5 Weeks with Elon

Even though it was a couple weeks early, we were very excited to meet Elon Harris Opp on April 27th, 2009. After planning on having a May baby I was quite surprized to find out I maybe having an April baby. The week before his birth we still needed to move back into our house, our parents were in Nicaragua, and I had pregnancy pictures scheduled for Sunday. We got everything finished just in time with the wonderful help of many people, esecially my friend Sherry. I have to give her a special thanks becasue she stayed with me most of the week, help me move things, dealt with my crazy brain, cleaned, organized and generally did what ever I asked. Thanks Sherry!

On Sunday the 26th, we had a house full of people which was fun. That is when it was pointed out that I was leaking amniotic fluid. So we called my midwife in late afternoon and where on our way to the hospital. We got to the hospital they broke my water and labor commenced. Labor was quick and I was ready to push by 10:30PM. That is where the fun started. After 3 hours of pushing (at the end of a really long and tiring week) I was exhausted and Elon was not coming out. Elon had decided that he like his watery world and was not coming down the birth canal. That is when I was given an epidural which was not really helping. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning it was decided to bring in our my midwife's OB and had to consider a C-section. We tried some other techniques to get him to come down but no luck. So around 5AM I was off to the OR for a C-section. It was scary because I had planned on having a natural birth and here I was about to have a c-section. The goods news was that at 6:02AM I delivered a beautiful baby boy who was 8lbs. 6oz. and 20 inches long. During the whole labor ordeal he was like a rock and never showed any signs of stress. Thanks goodness!

It took us 3 days to decided on his name but when we did it fit. Elon is hebrew for "oak" or "tree". We loved it because we love the outdoors and during the hard labor he was like a solid, strong tree. His full name is Elon (E-lawn) Harris Opp. Harris was my father's middle name. Another cool thing is that he was born on my Grandpa Kenny's birthday.

The first 5 weeks have flown by. Elon is a pretty happy baby who is gaining weight rapidly. It has been fun to watch him change. In the last week he has started to hold onto things (especially me). His smiles are becoming more associated with us and less associated with farting. It is amazing to think I can spend hours just staring at him. Aaron and I are still in disbelief that we are parents to such a wonderful little boy.

Last weekend we took Elon on his first camping trip to Chinook Pass with our friends, Sherry and Bram. Elon liked being outside and near the river. He slept just as well camping as he does at home. Good thing since camping is going to be a constant in his life.

There are lots of pictures fro these last few weeks. I have uploaded all of them since I do not have time to sort through them. If you would like to see them go to this link. http://picasaweb.google.com/AKdogtown

For those who have called, emailed, or facebooked, I need to apologize for not getting back to you. I have been bad about communicating. Hopefully I will get better after next week once classes are over.

I hop to post more picture and happening in our lives soon so you can see how Elon is growing.
Thanks to everyone for their good wishes and gifts.

Flood and Baby Update

Aaron flooring in the babies room

It has been a long time since I last wrote but I thought I would finally throw down a quick note. As many of your know we flooded in January and it has been a long road back. Because of the hard work and generosity of many family and friends things are almost ready for us to move back in the house. It has been an adventure.

Working on the house! (Do not worry I wear a respiratory when needed and sit down alot I am pretty much a slacker)

Baby is growing strong. I get kicked and beat up daily which I love except when I am tired. I have passed the 36 week mark now. At our ultrasound appointment on Friday they estimated the baby is about 6lbs. 14 oz. good sized little bugger. I have started to dilate (2cm) but could stay at that for weeks so no reason to get too excited. Really helps get things done knowing that my body is getting ready. The babies room is really green (picking color on the fly). It kind of looks like Kermit the frog lives there but should be fun to decorate.

There are more picture of our progress at the link below so check it out.
http://picasaweb.google.com/AKdogtown

Surf Camp, Todos Santos, Cabo Pulmo, and more!

We spent 2 weeks at the Pescadero Surf Camp, www.pescaderosurf.com, just south of Todos Santos and we had a blast. Aaron learned to surf and I relaxed. The surf camp itself was great we had a huge palapa that kept the sun off of us but we still used our tent. There was a pool, showers, bathroom, and the internet all for $180 pesos/night, ~$15 US. It was nice not having to move consistently and we met some great people during our stay. If is funny a lot of them were from the Pacific Northwest, looks like we were all trying to get away to somewhere nice before the snow falls. For pictures of camp, click here.

The beaches in the area were awesome too. There was the Palm Beach that we would take Tippi to play in the wave and just walk for enjoyment. It is for sale if anyone has 30 million lying around. Pictures here! Then there was the Hidden Cove. The road to this was very bumpy but fun. We were told how to get here by a local and it was awesome. We went 3 times, once just the 2 of us for sunset on Halloween then with friends 2 other times to fish, snorkel and swim. Pictures here! We never caught anything good but did purchase a fish from a fisherman at the beach to the north as he pulled his boat off the water. Between our fish and the ones that Mark and Michelle caught we had a election night feast back at the surf camp. Pictures are in with the camp photos. The other beach we spent a lot of time at was Los Cerritos, this is were the popular surf break is. Aaron would get up early and go out surfing, most days I would sleep in but I did go out a few days to watch. We would also go out again in the evening. The last night we had a good group out and Aaron was able to at least get a couple of good rides in before sunset. Pictures here!

During our 2 weeks in Todos area we visit my professor Doc at his fabulous hotel. He has been building and refining Casa Bentley for sometime now and it is absolutely gorgeous. I wish it would have been with in our budget to stay there is time around but we definitely will in the future. If anyone is looking for a quiet, beautiful place to get away please look up Doc and Casa Bentley, www.casabentleybaja.com. I can not say enough about the place or the man for that matter. We visited him twice during our stay once just to chat and then he made a great dinner one Saturday night. Pictures here! We did visit Cabo San Lucas one morning and I did not like it. I went there 17 years ago and things have changed. The Todos Santos area is so much nicer than Cabo, not as loud and not as many people trying to get to buy this or that. Well I just recommend you check it out if you are looking for a beautiful place to relax.

A couple days ago we took off for the east cape and Cabo Pulmo. It is the home of the only coral reef in the Sea of Cortez and one of only three in the northern hemisphere. Cabo Pulmo in is located off of HWY 1 and down a pretty wash boarded 7 miles road. We arrived around 4PM and started looking for a place to stay. We wnded up at Nancy's. It is a resturant but she also has 2 casitas to rent. They are very basic but they were in our price range and included breakfast. Sleeping on a bed for the first time in 3 weeks was very nice. We also could hear the ocean from our plaxe. It was a little funky and she coud really do more with the place. The following morning we headed to the beach south of town in which we heard that you could swim to the reef for snorkling. What a cool place. It was so cool in fact we decided to camp there for the night. The snorkling was great but since there where so many people on the beach we had to go out seperatly. Then we found the money spot before sunset. It was a hike to get there but the geology was cool! We took a lot of pictures while we were there. After a nice night on the beach we packed up and headed to the money spot for a quick snorkle before the crowds showed up. This time we got to go together which was nice. Tippi hung by the gear and all was good. Pictures will be posted next time.

Last night we were in Los Barriles, windsurfing mecca, and today we are in La Paz to catch the ferry. Life has been pretty good for us, hope your has too!

Baja Impressions

Right after we crossed the border we started to notice all the different license plates. We have tallied quite list since we arrived.

For the US: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California, Texas, Colorado, Michigan, Alaska, Arizona, South Dakota, and Wyoming

For Canada:British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario

For Mexico: Baja California(north Baja), Baja California Sur (south Baja), Sinaloa, and others.

We have to say the worst drivers are not the Mexican drivers but the visiting ones. Actually Mexican drivers are very polite, albeit they drive very fast, and they let you know if there is something to be aware of ahead. It seems that people cross the border and feel that they can be assholes. Our #1 worst driver we have seen (sorry Jones and Opp families) was from South Dakota. He was just awful and rude.

The Baja has been a very surprising place to me. I thought I had an idea of what it would be like but it is so much more. The landscapes are incredible and the biodiversity is amazing. There are so many cactuses, flowers and succulents all living together. In some areas that are right against the ocean which to me I never thought cactuses would be near the ocean, amazing. The people we have met, especially the Mexicans, have been lovely. They are very helpful and understanding even though we are dumb gringos who know very little Spanish (again!).

3260 some miles down the road!

OK, I know I said I would try and blog once a week and now here is it we have been gone 3 weeks and nothing. Well here we go! This is pretty long so feel free to just look at the pictures of pick and chose what you read. It is a lot of rambling. It is amazing that it has been 3 weeks already that we have been gone. Getting out the door was quite exciting as I was exhausted and it was cold out so trying to think warm weather was difficult.But we did it. So far our trip has been amazing. It took us 2 weeks to get to the Mexico/US border then we have been here just over a week.

Our 2 weeks in the States started out by taking us to Corvallis,OR to see Sallie and Adam. We will be seeing them again very soon on the Mainland of Mexico as we are going to stop and hang out at there field station where they live every winter. So we stayed one night had tuna burger, yumm! The next morning Aaron and Adam went for a wet mtn bike ride and Sallie and I met up with Am Simmons (we use to go to college together) for some breakfast. It was great getting to catch up with Amy. I really wish we lived closer together. Then Aaron and I headed for Sacramento and to my Aunt Sharon’s house. We got in late but had a nice chat that evening. The next morning Sharon, Aaron, Tippi and I went on a walk to the Folsom Reservoir which is looking pretty empty these days. About midday we headed out again for Tahoe City to see Jonathan. We ended up spending 3 days in Tahoe and got to see lots of people we have not seen in awhile it was really nice. We also did some hiking and try to bike but had equipment difficulties. For pictures click here

As the weekend came around it got cold and we woke up Saturday morning to snow on the ground. Wow, snow aren’t we going to Mexico! Saturday we headed with Jonathan and Erik to Bridgeport, CA for Glen’s annual Asada. He has Patagonian friends that cook up a fest of lamb on his property and fun is had by all. This year it was quite cold, in the teens that night, and all our water froze solid. The morning was beautiful, still cold, and Aaron cooked up and excellent breakfast. For pictures click here

Then we headed off to the Owens Valley for 3 days of camping on our own. We did do a mtn bike ride but I am a real wuss so we did not go as far as I think Aaron would have liked but he seemed happy enough the just get to ride. We also did some hot springing and hiking. For pictures click here

Then we headed into the heat, La Quinta, to see Ana and Allen. That was a great time. I miss my friend a lot and see her was so good for the soul. We did our finally shopping and again ate some awesome food and just enjoyed being there. Then Saturday morning we were off to the Border. The border crossing in Tijuana is a joke. It was more of a stop light with no questions asked but then very confusing after that. We missed the office for getting our tourist card and so started the great adventure to get our vehicle and tourists permits. Lets just say that with help from a few very nice Mexicans we finally found our way and got out of TJ as fast as we could. We head for Ensenada to get groceries and decided to stay in the La Bunda area just south of Ensenada. It was pretty interesting place. We were the only campers in the dirt parking area but there was a security guard so that was nice. The town boasts having the second largest blowhole in the world. It was pretty cool but we are not sure if it is the second largest. Of course I forgot the camera so not pictures of it. For pictures click here

One night here was good for us and we headed south some more to Catavina. It is a desert town that does not have much but the landscape is beautiful. The cactus and other plants were amazing. We saw some cave paintings and went on a great hike. The camp ground boasted hot shower but they were cold and not that clean but it was nice to rise off. The night there we listened to dogs and coyotes all night, not so restful for me. The saving grace was the amazing stars, the US has way to much light pollution. Here you can see everything and the shooting stars are everywhere. For pictures click here

Then next day we were onto Mulege and the Bahia Concepcion. Wow, I wish we would have brought kayaks. This place is amazing (I have been saying that a lot lately). A lot of place were closed since this is there “off season” so renting things was more difficult them we thought. The town was cool and simple we did not spend much time there except to eat at a little taquearia and use the internet. Our first night on the Bahia we stayed at the Playa Escondido and no one was there. All the palapas where falling down and the outhouses were on their sides. We found out the next day that the earlier hurricane had done the damage but it had not been fixed yet. We only stayed here one night because I did not feel comfortable and we were visited by coyotes during the night, not my favorite of creatures. For pictures click here

The following 2 nights we spent at the Playa El Requesion, which is a beautiful sand spit that connects the baja to a little island. Even at high tide you can walk to the islands although you get a little wet (it felt good!). It cost $60 pesos a night (or $5.50 US). Here we swam a lot and just tried to relax. Aaron went snorkeling to try and see about spear fishing but the fish were pretty small. There were a lot of them though. I mainly hung out and tried to stay cool and not feel sick. Feeling nauseated has been a big part of my trip so far. For pictures click here

Our plans took a little turn when we tried to head out onto the Penisular Concepcion and found that we would not have any paint left on the truck if we did this little adventure. From the western side of the bay the peninsula looks incredible but I think for now it should be accessed by boat. So instead we headed to Loreto early to check thing out there. We spent one night at the Loreto Shores RV Park (not my first choice now that we have stayed there). We did have some great seafood and almost got eaten alive by mosquitoes in the evening, yuk!!! They finally passed but the dogs and chicken did make sleeping a challenge. The following day we went into town and met a great book store owner that told us all about the area. After talking with him we decided to visit the San Javier Mission. This mission was started in 1720 by a Jesuit priest and finished 38 years later. The absolutely incredible part of this story is that the church is 22 miles inland of Loreto in a road that takes 1.5 hours to drive on a good day. After bumping up this dirt road that was recently taken out by the hurricane you turn into San Javier and the street are a prefect cobble stone and the church is beautiful. One section of road had been taken out so they closed it and ran a grader up the adjacent river bed and created a new road. This would never happen in the it was pretty amazing. Apparently every December 3^rd thousands of people pilgrimage to the site to celebrate at the church. This is a very sleepy little town (maybe 100 residents) so trying to imagine 1000’s of people there that would be cool to see. You got to see the pictures of the church and the road. We camped up near the town that night and got an early start the next morning to La Paz. For pictures click here

The only reason we stopped in La Paz was to check on the ferry for our trip to the mainland in mid-November. Aaron found us a nice little hotel near the water that allowed us to have Tippi and had AC (what a treat!). In the morning we took care of our errands and headed towards Todos Santos on the Pacific Ocean side of the baja. Todos Santos is a very cool little town. It has lots of character and great food (again!). Found a cool place to stay called the Pescadero Surf Camp just south of Todos. We have a huge palapa that we have set up out tent in and it comes with a pool, bathrooms, showers and some cool people that are staying here. We are close to the beach not on it but that is fine. Even though we are close the highway it is really quiet at night. Aaron rented a surf board yesterday and beat himself up last night and this morning but he is having fun. I may try it but it all depends on how I am feeling and I have started to feel better the last few days. I think getting to the end of my 1st trimester is going to be awesome! What I also know is that in Todos there are the best fruitcicles ever and I think I will be eat those everyday we are here. Pictures will be in next post!

Flying around Mt. St. Helens

On my last day in the field for UNAVCO we were working on Mt. St. Helens. It was a beautiful day and the flying was great. Jeff, our pilot, and I replaced some solar panels on a site on the south side of mtn while Ken finished a site on the north side. Then we moved to a third site to replace the equipment enclosure. It was pretty coll to see the old one fly off the mtn and the new one come in. After our work was done we took a small tour of the crater and other other sites. It is pretty incredible to see the new dome that has formed over the last several years. The volcanic landscape is pretty amazing. If you are ever looking for a cool place to visit go check out the obervatory.

Picture located here, http://picasaweb.google.com/AKdogtown/MtStHelens#

We did it!

Hi All,
Aaron and I had a great time with the MS150. We did not complete the entire 150 miles but did do 132 miles. We did 83 miles the first day and 49 miles the second day. Aaron probably could have done it all but he hung with me, the slow poke. The weather was perfect, not to hot but a little cold the second day, no complaining though. Also it was great to spend the weekend with my parents.

This was a great ride with lots of interesting people beautiful scenery and of course was for a great cause. Aaron was able to raise $450 and I was able to raise $470. We are pretty proud of our effort. If anyone is still interested in donating the last day to do it online is October 21st, so there is still time. To all of you who did sponsor us thank you, thank you, thank you! We appreciate it very much. Here are some pictures of from the ride, http://picasaweb.google.com/AKdogtown/MS150#

Remember we would love to have more people join us next year, think about it!