JP Livin!

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~Charles Dickens

Ahhhhh. Calendar Spring has arrived and carried Paige and I out of our late winter, blog hibernation. In the Northern Rockies the first few weeks, or even couple months, of "official" Spring is a period of waxing and waning in which Mother Nature and Old Man Winter attempt to continue their, all too old, four month relationship. Brief periods of separation lead to patches of sunny skies, rising temps, and melting snow, lending a hope of the season to come. These separations don't last long though and before too much morale is built the two powerful world shapers reunite and provide us with the fruits of their love, more snow and cold. Ahhh, or nahhhh. As daunting as this back and forth can be, subtle signs of the longer days and warmer nights are all around, reminding us the growing season, physically, naturally, and spiritually has begun.
We are kicking off our season in the finest fashion we know...road trip! This coming Friday Paige and I are loading up the Pilot with everything we need for five days of boot scootin, and heading west to Bend and beyond. Along the way we will stop in Kenniwick, Washington to take part in the second Badger Mountain Challenge. I will be running in the 50k and Paige Ford makes her return to the competitive NW running scene by tackling the 15k. It should be a good time and we are both excited to stretch our legs and enjoy a day on the dirt. After we flush our legs on the rolling hills we will turn SW and land in Bend, Oregon. Our trip to Bend has multiple motivations and we eagerly anticipate catching the "vibe" of this hip Oregon town, that may, or may not be a large part of our futures. Undoubtedly, the most enjoyable time of the trip will be the days spent in Sun River with the Ford Clan(minus the too cool for school, Mexican trippers)(just jealous). These are things we hope for our trip; safe travel, cheaper gas, good food, reggae music, tropical drinks, SUN, dry weather, tennis, golf, lounging, running, hiking, biking, acquainting, reuniting, jamming, dancing, starry nights, laughs, gin and tonics, micro brewed beer, short sleeves, sunglasses, red meat, pitch, Yahtzee, and most importantly, the unexpected!

Two months is too much reflection for one blog post so I will leave you with a pictorial track of our late winter happenings.