New Years Eve 2011, Philadelphia

New Year's Eve, 2010 (or is it 2011?) was spent in church. Oh, but that's just where we started. My awesome aunt and new uncle thoughtfully planned and paid for a huge family party for NYE. The best part was watching them get MARRIED first! I love this church - it's the same one I was baptized in nearly 30 years ago.

It's a good thing we all prayed first since it got a bit rowdy. There may have been some overly animated singing along to Sweet Caroline and someone could've lost a tooth with all the fist pumping during the Journey number (I couldn't even hear the real singer during the chorus) but all their friends and us family had a great time ringing in 2011 with the newly married couple.

Sunday Funday in Dupont Circle

Squash and beans at the Dupont Circle Farmer's Market

Crabcake Eggs Benedict from Circa

The Corn Palace - Mitchell, SD

I know, you're dying to hear about our visit to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. Sadly, you won't get much from me. It was an impromptu stop made after the Palace had closed for the day. Thank goodness for our AAA guidebook though, otherwise we wouldn't have even known it was around.

The Corn Palace helped us reach three kitschy Americana landmarks (Roswell and Carhenge being the first two) during our road trip. Much to my husband's disappointment (he truly felt cheated), the entire building is not made of corn. The exterior is decorated yearly using all parts of corn and must be a better use of the plant then high fructose corn syrup.

As far as I can tell, the theme of this year's mural was to showcase the palace "throughout the ages". How a sailboat and pictures of man on a segway "show" the theme, I have no idea. It was pretty awesome though and I'm sure GOB Bluth would've been proud.

Badlands National Park

Our time back in the States has been really busy. Trying to cram in visits with friends and family, trips to the beach, checking out new restaurants, and preparing for Afghanistan has been very time-consuming! Stepping back and reviewing our vacation road trip helps to slow things down. It was only a few weeks ago but seems like ages sometimes!

Near the end of our trip, we headed from Mount Rushmore to Badlands National Park. Passing the Black Hills along the way, we realized that we definitely hadn't budgeted enough time for South Dakota and mentally added another park to our "must visit" list (which is getting pretty long). Badlands was pretty amazing though and well worth the trip. The terrain was a mixture of the prairie grass and rugged canyons, spires, and plateaus that house fossils tens of millions of years old.
Unlike Arches and Canyonlands, Badlands has more relaxed regulations regarding backcountry hiking and camping. From the site pictured above, we saw a family of three scurry right up one of the canyon walls without any specialized equipment. Far in the distance, you could see the Badlands Wall which local Native American tribes used as a scouting location - they had been hunting there for nearly 11,000 years.

Of course Badlands has had some controversy in its past due to the struggles between the Native Americans and incoming homesteaders. The Stronghold table was the site of the last Ghost Dance conducted by followers of the Lakota prophet Wovoka who believed that they would overcome the "white man". Of course, the massacre at Wounded Knee, 45 miles from the park, unfortunately said otherwise.

Wildlife is plentiful in the Badlands - bison and prairie dogs are most common. We didn't see any but the park's official literature and all the DANGER signs around the park tell me that rattlesnakes are also pretty common. Also unseen - bobcats, bighorn sheep, and coyotes. However, the most surprising threat was from the ubiquitous prairie dog (can you see it popping into the foreground in the above photo) who, as pictured below, have PLAGUE!

Shopping in America

One of our first expeditions out of my parent's house when we arrived in Austin last month was to Target. I think it's practically a FS right-of-passage to come back at marvel at Target's offerings which never fails to stun me into silence - whether arriving from Lagos or Milan. We've found all kinds of other cool things while back in the US of A, including the pair of shoes being worn by my husband above. While in Moab, we talked to a guy wearing a near-identical pair and he raved about them for 10 minutes. Apparently that was all the time required to talk my usually-cheaper half into wanting them and when we pulled into the REI in Denver (a serious superstore), we came out with a pair of the Vibram Fivefinger Sprints. And yes, he wore them all over Badlands National Park.

Arches National Park

After a wonderful couple of days in Santa Fe, we climbed back into the car and headed to Moab, Utah. Moab is in a really special location, near to both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. We elected to go to Arches first during our three and a half day stay and it was a good thing as the weather just got windier and windier.


Located within the park's boundries are over 2000 natural sandstone arches along with quite a few other rock formations. It's in the "high desert" which means the altitude is high but not high enough to cause any sickness. The landscape was incredible - I've been to a lot of places but Arches might be the most beautiful in the world. We did the 32 mile drive through the park, stopping at overlooks for photos and pulling into the trailheads for various hikes. Balanced Rock (see below) was one of the easier ones - just a short trail around the base of the rock. Nearby were views of Park Avenue (called that due to the tall formations that appear like New York skyscrapers) and the Three Gossips. With a little imagination, you can easily pictures all kinds of other figures and shapes built into the canyons and out of rocks.

Our favorite hike was between the Sand Dune and Broken Arches. Sand Dune Arch was incredible, tucked inside quite a few other rocks and well-shaded, the sand beneath our feet was cool and fine. My shoes have mesh along the outside and was letting in quite a bit of sand so I ended up going barefoot as I walked around. The downside was that the wind had been picking up and with the shape of the rocks, really whipped the sand around. We headed to the Broken Arch from there. Usually a pretty each walk (it was under 2 miles), it became a bit tougher by the fact that we'd forgotten water and that the wind was blowing sand into our faces.

When we made it to the Broken Arch, we crawled up the rocks to hit the other side (my hiking partner is pictured below) and made our way through the last part of the trail. This is when the need for water really kicked in but we hit the local campground (and water fountain) right in town. The wind started to pick up again as we left but we weren't quite ready to call it quits yet.

We drove around the park, trying to decide where to return to for sunset. We'd picked up some sandwiches in town and were planning on a picnic. Since we'd decided to do Delicate Arch the last day, we headed back to the Double Arch you see below. You can't really tell from that photo but you can actually climb all up and down the rocks between the arches quite easily and find the perfect spot to watch the sun set.

When we returned to Arches two days later, the wind was worse than ever. The sky in Moab was red and sandy when we woke up and the sand gusts were painfully strong. With our sunglasses, baseball caps, and jackets zipped up to our chin, we looked like celebrities dodging paparazzi! We made it out to Landscape Arch (below) where, in 1991, a chunk 60 feet long feel from the top. No need to dodge debris that day, just the sand. Unfortunately, it was a little to tough to make the longer hike to Delicate Arch. We vowed to make it back sometime soon - no light promise since the three and a half days we spent wasn't nearly enough.

Santa Fe

Our time in Santa Fe went much too quickly. Thanks to recommendations from friends and the internet, we ate amazing food and visited unique and creative shops. On our first (late) afternoon, we headed downtown to the Plaza to become acquainted with the area. We wandered into shops and my new obsession with New Mexican retablos was born. Since we'd had a late lunch in Roswell, we took a long late walk, unsuccessfully trying to work up an appetite for the green chili burritos at the Shed (a travesty that we never managed it) and took in all the interesting street art and local characters as we planned for the next day.

Bright and early, I woke up with a massive hangover. I thought that was odd as I'd only shared one beer the night before. I felt so sleepy with a headache that wouldn't quit but it wasn't until a local shopkeeper "diagnosed" me that I realized the answer - altitude sickness! At least it meant I wasn't a total lightweight and by the end of the day, my body was already adjusting to the 7000 extra feet above sea level.

We first visited the New Mexico Museum of Art, touring the Georgia O'Keefe collection and an exhibit on Southwestern art through the years. The standout of the visit, however, was a special exhibition entitled "Sole Mates: Cowboy Boots and the Arts". The large space was filled with intricately designed cowboy boots and examples of how the footwear has been represented in the arts (everything from photography to film to music). The museum is housed in a Pueblo-Revival style building built in 1917 and was worth looking at on its own with the bell tower on top calling back to the Spanish mission churches.


After a wonderful lunch at Cafe Pasquals (I had the green chili and avocado soup!), we headed back to the Plaza to enjoy the beautiful weather and people-watch for a bit. Southwestern friendliness was the order of the day but we were very amused to watch two separate dirty-looking met approach the girl in the bench very near to us. Like in a movie, another bystander (a single guy) swooped in for the "Hey Honey/Pretend Boyfriend" move to save her from the second persistent conversationalist. If this were a movie, they'd fall madly in love and we'd be invited to the wedding. Since it was real life, we left them still chatting (hey, maybe they'll go out) and made our way to the Palace of the Governors.

The adobo building on the Plaza was once the Governor's residence but is now home to the New Mexico History Museum. The original palace was built in 1610 and the structure is evident when you tour through the current museum. A program with local Native American tribes brings vendors to show their beautiful jewlery and other items in front of the palace.

We wrapped up the day with a bit of shopping. I found and purchased my own retablo of Saint Christopher (patron saint of travelers) and worked very hard to restrain myself from filling up our rental car with the amazing pottery and garden items (I don't have a yard but wasn't going to let that stop me). I fell in love with Santa Fe and vowed to come back so I'll have to finish my shopping then...

Roswell, New Mexico

While we overnighted in west Texas, the first real stop on our road trip was an unplanned detour. And if you're going to go off course, why not to Roswell, New Mexico?

It only took us about an hour out of our way and once we calculated that we'd be spending close to 60 hours in the car over the course of this trip, one measly hour didn't seem like much. And it was worth it!


Now, mind you, I wouldn't make any special trips to Roswell unless you have a lot of time on your hand already but it was a kitschy and amusing start to the trip. It's impossible to mistake Roswell for any other town; nearly every shop and restaurant was capitalizing on the UFO phenomenon, including chains like Whattaburger and Walmart. Our main stop was the UFO museum on Main Street. Surrounding by tourist shops and located in a converted theater, the museum absolutely lived up to our expectations.

The first half dealt with the UFO "crash" in Roswell and how the "cover-up" was conducted by the US Air Force. I don't know about you, but just because a piece of paper has "affadavit" written at the top and is signed by a notary doesn't convice me of jack. And the exhibit was mostly paper narratives, many from people who were children at the time. It sure seems like something happened (hey, it was the Cold War) but seriously...little green men? The second half of the exhibit dealt with UFOs in general: how to report them, classification of phenomena (close encounters of the first through third kinds), and previously reported sightings and hoaxes. Learning how they disproved the hoaxes (especially in the days before digital photography) was pretty interesting but the presentation definitely lacked sophistication. I hate to hate on the people who work very hard on this stuff but really, there were literally printed emails pasted onto colored construction paper mounted onto a black poster board and framed. This was the serious stuff, see below. My tenth grade science project looked more professional (ahem, I did win a prize for it too).


Despite the overall ridiculous story and the lack of convincing "evidence" or story, Roswell was an amusing stop and we are glad that we can now say that we've survived our time without any alien abductions.

Celebration, Florida

I spent the last half of January criss-crossing the Atlantic in search of a good party. My cousin and his lovely now-wife were getting married and celebrating in Celebration, Florida. Aside from the nasty stomach flu that hit me halfway through the trip, it was a pretty good time.

There was a little bit of this (of course).


And a lot of this (of course).

Which resulted in this:


"This" is the sparkler send-off coming back to haunt the bride and groom. After they drove off in the antique car, SOME COUSINS hung around to keep setting off the sparklers in the parking lot. They continued for so long, we were able to welcome the newly wedded couple back to the hotel!

Surprisingly, everyone managed to gather enough energy for the next day. Yay for family vacations!

Virginia

In some parts of my area, saying "Virginia" refers not only to the state of Virginia but to THE University. Now with so many Virginia Tech, W&M, and JMU alumni around, they might argue against my alma mater claim to being the flagship state university but I think we Wahoos know the truth ;)

Prior to this visit, the last time I was in Charlottesville was for a dear friend's wedding back in 2007. Since Marco was still in Nigeria, I went solo and haven't been able to take him to visit my school since. Finally, we grabbed a cheap room on Priceline (note: don't use Priceline for Charlottesville, it doesn't let you narrow down the geographical areas) and headed down for an overnight.

As we drove down trusty old Route 29, we made a detour before heading to Grounds. Bel Air Market was the destination despite my husband's skepticism that a gas station makes the BEST sandwiches around. After one bite of his Farmington, I had him converted! I had my trusty favorite, the Birdwood, and wished that we were sticking around for a bit longer.


Eventually, we had to move on as we intended to head to Grounds and I drilled my husband in some of the particular UVA vocabulary (Grounds = campus, the Lawn = the quad, etc). We caught a historical starting in the Rotunda and found ourselves with a group of tourists from New Jersey. They had questions on EVERYTHING in Mr. Jefferson's University and some of those questions weren't so useful ("Is this the original picture frame for this painting" Mark: "Are you freaking kidding me?"). Standing in the old library after so many trips to Rome, I finally noticed for myself all the similarities to the Pantheon - including the big hole (filled in at UVA - see above). When we made it to the Academical Village (aka the Lawn), a dozen students or so were spending their Thursday afternoons sitting, reading, talking, or just playing frisbee. We followed up the tour with a walk around the Corner and some fro-yo at Arch's.

The trip down memory lane was a success when Marco finally admitted that he now understood why I was still so in love with Charlottesville. While fall at UVA is gorgeous, next time we'll be heading down for the Lighting of the Lawn.


Just for fun, here's one of my favorite "unofficial" UVA quotes:

"Just about every other school in Virginia likes to bash UVA kids for being 'pretentious' and 'snobs.' In other words, they get called out for thinking they're better than everyone else. Well, if you went to the school in Virginia with the most stringent admissions requirements, best overall athletic program, most beautiful campus and coeds, most successful and famous alumni, the most storied social scene, was founded by Thomas Jefferson, and all that happened to be in what was voted the #1 city to live in America, well you'd think you were the sh** too."
ESPN's review of college campuses

Three Sides to Las Vegas

The City of Sin, Las Vegas, February 2008

1. The Las Vegas Strip during the day....

and at night. The view of the Bellagio's fountains from our room at the Planet Hollywood.

2. The Hoover Dam, up and down.



3. Red Rocks Canyon


Missing picture: the amazing sportscar that we miraculously scored when they were sold out of our economy rental.

Not in Washington, DC

I rarely get homesick. I got a little sad at Christmas, have regretted missing weddings, but in the day-to-day I am usually happy where I am. Except for this past Tuesday. I celebrated the inaugration of Barack Hussein Obama surrounded by a mix of Italians and Americans at a happy hour here in Milan. It was nice but looking at those crowds on the Mall, I wished I was elsewhere. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one wishing that. Happy Inauguration, America!

Married Life

Happy six-month-niversary to my amazing husband.

Frederick, Maryland

For a brief weekend, we were back in the D.C. area for a good friend's wedding. Taking advantage of the fact that we could spend dollars, instead of crazy amounts of euros, we stopped by Costco and Target for a few of the things we forgot.

We were also lucky enough to catch up with quite a few friends that we missed during our year in Arlington. Wednesday night, we met up with some friends from Nigeria at Ray's the Steaks in Arlington. Mark had a GIGANTIC steak and, as usual, all the food was delish. Most of those friends had just arrived back in the DC area so it was nice to hear all the crazy stories from Lagos. The next night, we met some of my high school friends at the Liberty Tavern. We had a lovely meal on the patio when, at the end, all these fire engines started pulling up. Firefighters got out and went into the restaurant (which had a very crowded bar) but we didn't see any smoke or anything.

Friday was when all the wedding activity began! Most things were centered in the Frederick area and the ceremony was at Thorpewood, a nature retreat in the Cacotin mountains. The rehearsal dinner was in downtown Frederick, a super-cute town that, relative to the DC area, is very affordable! It was so great to see all my old friends and it was a wonderful opportunity for Mark to meet even more of them. The bridal couple are both very unique people, I suppose you could tell from their cake:


The wedding itself was Saturday evening - and we had a blast! Lots of amazing friends, good food, great music - a perfect combination.

Honeymoon in Alaska

I'm finding it difficult to blog about this trip as it already seems like it was AGES ago. In sum, it was awesome. A great honeymoon and magnificent destination - everyone should see Alaska in their lives. I've included some photos but there's a ton more on my flickr page.

That Guy (Who I Married) and I left for Vancouver on June 3. After a loooong delayed connection in San Francisco, we arrived to spend the first night of our honeymoon in Canada. I'm particularly glad that we chose to do this as we would've been cutting it extremely close to catch the cruise ship before we left. On the downside, we were so exhausted from the lengthy flights and wait times, we barely took advantage of Vancouver. We headed down to the Gastown neighborhood. Most of the shops were closed but we were able to grab a delicious pasta dinner. (Can you believe it? Right before moving to Italy?)

The next morning we headed to Canada Place to board the Carnival Spirit! We're both third-time cruisers and got nifty "gold cards" (which initially made us feel special but didn't end up doing anything cool). After boarding, we unpacked a bit (the best part of a cruise is you only do it once) and then set off to explore the ship.


To be honest, the ship itself wasn't much to write home about. Since we didn't intend to spend much time on board, we weren't really bothered by this but anyone who loves the "activity" stuff they do might be disappointed. One thing we noticed quickly: everyone was OLD. Not just older, but OLD. Lots of grandparents with children and teenage grandchildren. By the time our second night's dinner rolled around, we realized that practically all the other young couples (all five of them we saw) were honeymooners, too! After dinner, my wonderful new husband even had a surprise set out!

We were very happy to have booked a balcony room. We had the most amazing views EVERY single day - right from the comfort of our room.


Our days in port were really fun. Our first stop was Ketchikan. Mark really wanted to go fishing but all of the "sportfishing" excursions were so expensive and didn't really allow him to do the stream/river fishing he was interested in doing. Luckily, we found a company right off the ship that rented out small skiffs. They took us to their resort, checked us in, and we set out to fish (well, Mark did). No catches, unfortunately, but we definitely caught some amazing scenery. While I wasn't too crazy about spending the day fishing, I think it was ultimately the best idea.

The manager of the fishing resort drove us back into town later that afternoon but was kind enough to make a stop at Totem Blight State Park. We saw all the hand-carved totem poles, very neat. Ketchikan itself seemed a little too catered to the cruise market. Of the half dozen stores we walked into, I don't think I saw any merchandise that wasn't sold at the others.

The next day, the ship stopped in Juneau, the state capital of Alaska. This was probably my favorite port. Here we signed up for a ship excursion that included a 10-mile bike ride to Mendenhall Glacier and then a tour and tasting at Alaskan Brewery.

I had the toughest time with the first couple miles of the ride...until our guide pulled up behind me and pointed out that my back tire was flat! After that, it was smooth sailing. We stopped at a lake that gave a great view of the glacier. Also present there were about 7 or 8 bald eagles. It was really cool until we realized they were all stalking a duck and her ducklings. Suddenly, I was glad I hadn't bought binoculars.
Once we made it to the glacier park, we explored a bit on our own - what a beautiful sight. The brewery tour was also fun...probably because they were so generous with the portion sizes! We were also lucky enough to be in Juneau for Celebration 2008, the biennial dance-and-culture festival for Native Alaskans.


Day five began in Skagway. By this point, we were getting pretty tired. The ship pulled into all the previous ports pretty early in the morning. While we left early too, we stayed up late those nights due to our 8.15 dinner seating, late entertainment shows, and the fact that the sun didn't even set until 11.30 in the evening! Skagway is known as the home of the White Pass Railroad so naturally, we signed up for tickets. They take you up to the Canadian border at Fraser Mountain, then loop you back to town. Since we climbed pretty high, there was a lot of amazing scenery and we even saw a black bear from the train!


Our last port of call was Sitka. Sitka had a heavy Russian influence in the 1800s and the Orthodox Church and Russian Dancers are still big draws. Mark and I took a kayak tour of the Sitka Sound. We saw a lot of beautiful scenery (I know I sound like a broken record, but it really is amazing) and we also saw a half dozen Alaskan kids swimming in the sound. Now, I know it's June, but we were wearing our fleece jackets, zipped all the way up! I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

We had a last day at sea before docking in Anchorage and flying home. On that day, we cruised through College Fjord and stopped to see the Harvard, Yale, Vassar, etc., glaciers.



After about 40 hours off the ship, we were getting ready to head to Milano!