Cottonwood Hot Springs - Colorado

I'm sure he's having a great time..the water's boiling, that's all.

Jon and I went by Cottonwood Hot Springs in Colorado a few months ago and it was such a neat place. I'd never been to anything like that before and it was immensely relaxing and enjoyable. We arrived at about 6 or 7pm, left a while later for dinner, and came back at night to watch the sky and hopefully see some stars. The place was open until midnight which I thought was awesome. We didn't stay late enough at the springs to see a sky full of stars but we did eventually get to see a night sky FILLED with stars at 3am while camping on a mountainside. I'd heard about these so-called night skies filled with glittering stars touching end-to-end but had never witnessed it until then. I'm from the city so I'd never seen such a phenomenon of stars; it was incredible. I wish I'd had all my friends and family around to experience it together. So great.

Yowzers. That really was some of the hottest water I'd ever been in. Maybe it wasn't really water. Maybe it was really fire. Add a couple of carrots and potatoes. I mean, it was cookin'!

Just a long shot so you can see the basic layout of the place. I believe they had a total of 5 pools with temperatures varying from fire-hot to cold (which is why no one's in the front-most pool pictured here. Everyone's in the back getting some heat therapy...)

This is a shot I took from the pool. It's not the most gorgeous shot taken while in Colorado but it is the one taken while at the hot springs and I wanted to use it instead of some other really pretty shots taken elsewhere.

So I was laying on my back against some flat rocks in the medium-hot pool looking up at the sky feeling completely relaxed. Jon was in the fire-hot pool so here I was, alone with my thoughts. It was just me, the sky, and the warm water. It was so peaceful. No cares, no worries about our roadtrip (since at the time we were en-route to our new residence in Washington from Texas), no thoughts of family. Nothing. It was just me...and...God? All of a sudden I felt so close to nature and God. All God. No words to speak. Just...God. My mind tried to make words out of what I was experiencing, tried to give thanks, tried to speak of the world as it was at that moment for me. But there was nothing. Just the sky, and the water, and God revealing His mighty presence to me. Jon's always told me how he feels infinitely close to God in the midst of nature and I never really truly understood what he meant until then. All of a sudden God and nature were real and close, I could've touched the sky and God with my finger, but I just lay there, caught up in the greatness of it all.

I'd seen many beautiful places before, but there was just something about that particular moment. I listened to a sermon this morning about a pastor who'd stayed in a ridiculously gorgeous 5-star hotel next to the ocean with manicured lawns, landscapes, and pools so beautiful it was like paradise on earth. The pastor went on to explain that we were made to experience beauty and enjoy the splendor of the earth. That was the way God intended it to be. He gave us nature to enjoy. I mean, think of Adam and Eve and the paradise that was the Garden of Eden before things went awry. Though we live in a crazy, chaotic world that went down the wrong path, there are still instinctive things within us that recognize what we were originally meant for. That's why moments like the one I experienced at the hot springs are so memorable. Those experiences stick out for a reason. We were made for greater things. And one of these days we'll experience it in heaven.

Black eyes are great.

Alright. So here's the deal. Last Tuesday afternoon (7/31/07) I was standing on the hood of my Altima in the garage trying to hoist myself into the attic in hopes of finding a plastic mattress cover. Why the mattress cover you ask? I'll tell you why. Because I had 2 relatives coming late that night (2am to be exact) and with them came little Lexi who's been known to wet the bed.

I'd found out earlier that the step ladder wasn't going to do it. So after jumping up and down from the hood of my car to no avail and finding myself dangling dangerously from the tiny attic opening several feet above the car hood (a last attempt to hoist myself up into the dark hole proved futile since it required the equivalent to a chin up and my arm strength just isn't there yet) I finally borrowed a ladder from the leasing office since that last "dangling, flailing leg thing" scared me just a bit and made me think, "Hmm...I just might break something. I don't think this is good..."

So where did that sweet undereye bruise come from?...Well, I'll tell you where it came from. The leasing manager lady's last words to me as I left the office with a giant ladder tucked under my arm were, "Don't hurt yourself!"

"I'll try not to!" We both giggled & laughed as I went on my merry way.
Good 'ole Altima was in the way of the ladder so I got in the car, backed it up a bit, and got out of the car, ready to get this show on the road and get that stupid mattress cover.

So. Did I fall off the ladder?
No.
Of course not.
That would be completely typical.

What I did was get out of the car and
BAM!
Rammed my FACE right into Jon's stupid mountain bike hanging upside down from the ceiling right next to the driver's side door.
-Thanks a lot-
Needless to say, my "natural" reflex took over. My right hand instinctively flew to my right eye as it scrunched up complete with an "AH!! S**T!!"
It hurt.
It stung.
It hurt and stung.
The first thing I thought was, "I'm gonna get a black eye."
And if I was gonna get a black eye, it'd better be a good one. What's the use of having one if you're not gonna go all out? I'm talkin' black and green crater all around the eye socket and into the cheek.
But noooo.
So all that for this teeny little football player undereye stripe.
And yes, I got the darn mattress cover.
And yes, Lexi did pee on the bed.
----
Above names have been changed

Northwest Skies

I must admit the clouds here are spectacular and we do see a lot of colorful sunsets from our townhome's living room window and deck. Pretty lucky to get the spot we did at the the tallest point in the complex and to have such a view in the back.
Although...I keep hearing about a time when every day is rain, rain, rain...
I guess no more sunsets then, huh? ...looking forward to that....

Texas

Yeah right. I wish. One of these days I will.

Although....this was actually shot on a plane going from Portland's PDX to Dallas/Ft. Worth's DFW Airport back when Jon and I were looking for a place to live in our transition from good 'ole Texas to the Vancouver, WA/Portland, OR area. Two completely different worlds...

Meghan's Place - June 2007

Gorgeous gorgeous. My favorite shot from this series. Love the Elmo. He brings out the red pillow on the left & complements the green. The triangular composition is really nice too--and that missing #6. Love it.

Wish everyone could see and feel that bedspread up close. Light, soft, and airy. Really pretty, too. Definitely wouldn't mind having one.

Reminiscent of and better than my last kitchen picture from a few years ago (never posted). Bothers me that I cut off the edge of the sink. Ah well.

This was really cool. Wish I could've captured what it looked like in real life. Couldn't quite get it though.

I love Meghan's desk area. That name plate is awesome. I should've moved the chair over to the right, probably would've looked more balanced that way. Oh well, live and learn.

What gorgeous purses! I didn't know you had so many unique bags!

The sun was pretty much hidden for much of the shoot but towards the end some glorious late afternoon sun shone through and I just had to capture the room as it was all aglow with the golden light.

Thanks so much for letting me photograph your unique room! and thanks for cooking the always delicious white shells and cheddar. Um, so good....

Angie and Derek - June 2007

Hot.

Hot.

Hot.
...and a few others....

hotties.

Derek's Room

Keene, Texas, June 2007

Las Vegas-May 2007

Jon and I went to Las Vegas toward the end of May and I never did post any pics...Okay, so I'd never been to Vegas before and I was pretty surprised at the slot machines in the airport. They sure don't waste any time.
My favorite sculpture: the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Also known as the Nike of Samothrace. What fun to find a copy of it in front of Caesar's Palace.
Sweet Jonny with his silly smile.
Busy Vegas. Definitely a far cry from a quiet, secluded beach.
The Venetian and it's marvelous canopy of (almost real) clouds. They were stunning. I don't know how they did it or what it was made out of but it was gorgeous.
Gotta get a showgirl pic. Hello to my CliffDweller friends. Hope you guys can use one of these silly pics in your mag.
CliffDweller Round 2.
The fabulous pools at The Venetian. If you can get in, go to the pools at the Venetian. It was pretty crowded but they're way nicer than the other hotel pools that we saw.People, people, people. Skin, skin, skin.
Sunshine, pretty walkways, lush landscaping, misters, private cabanas, outdoor shaded bar, and workers who bring drink orders to you as you lounge. Quite nice.
Clean outdoor showers, too, after you're finished lazing around.
We saw STOMP! I thought they'd be good but I didn't know they'd be that good. It's the best live performance I've ever seen. They're hilarious and a lot more narrative than I expected. Really talented troupe. I recommend it.
The stage was wild. Awesome job on the decor. We got a free upgrade to the Mezzanine (awesome) and the place was decorated all around like none other. Street signs, building signs, neon signs, any kind of sign--it was there, starting from the stage and extending way out to the left and right, floor to ceiling. They even had trashcans hanging from the ceiling for later use throughout the show. I'd throw money out to see Stomp any day.

Damon and Danae - May 13, 2007

I'm finally posting some photographs of Damon and Danae. Can you believe it was overcast and raining that day! Geez. But they were such great sports and we still managed to get a couple of laughs in. What a great couple! So genuine and kind.

On the Road

Rest stop, outskirts of Texas.

Here are some pics from our cross country road trip. We took a relatively leisurely 5 days to travel from Texas to Washington state. We covered a lot of ground, as you can imagine, and saw a lot of different terrain along the way: sleepy towns, bustling cities and long patches of uninhabited land. The uninhabited land always brought to mind the fact that we'd be screwed if the car broke down or we ran out of gas...with no cell phone tower nearby. Oh, our cell phone car charger stopped working, too. That was great. All in all we logged over 2,100 miles and passed through 7 states going from Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas to Raton, New Mexico to several different places in Colorado (since Jon used to live there) to Salt Lake City, Utah to Boise, Idaho to Portland, Oregon before finally arriving in Ridgefield, Washington. Whew! There's probably a faster route but we had family and friends to visit along the way.

(Taken from the car window as we sped past.)

We stopped and camped in Colorado for about 2 days. I'm hard to please when it comes to terrain (if it's not tropical and beachy it's not good enough) but Colorado lived up to all the hype. My first time there and it was absolutely gorgeous. What stuck out to me was the light. So clear and clean. I could see from the ground straight up to the puffy clouds above the soaring mountains without any haze. It stopped me in my tracks. We'd hike and I'd just stop and stare at the light coming through the pristine aspens. So beautiful.

Endless miles of flat land sped by the car window for hours.
Free range cattle on the side of the highway on our drive out of Colorado. It was so foreign to us that we had to snap a picture. That was the most uninhabited, tedious, and never-ending part of the entire trip. We were on our way to Salt Lake City and it took FOR-EV-ER.

Moving Away from Home

The 70' truck the mover used to transport all our stuff. Our belongings only took up 1/4 of the trailer. Other families were to be loaded after us.
I'll miss our first little home where we spent our first year of marriage! It had such a nice, open layout with high ceilings, real hardwood floors and tile.

Saying goodbye to Mommy before the roadtrip from Texas to Washington. We both cried. (Those are her pretty backyard flowers behind us.)

The house where I grew up. Wish I had a better picture.

What a wreck! Our new place in Washington as we unpacked all the boxes. For more pics see Jon's blog. www.jonholland.blogspot.com