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Holiday Weekend

Monday, May 31st, 2010

I haven’t written in a while and my only excuse is that I’m back to work and haven’t had as much free time.  However, we had a long weekend here in the US for Memorial Day (and it’s bank holiday in the UK), so I thought I just take a minute to say hello again to everyone and hope they had a nice day off.  I suddenly appreciate these holidays a lot more now than when I was traveling (and not working).

I’ll be back later this week with the follow-on to my last blog, but in then mean time here’s how we spent our weekend.  We enjoyed  America’s pastime and were treated to a walk-off home run by the Angels against the Mariners. (Sorry to our friends and family in Seattle.)

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Heading Home

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

The last week has been a re-adjustment to being back in the US.  We spent our time in Arizona visiting both of our families and chowing down on some good Mexican food, burgers, and a belated Thanksgiving turkey dinner.

We also spent quite a bit of time setting things up to move back into our house in California.  We rented it out while we were traveling, but there are still lots of utilities and accounts that need to be reinitiated before we get there. 

It wasn’t all “work” this week though.  We managed to find some time to visit the Desert Museum and my parents’ jacuzzi, as well as climb Picacho Peak.  We are really sad to hear that this wonderful trail will be closing in June due to budget cuts.  If you are in southern Arizona between now and then, give it a try.  It’s got a few tricky parts (bring gloves for the cables), but the view from the top is stunning. 

This trail also got us thinking about how it compares to some of the things we’ve seen in the last year.  It’s a great hike, but we started to discount it because it’s “in our backyard.”  I realized we need to judge places based on how our experience really is, and not just on whether it’s in an exotic location.  Interesting museums, trails, views, people, and food might turn up anywhere, so any travel, even a day trip in your own state, has the potential to be memorable.  Get out there.

Next week it’s back to our home state – California, here we come! 

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Thanks, Merci, Danke, and Shokran

Monday, September 7th, 2009

We spent our last days in the US doing some particularly American things. In addition to more shopping and eating, we went a football (not futbol) game. Of course no day at the gridiron would be complete without a tailgate, that uniquely American activity that I’ve found difficult to explain to my friends from Europe.

The weather was perfect, the beer was cold, the hoagies were tasty, and the company was great. What more could we have wanted? Well, a win would have been nice, but we were consoled after the game by more friends at a BBQ. It was a great way to end our time here, and I’d like to thank all the friends and family who put us up, took us out, filled us up, and generally made our stay so enjoyable.  Next up: the emerald isle.

Here’s a shot of “the boys” at the stadium.

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Catching Up

Friday, September 4th, 2009

It’s been a while since I’ve written, so I’ll keep this short and just summarize what we’ve been up to. We are still in the US and have been keeping ourselves very busy visiting family and friends, as well as doing a little sightseeing. After Atlanta, we spent some time near Baltimore, enjoying American food (crab cakes and BBQ ribs!), shopping (new hiking shoes!), and reminiscing with my college roommates.

Our way north took us through Gettysburg and we had a very interesting history lesson. We continued our historical tour outside of Boston at the Minuteman NP near Concord and Lexington. After a few days with more friends there, we headed back to Pennsylvania and spent a nice week relaxing and visiting my family, and sampling my favorite foods – Tastykakes, cheesteaks, NY style pizza, Yuengling, and sugar cake. This part of the trip hasn’t been easy on the waistline.

It’s been great to be back to the comforts of the US. There is nothing like it and I realize there are things that I’ve missed, especially English language TV and the food. (Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are better than I remembered). One of the most unique things we’ve seen while we were here is this Cabela’s store. It’s a huge superstore for all things hunting-fishing-camping related, including guns and ammo. It’s certainly not something you could find anywhere else in the world.

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Culture Shock

Friday, August 21st, 2009

It’s time for an update on our travel plans. Our original plan for the year of travel would have had us finishing up in October. However, we feel like we needed more time in Europe, and that we just aren’t ready to face the dismal job market. We have decided to extend our trip by 3 months, so we needed to re-think our itinerary, including an “east coast swing” to visit some family and friends and re-stock our bags.

Our first stop back in the US after 9 months was Miami, and then Boca Raton to visit my aunt. We were a little surprised at how easy things are to do here. We had sort of forgotten how many huge grocery stores, drugstores, malls, and every other type of shop that there are here (and then they repeat every few blocks). Ahhhh. So convenient. And in English too. And open on Sundays! We feel spoiled by it all.

The weather was good and the water at the beach was perfectly warm. We noticed the little differences that reminded us we were in the US though. People slap on the sunscreen here, as well as hats, sunglasses, and umbrellas, much more than in Europe. Then there are the swimsuits… women over 30 all in one-piece suits, and the guys in baggy shorts. No speedos to be found.

After Florida, we headed north to Atlanta to see some of Eric’s family. We also had a nice visit at the Georgia aquarium (the world’s largest) and walked to the top Stone Mountain. Stone Mountain is a little reminiscent of Uluru in Australia, but this being America, it has a tram to the top, a souvenir stand, and a huge carving in the side.

By this time our jet lag is gone and we are catching up on all the US news and sports that we’ve missed. It’s good to be back, even if just for a few weeks.

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