When we got back to Honolulu we found a nice, affordable apartment in a great location across from the zoo and the beach on the Diamond Head side of Waikiki. We eventually found some part-time work, Werner with AT&T and Alexis with the YMCA. We lived there for four months and during that time we couldn't find any full-time work. However we greatly enjoyed our time in Hawaii and learning the local culture. We liked going shopping for fruit and vegetables in Chinatown (great variety and cheap), seeing the sunset and going swimming almost every day. In February 2001 we decided to go back to the mainland. So we used the last part of our round-the-world ticket just before it expired and flew to California.
We visited Alexis' family in southern and northern California, bought a car and took a road trip along the coast on a search for a place to settle down. We drove from California through Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and finally to Colorado. We found a furnished apartment in Denver across from City Park which we rented month-to-month. After a few months we went to Chicago to get our things out of storage and to visit with our friends there.
Now (December 2002) we've been in Denver, Colorado for 18 months and we've moved into a more permanent apartment in South East Denver. We found a great church (Open Door Fellowship) where we made a lot of friends. We also really enjoy the mountains. This is where we are settling, we like it here.
