Download This

To begin our honeymoon, we traveled to Mansfield, Massachusetts for the Download festival. The trip was not without its setbacks, but the show more than made up for those. After a brief stop at DeLorme headquarters, home to Eartha and 1,00os of maps, just not any of Fundy National Park, we were pulled by forces beyond us to Freeport.


For those who aren't familiar with Freeport, it is home to the L.L. Bean flagship store and a number of exquisite outlet stores, including North Face and Patagonia. After drooling over lots of equipment and apparel that we didn't really need, we picked up a dry sack for trash to use in the woods so that we could be sure to leave no trace, while not contaminating the rest of our gear with nastiness.

Back on the road, we made the mistake of thinking that Massachusetts had common sense and numbered its exits based on miles, not numerical order. So, thinking that we were making good time and only 30 miles from the venue we stopped at I.H.O.P. for a bite to eat. The food was delicious and arrived in no time, we even got our check when we got our food. We were sure that we'd be able to see Band of Horses and maybe even part of the opening band's set. I was fairly excited to Bang Camaro, a band that, in their words, took all of the good things (sing along choruses and guitar solos) about 80s metal and got rid of all the crap (lead singers and verses). Although we had our check and payment ready, it took over 30 minutes to pay for our meal. Back on the road and creeping towards the time that Band of Horses were to take the stage, we realized that we had 25 exits to go, not 25 miles.

We ended up making it to the venue just before Wolf Parade were to take the stage, we could here them doing their sound check. As we walked to what we thought was the entrance, we passed hundreds of people priming for the Guster show, and I was quickly reminded what it was about college and drinking that I hated. After walking some distance and past many people in event t-shirts we were greeted by others in event t-shirts who told us that we had to walk all the way around the parking lot and fenced in stage. (I want the convenience and facility fees, that doubled the ticket cost, back)


Upon arrival at the gate, the attendants scanned our tickets and directed us into the abyss that is the Tweeter Center. Once inside, we found our seats and didn't see or hear Wolf Parade. A little confused, we wondered around and eventually made it back outside, yet inside of the fenced in stage area. Wolf Parade were on stage and making things happen. Apparently they were not a big draw, as most people were still tailgating and throwing footballs. Despite the crowd's disinterest, Wolf Parade were awesome. They played mostly new/unreleased material and it was all really good, I'm excited for a new LP, as long as they can put their side projects away, long enough to record.

After a very energetic set, we followed the masses back inside, through throngs of "Ahoy Girls" passing out Old Spice samples and pinup girls posters (apparently Old Spice is trying to get on the Axe/Tag/Bod bandwagon), posters deriding the environmental effects of bottled water coupled with vendors selling $4 bottles of water, and an extra long line at the beer/mixed drink garden.


Back at our seats, we soon were treated to an amazing performance from Neko Case. Her voice is absolutely golden and the backing musicians were top-notch. Highlights were Neko's caws and when she played an acoustic guitar, sans pick guard, that I don't think will make through the end of the year. Unfortunately most people in attendance didn't have any idea who they were witnessing or, to be more precise, missing.


Once Neko cleared the stage it was time for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, surprisingly there still weren't a whole lot of people in attendance to Karen O and the boys. The YYYs have yet to let me down when they perform live. Brian was the most excited drummer I've ever seen. He had a smile from ear to ear for the entire show. Karen was as out of control as ever and I swear Nick stole the amps from Spinal Tap. As with Wolf Parade, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs played some really good new material.

The penultimate bad was the one, that we couldn't really care less about. It soon became evident, however, that Guster had sold a lot of the event's tickets. During their set, I took the opportunity to use the facilities and purchase an overcooked, underheated, and overpriced "soft" pretzel. Delicious. Looking back, I guess it was just preparation for the food on the trail. The guys in Guster are definitely good musicians, I just don't really get into the hippie jam bandy stuff, though I find it interesting that the greeks have an affinity for it. Guster closed their set with a blistering dance punk rendition of a classic that I recognized from the H.O.R.D.E. festival back in '98. Before they left the stage, the lead singer confessed his love for the fellow bands at the festival and shared that he had a poster of Johnny Marr, on his wall, in high school.


Finally, it was time for the headliners. Modest Mouse were marvelous. They used two drum kits and multiple instrument arrangements to create sheer bliss. Isaac even used two different mics, one with effects. My only gripe is that almost everything they played was from "Good News" or "We were Dead." They did open my eyes the banjo though, I never realized how awesome the banjo can be, until I saw Isaac shred on his. It was incredible to hear Isaac, speak, sing and growl. He is so soft spoken, but a real show man when he has his guitar or banjo and is singing and when we gets into a song, he's like a man possessed.

We're Married!!!!

OK, so more to come...but for now, we've tied the knot!

Stay tuned for photos and more!

Pre-Wedding Celebration

August 4th brought not only friends, but fun, excitement, and outdoor adventure. We were blessed to have a small group that was able to escape their hectic lives for the weekend, and so we felt it was only appropriate to expose them to our crazy antics!

We had a relaxed morning of hanging out at the house and catching up before hitting the road north to Acadia. It is an exciting thing to take 8 people on their first adventure to one of the most beautiful places I know.

Not wanting to hold back, we took took most of the crew up the Beehive Trail where clung to the sides of cliffs and looked anxiously for ladders where there was nothing else to hold onto. We made it to the top only to experience a breathtaking view of the Atlantic and the beach below where the rest of our crew was exploring.

After the cliffs made our hearts flutter, we settled on an easy jaunt to The Bowl, a pristine pond on top of the mountain. Surrounded by the woods and a big blue sky, everyone decided (OK, some decided, others fell to peer pressure...but the kind that doesn't have any negative repercussions) to take a little breather from hiking by jumping in and enjoying the nice cool playing around with Jimmy's waterproof camera, being startled by unexpected seaweed, and being chased by leaches (maybe they didn't really chase us, but unless you were up there, I guess I can describe the blood-sucking creatures however I choose).

We took the easy way down and attempted to dry off in the sun that miraculously disappeared as soon as we all jumped into the water. Making our way to the sandy beach and gathering the rest of our crew, we decided to make a stop at Thunder Hole. While it was pretty quiet while we were there, the Fire 2 crew did get a nice little splash while posing for the photo above.

Needing to refuel we made a trip into Bar Harbor. We had a simultaneous search for good food and lobster ice cream and succeeded at both. Between amazing seafood at Route 66 and Jimmy's conquest of lobster ice cream we were full beyond belief as we ventured back to our cars. On our way we discovered the joys of parking on side streets in an incredibly crowded town. One, it was very easy for us to find the cars, and two, we were not targeted by the skilled driver who managed to run into a parked car.

After inspecting our cars for nicks from other skilled drivers, we ventured to Pirate's Cove. If you ever come visit us, have us take you on this amazing mini-golf adventure. Seeing as it was only fair, the group split into a 5v5, boys versus women tournament. With Laura doing some amazing putting and making several hole-in-ones, we put up quite a fight. But, not wanting to hurt the egos of those males partaking, we let them win by a fair margin. It was a wonderful evening though and full of laughs.

The Getaway Plan

After a delayed beginning, our honeymoon will consist of three acts.

Act I

Our honeymoon will begin on August 18 at the Download Festival in Boston, Mass. At this show we will pay witness to some truly fabulous music including. but not limited to: Modest Mouse, Wolf Parade, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Neko Case and Band of Horses.

Act II

After being rocked by the amazing lineup at Download, we will be rocked by waves of the Atlantic as we pursue whales and puffins on a whale watching trip out of Bar Harbor.

Act III

Following our adventures on the high seas, we will head further north, to Fundy National Park, in New Brunswick. While we are there, we will forgo many of the amenities normally associated with honeymoons and embrace nature. We plan to do a little back country camping, canoing/kayaking and lots and lots of hiking.

Invitations, Vol. 2: Green Card

Since we are tree huggers and eco-conscious we decided to forgo traditional paper-laden invitations and create earth-friendly digital invitations to our pre-wedding celebration. So, here's the information in tree saving format:

The Story

While looking through past blog postings, I realized that I never actually told the story of how Chris proposed (and since I was just asked the other day, I figured I would share here as well). The story itself is kind of funny and completely resembles our lives.

It all started on Christmas Eve day when Chris and I were driving around Ogallala so that I could get a feel for where he grew up and hear some of the crazy stories about when he was younger. We went to Lake McConaughy, to the the park to look at eagles, to one of the numerous recreational areas, and then started making our way out to one of the beaches where he would run for cross country practice. On the trip to the beach we managed to get stuck in snow, hence his plan to propose was foiled. Granted, I did not know this at the time, (but even if he had asked while we were pushing the car I would have said yes).

His next plan was also foiled. When I moved to Maine in January he had plans of asking me after I arrived. However, in my excitement to see him again, I got into town a good number of hours earlier than he had expected me. While I can blame nature for Decembers events, I ruined his plans the second time around.

As the saying goes, the third time is the charm. Our one year anniversary was in January and so he had plans to ask me then. The only problem was it was my first day of work at a new job and he had to work late. So, while the plans were in the works, he decided not to wait any longer and allow our ever-changing lives to interfere again. On January 21 while we were talking he just went with the flow of conversation and asked me then and there. It was the perfect way to end the day and it was the best proposal I could imagine due the the sincerity of it all. It means much more to me than any big show of a proposal could have.

So there you have it, the story of how we got to where we are today (and of how our lives are crazy - even when we try to make plans!)

In the mail...or email as the case may be!

It's official. The invitations have gone out and R.S.V.P.s have been making their way to our email and voicemail over the past couple of weeks. If you have not received one, my deepest apologies, but we are trying to keep our wedding as small as possible. However, for that group of you who we have managed to keep in touch with after crazy years of service with AmeriCorps, keep an eye out for an email from us in the coming weeks as we want to celebrate with you as well! I'll get to that later though!

So, after getting a couple of questions from family about our invitations, I decided that maybe a little explanation was in order. First off, Chris and I decided that we didn't want to do the whole formal invitation thing as we aren't exactly the most formal people on earth. Plus, we want to have a day that is fun for everyone and though the invitations would get things started on the right foot. Secondly, we didn't want our invitations to just be another one that people looked at to get the date and never looked at again. Pretty much what happened next was Chris sat at his computer for hours on end while I played around online and checked out his progress on occasion. He created this wonderful masterpiece and I hit the order button online. I think it was an equal effort if ever there was one!

OK, back to the explanation part. Questions have come my way about the objects on our invites. I think the two of us is pretty self-explanatory. The rest of the pairs are too, for the most part. The running shoes represent how we spent much of our time when we first met (aside from training that is). We would finish a day of sitting inside by running a couple of miles around Perry Point. The wine and glasses speak for themselves, the bottle is from our first vacation together last summer. Our iPods come together with our love of music. The magazines are ones that we have been subscribing to and represent a bit of our individual personalities. The one that I have really gotten questions about are the stuffed animals. For those of you who were part of Class XII it probably makes a little more sense, but for the rest of you. The monkey is representative of my year with the Fire Monkeys (widely known as Fire 6). The goat is for Chris' team, the Dirty Dozen (or Fire 2) and their experiences in the sunny south with a goat that was pretty tough and became a mascot for the remainder of the year.

So, that's a little bit about us as what went into the invitations that got sent in the mail.

Now, for those of you that I told to keep an eye out for an email here's the deal. In our desire to celebrate with those of you who have had an impact on our lives over the past several years we decided to throw a party. So in the coming weeks Chris has plans of finalizing some pretty sweet digital invites and get them flying through cyberspace. (Plus, email is environmentally friendly!)

And now I leave you with hopes of seeing you this summer...