Giving Credit

I just wanted to point out that Nik was actually the one to find our new place. He found it on Craigslist while browsing places to live on the internet. I was just the one to do the ground work. Actually, Nik did not want me to give him the credit, but I wanted to say something, because even though he is 6000 miles away he was still able to be a part of the process. I think that is pretty cool! 

Also, if you want to see some videos of our place go to my web gallery. 

Erin's gallery

New Home... New Chapter

It is official. I have found us a new place to live. It is small, it is quaint, but it has a lot of character and it will be only temporary if we choose it to be. It is a 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment, with a tiny kitchen, a huge walk in closet and a bathroom with a claw-foot bathtub. It is a mile from school (which I start on the 27th of Sept) and a mile from work. I am super excited to be living closer to town. The short commute will help a ton during the rainy season (which apparently should start really soon). I move in on the 12th and Nik will move in whenever he gets back from Germany. This is perfect for us, because it is affordable and in a great neighborhood. Once Nik gets a job we will reevaluate the living situation and decide if we need a bigger place. Wanda (the dog) is allowed. They have a dog run downstairs and a large park nearby. We are on the 3rd floor, which might be challenging for her, but they do have an elevator. We have a covered balcony and lots of natural light. It is really cute and such a perfect place to start a life together.

Family/Dining Room

Bedroom

This phone is used to let people in the front door downstairs. 

Nik and I are ready to be back together and look forward to sharing this place together. Here comes a new chapter in both our lives. One without distance and a chance to be together, just the two of us (actually 3 with Wanda).

Hot weather and waterskiing

That's right! Who would have thought in Portland, there is sun and waterskiing. Our friend Andrew has a boat and he was so kind to take me out not just once, but twice this week. The first time I met Wanda (my friend) and he at Cathedral Park after work. They had already been on the boat for a while, but I got on just in time for the sunset. I laughed and thanked them for inviting me on their romantic night out on the boat. We had a good time just cruising around and hanging out. It was beautiful with the sunset and the St Johns Bridge above us. Also, really romantic. I hope I didn't intrude too much.

On Monday, Andrew invited me out again. This time it was on his dad's boat and that meant we could waterski and wakeboard. Wanda was out of town on business and they needed a 3rd person (to hold the flag). Haha, no really he knew I had been itching to go all summer and now was my chance. I have been gone so much or working that I haven't had the opportunity. This was the day. I can't remember the last time I one skied (maybe 5 years), but both Andrew and Jerry (his dad) are good skiers so I was determined to give a go. Andrew started out and impressed us with his great carving ability. I was thoroughly impressed. Next, I was up. I have to say, I had a little bit of adrenaline going, just because it had been so long and I really wanted to get up. Let's face it, I just wanted to get out of the water. Once you can do that, the carving part is pretty easy.

Growing up, my dad started us waterskiing at a very young age. He had a boat and I have wonderful memories of the family being out on the water learning how to ski. I remember he made a board for us that had a rope attached. He would start the boat and we would lie on the board holding onto the rope. Then when he got going a good speed, we would slowly pull ourselves up to a standing position. This got us used to being pulled behind the boat. Gradually we graduated to two skis then finally we learned to one ski by dropping a ski while being towed behind the boat.

All of these memories were going through my head when I jumped into the water. I tried to think of all the things my dad would be telling me to remember. Keep your body weight back, keep your arms straight, hold your breath, and use all of your strength to hold your body balanced. I put the ski on and waited for the rope to be taut and yelled, "HIT IT!" The boat pulled me along and while struggling along doing everything I could to not fall, all of a sudden I was UP. First try! I couldn't believe it. I started hooping, hollering and laughing, because I was so stoked I made it up on one ski first try. I skied along for a bit then got squirmy and sat down on the water. Second try, I messed up and didn't make it up. But, the third I popped up again and stayed up this time. I started carving in and out of the wake, remembering how I did it before and stayed up until I couldn't quite hold on any longer. I was tired.

Jerry showed off his stuff (which he was a fantastic skier) and then when we were all to tired to one ski anymore we decided to move to the wakeboard. Andrew and I got a few runs in on the wakeboard. This is an easy one for me. I knew I would pop right out of the water. He cleared the wake a bunch and tried a few tricks. I just worked on my jumping skills and was so close to clearing the wake.

All in all, it was a wonderful day out on the Willamette River. I was so thankful to Jerry and Andrew for taking me out. I had so much fun! Also, I think I might have impressed them a bit with my water skills ;-) Actually, I impressed myself. It also made me think about how lucky of a kid I was. I was raised to do so many sports (thanks Dad). So, now as an adult I am still really athletically inclined. Someday, I want to raise my kids the same way. Showing them all the incredible sports out there. It is great being a jack of all trades.

Last thing. I wanted to post this picture of the house boats around here. They are beautiful and everywhere. Along the rivers you will see these houses and I am always so impressed. What a neat life these people have.

LaDukes plus more

When I got back from Europe my mom knew I was a little bummed from saying goodbye once again to Nik. She was getting ready to have my oldest sister (Addie) and her family (Cameron, Callie and Avery) in town, so she invited me down to Reno to visit with the family. I had 2 days off coming up so this worked out perfect. 

I left early early Monday morning on the first plane out. My mom was there to pick me up then off to hang with the LaDukes. We spent the day going to Squaw Valley (taking the tram to the top) and then heading to Tahoe City for some much needed Tahoe summer lounging. It was perfect, because I had not seen the LaDukes in a year, I missed my mom and I missed Lake Tahoe. My nieces got to swim in the lake and I had a fantastic time watching them with Addie and Cameron (my brother in-law) play around. After we got back to Reno, my mom cooked a perfect dinner of salmon and lots of veggies. I had been craving salmon for some time and it hit the spot. 

The next day I had a lunch date to meet up with the Kosach family (my other family I missed a lot) and my dad (whom I hadn't seen since Thanksgiving and of course who I missed dearly). It was great getting to see them for the short time, but I would have much rather made it longer. (I spaced it on the pictures. Sorry, I forgot to take them.) Afterwards, my dad took me to Hidden Valley country club to go watch my nieces swim. They are so sweet and cute and growing up way to fast. Later, I spent the evening at my moms with the LaDukes and my mom and Ben. We had a great time catching up and enjoying each others company. 

The next morning I was already headed back to Portland to get to work on time that day. It was a quick trip, but very worthwhile. Thank you Mom for bringing me to Reno!! It was so wonderful to see everyone and I hope to be back soon. I think the hardest thing for me being away, is the fact that I can't be with my family whenever I want. I miss you all dearly!

Last stop Munich

The next morning we were off to Munich. It was an easy 2 hour ride from Innsbruck to Munich and we arrived to a rainy Bavaria. Nik had been here before with Danny and his girlfriend so he knew right where to take me. Since it was so rainy we didn't have too many options for what to do except go to the famous beer halls and take in the atmospheres. That was exactly what we did. Over the course of our day and a half, we went from beer hall to beer hall tasting the foods and of course beers of the region. Some have been around since the 1400's. We had a lot of fun and we met some characters along the way. We made our stops at Hofbrauhaus, Paulaner, Augustiner and a couple others I am not sure of the names of. My favorite had to be Hofbrau. It was a crazy place, the service was terrible and it was incredibly hard to find a seat. But, the atmosphere was fantastic. There was a band playing, people were singing and many people were even wearing there lederhosen. I loved that a pretzel lady walked around just selling pretzels. All the germans knew the songs, so they sang along and clank there beers together regularly. I now see why this is such a famous place.

Before we left for Frankfurt on our last day we had a chance to see a show that is put on everyday at 12 and 1pm. At the main cathedral in the Marienplatz (downtown) they have moving figurings on the outside of the church move, dance and fight to music. It was interesting to see this incredibly old building come to life. I was most impressed with the crowd though. When the figures started to move, the whole crowd oohed and awed. I also thought the sea of umbrellas was quite the show. Even though our intension in Munich was to do a bike tour, we really didn't mind the rain. Once we had an umbrella it was fun walking around and enjoying the city. 

The trip was quickly coming to an end and Nik and I didn't even want to think about being apart again. The thought of skype to me is a love hate relationship. I appreciate that we have it, because I can see him everyday while he is gone, but I hate it because I am ready for Nik to be back here in Portland. 

We stayed our last night in Frankfurt and were so sad to be saying goodbye again. This time we knew that it would be the last time. It has already been two weeks since I left Nik in Europe and I can't believe how fast time is flying. I look forward to him coming home for good, but I do hope that he does well in his season finals. We are not too sure when he comes home, it just depends on how well the team does. 

Nik, thank you, thank you, thank you for the best trip ever. I have been to 9 different countries and 4 continents in the last year and this trip, by far, took the cake. I had the most wonderful time and I look forward to when we are finally in the same place. I love you very much!!

Inn...z...bruck

The first day of Innsbruck our goal was to explore the town. We definitely wanted to do some hiking, because (well as you can see) that is what you do here. We left our hotel after a nice breakfast of muesli, eggs, bread and jam and headed out to the altstadt (old town) to find out how we get to the top. This day we didn't want to hike to the top of the mountain we just wanted to figure out how to get there (so we could hike it the next day) and maybe do a small hike along the way. The altstadt is an area of walking streets aligned with restaurants and shops. This I am finding out is a regular thing in Europe.

 We shopped around, checked out the river that runs along the base of the mountains and then found our way walking through the neighborhoods up to the gondola that will take you to the top of the mountain. Walking up to the gondola was a hike in itself. Most people take a tram, but we decided it would be more fun to take the back way (I think it was about 7 km up the hill and about 1000 vertical feet). At the gondola loading area there was a spectacular lookout that we enjoyed for some time. We had fun taking pictures and figuring out our plan for the next days hike. We figured we walked about 11 miles the entire day. That night we were hungry for some authentic Austrian food so we headed nearby to a biergarten. We enjoyed some wiener schnitzel and potato salad with pumpkin oil. Pumpkin oil is a specialty in Austria. It was delicious!!

The next day we decided to make the trek up the mountain. We left at about 10am, walking straight from our hotel, through the town, up the same back way we took the day before up to the gondola, then ascending up, up and more up. About half way up we stopped at a small lodge that was only accessible by mountain bike or foot. We stopped for just a few minutes to capture some photos and head on our way. Finally after a long and very steep switchback after switchback ascent we found ourselves at the top. It was spectacular looking out over the valley and to all of the other mountains in the distance. We were so proud we made it and we were so happy to do it together. It took us 2 hrs, 4500 vertical feet and I think 9 miles. We ate a yummy lunch and enjoyed the views. Our plan afterwards was to take the gondola down, but decided we were in way too good of shape to take it down. Haha!! Really we got a second wind and decided it was much cheaper to go by foot. At the end of the day we were beat. We managed to go to dinner, but both of us were so tired we went home and went to bed early.

On our last day we wanted to see the famous ski jump in town. Innsbruck hosted the winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976. I think they are the only city that has hosted it twice ever. The jump wasn't all that spectacular, but the views were. Our legs were a little sore from the day before, so we moseyed around checking out the jump, eating gelato and then discovering that there was a New Orleans Jazz festival happening later that night. We had a lot of fun watching the random jazz parade and lounging at The Beach Club (on the river). The funny part was there was hardly any jazz at the festival. Most of it was American rock. We didn't mind either way, it was fun to get a dose of home. I think Nik really enjoyed the music, because it has been so long since he has been back.

Innsbruck was an incredible place. Nik and I will definitely head back to this area someday. Next time we might have to make a winter trip out of it. I can't even imagine how incredible the mountains are with snow on them.

Off to the Alps

We left Menaggio at 7:30 in the morning taking a bus to Como (the town). It was about a 3 euro ride each. Much much cheaper than when we got the taxi out there. It was nice finally being able to see the lake, but I was glad we were leaving. The sound and smell of italian food made my stomach churn and I really was looking forward to Innsbruck. We then had to take a train back to Milan (I was bummed on that, but I was determined to stay positive). At Milan we quickly changed trains and headed to Verona. This time Milan was much easier (I think because we already had our train tickets purchased from Como). 

We had to make a train change in Verona, then it was almost a straight shot to Innsbruck, Austria. When we arrived in Verona our train never came. We didn’t know what to think. Why would our train just not show up? After some long investigation and through broken english from a security guard we found out our train was 50 minutes late and it had changed platforms. Of course, there was no indication or announcement. At that point, Nik and I decided the Italian transportation system was the worst we had experienced. They are never on time, the trains were all in terrible condition and there was never any communication to what was happening. I am sure the language barrier had something to do with it, but it definitely wasn’t all of it. 

During our layover (delay) I decided I was finally hungry and feeling  better from my stomach issues. Nik took on the job of going to find something to eat. The video below is a funny account of my McDonald’s experience in Europe. All I have to say is it was much better than I expected. After eating it, I was back to normal and feeling much better. Who would have known McDonald’s would do the trick. 

Our train finally arrived and we headed North through the Alps to Innsbruck. This was the best train ride yet (as far as scenery). We went from the flatness of Verona to the massive mountains of the Italian and Austrian Alps. It was a great way to be first introduced to the magnificent place. I was so happy to be where we were and so thankful Nik had planned such a fantastic trip.

• On a side note, Nik planned the entire trip (hotels, flights, trains, everything). He did such a great job. I truly could not have dreamed up a better trip. 

I knew right when we got to Innsbruck. The valley we were going through opened up to the largest mountains we had seen yet. We were there and it was incredible. The sun was setting so the sky and the mountains looked like a painting. We exited the train and went straight to the hotel. It was about 9 pm and we didn’t want to miss our check in. 

Italian Food, Ut Oh...

When we woke up the next morning we had wonderful views of the lake from our room's balcony. It was so impressive to look out and see what seemed like a picture. I have admired Lake Como for some time and have always wanted to travel there. Now that I was there I wanted to explore as much as we could before we had to head off to another town again.

The first days agenda was Menaggio. We were a mile from town and we wanted to see, taste and swim our way through the town. Well, we did exactly that. We walked into town along the narrow road that follows the lake (kind of like the road around Tahoe). All over were amazing Villa's and towering mountains. Across the lake was Bellagio (which we planned to explore the next day). We decided to shop around a little bit, sit by the water, enjoy some real Italian gelato (BTW... it is the best thing on this earth), then have some lunch. Nik was so excited about the lasagna we had the night before he was determined to have it for every meal except breakfast while we were there. So, he had it for lunch.

We then decided to walk the town a little more and discovered a locals beach, off the main drag. We laid in the sun and swam in the lake. It was much more warm than I expected, but it felt great to cool off from the hot sun. Nik had fun skipping rocks with some kid and I swam out to a buoy out in the distance.

On our way back to the hotel, we decided to stop at the grocery store for some apps and of course just to check it out. Unfortunately it was closed. We completely forgot that Italy has siestas (or whatever the Italians call it) so everything closes from about 2-4 everyday. Instead we stopped at a restaurant for some refreshing drinks then headed back to the store when it finally was open. We spent sometime checking out the Italian wines, cheeses and other Italian specialties, then headed back to the hotel for some mid evening apps on our balcony overlooking Bellagio across the water.

That night we decided to eat dinner at our hotel. It was so good the night before, plus we could tell it was a great locals favorite (it was packed). We both had to order the lasagna again (this time I couldn't resist). We had a fantastic time together, sitting outside in the moon light enjoying our favorite meal thus far. As our dinner was coming to a close a gigantic thunderstorm erupted upon us. All the other guests ran inside, but we were under an awning, so we just sat back and enjoyed the show. I can't remember the last time I saw lightening like that. It was a great way to end the night.

While sleeping that night I woke up to a terrible stomach ache. I was completely sick. It must have been something I ate, because I felt terrible the next morning and throughout the next day. Probably some moldy cheese or prosciutto. I was a wreck. I couldn't get out of bed and poor Nik chose to deal with me. The entire next day, instead of going to Bellagio, I slept and Nik took care of me. I kept trying to get him to go and explore, but he insisted upon staying and looking after me. I'm a lucky gal to have such a great man!

Our quick stop in Lake Como, didn't turn out to be exactly as planned and it was quite the effort to get out there. We had so much fun the day we spent there and we already had to leave the next morning. It was off to Innsbruck, Austria. I still was not up to par, so Nik carried the large bags and I did my best to hurry along and be ready to move at the drop of a dime on our next adventure day of travel.