GEE WIZ!
What a hurricane these last two plus weeks have been. Buckle up, this one may be a bit lengthy, but full of good stuff, so be sure to savor each literary morsel as we dive right in.
December 24th
Holiday shopping completed and done with nine days straight of work, I'm a little burnt out and trying desperately not to go into my holiday break with a cold (luckily, I avoided the plague). My training schedule was truncated significantly, and even though we tried to do some evening trainer rides and core workouts, it got to be a little too much and my fatigue was starting to catch up with me. I decided rather than work myself into a deep hole it would be best to stay healthy and do what I could for riding. What was supposed to be a 14 hour week was closer to 5 and a half. Accept it and move forward. Right after work Lauren picked me up and we headed north to Lake Oswego to see her family, including her brother and his wife who flew in from D.C. for the holidays. We opened presents and had a wonderful dinner. We were presented with souvenirs from a recent trip to Bhutan, along with some well thought out gift cards.
December 25th (I have to go by each day otherwise I'd get out of order and the world will end).
Waking up early in the morning we headed downstairs to open our stockings and have a quick breakfast before loading the car and making our way south to North Bend to see my parents. Three hours later including a pitstop for lunch, we arrived and had a lovely Christmas with my parents (my sister and her family were heading down from Washington on the 27th so things remained quiet until then). I should warn you, my family likes to impress during this specific holiday and this time Lauren and I were blown away. Along with some amazing food baskets, lamp and an antique gramophone for Lauren, my parents surprised the S*#T out of us by offering to pay off my student loans. (in case you missed the gravity of that last sentence, read it again).
**As sarcastic and pithy as this blog usually is: mom & dad. Thank you, this was a really amazing gift for myself and Lauren, total game changer. **
As if that wasn't enough, my mom also finished our wedding quilt and had it ready for us to unwrap. Some of the handmade squares are missing an artists name, if any of you reading this know who the artwork belongs to please let us know in the comments below. We'd like to put a name to all the quilt squares.
Evening wore on and my parents had over some very close friends for dinner. We had some great conversation, and even an impromptu piano recital, with yours truly being taught how to play (that was slightly embarrassing, but fun nonetheless).
What a hurricane these last two plus weeks have been. Buckle up, this one may be a bit lengthy, but full of good stuff, so be sure to savor each literary morsel as we dive right in.
December 24th
Holiday shopping completed and done with nine days straight of work, I'm a little burnt out and trying desperately not to go into my holiday break with a cold (luckily, I avoided the plague). My training schedule was truncated significantly, and even though we tried to do some evening trainer rides and core workouts, it got to be a little too much and my fatigue was starting to catch up with me. I decided rather than work myself into a deep hole it would be best to stay healthy and do what I could for riding. What was supposed to be a 14 hour week was closer to 5 and a half. Accept it and move forward. Right after work Lauren picked me up and we headed north to Lake Oswego to see her family, including her brother and his wife who flew in from D.C. for the holidays. We opened presents and had a wonderful dinner. We were presented with souvenirs from a recent trip to Bhutan, along with some well thought out gift cards.
December 25th (I have to go by each day otherwise I'd get out of order and the world will end).
Waking up early in the morning we headed downstairs to open our stockings and have a quick breakfast before loading the car and making our way south to North Bend to see my parents. Three hours later including a pitstop for lunch, we arrived and had a lovely Christmas with my parents (my sister and her family were heading down from Washington on the 27th so things remained quiet until then). I should warn you, my family likes to impress during this specific holiday and this time Lauren and I were blown away. Along with some amazing food baskets, lamp and an antique gramophone for Lauren, my parents surprised the S*#T out of us by offering to pay off my student loans. (in case you missed the gravity of that last sentence, read it again).
**As sarcastic and pithy as this blog usually is: mom & dad. Thank you, this was a really amazing gift for myself and Lauren, total game changer. **
As if that wasn't enough, my mom also finished our wedding quilt and had it ready for us to unwrap. Some of the handmade squares are missing an artists name, if any of you reading this know who the artwork belongs to please let us know in the comments below. We'd like to put a name to all the quilt squares.
Evening wore on and my parents had over some very close friends for dinner. We had some great conversation, and even an impromptu piano recital, with yours truly being taught how to play (that was slightly embarrassing, but fun nonetheless).
December 26th,
Waking up without an alarm is an amazing thing when you're on vacation, after a slow rise, Lauren and I got dressed and my mom took us out to breakfast at her favorite spot. If you're ever passing through Coos Bay you must stop at the Pancake Mill for breakfast or lunch, just off Hwy. 101. It's the local spot, so you know it must be good. Growing up in a small town everyone knows everyone and as it always happens we show up and not only does everyone know my mom (because she's a regular) but they all somehow know me too. It's also inevitable that I run into someone from high school whom I don't remember. Yup, check that one off the to do list.
After a hearty stuffed croissant with eggs, bacon and avocado, Lauren and I hopped in our car to take a trip down south to Bandon, Oregon. She's never been before so we drove past the Ocean Spray cranberry bogs, perused old down Bandon with an extensive trip to Cranberry Sweets and all of their fudge samples. Stopped by the bookstore, and looked at all the coastal gift shop knick-knacks for sale, made our way to the jetty and watched the waves explode against the rocks.
Before heading back to my parents, we decide to stop by West Coast Game Park Safari! Only a few miles further south of Bandon, we shoot down Hwy. 101, paid the entrance fee and found that on the day after Christmas we had the whole place to ourselves. It was great! The game keeper brought out a baby red tail fox, caracal, skunk, coati, and a baby bengal tiger. As we strolled around the park there were rams, pigmy goats, deer, sheep, lamas, donkeys and peacocks roaming freely on the grounds to pet and feed. We also had some fun interactions with a white bengal tiger and chimpanzee. If you've never been before, certainly worth the stop. Lauren made friends with all the animals and were quite photogenic.
Waking up without an alarm is an amazing thing when you're on vacation, after a slow rise, Lauren and I got dressed and my mom took us out to breakfast at her favorite spot. If you're ever passing through Coos Bay you must stop at the Pancake Mill for breakfast or lunch, just off Hwy. 101. It's the local spot, so you know it must be good. Growing up in a small town everyone knows everyone and as it always happens we show up and not only does everyone know my mom (because she's a regular) but they all somehow know me too. It's also inevitable that I run into someone from high school whom I don't remember. Yup, check that one off the to do list.
After a hearty stuffed croissant with eggs, bacon and avocado, Lauren and I hopped in our car to take a trip down south to Bandon, Oregon. She's never been before so we drove past the Ocean Spray cranberry bogs, perused old down Bandon with an extensive trip to Cranberry Sweets and all of their fudge samples. Stopped by the bookstore, and looked at all the coastal gift shop knick-knacks for sale, made our way to the jetty and watched the waves explode against the rocks.
Before heading back to my parents, we decide to stop by West Coast Game Park Safari! Only a few miles further south of Bandon, we shoot down Hwy. 101, paid the entrance fee and found that on the day after Christmas we had the whole place to ourselves. It was great! The game keeper brought out a baby red tail fox, caracal, skunk, coati, and a baby bengal tiger. As we strolled around the park there were rams, pigmy goats, deer, sheep, lamas, donkeys and peacocks roaming freely on the grounds to pet and feed. We also had some fun interactions with a white bengal tiger and chimpanzee. If you've never been before, certainly worth the stop. Lauren made friends with all the animals and were quite photogenic.
December 27th,
Before my sister arrived from Washington, Lauren and I packed our hiking gear and headed out into the sand dunes for part of the day. I had a map (from a previous hike,) of the area we were in so we brought our compasses and did some orienteering which was pretty cool, taking bearings off a landmark or converting a map bearing into a field bearing. Lauren did the majority of our navigation and got us safely back to the car (which was good because I was getting hungry).
That evening, my sister, her husband, my niece and 3 nephews arrived. Needless to say it was a full house with lots of energy and enthusiasm, each adult took a little one and helped them open their christmas presents. We built legos, wove blankets, played with dragons, colored in books, drew on paper, tried on clothes, and ate lots of cookies. Eventually they tuckered out and went off to bed.
Before my sister arrived from Washington, Lauren and I packed our hiking gear and headed out into the sand dunes for part of the day. I had a map (from a previous hike,) of the area we were in so we brought our compasses and did some orienteering which was pretty cool, taking bearings off a landmark or converting a map bearing into a field bearing. Lauren did the majority of our navigation and got us safely back to the car (which was good because I was getting hungry).
That evening, my sister, her husband, my niece and 3 nephews arrived. Needless to say it was a full house with lots of energy and enthusiasm, each adult took a little one and helped them open their christmas presents. We built legos, wove blankets, played with dragons, colored in books, drew on paper, tried on clothes, and ate lots of cookies. Eventually they tuckered out and went off to bed.
December 28th,
After a short night sleep, Lauren and I got up and spent more time with our niece and nephews. Building more legos, reading more books and eating breakfast somewhere in between, grandpa took the kids out to the park and it was about time for Lauren and I to pack up and head back north. With a full car, we head up to Eugene to see our friends Rob and Misha. We also picked up our custom English Cycles frames from him which are magnificent. Now to complete the assembly of components and they'll be ready to build complete (that will be a completely separate post once we're ready for assembly).
Eventually we made it to Salem, greeted by our very excited Jacqueline and a whole car to unload. It was an amazing Christmas, great to see both families and, for the most part, relaxing.
After a short night sleep, Lauren and I got up and spent more time with our niece and nephews. Building more legos, reading more books and eating breakfast somewhere in between, grandpa took the kids out to the park and it was about time for Lauren and I to pack up and head back north. With a full car, we head up to Eugene to see our friends Rob and Misha. We also picked up our custom English Cycles frames from him which are magnificent. Now to complete the assembly of components and they'll be ready to build complete (that will be a completely separate post once we're ready for assembly).
Eventually we made it to Salem, greeted by our very excited Jacqueline and a whole car to unload. It was an amazing Christmas, great to see both families and, for the most part, relaxing.
With the year nearly over, it's always good to stop and take a look at what's happened these past 363 days, I'll bullet point things to make them a little less nostalgic:
- Got married..Woah…
- Went on mini-honeymoon to California
- Went to Boston for Lauren's brother's wedding
- Changed teams to join English Cycles
- Ordered our custom English Bikes
- Strengthened a few friendships through some pretty shitty circumstances
- Raced all over Oregon and started to get my mojo back
- Lauren quit her crappy job
- Lauren enrolled in a Masters of Library Sciences and Archives program
- Moved out of our crummy apartment into a house in Salem
- Andrew got a huge promotion to get his own bicycle shop
- Achieved stage race success by filling the dishwasher with water bottles
- Lauren & Andrew nursed Jacqueline back to health
- Andrew is now car free
- Andrew was forced to upgrade to a smart phone (& is subsequently obsessed with taking cat photos)
- Went on several hiking and ultralight backpacking trips
- Andrew went to Barnett's Bicycle Institute and got his Master Mechanic certification
- Andrew rode up and down Pikes Peak 14,110ft. (on a folding bicycle)
- Bought socks
Looking ahead into 2015 here's what's on the docket:
- 4 week trip to France in July
- Racing my bicycle all over Oregon on my new English Cycles bike & kit.
- Get my Cat 2 upgrade
- Memorize Clair De Lune on the piano
- Go snow camping and cross-country skiing
- Lauren will find the best coffee shop in Salem while working on her Masters
- Jacqueline will go viral on the internet
- Books will be read, coffee consumed, and naps in the sun will ensue.
- TBD...
Well folks there you have it, what an amazing year it has been and life only continues to get better. After the new year I'll recap my training so far and hopefully have a few more photos of our new bicycles to drool over.
Since I've had several days off, I'll be starting this week on track to get in 14 hours of training under my belt before rebuilding back to 10. Tune in next week for more exciting adventures, plus a sneak peek of our XC ski trip to Mt. Bachelor.
Happy festivus and enjoy the new year!
Cheers,
-Andrew-
Since I've had several days off, I'll be starting this week on track to get in 14 hours of training under my belt before rebuilding back to 10. Tune in next week for more exciting adventures, plus a sneak peek of our XC ski trip to Mt. Bachelor.
Happy festivus and enjoy the new year!
Cheers,
-Andrew-