Clickety-clack

As I type, I am on a train headed from Seattle to Portland.  It is so beautiful.  As a co-passenger pointed out, it is such a romantic way to travel, and it would be a shame if it became obsolete.  Not romantic in the mushy way, but in a "good-old-days" kind of way.  In a sense I feel connected to the past.  Feeling like I can now relate to those millions of people who have traveled by train, especially when it was one of the only options.  Landscapes rushing by, rocking of the cars back and forth, distant call of the horn, quaint train stops in little towns, being two feet away from trains whooshing by going the opposite direction.  

I can close my eyes and imagine... I am Christie, traveling to the Smoky Mountains on her way to Cudder Gap.  Or maybe I am a mail-order bride on my way out west to meet a strange man in hopes of starting a family and maybe finding love.  I could also be traveling from the dusty plaines of Kansas back to the bustling city of Boston to visit family I haven't seen in years.  

*sigh*  it IS romantic.

 Yet here I sit, 2014, on my tablet...checking facebook and reading blogs...eating hummus and pretzels while chatting with my husband.  Seeing each stop highlighted on the TV screen at the front of the car.  Glancing out the window and catching a semi and convertable rushing down the highway parallel to us.  

I have a lot of catching up to do with pictures and all, but I think I'll wait to do that...since there are so many.  

In other news...Ben and I have realized we love vacationing together.  I mean, we have been numerous places on vacation...but it was always with family or friends.  The only other time we have been together on a vacation was our honeymoon...and lets be honest, we were lounging on the white-sand beaches of an 800 acre island and were fresh off the wedding boat with stars in our eyes.  Isn't exactly prime circumstances for discovering if you travel well together.  

But this trip was perfect for that.  Details, unknowns, adventure, exploring, schedules, flexibility...this trip has it all.  And we are really enjoying it.  Our styles of vacationing are similar enough that it doesn't cause too many problems.  We both enjoy seeing sights, exploring etc...but boy do we know how to relax and totally soak up the "vacation" aspect of the trip.  We have had a lot of fun conversation, some discussion on deeper topics (that have all ended positively...yay!) and have even sucummbed to being total tourists.  (This is a lot harder for me to do than it is for Ben.  I hate being a tourist.  I just want to fit in.  But when you are going around snapping pictures of iconic touristy things...well you kind of just jump right into the stereotype and snuggle up.)  

Anyway, this trip has been really good so far...and I'm not saying that every trip we take from here on out will be this seamless...but I have a fantastic traveling partner who knows how to take the unexpected things that inevitably come up and turn them into an opportunity for adventure.  He inspires me to keep walking even if it means 5 miles on my feet in not-so-comfortable shoes (my fault, not his...sacrificed comfort for cute on that one...).  He makes a meal budget with me so we are wise with our money, but he also takes me to a fancy anniversary-celebration dinner one night where he says, "No questions asked..." (more on this in a later post...because my goodness... I tasted things that night that have never graced my taste-buds with such delight before)

I guess what I'm saying is, I'll totally do this again.  "This" being vacations/trips with my superb adventure partner.  

And I guess I'm also saying in a round-about way that this is what God promised me when I had committed to marrying Ben, but didn't know details of what it would include.  I had doubts about how situations like this would work out.  Would we enjoy similar things? Would we handle stressful situations well together?  Would we argue and disagree about dumb stuff?  Well in those moments before we were married and these doubts plagued my mind, God reassured me that He had worked in both of our lives to bring us together and that He would take care of the rest.  It may not look anything like I pictured "perfect" looking...but it would be just as good, if not better, especially if we keep Him at the center of it.  And this trip is evidence of the hand of God and fulfillment of that promise.  

Thank you for listening to my ramblings...and I don't mean to paint our lives/vacation as perfection...merely to share testimony of how God has worked things together on this trip for goodness that we don't deserve, but will gladly enjoy with thankful hearts.  

au revoir. 

p.s. Technically we are only halfway through our trip. there may be a followup blogpost with who KNOWS what kind of fun curves and twists =)