The End Has Come... and Gone!

Dear friends,

For those of you who were worried by our lack of blogging, we did make it home safe and sound. If anyone is still checking this, we have been very busy due to the beginning of the school year and it has taken us until now to give our final update on the last leg of the trip.

When we left off, we were on our way to Victoria, Vancouver Island, to visit Aaron's friend, Maria. Maria welcomed us with her trademarked exuberance and was a wonderful host. She treated us to gourmet breakfasts every day and, believing us to be avid hikers, proceeded to show us the beauty of her fair island on foot! Every day was spent outdoors enjoying the woods and the lakes and a lot of good food. Another thing about Maria is that, as she is quite outgoing and has an intellectual mind, she can draw a debate out of anyone! Aaron doesn't typically get into debating this or that about politics or theology (He usually stays hidden in the safety of his mind and judges others to himself ;) This fact is much to Jillian's chagrin; she loves to play Devil's Advocate; He'd rather not go there...) Nevertheless, the majority of the four days we spent together we were involved with arguing the finer points of justice/violence/roles of the Christian in government/the Israel-Palestine conflict/Zionism/pacifism/cultural and racial reconciliation/even the spiritual messages coming out of Hollywood as of late. We had a great time!

Enter pictures:

Next we went to Seattle and visited our friends from college, Megan and Hannah. We spent time downtown, seeing Pike's Place Market, the original Starbucks, and other sights. It was a lot of fun to visit with Wheaton friends. Jillian and Hannah even got to help with the preparations for Laura Wilcox's bridal shower! Aaron made himself scarce...

We went to church and relaxed at a park, playing a few hours (yes you read that right--hours) of that "ha ha" game where you put your head on the other person's stomach and have to say "ha" without laughing. Maybe some of you know what I'm talking about. The rest will just think we're weird.

The Bubblegum Wall in Seattle

The "Ha" Game

After Seattle, we began the long but scenic drive to Montana, stopping at a wayside convenience store/bar that houses more than 50,000 silver dollars, including one dedicated to Grandma Joanna and Aaron's cousin Ashley. Our destination was Bozeman, where long-time family friends, the Hogues, hosted us. We enjoyed talking with them and taking an evening hike up a mountain to see the city. The next day we set out for Yellowstone National Park, but not until reading the newspaper headlines about a killer bear who had attacked campers in the park who were asleep in their beds. So with fear and trepidation, we drove into Yellowstone. That day we hiked around Lake Jenny at Grand Teton National Park (just south of Yellowstone) and had burgers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Then we spent our last night of camping together! Having survived the night with no bear sightings, we explored the painted pots and geysers of Yellowstone and waited with hundreds of others to see Old Faithful erupt, right on time. Then we drove back up to Bozeman and saw the Hogues' new property, where a small herd of elegant horses came to greet us in the midst of the surrounding mountains. We had truly gotten the Montana experience.

On that note, we made our final long drive to North Dakota, where we had a short but sweet stay with Great Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Roger. We ate homemade pizza, had good conversations, saw Uncle Roger's gun collection, and Jillian got to sing with Aunt Sylvia in the church choir the next day. On the way out we got to visit with Great Uncle Charles and his family in Fargo. They gave us a delicious lunch, and we even snuck out before Josh made us pay for it!

Our road trip came to a close at Aaron's family's house in Wisconsin. Our time there was packed with a birthday dinner, bonfire at Ben and Abby's, volleyball club, episodes of the Bachelorette (Aaron would like to think he made himself scarce), getting ready for Kyle's graduation party and a leisurely riverboat cruise down the St. Croix with Scott's safety engineer friends. Unfortunately, Jillian had to fly back to Connecticut earlier than planned due to the death of a family friend, Larry McCurdy. Aaron stayed in Wisconsin, gaining fame by winning the longest underwater swimming competition at the Fosterling's pool party. He went on to camp in Michigan with Wheaton friends Colin, Harrison, Matt Higashi and Matt Jantzen. Finally, after ten days apart (after seven weeks of constantly being together!) Aaron drove home and we were reunited once more!

Well, after ten thousand miles and two months of driving, we made it around the country! America is pretty cool. We hope you've enjoyed our sporadic blog. Stay tuned for more of A&J's future adventures! Thanks for reading!

- A & J