Road Trip, Seattle to Salt Lake City

After packing up all our belongings (or selling them, namely our cars) in Seattle, cleaning our rooms and stuffing it all in a 16 foot budget truck (actually we really didn't even have to stack anything, the truck was WAY too big.)

We headed off down the road for Utah on a somewhat meandering path. With me at the wheel (Leah was too young to drive the rental) we headed for our first stop - Eugene, Oregon where we stayed the night with Billie (my little sister) and Cole (her boyfriend.) It had been a little while and was great to catch up with them.


The next day after sorting out some logistics and an awesome brunch that Billie cooked up we headed off to meet up with Carol, my cousin, in Bend Oregon (we forgot to get some pictures, darnit).

We stayed the night with Carol after catching up and headed off the next morning for our longest haul of the journey. Our next stop was Given's Hotsprings in Given's Hotsprings Idaho.
On our way to Given's, in the middle of nowhere (that pretty much describes the whole drive, we opted for the off-interstate route, very glad we did, much prettier, not to mention our savings in gas milage) we came across a tree the likes of which we had never seen before! As approached it from a distance I looked at it and said, "What kind of tree do you suppose that is, Leah?" Well, it turns out it was a shoe tree! After Leah made her contribution and I tried on a pair of cowboy boots (didn't fit, damn!) we continued on to Given's where we had a refreshing soak in a 20 year old concrete tub before we headed off to yet another family member's house for our final night on the road.

This time we were headed to my Dad's cousin on his mom's side,
Brent. Brent lives in Oakley, Idaho. I have some fond memories of Brent and river rafting in Idaho. So, after we arrived and met his wife, Shanice, and step daughter, Tia ( married less than a year) we did the usual, yep you guessed it, we caught up and told stories and spent the night (forgot to take pictures again). In the morning we headed off for Kamas, Utah where we met up with my Dad and emptied out the truck.
-David

Seattle going away party

Our going away party was AWESOME! For the venue we chose the Eastlake Zoo Tavern. It was only our second time there, but we were treated like regulars by the owner, Howard. He is a great guy, if you get a chance go in there, have a beer play some pool, shuffle board or darts, but bring CASH!

We had a great turn out. There was family, people from work, college, triathlon team, and other various connections. It was a great night of laughing, talking, describing out trip over and over (congratulations, you're the 1000th participant, you win!) I don't remember any tears though...

We have some pictures posted on flickr, they do a great job of telling the story of the night, just click the link below
Going away party photos

David's unemployment experience

I've been unemployed for one week now. Friday, Nov 2 was my last day at KPFF Special Projects Division. Working there has been a great experience. I started there in March 2006 as an intern.

I have learned a lot working there, not just about engineering but about:

• working
• workplace dynamics
• interacting with coworkers
• deadlines
• slow days
• water cooler conversations
• commuting (by bike)
• managers (good ones only, luckily)
• the 2:30 pm droopy eyes
  
• teamwork
• working for government agencies (I know you have this all designed already, but lets try this...)
• Happy hour after work
  
• Rubber band attacks
• Reply-all emails (fortunately nothing disastrous)
• Sneaking up and scaring coworkers
  

I can honestly say that I have really enjoyed all of my coworkers, which feels great to say. I have also enjoyed engineering. It is challenging, interesting, and sometimes (don't tell anyone else) fun. I'm really glad that I chose civil engineering for my degree. I don't know if it is something that I will always do, but i feel like could be a great springboard into anything else I would like to do in the future.

But for now, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to enjoy my time while unemployed!!!

Leah Stewart, (unemployed) RN

Well, it's official, I am currently unemployed. My last day was yesterday and I already feel like a different person. I am divorced from the 6NE family and don't have anything I HAVE TO do anymore. Weird. It's a lot more sad than I thought it would be. It sort of feels like I'm jumping ship and leaving my coworkers to fight off the pirating IVDAs and asshole residents from taking down our ship that is 6NE. Riiight...as if I was the single person staving off the ship from sinking. I guess I like to feel important sometimes, especially now when I am unemployed and SO unimportant. Whatever, what it comes down to is that I love my coworkers and will miss them a lot. Especially now that I'm going to be on David overload...always. So anyway, the next three days involve packing like a mad man (or shall I say packing like a mad-Leah) and moving all of my worldly belongings to Dave's Dad's house in Utah. I'm selling my car tomorrow and partying hard this weekend so that I can sleep well in the car while David drives us to Utah :). Oh and in the meantime I'm also turning 24. Life is good. ---Leah