I'll take you in my backpack

8/26/11 1.5 million bats reside under the S. Congress St bridge. Just around dusk they all leave to go find food...it's really impressive regardless of your feeling on bats! Here are some videos that I shot from last night

8/19/11 So I ventured about an hour and a half outside of Pittsburgh today to Mill Run, PA...definitely worth the drive! Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater is a sight to be seen. The organic architecture is amazing. Breathtaking really. The home was literally built into a mountainside with a good portion of it hanging over a waterfall (much to the initial dismay of the original homeowners who had envisioned a home with a beautiful view of a waterfall). FLW's vision was very different, he wanted the home to be an entire experience of nature and that is exactly what you get when you walk through the home. There are elements of the outdoors throughout the home. It defies many of the "rules" of the architecture of it's time. I highly recommend a visit for anyone who is traveling to the area! To get there from Pittsburgh you definitely drive through some sleepy little towns, and you almost think that it's impossible that your journey will end in an amazing piece...

8/14/11 It has come to my attention that perhaps I'm an overly difficult customer. And by overly difficult I mean when ordering a coffee at McDonalds I ask for Splenda and Milk (I compromise, I'll take any milk even though I'd prefer Skim) rather than cream and sugar. There are several reasons for this. Creamer is a horrid substance that just doesn't work for me, and the "sugar" that is used at McDonalds in coffee is a syrupy substance that I'm quite certain is capable of inflicting instant diabetes. So it first became apparent that I had a problem with McDonalds and coffee when I was in Nashville with my dear friends/family Shannon and Bill. We were piled in Bills truck for a post gym breakfast (don't most people do that?!) and Bill ordered my request through the speaker. There was some slight confusion at this stage but it appeared to be worked out. Until the window. When the woman opened the window for us to pay she said, verbatim, "What ex...

8/13/11 In continuing my journey across the US, I was up bright and early to drive another stretch of 10 hours...normally this would suck, but I had a few friends along with me...Tina, Garmin, and a beautiful sunrise. You know, Tina Fey. I've recently discovered the beauty of audio books and have become a HUGE fan for long road trips! It's like having a friend in the car, and in this case, a really really funny one. Garmin is less friend-like and more like a really annoying, bossy, and often incorrect with directions boyfriend. On to the reason for this post. I literally watched the sun rise, and I've never seen a sunrise quite so amazing. It was like a big red fire ball. Unfortunately my iPhone camera didn't capture the beauty effectively, but I tried! Books Read (or listened to!) My Horizontal Life Bossypants

8/6/11 This summer has been a wild and crazy one thus far, and it's showing no signs of slowing down! I feel like my feet landed on the ground after Guam and haven't stopped running! I flew to Nashville for a long weekend and was able to spend some good quality time with my surrogate family and Bestie for her Wedding Shower... Outside the Pancake Pantry. Sweet Potato Pancakes=YUM! Back to MA for a few days, and an intense Whitewater Kayaking Clinic on the Deerfield River before I was on the road again. Drove from MA to Pittsburgh. Stopped there for the night, then drove from Pittsburgh to Nashville for Wedding Week (yay Shan and Willis!) The week was full of laughs, Dance Central, crazy BFF Rose adventures, rehearsal dinner, bridesmaid's luncheon, and the grand finale...the most beautiful Wedding imaginable! Getting the Bride to Be all decked out in appropriate bachelorette attire! The Obligatory "hat" from Dick's Missing the Bride in thi...

7/3/11 I waited a few days before posting, but a very long nightmarish story short, I'm not in Nepal, I'm not going to Nepal right now...the airlines royally screwed up my trip...their collection of errors resulted in me getting a complimentary stay-cation in Newark NJ. Gee Thanks. But, Lots of things popping up and shining through that potential rain cloud... Getting to go to Shan's Wedding Shower, spending more time with family, Just got an AMAZE-Balls kayak that I can't wait to break in...actually, I'll be looking into some white water courses first, I want to learn to flip that sucker :) And...a nice shiny rainbow to top it all off, I'm trying to coordinate a trip to Nepal in December, when the weather there is MUCH nicer...and tickets are actually cheaper than my initial ticket... Now just to fight American Airlines for my refund...time to put my dukes up!

6/29/11 As I write this I should be snoozing somewhere on my way to Delhi. The fact that I'm in the armpit of America (you can all venture your own guesses about that locale as I ramble on about my adventures that put me here) rather than on a plane is starting to become humorous...slightly. Yesterday however, not so funny. It started off as a good travel day, running around with mom, the obligatory Costco stop, arriving ON TIME (this never happens when mom and Costco are involved!) to the airport (couple of hours early in fact), checked in, no problems. Great! I just happened to check my phone and my itinerary said canceled for my flight to Chicago (I HATE flying there. Always a problem). I refreshed and checked again and it said on time. I refreshed again. It said canceled. Finally I got up and checked the board. Canceled. I was told by the one and only American Airlines (hate them right now) agent that I would have to go back out through security to ticketing because she cou...