Puddin' Head

My last side trip during my stay in Arizona was a trip to White Sands, New Mexico, as I had a friend living in Las Cruces at the time.  I think it speaks to how desperate I was for any sort of family to spend Thanksgiving with for me, who loathes road trips, to not think twice about driving seven hours by myself to see her for the weekend.

First, a word about my friend Katie.  We met my junior year in college, where she had just moved from Las Cruces to the frozen tundra of MN for a year as a college exchange student.  She was fabulous, an English-major-theater-minor who was a breath of fresh air among my engineering classmates.  Here's Katie:

I was once complaining about how nervous I was about changing my major.  I had contemplated it for weeks, excessively going back and forth and back and forth about what to do.  She tolerantly listened to me for a while, going on and on and on, when finally she stomped away, yelling, "Life is change, Chris, if you're not prepared to change you're not prepared to live!"  Stopped me dead in my tracks.  Changed my perspective immediately, and I still think of this even today when I'm worried about making decisions.  She, of course, doesn't remember saying this to me at all and said she probably read it on a fortune cookie at lunch.

We would hang out in our dorm rooms, and in an effort to come up with creative ways to delay studying, we would bring out the thesaurus and see how many words we could find that also meant "jerk".  "Eater of Rotten Meats" and "Pudding Head" were our favorites.  One night when I was eating ice cream, lamenting another relationship that hadn't gone they way I wanted, I confided that I thought I might be bulimic, because I liked to eat so much.  "Without the throwing up part, though." I added.  "Um, that would just make you... a pig." she corrected.  Oh, right.

On to less personal things, and to our trip to White Sands.  Did you know that it is the largest gypsum dune field in the world?  The gypsum isn't actually white - it's clear, but as the wind bounces the sand grains along the ground, they collide and scratch each other.  The scratches change the way the light reflects off the grains, making the sand appear white.

This trip was also significant to me, in that this was the first time I realized I liked taking pictures.  I mean taking them for art's sake, not just to remember stuff.  I want to decorate a room with these colors.

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And thus ends my short stay in the Southwest.  I miss the beauty but not the heat, the friends but not the job, and the one time in my life I've even remotely had a tan.

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Next up?  Being bad in The Badlands.  Sort of.

Grand Ol' Canyon

Picking up where I left just a few short... months ago. : )

(Reminder that we're flashing back to 1994 - the world wide web is just starting to take hold, and the NFL announces that the Jacksonville Jaguars will be the league's 30th team.  Just a reference point.)

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Last minute trip to the Grand Canyon!  Who thinks it never snows in Arizona?  This is just outside of Flagstaff, where we were caught in a bit of a storm.

We stopped for gas and the clerks were running outside to help so we didn't have to get out of our cars.  I waved them off saying "I'm from Minnesota.  This is nothing."

After reaching the Grand Canyon, we continue the theme of embarrassing pictures of me in iconic places.  What is with the hat?

I love how I only took four pictures while I was there, and a pictures of this explanation of why prices at McDonald's are so high is one of them.  Apparently I found it fascinating at the time.

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Next up?  White Sands.... of New Mexico.

The Jeep Wrangler - A Love Story

The Southwest United States is gorgeous.  One weekend one of my roommates and I took a road trip to Sedona, AZ to check out the scenery.  Stunning, really, like you can't believe it's real.  Like you're standing in the middle of a landscape painting.

John had a great Jeep Wrangler, which we (meaning him, he wouldn't let me drive) took all over the place, you can't believe what these things can do.  It was after this drive that I fell in love with the Wrangler, and was determined to someday own one.  One with no doors and no top, Minnesota weather be damned.

Here's John, staring down at the other little Jeeps below.

Since he was way more interested in seeing how many boulders he could drive over, I didn't get many pictures of me.  Here's an unfortunate one: 

Hold on, what am I wearing?

It was the early 90's, apparently I thought grunge meant looking as much like a boy as possible.  By the time I finally owned a Wrangler, I would be way more girly.

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Or would I?  That's me, on the right, a couple of years later with my very own Jeep.

At least my hair is longer.

Oh How The Mighty Have Fallen

Halfway through my internship, my first (girl) roommate moved back to New Jersey, so I moved in with the only place available at the time, currently inhabited by boys.  I think the following pictures describe the change pretty well.

From this:

To this:

The good thing about living with boys is that no one gets on you about being clean.  The bad thing is that no one gets on anyone about being clean.  You should have seen the inside of the microwave.  I ate out a lot.

Hoover Dam, Baby, Hoover Dam!

One of the best things about living in Phoenix was it's proximity to Las Vegas.  If you Google-map it, it's just over a five hour drive.  If you go a little faster, maybe, than the posted speed limit, you can make it in about four.

I don't remember much about our first trip to Vegas, as it was fairly uneventful (I'm not much of a gambler) and I could only find three pictures.

This is the Luxor:

This was probably taken from the cab on a drive through downtown Las Vegas:

I think this is a shot from our hotel room, maybe it was the Excalibur, but I'm not sure.

But what I do remember in detail is stopping at the Hoover Dam!  On the border of Arizona and Nevada, the Hoover Dam is cool for so many reasons.  Political controversy, over a hundred construction deaths, amazing feat of engineering.  Plus, it's HUGE.

Here's a much better arial pic I found online:

There were many, many trips to Las Vegas over the months, but after we discovered Southwest Airlines 2-for-1 deals and didn't drive as much, we never spent as much time at the Hoover Dam again.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but just like Bali, Borneo and Australia, I really hope to be back one day.


I'll leave you with the lyrics from the Hoover Dam song by Sugar:

Standing on the edge of the Hoover Dam

I'm on the centerline

Right between two states of mind

And if the wind from the traffic should blow me away

.

.

.

If the Mississippi should wash me away

Down to New Orleans

And maybe someday in my dreams

I'd wake up feeling the sweat

From the gulf in my mouth

.

.

.

Standing on the edge of the Hoover Dam

I am standing on the edge of the Hoover Dam

Mexico on the Fly

Where were you in the summer of 1994?  As for myself, I had just turned 21, and had left Minnesota to spend six months in Phoenix working as an intern engineer for Intel.  I didn't know a soul, and had worked there for less than one week when a girl from my orientation group, Jen, invited me to Mexico for the weekend.  "Sure!" I said. "Wait, do I need a passport?"  "No, of course not, it's just Mexico." was the reply.  (It was 1994, remember, back when college kids could cross the border willy-nilly and there was no risk of getting caught in a drug war crossfire.)  How exciting, my first trip outside of the country!  I packed a bag, met the other five people we were going with in a parking lot, and we were off, us two girls in one car, and four guys in the next.

To get to Mexico (Rocky Point, specifically) from Phoenix, you basically drive south and turn right.  Jen and I, in charge of the map, headed south, with the guys following behind, when we came to a T in the road.  Confused, we stopped to look at the map.  One of the guys came up to the window and knocked.  "I'm sorry ladies, but is there a problem?"  "We can't figure out which way to go."  He stared at us, dumbfounded.  This is why:

Now, it may seem obvious to you, but the map told us to go right, and now this sign was telling us to go left.  After a short discussion, we decided the sign knew best, and we were on our way.  The guys, however, decided we were not to be trusted as navigators, and took over from there.  They then promptly got us all lost for several hours in the Mexican desert as night fell.  At around 3am, we finally arrived at our little cottage we rented, happy to have finally made it.

What to do at 3am in Mexico?  Get your relax on, of course.

Here's our place, which we could finally see as soon as the sun rose.  It was pretty great, and since it was summer in Mexico, we pretty much had the beach to ourselves.

And what what was my first accomplishment for the weekend?  Getting sunburned in about 10 minutes.  

I spent the rest of the trip indoors, or taking pictures at sunset.

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No passport was required so I don't have a stamp to prove it, but I had made it out of the country!  Next adventure?  The Hoover Dam and Vegas, Baby, Vegas!!!

Wanna Be Snobbery - Act 2

What started as a travel blog has now morphed into... something.  What that something's going to be, I'm not sure, but it will be Something.  My first thought is to delve back into my first days of travel - which are relatively limited but interesting nonetheless (I think) - so at best it's a nice segway into some of my other favorite topics - pictures, food, and material possessions, and at worst it's a fabulous excuse to digitize some of my old photos, and embarrass some of my friends.

My first time out of the country?  1994, I drove to Rocky Point, Mexico with some people I had known for exactly one week.  Directions from Phoenix involve driving south to Mexico and turning left.  And we still managed to get lost.

Home - The Questions

The most common question I've heard after moving back is "So... what's it like being back?"  "Great!" is my usual response, or "Cold." is another one, since the average temperature in the past few weeks here has been well below zero.  "Different..." is probably the most accurate answer, though a bit harder to explain as you're running down a hallway, late for yet another meeting.  The second most common question is "So... is it good to be back?" which is also a bit difficult since my answer of "Yes.." is usually followed by a "... but don't you miss it?", making me second guess my response.  I'm pretty sure it's good to be back, and at the same time I'm pretty sure I miss it.  Being a mathematician by training...

Eleven Ways that Minnesota is Different than Singapore

11.)  Traffic

In Singapore it takes 25 minutes to get anywhere, whether it's one mile away or ten, and it doesn't matter if it's by taxi, bus or train.  In Minneapolis, it takes me five minutes to get to the grocery store and two hours to get home from work if it's snowing.  A bit harder to plan your day with that sort of variation.  Advantage:  Singapore

10.)  Labor Saving Devices

In Singapore I did not have a dishwasher, the washing machine held the equivalent of one towel, and took well over two hours per cycle at that.  I'm so glad to have my automatic dishwasher and large load washer and dryer back that it's embarrassing.  It's the little things.  Advantage:  Minnesota

9.)  Cost of Transportation

The cost of cars in Singapore is astronomical.  I bought a Prius when I arrived back in the states (around $29K), so compare that to the one I test drove in Singapore that was priced at well over $100K, and that doesn't even include the Certificate of Entitlement ($10K - 60K) you need on top of that.  And that was just a Prius, imagine the mark-up on a BMW or Mercedes.  On the flip side, it's about 75 cents to ride the train or bus anywhere on the island, and usually less than $5 for a taxi ride.  Our house here in Minneapolis is less than 3 miles from the airport and a taxi ride for this distance can run you $20 or more.  Advantage:  Tie

8.)  Service

Waitstaff in the US runs the gamut from fun-and-friendly to downright rude.  In Singapore no one is ever rude, but they're also never truly friendly, either.  Robotic politeness might be a way to put it, and they'll almost never give you their opinion, even when asked directly.  And if you ever ask for a substitution, it's "I must ask my manager."  I'd rather have someone roll their eyes at me and do it anyway, than a polite smile and a firm "cannot".  And in Singapore tips are always included in the bill, which at first is refreshing (no math at dinner!), but it sort of takes away the whole idea of rewarding good service, since you can't refuse to pay it and the included tips don't necessarily go to the server anyway.  Advantage:  Minnesota

7.)  Making Appointments

After arriving back in the states I had to catch up on seeing my eye doctor, dentist, etc. and when I called for appointments, they could usually arrange to see me in about one to three weeks.  In Singapore, you can usually see someone within a day or two, if not the same day.  I've even walked right in to my doctor's office over there and been seen by the doctor himself within 15 minutes.  I don't know how they do it, but it sure is nice.  It might be because they have so many people working at once - you go into a department store and the clerks often outweigh the customers by 10 to 1.  I went into the shoe section of a local Singapore department store and I counted no fewer than twelve people ready to wait on me.  Advantage:  Singapore

6.)  TV

The only current shows that Singapore has are seasons are American Idol, Survivor, and Glee.  Filled in-between are endless reruns of The Nanny, which I didn't think anyone even watched during the first run.  Friday Night Lights via Apple TV single handedly kept me sane.  Advantage:  Minnesota

5.)  Food

Okay, Singapore has a major advantage on this one for all but sandwiches and Mexican food.  There's no Chipotle there, good bread is really hard to find and super expensive if you do.  So yes, I miss my $2 noodles and $1 fruit juices on every corner, but being able to run to Chipotle or make my own triple-decker sandwiches is still pretty great.  Advantage:  Tie

4.)  Walking the dog

Believe it or not, I'd rather walk the dog at 6:30am and -8 degrees F than 90 and humid any day.  It's still a thrill to not have to shower the minute I walk in the door because I'm too sweaty to sit on the furniture.  Advantage:  Minnesota

3.)  Travel

An hour flight from Minneapolis will get you at best to Chicago, at worst to Fargo, ND.  An hour flight from Singapore will get you to Bangkok, and two hours will get you to Bali.  Sorry, North Dakota friends, it's no contest.  Advantage:  Singapore

2.)  Weather

Betcha thought this would be number one, didn't you?  Though I'm going to miss my 365-day-a-year uniform of sundresses and flip flops, but there is nothing like the first warm spring breezes after a long cold winter.  Nothing.  Advantage:  Minnesota

1.)  Shopping

One word.  Target.  Which has real clearance items, not just stuff that was marked up and then marked back down 20% during a so-called "sale".  I bought a shirt at Target yesterday for $1.84.  And here I'm a solid Medium, not an Extra Large, which does worlds of good for my self esteem.  Advantage:  Minnesota times a million

Conclusion:  Since Minnesota has advantages in the majority, I can officially say "Yes, it's good to be back."

Home.

We had exactly 23 hours in Singapore before flying back to Minnesota, and we tried to make the most of it.  We ran a couple of last minute errands, checked in on the dog (she was fine), re-packed to try and make our 32kg limit on  our luggage (made it!), and had one last dinner with friends.

I held my little buddy Winston one last time...

And we were off.

A short 22 hours later, we were descending down into the frozen tundra.

That's not a small town...

It's an ice-fishing village.

Let's compare Singapore in January

To Minneapolis.

Here's a shot of the lake near our house... look close and you'll see ice rinks are all ready for the National Pond Hockey Championships.  We're famous for more than the Mall of America, don't cha know.

And what's the first thing we did when we got home?

Watch Millie's first pounce in the snow...



And shovel the sidewalk, of course.

Goodbye crazy cabdrivers and sweaty walks with the dog, hello slippery sidewalks and wearing long underwear to work!  It's good to be home...

The Maldives - Truest Blue

Our last activity for the week was snorkeling, which is my second favorite thing to do on vacation (the first is doing absolutely nothing, of course).  The sun and I not being exactly friends, I was sure to be dressed in full long-sleeved swim wear and a layer of 80+ waterproof sunscreen.  My goal for the day was to see a shark (the little reef ones, not a big man-eating one or anything), and David really wanted to see a turtle.

They even gave us diving cards so we would know what we were looking at.  (See the color of the water behind me?  So clear you can see down 30 feet or more, and it was that color as far as the eye could see.)

Swimming out to the reef...

I took an extra minute to run from one end of this sandbar to the other, leaving my footprints in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Swimming along, we saw lots of clownfish, bannerfish, angelfish, soldierfish and even butterfly fish.  But no sharks, and no turtles.  The day was not lost, though, as it was a beautiful day and our snack in between dives was cake.

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After a few days we had finally smartened up and rented a cabana, so this was my view for the last two full days.

David looking for shells on the beach.

Last day was consisting of trying out the vine swing...

Staring up at the palm trees...

And never getting tired of looking at water that was so unbelievably blue you can't believe its real.

At night they have movies on the beach... the last night was Finding Nemo!

Our final sunset.

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Next?  Our last dinner in Singapore, and travel back to Minnesota, otherwise known as "Am I On A Different Planet?"