Summer 2010

Summer 2010 we will be in this lovely city...



Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I have already found some fun things to do here, but if anyone has any recommendations let me know!!

Patagonia, Chile Part 2

Here are the final pictures from our trip to Chile. On this day we took a day tour through the National Park, Torres del Paine. It means towers of blue. The biggest peaks in the park are named this. They are beautiful. We were able to see wildlife and more water falls. Each lake/river we saw was a different color. Some were blues, greens and greys.

Thanks for enjoying our trip with us!!

Patagonia, Chile Part 1

For the last part of our vacation we flew from Santiago to Punta Arenas, Chile. We then had a 3 hour bus ride to Puerto Natales. The entire lower portion of Chile and Argentina is called Patagonia. There was so much to see and I wish we could have spent more time there! On our first day we took a boat ride up the Ultima Esperanza and got to see some large glaciers!! It was such a beautiful place!!

Linares, Chile

There wasn't a hotel in Linares that we could stay in, so we acutally spent the night in Talca agian then just drove to Linares. The first evening we drove down to Linares (20 miles) to meet up with some members Camron got close to on his mission. We were able to meet up with his friend Alex, who is our age, and meet his wife Victoria and their daughter Sofia. We had a great time with them and they cooked us some great food!

The next morning we got up and headed back to Linares so we could go to church with Alex and his family. We left plenty early (good thing), and we had about 1/4 tank of gas left. (We were getting around 300 miles per tank.) So we thought we would be fine until Linares. Well, the gas gage must have been broken, because about 5 miles out of Linares the gas light came on. Then 1 mile from our exit WE RAN OUT GAS!!! ON THE FREEWAY IN CHILE!!! I was laughing so hard...just because everything had kept going wrong the whole trip!!

So, I stayed in the car with all over lugage and locked myself in. Camron got out of the car and hitch hiked into Linares. He actually got picked up with in a few minutes and they nice people dropped him off at Alex's house. They got gas and made it back to the car. And we still made it to church!! What an adventure!!


Camron hitch hiking to Linares!!


Getting gas in the car


We also got to go to this cool "piscina" (pool) up in the mountains. It is this place along the river where the rocks form a swimming hole. The water was FREEZING!! Just like everywhere else we had been in Chile it was Beautiful! We had a blast! In the pictures you can see how clear the water is. In the main pool area, you could see the bottom and it probably was at least 15 ft deep!

Los Angeles, Chile & Salto de Laja

We went to Salto de Laja, a beautiful waterfall near Los Angeles, Chile. It was breath taking. I love the sound of waterfalls and the beauty of them. We spent quite a bit of time just enjoying the scenery!

Then we ate completos (Chilean Hotdogs) Loaded with all the toppings! There was more toppings on the bun then there was hotdog!! Camron was so excited to eat Completos again!

A Quick Break from Chile

We spent the Christmas break up in Idaho with Camron's family. There were lots of kids, lots of dogs, lots of good food, and lots of fun. I forgot my camera, so I don't really have much footage to show. A couple of days after Christmas we went to Jackson hole to ride into some hot springs. That was so much fun. The only way to get back into them is by snowmobile or dog sled. So we rode in and had a blast relaxing in the hot springs. Where the spring poors into the pool area, it is 112 degrees!

For New Years we went to Logan to hang out with some friends. On New Years Day, we went snowmobiling up in Logan canyon. There was a ton a powder and we had a blast. I got to ride double with Camron, and I must say he is getting much better at controlling a sled, especially with two people on it!

Mike and Jess

Spencer

Me and Cam, and I swear we are smiling!!

Concepcion, Chile

We made it into Concepcion and had another bit a bad luck, our hotel didn't have our reservations and didn't have any empty rooms. So they sent us to another hotel. At the new hotel, the receptionist spoke English really well. We asked him where he learned his English. He told us he served a Mormon Mission in California! It was cool to talk to this guy. He told us where they think the new temple in Concepcion will be built.

Then we got to see some of Camron's old apartments and saw the Mission Office. We went to visit with some members in one of his old areas. We visited with the family most of the day and were able to eat dinner with them as well. It was so fun to see the people Camron served. They have a such a great love for Camron. It was fun to get to know these people. I did my best to communicate with them, but with my limited spanish, Camron had to help a lot!!

That night we got a late start to our next city. We thought it would only take us 2 hours or less because it was only around 100 miles. Little did we know that the "highway" google map told us to take would become a ONE LANE DIRT ROAD that took us over a MOUNTAIN PASS!! The drive took us forever!! AND it was in the middle of the night!! On a positive note, we stopped the car at one time and could see millions and millions of stars. They were so beautiful! Needless to say we were sure grateful when we got to our hotel that night.

We stopped at a market in Chillan, they had all sorts of fun stuff!!

An apartment Camron lived in

Camron served in the area you can see up on the hill

Visiting Members!!

Tita thinks Camron looks like Brad Pitt, especially with his sunglasses on!!

The "highway" we traveled on in the middle of the night