2010 Has been a fantastic year for many reasons, the biggest one, my marriage to the former Ms. Davis. This year brought many fantastic things and ideas my way, and making them a part of my day to day has been an interesting journey that I am excited to continue.
Here's the breakdown:
Best:
Movie: Inception, I love movies that make you think. It didn't fall, right?
TV Show: Another year another season of TrueBlood. Its the only show I watch and I still love it. Season 3 fantastically better than two which in hindsight was less good than the first.
Concert: Third Eye Blind, This was a fantastic show from a band nobody knew was still around, these guys rock.
Album: I only bought one Album in 2010. No winners this year.
Song: Broken Bells - The Ghost Inside
Game: Angry Birds. Wow, I still can't stop playing.
Book: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, easy choice, this book was great.
Gadget: HTC EVO, this has changed my life.
Bar Night: Wisconsin Dells, $2 Jameson, dancing, and other things I can't remember.
Getaway: Spain.
Garden Growth: Sweet Potatoes!
Alcohol Fermenting Tour: The bus tour in Catalonia wine country.
Events of Note:
Random: Running as a hobby was (re?)started.
Obsession: Farmville. I'm still embarrassed with how much time I spent with it.
Newsworthy: Our corrupt Illinois governor getting ousted from office.
There are a lot of great reasons to look forward to in 2011. One of the bigge$t $adly can't be mentioned on the very public interweb$. I am also resolving to write more blog entries than I did in 2010, keeping my faithful readers better up to date on my life. Laura and I already have some exciting things planned for the upcoming year and I look forward to seeing what more it can throw at me.
2011, here I come.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Hows my little Pumpkin Brewer?
Another autumn another pumpkin beer. Last year, it was such a success we decided we ought to repeat our attempt, with a few modifications. Also I was so excited about it that I decided to make a double batch of the good stuff.
We ran into several great opportunities to learn from because of our modifications. Last year we decided we wanted an even stronger pumpkin flavor and to go a little easier on the spices. It was a good balance before, but we decided there was room for improvement. This year to create a stronger pumpkin flavor we opted for a pumpkin puree which worked great! Sort of. I imagined baking/grilling the pumpkins then a quick hop into the food processor and we would be set. Not so. Our food processor quickly turned it to mush but nothing circulated so it was still quite chunky and sticky, so we ended up mushing the pumpkins by hand.
Next up we steeped the puree and had a much better result than last year.
Ryan gratefully lent his wort chiller for the project and boy that works so much better than my lame method. Although it was a bit creative in construction the fact that it worked was great was all that mattered.
Sadly with this batch I learned the hard way that one needs to be quick with their wort after it has been chilled in two ways. Number one get the yest into the primary quick. Letting it hang out in open air after its been chilled is bad news. Number two, try and control the temperature in the house a bit better to get the beer ferment quicker. Since we made this in the fall we didn't really have the heat on and the house was never that warm. Also a yest starter may have helped. These things led to a very sad morning about 4 days after the initial boil.
Those spots aren't bubbles, its mold.
Thankfully the other batch began to bubble the day the first batch molded and we were able bottle without incident. It's not quite as good as last year and at this point I'm not sure how I will be to improve it, but I have a few ideas. Also for some reason this beer in incredibly foamy, pouring it without a 5 inch head is next time impossible to accomplish. It makes me think it may not have fermented long enough so I'll have to look that one up sometime.
In the meantime, here is a shot of 2010's Pumpkin Beer:
We ran into several great opportunities to learn from because of our modifications. Last year we decided we wanted an even stronger pumpkin flavor and to go a little easier on the spices. It was a good balance before, but we decided there was room for improvement. This year to create a stronger pumpkin flavor we opted for a pumpkin puree which worked great! Sort of. I imagined baking/grilling the pumpkins then a quick hop into the food processor and we would be set. Not so. Our food processor quickly turned it to mush but nothing circulated so it was still quite chunky and sticky, so we ended up mushing the pumpkins by hand.
Next up we steeped the puree and had a much better result than last year.
Ryan gratefully lent his wort chiller for the project and boy that works so much better than my lame method. Although it was a bit creative in construction the fact that it worked was great was all that mattered.
Sadly with this batch I learned the hard way that one needs to be quick with their wort after it has been chilled in two ways. Number one get the yest into the primary quick. Letting it hang out in open air after its been chilled is bad news. Number two, try and control the temperature in the house a bit better to get the beer ferment quicker. Since we made this in the fall we didn't really have the heat on and the house was never that warm. Also a yest starter may have helped. These things led to a very sad morning about 4 days after the initial boil.
Those spots aren't bubbles, its mold.
Thankfully the other batch began to bubble the day the first batch molded and we were able bottle without incident. It's not quite as good as last year and at this point I'm not sure how I will be to improve it, but I have a few ideas. Also for some reason this beer in incredibly foamy, pouring it without a 5 inch head is next time impossible to accomplish. It makes me think it may not have fermented long enough so I'll have to look that one up sometime.
In the meantime, here is a shot of 2010's Pumpkin Beer:
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Hows my little reader in 2010?
I've decided I am going to update one post all year round with books that I have conquered rather than nestling small reviews in random posts throughout the year, this will be nice for me to look back to and for you to say, gosh what was that one book he read that sounded cool. I promise to keep the reviews brief and succinct so that by the end of the year it doesn't become unbearable.
Even though I started it it '09 I'm going to Mention:
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Road by Cormick McCarthy
This book was a stellar quick read about a father and son traveling across a post-apocalyptic America. Extremely touching, especially if you have a loved one you can relate it to. It made me want to brush up on my survival skills and invest in canned food as well.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
After reading War and Peace I was thought I needed something lighthearted and fun to read, so I picked up Catch-22 seeing the back cover reviews claiming hilarity and so on. Turns out it was another book about war, but this was a bizarre book full of weird characters and silly dialogue during a war. Remarkably it was still able to make some good anti-war statements while remaining, quite silly. I would recommend this for someone looking for a weird but good book.
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" & "Through The Looking Glass"
I've read Alice in Wonderland before but in honor of the recent movie (which totally kicks ass) I decided to re-read it and actually get through, Through the Looking Glass. The stories are fantastical, weird, silly and bizarre, pretty much right up my alley. If you can believe it, the Disney animated version stayed extremely true to the original story, where Tim Burton's should have been called Alice's Return to Wonderland.
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Robert Langdon's third adventure through the world of symbology. This one takes place in like 12 hours and is located in Washington DC. As usual with a Dan Brown book ending a chapter leaves you yearning to read the next. If you were a fan of the first two in the series I would recommend this one as well. There was a big shocker at the ending, but the next 20 or so pages were a bit preachy, almost like he had a message to pass along to the rest of the world. After such a fast paced book the finale was a bit too calm. But still, an excellent story.
The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
Where to start with this story... its heartfelt, genuine, and insanely funny. This is about a boy who gets his head run over by a mailman and little Edgar's highs and lows of his life following this accident. I'm having a hard time describing it beyond that. The story is fun and interesting to read. I would recommend it to anyone who has emotions.
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Anyone who is a remote fan of reading, and the Wizard of Oz movie should give Wicked a try. It is a delightful spin from the movie told from an unlikely set of eyes, the Wicked Witch of the West Elphaba. The story zipped right along through her early life all the way up to her demise at the hands of Dorothy. The author definitely tries to sneak in a few moral lessons and opinions of the ways of the world, which got dry and long at times, but when he was actually telling the story it was fantastic. If you've seen the play you'll notice very quickly that it was only inspired by this book.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
It seems lately I've been finding books that have been written in non-traditional styles. The book thief is written in a way where Zusak throws you off every few pages with a phrase you can feel in your teeth, every now and then I would stop reading and think wow, that is a perfect and unexpected way to describe that. The story is about a young girl in Nazi Germany who is taken in by foster parents. And, She steals books. It is narrated by Death, who is remarkably fitting for a story in those times. From the beginning to the end I was engaged and constantly thinking about the difficulties of the times. I really loved this story, from the thoughtful way it was written to the interesting child perspective of the war. The Book Thief is not a depressing book but it has its moments, Death as you might imagine is a downer but really he is just like anyone else and is worked too hard, but still has time to appreciate the finer parts of human life. I don't say this too often, this is one of my favorite books I've ever read. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed.
The Archbishop in Andalusia by Andrew Greeley
This book was handed to me by my Dad with the intention to learning a bit more about Spain. In that sense it was great, there were lots of cultural and historical notes all throughout this book that made it fascinating and wonderful to apply to my honeymoon there. The book itself taking that out of account was meh, it seemed like Greeley tries to make the reader feel like a moron by touting his firm grasp of the English language. It is a mystery but at no point did I wonder or care about how it was to be resolved.
Brain Droppings by George Carlin
Brain Droppings is hilarious. There are so many laugh out loud funny moments it can get a bit awkward to read because I felt like giggling or laughing so often. But this is not a good book to read from cover to cover. Its full of one liners brief thoughts and ramblings from George Carlin's brain. There are giant curse words and many opinions expressed that one could get embarrassed to have visible in public. Its so funny though and if someone were to be offended I'm sure ol George would be cursing them out in his grave. I would highly recommend this book as a bathroom reader or one for the nightstand, anywhere you don't have a lot of time to read but feel like doing something.
Under the Dome by Stephen King
It's been awhile since I've read a King book, when I saw this one on the shelf at Target and read the back it intrigued me quickly. The book has a giant cast, with all sorts of different characters trapped under the...you guessed it, dome. Since its a King book it takes place in a small town in Maine where one day a dome suddenly appears around a small town cutting them off from civilization almost entirely. A politician with a dirty side an Iraq vet and many more typical townsfolk try to wrestle back a normal life. People are killed, tormented, and lives are ruined because of their new predicament. The book was amazingly engaging, little mysteries popped up every few pages and were solved slowly as the book went on, and that was exciting because I didn't find myself wondering how it was going to end but what was going to come next. This was an excellent fast paced book that I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a big good book.
The Broker by John Grisham
I've always thought of Grisham to be a boring author writing all sorts of books on Law and courtroom drama, none of which interest me, so when Laura picked this one out for our drive to Georgia I was admittedly not enthusiastic. This book proved me wrong though. Its an exciting adventure about a powerful lobbyist who gets involved with the wrong people and suddenly is an assassination target. He is shipped to Italy to hide undercover and has many different adventures. The book made me want to travel to Italy, or become a spy. It was definitely interesting and was surprised at a lack of Dull spots. I would recommend this book, its interesting, fast paced, and full of turns that you expect and don't.
Even though I started it it '09 I'm going to Mention:
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Road by Cormick McCarthy
This book was a stellar quick read about a father and son traveling across a post-apocalyptic America. Extremely touching, especially if you have a loved one you can relate it to. It made me want to brush up on my survival skills and invest in canned food as well.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
After reading War and Peace I was thought I needed something lighthearted and fun to read, so I picked up Catch-22 seeing the back cover reviews claiming hilarity and so on. Turns out it was another book about war, but this was a bizarre book full of weird characters and silly dialogue during a war. Remarkably it was still able to make some good anti-war statements while remaining, quite silly. I would recommend this for someone looking for a weird but good book.
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" & "Through The Looking Glass"
I've read Alice in Wonderland before but in honor of the recent movie (which totally kicks ass) I decided to re-read it and actually get through, Through the Looking Glass. The stories are fantastical, weird, silly and bizarre, pretty much right up my alley. If you can believe it, the Disney animated version stayed extremely true to the original story, where Tim Burton's should have been called Alice's Return to Wonderland.
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Robert Langdon's third adventure through the world of symbology. This one takes place in like 12 hours and is located in Washington DC. As usual with a Dan Brown book ending a chapter leaves you yearning to read the next. If you were a fan of the first two in the series I would recommend this one as well. There was a big shocker at the ending, but the next 20 or so pages were a bit preachy, almost like he had a message to pass along to the rest of the world. After such a fast paced book the finale was a bit too calm. But still, an excellent story.
The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
Where to start with this story... its heartfelt, genuine, and insanely funny. This is about a boy who gets his head run over by a mailman and little Edgar's highs and lows of his life following this accident. I'm having a hard time describing it beyond that. The story is fun and interesting to read. I would recommend it to anyone who has emotions.
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Anyone who is a remote fan of reading, and the Wizard of Oz movie should give Wicked a try. It is a delightful spin from the movie told from an unlikely set of eyes, the Wicked Witch of the West Elphaba. The story zipped right along through her early life all the way up to her demise at the hands of Dorothy. The author definitely tries to sneak in a few moral lessons and opinions of the ways of the world, which got dry and long at times, but when he was actually telling the story it was fantastic. If you've seen the play you'll notice very quickly that it was only inspired by this book.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
It seems lately I've been finding books that have been written in non-traditional styles. The book thief is written in a way where Zusak throws you off every few pages with a phrase you can feel in your teeth, every now and then I would stop reading and think wow, that is a perfect and unexpected way to describe that. The story is about a young girl in Nazi Germany who is taken in by foster parents. And, She steals books. It is narrated by Death, who is remarkably fitting for a story in those times. From the beginning to the end I was engaged and constantly thinking about the difficulties of the times. I really loved this story, from the thoughtful way it was written to the interesting child perspective of the war. The Book Thief is not a depressing book but it has its moments, Death as you might imagine is a downer but really he is just like anyone else and is worked too hard, but still has time to appreciate the finer parts of human life. I don't say this too often, this is one of my favorite books I've ever read. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed.
The Archbishop in Andalusia by Andrew Greeley
This book was handed to me by my Dad with the intention to learning a bit more about Spain. In that sense it was great, there were lots of cultural and historical notes all throughout this book that made it fascinating and wonderful to apply to my honeymoon there. The book itself taking that out of account was meh, it seemed like Greeley tries to make the reader feel like a moron by touting his firm grasp of the English language. It is a mystery but at no point did I wonder or care about how it was to be resolved.
Brain Droppings by George Carlin
Brain Droppings is hilarious. There are so many laugh out loud funny moments it can get a bit awkward to read because I felt like giggling or laughing so often. But this is not a good book to read from cover to cover. Its full of one liners brief thoughts and ramblings from George Carlin's brain. There are giant curse words and many opinions expressed that one could get embarrassed to have visible in public. Its so funny though and if someone were to be offended I'm sure ol George would be cursing them out in his grave. I would highly recommend this book as a bathroom reader or one for the nightstand, anywhere you don't have a lot of time to read but feel like doing something.
Under the Dome by Stephen King
It's been awhile since I've read a King book, when I saw this one on the shelf at Target and read the back it intrigued me quickly. The book has a giant cast, with all sorts of different characters trapped under the...you guessed it, dome. Since its a King book it takes place in a small town in Maine where one day a dome suddenly appears around a small town cutting them off from civilization almost entirely. A politician with a dirty side an Iraq vet and many more typical townsfolk try to wrestle back a normal life. People are killed, tormented, and lives are ruined because of their new predicament. The book was amazingly engaging, little mysteries popped up every few pages and were solved slowly as the book went on, and that was exciting because I didn't find myself wondering how it was going to end but what was going to come next. This was an excellent fast paced book that I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a big good book.
The Broker by John Grisham
I've always thought of Grisham to be a boring author writing all sorts of books on Law and courtroom drama, none of which interest me, so when Laura picked this one out for our drive to Georgia I was admittedly not enthusiastic. This book proved me wrong though. Its an exciting adventure about a powerful lobbyist who gets involved with the wrong people and suddenly is an assassination target. He is shipped to Italy to hide undercover and has many different adventures. The book made me want to travel to Italy, or become a spy. It was definitely interesting and was surprised at a lack of Dull spots. I would recommend this book, its interesting, fast paced, and full of turns that you expect and don't.
Monday, December 06, 2010
Hows my little Runner?
Tonight I ran outside for 2.79 miles in below freezing conditions. This is crazy for many reasons.
Reason number one. I have signed up to run a marathon.
I've paid my moneys and I can't get a refund, I'm hooked. The marathon I will be running in is Grandma's Marathon up der in Duluth Minnesota. Awhile back I was chatting with my pal Aaron over dollar beers and we somehow came to the conclusion that we should run this marathon. His moving to Duluth made it our destiny. I'm still not sure how I'm going to do this since I've never ran anything farther than 6 miles at one time ever.
Another reason this is a silly Idea? The marathon is in the middle of June, meaning most of my training is going to be done in the winter. This leads me to my first statement, tonight I ran outside and the temperature was 15 degrees.
This summer I did some jogging to keep myself trim for the honeymoon/wedding and got pretty decent at surviving the heat. Although I never liked it I could handle it. Coming back from a run and sitting down and creating my own puddle of sweat is not something I enjoy. So now that it's winter I'm far from prepared to running in this kind of weather.
My first dilemma was what to wear, In the summer I wear shorts socks and shoes. Tonight I wore tights on bottom and top, another shirt, gloves, and an old jacket.My biggest hangup with cold weather training is what to wear on my legs. I recently acquired some sexy running tights and my dilemma was, tights and shorts or just tights. So of course I did some research on the interwebs and found some mixed reviews on how to wear said running tights. The comments I read seemed to be mixed, folks would proudly boast I run in tights only! or I wear shorts as well because I don't want people looking at my goods. After reading several people's logic I decided tights only since my running shorts on top wouldn't be worth a damn for heat retention.
This was surprisingly awesome. First, I felt super sexy, next, in fifteen degree weather I managed to stay warm. Aside from my first 10 steps, my legs were comfy. This was until I ran into the wind. This sucked, aside from my cold face, I had another sensitive portion of my body do it's best at screaming and hiding. Sadly it failed and just hurt so bad I had to turn around head back into town where I could use houses and trees as wind-blocks. I love the cold, but apparently not all of me does.
And the best part about my run? Within the first five minutes of my run a car pulled up next to me and asked if I needed a ride. I wish I was more on the spot but I just yelled, No thanks! I'm just out for a run! I bet she pulled away thinking I am the craziest person in the county.
I learned a couple of important things about running in the cold tonight.
Number one:
Find out a way to keep all of my bits warm.
Number two:
Get a jacket that will be visible at night.
Number three:
Wear a headlamp, running in the dark is ok, running on ice in the dark is not.
In other related running news, Laura and I have signed up to run a Warrior Dash in Georgia. It will be a Jacobson vs. Davis Challenge. Neither team cares who wins but we are all excited to dress in absurd outfits and run/jump/crawl our way to the finish. I'm excited to drink a beer or two and watch other absurd looking southerners cross the finish. If you haven't heard of the Warrior Dash, check it out.
I'm also running in the Champaign Marathon, I'm doing the iChallenge which is a 5k on Friday and a half marathon on Saturday. I'm running the half marathon as an excuse to make sure I'm training properly for a full Marathon. Good times!
Reason number one. I have signed up to run a marathon.
I've paid my moneys and I can't get a refund, I'm hooked. The marathon I will be running in is Grandma's Marathon up der in Duluth Minnesota. Awhile back I was chatting with my pal Aaron over dollar beers and we somehow came to the conclusion that we should run this marathon. His moving to Duluth made it our destiny. I'm still not sure how I'm going to do this since I've never ran anything farther than 6 miles at one time ever.
Another reason this is a silly Idea? The marathon is in the middle of June, meaning most of my training is going to be done in the winter. This leads me to my first statement, tonight I ran outside and the temperature was 15 degrees.
This summer I did some jogging to keep myself trim for the honeymoon/wedding and got pretty decent at surviving the heat. Although I never liked it I could handle it. Coming back from a run and sitting down and creating my own puddle of sweat is not something I enjoy. So now that it's winter I'm far from prepared to running in this kind of weather.
My first dilemma was what to wear, In the summer I wear shorts socks and shoes. Tonight I wore tights on bottom and top, another shirt, gloves, and an old jacket.My biggest hangup with cold weather training is what to wear on my legs. I recently acquired some sexy running tights and my dilemma was, tights and shorts or just tights. So of course I did some research on the interwebs and found some mixed reviews on how to wear said running tights. The comments I read seemed to be mixed, folks would proudly boast I run in tights only! or I wear shorts as well because I don't want people looking at my goods. After reading several people's logic I decided tights only since my running shorts on top wouldn't be worth a damn for heat retention.
This was surprisingly awesome. First, I felt super sexy, next, in fifteen degree weather I managed to stay warm. Aside from my first 10 steps, my legs were comfy. This was until I ran into the wind. This sucked, aside from my cold face, I had another sensitive portion of my body do it's best at screaming and hiding. Sadly it failed and just hurt so bad I had to turn around head back into town where I could use houses and trees as wind-blocks. I love the cold, but apparently not all of me does.
And the best part about my run? Within the first five minutes of my run a car pulled up next to me and asked if I needed a ride. I wish I was more on the spot but I just yelled, No thanks! I'm just out for a run! I bet she pulled away thinking I am the craziest person in the county.
I learned a couple of important things about running in the cold tonight.
Number one:
Find out a way to keep all of my bits warm.
Number two:
Get a jacket that will be visible at night.
Number three:
Wear a headlamp, running in the dark is ok, running on ice in the dark is not.
In other related running news, Laura and I have signed up to run a Warrior Dash in Georgia. It will be a Jacobson vs. Davis Challenge. Neither team cares who wins but we are all excited to dress in absurd outfits and run/jump/crawl our way to the finish. I'm excited to drink a beer or two and watch other absurd looking southerners cross the finish. If you haven't heard of the Warrior Dash, check it out.
I'm also running in the Champaign Marathon, I'm doing the iChallenge which is a 5k on Friday and a half marathon on Saturday. I'm running the half marathon as an excuse to make sure I'm training properly for a full Marathon. Good times!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Hows my little bagger?
Paper or Plastic?
Since moving south I think I can safely say I've only heard this phrase only a small handful of times. Which is amazing since I frequent places that give me this option. As someone who likes to think of himself as an environmentally conscious individual I I like to think I give the best answer. As usual though, this isn't such simple answer to come to.
A little research on the interwebs will tell you, quickly neither is the correct answer. One should choose a reusable canvas bag, screw both paper and plastic. Sadly as most of you know I forget things all the time, including my canvas bags. So what to choose? Let me guide you quickly:
If you have two items or less, proudly tell your clerk, I don't need a bag for those, Look! I've got two able hands and only two things here. Save a bag and please hand my things to me. This goes especially for Best Buy because if you buy just one DVD or CD they throw them into a little bag and won't think twice! You have to catch them early though, I've caught more than a few clerks throwing the (not quite used) bag into their trash can after I said I don't need a bag for this, thus defeating my bag saving effort. This is frustrating.
Sadly at most retail stores you can only have plastic and that is a crying shame because who doesn't like options.
For the pure environmentalist, you should go out and educate yourself on your bag choices from the grocery store. Broken down simply, Paper is the natural one to assume is better choice but it requires trees to be turned to pulp, washing, bleaching, heating, and printing. While a tree is a renewable resource and the bag can be infinitely recycled it is a very energy intensive process to create(or recreate) one. A plastic bag is actually slightly less energy intensive to create, but it comes from a non-renewable resource and takes ages to biodegrade, and can only be recycled once or twice. (don't forget, reusing it is a good thing, but quite different than recycling).
So this naturally leaves the canvas bag, it can be used probably for 200+ shopping visits, they aren't that expensive and you can feel really good about saving some landfill space. Not to mention, many stores are beginning to offer an albeit small discount for using said reusable bag. I believe Target gives you 3 cents off your entire purchase.
My observations while actually using the canvas bag are amazingly striking. Generally when I go to the grocery store or Wal-Mart, I notice clerks stuffing 1-3 items in most plastic bags. AMAZING! counting out cereal boxes, I think the average plastic bag could hold at LEAST 5-7 items. A Paper bag is generally more thoughtfully packed, and when loaded to the max with I would guess up to 12 items. A canvass bag though, present one of those to a clerk and they look at them like puzzles waiting to be solved. I would say every clerk honestly tries to efficiently pack a canvas bag significantly better than I have ever seen with paper and easily for plastic.
So remember kids: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. If you keep those three 'R's in mind the next time you are leaving your local supermarket you can easily help our environment.
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Hows my little Titan?
Last weekend Laura and I ventured south for a change to visit my sister and brother-in-law (AKA Sister's husband) in the great land of Tennessee. Like the last time I approached the Mason Dixon line I realized, gosh the area around here is so pretty! Aside from the massive culture shock I would love living in this part of the country in the just about every time of year, except spring, summer, and fall, because I'm sure those months are way better just about anywhere else north of there.
Amanda and Andy were gracious hosts, we ate their food dirtied their sheets and I didn't find myself anywhere but my bed in the middle of the nights, so that was good.
Saturday we Adventured out into Tennesse where we Checked out a cotton field (which was legitimately interesting, and fun). Then we headed farther South to visit the Jack Daniel distillery, where they brew all four of Jack Daniel's Whiskey. Boy was that fun. Now that we are becoming pros at visiting places that make alcohol we can appreciate a good tour when we get one and Jack pulled through. (We only have one more wise man left!)
Fun fact that you may or may not know, the distillery is located in a dry county (only in the south right? haha) where during the prohibition era a law was enacted that made it basically impossible to repeal the alcohol prohibition from the county. The best part of any tour is trying a brewer's wares, at Jack Daniel you get a nice glass of their fine Lemonade. Although in fairness you can purchase a souvenir bottle of Jack Daniel's, which happens to have the whiskey inside.
After Jack we headed to a wonderful place to eat called Cahoots. It's an old jail and we got to eat in one of the old graffiti (not the good kind) cells. We had some fried pickles which were AMAZING! I drank a Yuengling, not sure how to say it still but this beer apparently hails from America's oldest brewery. It seems to me that it is a tragedy that they are still producing the same kind of gross recipe to this day.
After that we nailed 5 Geocaches in Lynchburg (none at the distillery surprisingly) and headed back to the Harvey residence to get ready for our Halloween shenanigans.
Halloween was a grand time. We went to a party, rocked out as Mickey and Minnie Mouse and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. I managed to drop my mouse ears in a toilet, which was a little gross, but it was ok, I didn't pee yet. We saw lots of really great costumes including a sheriff, cavewoman, the new mad hatter, some queen woman, scary dead people, the progressive girl, a troll doll, a scary old lady and a few superhero looking people I couldn't place.
My Mickey Mouse costume was sexy to say the least. I wore all spandexy things and some itty bitty red shorts over it all, with a tail and ears. The shorts and tail was my Dad's from I'm pretty sure before I was born, when shorts that short may have been fashionable. Laura ever heard one girl exclaim I was wearing a speedo. which was not true although that might have been even better. My outfit was obnoxiously out of my comfort zone, but I still had a grand time. My Minnie mouse was cute as a button.
Laura lost her dots EVERYWHERE. We found them all over during the next few days. It really was amazing that we found dots in the weirdest places.
Amanda and Andy were gracious hosts, we ate their food dirtied their sheets and I didn't find myself anywhere but my bed in the middle of the nights, so that was good.
Saturday we Adventured out into Tennesse where we Checked out a cotton field (which was legitimately interesting, and fun). Then we headed farther South to visit the Jack Daniel distillery, where they brew all four of Jack Daniel's Whiskey. Boy was that fun. Now that we are becoming pros at visiting places that make alcohol we can appreciate a good tour when we get one and Jack pulled through. (We only have one more wise man left!)
Fun fact that you may or may not know, the distillery is located in a dry county (only in the south right? haha) where during the prohibition era a law was enacted that made it basically impossible to repeal the alcohol prohibition from the county. The best part of any tour is trying a brewer's wares, at Jack Daniel you get a nice glass of their fine Lemonade. Although in fairness you can purchase a souvenir bottle of Jack Daniel's, which happens to have the whiskey inside.
After Jack we headed to a wonderful place to eat called Cahoots. It's an old jail and we got to eat in one of the old graffiti (not the good kind) cells. We had some fried pickles which were AMAZING! I drank a Yuengling, not sure how to say it still but this beer apparently hails from America's oldest brewery. It seems to me that it is a tragedy that they are still producing the same kind of gross recipe to this day.
After that we nailed 5 Geocaches in Lynchburg (none at the distillery surprisingly) and headed back to the Harvey residence to get ready for our Halloween shenanigans.
Halloween was a grand time. We went to a party, rocked out as Mickey and Minnie Mouse and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. I managed to drop my mouse ears in a toilet, which was a little gross, but it was ok, I didn't pee yet. We saw lots of really great costumes including a sheriff, cavewoman, the new mad hatter, some queen woman, scary dead people, the progressive girl, a troll doll, a scary old lady and a few superhero looking people I couldn't place.
My Mickey Mouse costume was sexy to say the least. I wore all spandexy things and some itty bitty red shorts over it all, with a tail and ears. The shorts and tail was my Dad's from I'm pretty sure before I was born, when shorts that short may have been fashionable. Laura ever heard one girl exclaim I was wearing a speedo. which was not true although that might have been even better. My outfit was obnoxiously out of my comfort zone, but I still had a grand time. My Minnie mouse was cute as a button.
Laura lost her dots EVERYWHERE. We found them all over during the next few days. It really was amazing that we found dots in the weirdest places.
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Hows my little 30's Husband?
Now that I'm a husband I can take worthless online quizzes that tell me the quality of my husband-ness.
Here is a good one:
I scored pretty well, eh?
Here is a good one:
 | 8 As a 1930s husband, I am |
I scored pretty well, eh?
Saturday, October 02, 2010
Hows my little married man?
On August 28, 2010 my life was changed permanently. I am now a husband, A HUSBAND! That is so old sounding, to me only people who are over 40 are husbands. Worse yet, wife is so old fashioned sounding I think Laura aged 40 years in one beautiful day as well. Nevertheless here I sit, a married old man with some nice hats.
This blog post is incredibly late but how can I pass up writing about such a great day in my life? I can't.
Since many of my faithful readers were present at the big day I'll go easy on those details. The day was just amazing in so many ways, the first and foremost was how incredible it felt to be surrounded by all of my favorite people in my life. From my best friends growing up to distant family members and everyone I've met in between.
The ceremony was gorgeous, since the day we reserved Lief Erickson Park I said, its going to be sunny, warm, and windy. We got all of those things, and it was great. I would have roasted in my suit without that wind.
Our main man Aaron got himself ordained just for us and he exceeded everyone's expectations in every way. For that I've carved an even bigger niche in my heart for the little fella.
When Laura and I initially began our planning I asked her if we could write our own vows. Reluctantly she agreed. When the time finally came for me to finally get cracking I realized how awesome of an idea this really was. Mostly because I sat down for several lunch hours and thought about all of these different reasons I love Laura as much as I do. It got pretty sappy at times but it was great. Then I got to think of our future together and jam all of those thoughts and feelings into our agreed timeline of approximately one minute.
When the time finally came to recite them, I was hoping to have mine memorized but as I was standing around with Aaron I realized there was absolutely no chance I was going to be able to do this from memory. From the moment I stood on top of those stairs to wait for my bride I realized I was going to cry and there was nothing I could do about it. With a chomp on my bottom lip I was able to keep it from quivering while waiting for the big moment. When my turn to read came around, the waterworks began and continued through my whole blubbering vow. Who can blame me, I was extremely happy to be in that spot marrying the former Miss Davis.
While getting ready Rich told me, "stuff some Kleenex in your pocket, you're going to need it". That was some of the very good advice from the day, because boy did I need it.
Last minute Laura and I decided we ought to book a Limo to get around with our wedding party for pictures and whatnot. The thing we ended up in was pretty shabby. I was talking on the phone to this guy and he was talking up all of these lights, TV and premium sound system. What we got was a decked out short bus. I'm happy it was cheap.
After a long (interesting) time of taking pictures with the folks all around town we made our way to the Greysolon Ballroom for our reception. I can now appreciate how a bride and groom can get annoyed with the clicking glasses but at the same time, it was fun kissing Laura a bunch.
After our grand entrance which according to the ushers went about as smooth as your average Duluth Road. Laura and I cut the cake which I had no idea what we were doing there. After that we sat down for some grub. For whatever reason I had no appetite, which sucked because the meal was delicious, and the cake was phenomenal on top of that.
Toasts went remarkably smoothly I was expecting some embarrassment but got none really so that was a welcome surprise. Justin surpassed Laura's expectations, and I have a feeling a few other people's as well. Not mine though, hes good shit.
Before the wedding I made a little medley for Laura and I to dance to, since we couldn't decide on just one song. I kicked it off with Tenacious D's most famous song as a brief intro into a song that Laura and I peacefully woke up to one summer morning in Duluth. Its called, Somewhere Over The Rainbow (Wonderful World) by IZ, That somehow mushed into Hard to Concentrate by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, A song that after I realized how hard I'd fallen for Laura it constantly reminded me of her. Knowing my luck its about killing your wife or something. We ended on a more uptempo song where we had this little choreographed bit with a dip and kiss, The song was You and Me by Dave Matthews. We should have practiced a bit more because I think we were off on our dip, but oh well, it was still fun to try.
I would like to point out to everyone that I removed Laura's garter with nothing but my teeth. This is something I'm proud of.
Garters are impossible to fling like a rubber band, fellas who toss garters in the future, wind up and chuck it. I don't think someone has cleared the group of fellas in the history of mankind. BJ I saw your hand touch it so you're up next buddy.
Also, I think if Justin had a nice pair of boobs I could have topped Laura in the Dollar Dance, but he didn't so she kicked my tail.
Then the dancing begun, I especially had a great time watching my niece and nephews roll around on the ground and trying out all sorts of new dance moves together. Colin and Emily were the rock stars of the little people crew and danced like pros late into the night with anyone who would move with them. It was tons of fun watching my friends and family interact with them on the dance floor.
After that everything began to blur, I danced, sang, jumped, and laughed with everyone I ran into. I really thought Laura and I would be glued together and walking all over and making nice 2 minute conversations with everyone but that wasn't the case at all. I think I saw her like 5 times, talked with all sorts of people but not everyone, which I regret, but there is only so much time!
I was sort of hoping Laura and I would scamper off early to our sweet suite but we stayed until the lights raised and then took off. We said our goodbyes and got some excellent advice along the way. By the end of the night we were both pretty damn pooped. Nothing could wipe the smiles off our faces, and nothing did.
Laura and I realized we have an extremely generous circle of people we associate with and really appreciate everything our wonderful friends and family have done for us, and gave us in honor of our marriage. As corny as it sounds, just having all of those people there meant so much to me. Just to give myself and everyone else an idea of how much love we were given, we had travelers from: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Massachusetts, Virginia, New York, Georgia, Florida, Colorado, Arizona, and Washington. No wonder I cried so much.
Again I want to thank my best friends, great family, and especially my parents and Laura's for giving us the opportunity to make our wedding day the beautiful, perfect Duluth day it was.
This blog post is incredibly late but how can I pass up writing about such a great day in my life? I can't.
Since many of my faithful readers were present at the big day I'll go easy on those details. The day was just amazing in so many ways, the first and foremost was how incredible it felt to be surrounded by all of my favorite people in my life. From my best friends growing up to distant family members and everyone I've met in between.
The ceremony was gorgeous, since the day we reserved Lief Erickson Park I said, its going to be sunny, warm, and windy. We got all of those things, and it was great. I would have roasted in my suit without that wind.
Our main man Aaron got himself ordained just for us and he exceeded everyone's expectations in every way. For that I've carved an even bigger niche in my heart for the little fella.
When Laura and I initially began our planning I asked her if we could write our own vows. Reluctantly she agreed. When the time finally came for me to finally get cracking I realized how awesome of an idea this really was. Mostly because I sat down for several lunch hours and thought about all of these different reasons I love Laura as much as I do. It got pretty sappy at times but it was great. Then I got to think of our future together and jam all of those thoughts and feelings into our agreed timeline of approximately one minute.
When the time finally came to recite them, I was hoping to have mine memorized but as I was standing around with Aaron I realized there was absolutely no chance I was going to be able to do this from memory. From the moment I stood on top of those stairs to wait for my bride I realized I was going to cry and there was nothing I could do about it. With a chomp on my bottom lip I was able to keep it from quivering while waiting for the big moment. When my turn to read came around, the waterworks began and continued through my whole blubbering vow. Who can blame me, I was extremely happy to be in that spot marrying the former Miss Davis.
While getting ready Rich told me, "stuff some Kleenex in your pocket, you're going to need it". That was some of the very good advice from the day, because boy did I need it.
Last minute Laura and I decided we ought to book a Limo to get around with our wedding party for pictures and whatnot. The thing we ended up in was pretty shabby. I was talking on the phone to this guy and he was talking up all of these lights, TV and premium sound system. What we got was a decked out short bus. I'm happy it was cheap.
After a long (interesting) time of taking pictures with the folks all around town we made our way to the Greysolon Ballroom for our reception. I can now appreciate how a bride and groom can get annoyed with the clicking glasses but at the same time, it was fun kissing Laura a bunch.
After our grand entrance which according to the ushers went about as smooth as your average Duluth Road. Laura and I cut the cake which I had no idea what we were doing there. After that we sat down for some grub. For whatever reason I had no appetite, which sucked because the meal was delicious, and the cake was phenomenal on top of that.
Toasts went remarkably smoothly I was expecting some embarrassment but got none really so that was a welcome surprise. Justin surpassed Laura's expectations, and I have a feeling a few other people's as well. Not mine though, hes good shit.
Before the wedding I made a little medley for Laura and I to dance to, since we couldn't decide on just one song. I kicked it off with Tenacious D's most famous song as a brief intro into a song that Laura and I peacefully woke up to one summer morning in Duluth. Its called, Somewhere Over The Rainbow (Wonderful World) by IZ, That somehow mushed into Hard to Concentrate by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, A song that after I realized how hard I'd fallen for Laura it constantly reminded me of her. Knowing my luck its about killing your wife or something. We ended on a more uptempo song where we had this little choreographed bit with a dip and kiss, The song was You and Me by Dave Matthews. We should have practiced a bit more because I think we were off on our dip, but oh well, it was still fun to try.
I would like to point out to everyone that I removed Laura's garter with nothing but my teeth. This is something I'm proud of.
Garters are impossible to fling like a rubber band, fellas who toss garters in the future, wind up and chuck it. I don't think someone has cleared the group of fellas in the history of mankind. BJ I saw your hand touch it so you're up next buddy.
Also, I think if Justin had a nice pair of boobs I could have topped Laura in the Dollar Dance, but he didn't so she kicked my tail.
Then the dancing begun, I especially had a great time watching my niece and nephews roll around on the ground and trying out all sorts of new dance moves together. Colin and Emily were the rock stars of the little people crew and danced like pros late into the night with anyone who would move with them. It was tons of fun watching my friends and family interact with them on the dance floor.
After that everything began to blur, I danced, sang, jumped, and laughed with everyone I ran into. I really thought Laura and I would be glued together and walking all over and making nice 2 minute conversations with everyone but that wasn't the case at all. I think I saw her like 5 times, talked with all sorts of people but not everyone, which I regret, but there is only so much time!
I was sort of hoping Laura and I would scamper off early to our sweet suite but we stayed until the lights raised and then took off. We said our goodbyes and got some excellent advice along the way. By the end of the night we were both pretty damn pooped. Nothing could wipe the smiles off our faces, and nothing did.
Laura and I realized we have an extremely generous circle of people we associate with and really appreciate everything our wonderful friends and family have done for us, and gave us in honor of our marriage. As corny as it sounds, just having all of those people there meant so much to me. Just to give myself and everyone else an idea of how much love we were given, we had travelers from: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Massachusetts, Virginia, New York, Georgia, Florida, Colorado, Arizona, and Washington. No wonder I cried so much.
Again I want to thank my best friends, great family, and especially my parents and Laura's for giving us the opportunity to make our wedding day the beautiful, perfect Duluth day it was.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Hows my little honeymooner?
Due to popular demand, I'll be honeymooning before getting married.
Spain. España. Eat. Comer. Wine. Vino.
Love.
Our honeymoon in Spain was perfect, to put it simply. I was not prepared in the least for what I saw. I'm not sure if my taste of Ireland was spent in a haze or if I just wasn't prepared to experience what Spain had to offer but when we emerged from the underground Metro onto the flourishing Gran Via in downtown Madrid I was in awe.
Buildings with untold history and architecture existing before the the birth of America rising all around us, Neon signs, Schweppes, small fast cars, people coming, going, talking, whole building wraps, soft glowing street lamps, and McDonalds, welcomed us at the top of those stairs. The 'wow' I breathed out fit snugly with the rest of our honeymoon, perfect, and constantly amazing.
When Planning our trip I had in mind an ideal wind-down adventure throughout Spain. We began as tourists and ended as honeymooners relaxed, tanned and completely full of anything the Sea, Pigs, and Spanish grapevines could offer us. In the end, that is exactly how it played out. We began in Madrid, 1 full day; then Barcelona, 4 full days; Seville (seh - vee - ya), 1 full day, Tarifa, 3 full days.
First there was Madrid:
After finding our hotel Laura and I both were completely overwhelmed, after a long uncomfortable flight from Copenhagen, a less than courteous front desk, and a complete realization that we did not study enough Spanish, we needed some dinner. If it wasn't for that walk along all of the narrow roads and through the Plaza Del Sol to find our hidden restaurant on a terrace below the street I might have lost it. Our first dinner as Honeymooners consisted of some of the most delightful olives I have ever eaten, acorn fed pork chorizo, Baby lamb leg for two, and a whiskey ice cake. A bottle of Spanish wine (only 14 euros!?!) completed our wonderful calming introduction to the city and country.
I'll try to go easy on the details but some stories aren't worth leaving out. Hopefully the pictures will be enough.
Madrid is fantastic, I love the narrow roads, all of the places to eat, the high buildings that constantly surround you and the energy of a city that is always moving. Boy do they move, I'm convinced you have to have almost no fear of death to drive in the city, the scooters, and cars completely disregarded the lines on the road, when there were any, and they had to be traveling twice the posted limit.
I started the day off with a bang and broke the LCD on my camera right away in the morning. It was replaced later that day, nearly drove me nuts/to tears. Thankfully I know a thing or two about cameras, because the clerk helping me didn't know any English so I was still able to replace it with something comparable.
The Prado was amazing and I wish we spent more time there, but at the same time, I would have needed a whole day to see all (or most) of the amazing artworks, really I only wanted to see Goya's works but Valazquez definitely surprised me and I found myself enjoying his paintings quite a bit.
The Royal Palace was magnificent as only a palace could be. With its 2,800 rooms and ornate sculpture decorations and the throne room!! Wow.
We putzed around several more places before we knocked the McDonalds meal off of our to do list right away. I enjoyed the beer I had with my McPollo (McChicken) quite a bit.
Barcelona is a completely different city than Madrid, (duh) The roads are wider the sidewalks accommodate more people, randomly all over the city you catch truly awful scents of old musty urine and there are so many more exciting things to do in the city.
Walking around on our first day we found our way to the top of Montjuïc looking over the city and our first glimpse of Sagrada FamÃlia. Down to the harbor area we saw a nude couple of men and boy one of them was immense. I still can't get over how long he was. I'm convinced he could accidentally swing it into someone trying to pass him. A beautiful dinner looking into the harbor and out to the Mediterranean was how we finished the night.
Our visit to Sagrada FamÃlia could be a post on its own, so I'll keep it brief and let the pictures do the work. This was began in 1882 by Antoni Gaudi and it is slated to be finished in about 30 years. It is still being built to the original designs.
Gaudi's Park Guell is also spectacular, if it weren't crawling with tourists and was within walking distance to me I would hang out there all the time.
Our third day in Barcelona we stopped by the beach for some sights and a swim in the sea. I had a great time floating around in the water and looking at all of the boobies. Laura and I even found the not so hidden away nude portion of the beach where we saw one guy who aside from us was overdressed by wearing just his iPod/headphones.
Hiking around Las Ramblas and the Gothic quarter was outstanding. I had fun imagining shit all over, horses, no cobblestones while trying to find my way to the blacksmith to have my sword repaired.
One of Laura's favorite parts of the trip was to La Boqueria. Apparently one of the oldest, or largest or something like that, food markets in Europe. And holy cow was it a place to behold. We had a great time looking at all of the different sorts of animals that were splayed out in various forms of death and butchered-ness. I loved all of the different fish and sea things. and the fruit stands were extremely welcoming because of all of the warm colors and delectable different fruits. I bought a bottle of juice and I used to think Naked Juice was thick and tasty but its nothing compared to the fresh pressed juice I drank while strolling around. We were pretty impressed with the number of places you can find olives, and the different things stuffed into them. If the market was open earlier on our stay in Barcelona I think we would have had a grand olive feast, instead we had a few garlic stuffed olive snacks. And the peppers! we saw the largest red peppers I've seen in my life, I could hold one with two hands easy.
Try to ignore that woman looking right into the camera, I think she is casting a spell.
One of the less exciting parts of our trip happened this evening. At our hotel we found a pamphlet for a free Ghost Tour in the Gothic quarter of Barcelona. We were thinking YES! this sounds sweet, old city, old ghosts, creepy area, what could be better? So we decided we would attend if there were other people there as well. Sure enough there were a couple of other guys and we were early so we hopped into the group. Unfortunately for us one of the guys was the guide's friend and he took off in the first minute of the tour, and we were left with a strapping young man who looked like he could have been a linebacker in college, quite athletic and muscular. So here we are walking around dark narrow roads in a foreign country on a ghost tour walking through nearly vacated streets, with two dudes and my new wife. This is pretty much what horror movies are made of.
Well the tour was kind of Lame and we were more scared of the possibility of becoming kidnapped than with any sort of haunting. Our guide didn't seem confident, nor did he seem to believe his own stories, but it was still neat to walk around that part of town. We escaped with our lives and tipped our guide 5 Euros and took off like a couple of bolts of lightening.
We needed wine afterwards, and some dinner.
The next day we headed into the Penedes Wine country and toured a couple of wineries and a Cava (sparkling wine) producer. While on our tour we got a wine and cheese pairing lesson, sampled some grapes from the vine, and snacked on some jamon and bread. I had a great time seeing how wine production is just a humongous version of what we do at home, plus harvesting.
Day seven took us to Seville, a city I fell in love with and will go back to again. To start our adventure we got conned into having our palms read by some crazy chain smoking Spanish ladies with some sort of weed sprig they were handing out. So after I had my palm read in Spanish she very rudely asked for money, When I saw Laura pulling out her wallet I grabbed her and we headed for the hills and threw away their leafy thing. It was a very odd moment since thy obviously didn't know English yet knew monetary words extremely well. Apparently they didn't get the lesson of polite word usage.
Later we toured the third largest church in the world, and it is also the largest Gothic church in the world. Holy cow it is grand. It is fantastically ornate and to know that its been essentially the same since the 1600s is just amazing. Also or main man Christopher Columbus lies in rest here which was actually really cool because his coffin thing is held by four statues of kings. There was also a crown on display that was just unbelievably lavish imbued with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other stones I don't know, all set in gold.
That night we had our most romantic evening including a walk along a river at sunset, a gourmet meal for two followed by a relaxing bath for two in the giant tub in our room. Perfect.
Day eight was probably my least favorite day, by a long shot. Today we rented a car and drove from Seville to Tarifa. If it weren't for the internet and it's vast database of things needed for navigation and crafty ways to obtain them we couldn't have made it to Tarifa. (thanks Garmin!) First I swear the Spaniards don't believe in Street Signs (if there is one there is no standard layout/height/size ect.). Second and worse, I had the opportunity to drive a Manual transmission with almost no experience.
To start the day off right Laura and I slept in and took our time getting to the rental place, only to be greeted with a 'we don't have your car. You're late.' Who knew you actually needed to show up when you said you would? Not me. After we managed to secure a car and I was pretty much shaking with nerves to the parking lot I somehow managed to pull out of our spot with absolutely no troubles, no stall, no rough start just pure smooth driving. Great!! That was until we go to the ticket arm to get out, I put in my ticket and the arm went up and I stalled the car, about 15 to 20 times in a row. I'm not exaggerating either, cars were honking, some dude even pounded on our window and fiddled with our emergency brake. Of course they were mad I was blocking the only exit. Laura was crying, our GPS was recalculating even though we hadn't gotten anywhere, and I was failing miserably.
Miraculously we escaped the lot and made it through the first light. But the next 15 or so lights we hit I stalled the car miserably each time, and many of those lights we went through several sequences of red to green. Another dude even pounded on our window at this point and in great English (after yabbering in Spanish) told us to put on our hazard lights, that seemed to help. Thankfully Laura pulled herself together and navigated us out of town like a pro. Once I managed to get the car moving, everyone was right, every gear past first is a breeze, I kicked ass on the highway. I even managed to make it through the toll with no troubles.
When we parked the car at our hotel in Tarifa I was badly stressed out and saw it as a good omen that we checked into our 8 room hotel at its bar. It was also relieving to have the biggest room in the joint and our short walk to the Atlantic Ocean calmed me the rest of the way. Needless to say I wasn't excited to drive back to Seville in a few days.
Our trip in Tarifa was an amazing experience that I want to repeat again. Our hotel was out of town so we ate at the attached restaurant that had a great variety of food and wonderful back terrace/garden that we hung out in nightly. We spent two days relaxing in the sun, and I took a day of Kite Surfing lessons which I would LOVE to take up as a hobby now. One day I built my first sand cathedral, AKA a cross with a spire and a wall around it. This was also the first time we figured out how to use the internet on our phones.
On our final day we were ready do leave, I was cached out on communicating in my poor Spanish to everyone, and we had to begin our travels westward. We found our first and only geocache of the trip near our hotel overlooking the Atlantic and Africa. Later we drove uneventfully (I figured out the car by then) to Seville and Took a train to Madrid.
The flight home was uneventful, I watched three movies and played some blackjack. It was fairly comfortable and we even got a couple of 'free' drinks! Scotch and Coke was my vice, Wine for Laura.
So altogether how was Spain?
Fantastic. We had a great time eating, looking, walking and smiling. Going into the trip I wasn't sure what to expect, now that I'm done I realize Spain is a phenominal country with tons of history wealth and art. We've learned a lot of cool things that we would do differently next time around and also a lot of great things we would repeat. For example future travelers, Pay the extra hundred or two and fly direct to Barcelona, Madrid is cool but Barcelona has way more and a beach. We would spend more time in Seville since it is such a fantastic clean city with new places to explore around every corner and tucked into every alley. The only thing we would change from Tarifa is to grab a hotel on the beach (instead of a mile walk from one), by then we will be Kiting pros and we will hang 10, (if that is even in style or proper slang). I would also like to hit up the Rioja region, Granada and the Costa Del Sol and perhaps Gibraltar. If we found ourselves there in the next 10 years, I would for sure give Ibiza a 3 day try. The country has so much history, culture and excitement to offer, it would be a shame to not return. We were after all on our honeymoon, walking in and out of museums wasn't high on the to-do list but add 30 years to our current age and we will be in our prime history appreciating age. Laura and I said we are going to go back when Sagrada FamÃlia is done and I don't think its an empty promise.
Thanks Mom and Dad for the tickets over, without your extremely generous gift these memories wouldn't have been possible, we had such a great time and I know we will never forget it.
Spain. España. Eat. Comer. Wine. Vino.
Love.
Our honeymoon in Spain was perfect, to put it simply. I was not prepared in the least for what I saw. I'm not sure if my taste of Ireland was spent in a haze or if I just wasn't prepared to experience what Spain had to offer but when we emerged from the underground Metro onto the flourishing Gran Via in downtown Madrid I was in awe.
Buildings with untold history and architecture existing before the the birth of America rising all around us, Neon signs, Schweppes, small fast cars, people coming, going, talking, whole building wraps, soft glowing street lamps, and McDonalds, welcomed us at the top of those stairs. The 'wow' I breathed out fit snugly with the rest of our honeymoon, perfect, and constantly amazing.
When Planning our trip I had in mind an ideal wind-down adventure throughout Spain. We began as tourists and ended as honeymooners relaxed, tanned and completely full of anything the Sea, Pigs, and Spanish grapevines could offer us. In the end, that is exactly how it played out. We began in Madrid, 1 full day; then Barcelona, 4 full days; Seville (seh - vee - ya), 1 full day, Tarifa, 3 full days.
First there was Madrid:
After finding our hotel Laura and I both were completely overwhelmed, after a long uncomfortable flight from Copenhagen, a less than courteous front desk, and a complete realization that we did not study enough Spanish, we needed some dinner. If it wasn't for that walk along all of the narrow roads and through the Plaza Del Sol to find our hidden restaurant on a terrace below the street I might have lost it. Our first dinner as Honeymooners consisted of some of the most delightful olives I have ever eaten, acorn fed pork chorizo, Baby lamb leg for two, and a whiskey ice cake. A bottle of Spanish wine (only 14 euros!?!) completed our wonderful calming introduction to the city and country.
I'll try to go easy on the details but some stories aren't worth leaving out. Hopefully the pictures will be enough.
Madrid is fantastic, I love the narrow roads, all of the places to eat, the high buildings that constantly surround you and the energy of a city that is always moving. Boy do they move, I'm convinced you have to have almost no fear of death to drive in the city, the scooters, and cars completely disregarded the lines on the road, when there were any, and they had to be traveling twice the posted limit.
I started the day off with a bang and broke the LCD on my camera right away in the morning. It was replaced later that day, nearly drove me nuts/to tears. Thankfully I know a thing or two about cameras, because the clerk helping me didn't know any English so I was still able to replace it with something comparable.
The Prado was amazing and I wish we spent more time there, but at the same time, I would have needed a whole day to see all (or most) of the amazing artworks, really I only wanted to see Goya's works but Valazquez definitely surprised me and I found myself enjoying his paintings quite a bit.
The Royal Palace was magnificent as only a palace could be. With its 2,800 rooms and ornate sculpture decorations and the throne room!! Wow.
We putzed around several more places before we knocked the McDonalds meal off of our to do list right away. I enjoyed the beer I had with my McPollo (McChicken) quite a bit.
Barcelona is a completely different city than Madrid, (duh) The roads are wider the sidewalks accommodate more people, randomly all over the city you catch truly awful scents of old musty urine and there are so many more exciting things to do in the city.
Walking around on our first day we found our way to the top of Montjuïc looking over the city and our first glimpse of Sagrada FamÃlia. Down to the harbor area we saw a nude couple of men and boy one of them was immense. I still can't get over how long he was. I'm convinced he could accidentally swing it into someone trying to pass him. A beautiful dinner looking into the harbor and out to the Mediterranean was how we finished the night.
Our visit to Sagrada FamÃlia could be a post on its own, so I'll keep it brief and let the pictures do the work. This was began in 1882 by Antoni Gaudi and it is slated to be finished in about 30 years. It is still being built to the original designs.
Gaudi's Park Guell is also spectacular, if it weren't crawling with tourists and was within walking distance to me I would hang out there all the time.
Our third day in Barcelona we stopped by the beach for some sights and a swim in the sea. I had a great time floating around in the water and looking at all of the boobies. Laura and I even found the not so hidden away nude portion of the beach where we saw one guy who aside from us was overdressed by wearing just his iPod/headphones.
Hiking around Las Ramblas and the Gothic quarter was outstanding. I had fun imagining shit all over, horses, no cobblestones while trying to find my way to the blacksmith to have my sword repaired.
One of Laura's favorite parts of the trip was to La Boqueria. Apparently one of the oldest, or largest or something like that, food markets in Europe. And holy cow was it a place to behold. We had a great time looking at all of the different sorts of animals that were splayed out in various forms of death and butchered-ness. I loved all of the different fish and sea things. and the fruit stands were extremely welcoming because of all of the warm colors and delectable different fruits. I bought a bottle of juice and I used to think Naked Juice was thick and tasty but its nothing compared to the fresh pressed juice I drank while strolling around. We were pretty impressed with the number of places you can find olives, and the different things stuffed into them. If the market was open earlier on our stay in Barcelona I think we would have had a grand olive feast, instead we had a few garlic stuffed olive snacks. And the peppers! we saw the largest red peppers I've seen in my life, I could hold one with two hands easy.
Try to ignore that woman looking right into the camera, I think she is casting a spell.
One of the less exciting parts of our trip happened this evening. At our hotel we found a pamphlet for a free Ghost Tour in the Gothic quarter of Barcelona. We were thinking YES! this sounds sweet, old city, old ghosts, creepy area, what could be better? So we decided we would attend if there were other people there as well. Sure enough there were a couple of other guys and we were early so we hopped into the group. Unfortunately for us one of the guys was the guide's friend and he took off in the first minute of the tour, and we were left with a strapping young man who looked like he could have been a linebacker in college, quite athletic and muscular. So here we are walking around dark narrow roads in a foreign country on a ghost tour walking through nearly vacated streets, with two dudes and my new wife. This is pretty much what horror movies are made of.
Well the tour was kind of Lame and we were more scared of the possibility of becoming kidnapped than with any sort of haunting. Our guide didn't seem confident, nor did he seem to believe his own stories, but it was still neat to walk around that part of town. We escaped with our lives and tipped our guide 5 Euros and took off like a couple of bolts of lightening.
We needed wine afterwards, and some dinner.
The next day we headed into the Penedes Wine country and toured a couple of wineries and a Cava (sparkling wine) producer. While on our tour we got a wine and cheese pairing lesson, sampled some grapes from the vine, and snacked on some jamon and bread. I had a great time seeing how wine production is just a humongous version of what we do at home, plus harvesting.
Day seven took us to Seville, a city I fell in love with and will go back to again. To start our adventure we got conned into having our palms read by some crazy chain smoking Spanish ladies with some sort of weed sprig they were handing out. So after I had my palm read in Spanish she very rudely asked for money, When I saw Laura pulling out her wallet I grabbed her and we headed for the hills and threw away their leafy thing. It was a very odd moment since thy obviously didn't know English yet knew monetary words extremely well. Apparently they didn't get the lesson of polite word usage.
Later we toured the third largest church in the world, and it is also the largest Gothic church in the world. Holy cow it is grand. It is fantastically ornate and to know that its been essentially the same since the 1600s is just amazing. Also or main man Christopher Columbus lies in rest here which was actually really cool because his coffin thing is held by four statues of kings. There was also a crown on display that was just unbelievably lavish imbued with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other stones I don't know, all set in gold.
That night we had our most romantic evening including a walk along a river at sunset, a gourmet meal for two followed by a relaxing bath for two in the giant tub in our room. Perfect.
Day eight was probably my least favorite day, by a long shot. Today we rented a car and drove from Seville to Tarifa. If it weren't for the internet and it's vast database of things needed for navigation and crafty ways to obtain them we couldn't have made it to Tarifa. (thanks Garmin!) First I swear the Spaniards don't believe in Street Signs (if there is one there is no standard layout/height/size ect.). Second and worse, I had the opportunity to drive a Manual transmission with almost no experience.
To start the day off right Laura and I slept in and took our time getting to the rental place, only to be greeted with a 'we don't have your car. You're late.' Who knew you actually needed to show up when you said you would? Not me. After we managed to secure a car and I was pretty much shaking with nerves to the parking lot I somehow managed to pull out of our spot with absolutely no troubles, no stall, no rough start just pure smooth driving. Great!! That was until we go to the ticket arm to get out, I put in my ticket and the arm went up and I stalled the car, about 15 to 20 times in a row. I'm not exaggerating either, cars were honking, some dude even pounded on our window and fiddled with our emergency brake. Of course they were mad I was blocking the only exit. Laura was crying, our GPS was recalculating even though we hadn't gotten anywhere, and I was failing miserably.
Miraculously we escaped the lot and made it through the first light. But the next 15 or so lights we hit I stalled the car miserably each time, and many of those lights we went through several sequences of red to green. Another dude even pounded on our window at this point and in great English (after yabbering in Spanish) told us to put on our hazard lights, that seemed to help. Thankfully Laura pulled herself together and navigated us out of town like a pro. Once I managed to get the car moving, everyone was right, every gear past first is a breeze, I kicked ass on the highway. I even managed to make it through the toll with no troubles.
When we parked the car at our hotel in Tarifa I was badly stressed out and saw it as a good omen that we checked into our 8 room hotel at its bar. It was also relieving to have the biggest room in the joint and our short walk to the Atlantic Ocean calmed me the rest of the way. Needless to say I wasn't excited to drive back to Seville in a few days.
Our trip in Tarifa was an amazing experience that I want to repeat again. Our hotel was out of town so we ate at the attached restaurant that had a great variety of food and wonderful back terrace/garden that we hung out in nightly. We spent two days relaxing in the sun, and I took a day of Kite Surfing lessons which I would LOVE to take up as a hobby now. One day I built my first sand cathedral, AKA a cross with a spire and a wall around it. This was also the first time we figured out how to use the internet on our phones.
On our final day we were ready do leave, I was cached out on communicating in my poor Spanish to everyone, and we had to begin our travels westward. We found our first and only geocache of the trip near our hotel overlooking the Atlantic and Africa. Later we drove uneventfully (I figured out the car by then) to Seville and Took a train to Madrid.
The flight home was uneventful, I watched three movies and played some blackjack. It was fairly comfortable and we even got a couple of 'free' drinks! Scotch and Coke was my vice, Wine for Laura.
So altogether how was Spain?
Fantastic. We had a great time eating, looking, walking and smiling. Going into the trip I wasn't sure what to expect, now that I'm done I realize Spain is a phenominal country with tons of history wealth and art. We've learned a lot of cool things that we would do differently next time around and also a lot of great things we would repeat. For example future travelers, Pay the extra hundred or two and fly direct to Barcelona, Madrid is cool but Barcelona has way more and a beach. We would spend more time in Seville since it is such a fantastic clean city with new places to explore around every corner and tucked into every alley. The only thing we would change from Tarifa is to grab a hotel on the beach (instead of a mile walk from one), by then we will be Kiting pros and we will hang 10, (if that is even in style or proper slang). I would also like to hit up the Rioja region, Granada and the Costa Del Sol and perhaps Gibraltar. If we found ourselves there in the next 10 years, I would for sure give Ibiza a 3 day try. The country has so much history, culture and excitement to offer, it would be a shame to not return. We were after all on our honeymoon, walking in and out of museums wasn't high on the to-do list but add 30 years to our current age and we will be in our prime history appreciating age. Laura and I said we are going to go back when Sagrada FamÃlia is done and I don't think its an empty promise.
Thanks Mom and Dad for the tickets over, without your extremely generous gift these memories wouldn't have been possible, we had such a great time and I know we will never forget it.
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