So...what DO you eat?

Keith frequently says we shouldn't call our weekend adventures "camping" because that conjures up inaccurate ideas of our trips in other folks' minds.

1. We avoid (except in rare instances) designated or maintained campgrounds, choosing instead to practice dispersed camping, where allowed, on land managed by either the National Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management.
2. We don't pitch a tent; we sleep in the back of our SUV.
3. We don't light a fire, so we don't cook. The most we do is boil water over a single burner atop a small propane tank. 

Readying the non-perishables.

That third point garners this post's title: the question - or variations - we hear most often. For a bit of an answer, please come along with us on a brief recap of our most recent four-day excursion to southeast Utah!

Our first evening's campsite was in the Valley of the Gods.

Our dinner: Waldorf Salad with Steel Cut Oats (prepped ahead) and Big House Red wine.

Each glorious morning starts off
with freshly brewed Moons
Kenya AA coffee, of course.

After our usual breakfast and packing up in the morning, we drove through the Valley, enjoying the beautiful rock formations. Here are a couple of views of Keith's favorite.

Then it was up the Moki Dugway and onto Muley Point.

It was a bit of a drive to Moab, which provides an interlude to mention lunches/snacks partaken as necessary any day: apples, cheese, carrots, cookies, nuts (almonds, pistachios, walnuts), dried fruit (cranberries, prunes, raisins), hard-boiled eggs, granola, granola bars, and pretzels.

We stopped to ogle Castle Valley Overlook in the Manti-La Sal National Forest then found our spot for the night.

2nd night's dinner: Mediterranean Barley
Medley (prepped ahead) and Big House Red.

We enjoyed a leisurely morning and breakfast vista,

before hiking the Porcupine Rim Trail above Slickrock.

Then we headed south into Canyon Rims Recreation Area to get a glimpse into Canyonlands National Park and find the perfect place for our last night. These pictures provide better-than-words description of the remainder of our trip:

 
 

At some point, though, we always have to head home.

Thanks for joining us virtually this time around. If you'd ever like to do so in reality, let us know! We'd love to share this in person!

What HAVE We Been Doing for Three Years?

There isn't any excuse for such a long break between posts, so none will be offered. Let's just summarize the past (to our best recollection) few years, and try to move forward (there will also be no promises made).

"Still" Life :

(Note: We originally began this post in January, 2010, with this first paragraph, which we decided to leave in as a pretty fair sum-up.)

We're still living in Albuquerque, NM, currently in our 5th house-sitting stint in three years, and still enjoying all the highly accessible outdoor adventures available to us here. Keith is still working, with increasing success, on generating a steady income stream through a variety of ventures. Sandra is still the Administrative Assistant to the Dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law. (She is, however, now on her 3rd dean.) We're still attending the church that meets in the Lobo Theater, however during the summer of 2009 that church officially became the first extra-Washington-state campus of Mars Hill Church (Mark Driscoll, teaching pastor). We're still working through what that transition means in terms of where and how God wants to use and grow us. We are still exploring how we can be more involved in the greater Albuquerque community through volunteering with Roadrunner Food Bank, Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court's Mediation Program as mediators, and other potential avenues.

Life in Transition:

In mid-January, shortly after composing the paragraph above, we began looking into taking advantage of incentives being offered by the government for "first-time" home-buyers. We actually fit into all of the requisite categories, and with the help of one friend, a mortgage broker, another who is a realtor, and, most of all, God, we found a home we really enjoy. We did not experience much sorrow in leaving our nomadic existence behind, and there is not a day that goes by that we don't look around us in grateful wonder with one of us uttering something to the extent of, "I LIKE this house. Thank You, Lord!"

Towards mid-summer, after much thought, prayer, conversation, frustration and many tears, we recognized God leading us to discontinue our membership of and regular attendance at the church we'd been part of since moving to Albuquerque. We continue to focus on next steps and what "church" will look like in our lives, both for the short- and long-term. Currently, we are involved with a small group of people exploring together how to desegregate "spirituality" as an area of life, and, rather, allow daily living to holistically spring from our central identities as people forgiven by Jesus in dynamic relationship with the God of the universe.

Life Without Children:

Their stories are their own, at this point, but we know some of you would appreciate a synopsis.

Shaina, during the past three years, spent: half a year back in Missouri with house mates, working and hanging out until they all graduated; ten months in Spain as a part-time English Language and Culture teaching assistant; and a lot of interwoven time living and working in the Chicago area through the blessed, gracious and loving hospitality of her grandparents. She is currently enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Denver.

Karl has been living and working in Chicago much of the last few years. He currently lives in the Lincoln Park area with some friends, and enjoys that part of the city very much. He works with a small company that provides fire prevention services for businesses and institutions with commercial kitchens (i.e., very deep cleaning of the hoods over the stoves in said kitchens). He's on the look-out for some additional part-time, or even full-time, opportunities within the golf industry.

Life's Adventures:

A non-exhaustive somewhat sequential "pictorial essay" of people and places.

Happy New Year!