20 posts tagged “trip”

I'm exhausted.

The Family is great, we're having fun, but they are sure wearing me out. I'm really glad to be back at work today while they are touring the Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden and then checking out the Phoenix Zoo.

I need to cram as much work in as possible today, so I can't post too much.

Highlights:

1. We are taking a ton of Peep pictures for the "Where Mah Peeps At" NatGeo photo contest. Super fun!

2. We raced down the mountains going 80 in my friend's Canyonero while listening to the MSU v Louisville game yesterday. Much teeth gnashing and joyful screaming occured, mostly for the game, not the quality of my driving (I think). GO STATE! Final Four, baybee!

3. The Grand Canyon was spectacular.

4. The kids are really, really, really loud.

5. The kids don't have a concept of personal space.

6. The kids are wonderful and are growing up to be beautiful young ladies.

7. Elvis came out and visited with them last night while they were still and quiet, watching "Wizard of Oz". Otherwise, he can be found under my bed.

8. My kitchen is deemed woefully inadequate in food and utensils. I think they aren't being creative enough. MomH is a Home Economics major, after all.

9. Amber is disappointed she hasn't found a scorpion in my house yet.

10. I'm so very happy they are all here and I can share my world with them.

Family location as of 10:43 a.m., AZ time.

No, you didn't miss a post or comment that I was going to San Diego this weekend. I booked the ticket a while ago and then hadn't thought too much about it.

I'm visiting friends I made on the trip to Eastern Europe who live here. I found a $150 ticket to fly out yesterday morning and back to PHX tonight. Can't beat that - and it sure beats driving through desert for four hours. It's not even pretty desert, just a lot of blah.

Mostly doing some sight seeing, checking out the beaches. Last night we hit the Gaslamp District for some crazy fun times and then on the boat for a booze cruise. I feel a lot better this morning than I should.

Looks like my hosts are starting to get up and around. Time to head out for some more fun.

I'm also keeping an eye on places to recommend if we decided to do a Peep Meet out here.

Speaking of Peep Meets - Cranky pointed out that last year today MomH and I showed up in Philly. Yay! It was so good to meet her in person. Cappy, too, of course, but we didn't pick him up off the street until tomorrow last year. :-)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

*hugs and smooches*

This time with pictures!

Brother Steve and I had a fantastic time in San Francisco this past weekend. He was decked out in Michigan State gear when we went to my favorite SFO Irish Pub Friday night. Johnny Foley's. I seem to always forget the name but never its location. Tons of other people were wearing the green and white as well so we were making friends all over the place. Good times!

Tourists were pretty sparse early Saturday morning, so we hopped the Powell/Hyde trolley to Lombard Street and on to Fisherman's Wharf. At the Wharf we took the harbour tour, checked out the aquarium and toured the Boudin Sourdough demonstration bakery and had lunch. Yum!

After our yummy lunch of soup in authentic San Fran sourdough, we were off to the Michigan State/Cal football game over in Berkeley. On the BART were plenty of young Cal fans drinking beers out of brown paper bags. Yeah, because now no one knows what you are doing. Ha ha.

As a casual observer, I've always been curious as to why you go to class at "Berkeley" but all the athletic teams are called "Cal". It's like they don't want anything to do with the other. Once we passed through the beautiful campus and up to the stadium, it became clear that they don't. It was obvious that the university puts more time and money into academics than athletic facilities, despite what the hippies living in the trees think. (We never did see the Tree Hippies, much to Steve's disappointment).

The stadium is built on the side of a hill, with free seats to be had above on the hill for the hardy souls who climbed that far up. The restroom facilities were fleets of porta-potties circling the stadium and the bleachers were tired old wooden planks. The media booth looked like the one across the street at the high school and had a couple of pop-up shade tents for some overflow.

Despite the lack of rudimentary amenities, we lost. State played like crap. But the MSU fans were out in full force and we were a loud bunch. Everyone was really nice to Steve and I on the way back, so that was nice. Oh, and the halftime show had parachuters, which was pretty cool.

It was also pretty cool to get evacuation instructions over the public address system in case of earthquake. Steve wondered what the NCAA game rulings are if you had to call it by earthquake. Will you have had to play through halftime for the game to be considered done? Through the third quarter?

Sunday: Strolled through Chinatown where I bought some tea and trinkets. Then off to Alcatraz with the LTs! We had a great time, despite that look on my face in jail where I was trying to tell Steve how to work the camera.

Monday morning: Steve took off, I slept in. Then I took myself to breakfast in North Beach, hanging out at Cafe Trieste just like all the beat poets used to do. I made my way up Telegraph Hill to the Coit Tower and was happily surprised to see there was a bus! It was a nice little workout up, but I was glad to know I could get a ride down. Whee!

Then the most darling Electric Firefly swung by the hotel to pick me up and we were off to lunch and browsing in the Mission. I can NOT believe I didn't get a picture of us! Sorry, EF!

And Laurie - you might know about this place already, but there is a pirate shop on Valencia! Proceeds fund - of all things - a writers workshop!

So there ya go. A good time was had by all yet again in the great City by the Bay.  

I'm back from San Francisco! It was a great time, except for MSU losing to Cal. But all the Cal fans were really nice to us after the game. Brother Steve and I thought this was because a. we have no history/rivalry with Cal and b. we lost. It's not nice to pick on us losers.

It was a blast to hang with LT and Mr. LT yesterday. Today the ever-so-lovely Electric Firefly and I had fantastic Mexican food and poked around fun shops in the Mission District.

I'll post pics later, computer really slow tonight. It took the whole weekend off and is being lazy now. I have to say, though, that I need to label the years on my pictures. I have a travel wardrobe that I pull off the shelf whenever I go somewhere, so I'm wearing a lot of the same clothes in all my vacation pics. Example:

Me in SFO 2007:

Me in SFO 2008:

I know I have a bunch other vacation pics featuring this brown shirt.

Anyway. Back to my original reason for posting tonight before I go to bed.

I had a package in the mail from Crankypants! Yay! She even used Heifer International stickers on the envelope so I had bonus cowz!

She sent me my very own SOTPWG shirt from MOBA! I know she was hoping to get me an apron, but this is just as good! Thanks so much! (Elvis is trying to decide if he approves). 

Cranky also sent me a roll of tape, as she knows I'll never get around to buying one myself and my new fridge has been woefully naked for far too long.

But there is a reason for everything. By me being behind in repopulating my fridge with postcards, a very special card from the Boston Peep Meet/Squee Party took the place of honor. I present to you, the first card on the new fridge. I can't think of a better way to get the cards started. Thanks, peeps!

Hello! It's me, AmyH, back from a cool week in the cool mountains of Utah. I'm swamped here at work so I just thought I'd pop in for a sec to say hey.

Hey!

It's frickin' hot here. I conveniently forget all about living in the desert when I'm somewhere else. It's always a surprise to come back and realize I really do live in an oven.

Anyway, my friend from college and I had a great time. Lots of hiking, biking, eating, drinking, etc. One major highlight of the trip was the bobsled ride at the Utah Olympic Park. Awesome. In the summer they send tourists down the Olympic course on wheeled sleds which hit upwards of 70 mph and 4 Gs of force. I thought my head was going to snap off. The ride lasted only a minute but what a minute that was. Wow. I bet it's even more fun in the winter when the track is icy.

I'll post pictures one of these nights. I could have done that yesterday but Elvis was very demanding of every bit of my attention. To quote a friend of mine in a different situation, "He's not high-maintenance, he's just needy."

I may not have a chance to catch up anyone for a while, so if I missed something super fun (isn't everything super fun around here?), post links in the comments!

Didn't I just go on vacation?

Yes. Yes, I did.

Now I'm going again.

If you need to find me, I'll be at the Wasatch Brew Pub, enjoying some fine non-Mormon Church-approved beverages.

(I'm not implying that Mormons are against the First Amendment, just the beer.)

Historical facts, blah blah, things we did in the moment, blah blah, PICTURES!

Yeah, I suck at getting pictures posted and stories told. So in completely half ass fashion, here are just pictures from the remaining cities of the Mom & AmyH Eastern Europe Extravaganza.

First Vienna - full of big and beautiful buildings, just perfect for the seat of the Hapsburg Empire. It's hard to believe that Maria Theresa, considered the most powerful monarch of the throne, was pregnant for most of her years. 16 kids. Oof. Also home of a great coffee shop culture. And chocolate.

After experiencing the opulence and splendor that is the Budapest Opera House, we thought it wouldn't be right if we left Vienna without catching an opera at the Staatsoper. I paid far too much for scalper tix - but the show was incredible. Wagner's "Siegfried", the second installment of the Ring Cycle. It was a five hour show that went by in a flash. Intense story, amazing music and an atmosphere that was almost as overwhelming as the opera itself. We had little screens in front of us so we could follow along in English to the dialogue. MomH said it was like reading a suspense novel but with music. We were enthralled, waiting for the next line to come up. After three hours at the second intermission, I asked MomH if she wanted to go. "No! I want to see if he gets the girl!"

It was fantastic.

Now off to Prague, where I will not do the city justice if I slap together some of the pictures. But sometimes there is no justice in this world. (Also, because if I think about how much I want to say, I'll put it off for another day and then nothing will get done at all. Great is the enemy of the good and all that jazz...)

We enjoyed meandering on the Charles Bridge, mercifully sparse with tourists - travel on the off/shoulder seasons whenever possible!

To take ourselves further away from the tourist sections, we spent time on Nerudova street, poking around shops, pubs and taking pictures of door signs. Before Maria Theresa showed up on the Prague scene and created order throughout the city, houses were known by the symbols above the doors. This represented what took place inside, mostly alchemy enterprises, although some of the meanings have been lost to time.

 

One cannot leave Prague without a visit to the Old Jewish Quarter. We didn't go on the main tour of all the synagogues and the cemetery, but did go into the Old-New Synagogue, the oldest in Europe at 700 years. Also, you can't get a good view of the Jewish Cemetery without a pricey ticket. Or you can go into the super cheap Museum of Decorative Arts, use the restroom and happen to turn around and look out the open window that has an amazing view.

I will do this a little justice. According to my guide book at hand, "The crumbling image of teh Old Jewish Cemetery is a moving memorial to Prague's once considerable Jewish community. As this was one of the few burial sites available to Prague's Juews, when the plot was full, graves built up in layers - estimates put the number at about 200,000, with the oldest headstone dating from 1439. The final burial took place in 1787."

Whew. Now I'm spent. But I'll move on to Warsaw, the last spot of the trip. (I already did Krakow, check tags for "Vacation with Mom" or "Eastern Europe" to see all the other installments.)

Warsaw was 95% destroyed by the Nazis during WWII. Nothing remains of the Ghetto Uprising except old photos and a memorial. A year after the Ghetto Uprising was the Warsaw Uprising, which the Nazis didn't take kindly to, either. As the Soviets stood on the other side of the river and watched the destruction, the Nazis were hellbent to finally destroy the pesky Warsovians. The city has tried to rebuild the old section of town to resemble what it was like before the war. I think they did a pretty good job.

We did a walking tour through one of the major parks in Warsaw. It was beautiful and full of preening peacocks.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. If you REALLY want to know more about something, just ask! If I come across some pics that I should have posted, I'll do a make-up post later. Promise. ;-)

That was a pretty common answer to MomH's frequent questions "Who is that for? Why are we going here? How do you know about that?" etc.

After meeting DKN, Cranky and the Cap'n in person, she knows my 'hood is a pretty good group of peeps. Even if Cap'n is a weirdo. :-P

I've been so late in getting up the rest of the pics so I thought I would put up some shots I took for you guys.

Here's an example from Prague:

"Oh! I need to take this for IG!"

"Who's IG?"

"One of my blog friends!"

"What's the significance of this?"

"She's Filipino and went home to Manila and ate roasted suckling pig for near every meal!"

Also in Prague, we took a little stroll to the Church of Our Lady Victorious on a pilgramage by proxy for Grumblebunny.

"Where are we going?"

"There's a church down here we need to see."

"Why?"

"It's important to one of my blog friends. Plus I need to buy her a little statue."

"What's so important about it?"

"I can't remember exactly, I'll figure it out when we get there."

Grumblebunny can tell you more, but people in desparate need of grace and hope are to pray to Infant Jesus. There were many people in solemn and intense prayer in the church, many crying. It was quite moving, even for a couple of Protestants. Thanks to Grumbles for pointing us in this direction!  

This one goes in my sign photo collection, fo' shizzle. "I so have to post that on my blog."

So yeah, this was just for me - to share with you, of course. (Prague) 

"Why in the world are you taking picture of chickens?"

"So Lauri can see what Hungarian chickens look like."

"I suppose she's another one of your blog friends?"

"Yep. And she went to Michigan State, so that makes her even cooler."

"Well that's good." 

Back in Prague. This artist and his/her bright cats and dogs were on everything in almost every gift shop. I had a great coffee mug but MomH dropped the bag and it broke. She felt bad but I told her it was okay, she paid for it anyway.

"Then I'll take it home and glue it back together and use it myself."

Oops, I meant to post the following in my earlier (WAY earlier) Budapest entry. Consider it a bonus pic.

These fall under "Silly Signs I Couldn't Pass Up". The store in the first pic was either hedging its bets or had an insecurity issue. As for the second sign, no I didn't go in to see what that was all about. My apologies.

On the very last day of touring, it was a cold and rainy day in Warsaw. We turned the corner into a large square and I squeed!

"HAHA! Bears Repeating!!11!! OMG! Must take a picture!"

"What???"

"Oh, it's a joke from my blogosphere."

That one took a little more explaining, but MomH is a good sport so she was helping me find a good shot. I can't exactly tell you what this was about, Bears of Peace or something like that. There was supposedly a bear from every country but we never did find the American bear. There were a lot and we were on the move, so I'm sure we just never got to him and it's not a commentary on habitat destruction. *shifty eyes* 

Here's a picture from Krakow for all you wegetarians out there!

"Bar" actually means it's an old-style cafeteria place. "Pod" usually meant sit down restaurant/alcohol bar. Just so you know and will be prepared when you go. Takes the funny out of it, though - doesn't it?  

To wrap up this installment of pics, no AmyH post is complete without a:

(In Krakow Market Square)

((hmm... that outfit isn't has flattering as I thought it was. Oh well, I was there and you weren't. Pffbbbbt. Now I feel better about myself again.))

What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

PACKING!!11!! w00t!

I'm feeling pretty good about being ahead of the game this time. When I was booking my flight out to Detroit where I'm meeting up with MomH, I thought about flying out tomorrow so I could see the family for a day and a half. As much as that would be, I'm really really glad I have all weekend to wrap everything up.

I'm headed out tonight to the fun that is First Friday, where thousands of people descend on dowtown Phoenix for one of the country's largest art walks. It's full of crazy fun artists, musicians, street performers and a stop at some of the coolest new bars and restaurants around. I usually get asked by First Friday newbies to give my patented AmyH Tour. I know a lot of the artists and the spaces and can give more background than you would get wandering around on your own. I really should start my own tour service one of these days.

So here's the rest of my weekend:

Saturday:

7:30 a.m. Hair appointment
11:30 a.m. Baby Shower
afternoon - return books to library, stop by bookstore for Rick Steves' travel book (I've been reading an old copy and must have it for the trip), clean house, create currency conversion cheat sheets, print out addresses.

Hoodies - if you want a postcard - PM with an address! Sometimes I'm good about sending them out, sometimes I just buy them and send them when I get home. But I promise to try and be good! I heart postcards, both sending and recieving. See? (I have a new, naked fridge right now. I'm going to start fresh with new cards so feel free to send any my way as well!)

The rest of the time will be spent getting my crap together and lovin' on Elvis. No last minute running around in the foreseeable future!

Except for today at work. Yikes - I forgot I had meetings all day Gotta run!