Scenic New Mexico

I always thought New Mexico was full of sand and rocks, and not much else. I didn't expect much out of this part of the trip, but I was floored by some of the natural wonders I saw. The pictures I've taken do absolutely no justice whatsoever to the beauty and magnificence of the vast landscapes. I highly recommend taking a week's vacation sometime and coming down here to drive around to see all the sights--I wish I could spend more time (and money) here!

After leaving Austin on Tuesday, I headed west and cut across Texas. Let me tell ya, there is *nothing* in West Texas--vast plains, no mountains, abandoned oil pumps. I turned north at Ft. Stockton and headed to Carlsbad, where I stayed and saw the Carlsbad Caverns the next morning. The caverns were awesome--I only toured the 'Big Room', but if I had the time I would've taken one of the 3-hour guided tours to one of the closed-off caverns. Pictures below and more in my Album, but again, the pictures don't do them justice.

Then I visited White Sands National Monument near Alamagordo. It was stunning. It's a park with dunes as far as the eye can see of white sand. The sands are from the gypsum layers in the surrounding mountains, and thousands of years of rain and crystal formation created this white desert. I started to hike the 4.5 mile trail to the Alkali Salt Flats which I really wanted to see, but it started to get dark, and being alone and lost in the middle of the desert was not what I wanted to experience on this trip (maybe next time), so I headed back.

I also met and got to know a fellow wanderer out here. Carol (pictured right) flew in from DC to Tuscon, rented a car, and was touring the Southwest for a couple of weeks. She was doing this on her own, so we had a bit in common and swapped stories of all our travels. We took a sunset tour of the dunes, got to know each other over dinner, and even headed West together the next day and saw some lava flows on the way to Socorro, where we parted ways to continue our trips. It was really cool to meet someone who could appreciate the beauty of the sights, sounds, and smells of just being out in the open, surrounded by mountains, and under a big blue sky. That she travelled out here from DC just to see and experience it all gave her lots of points in my book...that and being attractive :)

The drive through New Mexico was worth it. I saw mountains backdropped by a blue sky, a lightening storm in the New Mexico plains, immense caverns, a unique desert, and met a cool gal. Couldn't ask for anything more given I expected almost nothing. But that's all for New Mexico, I'm off to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon and other stuff, and hopefully I'll be in Phoenix by Friday night. Until then, here are some pics from Carlsbad Caverns, and again, you can find more in my Photo Album.

Austin

My visit in Austin has been filled with great food and lots of fun! It's a beautiful (but relatively spread out) city nestled in hills surrounding the Colorado river, with lots of surrounding trees, parks, and nature preserves. Not quite the brown and arid image I had of the place. Of course, I chose the worst weekend to come--with Houston refugees here, as well as the Austin City Limits music fest (where 150+ groups play over 3 days, drawing hundreds of thousands), traffic was a nightmare. And damn it was hot!! It broke 100 degrees for three days straight while I was here--and not a single drop of rain from Rita!

I stayed with Mike Mills and Matt Powell, fraternity brothers from MIT. Because of the huge letdown of the non-hurricane, Mike decided to throw a Hurricane Party at his place, with hurricane cocktails and all--ah the tasteless humor of it. I'm glad some people never change. We also sat around on Sunday watching all the games, which made me realize how much I miss watching football. I also got to visit my friend Liz while I was down here, who was one of my best friends in school--congrats to her on just getting married!

While I was here, I took advantage of some of the best BBQ in the land. Portions here are definitely big--they're not kidding about everything being bigger down here. And the Tex-Mex is awesome--between the beef ribs at the County Line, baby backs at Artz Rib House, enchiladas at Guero's, the carne asada at Fonda San Miguel, this has been by and far some of the best food I've had on this trip.

What I loved about Austin is that it's comprised mostly of young people (think Boston) and they sure know how to have fun down here. On Friday and Saturday nights, 4th and 6th streets are jam packed with people; these streets are just lined with bar after bar after bar--they even shut down traffic on 6th street every weekend to handle the pedestrian traffic. Even Sunday night was fun--I went to an 80's night at a punk-rock bar (Emily Simmons you would've loved it!) And let me comment about the women--everything I heard about them was all true. Friendly, outgoing...and fake breasts. Lots of 'em. If Rita did flood this place, there would be life preservers everywhere. And with hot weather, little clothing was to be seen...I think I've found my new favorite city :)

So, that's all for Austin. Unfortunately, because of the hurricane, my plans got screwed and I won't be able to visit my friend Pitt in Houston, so it's westward bound for me--I'll be wandering through New Mexico and Arizona for the next few days, but I'll update once I get to Phoenix!

Oklahoma City, and onto Austin

Oklahoma City is pretty small when you're looking at just the downtown area. However, it's one of the largest 'sprawl' cities in the nation. According to my friend Bri, who I stayed with along with her fiancee Justin, its downtown is undergoing constant change--things being torn down, and being built back up again. Indeed, there weren't many old buildings around, though the city itself is pretty young. What really struck me about this city was that the people were incredibly friendly; for example, every time I was in an elevator, someone asked me how I was doing. Doesn't seem like much, but the way people act towards random strangers says a lot about the nature of the people down here.

Bri told me that you can do Oklahoma City in one day, and so that's what I did. I went to the art museum, which has the largest Dale Chihuly glass exhibit anywhere (even bigger than Tacoma!), including a chandelier that Chihuly designed and was made in Waterford, Ireland. I also walked along the canal in the Bricktown entertainment area, walked around the botanical garden and tropical conservatory, and visited the site of the Oklahoma City bombing. Oh, there's loads more to do, but I hit all the big stuff downtown.

That pretty much ends it for OKC; I'm currently down in Austin, and the good news is that Rita won't be visiting. And, the weather is nice and hot, which means I'll be teeing off early tomorrow while everyone is at work (suckers!). So here are some cool pics from the Chihuly exhibit to tide you over until I make an update. Cheers!

Nashville

Nashville, country music capital of the world. It's a small little downtown area, but there was a lot of cool stuff to do. And the food here...amazing. For being in the middle of nowhere, Nashville has a lot going for it.

I got up before dawn at the Lawsons' place to make it down by lunchtime. The drive down was pretty, farmland through Indiana, rolling hills in Kentucky. After arriving, I met up with my friend Becca, who I met through Matt. She's in the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, so her flexible schedule let her meet up for lunch where I found out about the 'restaurants' in Nashville--if you're not downtown, a lot of the eateries are actually large houses converted to small restaurants. This gives them a very warm and homey feel, which added a lot of character to the eating experience. I love that!

Afterwards, I went to the Country Music Hall of Fame. They had loads of things to see--guitars from old country legends, stage costumes, and even Elvis' Solid Gold Cadillac (not the pink one though)! I also spent the afternoon in beautiful Centennial Park to stretch my legs a bit after all the driving. After dinner, Becca and I went to a couple of honky-tonk bars downtown. I thought this was the greatest thing in the world--we saw live bands covering country hits, and they did a great job doing it. That there's a small section of the city rockin on a Monday night is a testament to its musical roots. I wish I could have stayed some more, but it was onwards to Oklahoma City, where I'm at now--updates in a couple of days!

Chicago again

Well in order to head South and continue my trip, I had to backtrack to Chicago. This was all good, as I got to go out to a couple of bars with pal Jenny on Saturday night (note the recurring theme on my trip here), and then have an extremely awesome Sunday in Wheaton, IL with the Lawsons, parents of Kate (of 'Kate and Matt' fame) and the nicest folks you may ever meet. Golfing on a sunny day, smoking great cigars, cold beer on the porch on a warm afternoon, cajun sausages smokin' on the grill--they really know how to spoil a guy. Wish I could've stayed here longer, but the road beckons. Onward to Nashville!

Minneapolis

Minneapolis reminds me a lot of Seattle. I can't put my finger on why though. The weather's been pretty nice here, and the people seem friendly. Maybe it's the way the downtown area's laid out. Maybe it's the skyline. Who knows. It's a pretty cool place anyways.

The main reason I'm here is to visit my friend and pledge brother Dean. Throughout college, Dean and I were out of hand. All-night boozefests, hounding chicks to get laid, cow challenge...we've been friends through a bit--I even tried to stab him once (sorry Dean). Ah, good times.

Unfortunately, Dean had to work every night I was here (including his own birthday) so the night-time damage done was minimal. I did get to see the downtown area--the fact that there are skywalks that connect like 10 city-blocks together in a huge indoor mall is astounding (This is because it's so cold during the winter, people need a way to get around downtown). And I got to play some golf. Pretty nifty.

So, this is what I learned about Minneapolis:

1. This is a nice city. I could live here, if it weren't for the fact that it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere
2. The Mall of America is nothing special. It's just a big shopping mall. Big deal.
3. There is insane competition for happy hour--you are doing something wrong if you don't eat for free and drink for $2/beer on any given weeknight.
4. If you're at a club and you are hit on by two drop dead gorgeous women, they might be prostitutes. Very expensive ones at that.

So now, I'm backtracking to Chicago. Updates in a few days!

Chicago fun and games

Chicago. The architecture here is astounding. The downtown area is awesome, and people seem pretty damn nice. There is a lot to do, and most of downtown is walkable. I have to say I'm impressed by this city--it has all the good traits of Boston and NY, but I didn't see any of the bad (though the winters are damn cold). I may even like Chicago more than NY. Definitely more than Boston.

So I got into Chicago Sunday after my boozefest at Notre Dame; unfortunately for my liver, the boozing continued--my friend Jenny and I went to a winefest at Millenium Park (and trust me you, we wined), and then on Monday night, Kelly (Pictured right) and I went to a Cubs game at Wrigley, and of course drank ourselves out pretty well.

Tuesday was a productive day (i.e. no drinking). Went on an architectural boat tour on the Chicago River, checked out the Art Institute of Chicago where I saw tons of Monet's, Renoir's, and a couple of Dali's, ate lunch by Buckingham Fountain, went to the top of the Sears Tower, and then out to Navy Pier, all before meeting Kelly for dinner. You can see some of the pics below, more in my Photo Album:

Drinking at Notre Dame

"So Mo, I'm going to be coming out a day early!"

"Cool Dick! You'll be here for Funnel Friday!"

"What's 'Funnel Friday'?"

"What do you think we're going to do with a funnel?"

And so my visit to Notre Dame started. After funnelling beer, we went to the Oyster Bar, took some shots, and went to the Linebacker. I wasn't fully sober when I woke up, and we were at it again while watching the Notre Dame-Michigan game. And then more drinking til 4 AM, where I was passed out on a couch. Great weekend! And now, it's onto Chicago.

Pics from Friday night are below; More found in my Photo Album.

Pittsburgh

A whole lot has happened since I last updated, so we'll start with where I am now--Pittsburgh! I've been here since Wednesday night, staying with my friend Betsy, known by some former coworkers as "the internet date" (which she isn't--we became friends at MIT). She lives in an awesome place known as the Pennsylvanian, and lives 1 block away from her downtown office.

I also met up with fraternity pledge brother Jon Woon, who I hadn't seen since his wedding. He just moved here from the Bay area--he has a wife, two kids, just got a house, and is now a Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. And he's 27. Talk about having it all...

The drive out here was gorgeous. Nice weather, lots of trees, and not much traffic. On the way out here, I stopped off at the Harley-Davidson production facility in York, PA; I was too late for the tour though.

I also stopped off in Dover, PA, for lunch with my friend Molly. A note on Molly, she is the type of girl I would want to marry and settle down with for the rest of my life. Too bad she won't have me, but hey, I didn't want to move to the sticks of PA anyways.

About my ConEd interview in NYC--I think it went well, I'll know more in the weeks to follow. I was well rested after spending a night in NJ relaxing with friends Josh and Lisa. When they got married, their ceremony literally lasted 15 minutes. The ensuing reception and after-party went for 15 hours. Good times.

More pics: