Where we are staying...

Here's a quick video of where we are staying in Malibu. We are on the side of a hill a couple hundred feet above the ocean. The view from our 'kitchen' window looks south to the smog filled city across the water and out front is open ocean. It's pretty ridiculous.


Malibu Beach RV Park from Jeremiah Sizemore on Vimeo.

- Jeremiah and Sarah

Malibu...

Well, we made it to Malibu just in time for the sunset. The view from this place is just amazing. We'll post a video tomorrow. We plan to be here for a week before heading on up the coast.

Also, Sarah is pretty sure that Matthew McConaughey's Airstream is parked across from us. So that's cool. Even though it is not true. It's still really cool as an idea.

Love to all...

- Jeremiah

Still in Pomona

We're still hanging out here with Jas and Katty and James in Pomona. It's been a lot of fun and a great time to catch up and get to be a part of their busy lives for a bit. I don't have any pictures of James yet (but I promise I've taken some) so here are a few from Arizona and New Mexico.

I have posted a similar shot before, but Deet said she likes pictures of Sarah cooking so here it is



Sarah in the Petroglyph State Park (still not loading the camera right at this point)



Our one picture of petrified wood



The train on our way to the Grand Canyon



Sarah in the Painted Desert



And another one of her at Petroglyph...



We're headed to Malibu tomorrow. Hope all is well.

- Jeremiah and Sarah

Texas

I had been waiting to get some film developed before I posted in-depth about our time in Georgetown (now over three weeks ago).

We ended up pulling into town on New Year's Eve and spent the night with Sarah's family. We didn't plan to stay long at first, but it was so relaxing and enjoyable that we just kept hanging around. We ate home-cooked meals, walked around the ranch, played a lot of WiiFit, toured Austin and enjoyed living in a stationary house for a few days. Our hosts (the McLachlan's) were so kind and we had so much fun catching up/getting to know them. Sarah's uncle had Tivoed all my favorite CNBC market-commentary shows so I got o catch up on those (much to Sarah's dismay) and we even got to watch Kentucky win their 3rd-straight bowl game (it may not sound like a big deal, but it was).

Here are some pictures.

This is Sarah down by the river on the Ranch.



Sarah and Amanda, her cousin.



Sarah's cousins on the trampoline.





The McLachlan's...our wonderful hosts.



The list of people to thank is a long one, but we loved hanging out in Georgetown and Austin with you all. Thanks for having us...

- Sarah and Jeremiah

California

We're in Oceanside, CA tonight. Right now we have some steaks on the grill and we are waiting for those to finish up. We drove through San Diego today and it was pretty gorgeous. Since we just got more pictures developed, here are a few from the last time we were at the beach (and the last time we were at a Louisianian Fish Camp).









We'll be in Pomona tomorrow so that probably means we will eventually be posting pictures of James. Just something to look forward to...

- Jeremiah

Rent the Maverick

We made it to California and will be in San Diego for the weekend before hanging out with the Katty, Jas, and James in Pomona 'til they get tired of us. Things are still going well and we feel so blessed to have the time to take this trip.

We have been talking more about what we want to do with this motorhome when we get back to Birmingham, and we really hate the idea of just putting it in storage until we use it again this Summer or Fall. So...if any of you would be interested in renting it at some point, we would love it. We are working on putting together a calendar that shows when it will be available, but until that's ready, feel free to send us an email - ringaroundamerica@gmail.com - if you're interested. By late March it will be ready to hit the road again.

Here's a link to the details of the Maverick. It can sleep 5 (6 if you have kids) and will be a whole lot cheaper (and nicer) than other rental RVs.




Just a thought...

- Jeremiah

Some more film...

We are on our way to San Diego today. Vegas has been fine but it's not really our scene.

Here are a few more of the black and white shots from the rolleiflex. Hope you like them.

(this one's my favorite)




(this happens when you don't know how to load the camera)




We're back on the road...

- Jeremiah

Rollei

We just got our first load of medium format film back, and while I didn't exactly load the film right, there are still some great shots. Here's one of my favorites.

In case you wonder what the inside of our rv looks like...well, it basically consists of Sarah eating Rice Krispies Treats cereal.

From Ring Around America

I will be posting many more gems like this one soon.

- Jeremiah

Inauguration

We are in Hurricane, Utah today and we just finished watching the inauguration. It really is such an incredible story. If you had watched a movie where that happened it would have seemed almost silly...it really is stranger than fiction.

(Update) Actually, before I could post that, we moved on to Vegas. A very different place than Hurricane. We also finally got some more film developed. Here are a couple shots from the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest (the first 3 are T3).

From Ring Around America

From Ring Around America

From Ring Around America

More soon...

- Jeremiah

In the Canyon

Last week Sarah and I got to hike down the South Kabab Trail into the Grand Canyon. Here is a quick clip from the place we stopped to have have lunch, read, and try to comprehend that place.



It was such an incredible sight...I have never seen anything like it in my life.

We're camped at Zion National Park tonight and planning to spend the day hiking and biking tomorrow before heading south and west.

- Jeremiah

Wedding 8mm

The guys at A Bryan Photo just posted the 8mm from our wedding. Thanks Rob (and Branden) for getting it all together! We don't have real internet so we still haven't gotten the last 15 seconds to load...but we love the rest of it. Here it is if you're interested.


Sarah & Jeremiah Wedding from A Bryan Photo on Vimeo.

We are at Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border for the night. Zion Canyon tomorrow Lord willing.

Thanks for keeping up!

- Jeremiah and Sarah

(oh yeah, and we have more Grand Canyon stuff to post once we get a real connection)

The Grand Canyon Is Ridiculous

Yesterday we got the chance to go to the Grand Canyon. I had never been and was incredibly excited about getting the opportunity. We actually stayed in Williams, AZ on Monday night and then road a train to the canyon before riding the train back that night.

Below is a short video of a few images from our trip. Whenever I ride a train or get to experience something that makes me feel spoiled I think of this song...and since today was filled with both of those things, I used it in the video.


Grand Canyon Railway from Jeremiah Sizemore on Vimeo.

What a world my parents gave me...thanks moms and dads.

- Jeremiah and Sarah.

Cooking Hamburgers

We're in Williams, AZ right now and we are about to take an old train to the Grand Canyon for the day. It's chilly up here but beautiful. We're still hoping to have some more pictures to post at some point...but until then, here's another video. It's from Albuquerque in the Sandia Mountains.



Hope everyone's January has been great so far!

- Jeremiah

Pictures Developed

We got some filmed developed when we were in Albuquerque, but unfortunately we didn't check the cd until we had left town. While the prints were definitely our pictures, the digital copies were definitely not. But, since we want to make the most of the situation, we thought we would share a few of our favorites from the roll we did get.

Here's the whole family with Goofy!





















Little Albert loves Christmas!





















Dreams really do come true!





















And a Donny and Marie Osmond billboard...does it get any better?





















Anyways, that was kind of disappointing. Also, after a tight vote, I finally shaved. It was getting really itchy.

Oh yeah, and we went to the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert yesterday and it was absolutely beautiful. We will post more on that soon.

- Jeremiah

Three Week Anniversary

Saturday was our 3-week wedding anniversary and we used that as an excuse to go to a nice dinner. We were in Albuquerque so we took this tram up to the top of the mountain overlooking the city and had dinner up there during sunset. It was over 11,000 feet high and had beautiful views on all sides. Here's a quick video of us on the ride up.




We are on our way to the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert today before heading to the Grand Canyon after that.

Hope all is well.

- Jeremiah and Sarah

New Year's Resolutions

So, while we have been out on this trip, a new year has started and we have had to think about what we want to try and 'accomplish' this year as a couple. One of the things on our list is to read through the Bible together (super creative I know...it has to be the number one Christian New Year's resolution of all time) but we have already run into our first obstacle. I Chronicles.

Reading through that book is crazy hard, especially when you are reading out loud. Here's an excerpt -

72 and out of the tribe of Issachar: Kedesh with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands, 73 Ramoth with its pasturelands, and Anem with its pasturelands; 74 out of the tribe of Asher: Mashal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, 75 Hukok with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands; 76 and out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, Hammon with its pasturelands, and Kiriathaim with its pasturelands. 77 To the rest of the Merarites were allotted out of the tribe of Zebulun: Rimmono with its pasturelands, Tabor with its pasturelands, 78 and beyond the Jordan at Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, out of the tribe of Reuben: Bezer in the wilderness with its pasturelands, Jahzah with its pasturelands, 79 Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands; 80 and out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, Mahanaim with its pasturelands, 81 Heshbon with its pasturelands, and Jazer with its pasturelands.

Saying the word 'pasturelands' out loud 50 times in a row is pretty tough. In all seriousness, we are pretty excited about trying to get through it and we found some good 'reading plans' here if anyone is interested.

In other news, we have CNBC this morning for the first time and that's pretty exciting. The economy lost (at least) 525,000 jobs in December which is crazy. At least we can live in the Maverick if things get worse.

- Jeremiah (and Sarah's making cinnamon rolls)

Wedding Pictures Are Up!

Our wedding was just posted at this link.

The 'Selects' have about 150 of the pictures, and the 'Proofs' have the rest if you want to look through them all.

Here are a few we love -


















Again, the whole gallery is here.

We're in Santa Fe for the night. It's beautiful...

- Sarah and Jeremiah

New Mexico

Well...we finally made it through Texas. It took a lot longer than planned but we really enjoyed our time there. Today we are headed to Santa Fe (even though it's cold) to stay for a couple nights before heading to Albuquerque.

The sunset last night was beautiful...we are still taking a lot of pictures but we haven't gotten any developed recently. We will post them soon though...

Hope everyone is enjoying the New Year so far. We feel so spoiled to just be traveling for awhile.

Oh yeah, and I got a call from the repair shop this week and my 4runner (which broke down as I was leaving for Montgomery the day before my wedding) is pretty much totaled so if anyone likes to work on cars and wants to buy a '96 4runner that overheats, let me know. I'm really tired of of dealing with it. So now, when we get back to Birmingham, Sarah and I will have a total of zero cars and one motorhome. Haha...

- Jeremiah

We're in Lubbock

We just got to our campground in Lubbock and took a quick swim (indoor pool) after a long day of driving. Well, it wasn't that long, except that waiting in line at Wal-Mart can make any day drag on (after finally getting to the front of the line and unloading our groceries, the woman in front of us realized she had left her debit card and proceeded to wait for her husband to bring it from home. Seriously.).

We drove past the most ridiculously large wind farm I have ever seen in my life. It must be T. Boone Pickens' new one because it was literally 110 miles long (with maybe a 10 mile break in the middle). I'm a little obsessed with wind turbines and such so I thoroughly enjoyed it. The only problem was that we were driving into the wind the entire day and barely got 7 mpg (we had been averaging 9.9 for the trip) and it was a fight to keep the Mav in its lane.

Anyways, here we are yesterday in Ranger, Texas -




New Mexico tomorrow (Lord willing). Thanks for keeping up, we've been so blessed and had so much fun the past couple weeks...

- Jeremiah

Wedding Photos Preview

Bryan (of A Bryan Photo) just posted a quick blog entry about our wedding and travels. Here is one of the pictures he included.



and a couple more...







So great...check out the entire blog entry here and be on the lookout for our pictures in the next week or so.

- Jeremiah

Tamales in Dallas

We stopped in Dallas on Saturday and had dinner with Sarah's Aunt Cindy and Uncle Ben. Her cousin Johnny was also there for a bit and we all got to hang out around the fire for the evening.



We also went to church and brunch with Danielle Greenwade, one of our favorite people in the world, and that was a lot of fun. We are waiting out the freezing rain here in Ranger, Texas today and making our way towards New Mexico from here.

- Jeremiah

Leaving Dallas, Driving through West Texas, and My Beard

We got the chance to stop in Dallas last night and visit with more friends and family before heading towards New Mexico. We are currently stopped somewhere in West Texas and settling in before the freezing rain hits tomorrow.

We have another video we are uploading now, so we will post it tomorrow. In the meantime, vote in our poll about whether or not I should shave (I realize this is a pretty vain idea, but the poll is anonymous and if anyone - besides Sarah - actually votes, we might incorporate it into the blog later on). It's on the right side of the actual blog (so if you are reading this in a feed reader, you won't know what I'm talking about).




















Hope all is well...

- Jeremiah

Back on the Road

We are about to pack up the Mav once again and hit the road. Georgetown has been great but we need to keep on moving. Here's a video of the ranch where we've been staying the last few days. It really has been a lot of fun.



Also, Kentucky did win their bowl game last night. Although I'm sure everyone watched it. Headed to Dallas now...

- Jeremiah

Georgetown, Texas...

Sarah and I have stopped for a few days to hang out with some of her family in Texas. It has been a lot of fun so far and we are still debating when we will hit the road again...probably Saturday morning. There's a hugely important bowl game this afternoon (Kentucky vs. East Carolina) so we can't miss that.

Anyways, we are about to head down to the river to get some fresh air and hang out. We'll post something more interesting soon...promise.

- Jeremiah