ShepAlder Trek Phase 1: Packing

We had to pack. It sucked. Our living room looked like this (and worse) for a month:

We had to wedge this couch down our windy stairs. It's my couch from college and lived in the cat room for the past 4 years (so you can imagine the endless amounts of cat hairs). Josh had to take a door off the hinges and I fell down a bunch of times. The cats are really angry that we stole their couch.

Josh didn't start packing until the night before we were to load our things. In fact, he took a nice, long Sunday nap:

On Monday we loaded up a U-haul in order to transport our things to a relo-cube. Apparently they would have dropped the cube off at our house and then picked it up again... for $800. So we did it ourselves. 

The thing is, when we got to the shipping yard and saw the cube, I was absolutely certain there was no way we could fit all of our (my) things. We had to put the couch on its end and by the time we got the couch and the bed in there, it didn't seem like there would be enough room!

Josh claims that it is his superior Tetris skills that made the packing possible, but my consolidation skills were also at play. 

This might be our last post for a bit, just until we get settled in Grand Forks (yikes!), but we have a whole action-packing, fun-filled drive planned that includes: temple #48, Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse monument, staying overnight in the city of Deadwood, and Devil's Tower. Plus 5 days in the car with a very cranky cat!

Temple #47: Orlando, FL

It is almost official that the ShepAlders are a pair of temple-going crazies (the 50th one makes it official, so stay tuned) because we have now been to temple #47. This past week, Josh and I went to a family reunion/business meeting get-together with my family at Walt Disney World (pictures forthcoming, I promise). We took a red-eye flight (I semi-literally walked into the house from work and then out to the car with my suitcase) to get to Florida on Friday morning so that we could enjoy the temple before my family started arriving.

Like a lot of temples, the Orlando temple just kind of appears out of nowhere while you're driving on the highway. I think you go up a little hill or maybe turn the corner and there it is:

It was very sunny and muggy, so in all the pictures of us we look a bit wilted:

This temple is much bigger than I had anticipated. The dressing room reminded me of the temples in Utah where the matron has to tell you specifically which locker to use because otherwise there would be massive chaos. But it wasn't busy. In fact, there were four couples exactly in our session, which is apparently the perfect number.

I really liked the chapel, which was kind of small but had a cloud mural on the ceiling. That was a surprise because this temple was dedicated in 1992 and temples of that era tend to be more utilitarian than overtly decorative. It wasn't until the early- to mid-2000s that environmental murals became commonplace. This wasn't an environmental mural, but my point is that it was beautiful and unexpected.

from the back

There were several other surprises about this temple. Firstly, the Celestial room has purple couches that are modern and as soon as I saw them I thought, "Oh, this is a first!" I loved them. I love that whoever was in charge of choosing furniture made that choice. Seriously, I would have hugged these couches if I could have fit my arms around them.

The second surprise was that the temple is a haven for geckos. All of Orlando is, really, but they kept scuttling around and freaking me out. I hate when I can see something from the corner of my eye moving and I'm not quite sure what it is.

This particular one was living in a light fixture:

The final surprise was that, while Josh was off taking more pictures and I was sitting in the air-conditioned car minding my own business, someone hit our car! Everything turned out fine, but it was a super awkward situation, especially since I suspect this person may not have left a note had I not been sitting in the car when she hit it and had I not then gotten out of the car and stared at her. So now the Orlando temple will always be known as the one at which someone hit our rental car.

And also the one with all the geckos:

Vancouver, B.C is a place where we've been: The not-quite-Vancouver and DEFINITELY not Santa Barbara Edition

The last thing we did, right before we crossed the border back to the US, is visit White Rock, B.C., which really isn't Vancouver (though it is close), but is definitely not Santa Barbara, CA, even though it is the shooting location of one of my favorite shows, "Psych," which supposedly takes place in Santa Barbara. One of the main locations of the show is the Psych office, and the exterior of that office is right on the coast in White Rock and is actually a museum.

The best exterior/comparison photo I could find, 
stolen from this person

For shooting, they put a false bay window and put up some barriers. When not shooting, the location looks like this:

The building is actually right next to a superlong pier that I didn't even have the energy to walk down, but we did get some pictures:

The entrance to the pier

The view of the coastline from the pier

 The sidewalk in front of the "office"

White Rock is named after a literal white rock, which is just randomly on the shoreline and apparently was used as a navigation marker back in the day (i.e. "three clicks past the white rock" or however naval navigation is described). 

This picture does not adequately capture my entire lack of enthusiasm

From the pier

We're never going back, but it was fun for five minutes.

Vancouver, B.C. is a place where we've been: Harbor Cruise edition

We also went on a harbor cruise because Josh found a Groupon for it. Vancouver is gorgeous. I told Josh that I wish I could justify a move there, but they probably have enough psychologists as it is. 

Our ship:

 I kept annoying Josh by jumping into his pictures at the last second

 The view:

By the way, this is Canada (in case you weren't sure)

We saw some cool things, like a cruise ship, docked for a day trip:

And the skyline:

Various seaplanes took off and landed:

It was also really windy:

Josh went on his own adventure later and took pictures of some things we saw on the shore during the cruise, such as:

The Digital Orca

And:

The Olympic torch

I recommend a harbor cruise if you're into that kind of thing, which we are (clearly):

Vancouver, B.C. is a place where we've been: Capilano Bridge Edition

One of our goals before moving to ND was to visit the Vancouver, B.C. temple, so Josh got a Living Social deal for the Metropolitan Hotel downtown. We neglected to get pictures, but I highly recommend it. We're definitely going back some day. I always love a place that serves a good eggs benny. 

We didn't really know what else to do, aside from the temple, so we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, VBC's top attraction. 

I went there in 2004, but all I remember is this:

Either the son was named after the dog or the dog after the kid. It shows an alarming lack of originality, but is all-day awesome.

We went across the bridge:

And found the Treetop Adventure:

Which is kind of like the Ewok Village, so Josh geeked out because he was wearing this shirt:

I was less impressed, so I entertained myself by reading:

Waiting until kids were on the bridges, then making them extra shaky:

And photobombing Josh's pictures:

It was very pretty:

And, really, I only got cranky toward the end:

They also have this cool walkway along the side of the cliff (called the "Cliff Walk," duh), which had beautiful views:

And looked like this:

We also saw:

The suspension bridge from the side

Multiple signs warning against graffiti

A very large Canadian Mounty Bear

An old-timey band singing "Big Rock Candy Mountain"

 An eagle totem

And a totem that looked like our cat Mercury, folding into her fat (which I am emulating)

We highly recommend it, especially since there is a free shuttle from some of the hotels in the area. It's great for kids, I guess, but it was also fun for us childless adults too.

Things I Didn't Know About Grand Forks #13

I'll be wearing this sweatshirt:

After I graduated with my first bachelor's degree (I know-- pretentious, right?), I briefly worked at a ski area where I used my employee's discount to buy this warm and colorful Turtle Fur undershirt. I found it today as I was cleaning out the guest room closet for my friend Nancy (of going on a date with my brother once and "Chicks Before Dicks" dinner nights fame), who is housesitting for us while we're gone. This sweatshirt goes over really well in Oregon, but I'm not sure how North Dakotans will react. 

ShepAlder Temple #46: Vancouver, B.C.

This weekend, Josh and I made the deceptively long trek to Vancouver, British Columbia in order to visit our 46th temple. We've been planning a trip since the dedication in 2010 (I mean, it's only a state and a quick border crossing away, right?) but, like with Medford, things just never seemed to work out. Since we are t-minus 4 weeks from our move, we decided this was the perfect time. (It wasn't, but, like Tim Gunn insists, we made it work). 

It's funny, because from pictures I assumed that the VBC (Vancouver, B.C. shortened for my sanity) temple was huge but when we got there it seemed much smaller. But then on the inside it seems much bigger. Generally I judge the size of a temple by three things: the presence of a cafeteria, clothing rental, and a chapel/ordinance waiting room. VBC has all three, though in much smaller sizes than, for instance, Portland. 

After you go inside, the dressing rooms and ordinance rooms are upstairs. For some weird reason, this is among my favorite dressing rooms. Maybe because there are some nooks and crannies so I felt like I could get a locker without having to fight people for a dressing stall. It's weird how I judge my various temple experiences. It also smelled really good-- like my family's summer house when I was growing up. 

There are two major things that sets this temple apart for me. First of all, there is a landscape mural in the ordinance room (which I always love), and it features both the deer and what I assume is some sort of Canadian elk (?), who are all kind of hanging out in the woods. But they are going about their business, and maybe the artist was worried that people sitting in the room would get a little skeeved by what might seem like elk and deer staring them down, which means that all I noticed was paintings of elk and deer bums. The second thing is that we spent nearly half an hour talking with the temple worker at the front desk about the Temple Riders-- a group of church members that ride their motorcycles to visit the temples. I think that's cool and I'm wondering if there are any other groups that organize around visiting temples around the country.

I didn't realize how weirdly stressed I am until I saw the pictures from the temple. In every single one, my face looks contorted. It was also raining. Depressing.