I’m Baaaaack!

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…..

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Aloha

It’s pretty craptastic outside here today: rainy, damp and cloudy. But not the kind of super-pouring-rainy that makes you want to curl up inside with something cozy to do, like watch Sister Wives or bake something which you subsequently overeat. It’s just enough to make you want to stand at the kitchen counter watching YouTube videos while nomming a few cookies before the boredom moves in (which is usually between 5-10 minutes). So, to remedy this – and also in honor of the fact that we go to Maui via Seattle (yes, The Sunshine City, I know) in 9 days – I’ve decided to go into the archives and post a few pics from our ’09 honeymoon to Hawaii. Don’t worry, I’m not going to innundate you with smushyface lovey-dovey pics, because it’s hard to have alot of those when you’re the one taking the photos. And besides, Mr. Jennysold would probably kill me. Anyway…..

 

USS Arizona Memorial. Reflective. Quiet. No pearls.

 

The North Shore. Not included: the awesome Matsumoto Shave Ice

 

We live right around a sub-area of our town called Manoa. Found this on the Manoa Falls hike and wanted to put it on our bathroom door at home. On right: the official Charmin of the Manoa House Toilet.

 

“WARNING. WARNING. WARNING. This hike will kill you.”

 

Early on in the Road to Hana. This is some straight-up right-outta-Lost shit right here. Note the opening to one of the hatches on the left.

 

More randomness from the Road to Hana.

 

Old Lahaina luau

 

Nighttime glow

G’day!

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m notoriously slower than molasses in January at editing and sharing my travel photography. I still have photos from London in 2007 that are waiting for me to finish them. I am working on plowing through them all, but I just had to get to my Australia ones before anything else. Because they involved a koala. This is very important and unspeakably awesome, just so you are aware.

We went to Australia – Sydney, to be specific – and New Zealand in December, a trip I thought I would never get to take in my lifetime. Mr. Jennysold was sent for work the June before we were married, and because I had allotted all of my vacation time to the wedding and honeymoon, I couldn’t tag along. I was sour for a week. Being sour and missing his cute little butt was not a good combination. I think I had alot of Starbucks that week in an attempt at compensation. So imagine the heart attack I had when I found out he had to go for work again and I was free to come along. One day he is gChatting me, right at the time we were waiting to see whether or not the insurance company was going to accept our claim for the house’s water damage.“So… don’t freak out, BUT…..”

(Oh no, oh shit, they’re going to deny the claim. Goddamnit, we don’t need this right now…)
“What?”

“I may have to go to Australia for work before or after Christmas”

(OH MY GOD HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HE BETTER NOT BE MESSING WITH ME)
“OH MY GOD HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT YOU BETTER NOT BE MESSING WITH ME”

We ended up going for about 18 days, the first week+ in Sydney where I toured around by myself while he worked, the rest of the time in New Zealand, mostly on the South Island. I did not get to go to Hobbitton and get my photo taken in a Hobbit house, but I did get a photo with Gollum. My favorite, however, was the “koala encounter” at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Sounds dirtier than it was, promise.

Now, I didn’t get to hold the little guys (boo) but the $20 cost of entry to your own little private pen with a koala did include being allowed to bring your own camera in and photograph them as much as you wished. Sold. I spent a good half-hour in there with them, and they really are as adorable in person as photos and stuffed animals make them out to be. I heard they can get nasty and claw your eyes out, but that didn’t happen on my watch, so I’m sticking with the stuffed animal viewpoint.

See?

Below are some more of my favorite photos from the Sydney part of the trip. Seeing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House at the same time, in the same field of view from Circular Quay… it was more amazing than I thought. I’m an incredibly lucky gal to get to have seen things I have never thought I would, ever, in my entire life. If I have any Sydney readers, they’re probably laughing at me right now, but whatever. Somewhere out there, someone is dying to see the Liberty Bell that I’ve seen 100x over. To each his own, right?

I still have to get to the New Zealand photos. You will probably see those in 2013.