Long flights and warm beaches. Oh... and sickness

 So, the last post ended right after Christmas, and right before our next adventure started. The next adventure, of course, was a trip to the southern hemisphere, specifically to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! Rio is the capital and 2nd largest city in Brazil. Our journey found us joining our good friends, Amy and Neto, for two weeks at an AirBnB located a couple blocks from two great beaches, Ipanema and Copacabana!


 Also, it turns out that Brazilians really love the beach. On the weekend we went down to the beach and there were large parts of the beach that we couldn't see because of all the umbrellas. It was amazing to see, and very different from what an Oregonian is used to.

We also visited Christ the Redeemer, which was super cool, but VERY busy. We happened to choose the one day that everyone else also chose, so there was a lot of people, and a lot of waiting, but we made it, and got some great pictures!



 The view from the top was amazing! The mountain that Christ the Redeemer stands on is located in the middle of Rio, looking down on the city all around, the ocean, and the mountains behind the city. What a view!

We also had a few other adventures in Rio: Sugarloaf Mountain, the Rio Botanical Garden, the zoo, and lots of fresh fruit! It was a great time, with lots of food, fellowship, and laughing. Eventually though, we it was time to fly home, which we did. The flight was long, but we got some good sleep, and made it back to Vincent safely!

After returning to the US it was time to go back to work, which meant I flew down to Arizona for a week or so. The weather was nice, but I was missing Vincent by the time the trip was over. Unfortunately I got sick after getting back, and either Julie or I have been fighting some level of sickness on and off since then, but we are mostly back to health now! In fact, we were feeling good enough to go up to Timberline Lodge for some skiing! It was a beautiful day, sunny, not much wind, and some fresh snow! We had a great time on the hill, and the lodge itself is a beautiful building to explore. Definitely great to be feeling good enough to do some more adventuring!


 So yeah, that is where we are at now! We are getting ready to transition from our winter gear to our summer gear because in April we are beginning a trek that will take us across the US to Florida, up to Nova Scotia, and then meandering back. We are hoping to see lots of beautiful places and awesome people, and hopefully there will be a lot more to tell as the journey continues!

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