Thursday, October 27, 2011

The Great Northwest


vintage postcard of Highway 101 in California 
No more boring, harvest related posts for this gal...
Now that I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel (we will be done with harvest by Monday *fingers crossed*), I can finally discuss exactly how much I am looking forward to November.. Our November will be busy, busy, busy but only in good ways....

Here's the breakdown (chronologically, of course):
  • Chris & I will be making a trek south to Louisville, Kentucky to attend the North American International Livestock Exposistion (or N.A.I.L.E.). As I've mentioned before, we raise purebred Hereford cattle (ya know, the pretty red ones with white faces). NAILE is a national livestock show (i.e. breeders from around the country select their best animals, give them baths, haircuts, & blowouts and lead them into a ring where they are lined up with peers their own age and judged on their beauty... Ya..  in Lehman's terms its pretty much a beauty contest for cows. We will be exhibiting our gals Izzie & a calf we own with another breeder, Trisha.. 

Me, Samantha, & my sister Jenna in front of our playhouse
  • One of my besties, Samantha, is finally turning 21!!!!! Sam grew up across the ally from my sister & I in our hometown of 200.. We pretty much all grew up like sisters playing hide and seek with the neighborhood kids with the entire town as our playground (perimeter of town was 1 mi), doing cartwheels, laying out in our preteen bikinis on Sam's picnic table drinking kool-aid & eating grilled cheese sandwiches.. I'm already doing research on kool-aid flavored "adult beverages" for her inaugural night
  • I will be moving on to the ripe-old-age of 25 on the 20th.. I've always loved the date of my birthday due to its close proximity to my fave holiday, THANKSGIVING.
  • Sometime soon, we will be booking a one-way flight to California to meet our new niece!!!!!!!! I just received the personalized onesie I ordered for her off of Etsy and sat there in awe of how tiny the little trinket actually was.. Little toes, little fingers, little eyes, little smiles... lets just say I'm pretty excited to be a tiny somebody's auntie.. 

  • One-way ticket to California, you ask? Yep.. Why? Because my husband is amazing.. A couple of days ago, during some down time that I didn't have to be cooped up in my tractor, I rode along with Chris in the cab of his combine and he did something.. One of the things I love MOST about him.. He proposed an aimless, surprise adventure. The kind of adventure that always yields our favorite memories.. We were talking about our California visit and I had mentioned staying a couple extra days to get a hotel room and just meander around San Francisco. He agreed and then countered with another proposition.. "What if we just rented a car and drove to Seattle along the coast?"                                                                                                                                         We found really, REALLY cheap airfare one-way from Chicago to San Fran and even cheaper airfare to fly from Seattle back to Chicago.. Driving along Pacific Coast Highway from San Fran northward has been one of my major travel dreams for a long, long time. Even though its like an 800 mile trip by car, I still look forward to every mile... We're going to stretch it out over 4 days or so..I love driving long distances with Chris. There's hardly ever an agenda.. we just go where we please, stop where we want, listening to great music and laughing 


11 comments:

  1. Definitely hit up the original Starbucks in Seattle! :)

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  2. Ah you will love being an auntie! It's the best! :) I love that you are making kool-aid and aduld bevies! :)

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  3. Loooove that playhouse! I always wanted one when I was little... I'm kinda jealous...! :]

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  4. It was a lot of fun growing up with one.. My grandpa, great uncle, and dad built it for us :)

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  5. sounds like the most lovely trip! i looove california!

    and happy almost 25! i also turn 25 the first part of december!

    xoxo

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  6. I'm sooo excited :) Thanks, Nicole! If you are anything like me, time has flown since I graduated high school

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  7. wow! it sounds like you have a lot ahead! how fun! i have driven with my family from sd to seattle. it was beautiful, especially oregon. i love seattle though. great city. i loved the underground tour and the market. have fun!

    Lindsay

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  8. sounds like its going to be a fun adventure :)

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  9. I honestly stopped once I started reading about the cattle. That is EXACTLY what my parents used to do (you know, back in the '70s when they were actually married). My mom really liked going to the cattle shows, and they had a bull, George, who was incredibly loving. They used to show him; he made them quite a bit of money.

    Anyway, your traveling sounds amazing; my boyfriend and I love to do it as well! We definitely want to do Route 66. And Highway 101? GORGEOUS.

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  10. Thanks for all the lively comments, ladies :) Dawn-that is so awesome that you knew what I was talking about! I wasn't quite sure how to explain it so that anybody who had never been to a farm/livestock show would be able to comprehend it! That is so cool that your parents used to do it too.

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