Written from in front of a campfire

This has been a long time coming. Rebs and I have been in the U.S. for about a month now and the past two days have been our first alone together. Don’t get me wrong—we love spending time with other people. That’s probably part of the problem. But we also love spending time just the two of us. That is what these three weeks are for us. We’re climbing and camping around Western North America alone… as a family.
I am currently writing this (though it may be posted a few days later) from Site #21 of the 8-Mile Campground in Leavenworth, Washington. I have a citronella candle to my right and a blazing campfire to my left with my hot wife repeating, “You put the lime in the coconut…” as she makes herself a s’more. I sip my Californian “Red Velvet Cupcake” wine from a coffee mug because we have no cups or glasses.
Out here, life is simple. If I listen closely, I can hear the rush of the river in the distance past the other campsites, the pops ofthe fire and sparks. The evergreens surrounding our campsite make it so dark that even with time, your eyes won’t adjust to the dark. Life is beautiful.
Although, it hasn’t been this way entirely. Yesterday seemed to be Rebs’ unlucky day. What happened, you ask? Well, I popped the air mattress with a hot pot while bringing breakfast in bed to Rebs. While I was retrieving duct tape from our neighbors, the screw fell off the lid that Rebs was washing… into the firepit full of ashes (Don’t worry, we found it.). After getting out and hiking up to a climb that seemed good for us to do, I proceeded to climb up, but knocked off a large rock that I didn’t notice. Rebs was kind of on a ledge and couldn’t move. In her words, “I almost died.” She likes to embellish things sometimes. Then, after I finished climbing up, she followed as usual to join me at the top of the pitch. But then she had , let’s say, some URGENT needs to get down, and nearly disposed of them on the rappel down. Later in the day, as we packed up to hike down the mountain from climbing, Rebs set her full pack down briefly on what she thought was stable ground, only to see it roll in slow motion down the mountain. Luckily, after about 10-12 tumbles, it stopped against a rock and we were able to retrieve it. Then on our way down she had forgotten to wear her Chacos and instead was wearing her favorite flip-flops. One of them couldn’t quite hack it and the strap broke, so she hiked a quarter mile downhill in one flip flop.
We got back to camp in one piece and enjoyed a delicious dinner of turkey brats and chili with a beer. This relaxed us so much that we fell asleep in the hammock until I woke up from the cold at 11:00. When we moved to the tent, our dreams of a soft bed and uninterrupted sleep slowly deflated with the air mattress. It turns out that duct tape isn’t completely air proof.

An Adventurous Mindset

Currently, I am writing this from the basement of a friend's communal house in Ballard, a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. At the moment, we have no phone or computer because 1)our phones only work in Korea, and 2)our computer is being repaired by the Mac Store. That second reason is why I won't be able to post any pictures about our adventures. But I would have you know that we got a new digital camera for this trip and have already tried it out some, so I hope to post some good pictures when we get our computer back after the wedding.

For those of you who don't know, we're on vacation. You can read my previous blog to find out where. I've found a new love for Seattle this time around. The last time I was here was about 5 years ago when Rebs and I came for a visit. This is where she grew up. She had been so excited to show me around her old stomping ground, sharing memories of growing up. But for whatever reason, I was in a funk and didn't really want to be in Seattle, so that put a damper on the whole trip. But this time has been amazing. We have only had two full days in Seattle but it feels like so much longer because we have done so much! I'll have to share more on this once we get out pictures uploaded.

One thing I contribute to this trips awesomeness is the right mindset. I find that lately I have been letting go of expectations. Sure, I have goals. We have a few things we need to get done while we're here, an occasional appointment like the one I had for my computer. But all in all, we're not forcing ourselves into a box. I understand that when you're working on a tight schedule, sometimes you have to be that way. But I feel like vacation is a time when it's best to just let things happen.

How does this work? For me, I have things I know I want to get done during the day, but I don't hold too tightly to any of them. I leave room for opportunity. If someone suggests we go to an art show downtown (such as last night), I just go with it. Being open is the key. Don't let your plans be so rigid that you miss out on some awesome opportunities. I don't know everything that's going to happen in the next month, but that's part of the excitement about it. The adventure of not knowing it all.