Travel

The more I travel the more my list grows. I'm addicted! I think I have the next five years planned out. Here is where I want to go:

Summer of 2007- Great Britain and Scotland
Summer of 2008- Alaska
Summer of 2009- China or Thailand
Summer of 2010- Galapagos Islands
Summer of 2011- Turkey or Hungry

One of the things I've done on a few of my trips is when I order a great meal, I take photo across the table. It shows my food, and E looking at his food. It has been a fun series, but I am kicking myself that I didn't get one of these photos in either Amsterdam or Africa.


Pesto in Portofino, Italy


Cannoli in Little Italy, NY


Fish and Chips in London, England

Fall leaves

I took this photo last year at my cabin. All the aspen leaves had fallen, and it had rained. I thought the carpet of wet leaves was very beautiful.

Top five- why I love fall

5. Fall foods- E and I love to make pumpkin, squash, and cranberries all through fall. One of our favorite recipes is pumpkin waffles with pecans and maple syrup.

4. Decorating for Halloween- I love spooky things. I have always loved the idea of locations being haunted, so this time of year I have a blast decorating for Halloween. This year’s highlights are the framed picture of a “haunted house” we have, and a shadow box with a real dead bat in it. Spooky!

3. Sleeping- As the weather gets colder and the leaves start falling off the trees, taking long afternoon naps in our reading nook is perfect. We’ve waited all summer to head back upstairs for a long afternoon nap.

2. Thanksgiving- Thanksgiving is coming! I love Thanksgiving, being with family (we’ll see how it plays out with my family this year) and eating as much as you want, and enjoying the changing of fall into winter is one of my favorite times all year.

1. Changing leaves- I love when the leaves start to change. We are lucky in Utah, and we get two falls, one is watching the leaves on the mountains change, and then about two weeks later the leaves in the valley change. I love walking through crunchy leaves on a clear, brisk fall day. Nothing’s better.

Some of E's Italy photos

E took some great photos in Italy. We purchased some frames and oversized paper with some of our wedding money, so we're going to hang some of them on the wall.

Here are a few we like from Venice:

Damn, my new bike is really cool!

Yep, I finally bought it—a new mountain bike. It took 13 years, and a whole lot of pressure from my friends, but I finally bought it. It’s a Gary Fisher, with shocks (of course) and some other “sweet” components that I don’t really care about.

All I know is it rides like a dream.

So over the weekend nine of us went down to Moab to bike bike bike. We rode Poison Spider Mesa and the Slick Rock Trail. I really wish that I knew how cool Slick Rock was before, it was awesome. Smooth and steep, and more beautiful then I imagined.

I rode well (at least for me) and I think I’m improving each time. I’m still fairly daring, and will try most things, but didn’t fall, and was successful on a lot of the steep hills.

My dreams will be with Slick Rock until next May, I’m counting down the days.

On another note, I’m pulling all my Halloween stuff tonight. I love this time of year, and I’m excited to “spook-a-fy” my house! Bats, spiders, black cats, and lots of little gravestones here I come…

A few more Italy photos

I still and just soaking in all the joy I felt in Italy. I loved it; it was everything I have dreamed about my entire life and more. I wanted to post four photos today, one from each area we spent time in. Soon I'll post some of E's best photos. He is an awesome photographer, and his stuff should be showcased!


When we first got to Italy we stayed in Venice. San Marco's Square floods each day during high tide, it is the lowest part of the city. E and I walked there at night and were amazed at how quiet it was (during the day it is mobbed with people). I took this photo of the reflection on the church in the flooded square.


The next region we spent time in was the Italian Alps. One day E and I took a cable car and then a train to a small town high in the mountains. We loved wandering around, taking photos, and making gnome jokes (they are very popular in this region). Pretty soon we found ourselves lost. Nobody spoke English and they spoke very little Italian (we were in a German speaking region), after a lot of running, turning around, and asking for directions we found the train. It is one of our favorite memories.


On the coast we went to a region called Cinque Terre, five small towns all clinging to the cliffs (see my photo in the previous post). Each town was full of cats. This one specifically caught our interest, we loved how he got a drink right in the center of town where Italian's have been getting fresh water for hundreds of years.


We loved Florence. Both E and I couldn't believe how beautiful the city was. This photo I took from our hotel room at sunrise. In the distance you can see Brunelleschi Dome, the bell tower of Santa Maria Novella, and the dome of Cappella Dei Medici (built by Michelangelo). Wow! You don't get a better view than that.

Italy- all I can say is WOW!

We are home, and we loved it! There is so much to write about and tell about, luckily I have a travel journal that I filled.

I really really enjoyed my time there. E soaked up Italian like a sponge, and he's so cute when he speaks it.

We had beautiful weather, incredible food, awesome gelato, and saw some of the most spectacular pieces of art in the world.

Our favorite thing though was the Italian Alps. I want to type more about this region and share a lot of photos, just wanted to say that we are in amore with Italy!

Here is a sneak peak of some of the things we saw (note, I took all these pictures!):