Looks like we are going to be busy little travelers in 2008 - What fun!

Next weekend we are going to CT to celebrate a 30th birthday, I'm off to Phoenix AZ in late January (part work and then visiting a friend) and in February we are going to visit my sister and ski in Colorado.  And that's just the first two months of the year! 

We have plans for an Easter vacation - Montreal maybe.  And a trip to Europe in the fall (using dividend miles for the flight, if everything goes according to plan).  For work, I know of trips to Wash DC, Portland OR, and Williamsburg VA - I hope Adam tags along for one or two of them.  AND, I want to do weekend visits to friends in Savannah GA, Richmond VA, and St. Louis - WHEW!!!!  Fun, fun, fun

Last year was pretty lame.  We spent the first half of the year tied up with house nonsense and I started studying for that exam in August - which didn't leave much room for studying.  Also, we had been to Japan and Germany in 2006, which we were financially recovering from.  I figure we better get all this travelling in now while we are kid-free!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

I must say... it was quite an adjustment going from 88 degrees in Philly to 38 degrees in Seattle.  After much stress-related flight nonsense (we didn't think we were going to make it to Seattle b/c our connection was so late -- luckily 17 of us were making the same connection in Chicago-Midway) we finally landed in Seattle. 

On Thursday night, we met a work-buddy of  Adam's and this guy's wife (I got a gold star for being a good wife).  On Friday, we spent the day touring the city by foot.  Saturday, we rented a car and drove to Mount Ranier - it was actually snowing up there - it was freakin' cold!  We decided to splurge on the hotel and had a window overlooking the harbor.  It was great being able to sleep with the windows open!

Now I'm in sunny San Diego and Adam is back at the grind home in Philly....  here are some of my favorites -- it was tough to get good photos with all the clouds. 

seattle 035

Seattle 073

seattle 137

seattle 184

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Starting next Sunday, I am going to be on a business trip, hitting multiple cities in CA (La Jolla, Rancho Cucamongo, LA, San Jose), ending with a red-eye on Thursday night - yikes!!!  After much nail-biting on my part, Adam was FINALLY able to take off a day and a half from work and we are taking some much needed vacation ahead of my trip --- a portion of my flight is company-funded, very nice!  Unfortunately, booking a trip a week ahead of time isn't exactly cheap.  Since Adam isn't interested in the spa-scene of La Jolla (go figure!), where my conference is being held, we decided to find a city somewhere on the West coast to visit.... 

SEATTLE HERE WE COME! 

We plan on flying in Thursday afternoon and driving straight to Mount Ranier (which according to our guide book is about an hour and a half from the airport).  Adam has found a fabulous country inn for us to stay at.  On Friday, we are going to take in some nature/mountains and then drive back in to downtown Seattle that evening.  On Friday and Saturday night we are going to stay at a hotel on one of the piers.  We'll have Saturday to see the sights of the city and it looks like there is plenty that we are going to want to pack in.  On Sunday, Adam flies home and I head down to my conference... it will be an action-packed weekend and it doesn't sound like it will be very restful, but we are both looking forward to the change of scenery. 

We haven't had a vacation since our long weekend in Jamaica (back in April!!!), and with my exam looming, it looks like this will be our "last hurrah" for 2007.  Oh, except for the wedding in Florida that I am really looking forward to, but happens to fall just two weeks before my exam..... 

I'm disappointed we didn't get more vacation in, but I guess we set the bar pretty high last year having made it to Germany AND Japan in one year.... hardly something we can afford to do on an annual basis.

Already have my sights on next year though -- and I hope to convince Adam to take two seperate, full weeks of vacation -- never an easy task!!!  I'd like to do a week with friends using my mom's time share in the Spring and a trip to Switzerland and Italy in the Fall.... so much of the world still left to see --- time to get as much in as we can, before we are tied down by a bunch of kiddies.... 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Adam and I didn't bring much back from Jamaica with us - I think we were one of few on the plane without duty-free booze.  We brought back some coffee for when friends stay with us, a Cohiba for my dad, and some jerk marinade for Adam... there wasn't really anything that I wanted, so I came back empty handed.  Seems I brought back something after all - POISON IVY!  And its all over my mouth. 

What I'd like to know is "which drink did me in?" - It must have been something I ate or drank over the past few days, probably Monday, that did me in.  To my knowledge, I wasn't running around in a drunken stupor making out with trees, so what else could it be???

Stupid poison ivy

I am highly allergic to poison-ivy, have been since high school.  The worst part is that I always seem to get it on my face -- although getting it on my lips is a new adventure.  When I was in 10th grade, the posion ivy was so bad that my eyelids actually swelled shut.  Not a pretty sight.  Actually, now that I think about it, my aunt & uncle were kind enough to take a photo of me looking my best.... maybe, I will scan and upload tonight.

SO, yesterday afternoon, when the poison ivy was just starting to show itself, I made an appointment with the doctor for this morning.  If I don't get some drugs soon, I can see this spreading like crazy.  Yuck!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

We're back from Jamaica, safe and sound.... also back, seems to be my ability to log in to VOX at work.  YEAH!

We had a very relaxing trip... sun, sand, plentiful booze, and a chance to reconnect... we went snorkeling - my first time, and kayaking.... and enjoyed many hours lounging at the pool, and pool bar.  Although we dragged our tennis stuff with us, we never made it on the courts... 

Can't say we would go to Jamaica, or even a Sandals again, but we're happy for the experience...  It took us almost 10hours door-to-door to get home which was a little frustrating... Sandals "claims" that we needed to be at the airport 3 hours ahead of time, and since it took almost 2 hours to get to the airport from the resort (I didn't realize it was so far away), we left the resort at NOON for our 5pm flight.  Big bummer.  I had thought we would get some additional beach time on Monday. 

We didn't take many photos, but I'll post them tonight!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

I finally booked our vacation today... Adam still doesn't know.  We'll be gone for four days staying at a Sandals in Ohio Rios.  I'm a little nervous about how he's going to take me making plans for us without checking with him first - neither of us is usually a big fan of surprises.  How mad could he really get though?  We'll be sitting on the beach, enjoying free drinks at the swim-up bar!!!  The facilities of this place look amazing - there's so much to do, its a shame we'll only be there for 3 nights.  We have an early flight there and a late flight home, so we will have lots of time to enjoy ourselves. 

Included in the cost is all the food and drinks you can imagine and the place has tons of facilities including, tennis courts (they even have clay courts), golf, snorkeling, hobie cats, windsurfing, a climbing wall, glass bottom boats, tons of restaurants and bars.  And there are many activites that you can pay extra for... Swimming with the dolophins, the bike trip, and the trek to the waterfall all sound fabulous.... they all sound fun, but I don't know how much we can cram in on this mini-getaway. 

CAN'T WAIT FOR OUR VACATION!!!!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

My cold subsided just in time for me to enjoy two full days of skiing with everyone else.  The skiing was fabulous, we even got to enjoy 5 inches of fresh-fallen snow on Saturday.  And, much to our relief, Nicole's on-again off-agin boyfriend wasn't as annoying to have around as we had feared.... although, I'm surprised my sister managed to find someone that actually takes longer to get ready than she does!!!  very annoying..... 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

We are very excited about our upcoming ski trip to Killington this weekend!!  We're not a big fan of my sister's loser boyfriend who seems to be back in her life and coming with us, but no way around that I guess.  Here's a photo taken from Killington this week -- look at all that snow!  Now I just have to get rid of this cold my hubby was kind enough to pass on.  I'm going to royally pissed if I am still sick and can't ski!!!!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

We did so much in Japan, it is impossible to share details about everything -- much easier to just pass on the links to our flickr account (I love flickr).  The first link is for our "favorites" the second link is all 500+ photos that we took (having weeded out the bad ones). 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heiked/sets/72157594459587612/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heiked/sets/72157594455280753/

I still can't believe how much we were able to pack into one trip.  Not only did we see many parts of Tokyo, we spent 3 days in Kyoto, and got to travel to Mount Fuji, all the while enjoying the great company of our friends. 

IMG_1369

Unfortunately, I think this is the only photo of the four of us.

IMG_7308

Me & my buddy Bill on New Years Eve.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

First day back at work, although little work is being done.  Luckily Ad is having a good day too and nothing got royally screwed up while he was away, so he's having a slow day as well. 

We had a marvelous time in Japan and have many stories to share.  We are so fortunate to have friends as nice as Bill & Sarah to give us such a memorable trip.  Our photos are posted to flickr already, but I am working on pruning down the bad ones (good project on the first day back).  We have over 600 photos, and the last two days are still in my camera, plus the rest of Bill's shots.  Don't worry, we plan on mimicing B&S's idea of making a separate "Favorites" set from our best shots. 

Stay tuned.... 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend