To Begin With – Since August 20th:
- 6 Flights
- 3 States
- 3 Countries
- 40 hours of travel (flights and bus)
That’s a start. I began by visiting family down south in GA and FL. The first day I came into Atlanta a bit late, so I headed up to Duluth and I had the pleasure of seeing and catching up with one of my oldest and best friends, Lissa. It was a real pleasure to be able to spend time with her and after so many years it was wonderful to discover that it was like no time had passed. I also had a chance to see her older sister who is now a mother of two and it was great to catch up with her as well.
Afterwards, I headed down to Florida to visit my mom’s sister, Uncle and Grandmother. It was wonderful to spend time with my Aunt Sue and Uncle Lee and got some good advice and support regarding Scott and I’s up coming move to London. Aunt Sue and I spent a lovely day getting massages and having lunch and we all had a nice time catching up and chatting over a nice dinner in. I also got a chance to see my Grandmother who is not doing too well after two hip surgeries in one month, but who is hanging in there like the matriarch she is. I’m glad I was able to get out before the move. After that visit I drove back up to Calhoun, GA to visit my Dad’s Mom. Seeing Grandma Louene was a real treat and I also was able to spend time with Uncle Jon and her brother, Uncle Jimmy. It’s pretty quiet in Calhoun, but we had a good time spending time together and we took a nice trip up through their mountains and to a large lake and back. It was a wonderful week of family visiting and I’m glad I was able to get to it.
Coming back from GA, I flew to Las Vegas to meet up with Scott while he was working in the VMWorld conference. Always a good time in Vegas, my friend Yvonne came out on Monday and we spent the whole day together at the pool and then dinner. It was sooo wonderful to catch up and spend time. I also got a chance to meet Scott’s boss and some of the guys he works with. I say guys because the parties were all filled with slightly awkward nerdy guys or super douchey sales guys, but very very few women 
Still, we had a good time ourselves, visiting our favorite bar (Nine Fine Irishmen) where we got free beer courtesy of VMWare (score!!) and trying the new restaurants that have sprung up. BOuchon is the most notable, super delicious. After the conference we got on yet another flight and headed up to Reno where we rented a car, supplied up and headed to the Black Rock Desert and Burning Man.
Burning Man is a hippy festival. Now that’s out of the way, it’s also one of the most magical experiences I’ve ever had. I also didn’t do any drugs. Seriously, 50,000+ people on this flat expanse of desert, all there to have a good time, share music, food and alcohol (along with some more choice ingestibles) and art. Art just everywhere. Stationary art, moving art, human art. And at night the playa (as it’s called) just explodes with light and music and color and sound. There are art cars filled with people and music and bikes all lit up with LED’s and other luminescent things and people EVERYWHERE. And the burns, the burns were some of the most spectacular things I’ve ever seen. They had a true to size trojan horse that was 4 stories high and burned for 45 minutes. Huge licking flames that set off fireworks and radiated heat for a quarter of a mile. Spectacular. And the man burn was even more impossible. Even before the burn, firedancers whos bodies were unseen made the playa dance. It was like seeing thousands of fire spirits twirling and dancing around the man in anticipation of the coming inferno. There was also the temple. A full sized, 5 towered, two storied building, beautiful in its architecture and filled with pictures and letters and writing that people wanted to see burn. There was an “earth harp” attached to it, a series of long cables with weights to tune it attached strung between the main building and the tower. It was probably 500 feet across and played by someone with heavy gloves covered in rosin. Seriously beautiful. There was also a mechanically controlled series of gongs inside of many sizes on the first level that would play a pre-arranged pieces. So intricate and lovely, the music was delicate and reminded me of Thailand. The final night we were there, the night the man burned, Scott and I road our bikes around the entirety of the camp, a feat that took us a couple of hours. Seeing Burning Man at its height is something that is truly indescribable. We have some pictures and videos, but the best word is the first I’ve used, magical.
After Burning Man, the same night around midnight, we headed back to reno in hopes of staying in a hotel for a few hours before we got on a flight back to Las Vegas. Alas, we did not plan and there was a huge conference and every hotel in Reno, Virginia City and even South Tahoe was filled to bursting. Not a single room to be had for love or money (well, to be fair, we only offered the latter). So we ended up sleeping for a few hours in the parking lot of the Grand Sierra. Not exactly ideal, but served its purpose. We woke up grumpy, washed the car and got on a flight to Las Vegas to celebrate our one year anniversary in the highest fashion. We stayed in the MGM in the Sky Lofts and let me tell you, it was an amazingly luxurious place to stay, and hugely relaxing after roughing it in the desert and rental car. We stayed mostly in the casino, preferring our own company to the lights and entertainment of the strip. On the day of our anniversary we had a fabulous dinner at one of the Joel Rubichon owned restaurants in the casino which was amazing. Our room was constantly filled with desserts, including a lovely spread and a card from Scott’s fantastic parents and we had a HUGE shower and jacuzzi tub. Really the height of luxury and relaxation. Also, spending one on one time with my wonderful husband was a fantastic treat.
Directly after returning home, doing laundry and re-packing, I got on a flight to South America. My 12 hour flight from SFO to Mendoza, Argentina had a layover in Lima, Peru and Santiago, Chile. Luckily, I didn’t have to get off in LIma and Santiago was an easily navigated airport. Arriving in Mendoza mid-morning, I met up with four of my very best friends, Eric, Damara, Dylan and Theresa. We walked around the city of Mendoza getting lunch, refreshed ourselves in our hotel and hostel, respectively (E&D were in a hotel and D,T and I were in a hostel) and had a lovely dinner in one of the local restaurants. Service in Mendoza is slow and lovely, I think the only way it could be improved would be with the introduction of water when you sit, otherwise it’s such a great thing to be able to have a dinner that lasts at least an hour. I arrived on Wednesday, Thursday we went on a fantastic wine tour of the Maipu region. Three wineries and a HUGE lunch. The wineries were amazing, the second of which I purchased 4 bottles of wine. Lunch consisted of a gigantic spread of meat, cheese, pickled things and spreads for appetizers (which I ate a lot of), rice and cheese and pasta and cheese (which I didn’t eat much of due to fear of over fullness due to carbs) and a dessert of ice cream (helado) with dulce de leche (caramel). Everything was accompanied by a really decent and bottomless red table wine. After the tour we went back to our hostels, relaxed for a few hours and then got ready for a fancy dinner at a place called 1884 in the southern part of Mendoza. It’s a restaurant who’s owner and main chef has turned to fire cooking and was amazingly delicious. We had: Ribeye from the parilla with chimichurri, patagonian potato galette; Baby goat roasted in a wood oven with tasty herbs; The best mushroom risotto over; Roasted pumpkin, arugula, and pecorino salad. All delicious stuff and a really good time. Friday we took a tour of Aconcagua, which really was a tour of the area with a quick photo stop a few miles from the tallest mountain in the Americas. We didn’t mind though due to traveling some beautiful mountainous country that is reminiscent of Yosemite and Zion, but seems “newer”. The mountains are jagged, craggy and intimidatingly beautiful. There’s still snow in the areas we visited, so we had a snowball fight before drinking hot chocolate while we watched people ski at one of our stops. The whole trip was a tiring 12 hours, starting at 7:30 and getting back at 7. Afterwards we grabbed some food and then headed back to pack and go to bed.
Today we took a bus into Chile where we are right now, staying at the Hostel Princesa Insolente a beautiful and fun hostel in Santiago. Today is also September 11th, the 10th anniversary of the Twin Tower Attacks, but in Chile it’s the annivesary of the US backed coup that toppled Allende and placed Pinochet in power. People celebrate this day by throwing stones and protests, so we are staying in. Next weekend in the 3 day celebration of independence from Pinochet’s reign, so that should be amazing. Our hostel is having a BBQ tonight, and we’re looking up things to do while we’re here. On that note, I’m outtie. It’s been a big update and I’m having an amazing time. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of 5 people happily traveling together, but it’s been like coming home for me.
Until next time!
