Whew!

Happy Holidays to everyone! Paul and I have been so busy with everything, and there is just so much to share I do not know where to start. How about I start with the fact that I think it has been about three months since my last posting. Sorry! So, I guess the best place to start is the beginning.

As you may or may not know I got a job as a receptionist at Minuteman Jet Center. It is a Fixed Based Operation located at the Missoula "International" Airport. (I use international in quotations because there are actually no international flights, unless you count Canada...but I feel like that is a stretch.) We fuel planes, charter flights, offer pilot lessons, I pretty much cater to the rich. Blah Blah Blah!

Paul's career search in Missoula has been a slow time coming, but I think he finally found his star in the sky. After two short stints working at a chain book store and then at a local software company, he landed his dream job as a Tours Specialist in the Guided Tours Department at Adventure Cycling Association. Needless to say I am super jealous of his awesome job out here. Headquartered here in Missoula, Adventure Cycling is a national non-profit organization that promotes bicycle travel here in the United States and throughout the world. He is excited to be back in a non-profit environment and will be helping ACA's members register, plan and prepare for guided bicycling tours around the US - from small, week-long sampler tours to full on, multiple-month, cross-country expeditions. Besides the obvious perks of a full-time position, Paul is happy to be working with such a rad group of people there, all of whom share his passion for bikes and the outdoors. We're hoping to take advantage of their travel offerings and do a small bicycle tour of our own sometime next year.

Paul and I have also been doing a lot of hiking. Well before all the snow hit the ground. In early November we both participated in the Leave No Trace Trainers Workshop here in Missoula in the Rattlesnake Wilderness. Leave No Trace is a non-profit organization that helps to educate the world in leaving the least amount of impact as possible on the environment while camping and spending time in the outdoors. For example, you can use any of the seven Leave No Trace Principles doing any number of outdoor activities not just backpacking. Paul can even use them in his bike tours while camping and enjoying the outdoors.


We have also celebrated two holidays out here in Missoula. Our friends Johnny and Marcie have been more than wonderful in allowing us to celebrate with them. For Halloween, Marcie and I made a meatloaf in the shape of a bloody zombie hand. We also had Swamp Water Mojitos, Potatoes A Gratin, and some wonderful soup made by a friend. We also made masks in the idea of saving money and not buying costumes. It was such a fun idea. I will hopefully try to post some pictures up shortly, but some may be inappropriate due to a good friend's creativity.

Thanksgiving was also spend at Marcie and Johnny's house. I made my first cheesecake which turned out delicious! It was a pumpkin and bourbon cheesecake. Marcie made a ruhbarb tart, and we had cranberries, mash potatoes, cauliflower gratin, turkey (obviously), and so much more. It was a feast fit for a king. And King Author's royal court could haven eaten all the food! Needless to say it was one of my favorite Thanksgivings to date. While Paul and I did miss our families deeply over the holiday we were thankful to be around such wonderful people. It even snowed!

Well, I guess that is all for now. I promise to keep more up to date with my blog. I plan on making that a New Year's Resolution! I will post pictures shortly.

A Work in Progress

I know that we have not been updating as we should, but to tell you the truth things are moving a bit slowly here in Missoula, Montana. Paul, Chica and I have settled into our apartment pretty nicely. We know own four pieces of furniture; a futon/bed, a dining room table with four chairs, and a coffee table with two matching side tables. However, the place is pretty big (we have an extra room that we are going to turn into the office/guest room so when you all come to visit you will have a place to stay) and it is starting to feel more and more like home.

Paul recently spent 7 days out in Yellowstone National Park on a 6 day backpacking trip with his friend Johnny Fink. He had a great time despite the fact that he came back with blisters all over his feet. Marcie (Johnny Fink's wonderful girlfriend and now my second friend in Missoula) invited me to her lake house on Crane Ferry Lake right outside of Helena. It was beautiful, she also taught me how to refinish furniture. That skill should come in handy since we are getting most of our furniture from yard sales and thrift stores.

Paul's birthday was Labor Day. Since that was the day after he came back from his epic hiking trip in Yellowstone, he spent most of his day in bed. I however, spent the day in the kitchen making him food and his favorite cookies, Snicker Doodles. Which by the way are a bit misleading. I had never eaten a Snicker Doodle, and I thought (because of the name) they were similar to chocolate chip cookies, but instead of chocolate chips I would use Snicker pieces. That is not what they are at all. Instead they are more like a sugar cookie with a sugar/cinnamon coating. We also planned on going to a couple local breweries that day, but because of the holiday they were closed. So, I took it upon myself to go out and get a nice selection of local beer so that we could have a tasting here at home.

The job search is going a bit slow. However, Paul and I were both called in this week for second interviews. Fingers crossed that at least one of these opportunities works out for us. We will keep you updated on that once we hear something.

Sorry, that I did not have much to report on this post, but as I said in the beginning things have been moving rather slow lately. Hopefully it will pick up once we get jobs and get a little more settled.

A Long Time Coming

Since you last heard from us, Paul and I were on our way to Glacier National Park in Montana.  Since then we visited Glacier, Flathead Lake, and made it to Missoula.  Sorry for the delay in a blog response, but we have been busy bees trying to start our new life here in Missoula.

We made it to Glacier early in the afternoon one day.  When we got there all the camp sites were full, so we went and camped for a night at a KOA right outside the park.  It was an interesting time for the town of St. Mary's when we visited.  At the time there were three escaped convicts "supposedly" roaming around Glacier on their way to Canada.  One lady even told us that there were five sightings of one of them at a motorcycle bar in town.  That lady and her husband "slept with their rifles loaded" that night.  However, we did not have any problems.

Our first day we set out on the famous Going to the Sun road in Glacier.  We made it about half way before we decided to turn around and go eat dinner back at camp.  The next day we started off again on the Going to the Sun road.  My favorite part of Glacier was Logan's Pass.  I got to do a small half mile hike up the mountain while Chica and Paul waited for me at the bottom.  I wish I could have continued, but Paul and I are already planning a hiking trip in the future to Glacier without Chica (she isn't allowed on any of the trails.)

Later that day we decided to make it down to Flathead Lake.  The largest fresh water lake that side of the Mississippi.  We stayed at a state park on Flathead for 2 nights.  We got to go hiking in the park and in Flathead National Forest since dogs are allowed on those hiking trails.  We even saw a small baby black bear on one of the hikes.  

After Flathead, we finally made it to Missoula.  Thank you so much to our new friends Josh and Niki for allowing us to stay in their extra room, and introducing us to all their friends.  Missoula is a great town.  We had a little bit of problems finding an apartment, but we finally make a deposit on a small 1 1/2 bedroom basement apartment.  It is nice and a good deal.  Our landlord and her child live above, and we share a yard with her dog and her chickens.  

This weekend is Total Fest.  A three day festival featuring local bands as well as a few out of town bands.  Thursday night was the kick off at the Missoula Museum of Art with Japanther.  Friday we went tubing down the Blackfoot River with some old and new friends here in  Missoula.  Tonight we are going to a cook out before heading off for the last bunch of bands later in the evening.  I am looking forward to seeing Deranged Diction (one of the members of Pearl Jam is in this band.)  

Finally, here are some pictures from the last part of our trip.  We will update our blog again shortly now that we have a reliable internet connection.

We made it to Montana!

It's been exactly a week since our last update. Tonight we're in a hotel in Great Falls, Montana, with our first internet access since our cabin stay in Minnesota.

Last Tuesday morning, Ginger and Clark picked us up at Nelson's Resort on Crane Lake and took us by boat across the US/Canadian border to the island on David Lake to meet up with Kara and Ginna. We spent the next three days swimming, boating, fishing, and exploring the nearby lakes, islands and portages. Thank you to Ginger, Clark, Ginna, and Kara for allowing us to experience such a lovely three days. I hope that we will be invited to visit again.

On Friday morning, we all took the boat back to Nelson's and said our goodbyes, and we were off on our next journey to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota.  Our drive took us through scenic northern Minnesota before stopping in Fargo, ND for a night's sleep at Motel 6. Fargo however, will always be remembered as the place were Paul ate at his first Hooters. We even have the receipt as evidence.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park was named after our 26th President in honor of contribution to the development of our park system. The area of the park we visited was the southern unit of the North Dakota Badlands. They are located near this cheesy cowboy town called Medora. I do not recommend visiting Medora, however the park was beautiful! While exploring the park we got see the amazing buttes (not pronounced butts, Mom) and grassland, not to mention the numerous bison, wild horses, prairie dogs, a white tail deer, and Paul and Chica had a close encounter with a prairie rattlesnake. This morning while Paul was brushing his teeth, a buffalo walked right through the camp site. He was just going for a stroll looking for somewhere to get cool.

After the buffalo encounter, we jumped in the car and hit the road for a grueling yet beautiful drive across eastern and central Montana. This is also where we experienced our first car problem... one of our rear tires blew out. However, we were lucky because we just so happened to be about a mile from the only town for miles, Circle, Montana. Here a nice man at a Sinclair gas station replaced our tire, checked our fluids, and sent us on our way.

Tomorrow we'll head to Glacier National Park for a few days to cap off our journey before heading down to our new home in Missoula. It is a little weird to think of that right about now. For the past 27 years I have always lived in Virginia, so saying Montana will take some getting use to. It was only recently did I realize I have a new answer to this question.

Finally, we'd like to wish Paul's Uncle Randy a speedy recovery. We know this has been a very trying time for his family and loved ones. He is in our thoughts and we wish him all the best.

Here are some photos from the past week:

Land of 10,000 Lakes

After an exhausting day of driving, Paul and I are laying in bed in a cabin on Crane Lake in northern Minnesota. We have this amazing cabin to ourselves for the night (thanks Ginger and Clark!) and the view is absolutely amazing! I can not believe that we are really here.

We already told you about our last crazy day of driving, which left us off just south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Yesterday we took an easy day and spent the afternoon in Milwaukee which was beautiful.  If you ever have a chance to visit you should. The city was so clean and it is right on Lake Michigan which we spent most of the day walking along side. Then we went to this cute little restaurant, Palomino in the Bayview area of town. They have vegan, vegetarian, and meat options. We both got hamburgers, and they may have been the best we have ever eaten! The burgers were made with local Wisconsin beef and local Wisconsin cheese, and trust me, you can tell a difference in the taste.

After our yummy lunch at Palomino, we drove the two hours up to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with a quick stop at REI for some dorky water shoes for our lake travel and other upcoming adventures (thanks VisArts staff for the gift card!). We spent the night in Oshkosh with our great new friends Adam and Carrie who showed us around their cute little town like true Wisconsinites. We stopped at Lake Winnebago to stretch our legs before heading back to their house for delicious vegan dinner. Then we played an awesome board game called "Small World" before passing out on their living room floor.

Today we woke up early and drove ten hours all the way up to the top of Minnesota. We didn't quite make it in time to get through the Canadian customs, which closed at 7, however Ginger and Clark set us up with a cabin for the night. After a great fish dinner at the lodge, we took Chica on a walk around the camp and are now relaxing in bed, catching up on email and charging our i-things. Tomorrow morning we'll head to an island to spend the next couple days fishing, canoeing, and just relaxing.

Until next time, here are some photos from the last couple of days...

Five states in one day!

Today was our first big day of driving. We went through West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and now we are in Wisconsin, Racine, Wisconsin to be exact.  Originally our plan was to stop at this State Park right outside of Indianapolis, but we decided to keep driving to Gary, Indiana to another state park.  However, the park in Gary, Indiana seemed to be a little weird so we tried to go to Chicago.  Chicago however, ended up to be a bust, and so we kept on truckin' all the way up to Racine, Wisconsin. We decided to stay at a nice hotel La Quinta in Racine.  The room was kinda pricey, but they are dog friendly and will let Chica stay here with no additional charge. Tomorrow we plan on going up Milwaukee and hopefully maybe going to a brewery (we want to try and check PBR for all you Richmond folk out there.)  Here are also some pictures from the last couple of days that we promised you last time. Poor Chica has to deal with sleeping in the back with everything, but she is a good sport and deals with it.

Gap Mills, West Virginia

I know it has been a while since we posted anything, but it has been a busy couple of weeks.  The yard sale was a huge success!!!! Thank you to everyone that came out, hung out, bought our stuff, drank our lemonade, and ate our muffins.  We also sold both our cars and bought a used Subaru Outback Station Wagon for the drive out west.  Plus it has all wheel drive so that we can get through all that snow we are going to encounter in Montana.  The cookout was a lot of fun.  It was nice seeing everyone before we left, thank you to all our friends and family that came out and shared this special time with us.

Well, we made it through the first day of our trip with no drama...well almost no drama.  There was a huge storm that we drove through and we had to pull over at a rest stop to wait it out, but no harm and our bikes made it through.  We are currently in Gap Mills, West Virginia on Evie's farm.  It is absolutely gorgeous out here.  We will be heading out around dinner time to Charleston, West Virginia to spend the night with Paul's Granddad.  We will post some pictures when we get a better connection.

Yard Sale!

Paul and I are having a yard sale on Saturday July 17th, to sell all the stuff that won't fit in the car! We will be out as early as 7:30 in the morning and plan on going until all the stuff is gone, even if that means we have to go into Sunday! So come out to 710 Holly St. in Oregon Hill and say what's up and check it out.   Oh my gosh! It's real, this yard sale is a huge reality that we are leaving.  AHHH!!!! SO EXCITING!

The Adventure

Paul and I mapped out our route to our new home!  We are taking about two weeks to drive out west visiting family and friends along the way.  Here are some pictures of us and our itinerary for the trip.

Here is a link to a map of where we will be going and some stops along the way.

This is our itinerary:
July 29: Our Journey Begins and we Depart from Richmond, VA
-We will drive to Gap Mills, WV and then move onto Charleston, WV visiting Paul's Grandparents
July 30: Leave Charleston, WV
July 30 - August 1: Chicago, IL
August 1-August 4: Minnesota/Canada, hanging with Paul's Dad and Ginger
August 5 - August 8: Badlands of North Dakota @ Theodore Roosevelt National Park
August 8 - August 9: Limbo, we plan on camping and hanging out in Lewis and Clark National Forest
August 10 - August 13: Glacier National Park (in Montana)
August 13 - August 15: Flathead Lake
August 16: ARRIVE IN MISSOULA!

Here are also some pictures of us planning and mapping our trip...

The First One

It was in May when Paul and I decided that we wanted to move outside of Richmond.  We were at a bar and I turned to him and blurted out, "I wanna move," and he said OK.  At first I thought I wanted to move to New Orleans and help with the post Katrina clean-up, so we wrote a contract out on a bar napkin that said,"I Jeffrey Paul Hansbarger and I Jessica Dawn Noe promise one another that we will move to New Orleans, Louisiana on August 1, 2010."  It was not until June when Paul and I decided that we were going to go to Montana.

When I tell people we are moving to Montana their first response usually is,"Why Montana?"  If you know anything about Paul you have heard his obsession with the word "Mon" and all things that are "Mon" related.  So, naturally the funny response is because it is MON-tana.  But, in all seriousness that is not the reason why.  Paul had always talked about moving out west, even before we met he signed up to do Americorps in Montana, but never went through with it (mainly because he met me).  So, one night when we were talking about New Orleans he just brought up Missoula.  I had no objections to Montana, I had gone out there when I went to Yellowstone, so I knew it was a beautiful state.  However, I was nervous because I still wanted to be around people, and I was scared that we were going to be woods people, and I felt like I am still too young to retire into the wilderness.  It was not until I talked to my dad that he told me Missoula was a small college town.  My dad had gone through Missoula on a fly fishing trip, and said it was like a small city.

Missoula, Montana is actually a city inside of Missoula County with the population of about 65,000 people.  It is the location of the largest media market in the state, and has the International Missoula Airport, so you can fly in and out of the town.  It was also ranked number 10 in CNNMoney's list of best places to launch a small business.  Missoula is also home to the University of Montana.  Paul and I always said we both wanted to go back to school, and the UMT has both wild life conservation for Paul, and a special education degree for me.  So, Missoula, Montana was the perfect compromise.