Holiday Inn Durango, Co

... simple farmers in the midwest. Is there peace being culitvated there? The truth is that we are all cultivating it, but the image of me wandering through the midwest turning over rocks and looking behind trees, following tractors plowing the fields, looking in church balconies, running between the dancers at a square dance. All the while searching for the rare and elusive spark of peace.

Still Smilin',
Mark

... mountain town that has grown because of the railroad that stops here. We met some lovely people from New Mexico, Lisa and Brad, who camped next to us with their dog and 2 cats. Tomorrow we are headed North along a scenic route through the San Juan National Forest. RVing is the best.

... br>
Way to go, Cast B 2009!

After such a sold out show, we are definitely excited for our final Durango performance tomorrow! It's going to be amazing :) Everything is coming together and we are all doing so well!

Now, for those of you that have had the pleasure (or disfortune!) to meet my brother-in-law, Joe Helgeson, than it certainly won't surprise you to hear that he was dismayed that he has yet to be mentioned in a blog entry ...

... by the time tennis started in the fall, I felt that I was in optimal shape. If any of you have heard my Dad call me "Ironwoman", that aforementioned program is where the nickname started.

The workout that I endured today felt like an entire summer's worth of Ironman fitness training.

It was a CI (Community Impact) Day but it pushed many of us to an extreme as far as fitness is concerned. We were working with Trails 2000, a non-profit ...

Hello from Durango, Colorado!

My parents and I had a tearful good-bye before leaving Carbondale, CO this morning. Our second bus had yet to arrive so my Dad went to go and get some coffee at a nearby coffee shop. I was among 15-20 people waiting for the second bus to arrive because there was no room on the first bus for our large luggage. As soon as Dad left, the second bus showed up. I became hysterical, thinking that I wouldn't ...

... and then we went for a hike in the Durango Mountain Park area. It was pretty nice- there were some nice views of town up there, but it was HOT! (well, hotter than we were expecting anyway) So we went back down into town and walked along the river trail for a while. I love Durango- it just seems like the perfect town. Not too big, a nice river running right through it, bike trails along the river all through town-I love ...

Wade took Ethan and cousin Rayven on a hike to the summit of Centennial Peak this morning. They left around 5:30 a.m. and ate a breakfast of cereal and fruit at the trail-head. The hike started deep in the La Plata Mountains down 9 miles of forest service road and 2 miles of 4x4 road that winds through aspen and pine groves wild with animal life.

The hike was relatively ...

... guacamole. After inhaling the guac, we combined spinach, almonds (hand-picked from Molly's roommate trail mix and mashed for taste), onion (our leftover), goat cheese (not Jen), tomato and salmon burger, which according to Molly had to be consumed that very moment or it would go bad. It was another gourmet success on our part and will soon be added to our "Blissful Bingeing on a Budget" cookbook. They don't know that I titled it yet.  As Jen boringly ...

... to Durango. Stopped at Four Corners around 7:00 pm [there is a time change] there was a fee of $3.00 per person just to enter... rip off ! Good thing it was closing at 7:30 pm so there was no one at the gate to collect money . Drove in, it is just a circle marked the 4 states joined , Indian jewelry benches and snack bars. That's it ..Took the picture and move on.. Got to the Best ...

... the paramilitaries, the FARC guerillas, the corrupt police, or the muggers and thieves that everyone was so worried about. The infamous coca fields were simply part of the blue-green patchwork of color that looked more inviting than threatening. I couldn't wait to touch down ..." ("Into the Belly of the Beast," 12/5/2005). He went on to say some very kind things about Colombia, and to denote some positive experiences in the towns he traveled through. But the ...