Changes, Packing, Trail Treats

Notice anything different? (Hint: look up)

It’s a new header!!! Ta-Da!

A huge Thank You to my friend Jeff Kirk, whose skill and patience transformed our header hopes into reality. Since we launched the blog in January we wanted to give it a more travel/adventure feel. Jeff cheerfully volunteered for the task, and we are thrilled with how it turned out. In addition to his design skills, Jeff is also a talented writer and photographer, and you can read some of his prose at Vapor and Smoke and see some of his gorgeous photos here.

One of my favorite Jeff photos:

When it is in a larger size, you can really see all the nuances in the pelican’s feathers. Thanks Jeff!

We also added a “Recent Comments” section to the sidebar. Why? Because we love getting comments, so we are bringing attention to them in hopes that we’ll get more. We plan to print a keepsake book of all our blog posts and comments (and ones left on Facebook don’t appear). Make a newbie blogger’s day: leave a comment, share a story. If you are shy, code names are cool too!

Nepal update: We’ve spent the last few days laying out our stuff and attempting to fit it into our packs, while running to the store for last-minute items like a new tube of Cortaid and a lighter. Nepal requires a few more layers than other places we’ve traveled, and we bought something called a “balaclava” to keep our heads and faces warm at high altitudes. It will also work well if we need to rob a bank. It is still in the mail, so perhaps we’ll share a photo next week. We’ve already nicknamed ours “baklava” in memory of all the Turkish pastry we ate, which also had the effect of ultimately adding insulation thereby keeping us warm.

In the meantime, here’s what our pile of Nepal stuff looks like now:

Those two baggies on top are filled with Kettle Chips; Buffalo Bleu and Sea Salt & Vinegar flavors. We’ve been told to expect a varied diet of rice, lentils and potatoes OR potatoes, lentils and rice while we are trekking. Every day. Chicken may also be available some days, but if we order it we might have to wait three hours while they kill, dress and cook the chicken. Um, no thank you.

So we bring tasty potato chips and chocolate instead, and trust that for a change of pace we’ll more than work off whatever junk food we decide to enjoy.