Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Rejected at the Canadian Border!!!

It’s true. We were yellow slipped and turned back at customs. I will never go to Canada again. I am officially boycotting the Country! Here is the story…

As we pulled into line at the border I was already a little nervous. Not because of anything “illegal” I was carrying. I was smart and left all that back in Hood River. I was nervous because 8 years ago when I tried to go to Canada I was rejected for of a DUI that I got when I was 21. Even though I had done a diversion and it was off my driving record in the States, apparently that wasn’t good enough for Canada. Another friend of ours was recently rejected for the same reason. His DUI was from 40 years ago!!! So for the record, you can visit Canada only 7 years after committing a major felony in the States, but if you have a DUI you’re never welcome back. Crazy.

So sitting there in the border line I was a bit worried that my DUI might come up if they ran my name in the computer. After waiting and waiting in line we finally made our way to the window. They immediately moved us from the regular line into the special covered area reserved for narco smugglers and draft dodgers. We were informed that failure to declare certain items would result in a $400 fine per item and possible detention. When asked if we had any alcohol or firearms I told him we had wine. He informed me that I was only allowed to bring 2 bottles into Canada. 2 BOTTLES!!! Are you kidding me? We’ve got 51 bottles of world-class wine in the van. We have the very best bottles of the 90+ wineries we visited along every wine region on the west coast of America! (My response to him? Click on the picture above)

We were given the option to pay an insane amount in Canadian duties or return to the US. That is when I decided it was time to boycott Canada. Adios Canada. We didn’t want to spend a bunch of money in your country anyway!
On to greener pastures. - TREE

Monday, June 28, 2010

Treasure Lies Where Your Heart Belongs

As we said a couple days ago, we had a great time in Yakima, and it was all because of our hostess, Dana. What we didn’t mention was that we hadn’t planned on meeting up with her. We ran into her at the restaurant we ate at the first night in Yakima. It was just dumb luck, a fortuitous coincidence, or maybe…it was more.
Maybe serendipity (the aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident) isn’t quite as random as we think. My favorite quote from The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo speaks to what I’m saying:
“When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.”
Incidentally, this book was the first gift that I ever gave Tree. It’s an allegory that is written for children but meant equally for adults. When Tree read it, he thought, “Why is she giving me a kid book? Oh no, she thinks I can’t read!” It’s true, I was trying to tell him something, but that wasn’t it. What I was hoping he’d pick up on was this…
“…and when two such people (like Stevie and Tree) encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one's dreams would have no meaning.” - The Alchemist (Santiago meets Fatima)

Or maybe….
“He (Tree) knew that his love for her (Stevie) would enable him to discover every treasure in the world.”- The Alchemist (Santiago on Fatima)

Or finally…
“I (Tree) love you (Stevie) because the whole universe conspired to help me find you”- The Alchemist (Santiago to Fatima)

Well, we all know that he got it eventually, and that’s what counts. Anyway, my second favorite quote from that book explains the guiding force behind Lady Luck:

“Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it's all written there”

This definition of intuition is my answer to serendipity. When you’re following your heart, this voice or life current speaks loudly like a two-way signal between your soul and the Soul of the World. With all Souls in harmony, the Universe conspires to make your dreams come true.

Maktub: it is written.
-STEVIE

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Almost to Canada…almost..

Slowly, like a doped up turtle, we make our way North! We started this morning in Leavenworth, WA and made it another 60 miles north this afternoon to Chelan. It’s funny, before we left LA we didn’t really know how fast we were going to move. I had an agenda, but looking back it was laughable compared to our actual pace. For the first time in my life, I’m slow.

Today in Leavenworth we hit 4 more wineries. Stevie talked one lady into opening a 04 Old Vine Cab that was tops. On the way out of town we stopped to observe Family Rule #4 when we passed the WORLD FAMOUS Bratwurst stand. Stevie was supposed to follow Family Rule #9, which states all food is divided amongst family members based on body weight. I was really looking forward to half of her Cheddar and Jalapeño Sausage, however she blatantly violated the rule and raised eyebrows from neighboring diners when she woofed it down in under 3 minutes flat. I was mentally reviewing my Heimlich maneuver, but luckily it wasn’t needed.

We reached Lake Chelan around 4pm and I went out for a nice Stand-up paddle session while Kiki walked Stevie. We like it here and we’ll probably spend a couple days before pushing north another 50 or 60 miles.
Over and Out - TREE

Friday, June 25, 2010

Don't Worry, About A Thing!

Today Dana gave us a special guided tour though the Rattlesnake Hills wine region. Dana gave us the royal treatment showing us where all the big reds where hiding. She drove us from place to place where we enjoyed 12-deep wine pours that only a true local enjoys. We really got to taste the best of the Yakima area. In-between wineries she pulled into a beautiful cherry orchard. Smiling she simply said, "don't worry, I know the farmers, just pick whatever you want". Big luscious red cherries right off the tree… AMAZING. I had to remind Stevie that she was talking about picking the cherries, not the farmhouse kitties. Sorry babe, we have to leave the kitties. After an afternoon of drinking top notch wine we went back to Dana’s and kicked it pool-side while Chris barbequed NY steaks! We’re happy today. Over and out. TREE

"Oh Yakima, The Beautiful..."

Yakima is an interesting place. There is beautiful wine country snuggled up against the fireworks stands on the Yakima Indian Reservation. There are estate wineries right up the road from desperate poverty. There are abandoned buildings right next to new housing developments. There are yards littered with dozens of scrap automobiles and old tires. There is a renaissance going on in down town with tasting rooms, gourmet restaurants, and art galleries. A block away the billboards are in Spanish and there is nothing but taquerias. And of course there is the restaurant with the throw back sign from the 40s, complete with a huge man pointing a gun in the sky! We were referred to said restaurant by our friend Dana and the food was actually quite good!

Funny story though – before dinner we were wine tasting and there was a guy who asked where we were going for dinner. He then boldly and loudly informed us, “DON’T YOU ALL EXPECT TO GET ANY CIGARS AT THAT RESTURANT, THE LIBERALS TOOK THEM AWAY. AND THEM LIBERALS IS GONNA TAKE AWAY OUR GUNS NEXT. YOU WAIT. YOU’LL SEE”! I was so proud of Stevie. She smiled and politely turned around and ignored the man. For those of you who know Stevie, that was nothing short of a miracle!

Today we’re hanging out at Dana’s and waiting for our friend Chris to arrive. Tonight we’ll hit the downtown scene and see if Stevie can’t stir up some political talk! Should be fun. TREE

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Happy Birthday Little Brother!!!!!

Today is my little brothers birthday! Love you bro. TREE

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Back on the wine tour!

Well, this morning we woke up in central Oregon eager to get back to our west coast wine tasting tour. Cheryll and her Mom and Husband joined us for the first stop, a small winery in Central Oregon. It was a new winery, so we aren’t going to rate it too hard. We left there and drove to Maryhill where we spent the rest of the day sipping Viognier on the deck overlooking the Gorge. Spectacular!

If you’re new to the blog, our wine tour began on April 18th when we left Los Angeles. Since we were driving north to begin the Pan American highway we decided why not wine taste the entire way to Canada. We’ve visited just about every wine region up to Washington including Santa Ynez, Santa Maria, Santa Cruz, Napa, Mendocino, Applegate, Rogue Valley, Willamette Valley, and the Columbia Gorge. To date we’ve visited 87 wineries. Yes, as Stevie is fond of saying, I do consider this an extreme sport!! So far it’s been an amazing adventure and a world class education in wine. Now we have a large task looming as we dive into central Washington State, which is widely considered the hottest wine country outside of Napa Valley. Tonight I write from Yakima which alone has over 200 wineries. This is serious business and I personally plan to bring my A-game.
Over and Out. TREE

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

I Miss You Jim.

Today Stevie, Cheryll and I went to Smith Rocks and visited Jim’s memorial bench. I felt sad, and happy, and mad, and… at peace, all at the same time. When Jim died at Smith rocks a couple years ago I was in Tibet getting ready to trek to Everest base camp. I remember getting the text message sitting in a café in down town Lhasa. I changed my flight and was back in Hood River 3 days later for the service. I’ve lost many friends, (too many), but losing Jim crushed me. He was my rock climbing mentor. I looked up to him. I respected him. And I still think about him all the time. RIP my friend.

1) Us climbing Sunrise Book in the Sawtooth mountains
2) Us on the summit of Higher Cathedral Spire
3) Us on the summit of Brail Book in Yosemite
4) Us regrouping after finishing the Moratorium
5) Us on the summit of Myopia
6) Us hiking in to climb the Elephants Perch

Monday, June 21, 2010

Epiphanies

Compared to most couples, Tree and I spend a lot of time together, basically all of our time together, so we weren’t too concerned about spending 16 days alone on a raft.  The truth is, Tree’s the best company I’ve ever kept.  We never run out of things to talk about, and yet we don’t mind just being quiet either.
On this trip, I discovered a new way for us to pass the time beyond conversation and silence.  We read together! I was a literature major in school and am still an avid reader today. I’m always telling Tree to read one book or another because I want to discuss it with him, but he never has the time. Well, on the raft, he was my captive audience, and we had plenty of time! We read two books, Sophie’s World which is a novel about the history of philosophy, and, for fun, Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris. 
Even though the Sedaris book was a welcomed distraction around noon when the 115-degree sun was rendering our brains stupid, it was the philosophy book that truly fit the mindset of the Canyon. Insulated from the barrage of information we normally receive via civilization and surrounded by layers of limestone, schist, and granite billions of years old, it’s hard not to start thinking from a broader perspective.  As my concept of time slipped out from underneath me, I caught myself wondering where this world comes from and whether there is any will or meaning behind what happens in it.  Visiting the Indian ruins, I wondered how they constructed their society. What did they value? When they were warm and had food in their bellies, what did they long for?  It’s so hard to imagine really.  Did they wonder how to sustain a lifelong connection with their mate, or what field of study or occupation would best serve their soul? God knows I do.
One particular thought that was haunting me was the idea of change. Heraclitus says it best: “One cannot step into the same river twice” because everything is in a constant state of flux. It was bothering me because I’m madly in love, happier than I’ve ever been, and I don’t want that to change.  The reduction of course is, if we stay the same, we’ll always be happy.  Yet, the water is moving, whether at glacier or rapid speed, and so are we. There is no staying the same. 
So the solution is to grow together, right? Except, what exactly does that mean? We talk, I read to him, what more can I do to insure that no one gets ahead or falls behind here? We’re not Siamese twins; we’re two unique people with our own egos to overcome. Another terrifying aspect of all this is that it’s impossible to know like you know a fact something that is always changing.  There will always be the X factor, the wild card that can trump your aces. So when you say, I know so-and-so, he or she’d never do that- how can you really know? Unable to stop change and unable to completely know who someone is (including ourselves) because we’re always becoming- all we can hope for is understanding along the way.  We can have compassion for ourselves and for one another. We can allow each other to flow. 
When I look back on the past 5 years, it’s crazy to think how much Tree and I have grown- separately and in our relationship.  Neither of us was quite ready for the kind of partnership- the kind of intimacy- that we longed for when we met. We had to have many awakenings, and sometimes the process was painful, but we always created space for the other’s expansion. And then I realized, that’s the magic; by allowing change, love stays a constant. Or maybe another way of saying it is that love is the space between two people that encourages them to grow.
So, the point is, we’re madly in love, we’re happy, we’re engaged, and judging from my calculations above, we’re expanding exponentially. At this rate, we're going to be huge, Universe huge. 
Tomorrow we’re off to Smith Rocks with Cheryll to pay tribute to her husband, Tree's great friend, Jim Anglin, who passed away in a climbing accident a couple years ago. Then we’re back on the road to complete our wine tasting tour- STEVIE

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

We're Back, We're Safe, AND We're ENGAGED!!!!

We're back from an amazing 16 day solo trip down the Colorado River! What an experience. I guess the most exciting news to tell is, We're Engaged!!! I always knew that I wanted to propose to Stevie on the Grand Canyon, and we had planned to go back so I knew I'd have the opportunity. When this trip came up, even though it was short notice, I took it! I popped the question right after the biggest rapid on the river. It was an insanely happy moment for both of us!

We have some fun photos of the trip, all complete with captions. Click here to view the photo album, then click on the first photo...

http://picasaweb.google.com/tree3344/GrandCanyonEngagement

Everyone keeps asking, “When’s the wedding”. Stevie and I plan to get married on a warm tropical beach somewhere south of the border. It will be just the two of us (and Kiki). We don’t know where it will be yet, but we both agree that we’ll know when we get there. Our path will take us to the place. We also plan to have a big party in Socal some time later to celebrate the union with all of our friends and family.

Right now we’re on our way back to Oregon to collect the Sprinter and Kiki. From there we continue North on our Pan American Highway trip.
Over-and-out - TREE



 
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