Eat, Drink and Be Merry...

You could say I am a bit of Dave Matthews Band fan. Last night was the Tampa concert and (I think) the 18th time I have seen them live. My brother took me to my first Dave show in 1998 and my friends and I have been going ever since. We have traveled to Atlanta and West Palm Beach as well as DC to see them. We enjoy the trips as much as the shows. My ultimate concert wish is to see them at Red Rocks in Colorado!

Every show we have a ritual in which, before the show, each person must state the #1 song they MUST HEAR that night... mine is always Crush. If they play your song during the show you win! (really you only win the satisfaction of hearing your song played but its still fun!) Guess what, last night, I WON! So did Katie and Jessi as they played Funny the Way it is and Crash Into Me.

This was the first show in recent memory that we did not get rained on. It seems like every year we have gone it has poured! As much fun as it is to lose your flip flops in the mud and gunk and watch people slip-and-slide down the hill, it was nice to be dry for once.

Last night was a great show and, I'm sure, not the last one I will see. As long as Dave keeps touring...I will be there to "Celebrate, we will, for life is short but sweet for certain!"

A week in DC

Last week I went to visit my sister and her family in DC. (well technically in Sterling, VA...but it's close enough to DC) I went up to help take care of my niece while her usual caregiver was on vacation. After being attacked by a skunk while taking the trash out the first night, we went to a few physical therapies and I had the honor of taking Cailyn to the pediatrician to watch her get diagnosed with strep throat. They decided instead of adding more medication to her already extensive daily routine, they would just give her a shot to help with the strep. This was my first time being alone with her for shots. She was a trooper, I on the other hand, almost passed out. We waited at the doctor's office to be sure she didn't have a reaction and then we loaded up the big red mini van and headed home. A few days later, she seems to be feeling a bit better.

I have been visiting DC for many years now and even on trips where I don't actually go into the city, it's still a great place to be.

Every trip, no matter what, the first stop I must make is to Baja Fresh...the greatest fast food Mexican food not served in Tampa. (honestly, I'm not sure I would love it as much if I had access to it everyday, but it is always yummy on short visits)

Beyond Baja, a few of my most favorite places in DC include (but are not limited to):

• Buffalo Billiards: A fun bar/pool hall conveniently located below a Baja Fresh in Dupont Circle. Site of many great evenings meeting up with old and new friends.
• Adams Morgan: section of town with great bars and great brunch places :)
• The Iwo Jima Memorial: across the Potomac River. A great memorial in itself but also has great views of the other monuments.
• The National 4H Center in Chevy Chase, MD: Home of NYLC conference events and location of our housing during conferences. The summer of 2003 was the most time I spent there with people who have become my life long friends. Granted the bunk beds and floral wall paper are not much to look at, the free Fro-Yo flowing at all times of the day can't be beat!
• The National Mall: borrowing a sheet from the 4H center and laying out on the grass of the mall is always a fun past time while in Conference. When not expected to "post," The Mall is great for various fundraising events and festivals. The National Epilepsy Walk, The Cherry Blossom Festival, the Kite Festival and many more!
• Great Falls: Just off the GeorgeTown Pike, Great Falls is a spectacular view of the rapids and falls in the Potomac River between Virginia and Maryland.
• The White House lawn Christmas Trees: Each year they have one BIG tree and then 50 smaller trees around the Eclipse representing each of the 50 states. Always a great place to walk around in the chilly weather to get in the Holiday spirit.
• 1622 Q Street: The former home of some of my favorite people in DC. The Ringa home was key to many fun nights out in DC and even more fantastic meals. Now that they have moved to Chicago, I am sure their new home will be amazing as well.

I really do love DC. Granted I have not explored the entire city, nor have I been there long enough on any trip to get sick of it but I can truly say, I love DC.

The Land of the Delta Blues

We had several soundtrack options for this leg of the trip, but NO, Rocky Top, was NOT one of the them! We did however, listen to an extensive compilation of The King, in honor of our visit to Graceland! As well as Marc Cohen's Walking Memphis. And like the song, we were there "in the middle of the pouring rain." This was the first time we had had rain on the entire trip and the skies did not hold back! It was a HUGE storm. As we explored downtown Memphis we focused on Beale Street ( a smaller, tamer, bluesy-er version of Bourbon street) Our hotel was on Union, just a few blocks away from Beale. My favorite aspect of Beale, DRINKS TO-GO!!! Best concept ever!
My general rule when visiting and eating in a new city is: ask a local. And, of course, the best local to ask in a town like this: a bartender. Therefore, we befriended the man who sold me my "big-ass beer to-go" and asked him where was the best place to eat "Memphis food?" He suggested The King's Palace. It was a fantastic place with vibrant paintings of old blues singers on the walls and the token large black man playing Ottis Redding's Sitting on the Dock of the Bay on a small stage framed by red velvet curtains. As we looked over the menu I decided to order a half rack of ribs. Charles (our waiter) asked me if I wanted them "wet or dry?" My dumbfounded look and Katie's slight giggle must have tipped him off to the fact that we were kinda new at this whole eating meat thing. Being not much of a carnivore, I asked Charles which way I should have them and we decided wet. When he brought them out he also handed a large stack of napkins and wished me luck. They were tasty little things with spicy sauce and a slice of amazing garlic bread. The King's Palace was fantastic!

After dinner we went back to the bar where our new bartender friend works and listened to some very fun Memphis Blues. We waited out the storms as much as we could and enjoyed the scene.

The next morning (with, admittedly, a slight hang over) we headed out of town. We made one last stop before heading south. We visited the hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot on April 4, 1968. I cringed a little as we did a "drive-by" of the balcony he was shot on, but it was 7:30 in the morning, there wasn't much else we could do. They have built the Civil Rights Museum pretty much attached to the hotel, very cool.

From Memphis we drove south for one more day of fun!

Amarillo through Oklahoma City and on to Little Rock

On Sunday we left Texas and kept heading East. We had slept in Amarillo and were ready to hit the road...but first we had to make two very important stops. First, Home Depot and second, Cadillac Ranch!! (The Cadillac Ranch, located along the tatters of historic Route 66, was built in 1974, brainchild of Stanley Marsh 3, the helium millionaire who owns the dusty wheat field where it stands. Marsh and The Ant Farm, a San Francisco art collective, assembled used Cadillacs representing the "Golden Age" of American Automobiles (1949 through 1963). The ten graffiti-covered cars are half-buried, nose-down, facing west "at the same angle as the Cheops' pyramids.")
We had a great time adding our own graffiti. Don't worry Mom, it's not illegal, its encouraged.

After expressing our creativity, we got back on the road and headed for Oklahoma. Of course we sang the song SEVERAL TIMES (in case you don't know...yes, Katie and I are huge dorks, and yes, we did make sure to load our ipods with all of the appropriate songs we would need for the journey.) Therefore, this point of the voyage was provided with a soundtrack from Broadway's show tunes.

In Oklahoma, we stopped in Oklahoma City and went to the site of the bombing. The memorial is built into the remains of the building with a museum created by the building next door that amazingly survived the blast. The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which took place on April 19, 1995, claimed the lives of 168 people including 19 children and injured more than 680 people.

The lawn of the memorial is lined with empty chairs honoring the lives lost and the huge tree near the museum building is the survivor tree, honoring the lives that are still effected by the bombing to this day. The black stone entry walls are marked with the times, 9:01 and 9:03 signifying the "lost minute" (9:02) The minute where many lives were changed forever. This was a pretty powerful pit stop on our cross country trek, so we loaded back up and headed to our usual lunch stop at Subway. Then, onward to Arkansas!

We were pleasantly surprised by the scenery in Arkansas. I must admit, before this trip I didn't really have much knowledge about Arkansas and really didn't care to. Now, I can wholeheartedly say that I really like Arkansas. It has very pretty rolling hills, a lot of greenery and plentiful rest stops along the interstate (which is very important to me!) I was even more impressed with Little Rock. We stayed at a hotel next door to the Bill Clinton Presidential Library. It was beautiful! And, Little Rock has a lot of fun and culture. It is definitely a place I would go back to.

Next up: Put on your Blue Suede Shoes, we are heading to Memphis!!

AZ through NM to Amarillo, TX

As we left AZ we stopped in the Petrified Forest. It is a National Park that has the Painted Dessert and 28 miles of Petrified Forest. We saw beautiful sights, a lot of Dinosaurs and watched natives make jewelery in the casa.

After that stop we entered New Mexico, where rest areas are plentiful!! We stopped for dinner in Albuquerque, NM (we just missed my brother and family as they were in CO for the 4th of July holiday) Albuquerque has the Sandia Mountains and very cool public art even built into the interstate overpasses. After ABQ, we continued on to Texas. Man, I should have taken advantage of the rest areas in NM before getting to TX. We entered Texas and had to go 74 miles into the state before getting to a gas station that was open. OUCH! PS: the Welcome Center for Texas on I-40 does not happen until mile 76.

We spent that night in Amarillo, the city that smells like reclaimed water!

Cali to Flagstaff, AZ

On Friday, we left from Cali and drove through AZ. After getting out of LA (where the temp was 62 degrees) the temp quickly rose to 100 degrees... and then it kept on climbing... by the time got to AZ it was 114, the highest it got was 116!! Arizona, is best known not only for its intolerance of Mexican folk, but also its sub par (or completely lacking) restroom facilities. Every rest area in the ENTIRE state is CLOSED!! Not good for the pee filled traveler. About halfway through the state, we stayed in Flagstaff. It was a cute little college town with a lot of breweries and a fun time. It was also very pretty, its in the middle of a national forest and it has beautiful mountains all around. I really like Flagstaff.

Hollywood!

A few days ago I flew out to LA to meet Katie. She moved out there a few months ago and now is ready to come back to Tampa. Therefore, she needed a ROAD TRIP BUDDY!!! (that's me!) So I flew out to LA and we did a lot of super fun HOLLYWOOD STUFF!!! We hiked in Griffith Park and got some good views of the Hollywood sign. We went to the walk of fame and took silly pictures with the wax figures! We visited Santa Monica and played in the super chilly Pacific Ocean...and then went to a taping of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. We were not allowed to take pictures there, but it was a lot of fun. Jane Lynch and Steve Carell were the guests...very funny. Of course we did a RODEO DR. drive-by...we didn't really stop because, let's face it, we can't afford anything there. Then, of course, we went to In and Out Burger (because that's what you HAVE to do in Cali)

Next up: ROAD TRIP! We are taking I-40 East through Cali and AZ, then into New Mexico and Texas and then to Oklahoma and into Memphis so we can go to Graceland!!

Food in Peru

Melissa sent the pictures of all of the food we ate. I figured I'd share.

This is the Alpaca. It was served with a variety of potatoes. It had a steak-like texture. Very YUMMY!

Corn is very important in Peru. They told us there are some crazy number like 72 different types of corn. They use it for everything from food and beer to paper and clothing.

On our Sacred Valley Tour we had some road side corn... they serve it in the husk with a chunk of cheese... FANTASTIC!

Lunch, day one of the hike.

Coca leaves: these are usually grown more in the jungle, but at Machu Picchu they have some growing "for decoration."

After the hike we met our group in a restaurant in Aguas Caliente and decided it was time to sample the Guinea pig... tastes like chicken!

Pisco Sour...we had heard about this drink all week long and so our final night we decided to try it. (it also helped that the waitress offered it to us for free...to help fill the very empty restaurant) It's made with egg whites and sour mix and of course alcohol.

Food rating in Peru: overall delicious

The Journey Back

After having hiked for days and seen AMAZING sights we were ready to head back to Cusco and ultimately back to reality. However, "the powers that be" had other plans for us...

From Machu Picchu there are buses that take you down a very curly road to the town of Aguas Calientes. This is the city where the train goes. If you are the "lazy people" that our guides told us about, you can take the train from KM82 to Machu Picchu in about 3 hours. Apparently, a lot of people do this everyday. However, on the day that we got to Aguas Calientes the workers of Peru Rail decided to strike! Apparently they had been on strike the day before too...We were told, "No trains today!"

This caused two things:

1) Machu Picchu was relatively empty that day, we have great views, were not bothered by mass amounts of tourists and were able have a very rare experience up there.

2) We were stuck in Aguas Calientes (which by the way, translates to: Hot Water)

As we gathered with our group and with our guide, to try and figure out what to do we realized we would need somewhere to sleep that night. We all scrambled around the town (knowing that soon many other hikers would be in the same situation we were in) and we found a hostel for $13 a night! SWEET!!! It had nice beds, with sheets and the most important part... it had a HOT SHOWER! We were set!

Melissa's friend from MIT who came with us, was not so set though...his flight was going to leave Saturday before any of the trains would get him back to Cusco. So he and one of our guides decided to WALK BACK! Along the tracks it was suppose to take about 6 hours. I can't even imagine having to do that, but apparently that is what the Porters had to do at 5AM so that they could get back to Cusco and get picked up by the next groups and start the trail again...YIKES!

So those of us who did not fly out until Sunday were stuck in Hot Water for one more day. Honestly, not a bad place to be stuck...cheap room to sleep in, hot shower, Internet downstairs, bar around the corner showing the World Cup, great restaurant next door (where we ate Guinea pig) and the entire town had WONDERFUL VIEWS! plus, we were about 2 minutes walk from the train station...not too shabby!

So we hung out for the rest of the day and that night in Aguas Calientes. The next day, we met up with our group at 8:30 AM. We met with our guide who had worked some magic and gotten all of us tickets on today's trains. (Since everyone had been bumped the two days before, tickets were not too easy to come across) Somehow, Percy worked it out so that we each got tickets, the catch... they were all at various times. Mine was leaving at 8:30 AM! I grabbed my ticket, said my good-byes and took off for the train station. This was the first time since Lima that Melissa and I were separated and it was a little nerve racking as we said "Okay, I'll meet you in Cusco." The instructions we were given as to what to do on the other end of the train were as follows: "Get off at Km82, take the Peru Rail bus to Ollantaytambo, then look for the man with the sign and he will take you back to the main square of Cusco".....um... slightly sketchy "the man with the sign???" But I'd figure it out.

So I hopped on the train, expecting to be smushed into some hot stinky cart....not so much! I was in FIRST CLASS!!! It was awesome, glass windows all around, so you could see the beautiful landscape we were traveling through. It was niiiiiice.

So I got back to Km82, in style. A little nervous about finding the bus to the next city and then finding the "man with the sign" but... while I was waiting to get off the train I looked out the window and saw Melissa jumping and waving at me!! She had gotten a ticket from our guide about a minute before the train pulled off and so she jumped on and was in a different cart from me. We made it back to Km82 at the same time!

So then, together, Melissa and I got on the Peru Rail bus that took us to Ollantaytambo, we found the "man with the sign" (that said my name!) and he put us in another bus that took us to Cusco. I thought I might get sick in the bus, weaving and swirling through the mountains and then through the city...but alas, he dropped us off in the main square and we were welcomed back to Cusco by yet another parade.

We made it back to our hotel for nap time and then decided it was a good night for pizza and HBO in English.

The next morning we got on the first of many planes (5) back to the US.