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The last post found me sitting in Bandon, enjoying the quiet and the ocean… from there it was something of a whirlwind. We left Bandon Monday morning (the 17th), and arrived in Salem late afternoon. It was fun to wander around some of the places we hung out when we were first married. We actually started by stopping in at the college (Corban – formerly known as Western Baptist). It was rather surreal to be walking around that place, particularly with three children in tow. We saw a couple of our old professors, then quickly moved on to downtown, where we grabbed an iced coffee and meandered about the town a bit. The evening ended up with a picnic at Riverfront Park with some old dear friends.

From Salem, we headed up to Vancouver – which set off a week of here to there bouncing about to see as many people as possible. The week was filled with soaking in all the things we love about the Northwest – all our favorite coffeeshops, restaurants, hang-out spots, and people.

The week in Vancouver was a little strange, because for the time I was there, I felt completely disconnected from Colorado life. It’s as if everything we had here was a million miles away. What is odd, was that I didn’t miss Colorado, at least not while I was away. It wasn’t until the drive home that I really felt reminded that Colorado is home now. It was great to see the mountains again! I think what happened is that being in the NW we actually experienced some true recharging. We didn’t get a ton of physical rest, but heaps and heaps of emotional, mental, and spiritual rest. Now that we’re home, I don’t feel a million miles from Vancouver – I feel reconnected with old friends, and refreshed by renewing those connections.

All in all, it was definitely an epic road trip for this family. 17 days gone – 5 of them spent in the car! – makes home a comfy place to be. From here, there is lots of work to catch up on, school for the kids, and the opening of a new chapter in the topsy-turvy story that God is writing for our lives. We’re making some pretty significant decisions over the next several weeks about church planting, and what our process looks like from here.

I’d love to talk more, but I have a lot of work that sat for 17 days that needs to be given some attention. Epic road trips aren’t cheap.

After a long three days on the road, here we are hanging in Bandon. We set out early Monday morning (which means we finally got the car packed and out the garage by 8am) heading north on I-25. We stopped in Laramie Wyoming at Coal Creek Coffee for a little pick-me-up. I had seen a couple of their baristas at the Mountain Regional Barista Competition, and they fared pretty well, so I was hoping for a fantastic coffee experience. What I got was an OK coffee experience, more like what I’d expect in Wyoming. I’m sure they have better work in them… but what I got was very average. Either way, we kept on driving, hoping to get to our campground by nightfall.

We drove across Wyoming. Then across Wyoming. Did I mention we were in Wyoming? It seems like forever when you’re driving across WYOMING. All. Freaking. Day. We ended up finding the campground, no thanks to GoogleMaps, which routed us to the wrong end of the lake putting us off course by 40+ miles. Once we got to the park, we pulled in, set up camp, enjoyed some New Belgium Sunshine Wheat (in a can!) while the kids enjoyed some A&W root beer, and watched the sun set over the Great Salt Lake. It was a very relaxing experience.

The next morning we got up and headed across western Utah and into Nevada. A quick early afternoon stop in Battle Mountain to see some of Priscilla’s old family friends and more driving, and we ended up in Reno just after dark. We checked into our room, and I wandered down to see if there was anything happening in the poker room. It was more of a poker “area”, with not a soul at the tables. Really, I just needed to sleep anyway, so we crashed for the night, then headed out first thing in the morning.

We drove across the Lassen National Forest in California, which took us along the edge of a pretty significant wildfire that had just been contained, then across CA-299, from Redding to the coast. That, my friends, is one windy highway. That’s windy, with a long “I”, as in ridiculous amounts of curves. Couple that with the constant construction stops, and the trip to the coast took all day. We stopped in Crescent City for pizza, then headed up 101 into Oregon, arriving in Bandon about 9:45pm.

It’s been since January of 2008 since I’ve been here… we were here over Christmas just 7 months after we moved. Priscilla was back the following June when Rena passed away, but that’s it. It’s not that I’m dying to move back – it’s just nice to be here after such a long absence. The air smells great, I can fill my lungs with rich, moist, oxygenated air again! So now we’re enjoying time with Priscilla’s family in Bandon, complete with tromping around on the beach. Monday we’ll head up to the Willamette Valley – a little time in Salem, poking around our old stomping grounds in Portland, and lots of visiting with friends and family in Vancouver. Then before you know it, it will be the 25th and we’ll be on our way back eastward to the other side of the Rockies. All in all, this is shaping up to be an amazing vacation. Disneyland was great – but not so relaxing. This will be some refreshing and recharging time – and will end up being the most vacation we’ve ever taken in one year before (25 days!).

Now to head off to Old Town Bandon where I will go in search of a proper bowl of clam chowder.

there’s the beach.

well, after the christmas-palooza in vancouver, we headed down to bandon to spend some time with priscilla’s family. we were there 7 days. it was a complete turnaround from being in vancouver, as there was a lot of sitting around– and i mean that in a good way. it was challenging at times to cope with having nothing to do, but once you embrace it, it’s a good way to shut off your brain for a few days. now we’re back up here, and we have a few busy days ahead of us before we fly home on monday.

this epic vacation is a weird experience. it’s been cool to not have to work, though i have done a few minor tasks here and there, but nothing huge or taxing. i can’t think of a time in my adult life i’ve been removed from work (or looking for work, in the unemployed days) for this long in one stretch. if we don’t hit the ground running, with a sense of renewal and of being refreshed, after this long, then i’m not sure we have the capacity to be refreshed. i will say, it’s the first vacation i’ve ever taken that i’m itching to settle back into life. i’m not aching to be home, i’m very much enjoying being here, i’m just ready to hit a normal sort of life-rhythm again. life rhythm tends to be elusive as it is, and when you intentionally leave it behind for a long period of time, you crave it. i think that craving will give us a renewed desire to live in a more intentional rhythmic way, much like when we unplugged everything in may and moved to colorado– the interruption and change forced a new rhythm of life, and i think this vacation will accomplish something similar. at least that’s what i’m hoping.

week 2 of the epic monster vacation of 07/08, in the books. and no, i will not be doing a “year in review” post. so there.

i can’t hardly believe we’ve been here a week already. the photo above was of the moment zoe figured out she could walk backwards on the moving sidewalk and stay in place. she giggled loudly at her discovery.

the kids were just fine at the airport. it was not very crowded, though i’m sure it got crazy later on in the day. we got there bright and early at 6am (left the house at 5:15!), and by lunchtime we were kicking it here at dad’s house in the ‘couv. that was last wednesday… this wednesday, we’re getting set to head down to bandon for a week on the oregon coast, having had the christmas explosion here in vancouver.

sunday and monday involved attending services at compass… it was odd being “just visitors” for the first time ever. i had never walked into that building without being a member of the staff before, so it was a peculiar kind of feeling to not be responsible for anything. it was nice in a way– made me a bit melancholy in a way too. what a strange bag of emotions that came with that whole thing. ultimately, it was awesome to see everyone. weve had some good time hanging out with friends. that what we miss the most.

so by tonight, we’ll be kicking it in bandon, for a week of quiet and relaxation, then on the 2nd we’ll head back up here for more crazy fun. i’m bummed out that we missed the big christmas snow in denver… it “snowed” here on christmas, but ultimately it’s just really wet, like normal. it was nice to see snowflakes in the air though.

week one of epic monster vacation — in the books.

well… our stuff is packed (that’s most of it there… minus the kids carry-on stuff) and we’re pretty much ready to go. i think i packed an amazing amount of stuff into a relatively small bag. we’ve taken care of most of the little things here at the house, and we’ll be heading out at the ever-so-quickly-approaching hour of 5am mountain time toward the airport. it’s a bit of a drive out to denver international… but once there, we’ll just have to power through security, then it’s smooth sailing.

we’ll see you on the other side of the cascades.

peace.

so i was out in boulder on november 1st, and my northwest ways die hard. it felt chilly in the house, so i wore long sleeves, a jacket, and a stocking cap. as i drove up there, it seemed to warm up, so i took off the stocking cap, smiled at the sunshine and donned my sunglasses. i spent the next couple hours outdoors, walking/chatting with a friend who happened to be in boulder at the same time.

i came home with my head sporting a nice shade of pink. yes, my friends, in colorado, you can sunburn in november. it was just snowing a few days ago, but that doesn’t stop it from being sunny and 70 today! this bright sun, temperatures bobbing from the low 30s up to the upper 60s in one day will take some getting used to. i’m accustomed to having settled in for the 6-month dreary gray hibernation period by now.

the broncos got a good ol’-fashioned country ass-whoopin’ laid on them yesterday. the media here is getting pretty vicious, as well they should. this team is bad, and shows no signs of getting better. things are a bit bumpy in bronco-land. so nick and i went to the avalanche game saturday night. it was fun… but the avs lost. for bonus points, please caption the above picture taken at the avs game.

it’s one of those weeks where i actually have plenty to do, i just managed to lose my motivation to get any of it done. perhaps i left my motivation in my other pants. or maybe it just seems like every day is a day i should be out enjoying the weather.

we’re ever so close to having our holiday travel plans set. Monster Family Northwest Tour 2007 — get ready. maybe we’ll make t-shirts or something.

my apologies to those who have already heard this news via the Livejournal friendslist, or some other connection.

the beautiful city of denver, colorado, is soon to become our home. this will be a return for me, the first time residing outside the northwest for the rest of my family. this is a very exciting event in our lives, and doesn’t come without some nerves and trepidation.

please stay tuned to this blog, where tomorrow i will be posting the audio recording from compass yesterday, where we made our announcement about this new step in our journey. i think i stated it as well as i could have, thankfully, and i would rather you hear those words than read yet another written capsulization of the story.

very soon, i will also be merging back from a three-blog life (mv2.jasonackerman.com, jasonackerman.com, livejournal) to a two-blog life. circumstances required me to keep some things separate. sorry for that.

this is a picture of me. it was taken in brigham city, utah, in august, about 2pm on a very sunny day. why am i so UNexcited, you might ask? well, because it’s 2pm, and we’d been driving since the previous day at 8pm, and been up since that same previous day at 7am… so a few short catnaps in the car is all i’m working on in over 30 hours.

but that’s not the point. the point, is look at the background. look where i am. it’s a lovely little drive-thru chain called SONIC. let me give you another (admittedly poor) photo to prove my point.

a chocolate cream pie shake from sonic is basically liquified heaven. you can even taste the CRUST. the PIE CRUST. in a shake.

are you hearing this? because if you aren’t salivating like a hounddog, then you really aren’t catching the importance of what i’m saying.

now for the kicker:

http://www.twcdrive-in.com/twc/

yes. a sonic, in the northwest. see, we’ve been tantalized with their television ads for months, maybe years now, but there is finally one that is less than 300 miles away.

my friends, this is bigger news than rumsfeld’s resignation. this is bigger than the detroit tigers rolling over like little kittens. then again, there are no sonics in michigan… while the state of missouri boasts 186 sonic restaurants. we may be on to something…

…anyhow. yeah. head on out to hillsboro (i know, hillsboro… but it’s on the way to the coast, or maybe if the flooding keeps up, before long hillsboro will be ON the coast…) and get a shake. i recommend the CHOCOLATE CREAM PIE shake.

i realize that i failed to complete the series on denver trip reports. i’m sorry.

to experience our journey in photos, visit my wife’s photogallery of the trip: clicky clicky!

just completed a 9-day trek that involved driving over 3,000 miles, taking us to denver and back. this was one of those adventures that will go down in family lore. stories will be told from this trip for many years to come. taking the family back to the old neighborhoods in colorado has been a goal of mine ever since we had kids. the opportunity came up to do some personal support-raising (a need we’ve had for quite some time) that would involve going to colorado and visiting with many family members. the timing, the funding, and everything else seemed to be right for the trip, so we planned it and struck out with much less preparation than we were probably comfortable with.

Part One: Pre-trip Saga of Near-Auto-Theft and Divine Protection
(after the “More” tag…)

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