Vegas, Round II

Home building has been all-consuming in terms of time and income this year. Vacations have been out of the question. In a somewhat tragic scheduling of events, James and I both had to go to Las Vegas this month for work...two weeks apart. Where were the scheduling gods on that one? It sure would have been nice to visit this crazy place with each other. Still, getting away from the house and the chaos for a few days has turned out to be a much needed break, even in a city that never sleeps. And no worries, I'm staying far away from the oysters.

View of the Bellagio fountains from the 50th floor of our hotel, Planet Hollywood.

Playing Catch Up

It feels like I'm always playing catch up these days. There is just so much going on and simply not enough hours in the day. With James getting sick this week and both of us feeling somewhat overwhelmed and exhausted by balancing housework and actual work (as in the kind we get paid for), this blog has sort of fallen by the wayside. Ooops. So, without further adieu, here's an update with pictures from the past two weeks on the job site.

First...the big reveal! Drumroll, please! Yellow or Green? Yellow or Green? Yellow or Green???

Green!

We chose to go with a mix of vinyl clapboard siding and polymer shakes from Certainteed. We were torn about how to finish the outside of our house and had a lot of factors to consider while making the decision. Material type, environmental impacts of the products, and of course, cost. We settled on siding from Certainteed because while it's vinyl/composite, it has some redemptive qualities because it is made of 60% post-consumer recycled material and will last at least 30 years without needing to be replaced, which is a "green" quality in itself. You can read more about Certainteed's sustainable building materials here.

Work has been moving along on the inside of the house as well. Insulation is complete! As I mentioned in a previous post, we insulated the house with a hybrid approach of super efficient closed cell spray foam and traditional fiberglass batting. The house feels and sounds so different now that it is insulated. Maybe that's because it's super duper insulated (yes, that's an actual "official" designation). Our ceilings are insulated to R-40 and our exterior walls better than R-21. In addition, we went through the house and sealed every crack and crevice with caulk. Nothing's getting through those walls!

Our amazing stoneworker, John did an awesome job on our front stoop. Isn't the bluestone beautiful?! We have smaller matching ones for our two back steps as well.

This was also an exciting week because the sheetrock was started! Having walls totally transforms the entire floorplan. This is the only picture you get until it's all done. Looks different, doesn't it?!

What Happens in Vegas...

...apparently doesn't stay in Vegas. Just ask James. He spent last week in Las Vegas for work and came home with a nasty bacterial infection in his small intestine. After going through the list of possible offenders, we are pretty sure the culprit was the raw oysters on the half shell he ate the night before he came home. Note to all - don't eat raw oysters when you live in or are visiting ANY land locked state!! He's doing much better now, but we spent an unpleasant night in the hospital and if that wasn't bad enough, I came home with a cold. Hospital germs...yuck! And to top it all off, I'm off to Las Vegas myself on Sunday for a week of work. I'm not going anywhere near the oysters!

First meal in 48 hours!

A Little Too Much Fun

Shout Out

To my dad! He's working so hard for us as our general contractor as we navigate the tricky, trying and exhausting process of building a custom home. He's the best! We love you!

Day 135

The last couple weeks have really run James and I ragged. It took us a solid four weeks to complete the electrical rough-in. That's a lot longer than we expected it to take and I'm not going to lie, it was rough. Work all day at the office, work all night at the house. Eat take out. Repeat. All the hard work paid off though. We passed our electrical inspection last week and got the go-ahead to start insulating the house.

Part of our green building plan is to create a super energy efficient home. Insulating the house is one of the most important pieces of this puzzle. It certainly doesn't stand out the way, say, a nice set of photovoltaic solar panels in our back yard would, but it's fundamental to creating an efficient "envelope" in our home. When it comes to insulation, there are a lot of choices - traditional fiberglass, blown in cellulose, open cell polyurethane foam, closed cell polyurethane foam, etc. All of them have different R-values and of course, different price tags. We settled on a hybrid system of closed cell spray polyurathane foam and traditional fiberglass batting. The closed cell spray foam hardens when it dries and seals any gaps or crevices to the outside and is an excellent insulator, preventing conditioned air loss and greatly reducing heating and cooling utilities consumption. And since we are investing in a geothermal heating and cooling system, having a well insulated home is essential.

(excuse the terrible iPhone pics!)

The insulation should be finished by the end of the week and I'll have more pictures to share with you. Other fun things are going on this week on the outside of the house. Siding is going up! I don't want to share any pictures until it's done so you'll all just have to wait a little longer to find out what color we went with. I'll give you a hint though...it's one of the two most popular votes...yellow...or green? Check back soon to find out!

Revisiting the Galapagos

No, we're not revisiting our beloved Galapagos Islands in real life, just in the blogosphere. I realized that I never really blogged much about our honeymoon. I had intended to create a whole website devoted to our trip with day by day recaps of our adventures, but like so many things, I never got around to it. Since today is officially the two year anniversary of our trip, I figured I'd share some photos and video of our most amazing adventure to "Las Islas Encantadas" or "the enchanted islands." Hold on tight, it's a long recap but totally worth the read!

We spent the first day and night of our honeymoon getting to the country of Ecuador. After a night on the mainland, we took a two hour flight that brought us to the Galapagos Islands. Our first stop was to the island of San Cristobal. It is one of the largest of the 18 islands that make up the famous archipelago. We were greeted almost immediately by our private guide, Richard. In order to protect the natural environment visitors are only allowed to enter the national parks in the Galapagos with a guide. Every guide has to be a life long resident of the Galapagos and is trained as a naturalist. Throughout the trip Richard provided us with a rich history of the islands and its people and of course all of the plants and animals we came across during our week long stay. He also took us out at night to meet with the locals and took us to places "off the itinerary" so to speak so that we could experience the Galapagos in ways that many other travelers don't get to. He was awesome. Not only did he make sure our honeymoon was perfect, but his passion for his job and his islands were obvious from the minute we met him.

Upon arriving, Richard dropped us off at our accommodations and told us it was time for our afternoon "siesta" or nap. At first, we were just anxious to get out and see things but after a few days, we began to love our siesta time. It's definitely something Americans should do more often!

The way our trip was planned, we spent a few nights on three different islands and took day trips from our land based location. Every place we stayed on our journey was fantastic and the food was to die for! Fish and fresh fruit and vegetables for every meal, even breakfast. It was so fresh and delicious because everything grown on the islands must be organic by law in order to protect the environment. All of the fish are reel caught and bought and sold daily at local markets. I've never felt so healthy at the end of a vacation as I did when we got home from our honeymoon, haha.

Our breakfast nook and view from our room

Nom, nom, nom...

After our siesta, we set off on our first hike. We explored the San Cristobal Visitors Center and learned about the history of the islands and of course, the Voyage of the HMS Beagle that brought a young Charles Darwin to the Galapagos in September of 1835. It was on that expedition that Darwin famously made observations about the distinct variations between species of finches and giant tortoises found on each island. His observations greatly influenced the development of his theory of natural selection which explained evolution and were described in his publication On the Origin of Species. So you see, this trip was not only about seeing and feeling an extraordinary natural environment, but as a young scientist it was something of a dream to see and feel all of the things Darwin experienced 175 years before our visit and know how they influenced the way we think today.

Darwin Bay where the HMS Beagle was anchored in 1835


For such a smart guy, you think they could have at least made Darwin's head a little bigger

On our way back to the hotel, we had our first encounter with the famous Galapagos sea lions. They are famous because of their complete lack of insecurity around all other animals, including humans. In fact, what's so unique about the Galapagos is that all of the animals have evolved to have very few natural predators. Because of this, nothing is afraid of you. Birds, reptiles, even fish will approach you with no fear. This allowed us to get so close to animals you could only dream about seeing up close anywhere else. It was spectacular if not somewhat unnerving at times.

Sleepy sea lions didn't even know I was there


Darwin's famous finches, about a foot away from our toes


Even the crabs couldn't care less...

We spent the follow two days exploring San Cristobal by land and by sea. We climbed the to the highest fresh water lake in the Galapagos, Laguna El Junco, located in a volcanic crater high in the lush uplands of the island. We opted for mountain bikes on the trip down from the crater which was an exhilarating way to take in the scenery as the landscape changed from rainforest to desert before our eyes. We kayaked through Darwin Bay and had encounters with sea lions, sea birds and even spotted a far off whale tale. We took a boat tour around the island, spotting rare species and stopping along the way to snorkel at Kicker Rock where we saw tropical fish, sharks and sea turtles. And of course, we had several encounters with the giant Galapagos land tortoises.

Whale fins at Kicker Rock








Notice anything funny about that sign?

Giant tortoise = giant poop.

Our next stop on our trip was Isabela Island. I think the flight over to the island was the scariest part of our whole trip. I'd take swimming with sharks over that any day!

Isabela Island was my favorite of all the islands we visited on our trip. The island is the largest island in area but has a much smaller population than the other inhabited islands. The locals are friendly and the atmosphere was so relaxing. The island itself is stunning and largely untouched and the beaches were the most spectacular beaches I've ever visited.

Isabela Island had a lot to share with us. Marine iguanas thrive on this island. These prehistoric looking iguanas are huge and like all other animals in the Galapagos, allowed us to get up close and personal with them. We also saw lots of Blue Footed Boobie birds, reef sharks, sea turtles and Galapagos penguins, the only penguins that live in warm weather climate.

While on Isabela, we visited the highlands where Richard took us deep within the National Park to a volcanic crater. Locals had set up a series of ropes and ladders that took you deep into the crater. It was really amazing to rappel deep into the earth like that and it was so exciting to go somewhere that few tourists get to visit.

When we got back to our hotel, we found wine and chocolates waiting for us and the best meal of the trip ready for our hungry bellies. Later that night, Richard took us out to meet his friends who all welcomed us in with Caipirnhas (pronounced Kai-Pee-Reen-Yas) in hand. Caipirnha is a popular mixed drink in South America and as we found out, Ecuadorians like the make them strong! We had a blast that night but I'm pretty sure I may have had one too many Caipirnhas because I was hurting the next day, especially during the long boat ride from Isabela to the island of Santa Cruz where we would wrap up our week long adventure in the Galapagos.

Santa Cruz is the second largest island in the Galapagos and is the most inhabited. Of all the islands, this one was the busiest and most touristy so we only spent one night, our last in the Galapagos, on this island. Upon our arrival at our hotel, we were greeted by Norman, a one-winged pelican that frequented the pool area and lived off scraps from the kitchen. He was quite a sight and made sure you knew he ruled the pool.

We had a day to spend on Santa Cruz island so we toured the Charles Darwin Research Station, visited the organic coffee bean farms and stocked up on provisions to bring back home with us, explored a huge lava tube which was formed many years ago by volcanic activity on the island, and of course, saw more amazing wildlife along the way.

Coffee beans


Heading into the lava tube


Siesta time for the land iguana

And then, well before we were ready to leave, it was time to head back to the mainland. We said our final goodbyes to Richard and boarded our flight back to Quito, the capitol city of Ecuador.

We had decided during the planning stages of our trip to spend an extra day in Quito before coming home. I'm glad we did this but if I could go back and repeat the trip, I would have planned this day ahead of our trip to the Galapagos. Quito is a city rich in history and culture, but it is so vastly different from the Galapagos that the experience of being in a big unfamiliar city, where very few people speak English and there's no Richard in sight, was a little disorienting to say the least. We managed to make the most of it though and toured what we could on foot, amazed by the architecture, especially some of the old churches.

We also managed to find our way to the Teleferico, a gondola that took us high into the mountains. We hiked around for awhile but it wasn't long before we felt the effects of the 13,500 ft elevation. Still, the views were spectacular, even through the fog.

And then... It was time. So we headed home. Married, exhausted and happily swimming in memories of the best vacation ever. The end.

Sea lion lovers.