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Hello! Sorry for the radio silence. Alan and I have been on vacation in California with our friends Silke and Frank. We had the best intentions for blogging while on the trip but unfortunately never manged to do it.  We have been on the road traveling from Phoenix to San Diego and from San Diego to San Francisco and then back to Phoenix (I have to say, its a loooooong drive!).

The first day we traveled to San Diego and spent the afternoon in Ocean Beach with my friend Jennifer and her boyfriend Brad. I love Ocean Beach, its so relaxed and beautiful and the people are so friendly. It also has a much younger feeling to it then the other beaches in the area. We all really enjoyed walking on the beach (in freezing water!) and out onto the pier (where there was hilarious seagull and pelican duo who kept posing for pictures) and seeing the sunset over the pacific. Here are some pics of our San Diego adventures!

Looking at Ocean Beach from the end of the pier

The dynamic duo posing for pictures and hoping to receive food for their efforts

The sunset

As the sun went down the beach got very misty

Alan and I being cheesy on the beach.

Hello all! What did you do this weekend? Alan and I had a jammed packed weekend of fun. Friday night was our friend’s 21 birthday, Saturday we spendt in bed and out doing errands, as well as learned a new board game called Settlers of Catan (which is so much fun, although I have to say that towards the end it got pretty cut-throat). Finally on Sunday we, went hiking, ate some Ethiopian food, and saw Shutter Island. Needless to say the weekend went by so fast!

Going to the Ethiopian restaurant gave me an intense desire to go traveling. Here is my top seven list of places to visit

1. Ireland

2. Greece

3. Morocco

4. Thailand

5. Argentina

6. Romania

7. Kenya

Hello All! Yesterday I spent the day in Old Town Scottsdale with some of my friends that are visiting from Germany. I never realized how pretty it was until yesterday. I love the colors and seeing all the chili peppers hanging from beams in front of old western looking stores. I also really enjoyed walking through the garden that is in front of the civic center. It is beautiful! It was so nice to walk around a garden full of flowers and water features (I forgot it was November, it was so nice!). The garden also contains multiple sculptures, including one that spells out Love. It was such an enjoyable afternoon. Please go check it out if you get the chance!

Image from tripadvisor.com

Before we head out to the rest of the known world, Sarah and I decided that we’d check out all that Arizona has to offer.  First off, I’m assuming you’ve been to Arizona before.  (If you haven’t, head straight for the Grand Canyon and Sedona for some breathtaking views of the natural world.)

We made our way from Tempe with the goal of attaining some delicious biscuits and gravy at Mike and Rhonda’s Place, a 24 hour diner in Flagstaff.  We hopped into Sarah’s car and took off for the I-17N which thankfully had minimal construction.  After about a 45 minute drive, we stopped in a little town called McGuireVille which has a fantastic restaurant called “restaurant”.

In the middle of this town is one of my favorite natural wonders that exists in Arizona, aside from the Grand Canyon, Montezuma’s Well.  This isn’t some tiny well in the middle of the town… It’s a huge crater with ruins from the Sinigua tribe built into the cliff face.  It’s quite incredible to see.  The Sinigua tribe built up a complex of irrigation canals for agricultural purposes to the right of this well, which I highly recommend you make the trek down to.  It’s quite peaceful down in the canals and incredibly beautiful in the fall.  Very, very green.  We made the trek back up the side of the well and back into our car back on the quest for biscuits and gravy.

About 40 miles outside of Flagstaff, we decided to make a short detour in Sedona for a scenic route and to check out Tlacquepaque, a cool little shopping center styled after a mercado in Guadalajara, Mexico.  It was cool architecturally, but in my opinion the art inside is very kitschy, expensive stuff.  Why yes I would like a buddha statue for $40,000! Oh cool free shipping?  We did end up buying something but it was to tide us over until we found delicious biscuits and gravy.  That something we bought? Kinder eggs from Germany!  They are small little milk chocolate eggs which contain a cool little toy inside that you assemble.  We crossed the road, illegally, which ended up being a highway to get to a UFO shop.  The place was decked out with “greys”, the little aliens with the enormous eyes, as well as a replica of the mercury spacecraft from humanities early adventures into space.  Unfortunately the store had closed early for the day so we never got to experience the joys of aliens…

We ended up back in the car zooming down the highway on our way to our goal of Flagstaff.  We arrived after what seemed like quite a distance (it was only 40 miles from Sedona), and headed for Mike and Rhonda’s in search of biscuits and gravy.  We pulled up to it and… it was closed.  We couldn’t believe it.  A 24 hour diner that we came all the way from Tempe for was closed!  At this point we were starving and settled for a place called Alpine Pizza, “Flagstaff’s oldest pizzeria” and enjoyed a pepperoni pizza and some breadsticks.  We didn’t find biscuits and gravy, but we did end up having a lot of fun on our day trip.

I just got back from a day trip to Heidelberg. I spent the last two years of high school living in Heidelberg, so was excited to go back and visit all the old haunts. While there I met up with my old friend Sam and together we had many exciting adventures. The ride to Heidelberg from Aachen was uneventful although it does have beautiful scenery, at one point on the drive you cross over the Mosel River on a huge bridge and the view is just breathtaking. Also it is a joy to be on the Autobahn going superfast! I love it!

Upon arrival in Heidelberg we made our way to the Crowne Plaza Hotel. This hotel is really fine and is in the perfect location, only meters away from the Hauptstrasse, which is where almost everything to do in Heidelberg in located. From there Sam and I made our way the Starbucks on the Hauptstrasse, a place we spendt much time during highschool. The Starbucks does not have the typical interior of an American starbucks. It is located in an old building, the interior of it is painted pink with white crown-molding and some crystal chandeliors hang from the ceiling. There are numerous tables as well as a couch and some green plush chairs. Inside there is a small round tower with two tables at the top where you can look out onto the side streets and down towards the river. A fun place to sit and people watch as you enjoy your coffee.

After coffee we headed down towards a candy store that only sells gummys. It is amazing they sell gummys in flavors you would never think of, all kinds of fruit flavors, beer flavored, coffee and tea flavors. They also make them in all kinds of designs. They have the gummys shaped like bears, fruit, leaves, cups, people, horse shoes (a symbol of good luck), lips, and even have a selection of adult entertainment gummies! )It is a shop where you (or at least I) shell out a lot of money quickly.

Across from the gummy store there was a shop that sold all kinds of liquors, and the like all hand-brewed. They have a wide selection and after a little delibration Sam and I decided to purchase a small bottle Absinth to try later that night.

After spending a few hours on the Hauptstrasse we went to have a bbq at her parents house. Sam’s mother is Austrian and boy can she cook! The food was delicious! Where Sam’s parents live is a small town called Rauenberg. It is gorgous. It is located between hills that are covered with vineyards. The second night that we visited her parents, we took her dog Trouble with us and took her for a walk up into the vineyards. It was amazing. There are lots of paths you can take your dog. As you walk you slowly go uphill through a small thicket of trees and past some trees, which we came to see were cherry trees that had started to produce some fruit. Along the edge of the vineyards there are several rosebushes that creep up along the various fences and gates that line sperate one vineyard from the other. When you finally get to the top of hills there is a very nice view of the town and some of the surrounding villages. It is like something out of a storybook. THere are the hills and the outlines of old buildings with the churchsteple the towing above everything else and you stand there smelling the grass and see all the wildflowers blumming. It is a moment I will never forget…