Our House--In the middle of our street--Our House

This is where we live now, in this house:

We are slowly, slowly, slowly gathering ourselves up here in the great Northeast. It is mighty different, let me tell you. We traveled to Hanover, NH today to buy some things we need (which we have found out is many things. Unfortunately we also brought many things...but somehow what we brought is not what we need) and looked at a map to try and find a good route. We looked up where the nearest Walmart was (Of course, being the Midwesterner that I am, I prefer Target hands down. However, as some of you know, there is not a single Target to be found in the state of Vermont. The nearest one is over a hundred miles away, and is just not practical), and it said it was in West Lebanon, NH, which is just a jump away from Hanover, about 25 miles away from South Royalton.

Fifty miles later...

We were on the interstate and exited in Hanover because we didn't see an exit for West Lebanon (Hanover is where Dartmouth College is located). Immediately upon exiting the freeway we knew we had made a mistake. Cars were backed up all up the hill to get into Hanover, and police were trying to direct traffic. The puffy little Corolla in front of us was very confused, and whenever we had a chance to go, she would pull over and talk to whomever was directing traffic. Eventually we just drove around her, which was a risky move, considering how two lanes can suddenly become one at the drop of a hat, as Jake has detailed previously. We don't know why the road was closed (the only road through town) but it was, and the whole town was trying to drive through today. The detour was quite magnificent. We were driving behind houses, through parking lots, and even around the exterior of the high school! I have never scene a detour more true to its definition. Once we got through Hanover, we ended up back on the freeway, then to a rural route, then a state road. After following many signs pointing us in all different directions, we found West Lebanon, and eventually Walmart. After asking for directions at Kmart.

I don't know what it means, but when you ask for directions to Walmart from Kmart, something is going on.

As we are getting unpacked, we are finding that we have brought too many clothes. Far too many clothes. As we were packing it didn't seem like that many, but upon arriving to one small closet and three drawers, anything more than a week's outfits are too many. We will have to be doing laundry at the town laundromat, which will be something new for us.

Here are some pictures of the place we are living...the outside is glorious. But the inside...well, you can definitely tell that it is a hundred and sixty years old. Our setup is quite unique. We have a room upstairs that includes a bathroom and shower and closet. That is our bedroom. Then we have a room downstairs as well, with an old high back couch with a slipcover that doesn't fit anything made more than a hundred years ago, an obscenely old table, and our little 13" TV (I do have to say that LOST doesn't have quite the same effect on this TV as it does on a big screen with surround sound...). Both of these rooms have locks, and so we will live our life separated. Sometimes we will be downstairs in the living room, and sometimes we will be upstairs in the bedroom. The space between them is shared with two other people, so it will definitely take some getting used to. We also share the kitchen with these two people. One of them is a visiting scholar from China who cooks something very Chinese every day, thus the already small and hot kitchen has a distinct aroma. One more note, food is heinously expensive here. We shopped at the Co-op (only organic and local food) today and although the green beans and meat (raised down the road and packaged yesterday) were the best I've ever had, they were ridiculously expensive.

In summation: new place, new life, no room, no money. But it sure is exciting!

Jake cooking in the tiny hot kitchen

Running the rainbow road

Awesome running and scenery in Vermont! South Royalton i never doubted you, except for that time i doubted you. So, i went for a run this morning, i couldn't help myself, as usual i was up before chelsea and since you cant do anything at our place without making noise (squeaking creaking doors and floors etc) i looked up a map of the town and headed out. i went down railroad st, took two quick rights and was on pluck hill rd. the roads name is accurate, it was a hill. a dirt hill to be exact and steep too. i should have waited three days or so before exercise to let my body adjust to the mountain elevation and begin producing more oxygen carrying red blood cells. Therefore, in theory, after a year of living here if i flew immediately to Arizona and tried out for the ASU football team i would have all the more advantage over those sea level kids, for about three days anyway until my body adjusted. Thats why Dallas Cowboy receiver Terrell Owens sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber every night. Im off track, ok back to the run, i ran back down the hill and continued straight; the road changed names three times now, Rainbow rd to Pleasant to Oxbow rd. whatever it was called though what it was in reality is heart-burstingly steep incline road. I was able to go up a little but i had to turn around after not to far. there was lush green forest all around like going for a run at your cabin or something. Chelsea and I went through Lebanon new hampshire and saw the dartmouth hitchcock medical center. it is up a few hills and set back privately in the woods, but once you get there it is so big; an absolutely sprawling campus, just huge. i hope to get a job at the DHMC, i would really like that opportunity. its off to church at 1000 tomorrow. the chapel is about 5 minutes away from our house, what a blessing to have church here. speaking of blessings, i just found out that i got paid for all my unused vacation days from lifelink; hoorah for unions... in this case.

There are some green hills far away...

JAKE-There are some green hills far away alright, and we are nestled down snugly in their midst. It is hard to believe what is really going on. We are living in an hotel in the middle of downtown South Royalton. Welcome to hot summers and no air conditioning, it is hot in our home without fans on and windows open. Welcome to flies buzzing about; they are your new friends: name them, love them. How can i describe this place. We are living in a little girls vintage dollhouse that has been broken by her little brother but has been fixed up nicely on two floors. The third and fourth floors are battered and rundown and in need of some loving care; think of it as when you are a kid and went exploring in houses being built, its in that condition on floors 3 and 4. We walked around Chelsea's campus today, it took two minutes. Her campus consists of old-timey Victorian houses. Her campus reminds me of the "ye olde village" that you stroll though at your local county fair. Heres a noodle scratcher: imagine you are driving on a winding two lane road when you come to pass under a bridge and the road suddenly becomes a single lane game of death with the cars coming from the opposite direction. Suddenly you are playing chicken with a farm boy in his jacked-up four wheel drive truck. Well, this is indeed what happens on Vermont state road 14 coming into town. How is this even reasonable? Perhaps we are in the nexus of reason: down is up, white is black. Well, hello for now everyone.

let it fall

CHELSEA: Jake is writing a blog at the same time as me. He just asked me how to spell "wonder". He might be writing the same thing as me...so you may be getting the same stories told from two different points of view. How mainstream alternative cinema of us!

We are at the Quality Inn again, but this time much farther north. We saw it off the freeway and said, why not? Last night was great. The shampoo is amazing. I have never smelled a small like this shampoo. We had a nice breakfast, and if the past is any measure of the future, then it stands to reason that this Quality Inn will be just as nice. We stopped by Niagara Falls today, and it was quite amazing. We drove across a few pretty wild bridges, and I think that we were technically in Canada at some points. We had a great time and it was so beautiful! And the walking around felt really good after a long day in the car.
Our drive continues tomorrow, and hopefully we will arrive at our final destination (which we hope will be agreeable) without incident. The drive tomorrow is a little longer than we had thought, but tomorrow is the last of it. Then we will finally be in Vermont! It will be great to be able to say, "We live in Vermont" instead of "We're moving to Vermont".

So, world, I hope you are ready for us...because here we come.

If all of Harry Belafonte's music sounds the same, why cant I stop listening?

Dateline: Batavia, New York

JAKE- So the wife and I have arrived at a point where we are very close to the destination. And thank goodness for that by the way because gas prices and hotel bills are getting higher the more easterly we go. Six hours to go and i just cant wait. oh hey with all this all excitement i almost forgot that we saw niagara falls today. Its a mighty wonder, as in, i wonder why i am standing here looking at this water. seriously, it was cool to see i suppose, i just want the driving to be over. My bottom can no longer take the abuse of sitting and driving; i guess i dont have enough cushin' on my tushin' or something. i am shoving pillows under my rump as i drive but i need more support! im fine. on a lighter note, may i say that traveling with my wife is really fun overall. what a wife! am i right!?

Quality Inn is not an oxymoron

JAKE- So here we are day one, well night one actually. I can hear a train whistle out of our hotel room, lets hope thats not a recurring theme throughout the night. Anyway, we have traveled a great distance and the wife of my bosom seems to be doing pretty well. Oh sure it was a cryfest last night and this morning, but what do you expect? She is a sweet, sensitive wife. I wish there was something i could do to make her feel better, but leaving her family is a personal mountain she has to climb, i can merely be a sort of sherpa to her, figuratively speaking of course. We drove farther or further than we planned to today, ending just outside of toledo ohio. There was some bickering in the care, sure, but for the most part it was pretty fun laughing and singing with the music; Chelsea was doing most of the singing. i did the majority of the driving considering that at my last two jobs i was basically a professional driver guy and it can be pretty much second nature for me. Chelsea cant drive for too long before she goes completely insane, but she toughed it out. our funds are depleting rapidly and its only day one, may the miracles of financial sustainability continue for us.

we are a happy family!

We are moving in a matter of days. Our whole life has become boxes. Where can we get boxes? Who will give us boxes? I wonder if they have boxes? What should we put in this box? This move is a little different because it is so temporary. We basically have two moves in one. Everything for Vermont has to fit in my little car, but we only have two weeks to get from Vermont to Arizona, and we have to stop in Minnesota to pick up all of our other stuff that my parents have been kind enough to begrudgingly let us store.

Jake is in extreme packing mode. After a 29 hour car trip home from Utah last Sunday, I came home to find nearly everything packed. I couldn't even get to my side of the bed because giant wardrobe boxes were everywhere. I guess it is better to be prepared than hurry at the last minute...but seriously.


We had a lovely time with Aysia this past weekend. I had recently gone through my cedar chest and found an old tea set I had painted many years ago, and had set it in the garage sale pile. However, when Aysia saw it she immediately fell in love with it and, needless to say, we all played "tea" for a majority of the weekend.
She is getting so grown up (and sassy) we can't believe it. Since we are moving away, we have been taking a lot of pictures with her.




Here are some of my favorites:

We like to frequent the park.