The Adventures of Dave, Lindsay, Cora and Edie

Oregon City, that is. We recently rented a nice little 3-bedroom house in the historic part of downtown Oregon City. It's a mellow, blue-collar town about 20 minutes southeast of Portland and we're psyched to have found a place after running all over the city for weeks looking at houses. The house is within walking distance to all the basic necessities - places to walk Peeka, a cafe, restaurants, a funky little downtown, the willamette river and more. We also just discovered that the park just a few blocks away has live music every week in the summer - BONUS! Our official move in date is July 1st when we will open up the storage unit and see our belongings for the first time in 8 months. A bit overwhelming but I'm sure it will be like Christmas when we see all the clothes and sporting equipment that we forgot we had. I think what I'm most excited for is to finally sleep in our own bed and have our own kitchen again. The simple things. This is Dave's first week of cl...

Well, we've spent our first few weeks back in the country trying to avoid reality but it has finally caught up with us. After a few days in Palm Desert for a friend's wedding and a long roadtrip to Idaho and Montana, we are officially living in Oregon now. We're excited to explore a new city (Lindsay hasn't lived here since age 17) and get settled into our lives here. New jobs, a new house (eventually), a new city and Dave is also going back to school. We'll keep you posted on things and definitely let us know if you're in the area. Let the next adventure begin!

The perfect place to end our adventures in South America...Buenos Aires. A city with grand architecture and a european flair. Buenos Aires is known for it`s futbol (American soccer), carne (MEAT) and tango, a romantic style of dance. Last night, we attended a local futbol match and enjoyed both the game and people watching. The Argentinian people go crazy over futbol! A few more days to explore before we catch our flight home.

Our mode of transportation through the wine country of Argentina.

After a few relaxing days in and around Talca, we headed north in Chile for a vibrant city by the sea, Valparaiso. We spent our time wandering the streets to check out the artwork and murals that covered the city. A college town with a great vibe. In Valparaiso, it´s clear to see the effect Pinochet´s dictatorship had on the psyche of this town. The older folks are subdued and quiet about it all, while the youth express anger and sadness through some truly unique street art. Our next stop was Santiago, where we did a whirlwind tour of the city (and also slipped in a few movies at the theatre near our hostel). Parts of the city were very cool but one day was enough to see the highlights. So long, Chile...back to Argentina we go for our last week! **Yes, Dave did shave his beard and was sporting a mustache for a few days on the road. I had to beg him to get rid of it because he thought it was cool.

If you have ever looked at a world map, you know that both Chile and Argentina are incredibly long countries. We initially started our travels in the southermost part of Argentina and have been slowly making our way North. That being said, we estimate that during our time in South America (Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile) we have probably done at least 25 fairly significant bus rides ranging from 3 to 27 hours. Travel Days are often exhausting and at this point, we have a system down that seems to make them more tolerable. Many of the long-distance buses leave early in the morning so our day begins with an early alarm clock so we have plenty of time to pack up our belongings (which at this point fit in two large backpacks and two small day bags), stuff down a quick breakfast that usually consists of bread, butter, marmalade and tea before making the trek to the bus terminal. Before your big bags get thrown under the bus, you must be sure to have certain things on the bus wit...

We climbed an active volcano in Chile. Seriously. Crazy thing is... it only took us four hours to get to the top. The views were great and we had a blast. The volcano sits at 2,847 meters (9,340 feet) and is a short drive from the tourist hub of Pucon. We spent a day sitting in hot springs and waiting for the weather to clear up and it paid off. We drove to the trailhead at the base of the mountain which also happens to be a ski resort... much like Mt. Hood in Oregon. Sadly, this is a very easy and therefore popular volcano for folks on the South American circuit. So we were in lines on the trail. But, we had a good time nonetheless. It was Lindsay´s first time with crampons and an ice axe, so she had fun with that. The top was windy and very cold, but the worst of it was the fumes coming from the volcano. Huge plumes of stinky sulphur stuff. I think that´s what the geologists call it. Anyhow, Lindsay´s mom will be happy to know that she climbed an active volcano without incident. And ...