So, Mr. Jennysold and I got back a few Fridays ago (I told you I was slow with travel photos) from our last (for awhile) baby-free vacation and, sadly, my last trip on an airplane for the forseeable future. For someone who inexplicably LOVES going to the airport, and lives for planning her next international adventure, this is somewhat torturous. Yes, I know, new baby, way more important, bigger adventure, all that. And you’re right. Besides, it may not be too bad, as I have done my research and found that most airlines will let a newborn fly as young as 7 days old. And there is a good chance Mr. Jennysold is going to have to go to Europe and/or Australia again for work post-baby: hellooooo tag-along! All hope is not yet lost. Luckily, he took his boring middle-of-nowhere Canada trip next week, past my self-imposed third-trimester “ok to fly” cutoff date. Good that he wasted that one now; I used the time home to watch all those “My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding” episodes that were piling up on the Tivo. It’s like a misogynistic Redneck Jersey Shore – awesome!
We were in Seattle for the first two nights and spent a day doing the whirlwind “must-sees”: a good meal, Pike Place, the Original Starbucks, the Space Needle, and the EMP museum (which, bonus, still had the Nirvana/punk exhibit up). Touristy, I know. But tell me which of you coming to Philly for the first time won’t: A – go see the Liberty Bell, B – run up the Rocky steps at the Art Museum; C – slide a greasy (read: real) cheesesteak down your maw. Yeah. That’s what I thought too.
The rest of the time was spent in Maui, save the overnight stop in Seattle on the way back. This was the third time we have gone, and it was pretty awesome to recognize everything from having been there a few times before. It was like that when I went to visit my sister’s place in Belgium – the airport was familiar, driving the road to your home for the trip is like second nature, you have a favorite restaurant already, that sort of thing. It just feels, I don’t know… good. Though I must say I was a little upset that the gigantor blow-up gorilla wasn’t by the gas station with the broken credit card system. I was looking forward to that gorilla. Ah well. All in all, the trip was awesome (as it usually is); so much so that I hormonally started to cry when we were dragging the luggage down the hall to go check out. It was kind of pathetic, really, but what can a girl do when pregs but let it out? And do more research on where to go next. I am thinking Munich, Prague, Vienna? Unless Australia creeps up again, in which case, sausages and beer will have to wait :)
Below are a few photos from the trip; there are more of Seattle since we hadn’t been there before. Anyway, enjoy!
Starbucks, a touristy must.
Pike Place Market
Yummy looking produce at the Pike Place Market.
There were some surprisingly colorful skies there. A little credit to Lightroom, of course…
“The Space Needle is impressive.”
“That’s what she said.”
Experience Music Project.
The Chihuly Garden and Exhibit that I drug – and I mean DRUG – Mr. Jennysold to.
A few scenes from the Four Seasons Maui, including the shuffleboard piece with which I FINALLY beat Mr. Jennysold. At a game, not, like, in a spousal abuse way.
The death stare I gave Mr. Jennysold for being able to drink when I couldn’t. See that glass with the lime he’s holding? Seltzer. That’s how exciting I am these days. Livin’ it up!
Some scenes from around Maui, including the sunset as viewed from Mama’s Fish House. MMM… Mama’s…..
jennysold 
Everyone says Prague is the most beautiful city in the world, you HAVE to go there, yada yada. I have to say…. it was nice, but not my favorite of all the places we have visited. It is uber touristy now – the whole darn city. It felt like being in a weird Eastern-Euro Disney attraction where everything is fake and overpriced by about 500%. Vienna, on the other hand, while also super expensive, felt more real. And Krakow was awesome. Much more relaxed, way less touristy, and everything is really cheap. You can sit out on the town square at night with lots of locals, drinking 1/2 liters of beer and giant plates of pierogies for like $2. It was awesome. We were lucky enough to have almost 3 weeks for that vacation, so we fit in Prague, Krakow, hiking in Slovakia, and Vienna all in one trip, but if I had to pick just one I would choose Krakow first, Vienna second, and then Prague. Sorry, Prague – I think you hit your peak of coolness in the 90’s while you were still cheap and real.
I LOVED Krakow, went in 08. I’d really love to go super Eastern European, Bucharest, Latvia, things like that. But I feel like, since I haven’t been to Prague yet and have had it on my list for ages, I owe myself to go there too. I was with my sister and her husband in Krakow, Pete never went, so I could totally be persuaded to go again. :)
Ah, well, if you’ve already been to Krakow, then Prague it is! We wanted to fit in Budapest, too, but it just didn’t happen and we ended up in Vienna instead. Eastern Europe is pretty cool, even for this non-beer-drinking girl. I’m pretty sure Todd would return just to be able to eat paprika potato chips again. He has been on the hunt every time we find a Polish market here in the states, and while we have found ham-flavored potato chips and lots of other random things, alas, there have been no paprika chips yet to be found.
Oh man, you know, in New Zealand they had these chicken flavored potato chips that were surprisingly amazing. Paprika sounds really good….*drool*