Bonus Year Recap by Shannon

This is my recap, which I wrote a few months ago. I really felt like the blog needed some closure (and honestly, so did I).  

Our very first stop on Bonus Year, the Oregon Coast.

So, I'm writing this mostly for myself, but also for those of you who know us, love us and continue to support us.  It was important and meaningful for us to share our stories with you along the way.  I would be remiss if I didn't share the story of Return.

I guess I have to start with the most obvious realization for anyone who has traveled for an extended period of time-  Everything here has stayed the same, while we are the ones who have changed.  This is the truest, most frustrating reality of returning home. How do I sum up an entire year's worth of wild experiences into a minute, or an hour, or a few pictures?  No one wants to hear me talk for as long as it would take to tell all of my stories. :)   Luckily, I was fortunate to share all of these stories and moments with Scott...and that has made our relationship all the more unique and special. For this I am thankful.

Like...remember the time you picked Lincoln's nose?

Or the time the cows were walking through the Austrian town?

Speaking of thankfulness, How could I not be thankful for the opportunity to do and see the things we were able to? I truly am. We went to places that young small-town Shannon had only ever dreamed of!

Don't get views like this in Annawan, Illinois!

Of course, there were the inevitable setbacks, frustrations and delays.  We had all of those things. There were bad days. Long days. Sick days. Days that got lost in time zones. Language barriers. Miscommunication. Homesickness. Sleeping in a circus tent with 150 drunk people. I won’t tell you that we handled every situation perfectly. But we got through it and now, I can hardly remember the bad days. I’m thankful for this. Thankful for the opportunity to learn from mistakes together and move on.

Just another 7+ hour bus trip in Patagonia!

 Mixed with the thankfulness is grief and mourning.  It’s over?!? Sadness. I could say that oh, of course we’ll have other adventures, and we most definitely will.  But let’s face it- not like this one. For one thing, it’s pretty unsustainable. And, life must go on.

This grieving process also includes missing the feeling I got from arriving at a new place, hearing different languages and experiencing different cultures. (Even in the US portions of the trip, this was true.)  Most notably, missing the people that we met along the way.  Our African family is still on my mind nearly every day (both the local people and the volunteers). And there are countless other people that enhanced our interactions and cultural experiences. 

From our gracious Icelandic hosts, Hulda and Gusti...

...to the Maasai women in Tanzania...

...to Frida in Chile.

Since going back to work, we find ourselves also grieving the loss of our free time. Back to the 40-plus hour work week and hectic lifestyles that we Americans adhere to. We miss the leisurely pace and amount of non-stressful, quality time we were able to spend with each other. This is so hard to come by in our normal working lives, and I don't think we realized that until we experienced it the other way.

Just sailin' and drinkin' mate. Leisure time in Bariloche.

I'll end by sharing the quote that I read over and over during our trip. It was helpful to me several times along the way and encompasses my thoughts more than any of this other rambling. :)

“It is God to whom and with whom we travel, and while He is the end of our journey, He is also at every stopping place.” ~Elisabeth Elliot

Hmmm...where to next?

Footnote: This is not the official end of the blog. We may use it for future adventures. :)

What I (Scott) Learned

After being home and working for three months, this post is long overdue.  I wrote these notes up at an airport (forget which) shortly after our trip, but they still resonate today.

Humanity is Beautiful:  We met so many wonderful people all over the world and had a great time sharing experiences with many.  Oktoberfest was a huge highlight for us.  And the greatest part of it was how happy and communal the people we met were.  This mass group of people enjoying life was just beautiful.

These people are all my best friends

We are very blessed to live in a stable country:  We visited a handful of countries and cities where recent history had devastated communities and rebuilding was taking place (The Czech Republic, Hungary, Argentina, and Chile all come to mind). And most importantly, we visited places where this had happened within OUR lifetime.  For many people, events outside of their control had driven their destiny.  While I don't think my life is completely isolated from the political climate of the world, we've had it good to live in a country where I was able to get an education, get a job, and establish a community without government oppression.  You never really know when that will change.  We're lucky.

Learning about challenging times in Chile (this is Salvador Allende... google it).

People Make their own Good Life:  Throughout our trip, especially on the US road trip, we saw people creating good lives for themselves in whatever geographic location they landed.  Since I'm such a skier, it's hard to imagine life somewhere warm and non-mountainous but I saw people with great hobbies and habits in other parts of the country.  Canoeing/kayaking in Minnesota, incredible amusement parks in Ohio, hiking and biking in the Southwest, etc.  It was good to see that people (and I) could be flexible and make a good life regardless of geography. 

No Tube Meat Shame:  On a lighter note, we enjoyed tube meat (sausages, hot dogs, etc) in Iceland, Austria, and Germany where it's consumed with no shame.  In the US tube meat is looked down upon (try and deny this!) and... it shouldn't be so!  Viva la tube meat!

The Cereal Aisle is Overwhelming:  Going into a grocery store after we returned to the US was overwhelming.  I spent gobs of time just looking in awe and horror at our mass consumerism.  No where is this more evident than cereal.  In Europe and South America we found maybe 10 different cereal options max.  In Africa... maybe 2?  In the US... a gajillion?  Do we really need this much?  I guess the variety is great but when we returned, the grocery store just felt so incredibly LOUD.

Water is Key:  In the developing countries we visited, it quickly became obvious that water was the priority for development.  You can do a lot of great things with electricity, but it's an order of magnitude less important than running water for drinking, cleaning, and plumbing.  I feel like electronics are such a huge part of our American lives that this might not be as obvious as it should be.

This hand washing station doesn't look like a big deal... it is.

Animals, Animals, Animals:  We saw animals living en mass in harmony in the National Parks in Africa.  It was wild to see species intermingling and living in abundance.  The Serengeti felt like how the American Plains probably once were with buffalo.  Wildlife sightings are an exciting thing in America and seem to be a miracle in the Alps.  In Africa (maybe specifically the National Parks?) wildlife sightings are part of stepping onto your porch.  We are destroying habitat and ecosystems in our developed countries.

Hut Times:  There is a time and a place for everything... including a time for a large building in the mountains.  I'm talking about huts/refugios.  Do they have a real significant environmental impact?  Probably.  But the enhancement we saw to people's (and our) experience in nature was significant enough that I'm an advocate and wish we had more hut opportunities in our home mountain ranges.  We saw far more old (we'd call them elderly) people hiking to huts in Europe and I think it was because of the hut culture (a wine infused warm meal and not carrying a full nights worth of stuff!).  I also think there is a balance in the environmental impact because you create a huge density of people in one spot (the hut) instead of letting them spread out ALL the way around a lake like we do in Washington State.  We still enjoy the pure wilderness of backpacking, but miss all the hut opportunities.

This hut is at the right time in the right place.

Rodelbahns are Pure Joy:  This needs no explanation.

This is what happiness looks like.

Cities are not Pure Joy:  Shannon and I learned that we're really not city people.  We had a darn good time seeing the big time sights in the cities we visited, but we really like smaller towns and mountain environments better.  Rome in particular was just brutal.  Once we fled to Orvieto, life was good again.  Seattle has well established neighborhoods which sort of act like little cities which is why it may work for us?  We'll see about the long term.

Traveling Slowly Was Great:  I'll admit, I was nervous about our ENTIRE month in Vienna and three-ish weeks in Bariloche.  The truth is, this was AWESOME.  It was great to establish a home, really get into the culture of a place, cook local meals, and just rest after busy travel.  We mostly used Vienna as a base camp for other adventures.  Bariloche was a highlight and dream to live in.  With a beach at our doorstep and the mountains just a bus ride away... damn I miss that.  It will be really difficult for us to pull this off again.  Do it when you get the chance.

I miss this beach and the churro lady.

Take the Skis:  At first I felt like I was copping-out when we went skiing in Mayrhofen (in October!) and Dubai.  I mean, we ski at home a lot, why waste time doing this on the road?  But it was a great way for me to do something I love and experience other cultures.  I know the nuances of the American ski experience and skiing in those places really let me see the differences.  The Austrian racing/speed culture was apparent and ridiculous luxury was the ticket in Dubai.  Doing what you love is good.  So... when are we going back to the Zillertal?

When in doubt... go skiing.

Independence Day:  Shannon and I were together everyday for almost a whole year.  It was fantastic and we both miss that A LOT.  But, we did get on each others nerves and every once in a while we would need a day to ourselves.  We grew to call this Independence Day.  At the start of our trip, we wouldn't see the need for this until AFTER a fight.  By the end of our trip we knew how to anticipate these days ahead of time. I call this Progress.

Romance = Candlelight:   Italy was a never ending string of romantic meals.  Candles will do miracles to the vibe.

Hello beautiful.

Reading is Good:  I miss having lots of time to read.  I tried to read topical books in many of the countries we visited and really enjoyed that.  I need to work on finding more time in my day to read.

Physics is Phun:  One of my favorite connections that I made on our trip was with the physics teacher, Patrick, whom I taught with in Pommern.  I really enjoyed teaching physics and getting to know Patrick.  I wonder about being a physics teacher in semi-retirement someday.

Two good physics chums.

Global Volunteers is a Go:  Shannon did a great job researching this organization and we really enjoyed our trip with them.  They had a handful of principles that seemed very wise including their commitment to having equal volunteer and community involvement on any given project.  This forced the community to pick projects that really mattered to them.

Global Volunteer People are good People:  Everyone we met on our service trip was exemplary.  Anyone willing to give up three weeks over their lives to volunteer is probably going to be a great person and many of those folks turned out to be examples for us in the future.

Italy Seems Overrated:  There, I said it.

The Tourism Mob is Real:  Everywhere we went, we would often get connected to some network of tours and activities through our hostel or the internet or whatever... the reality is, these guys are all working together and connected and getting kick-backs.  It's veiled really well in first world countries so we don't recognize it as much... but in Zanzibar... I'm pretty sure we funded the mob for the week we were there.

Three Night Minimum:  We found the minimum nights to stay in a place (other than a hut/backpacking style trip) was three.  That's the amount of time it took us to not feel rushed.

Stay in Touch:  We stayed close to friends a bit through... of all things... fantasy football.  And it was fun and a good way to not get home sick.

Our Food is Diverse:  Many of the cultures we visited are much more streamlined in their food.  If you're Italian/Chilean/Tanzanian, you may eat Italian/Chilean/Tanzanian food for the majority of your meals.  We're luck to be able to mix it up so much because of our diversity and missed this daily diversity on the road.

Don't Take Anything for Granted:  This is my last one.  And it's so true.  We were so, so lucky to be able to pull this trip off.  We're so lucky to be able to live in a great place.  I'm so lucky that Shannon doesn't think I'm insane.  We made so many good memories and I couldn't be more happy and thankful for such a great trip.  Shannon has better words to share these thoughts in her recap soon to come...

....Until next time!!!

Panorama Mania

So.... at some point (Italy, missed all of the Alps, damn!) on our trip, I discovered the panorama feature on my iPhone.  We didn't get these pictures up before and I'm eager to throw em' up here for posterity.  Click them for bigger versions.

First, Africa safari time!  Even through the stitching on this close to the jeep isn't awesome, it shows the rig and the wonderful animal plastered African plains.

 And on to Patagonia.  The Perito Moreno glacier...

Torres Del Paine...

 

 Bariloche!!!

Tronador and it's hut 

Views from our Laguna Negra hut traverse:

 

 And the top of Cerro Catedral

 

Eventually, we made it back to the US and it was time to SKI!  Here's the views from the top of Mt. Bachelor

 

And last, but certainly not least, views of the East Wall at Arapahoe Basin

Good memories all the way around!

Bonus Year Playlist

Scott and I started making a playlist of songs throughout our Bonus Year. Some of them are pretty meaningful, others are just fun ones we heard in certain places.  Enjoy! (Title first, Artist second)

1. Ridin' Spinners--Three 6 Mafia
Well, this is how it begins. It'll get your attention for sure. I often asked for it to be turned down. Anyway, this was the first addition because we put it on during the summer when we were riding bikes a lot.  <Scott's Note:  Really, I put this on before the playlist became a "thing".  Then, it became official, so it goes.>

2. Country Boy Can Survive-- Hank Williams Jr
We heard this on the radio after our 4 day backpacking trip in the Wind River Range. And after the backpacking trip and driving through Wyoming for a couple days, we felt like this song could really be understood by the people of Wyoming.

Country GIRL can survive Wyoming too!

3. Stay With Me-- Sam Smith
Well, this song was popular last summer. One of the more memorable moments of this song was Scott singing the line "Why am I so emotional?" with our friend, Edgar, on a backpacking trip.

4. Stolen Dance-- Milky Chance

and

5. Take Me to Church-- Hozier

Both just songs of the summer!

6. Pontoon-- Little Big Town
We had to get this song after Scott's parents rented a pontoon boat at Sandy Pond for the 4th of July. Good times.  The pontoon boat was a hit and we had many an afternoon cocktail cruise.

7. Higher Ground-- Red Hot Chili Peppers
<Scott's Note:  I really dug this song when we got back in Seattle.  Despite the Chili Peppers being from California, it felt like a rightful reminder of the Seattle music scene>

8. Paint Me Like a French Girl-- Breakdlaw
This was the first "europop" song we got pretty into. Although it mentions French girls, we heard it in Italy at a restaurant in Florence. We felt pretty international at this point.

9. Atemlos durch die Nacht-- Helene Fischer
The title means "Breathless Through the Night". This song was quite popular to sing in the beer tents at Oktoberfest. Helene Fischer might be the German version of Taylor Swift.  We got pretty good at singing the chorus while raising our 1-liter beer to the music! Whenever I hear it, I still think of joyous times in Munich.

German-pop or Polka, everyone raises their glasses and sings!

10. Hideaway--Kiesza
We heard this in a hip restaurant while we were staying in Vienna.  It reminds us of our European home.  Euro pop!

11. Save Tonight-- Eagle Eye Cherry
Place: Irish Pub, Prague  Reason: They were playing American Football and we needed a good American night.  They were also playing American music. We had fun singing along to this oldie but goodie in English.

12. Do You Realize??-- Flaming Lips
We felt like this had a good sense of Bonus Year.  <Scott:  This is about how great Shannon is, her explanation makes no sense, it's about her.>

13. Mungu Ibariki Afrika (Tanzania National Anthem)-- Lukazi Sambatree
One day during our English conversation groups with the students in Pommern, Tanzania, the students broke out singing the Tanzania National Anthem. One of many memorable, beautiful moments in Pommern.

Scott with a couple of my kindergarten students in Pommern.

14. Jambo Bwana-- Them Mushrooms
We heard this song several times on our safari, as people in Kenya and Tanzania use it as a welcoming song. One particularly memorable time is when the camp crew came out of the darkness and sang it to us during dinner (and scaring us with their animal noises!). It makes me happy when I hear it.

15. Time To Say Goodbye-- Andrea Bocelli
Oh yeah, we're getting pretty random here. We heard this song at our hostel in Patagonia (El Calafate). It was around Christmas time. We all had this stuck in our heads for many days. Plus, it just give you such an epic feeling when you hear it.

16. Alejandro-- Lady Gaga
Speaking of epic, how could we forget about Alejandro, the park ranger at Los Glaciares National Park?  He would NOT put up with us ruining his park and let us know about his hatred for feminine products in the wilderness.

And, yes, it was a beautiful park.

17. Shot At The Night-- The Killers
This song seemed to fit our general idea of Bonus Year- once in a lifetime.

18. Let's Be Still--  Head and the Heart
Again, it's about the lyrics--"The world's just spinning. A little too fast....Just for a moment let's be still."  It jives with our "slow travel" philosophy. And Scott thinks of snow. :)

Like all that snow at Vail!

19. Ghost-- Ella Henderson
I believe we heard this on an airplane flying from...somewhere to somewhere. There was a lot of flying. Maybe this was a guilty pleasure?  Nonetheless, we found ourselves singing it. I blame jet lag.  <Scott's note:  Definitely a guilty pleasure, we heard this a lot in the car during ski time.>

20. Renegades- X Ambassadors
Ok, yes, we heard this on the Jeep commercial. But it also fits with Scott and I, and Bonus Year. "Run away with me. Lost souls and reverie. Running wild and running free. Two kids, you and me."

Wild and free in Africa, with zebras!

21. My Silver Lining- First Aid Kit

I love songs that cause me to be reflective. This was a favorite line as we transitioned out of Bonus Year-"There's no starting over, no new beginnings, time races on. And you've just gotta keep on keepin on."

22. Below My Feet- Mumford and Sons

First of all, this is a beautiful song. And for me, this was the ultimate Bonus Year song.  I listened to it almost every time we were traveling in between places. It was such a good re-centering for me, to focus on what I really wanted to do/gain during Bonus Year. It's this line- "Let me learn from where I have been. Keep my eyes to serve, my hands to learn."

The last leg of fun-employment

After prime ski time, Shannon and I discovered that we couldn't just hang out in Seattle and job search (too much grumpiness) and initiated a every-other-day mini adventure scheme that was great and allowed us to really enjoy the end of our fun-employment.

dani (Shannon's friend from college) came and visited and we headed down to Mt. Rainier to do a little hiking and sight seeing.

Still snowy, but melting fast.

Sorry, dani, had to post this.  Nice moss mustache.

Of course, we went to Wenatchee and ran into Theresa, Rolando and their kids Memo, and Noe.  I had a lot of fun playing Transformers with Memo and Noe.  The next day we hiked in the Wenatchee foothills as the flowers were just blooming.  Then we had a nice dinner with Nick, Flora, and their kids Clementine and Scarlet.

Jason and Kaitlyn got married on April 25th and we had a great time celebrating with these close friends.  Great dancing, great food, and a very rad married couple.

With time to spare, we decided to checkout Bellingham and their interactive science/wacky museum called Mindport.  Highly recommended.  Here's Shannon playing with the Tornado machine.

Around this time, Shannon finally heard the news... things had worked out for the AmeriCorps Supervisor job she had applied for.  After a few ups and downs, this ideal job had finally become a reality.  She formally accepted the job in the smack middle of a trip to Vashon Island and I mucked around on the beach to celebrate.

In order to really celebrate the end of our trip, we went to Walla Walla, a previously unexplored corner of Washington.  We had a fantastic time bike riding.  Riding on the roads in Walla Walla is road biking as it should be, beautiful, uncrowded and fast.

We burned off just enough calories to justify 3 different winery visits and a great celebratory dinner....

... and just like that, our Bonus Year was formally over and I sent Shannon off to work.  My job search has concluded as well and I just finished my third week as a Design Engineer at Cascade Designs.  We'll have a few more reflective posts, but that's a wrap on our journey!

Ski Season... the end... ish

Yes, we know, it's been literally months since we've updated the blog.  At this point we're updating the blog for us.  We want to make sure we have a good record of our full Bonus Year and it's time to finish it up in the next handful of posts.  If you're still reading, good on ya.

After getting back from Biloxi and Memphis, we got the last shreds of ski season with some late season April snow.  Bozeman and I capitalized on a storm and backcountry skied at the closed Mt. Baker ski area.  Despite a epic equipment failure on Bozeman's skins, we had a great day in some deep pow (Bozeman's deepest of the year... I didn't tell him about my season ;) ).

April Pow is fantastic

Bozeman laughing at our good fortune:

It's all fun and games...

This big storm allowed Stevens Pass to re-open.  The PNW had such a rough snow year, we got some pow with the starved locals and enjoyed some of our last employment uninhibited mid-week ski days.

From Daisy to 7th Heaven in 4 seasons.  Shannon skis hard.

Fog, evergreens, and pow.  It's home.

Of course, we took advantage of good weather to do some quick hiking in-between job searches (not fun for anybody).  Here's a few photos from our jaunt out to Barclay Lake.  This was the site of our first backpacking trip together many years ago.  It's easy and beautiful.

I wanted one more in-bounds ski day before retreating to the backcountry and went down to Crystal before their closing weekend.  They've mostly spun the Green Valley chair all season and I skied what felt like a million hot laps off the chair.  So fun.  And the view never disappoints.

All good things must come to an end and I rode the gondola down at the end of a great ski season.

I did manage 3 more backcountry ski trips before hanging em' up this year.  Our overall stats for the year aren't so bad... (these are for me (Scott), plus/minus a few for Shan)

-37 days

-25 different ski areas

-12 new areas

-15 pow days (+/- a few depending on your "standards")

-3 continents

-1 attempt by Shannon to snake my line.  Unsuccessful.

-Many happy apres ski times/beers

-More than 5,000 miles driven

-2 times skiing in the rain (1 more than necessary)

Can't wait for moooore snow!