(NOTE: If you want to read this blog from The Beginning, click here, for the videos, click here).

That’s right folks, it’s been a year since we embarked on our trip. On that note, we wanted to lay this blog to rest. But, not without an update of course!

Just a week and a half ago, Whit and I moved back to San Francisco proper - Nob Hill to be exact. We had spent the last five months in Oakland, renting a room at our friend Mike’s house, where he lives with his girlfriend Vi and his cat Azul. We will miss all of them dearly.

I must admit though, it is wonderful to have a place of our own again; and the unpacking process has never been so enjoyable. About 75% of our things stayed in storage while we were living in Oakland, all in anticipation of being moved back to San Francisco. My parents came down from Portland to help with the move, which was done in a record-time of about 4 hours. It was great having them there - not only as extra hands, but helping to get our new apartment feeling like home right away.

We are almost done unpacking and putting things away and have been slowly tackling the task of choosing which pictures from the trip we want to frame, which is really difficult!

Otherwise, we are back in a routine. Whit is working as a video editor for Seesmic, and is finishing up a few free-lance jobs that started in the summer. I am back at my job that I had before I left - working in Account Services at a healthcare advertising agency. I’ve been playing rec soccer (go Heat!) and tonight we start Winter League for ultimate.

We’ll celebrate Thanksgiving Day with Whit’s relatives in Los Gatos, and then head up to Portland for Part II on Friday - where we’ll get to see my brother and his wife’s new family additions - Mikaela and Sebastian. Yes, twins! They’re so cute! (I went up at the end of October to meet them for the first time -they’re just little shrimps!) We’ll also celebrate Christmas with the Fisher’s in Portland before heading to Claremont and Pasadena to visit Whit’s family. Then, it’s off to Maryland to ring in the New Year with some old friends.

So, that’s a wrap. Please feel free to visit and revisit this page as your heart desires and to share it with friends who are debating taking a similar trip. We wanted to say thank you to everyone who followed and read regularly while we were away - it was so great to have support and know that we were missed as much as we missed everyone.

And now, a thought for the road:

“We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring will

be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.”

- T.S. Eliot

Much love and thanks,

Claire & Whit