Farewell US Tour: part one of the gratuitous photo posts

As of approximately one week ago, we are no longer Portland residents. We've had a crazy last few weeks, particularly the last week we were in Portland. We already dearly miss our many wonderful friends in Portland. Here we are looking gleeful and shiny-faced at the farewell party hosted for us at Miss Amy Lechner's house:


And here I am at that same soiree, after my friend, Cat, caught me, apparently being all mischievous...



Yes indeed, our friends make us happy. Very, very happy.

So fast-forward a couple of weeks to the present: Now we've cleaned out our beloved NW Portland apartment with the help of several wonderful friends, shipped off our belongings either to parental-types or to our new mailing address at Linacre College in Oxford, found catsitters for our cat-children, and took off on what we have deemed our "Farewell US Tour." The tour includes stops in California, Arizona, Michigan, Chicago & New York over a 2 and a half week period. We are blessed enough to have friends in each and every one of these ports. (And, I recently purchased a modest yet excellent digital camera and I fear you'll have to deal with frequent photo posts forthwith.)

In the middle of last week we both took off for California - I visited a friend in San Francisco whilst he spent five days at his mom's place in Atascadero (central coast, near San Luis Obispo). While in SF, I ate lots of food, visited a hookah bar, bought my camera, visited the Museum of Modern Art, and all the while spent some quality time with my much missed friend, Katie. Here we are during a visit to the beach by Golden Gate Park, one of my (inexplicably) favorite places in the bay area.



Now we are in the second leg of our tour - Arcosanti, Arizona.


Nathan loves the high desert. Although he has become a wussy northwesterner after having spent five years in Portland, he always shines (literally and figuratively, haha) when he comes here.



I always have a tough time explaining Arcosanti to those entirely new to the concept. Nathan spent nearly five years during his most formative period (16-20) here and it is a funny, frustrating, and magical place. I have been here about three times, but neither of us has been back for a visit in five years (since we did a dance workshop here in August 2002). Since I have no ability to provide a concise explanation of Arcosanti, I think I'll just post the description provided on their website:

"In 1970, the Cosanti Foundation began building Arcosanti, an experimental town in the high desert of Arizona, 70 miles north of metropolitan Phoenix. When complete, Arcosanti will house 5000 people, demonstrating ways to improve urban conditions and lessen our destructive impact on the earth. Its large, compact structures and large-scale solar greenhouses will occupy only 25 acres of a 4060 acre land preserve, keeping the natural countryside in close proximity to urban dwellers.

Arcosanti is designed according to the concept of arcology (architecture + ecology), developed by Italian architect Paolo Soleri. In an arcology, the built and the living interact as organs would in a highly evolved being. This means many systems work together, with efficient circulation of people and resources, multi-use buildings, and solar orientation for lighting, heating and cooling.

In this complex, creative environment, apartments, businesses, production, technology, open space, studios, and educational and cultural events are all accessible, while privacy is paramount in the overall design. Greenhouses provide gardening space for public and private use, and act as solar collectors for winter heat."

All this background information is merely to explain last night's most exciting event.... encountering a tarantula on the road to Arcosanti back from our evening's activities in nearby Prescott. He was a spry, handsome little bugger:


While tarantula sightings are a common occurrence around these parts, this was the first time I'd seen one in the wild and I got a huge kick out of it.

More dorky updates as warranted!