Monday, July 30, 2007

Road Trip video - Part 1...

I have thrown together some video footage from our road trip out here and decided to embed it into this page. I hesitated at doing this, not because I don't want to share the drive with you, but because I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to video quality. Unfortunately, when you upload footage to the net it becomes compressed and you lose a lot of quality. If you are anal like me and would rather see this in DVD quality then just send us a message and we will mail you one. Also, this is just part 1...and I threw it together rather quickly. There is more to come...I still haven't even sifted through all of the hours of footage that we took on the trip. I am also beginning to edit videos from our entire wedding...including the massive cleanup of the barn all the way up to the reception, as well as videos from our recent trip to California. With that said, I would usually spend more time on meticulous details in my editing... but these are being put together quickly. We hope that this first video will give you a taste of what our drive was like.Click on the center of the screen below to play it. Stay classy folks.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

lots to say...

We have done so many things since my last post that I don't know where to begin. I said I would write a bit about the Saturday Market in Eugene...so I will start there. Last weekend I ventured down to check out the market that I had read about online. It turned out to be quite the place. It takes up about 2 city blocks and was full of people when I arrived just before lunch time. There are tons of little tents that line the streets and offer anything from homemade soap to beautiful photographs of Oregon to organic fruits and vegetables to hippie artifacts (tie-dyed t-shirts and so on). There is also a big section of food vendors that have fruit bowls, Mexican food, and fish and chips. Just in front of the food section is a big stage that features live music all day long (when I was there it was three older men playing banjos and guitars). It seemed to me that this sort of market would only happen once or twice a year...so it is really cool that it runs every Saturday from April to November. A very cool place that I'm sure we will get to many times before we move from here.


Monday brought the long-anticipated arrival of my sister Kerry and her husband Cam. We had known for some time that they would be coming and couldn't wait to see them and to have our first visitors to our new little home here. After leaving White Rock BC they had a brief stop in Seattle to have lunch with an old friend who is travel nursing there...truth be told, Julie (the travel nurse) is how Christine and I found out about travel nursing and have enjoyed reading her blog so much over the past year. After arriving here on Monday evening, we rested up and got set for a day out on the town in Eugene.


Christine and I have found this small city to be extremely difficult to navigate. We get lost a lot....but we tried our best to take our visitors around the city and show them the little bits and pieces that we know so far. This included a trip to the 5th Street Market, a long walk through Alan Baker Park, and ending at the UofO Ducks football stadium and practice facility...all of this was very cool...the weather was amazing and we made the most out of the day.










Wednesday we woke up and headed South on the I-5 toward California. About a 4 hour drive gets you to Redwood National and State Parks....home to some of the largest trees in the world. We camped just outside of Crescent City CA at a nice little KOA campsite. It was the first time that any of us had been camping in a while...we managed just fine. We first went straight to the ocean at Crescent City...which was breathtaking. We all dipped our toes in (it was freezing) and spent some time walking around on the rocks, checking out star fish and other ocean life that had washed up. After the ocean we sought out to find the massive redwoods. No amount of words can describe how amazing these HUGE trees are. We took a small and winding dirt road through the heart of some of the forest. We stopped a couple of times and were in awe of our surroundings. It seemed like we were transported to a different place where you weren't quite sure whether what you were seeing was real or not...like if you shook hard enough you would wake up. It was completely silent....no leaves rustling, no wind, no cars, no other humans....a complete and utter silence that I have never experienced before....unbelievable in every sense of that word. Cam described it as "God's church"...and that's exactly what it felt like.
check out how small our car looks in the picture to the right!






We enjoyed the rest of the night at the campsite...roasting some hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire....things you are supposed to do when you go camping.










We decided to spend all of Thursday driving up the 101 highway which follows the coastline and offers some incredible views of the ocean with tons and tons of beaches all the way up. We stopped at a few beaches to take some pictures and breathe in clean air.

We also stopped at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort...just to take a quick look. Bandon Dunes has 4 courses on their site and they rank #1, #2, #5, and #10, for public courses in all of the US. Needless to say, it was a pretty fancy place. Speaking of dunes....it was amazing to see the landscape change from rocky hills to rolling sand. We stopped to check out one of the parks that has dunes and we watched people dune-boarding (snowboarding on sand)...something I will try if we get back there.





The rest of the drive north continued to be beautiful and we arrived back at our apartment in the evening. Yesterday was spent around the city where Kerry and Cam took advantage of the strong Canadian dollar and no sales tax. And before we knew it..they were off again. They left early this morning and we miss having them here already. It was such an awesome gift to have them here....it felt like home.
My sincerest apologies for not updating the blog sooner. Hopefully this one makes up for it.
I may post a link to more of our California trip photos (and some others) in the near future. Thanks for reading....stay classy.


Saturday, July 21, 2007

reasons...

WARNING! The following post is long. If you come to the blog to read about the daily events going on with us then feel free to skip this post. However, if you are curious about our reasons for leaving Ontario behind and starting out on this adventure, grab a coffee, relax, and read on.

Today I was going to sit down and write about the Saturday market in Downtown Eugene that I ventured out to this morning...but that can wait. Truth be told, I wanted this post to be the first one we put up on this blog. I wanted it to be a few days before we left the comforts of our homes in Grey County. But alas, time swept us up and carried us off before I had the chance to sit down and actually write about the reason's for leaving all that we know behind. To this point the posts have felt rushed to me and I'm sure they will continue to feel that way. I figure when you are seeing and experiencing so many new things in such a short amount of time, that recording the experiences into a few paragraphs on a blog is going to feel that way. There is no way to explain it all. From the time I was a very young boy my mother has told me that no picture can do the West justice...and no secondhand description can either. I now know what she means.

Over the past year we have had many people ask us about our plans for after we would be married. After explaining our travel plans we received a wide array of reactions from family, friends, and acquaintances. Most people thought it sounded like a great idea...telling us to do it while we're young and not tied down with children. A lot of those people also told us that they wished they had done something like this when they were young...but now felt like the time had passed them. And there were a few people who were supportive, yet couldn't quite understand why we would want to leave the towns in which we grew up, the province in which we find comfort, to live in another country on the other side of the continent. I wish I could come up with the words to explain the reasons. However, I'm not that eloquent and have always found it difficult to put the reasons into words on paper (or computer screen). So I will leave that up to an actual author. There is a book called "Through Painted Deserts" by Donald Miller who, after a long and adventurous journey from Texas, now lives in Portland. This was Don's first book. It has been reissued with a new title, a few edits, and a new cover, as well as a new author's note at the beginning. I remember reading this author's note to Christine well over a year ago and telling her that it made me feel more alive than anything I had ever read. So instead of me trying to explain the reasons...I will let you in on what I read to Christine a year ago... the insight into what has fueled this journey we are on now. I hope it inspires you like it does us:

"All my life I have been changing. I changed from a baby to a child, from soft toys to play daggers. I changed into a teenager to drive a car, into a worker to spend some money. I will change into a husband to love a woman, into a father to love a child, change houses so we are near water, and again so we are near mountains, and again so we are near friends, keep changing with my wife, getting our love so it dies and gets born again and again, like a garden, fed by four seasons, a cycle of change. Everybody has to change, or they expire. Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons.

I want to keep my soul fertile for the changes, so things keep getting born in me, so things keep dying when it is time for things to die. I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not to read the same page recurrently.

Only the good stories have the characters different at the end than they were at the beginning. And the closest thing I can liken life to is a book, the way it stretches out on paper, page after page, as if to trick the mind into thinking it isn't all happening at once.

Time has pressed you and me into a book, too, this tiny chapter we share together, this vapor of a scene, pulling our seconds into minutes and minutes into hours. Everything we were is no more, and what we will become, will become what was. This is from where story stems, the stuff of its construction lying at our feet like cut strips of philosophy. I sometimes look into the endless heavens, the cosmos of which we can't find the edge, and ask God what it means. Did You really do all of this to dazzle us? Do You really keep it shifting, rolling round the pinions to stave off boredom? God forbid Your glory would be our distraction. And God forbid we would ignore Your glory.

It's a living book, this life; it folds out in a million settings, cast with a billion beautiful characters, and it is almost over for you. It doesn't matter how old you are; it is coming to a close quickly, and soon the credits will roll and all your friends will fold out of your funeral and drive back to their homes in cold and still and silence. And they will make a fire and pour some wine and think about how you once were . . . and feel a kind of sickness at the idea you never again will be.

So soon you will be in that part of the book where you are holding the bulk of the pages in your left hand, and only a thin wisp of the story in your right. You will know by the page count, not by the narrative, that the Author is wrapping things up. You begin to mourn its ending, and want to pace yourself slowly toward its closure, knowing the last lines will speak of something beautiful, of the end of something long and earned, and you hope the thing closes out like last breaths, like whispers about how much and who the characters have come to love, and how authentic the sentiments feel when they have earned a hundred pages of qualification.

And so my prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home, some summer and some winter, some roses blooming out like children in a play. My hope is your story will be about changing, about getting something beautiful born inside of you, about learning to love a woman or a man, about learning to love a child, about moving yourself around water, around mountains, around friends, about learning to love others more than we love ourselves, about learning oneness as a way of understanding God. We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn't it?
It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out.
I want to repeat one word for you:
Leave.
Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn't it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don't worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed. " -Donald Miller

So right now Christine and I are in the leaving part...we know there will also be a coming home.

Stay classy...I will write about the Saturday Market soon.

PS. Christine is doing very well at work. Her fellow nurses have complimented her on how great of a job she is doing....just as I knew they would.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

getting settled...

We are all moved in and almost all unpacked. We have had a great last few days just getting our apartment organized and running around to grab a bunch of things that we need here but that we didn't travel with...everything from paper towels to ketchup. So far we love our new city and our new home. We have Internet and cable now which makes things feel a bit more like home, and it's great to update this blog from the comfort of our living room instead of a hotel room on the road. We have had a few rainy days now after not seeing any rain for our entire road trip...we didn't mind the rain at all but it's supposed to be nice by the time the weekend rolls around. Christine had her first day of orientation at the hospital today and all went well. She met a few other travel nurses (one Canadian), and feels that the hospital is a very welcoming and friendly place. She has one more day of orientation tomorrow and then she is at her floor for Friday and Saturday. Sometimes we forget that we are living in Oregon...in America. When we sit in our apartment, in our own little world, Ontario doesn't feel far away. On that note, I will add some pictures of our apartment and sign off. Will update again soon. (remember to click on the pics to see them bigger)...Stay classy...
















Monday, July 16, 2007

we made it! ...

Well... 5 days from leaving London Ontario and we finally made it to Eugene. The rest of the drive continued to be gorgeous. The Interstate follows the Columbia River with Washington state just across the other side. It seemed that around every corner we were seeing even more beautiful things than previous one. We took the interstate all the way to Portland and then south to Eugene which we were really happy about. Even though it is a longer distance, the drive is actually faster because the interstate is a larger road. Plus, we wanted to take the drive through Portland just to see what it is like. From what we saw it is a beautiful city and we can't wait to get back there and explore around a bit. Driving into Eugene was super exciting for us...just to think about all of the miles we have driven...and to finally arrive at our destination....I think we felt a small sense of accomplishment, as well as how blessed we feel to be able to do a trip like this and not have any major problems along the way. Arriving on a Sunday did pose a small problem. Even though our housing people told us that our place would be open for us, it wasn't. So instead of unpacking we spent the day exploring Eugene. We went to the 5th Street Market which we couldn't wait to get to once we arrived here. It did not disappoint. It is this market that has all sorts of stores...some more brand name than others. There is a cool Nike store there that I loved because it had a lot of historical stuff since this is where Nike was Founded by Bill Bowerman. It gave me chills to see Prefontaine's shoes behind the glass and think of his life (and the tragic end of it). We took a walk downtown and hit up the mall that is right near our place. It is a huge mall with all of the American stores we are used to seeing when we visit Texas. It is a bit dangerous to have such a good mall so close by because not only are there many things we can't get in Canada, but also there is no sales tax in Oregon. We just can't get used to this...but it is pretty cool. I could write forever it seems, but I have realized that so many of the moments along this trip will remain only in our heads and we are both so grateful that we had each other to share these moments with, so we can help each other to recall them later in life. We are about to grab some breakfast and head over to our apartment. I don't know how long it will take for us to have Internet access, but hopefully it will be sooner than later and I will update again at that point. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers along this journey...they mean so much to us. Stay classy.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

our 9th and final state...

I am writing this from a small city called "The Dalles" just off of the I-84 in Oregon. We are super excited to finally make it to our final destination state. We still have 3 or so hours until we get to Eugene tomorrow but that seems like no time in comparison to the long driving days we have been putting in. I want to write so much, but Christine and I are both extremely exhausted and are looking forward to a good night's sleep so this will have to stay short for now. We are still getting used to the new time zone and are trying our best to stay up so that we can be on a good sleeping schedule for when we arrive at our new home. In short, the last two days of driving have provided us with the most beautiful sites that both of us have ever seen. We have seen the beautiful rolling landscape of Wyoming, the amazing red mountains in Utah, the vastness of the fields in Idaho, and now the most amazing mountains and landscape we have ever seen here in Oregon. We are within viewing distance of Mt. Hood where we are staying tonight which is very exciting. Mt. Hood has an elevation of almost 12,000 feet above sea level and is an amazing site for us since we are so used to the flat lands of Southern Ontario. Instead of writing more, I will just upload some pics from the last couple of days of driving...just to give you an idea of how the land has transformed in front of our eyes. It's been amazing (If you want to see the pictures bigger just click on them and they will open up a lot larger). Next stop...Eugene. Stay classy.









Thursday, July 12, 2007

2 days down...

Hello from North Platte, Nebraska! Christine and I have had two great days of driving. The weather has been amazing and we have really loved seeing the country side of Michigan, a small piece of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and now Nebraska. The farmland is so vast it is mind-boggling for us. Corn, corn, and more corn....I have never seen that much corn in Ontario that is for sure. We spent our first night in Davenport Iowa right beside Moline Illinois (literally a 2 minute drive). We ended up having dinner on a patio overlooking the Mississippi River, which was beautiful (see pic of River below).
It was also cool to see all of the John Deere exhibits in Moline as this was the first place that John Deere manufactured plows (I think I got that right). I took some pictures for my Uncle Bill back home since he is a John Deere collector and thought he would think it was cool. We also ran into some PGA golfers in the parking lot of the restaurant we ate at. Apparently the John Deere Classic is taking place really close to where we were staying...so that was pretty cool too. We hope to end up near Salt Lake City, Utah, tomorrow night. We will be getting into more mountainous terrain during tomorrow's drive which we are really looking forward to. We will be sure to check in again soon. Thanks for reading and stay classy.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

and we're off...

the plan is to leave at around 7am tomorrow morning (Wed) and end up somewhere in Iowa...that is if all goes to plan. Hopefully we won't have any delays at the border and we can avoid some heavy traffic near Chicago. However, one of the good things about this road trip is that we don't have it all set out before hand. We want to be somewhat flexible so that if something comes up or if we see something cool we will be able to stop and check it out for a minute or two. As of now the plan is to arrive at our apartment in Eugene on Sunday...but that could turn into early Monday as well. We will keep you posted from the road. Until then, stay classy.

Friday, July 6, 2007

packing and getting ready...

ok...first post and it's been a while coming. I know some of you have already checked our blog to see how our little road trip has been going, however, we haven't left yet. Thus we have been delayed in writing our first post. Please accept our apologies. We got a phone call not long after returning from our honeymoon that explained to us that Christine's start date at Sacred Heart Medical Center (in Eugene, Oregon) had been pushed back in order to align with proper orientation dates for her. This call was definitely welcomed by us as we were in the middle of trying to figure out how to do the million-and-one things we needed to get done before leaving. So the extra time has been awesome as we have had some good time with family and friends as well as extra time to figure out how to squish all of our belongings into our Honda Element. Our first trial-run for fitting everything in the car today went really well...there was still a bit of space between our stuff and the Element's ceiling so we are doing alright! Our plan is to hit the road on Monday or Tuesday and spend a good 5 days driving to the west coast. Now that we have posted once we will try to be more diligent in our blogging efforts so that everyone is up to date on the latest happenings with the new Mr. and Mrs. Butler (I don't think we'll ever be used to that). Here is a picture of our packing efforts today...it might look a bit disorganized but we were quite proud of ourselves for jamming all that stuff in there.
Christine and I are extremely excited to start this adventure together and travel to amazingly beautiful places we have never been. Thanks for coming to read this and check in on us. We will be sure to update you as much as we can. We want all of you to feel like you are on this journey with us. OK, more suitcases to pack... until next time....stay classy.



oh ya...one more thing. I know some of you were coming here looking for some wedding pictures. Here are some links that will take you to a bunch of wedding pics...hope you enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015513&l=970cb&id=158302007

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015514&l=fc408&id=158302007