I Left On A Jet Plane, Now I’m Back Again

This summer flew by. I don’t know what happened, but I need to document the major events before I forget (well, forget even more).

AUSTIN

Brent and I took a quick weekend trip to see what Austin was all about. We only had one day since we wanted to be in our congregation on Sunday. We walked around Lady Bird Lake, which is probably one of the neatest parks to which I have been. It felt like half of Austin was walking the path with us, and I love that a whole city embraces outdoor activity.

We visited the University of Texas campus. Now I’m no longhorn lover but it wasn’t a terrible campus. I will say that I am still partial to Memorial Stadium.

We also took in the state capitol building and ran into a fellow Husker fan.

This is where legislative magic happens.

We also visited the largest Whole Foods I have ever laid my eyes upon containing an underground parking garage and policemen to direct traffic. We may have found Brent’s favorite lemonade here, and that is saying something.

Of course, we also ate BBQ. It was ok. I think that I don’t really care for BBQ except for really good ribs, and my favorite ones are my grammie’s recipe. I guess I’m not a true Texan after all.

GULFPORT

Brent and I also went to Gulfport/Biloxi, Mississippi. Brent visited Biloxi, Mississippi two years ago to take it off his list of states to visit. He thought the white sand beaches were pretty and loved the lack of people; thus, he was eager to take me back. We took a quick day trip to visit this less than booming metropolis.

The water was incredibly shallow in the gulf. We waded about as far as we could go (probably 1/2 mile) and the water only came up to my chest. While the beaches were white and sandy, the water was a little murky. Brent had warned me not to get too excited about the water or to expect the beauty of Hawaiian waters. He was a smart man. It was nothing like Hawaii or the Florida beaches of which I heard much about. However, I liked that it wasn’t crowded and that the water was warm. I will say that if we have children and want to take them to the beach, this place is the right place. They could splash all day long and walk fairly far in without worrying about a sudden drop in the coastline or pummeling waves.

We tried to get some typical southern food. We found a po’ boy place, which made po’ food. I was not impressed. But maybe we didn’t find the right place to visit.

LINCOLN

While the boys are away, the girls will play. Brent went to Charlotte for his annual NFL Fantasy Football Draft, so I went to Lincoln for some Starr Time. I have always loved Lincoln, but it has really changed since I was there for grad school. The Haymarket area has been built up and gained more restaurants. Whole Foods has moved in as well. If the husband’s job were here, I think I would be super happy to move back.

The Starrs indulged me on a trip down memory lane.

My grad school house. (You can’t see the man who lives there now hiding behind the main door. Melissa creeped him out by parking our car in front of the house (twice) with Theresa and I staring at him without actually getting out of the car. )

My grandparent’s house of glorious memories. If I could, I would buy this house back from the current owners. 

We went the Haymarket area twice. Once for the Farmer’s Market and once for Ivanna Cone. We were “lucky” enough to catch the zombie fest during the second trip. 

The night ended perfectly with roller derby at the Pershing Center before it is demolished. Unfortunately, both Lincoln teams lost proving to Theresa’s dad that roller derby isn’t a fake sport with predetermined results. 

The last of the Pershing Center.

MISCELANEOUS

I went to a mega church for my school’s convocation. Holy Pageantry.

LABOR DAY

We went to Lincoln for the first Husker game. I’m pleased to say that we won. I think Brent’s favorite part of the weekend was flying out of Grand Island, something he was supposed to do since 2001 but was foiled as his flight was leaving on September 11th.

In other news, I am officially a Texan.

Grand Canyon

Since Brent and I are leaving the great state of Arizona soon, we decided to hit up the Grand Canyon before we moved. Brent last visited the Grand Canyon when 12 years old. I visited it in 2007 before moving from Arizona the first time. Even though we took photos, we knew it couldn’t capture the beauty of the vistas. So our photos, although attached, can’t show the gorgeousness of the Grand Canyon.

We hiked three different trails. 1. Mohave Point to Monument Vista. The park newspaper said this was “moderate”. I think their ranking needs to be tweaked. It was a flat path that ran parallel to the road next to the rim. There is something very disheartening about hiking next to asphalt with a shuttle bus whizzing by periodically. 2. Bright Angel Trial. We hiked down to the second tunnel then back up. This was by far the most crowded hike but still enjoyable. Ironically, we missed our cousin Tyler by 15 minutes. He was finishing up hiking rim to rim in one day. 3. South Kaibab Trail. We hiked down to Ooh Aah point then back up. This gave us a new and stunning view of the canyon. 

 

 

We knew that we couldn’t make it back to Phoenix that night without being super exhausted and maybe a little dangerous on the way, so we decided to get a hotel in Prescott. Before making the reservation, Brent asked how cheap I was willing to go. I didn’t want bugs crawling on me but I also didn’t want to pay a lot of money for 8 hours in a hotel room. Therefore, we settled on the Motel 6 (Brent really wanted this themed hotel for about $40 a night 😉 ).  Ew. It was cleanish but old. As soon as we pulled up, I had severe buyers remorse.  It was fine though until 2:30 in the morning. We were woken up by a rowdy bunch of patrons outside our window a little bit down the “hall”. I use quotation marks since hall isn’t really what the motel had as the doors opened to the outside.  I peered out and saw a group of people carousing near our door.  Although I don’t normally do this, I decided to say something since it was pretty rude to party near someone’s hotel door. I said, “Excuse me. Can you please be quiet? We are trying to sleep.” This girl came over and said, “It’s ok. We just met them.”  I nodded my head and shut the door. It didn’t occur to me until the morning that her reply made no sense. Soon after I closed the door and went back to bed, we heard them say something about “Who was that?” and “What room were they in?”  Then they came over and knocked really loudly on the door. Brent and I didn’t move or say a word. Then they knocked really hard on our window. We were extremely scared, wondering if they were going to try to break in the room. They kept on laughing and chatting away until who knows. At 7 am, Brent and I got up and skeddaled out of that place. No more Motel 6 for us ever again! 

Corned Beef and Cabbage

I went to Seattle a long long long long time ago. Actually, it was only like a month ago, but it seems like forever ago. Seattle is home to my corned beef and cabbage friend. I bet you don’t have a corned beef and cabbage friend. Many jeers ago, I introduced Lindsay to corned beef and cabbage – a favorite food of my family. Since then we have tried to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day together.

For example, here is a beauty from 2008.

In 2010, we were a little more classy.

My spring break started on St. Patty’s day this year. We weren’t able to have our dinner on the official date, but we did rendezvous for the delicious dish.

Lindsay and I always eat well when we get together. She took me to this amazing place for thai food. YUM!  We shopped, talked, and hiked.

Here is the view from Poo Poo Point (yes, that is it’s name).  People hike up to the top and paraglide off the peak. 

 

The next day, Lindsay and I went to Mt. Rainer to go snowshoeing after some hot yoga and boba.

 

Mt. Rainer is breathtakingly beautiful.

 

When we were entering the forest, I said, “Wow there is so much snow.” The snow near the beginning of the forest wasn’t even covering all the ground (I think Arizona has warped my perception of snow).

Then we got to the top of the parking lot and saw the real snow.

 

Lindsay and I waited for one of her friends for quite some time, but we couldn’t find them. Eventually, we just started up.

I have been snowshoeing before, but I have never experienced such beauty!

It was a phenomenal experience.

 

I was able to end the trip by going to the airport at 4:00 in the morning to try to catch a plane, which I didn’t make…. However, I did make the 8:30 and arrived home just in time to go to church.  Don’t you wish you had a corned beef and cabbage friend?

Santa Fe – My Old Friend

*I don’t own this picture. It doesn’t belong to me. But I wish that Christian Bale did.

One thing that I love about Brent’s job is the ability to travel at the drop of a hat. On Friday, Brent came home from work and said, “Let’s go to Albuquerque. It’s wide open.” Albuquerque and Santa Fe have been on our short list, but every time we try, the cards have been stacked against us.  But now, the time was ours! The flights were open and rental cars didn’t cost an arm and a leg. We took an early morning flight, barely making it due to the craziness of the airport. The line for baggage check wrapped around the bottom floor of the terminal. Even the kiosks for self-check in near the security gates had lengthy lines.

Once in Albuquerque, we drove straight to Santa Fe as the green chile was calling me. I LOVE green chile. I fell in love with it when my mother and I visited Santa Fe for a spring break trip a few years ago. Our hotel’s breakfast buffet supplied a large canister brimming with the delicious sauce. You could take ladles upon ladles and smother anything on your plate with it.  While driving up, I researched restaurants with the best chile. I found one featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  Brent took a picture of me with the combination plate, but I don’t have it. Oh well. I didn’t care for their red chile but their green chile was good. I just wished there was more of it on the plate.

Santa Fe is home to the Georgia O’Keefe Art Museum. Over the course of our travels, Brent has become an art expert (He is a good good husband that accompanies me wherever my heart desires. Ask him to look at an art exhibit and find a deposition or an El Greco. You’ll be very impressed). This museum is perfect because it is contains less than 12 galleries which makes it completely manageable. You aren’t rushing around like a crazy person trying to take in art from Giotto to Calder. You look, think, and appreciate. I wish more art museums were like this one.  Here is a favorite painting of mine from a special exhibition showing her work in Hawaii.

At first, I didn’t care for it, but Brent changed my perspective. He asked me from what perspective did Georgia paint the picture. I thought it was looking across and down at the ocean. Brent thought that it was through a rocky bridge much like a porthole through which she viewed the ocean. The more I looked and saw other sketches of the same area I realized he was right. From that perspective, my opinion changed.  I think this is why I love discussing art with someone else.

I love these ones too!

Brent and I also visited the Loretto Chapel. It contains the “miraculous staircase.” It is a spiral staircase with no supports and no nails. I thought it was miraculous until I read some things about it on wikipedia. If you want a good fun-sucker, then go there now (but not every fact is cited with a reference…).

This chapel was also modeled after one of my favorites in Paris, Sainte-Chapelle. Check out this beauty.

Overall, it was a lovely trip.