All the cool kids are doing it...except Michelle and I.
Steve and Amy have a son, Kayden, and he's a really good looking, ginormous kid. Look at those blue eyes. They've got two great kids and it was awesome hanging out with them. I look forward to watching them grow up. Here are a few more pictures.
Do you see the resemblance?
You got it. They're both wearing a head band and they are both in a museum.
Michelle and I got to go to the Portland Museum with mom and dad. It was great. I don't remember the last time we went out with both of them like this. I hope we make it more of normal thing. Hanging with my parents and taking in a cool experience was really nice.
Truck just learned how to smile and I was there to see it. Awesome. That's one happy little guy. It looks like he's got some great parents...and an awesome aunt an uncle. Lucky him. Lucky us.
Last weekend Caspian and I rode our bikes 77ish miles and 7500 feet of climbing to Crater Lake from Fort Klamath and around the rim. It was the longest we've ever been in the saddle and the most elevation we've ever climbed in one day. I had been wanting to do this ride with Becky for the last several years, but it always fell on the wrong weekend for me. I was so excited to finally be able to do it. It took some convincing Caspian to participate with me, but in the end, I knew that if I did it, he would have a hard time just watching me.
The best part about the ride was that Caspian and I were always pedaling slow and steady, saving ourselves for "the big climb." Although we climbed a lot, the hills were long and gradual so "the big one" in our Bay Area hills terms never came! With all the energy we saved we powered our way down the last 10 or so miles of flat road at a good 20 mph pace.
Back at camp I got drunk on two beers, went to bed early and slept like babies on our aerobed too big for the tent.
I'm looking forward to next year!
Yep, that's right. That's Mr. Calderon's senior picture. He looks like he's going to go on tour with The Big Bopper and Buddy Holly.
This was the view from our roof tonight. We made coriander encrusted wild salmon covered with a homemade nectarine salsa. The sides were roasted potatoes, fresh greens and avocado salad. As we were eating this amazing, beautiful, colorful rainbow met us on our deck. Sometime it feels like you're living in a movie. Or at least piece of art work.
Click here to see a larger picture.
First of all, my wife is amazing. She brought our son into this world with amazing strength. Jackson and I are the luckiest guys in this world.Michelle and I get to hang out with Truck.... uhhhh.... Jackson tomorrow. We can't wait!
Jackson Wheeler Farrara entered this world at 9:25 pm. He weighs 8 pounds and 11 ounces and he has huge muscles....
It may seem like it’s taken a long time for us to put up a blog entry about our trip to Peru…and that’s because it has. The trip was awesome, but it was also exhausting and when we returned home we needed to wade through some 600 or so photos, rest up, get back into the swing of work and school, and just generally get ourselves back into the swing of our normal life.
Like many of you have heard, we crammed a lot into our 9 days in Peru, and some of those things we didn’t mean to put into our trip, like getting sick in Cusco at 11,000ft. But most the things we experienced were amazing and perspective changing. I walked away from Peru with a newfound understanding of what it means to be poor in this world. I am so thankful for all the opportunities I’ve been granted in my life. When you see a beautiful 9 year old child living in a barely standing shanty of a house, working the corn fields with her hands, or trying to sell trinkets to the rich tourists, it puts things into perspective. I am fortunate. I now know what poverty looks like, and, although I’ve been poor in my life, I’ve never gone without options, no matter how hard I’ve had to work to achieve those options. I’m not a rah rah American, but I do think that I’m incredibly lucky to have been born in this country.
The Peruvian landscape was amazing (the food, not so much, unless you like Guinea Pig for dinner). It was full of massive Andean peeks that jutted out from verdant green high mountain planes, and blue skies that were dotted with the most amazing cotton clouds I’d ever seen. The architecture was a mixture of Incan and Spanish. The Spanish tried to wipe out the Incas, but you can’t kill a culture all together. Invariably it will seep into your belief system, and that’s just what it did throughout all of Peru. I can’t tell you how many times Michelle and I saw a painting of the last supper where the meal was cuyee (guinea pig).
We saw Spanish churches whose foundations were Incan ruins. We were told that there’s still a close relationship with Spain, but we also got the feeling from many Peruvians that they hold a bit of contempt for the Spanish Conquistadors. It makes sense when you learn that the Spanish wouldn’t just conquer the natives, they’d then find the most important part of the there culture and build a Spanish church on top of it.
We spent time in Lima and Cusco. Cusco is the second largest city. It sits at 11,000 feet and it’s the birthplace of the Incan empire. The town square, where we stayed, has streets and architecture that are original. The place is full of tourist acclimatizing before they go on their way to Machu Picchu. Taxis and cars zip by and kick up a strong smell of exhaust. Nothing is done slowly here, at least when you’re in a car or crossing the street. We spent a day here before we headed out to Machu Picchu, and then returned for 2 more days.
Machu Picchu is mind numbingly beautiful. Go there. Words can’t describe it. Pictures won’t suffice. When we got our first view of it, I just wanted sit down and take it all in and soak it up, before I even walked any further. It’s magical place in middle of the Andes in the middle of nowhere in the middle of Peru. It takes a while to get there and it’s worth it. The Spanish never found it so they never ruined it. Thank goodness. It is truly special.
Lima was scary in places, nice in others, and very interesting. I kept telling Michelle I felt like I was caught in a place where it was alternately 1951 and 2009. Old and new. Poor and rich. Dirty and clean. You’ll find it all in Lima just walking down the street. When I told a friend that we were going to Peru and that we were going to spend some time in Lima and Cusco, his quote was, “Cusco’s awesome. Fuck Lima.” Another friend replied when I asked him about Lima, “Horrible.” Honestly, I was bit worried about spending time in Lima, but, to my surprise, I found the time that we spent in Lima to be very interesting. I’m glad we had the experience and I recommend that anyone who visits Peru, spend a little time in Lima.
Machu Picchu and the high Andian Plains were, by far, the highlights of this trip, but the whole trip was great. I feel like we didn’t just read a chapter of a book, we got the whole story, and there are many volumes that we have yet to read. I’ll just finish this blog entry by saying this: I’m always humbled by the idea and the realization when I travel, simple as it is, that not only does this Peruvian way of life exist, but it always exist, with or without me. It is today as it was yesterday as it will be tomorrow. These people that I see living in this far away land—they are not tourists. This is there life. Seeing the lives they lead and the realities they navigate makes me more fully appreciate the world in all its complexities. Thank you Peru. I’ll take a little piece of you wherever I go.
-caspian
Here are a few pics. Click here to see all the pictures.
Little Taxi
