A Month of Many Travels

The month of October was filled with travels that took me to never-before-seen-by-me areas of the country, with only brief intervals of touching base at home before taking off on the next adventure.  Even then, the few days at home were filled with the craze of preparations for our highly, highly anticipated New Years move to Germany!  I have been waiting for a stretch of time to be able to put together a picture reflection of these wonderful autumn trips. (And still I have yet to sift through and post pictures from our Europe adventure this summer... oh boy.  It doesn't help that the memories on both my computer and my phone are full.  Trying to juggle between the two to store new photos has put a serious damper on my urge to update this blog...) This was a month especially full of a mix of loved faces and places and new sites and friends.  Tomorrow, we head off on yet another trip for the wedding of our dear friends, Brad and Iana, in Dallas - another untouched region of the world in my book.  Only days after that, our house will be empty, our belongings en route to Germany, and Sawyer and I will be setting off for nearly two months back in Montana before we join Matt, who will join us for a brief stint over the holidays, and our worldly goods in our new European home. Crazy, exciting madness!

Connecticut and New York City

My aunt Kristen and cousin Sarah invited me on a visit them in their area of the world, and to lead me on my first venture through New York City, which I absolutely reveled in!  This year has been my initial jumping off point for time spent on the east coast, with a brief stint visiting Matt's alma mater of West Point along with some days in the cabin-spotted Adirondacks, an overnight in Washington D.C., and now this more lengthy, concentrated amount of time spent sightseeing with the  lovely and adventurous Kristen and Sarah.  The trip was one for the books, a real highlight in my timeline of memories.  I always love spending time with these two... our mutual love for brunch, good coffee, and maximizing every possible moment of travel is a recipe for greatness.  Breakfast at the Plaza was a much-anticipated, real highlight for me, having held a place in my heart since I was six years old, and Kristen gave me my first Eloise book.

 

 

Home Sweet Home - Seattle and Montana

Mere days - precisely during which I had well-timed cold - after returning from the Connecticut and New York trip, I jetted off to meet my mom in Seattle, where we spent a few days with absolutely no itinerary, enjoying ourselves, the lattes, the walks, the bring-you-to-tears bookstore finds, the worldly foods, and the radiant fall weather.  After a day in the car, we also spent the better part of a week back home in Whitefish, where time was both leisurely yet flew by quickly between visits with the grandparents, aunts, and cousins, consistent Coffee Traders-fueled mornings, a hike in Glacier National Park that tops my list of great life days, and quintessential fall projects involving the harvest of backyard plums, apples, and the resulting jam and applesauce-making project.  Averaging just under 8.5 miles a day in walks, we put on a total of 90 miles over the course of the trip!  Some sort of exclamation by one or the other of us over the eye-poppingly stunning alpine autumn colors occurred at least every quarter mile.  Our surroundings were in their prime and seriously something to marvel at.

Roadtrip to Asheville

Matt, Sawyer, and I loaded into the car for an 11-hour drive to Asheville, North Carolina to attend the wedding of our friends, Brad and Jessica.  The groom came into the picture during Matt's brief stint as a South Carolina teen, and the two have since remained friends and, along with David, another dear friend and fellow Montanan, established a journalistic venture together.  Matt and David were among fourteen (!!!) groomsmen in the wedding.  David's girlfriend, Jill, and I were along for the ride and got to enjoy the many perks of being weekender wedding guests with no real obligations.  It was the first wedding I've been to since my own - and don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every moment of wedding planning - but I really appreciated the freedom of attending their gorgeous wedding simultaneously with planning not one single thing. I was surprised at what a "mountain town" Asheville is, since mention of the Carolinas brings to mind beach towns and golf courses more-so than crisp mountain air and leaf-filtered sunsets.  We had such a great time, and are anxious for the next time that we get to hang out with these two couples!