Radiating Adventure

Good morning friends!

Please forgive the delayed posting--we have had quite an adventurous week! I'm going to attempt to capture it in this post, however I fear it may not do a justice--but that's okay!

Let me see--today is Friday and we are in Spokane, Washington about to check out my soon to be alma mater for my graduate degree--Gonzaga University! This past Sunday we pulled into our good friend's home near Tacoma, Washington right outside of Seattle from Olympic National Park.

Prior to Olympic we stayed with some awesome friends in Portland, Oregon, Zach and Catherine. Justin and Zach shared their Williamsburg phase of life together, and Catherine and Lori we're both added to the mix the same time a few years back. Zach and Catherine graciously invited us into their wonderful home allowing us to catch up on being clean, laundry, and REST. They also hooked us up with awesome meals, tastes of Portland, amazing views of the coastline, good laughs and conversation. Catherine's wonderful parents were also in town, and we had a blast of an opportunity to be with the whole fam. We spent our first evening with them over Catherine's wonderful fajitas followed by Dairy Queen (of course) and a movie. (*NOTE: Apparently Zach has the same degree of sugar addiction as Justin--it's quite impressive--and I feel I understand their friendship so much more now after encountering its solid foundation of sugar.) The following morning we headed out to various viewpoints including one incredible panorama of Rainier, Helens, and Adams, a few of the impressive Oregon coastline, and closed the day with what I think was the best beach day we all had ever had. It was GORGEOUS! We enjoyed an excellent lunch, games, more conversation, the Pacific Ocean, starfish, waterfalls, and occasional naps. After the beach, Zach and Catherine shared one of their favorite seafood spots where we were filled with the tastiest of all clam chowder. It was delicious. Thank you thank you thank you for sharing!

We are so grateful for our time with Zach and Catherine and the whole family--we love you guys and we hope to see you again soon!!!

Following Portland, we headed up to Olympic National Park where we had a good hike to see Hurricane Ridge, a bear, and Canada--and then we drove to the Grauman's!!!! The Grauman's are an incredible family that Justin grew up with during his time in Washington State. Words cannot express their generosity, hospitality, and love shown to us. We are so grateful. We arrived on Sunday with plans to leave Thursday morning for Spokane. Their generosity in allowing us to stay for such a good chunk provided us with quality rest, excellent fellowship, and quite the provision for one of our most radiant adventures yet. We offer the most sincere shoutouts to the ones who started it all: Jay and Sallie, and their three kids, their spouses, grandchildren and the rest of the fam--Jaymie and Davis (and their wonderful, adorable little ones: Taylor, Ethan, and Carly), Jayson and Mandy (and their little one on the way!), Jennifer and Brandon--and Sallie's brother Jeff and his wife Julie (congrats!!!). Our week was FULL of cookouts, great food, healthy breakfasts (juice and eggs of course!), amazing conversation, fun games with the kids, and some adventures at Rainier!

Our first adventure at Rainier was a trip to Sunrise with Jayson. We had a good (and quite strenuous) hike to see a peak called the Skyscraper, which put us in an incredible spot to be overwhelmed with Rainier. I always say I did not know what the word "majestic" meant until I encountered Rainier. Words still cannot express the way terrifying power and awesome beauty are so intimately and simultaneously reflected in that insane mountain. It's truly WONDERful. We are so grateful to Jayson for joining us both for the fellowship, adventure, and also for driving--specifically in light of the adventure that would await us the next day.

The truth is--Tonto (our affectionate term for Justin's 1998 Honda Civic coined by my wonderful Dad--hi Dad!), has been experiencing bits of fever throughout the hotter portions of our trip. Two fever incidents to be exact--one in the hottest part of California towards the end of a 10 hour driving day going up through mountain passes--yeah, to be expected. The other was a few days later in similar conditions. When I say fever I mean threat of overheating--both times in which we responded appropriately with not a drop of evidence of overheating to be found. Following these bits of fever we had the car checked out, oil changed, and everything was truly banging on all cylinders (and WELL!).

Then the ultimate "radiant" adventure took place. The day after our hike with Jayson, Justin and I headed up to Paradise on the opposite side of Rainier. About a mile from the top it appeared the car in front of us hit a puddle or shot their windshield fluid or something shooting droplets of fluid on our windshield--only it wasn't the car in front of us. Upon arriving at the visitor center at the top, we exited Tonto and observed that he had...explosively thrown up. That's right...the radiator blew. Bummer. Fortunately, God is SOOOOOOO good, and put us in the PERFECT circumstances for this to take place. We had unloaded all of our belongings at the Grauman's, we had Triple AAA tow us, and we were able to be near air conditioning as to not overheat ourselves. Further, we had great friends on the ready to pick us up from the quality auto repair shop that they had us tow Tonto to. It was the PERFECT situation, and we praise God for His protection and provision!!! As soon as we saw Tonto's issue, we called my amazing Mom to confirm the Triple AAA number, Jay for the auto place suggestion, Triple AAA for the tow truck, and Cleon's Auto Repair to inform them we were coming. We were informed the tow truck would be there in one...and then two...and then three hours, which was really the only thing that bummed us out considering we could have hiked had we known the original time from the beginning--however!! all in all--NO COMPLAINTS! The tow truck got us, Tonto, and took us to Cleon's where we were picked up by Sallie and taken to another delicious cookout of Jay's burgers and Sallie's delicious guacamole and pasta salad. SOOO GOOD. Further, Justin was paid for an extra week of work we had completely forgotten about on THAT SAME DAY Tonto got his new radiator--which almost exactly covered the cost. WE PRAISE GOD! We cannot proclaim His timing, protection, and glorious will enough in this one--and its such a little thing in life. He is so good - all the time - no matter what. He is real, He is good, and He LOVES us. This we know. Thank you Lord!

Now, Tonto has a new radiator, we made it to Spokane, and...WE'RE HEADED EAST!!!! (That's right family--get excited--we're COMING HOME!!!). We're off to check out Gonzaga today, head to Glacier, and then to Yellowstone (don't worry all--we're staying in a hotel for bear-safety purposes--we do pray for the families of those recently attacked). That may be a downer of a note to end on--but please know we're safe and protected and we continue to exercise wisdom and caution as we move throughout our journey.

Again, we thank Zack and Catherine, Jay and Sallie, Jayson and Mandy, Jaymie and Davis, Jennifer and Brandon, and TAYLOR, ETHAN, AND CARLY for a WONDERFUL TIME in the Northwest!!!


We love you all!!!


in His glorious and faithful love,

Justin and Lori

(we'll post pictures and more ThroupeCam stuff soon!)

Yosemite...

Bears...

To The Trees!

Oh the Falls

Good afternoon everyone,

We write to you today from the old lodge at Yosemite, which used to function as a dining room for guests long ago. It's very...nostalgic(?) here...with the smells and sounds and even old music from all that is "camp" here. Love it.

We arrived here yesterday after a beautiful time at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Sequoia was filled with the BIGGEST trees in the world. Literally. We felt so tiny...straight out of "Honey I Shrunk the Kids." The trees were massive, majestic, and gorgeous. Overwhelming really. The kind so tall, that if you look up you start to get dizzy and lose your balance. That big. That tall. So cool.

After hiking through the wonderful forest, we headed for camp where we saw DA BEARS. In a small meadow on the way to camp we saw one Momma Bear and two small, floppy cubs. One black, one light brown. SOOOO cute. I use the term floppy because they repeatedly attempted to climb on and off of a log from which they would end up tumbling as if they were straight out of a children's story. Roly poly, pel mel, tumble bumble...only bears, not puppies (for those of you who recognize the reference). Following da bears, we headed for camp, loaded up every "scented" item into our bear locker, sat by the fire, roasted some mallows, and crashed. We woke up, packed, sat down for breakfast, and were promptly joined by some mule deer who are less afraid of people than the squirrels at CNU...that's right. It was quite entertaining...they were ridiculously close and the only thing that finally scared them away was when...(sorry I just have to) Justin let out a "smoke monster"/"shot a bunny" (whichever term you prefer) and they ran like gangbusters (sometimes, I do too).

We spent the morning drive following the raging King's Fork River through King's Canyon. It was mighty and powerful to say the least. Miles upon miles of sheer whitewater tumbling down the rocks, creating hydraulics (for those of you familiar with white water rafting lingo) LARGER than mack trucks (a lovely and terrifying West Virginia, Gauley reference...AHH). Yeah, no thank you. We took a short hike to "Roaring River" (creative, I know) where Justin proceeded to climb the rocks out to snap some shots (we'll post those at some point). After enjoying the river and the surrounding scenery, we drove the miles between Kings Canyon and Yosemite--only stopping for (huge smile)...CHIPOTLE along the way!

Upon arriving at Yosemite we realized that it was indeed breathtaking...in multiple ways. Of course the beauty. But also the large amounts of people and the heat (weren't we out of the desert temperatures?). We enjoyed a "we're lost" Shuttle ride with many of them, followed by a rather unorganized meal time, redeemed only by the college kids serving at the ice cream stand (you know when one scoop is more like 3). We had been warned about the masses at Yosemite by some folks in Kings Canyon...which allowed us to prepare our hearts, minds, and attitudes well. We checked into our "tent cabin," which is exactly what it sounds like--a tent, held up by 2x4s instead of adjoining poles. There is a floor, a full size bed, twin bed, and small shelving unit, as well as a bear locker outside. On that note, I must share that we were awakened shortly after midnight (okay okay Justin was awakened...I (Lori) slept right through it--surprise surprise)--to a kid screaming "bear, bear, bear!" followed by an adult banging all things they could find and screaming, followed by rubber bullet shots...good times. The next morning we heard someone's car had been "bear-oken" in to (sorry, I had to). "Bear-oken" means utterly destroyed and torn to smithereens. Remember all things "scented"--that means pretty much everything (even Justin...kidding).

This morning we woke up, had some good time reading Luke and Greg Ogden's Discipleship book over some coffee and tea. We followed our sweet morning time with...one of the hardest hikes we've done yet. I know, I know, that sounds crazy considering Angel's Landing from Zion...but its true. We ascended 2,700ft in 3 miles (and, as we're the Throupe's, we...some might say..."foolishly" did it in 2.5 hours. Usual time, um 3-4). Not too shabby, but we were DRAGGING at the top. Did I mention the hike was to the top of Yosemite Falls? My bad. It was awesome once we arrived at the top...but we might argue the most challenging part was that ahead of us--down. Dangerous down. Millions of rocks covered in sand to ensure all manners of slipping and falling. Yes, oh the falls. Justin zoomed down the mountain, had one fall, and patiently awaited Lori who ever so carefully made it 5 minutes later with only a few terrifying slips and "surfs" in some areas. Rock on. (Get it?)

So now we're zapped and approaching meal time. Since we're not allowed to cook in our village of lovely tent-cabins, Justin decided we're going for the Yosemite Lodge buffet this evening--we're eating early and stocking up on all the energy we used today only fueled by a small granola bar, followed by a weak PB&J. We're beat and hungry. Carbs--here we come--and rightly so!

We continue to be ever grateful and increasingly peaceful, yet excited as we move throughout our trip anticipating the next steps and hikes and drives and parks, while thoroughly enjoying each day as we go.

Praise the Lord!

Hope you enjoy the longer post today (thank the LONG hike to Yosemite Falls--or if not, go ahead--YOU hike it! Kidding.).

Love you all so much. Thanks for staying tuned.

Grace and peace,

Justin and Lori

Tales California

Good morning all,

Our "tails" are finally in California and we are SO HAPPY to be out of the desert!!! The parks we visited there were beyond worth it--but it was getting quite hot--like 116 and such. Craziness.

We had a wonderful time with Justin's Great Aunt Pat (who truly is great by the way!) in Phoenix, AZ--who graciously treated us to a lovely dinner, laundry, showers, a delicious breakfast, great conversation, and air conditioning--THANK YOU AUNT PAT!!!! We love you.

We left Aunt Pat's yesterday for Joshua Tree National Park in California. We thoroughly enjoyed the Joshua Trees as we drove through the park and then high-tailed it out of the DESERT--phew. We made it to Bakersfield, CA last evening and checked in to the DoubleTree which just happened to be right across the street from one of our favorite restaurants...Costco. We enjoyed a familiar and delicious dinner out at Costco (and dessert of course) and headed back to continue to recover from our days in the desert (and dessert of course).

Today, we're off to Sequoia National Park!!! This is one of the one's with the AWESOME trees--we're so excited! We'll camp there and then trek around King's Canyon before we head to Yosemite. Stay tuned for more tales California!

Thank you all for following along with us in our adventure. We hope you're enjoying!

Grace and peace,

Justin and Lori

From the ThroupeCam...

From the ThroupeCam...and an Update

Stay tuned for the video from the SUMMIT!!!

Good afternoon all,

Justin and I are sitting in the North Rim General Store where WiFi is blazin' fast as to share a few pictures and videos with you. We drove from Zion National Park (UT), yesterday after doing a 5 mile hike up to Angel's Landing (the most famous hike in Zion--rightly so), and then a 4 mile hike combining Zion's Riverwalk hike along the Virgin River with The Narrows hike--IN THE RIVER. The hike through the river was nothing short of awesome, and that combined with the views from Angel's Landing, the shorter drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, a sweet sunset, and a good 'ol campfire at camp rendered yesterday one of our favorite days thus far.

Today, we're off to a scenic drive through the North Rim and then we're headed to the South Rim for another night of camping and potentially some hiking tomorrow. Words cannot express the beauty here. There's a reason for that. One thing that keeps coming to mind is--what a wonderful Maker.

Please pray for us as we continue to focus our hearts to delight in Him.

grace and peace,

Justin and Lori

More favorite picks....

This still takes forever so can't do to many and they have to be small...sorry! These are from Arches and Canyonlands.

Thanks to fast WiFi...

A few pictures from our Colorado Drive and Arches National Park...

Zion here we come...

It's 5:30am and we are off to Zion National Park. Pray for us to have a place to lay our head. Couldn't reserve camping grounds here so it is first come first serve. Hope we get there first!

-Grace and Peace

Justin and Lori

Arch You Glad We Came to Utah?

Good evening everyone,

Tonight we write to you from our KOA "Kampsite" in Moab, Utah. We're in UTAH! It was a gorgeous day of driving through the mountains of Colorado, and a fairly shorter drive at that--putting us in Moab by roughly 3:30pm. We checked in to our campsite (which apparently has wireless!...um...cool? weird? sad?), and headed to our first National Park stop of the trip--Arches. It was amazing! The deep red rock, the ridiculous heights and threatening boulders--it was quite a day! We've included some pictures from our trek around Arches below--it's off to bed and back to the parks tomorrow!!! Love you all!

God is good all the time. All the time God is good. No matter what.

in His love,

Justin and Lori

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

Good morning again all!

We are NOT in Kansas anymore--YAYYYY!!! We powered through the drive and made it to Denver yesterday around 5 and checked into our amazing treat of a hotel (thank you priceline). It was good to kick back and relax a bit. We had a great meal at the Rock Bottom Brewery and then headed to the original REI here in Denver to purchase some extra fuel and solve our camping table situation (story for another day...or never...huge thanks to Mom and Dad B for shipping our situation back!). Post REI we crashed and woke up to a wonderful breakfast here at the Residence Inn Marriott--sooooo good. Waffles and eggs and yogurt and deliciousness. Such a treat of a breakfast (sidenote: Marianna--your eggs were still way better!).

So this morning we're off to camping land! We're headed to our first wave of National Parks: Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, and the GRAND CANYON. We are so excited!!! We'll be camping for the next 5 days before we head to Justin's aunt's house in Arizona (Hi Aunt Pat! We're excited to see you!). We're not sure what blogging capabilities we'll have, but we assure you we'll be taking tons of pictures and some sweet videos. Stay tuned!

We love you all and we're thinking and praying for you as we go along.

"Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God." - Psalm 90:1-2

grace and peace,

Justin and Lori

Through the Gateway to Life at the Castle

Good morning all!

Greetings from the breakfast table at the castle in Kansas City, MO! We're sitting with our good friend Marianna, who has prepared yet again, another delicious meal that we have thoroughly enjoyed. Yesterday we hit the road from Louisville, made a pit stop at the Gateway to the West in St. Louis, rode the egg pod to the top of the arch, and hopped in the car for Marianna's in Kansas City.

Marianna had informed us that her house was the only one on the street that looked like a castle, and...wow. Such an interesting and awesome house. More awesome still were the people we encountered inside. Marianna had made a delicious meal of chicken marsala, asparagus, and spinach salad, and we sat around the "round table" of the castle with the characters of the castle. We had such a great time with Michelle, Paige, Molly, Madison, Angie, Jake (Montana--holler), and Rachel. After dinner, Marianna introduced us to the best part of Kansas City short of her friends--Peachwave (apparently formerly known as OrangeLeaf...but I guess they turned a new one. Sorry...I had to.).

Yes, this is worthy of a new paragraph. East Coasters, buckle up--Peachwave puts BerryBody to utter shame. Self-serve frozen yogurt with your choice of countless selections (well, maybe 20), that you can mix and swirl and add toppings of your choosing from the smorgasbord of options. Cost is measured in weight (of the ice cream, not yours)--so after Justin added the Reese's cups, pieces, cheesecake bits, cookie dough pieces, and heath bar--his came out to $27.50. Kidding. He did add all of that stuff, but it was still inexpensive and SOOO delicious. I got cheesecake and raspberry flavored yogurt and topped it with fresh raspberries, blackberries, white chocolate chips, and a few cheesecake bites. Mmmmm. Okay, enough on the yogurt. We'll be looking for Peachwaves throughout the reminder of our trip--stay tuned.

Aside from all the deliciousness, we have been so richly blessed with the time we've had at the castle. From deep, refreshing, and encouraging conversation with Marianna, to ridiculous moments of laughter with friends--to which I must offer the sincerest shoutout to Nick, Jonathon, and Aaron--the mermen who live outside and protect the castle (not really). They joined us post-yogurt and brought with them life-changing moments of Disney trivia and encouraging words for our trip to Denver.

I think they went something like this: "As soon as you pull out of Kansas City, you see Denver...and you're like 'I wanna be there now!!!', but no, 8 hours later it starts to get a little bigger on the horizon..." Awesome. Apparently today's drive will be full of...a big bunch of nothin'. Flat-as-a-pancake-midwest-Kansas. Rock on. Thanks for the encouragement and the laughter boys (that goes for Jake too, the incredibly cool accountant from Montana who gave us awesome--and sort of frightening--recommendations about our route to Glacier to include a place offering .35 cent burgers made from...?). Seriously, we had a great time. We have been so blessed by all of you!!!

One last thank you to Marianna for an incredible time. We love you!

Now we're off to pancake land--wait, I can actually see Denver out the window now--AWESOME. Oh well, here's to the day of driving we've been most warned about concerning sheer boredom...stay tuned for riveting videos. (p.s. we had too many awesome ones to share from today, so we settled on a lame one because we couldn't decide...sorry).

Love you guys,

Justin and Lori

Good 'Ol Louisville

Greetings fellow journeyers,

We write to you this evening from our good friends Nick and Kellie's place. We have had a wonderful first day! The drive wasn't too bad (for Lori at least, who falls asleep at any hint of sunshine beaming on her through the window...just like a kid), but she did drive for a bit before Justin took the brunt. For those of you who are curious, the civic is handling quite nicely, although we occasionally have to join the big trucks in the "snail lane" on uphill slopes. (It's seriously so sad to see them all "trucking" up the mountain...straight out of a children's book..."I think I can, I think I can"...so sad!). Aside from our uphill ventures, I would like to make one more shout out regarding our drive...a town called Shelbyville. A shoutout for our new and precious niece (we took a video for you...it's kind of lame, but maybe someday you'll appreciate it, not that you need additional reasons to laugh at us--we'll provide enough).

Anywho, we had a WONDERFUL time with Nick and Kellie, who have blessed us immensely with their hospitality and friendship. We enjoyed a lovely meal, a tour of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the deep and vibrant city that is Louisville, and incredible conversation. A huge thank you to them. We love you guys!

And now we're headed to bed to prepare for our second day's drive to Grandview, MO to stay with our good friend Marianna!! YAY!! Stay tuned for an update tomorrow--here's to the journey.

Also, we would like to take this moment for some additional shoutouts:

• To the awesome Throupe family for letting us borrow "Flip." We're so grateful and having a blast! We love you!
• To our dear friend Holly, who allowed us to borrow our tiny friend "lil mac" to bring along for the journey--which allows us to do this. Thank you Holly. You rock. Thank you for the post its too. Love it. Here comes the BOOM! (reference compliments of Icelandic Snow Owls '09).
• To Jason and Anna--for hooking us up with a sweet cooler that keeps our food cold for...free (and other stuff too!) THANK YOU! Love you guys so much. Give Shelbs a kiss for us!
• To Mom and Dad B for helping us get on the road and handling our delayed gear issues--as "large" as they are. We love you.

Thanks for reading--we love you all!

grace and peace,

Justin and Lori

The Day it All Began

Good evening all,

Welcome to journeythroupe. Here we will be sharing with you pieces of our journey that you might journey along with us. We are so thankful for you. We are so excited about this trip and all that is in store. We are currently in Northern Virginia, visiting the Bickham side before we take off. We had a great visit with the Throupe side this weekend for Dad T's birthday, and now we're pit stopping with the other side of the fam before we head out. We had a great meal with the rents and some sweet time sweet, sweet Shelby (all that comes to mind is - awwwwww she's so cute!) and her wonderful 'rents, my brother Jason and sister-in-law, Anna. They're awesome. Anyhow, it's late and I fear I am losing my sense-making abilities. We head out first thing tomorrow for Louisville, Kentucky where we will get to visit with our dear friends Nick and Kellie!!! YAY!!!

We'll keep you posted. Here's to launching off in a few hours!

(stay tuned...I'll do better blogging as we go...you know me)


Grace and peace,

Justin and Lori