When Vu made the decision to leave Microsoft, the recruiter for his new job suggested that he take some time off before starting because it would be the only true vacation he would ever take.  So that is what he did.  And we decided to go to Orlando for a week.  Shortly after we were married we had this vacation planned and airplane tickets booked , but that trip didn’t end up working out and we have never managed to make it since, so we were very excited to finally go.  We spent 9 days there and pretty much themed parked it the whole week.  It was my first time going to Disneyworld.  Vu found a calendar online with optimal days for each park so we tried to optimize it for crowds, but it was still a pretty busy week to go.  Especially Magic Kingdom and Harry Potter World, the crowds were crazy.  I really don’t like crowds and lines.  Despite that we had a really good time, and it was nice and relaxing for Vu.  Vu’s aunt very kindly let us stay with her.  It was only the second time Vu has ever seen her and we had a great time chatting with her and getting to know her better.

At Magic Kingdom Vu was asked to be a guard at “Enchanted Tales with Belle”, which was really meant for kids, but we both love Beauty and the Beast.  This was a really long day, we were there from open to close, there is just so much to do at Magic Kingdom.

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The last week in Boston I was only there for the first half of the week.  On Monday, October 26th, Maddison and I went to the Middlesex Fell Reservation which is just a little bit north of Rachel’s house.  We did a little hike up to the tower that has a view of the whole area and Boston.  It was a really pretty view from the top.

Then in the afternoon we walked over to the cememtary right next to Rachel’s house.  I loved seeing all of the Irish names because I saw the Irish immigrants memorial next to one of the churches on the freedom trail, but I didn’t see much of an Irish influence on the city.  Not like the Italian district in the North End.  It also had my favorite falls trees of the whole trip.  It was a perfect sunny day, it was so pretty.  I have been trying to improve my DSLR skills and so these pictures were taken in RAW.  Then when I got home and looked at them, I loved how pretty they were.  Then I tried to upload them to the blog and apparently it has to be a JPEG.  So I converted them and the quality decreased significantly.  The colors in the RAW file were so much better.  I delayed doing these posts for 2 weeks because I wanted to figure out to use the RAW images, or get them to look as good.  It didn’t work.  I was very sad.  But looking at them now, I guess they aren’t that bad 🙂 It is just so sad knowing how much better the originals are.

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The second week I was in Boston visiting Rachel it was much colder.  It had turned cold over the weekend (It snowed in Palmyra on Sunday). Monday, October 19 I had plans to go into Boston and to Beacon Hill and to tour a couple of the houses there, but I forgot to check the hours before hand and discovered that the houses are closed on Monday and Tuesday since they are open on Saturday and Sunday.  So I walked around and enjoyed the beautiful architecture, then since I was really close to Boston Common, which is the beginning of the Freedom trail, I decided to the other half.

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I was very sad when Rachel moved to Boston in May, but my one consolation was that I love Boston.  I have long been wanting to see New England in the fall, and the second I knew she was moving there I planned on going to visit her in October.  It also just happened that one of my best friend’s, Maddison, moved there just a few weeks after Rachel did.  And into an apartment just a couple streets away from her.  I went for 2 1/2 weeks at the end of October so I could ensure that I didn’t miss the peak of the leaves.  Rachel had to work a lot of that time, so I was so happy that Maddison was there and could do some sight seeing with me.  It was a great trip and so fun to see Rachel and Maddison again!  And I do love Boston so much.  This summer was pretty dry which is a key factor in leaf color, so I kept hearing that it wasn’t quite as vibrant as usual, but it still very beautiful.  It just means I have to go back again.  🙂

I got there Tuesday morning, October 13th, and Rachel and I went to Salem.  It was fun to see it right after having my Witch party.

The next day Maddison and I did half of the freedom trail.  I accidentally had us go backwards starting at the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill.  I did it with my family when I was a teenager and that is the order I remember doing it, so I just assumed that was the start.  It worked out pretty well though, because then we were able to have pizza for lunch in the North End, which is the Italian district.  Then Rachel joined me after she got off work for some pasta and a cannoli from Mike’s pastry.  It was all so good!

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On Saturday morning, September 5th, we got up and saw the last sunrise before loading up the car and heading out of the Outer Banks.  The waves were really big still from the wind.

We headed west and stopped in Raleigh for some lunch and then went to the Raleigh LDS temple.  Here is another “list” Rachel and I are working on, to go to every temple.  It was my 25th.  We drove the rest of the way to Asheville that night and stayed in a hotel there.

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During Christmas of 2008 I was with my family and we were talking about past vacations and realized that we had been to most of the states in the US.  We each counted them up and I had been to 43 of 50.  I decided I wanted to try and get to all 50 before my 31st birthday in August of 2012.  I went to South Carolina in April of 2009, (used my vacation time in 2010 to go to China, Australia and New Zealand instead…) Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana in March of 2011, and Vermont in May of 2011, putting me at 48.  I only had North Carolina and Hawaii left (yes it is very sad that Hawaii is 1 of the last 2).  I went to Peru and got married in 2012, which both ended up pushing back my goal.  Both of which I felt were very good reasons :).  Vu and I had airplane tickets to go to North Carolina the first year we were married, but we ended up having to cancel that trip and after that we bought the house and then Vu started grad school, so vacation plans got put on hold.

At the end of August, the day after my 34th birthday, I flew to my parents home in Atlanta, Georgia, along with my twin sister Rachel, and the 4 of us spent the week in North Carolina, finally checking off number 49!  Yay!!!

I flew in a day earlier than Rachel and went to a Brave’s baseball game with my dad.  Because if you can’t tell… I like lists… especially travel lists… and goals… so Rachel and I also happen to have a goal to attend a baseball game at every stadium.  However, we aren’t doing very good at this goal. This was just my 4th one (there are 30 in case you don’t know).

We packed up and drove to the Outer Banks on Saturday, August 29th.  We were able to stop in Charlotte and visit an old friend, MelBelle, and her family.  It was so good to see them, it has been a long time.  We rented a house in Kill Devil Kills that was right across the street from the beach, with a deck and chairs overlooking the beach.  It was really nice.  And of course we played games every night, which was fun.  Vu doesn’t really like games so we hardly ever play, but my family loves them.

Day 1

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Rachel and I decided to take a last minute road trip over President’s Day to Vancouver, Canada.  We have been talking about going for probably the last 6 years or so and just never managed to get around to it.  But Rachel has been on a huge kick lately to do a bunch of the things she has always been planning to do in the area, but hasn’t gotten around to yet.  We left Sunday morning and came back Monday night.  Vu had to work on Monday, so once again he didn’t come.  We will both be so happy when he is done with his MBA!  (only 15 more weeks to go!)  Not that school had anything to do with him having to work.  School+work=very little free time to go with me when I travel for Vu :(.  Not that that bothers him…

We left early (and by early I actually mean early for me, as in I left my house at 8:30) on Sunday morning and headed up to Vancouver.  It was a perfect day!  We have had some really great weekend weather lately.  And what is with the cherry blossoms and daffodils blooming already? (Please don’t be another really hot summer…)

We really liked Vancouver.  The whole downtown area is very walkable.  Sunday afternoon we spent walking along the seawall at Stanley Park (after we figured out how to drive into the park with a minor detour into North Vancouver).  We got there right after a race had finished, so there were runners everywhere.  Since it was a beautiful warm Sunday afternoon in February there really weren’t very many people at the park… or not.  It was pretty busy.

We spent the afternoon wandering around the park.  We both loved the Lion’s Gate Bridge (Rachel shares my obsession with bridges). Continue reading →

In July my Mom, Dad and little Sister, Chani, all flew into Seattle and then with Rachel we all drove out to Montana.  We spent a few days camping in Glacier National park and then a few days at a family reunion.  I have wanted to see Glacier for a few years and it was beautiful.  Lots of mountain vistas and waterfalls, both of which I am a huge fan of.  We were planning on going to Banff in Canada, but that didn’t end up working out and I was very happy with Glacier as the alternative.  We still want to make it back up to Banff sometime though.  We went when I was a teenager and the glacial melt, white/blue water lakes are amazing.  I ended up having surgery to remove my gallbladder a week and a half before we left and so I was still recovering a bit and I didn’t feel up to doing as much hiking as I would have wanted to do in Banff so I thought it worked out pretty well.

Our first day in Glacier we hiked Avalanche Creek and towards the beginning there is a really cool waterfall, just the first of many I would love.  It is on the side of the trail in a ravine. It’s really more a series of small waterfalls as the river runs through the ravine.

The trail took us up to a lake surrounded by a few different waterfalls.  Which to be honest was a little bit disappointing.  It wasn’t quite as spectacular as some of the other lakes and waterfalls. Continue reading →