Blogging Absence

I’ve been absent from the blog for a couple weeks, but with good reason.  Our life has been a whirlwind the past couple weeks.  Since my last post we have spent the night in the following places: 

-          Christchurch, New Zealand
-          Denarau Island, Fiji
-          Los Angeles, California
-          Holbrook, Arizona
-          a quick lunch in Santa Fe, New Mexico
-          Amarillo, Texas
-          Dallas, Texas
-          Houston, Texas
-     a quick dinner in Baton Rouge with the Pesses
-          New Orleans, Louisiana
-          Houston, Texas
-          Milan, Italy
-          Rome, Italy

Unfortunately this fast paced travel finally caught up with me in Milan and I caught a 12 hour stomach bug.  Luckily Charles didn’t catch it, but it meant a rough train ride from Milan to Rome for me.  Charles jokes that at one point I nearly took a girl out on the train on the way to the bathroom – it’s true I did, but I figured that was better than getting sick in the aisle.  

Anyway, so the blog has been pretty low on my priority list for the last couple weeks….

Being back in the U.S. and breaking up this trip the way we did was harder than I expected.  We had a sort of travel momentum when we were in New Zealand – we got used to the public showers, the lack of internet, no television, limited radio, eating on the go.  Then we were back in the U.S.  Still on the move, but it felt different.  We saw friends and family and entered into life again as though nothing had changed, except that we were still in the middle of this trip, this crazy trip that can seem all consuming.  

The road trip back to Texas was long, really long.  For some reason I didn’t expect the 22 hour drive to feel like it took 22 hours, but it did.  We hoped to make it a little further than Holbrook, Arizona on the first day, but we were jet lagged – horribly jet lagged – and so we didn’t.  So, we decided we would just take a second day to get to Dallas and on our way stopped for lunch in Santa Fe.  We went to Charles’ favorite Gallery there, The Owings Gallery, which I also loved.  Then we had lunch at Coyote’s Rooftop Cantina and then headed back on the road to Amarillo for the night.  We stopped for one night in Dallas to see my mom and sister before heading to Houston and to our main destination New Orleans.  

Crossing the Arizona border - it was really bright and really hot!

Route 66 scenic route in Arizona

Beautiful Sunset in Arizona

Charles beating the high score at the Pizza Hut in Holbrook, Arizona (the only open restaurant on a Friday night).

 

Our main reason for coming back to the U.S. was to go to the wedding of two close friends/almost family in New Orleans.  The wedding weekend in New Orleans for Claudia and Brad was wonderful.  I could not have imagined a more perfect New Orleans wedding (Claudia – it was truly a beautiful wedding and a fun weekend, we were so happy to be there to celebrate with you and Brad!).   We were able to see Charles’ brother and sister-in-law and her family, Charles’ parents, and a few other friends during the celebration.  We had so much fun with everyone in New Orleans.  But, in the back of my mind the trip was lurking.  We needed to book trains in Italy, we needed to book trains in India (darn, still need to book trains in India), we needed to find cheap hotels or hostels in Italy.  And so, in between the partying and celebrating, I planned.  I was grateful our hotel had free internet and I was able to get a fair amount of planning done in between wedding festivities, afternoons wandering in the French Quarter, and visiting with friends and family. 

French Quarter with a Snow Ball

 The day of the wedding we went with Charles’ parents to see his childhood home on the West Bank in New Orleans.  We walked on the levee and drove through Algiers, I saw a side of New Orleans I hadn’t seen before.  Sunday morning after the brunch for Mr. and Mrs. Stillwagon, we went to Mandeville so Charles and Paul could visit their old neighborhood.  I think we all nearly cried when we got to Madisonville to get po-boys at Morton’s and saw it was closed to rebuild after hurricane Isaac.  

Charles old house on the West Bank of New Orleans

Charles and his dad on top of the levee on the West Bank

Claudia and Brad's beautiful wedding reception

Wedding reception with Kale, Andrew, Kipp, and Meredith

Mr. and Mrs. Stillwagon

Matt, Paul, and Charles

Overall, the trip to New Orleans was wonderful, but I was pretty exhausted by the time we drove back to Houston on Sunday. Our few days in Houston included a few doctor visits, prescription pick-ups, a trip to Lola’s vet to get her heart worm medicine to send to Dallas, a trip to the post office, sorting through mail, printing out itineraries, copying passports, looking up directions to hotels, train tickets….

But, we got it all finished.  We headed to the airport on Tuesday afternoon feeling very frazzled, but we were on our way.  And it seems that the only thing I’ve forgotten was my razor, which all in all, isn’t too bad.  So, we flew over the Atlantic and made our way through Heathrow Airport to Milan.  I’m happy to say that although I did get sick in Milan, we had a great time.  I’ll write about our time in Milan and Rome soon.  Sorry if this is kind of a lame post, I just thought I’d explain my blogging absence, since I took off more time from writing than I had planned.