Not all who wander are lost

Text from Patty from the Red: Wanna get some breakfast in the morning?
Me: I'm in Virginia
Patty: You spend more time wandering around than Moses.  I'm a bit jealous.

Today is April 30

Of the 4 months in 2011, I have been away for 37 days:

-Colorado

-Blacksburg

-Nashville

-New Orleans

-DC

-Austin

-Louisville

-Winston

-Tampa

(Greensboro next week)

(Kentucky in early May)

(Roanoke after that)

Despite being a travel bug and an adventure guru, I'm a bit tired. That's why I'm staying put all weekend and PLAYING!

-FOFP was a great kickoff to bluegrass outdoors all summer long

-Camos Bros Pizza was surprisingly delicious Brooklyn-style pizza with awesome rooftop seating. They just opened in the Courtyard on W Franklin.

-Johnny's & crepes with my pops this morning made my day

-trails/gardening: 6 deer+ 2 copperheads+ 36 snapdragons+ 15 SPF= 2 full days in the sunshine!

-WAC (90's theme)... stay tuned for pics... they will be epic.

-Dance party at the Station

-Eno swimming

Mardi Gras N'Awlins style

I learned a great moto from the Johanson's this weekend:

If you're traveling and don't want to hang like they do in Rome,

You might as well just stay at home.

A weekend in New Orleans in review:

Incredible food eaten at:

-beignets at Cafe du Monde. Now that's a breakfast of champions!

-Po Boys at Johnny's.

-my first hurricane, turtle soup, gumbo, and banana's Foster at The Court of Two Sisters.

-brunch (including my first Bloody Mary and second banana's Foster) at Brenan's. My family's coat of arms is on their giant map of Ireland.

- lunch at Cafe Grenada and a trolly ride back to Canal St.

Lots and lots and lots of beads from:

-The Carolina alumni reunion at the Garden District parade. Richard and I met up with fellow grads Meg, Kemper, Whitney, & Sam to watch the floats. Little did we know that Dook would lose in basketball later that night-- now that's a celebration!

-The St Barkus parade

-Bourbon St. For those of you who have not witnessed the mayhem that is Bourbon St. during Mardi Gras, it's a perfect combination of Franklin St. on Halloween mixed with the NC State fair, minus the rides, add public intoxication, throw in a tranny directing traffic.

Colorado: in review

Days spent in Colorado: 12

Pages in my study guide for PNP certification: 243

Percentage of time I spent procrastinating when I should be studying: 51

Days skiing on the mountain: 3

Inches of fluffy-uffy-sticky-icky-pow-pow (fresh powder) at Copper last weekend: 12

My steezy factor on a scale of 0 to 10: 4 (the decided number that indicates pretty decent steez without being obnoxious)

Fraction of people who knew that turtlenecks were not steezy: 4/5

Tracks on the album made for Kelly entitled Chicken Soup for the Soul Mate: 20

Gallons of gas used in the Prius: Gotcha! NONE, it's a hybrid! haha

UnLabor Day

To all those people who work 5 days a week: I understand your pleas for Friday now. I skipped town and made it to Colorado just in time for happy hour. Golden City Brewing in Golden, Co is the 2nd largest brewery in town... and they have pickles.

The Tour de Fat sponsored by New Belgium was going on in Fort Collins. Imagine Halloween on a Saturday morning... on bicycles. I felt right at home in this little college town, especially since I met up with Kelly-- my long lost from my Carolina days who now lives in Buena Vista.

After extensive research and asking a few locals for beta on where to climb, we set out for Poudre (pronounced "Pooter") Canyon for a gorgeous day outside. This is what we found...

We chose The Palace as our destination... a wall of sport climbing that requires navigating across a freezing river for the approach. Kelly and I led a couple of routes that turned out to be pretty "chossy" but we came out on top.
Never thought I'd see the day, but we even got Richard on the rock!
After a hearty meal and long nap for recovery, we headed to Boulder to check out the city. As we got closer to the city we could see an ominous brownish gray cloud over the city. Rolling down the windows sent ash and the smell of burning wood into the car. We had no idea that the fire started just a few hours before we arrived in town. Flagstaff Rd. is a parkway that overlooks the mountains and Boulder area and everyone wanted a view of the forest fire as well. It's probably about 10 miles as the crow flies, but the winds proved to be the most deciding factor in the fire's behavior.
Many thanks to my great tourguides Kelly, Richard, and Javi-by-email for a great trip in Colorado!

Sweet Home 'BAMA

I needed a vacation from my vacation at Tekoa. Little did I know that in Alabama it's pretty hard to do anything other than eat and roll yourself from the car to the couch because it's so ridiculously hot.

A week with the Johanson family showed me so much about Southern food that I did not know:
-meat and three is a way of life: Pick a meat and three vegetables from the line of overcooked, over salted, over delicious food.
-The Whistlestop Cafe exists! Iggie was not there, but the fried green tomatoes were about the best I've ever had!
-Another Broken Egg Cafe: Yes, it is possible to make french toast from cinnamon buns. And then cover it with cream cheese icing. And then cover it with banana's foster sauce. And then cover it with whipped cream. And then cover it with summer berries. And take all the calories out.-Impromptu brewery tours in Chattanooga are a great excuse to escape the heat: Terminal Brew House in downtown versus Big River Brewing... I have to admit, I liked Big River Better for the brews but Terminal had the atmosphere down pat.


The Hot Strings Bluegrass Festival welcomed me to town (along with the rain). I can certainly say that I have never listened to live bluegrass while sitting in a folding chair, but the bands were great and very talented. Even Richard was tapping his foot! Definitely worth putting on the calendar!

My favorite song was "Somebody in Alabama loves you"

When the heat was too much, we headed for the mountains and stopped at DeSoto State Park. There's a super nice place to stay run by the state with access to hiking trails at the back of the lodge.

DeSoto Falls:

Feet up in Little River Canyon. A beautiful canyon that is known for having a river than runs mostly on top of a mountain.
After a long trek, we finally made it to Mouth Park where the swimming hole was huge with perfectly clear water. You could see the fish nibbling at your toes here.
Back to the grind...
I am starting my last semester in school and finishing up with a residency in Raleigh before I head out to Tanzania in October. More coming soon!