep you posted as we find out more. In the meantime, checkout this Craigslist ad we created: http://montana.craigslist.org/hss/806554617.html

Crossing America: Day 17-19 (The Last Leg)

Prineville, Oregon(2 days there) to Portland, Oregon
August 16th-August 18th
Distance: 168 miles
Time In Truck: 8:45am to 2pm


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It's taken me too long to write since we have officially arrived back in the Portland area. For one thing, it feels nice to not be driving and I have been enjoying catching up on news, books, and various research. Our sleep patterns are somewhat back to normal and we are eating balanced meals again (one cannot survive on Black Pepper Triscuits and Easy Cheese.)

All those days on the road actually did have one side effect. I was napping the other day and something suddenly woke me. Startled, I looked around the room and I was very confused. Everything looked familiar. For some reason my brain had become accustomed to being "not home" that when I saw we were in fact "home," I started to panic. 'We're we in an accident? Was this road trip a dream? Who brought me back here?' It didn't quite make sense that we had actually driven all the way back. It was as the DC to Portland trip had not been completed in my subconscious. After I woke up completely, I was so happy to know that the trip had been completed.

Crossing America: Day 16

Coeur D'Alene, Idaho to Prineville, Oregon
August 15th
Distance: 391 miles
Time In Truck: 6:30am to 4pm


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Crossing America: Day 15

Coeur D'Alene, Idaho
August 14th

We spent the day walking around and taking pictures in Coeur D'Alene.

(Photos will be added later)

Crossing America: Day 14

Missoula, Montana to Coeur D'Alene, Idaho
August 13th
Distance: 170 miles
Time In Truck: 11:30am (MDT) to 2:30p (PDT)


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Crossing America: Day 13

Whitefish, Montana to Missoula, Montana
August 12th
Distance: 145 miles
Time In Truck: 12pm to 5pm


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Crossing America: Day 12

Butte, Montana To Seely Lake, Montana to Columbia Falls, Montana to Logans Pass, to Whitefish, Montana
August 11th
Distance: 350 miles
Time In Truck: 6:15am to 6:30pm

Once again Google Maps couldn't handle our route so I left the map off this post

Crossing America: Day 11

Bozeman, Montana to Butte, Montana
August 10th
Distance: 104 miles
Time In Truck: 12:30pm to 2:30pm

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Crossing America: Day 10 (Includes Summary Since Chicago . . .)

I haven't really had the time or energy to sit down and write what we have seen and experienced since we left Chicago so I thought I would take a moment to recap. Before I start it's important to note that it is impossible to keep track of all the odds and ends we have seen so far and Nicole and I often comment back to each other how we hope to "remember it all." I will try to highlight some of the interesting sights since we left Chicago.

Chicago was such a recharging experience that nearly every day after we have been getting up early and trying to walk, take pictures, and grab coffee before we dawdle across America. This has really helped us feel a little better about sitting for hours (because of the exercise) in the car. It has also allowed us to take more pictures in good light (mornings are great photo times.) When we finish this trip I hope to post "The Best Of The Best."

As mentioned before, we left Chicago in the nick of time and traveled north toward Minneapolis. I was really surprised how beautiful Wisconsin and Minnesota are and quickly changed my preconceived notions about these northern mid-west states. Though they lack mountains (by definition a mountain is over 10,000 feet...citation needed) I was amazed how lush and "cozy" each little town felt.

Minneapolis was beautiful. It felt like Portland minus the hills and sprawl (although we didn't venture out into the surrounding areas.) We stopped in to a Barnes and Noble to find some music for our looming South Dakota leg (we weren't looking forward to it.) The styles and personalities in the bookstore mirrored Portlander attitudes and political views. Minneapolis seemed to be an island of liberal ideals in a sea of conservative states.

Leaving Minneapolis we headed south to Luverne, Minnesota. On this leg I finally saw something that Nicole had talked about since I met her...factory farms. I was a bit surprised having been raised in an area where livestock roam free and never as a child did I think that a cow, chicken, or pig had a hard life. My father would often take us by a sheep farm after church to see the baby lambs and I would think to myself how happy they all were.

We drove by many chicken/goose "sheds" that were literally wall to wall birds. They were all staring out the chicken wire crammed together barely moving...thousands of them. I am still a meat eater and don't plan to change soon, but I can say that I have never seen conditions like this for an animal...and it is saddening...no matter who you are.

After our stay in Luverne, we began our "South Dakota" leg. I knew it was going to be interesting when we passed a billboard after crossing into South Dakota that read "We Dakotans REJECT Animal Activists. Furs, Game, Fish & Livestock are Our Economy!" Nicole couldn't get to her purse quickly enough to write it down. Also, the welcome sign into the state read: "Welcome to South Dakota. Watch Out For Jack Rabbits."

We drove into Sioux Falls, South Dakota...very, very strange town. Our mission was to get an espresso...and it was nearly impossible. The town itself feels like someone created it on SimCity. All the buildings were 3 to 4 stories...and very similar. There were HUGE parking garages full to the brim yet the town had nearly no foot traffic. We stopped by the cafe and bakery to get a mocha and the girl behind the counter pointed to a machine found commonly in hotel lobbies that make "instant" mochas or lattes. Distressed (and wondering if we were in the twilight zone) we did endless circles radiating from city center. By pure luck we found a Starbucks and felt as if we had found the American Embassy in a developing nation. I did a little research on the city and found that it is home to many financial companies (South Dakota doesn't have corporate income tax.)

As expected South Dakota was a long day. We finally arrived in Rapid City, SD around 5pm only to find out that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally had just started (only a town away.) Hotel rates were through the roof and I honestly thought we would have to drive to Wyoming to find a place to stay. Thanks to Nicole, we were able to negotiate a pretty good rate in nearby Hill, SD.

Before we headed to our hotel, we swung by Mount Rushmore. From what I had heard and read about it, I expected to be underwhelmed. It was amazing. It was a lot bigger than I had imagined and the viewing area made for great pictures. I'm not sure if I would plan a family vacation around this destination, but I definitely would recommend it for anyone traveling on I-90...it's worth the detour.

The next morning we got up early and took pictures of Hill City before jumping in the truck and heading for Sheridan by way of Devil's Tower. For anyone who has seen "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" they would recognize this rock formation as the center piece of the movie's plot. Seeing it up close made me feel special; like I had some bragging rights or something. It's pretty spectacular...but I'm not 100% sure it's worth a side trip unless you are a rock climber.

We finally pulled into Sheridan early enough to get a fantastic dinner at the local Mexican Restaurant (which was amazing.) The hotel we stayed in was very interesting. The Mill Inn is a converted wheat mill (with giant silos) into a hotel plus commercial building. The rooms were very unique and had such an insulated feel that Nicole and I thought we were the only ones in the hotel (it was completely booked.) At sunrise we walked to a coffee stand (after walking to a baking only stand that looked just like a coffee stand) and took pictures of locusts along the way. By the time we got back to our room (around 7:30am) it was already hot outside. We spent the rest of the morning getting new windshield wipers, fix-a-flat, and extra water for our adventure over two high mountain passes (each over 9,000 feet.) After filling up we set out for Medicine Wheel (thanks to Pat S for pointing us this way) which is located at 10,000 feet in the Big Horn National Forest.

On our way up to Medicine Wheel, we stopped to watch people launch hang gliders high above the Wyoming flatlands. We had been driving for a while and stopped at a scenic lookout point to find that a bunch of people had gathered to watch two guys take off in hang gliders. I have never seen a hang glider take off (which were literally just a couple of feet from us) but it was incredible. A crowd gathered before they took flight and everyone gasped each time one would run and jump off the precipice. We could have spent all day there but we had to be over the 2nd pass before sundown.

We arrived at the Medicine Wheel parking lot and walked a mile and a half to the location itself. It was a very solemn experience and we elected not to take pictures (it wouldn't have translated anyway.) On our walk back we saw pica (which are super cute giant rats) and evidence of either bear or cougar (we found scat with fur in it.) We jumped back into the truck and descended down a 10% grade for over 12 miles bringing us down to around the 4000 feet in elevation.

We drove through many quiet Wyoming towns that seemed permanently separated from the modern world. We wondered how close the nearest municipal airport was and if people traveled much outside northern Wyoming. It felt very isolated.

After passing through the last of our Wyoming towns (Cody, Wyoming) we headed north toward the infamous Bear Tooth Pass. I love to study maps in my spare time and I have studied the Bear Tooth Pass on more than one occasion. Before we ascended the pass, Nicole spotted a cougar crossing the road ahead of us (I was of course looking at the beautiful landscape and not the road) and because it was a switch back we were able to cross it's prospective path. Instead of seeing the cougar again, we saw it's prey...a coyote. We stopped in the middle of the switchbacks waiting for the cougar to cross either in front or behind us...which never happened. The coyote crossed behind us and we suspect that the cougar gave up his hunt because of the two humans and their cameras sticking out of sunroofs and windows. Unfortunately, we didn't get the "National Geographic" moment we had hoped for.

Minutes before we started our drive up the Beartooth Highway, we were caught in the most spectacular thunderstorm. The clouds made everything so dark I had to turn on the headlights and Nicole barely got out "three Mississippi" before the thunder rattled the truck. I hoped quietly to myself that it would pass over before we climbed up to nearly 11,000 feet...into the heart of most storm clouds.

As we made our right turn onto the Beartooth Highway the storm ended and the sun came out. We only had an hour and a half until sunset so I made my best effort to get up the mountain as safely possible. Never really going faster than 20 miles an hour we eventually crossed over the top at exactly sunset. Along the way we tried to take pictures and observe wildlife but in the interest of time kept it brief. I got a little camera happy at the top and became obsessed with photographing the most incredible rainbow I have ever seen in my life (of course none of them really turned out.) We were both a little exhausted, the sun was going down, and I had absolutely no idea how far the city of Red Lodge was.

We descended down the most frightening switchbacks of my life. I joked with Nicole that it was incredible that a movie hasn't utilized this unbelievable scary road for a car chase scene. We would turn to the left 180 degrees...then turn to the right for what seemed to be 270 degrees and then back again the whole time with sheer cliffs on the outboard side. It was pitch black by the time we reached the valley floor and we didn't roll into Red Lodge, Montana for another 30 minutes.

Exhausted we stopped at the first place in town that didn't have the ominous "NO VACANCY" sign on. Fortunately we got one of the last rooms in town. We dropped our bags in the room and collapsed on the bed...still buzzing from the amazing sights of the day.

We woke up the next morning (today from the author's perspective) and walked around the beautiful city of Red Lodge. Full of antique shops, bakeries, cute espresso cafes, a candy store, and other tourist targeted venues, this city was extremely charming. I had a deep fried donut for breakfast and a mocha with one too many shots in it. Nicole had an Americano that made her so hyper she was pointing at everything and convincing me that we needed to move here.

After chewing the fat with a local at the Candy Emporium, we hit the road and ventured to Bozeman. After one of our shortest car rides yet, we arrived in the early afternoon which allowed us to check in to a hotel early, shower, nap, and best of all catch up on the blog.


Red Lodge, Montana to Bozeman, Montana
August 9th
Distance: 170 miles
Time In Truck: 10am to 1pm

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I haven't looked at the map in detail today, but I think we will head up north tomorrow...