Mi Vida Ocupada: My Busy Life!

Tuesday's Top 10: Travel Destinations

Did you know that I got a passport nearly 3 years ago and I have yet to use it?! Oh well, at least I have one and can be ready to go in an instant if I ever score a trip abroad ;)

Anyway, this week's Top 10 on Tuesday are my future travel destinations.  Because someday I WILL go to these places (and many others, these are just my Top 10!).

1. Costa Rica

2.  Barcelona, Spain

3. Japan

4. Rio de Janiero, Brazil

5. Hawaii

6. Netherlands

7. Italy (and Greece!)

8. Australia

9. Alaska

10. Thailand

If any of you have ever been to these places, I am seriously jealous!

Video of North Shore Trip

I absolutely LOVE animoto.com, they make it so easy to make cool videos!  Here is one I put together of the photos and video from our trip last weekend and I love how it turned out!

Fall Colors in Lutsen

The highlight of my trip to the North Shore was a day in the Lutsen Mountains.  On Saturday we took the gondola up to the top of the mountain just after it opened for the day.  The gondolas hold up to 4 people and are suspended from a series of cables; a one-way ride takes about ten minutes.  Neither of us had ridden one before and it was really cool!

 

There was a small river flowing through the valley

The colors got much more spectacular the higher we climbed and the further we went from Lake Superior.  It was awesome to see all the beautiful colors. Too bad the weather was overcast and damp, the colors just don't gleam the same.  Still pretty though!

 

 

Once we got to the top we stopped at the overlook to enjoy the beautiful view of the valley below us.  Breathtaking!! Just imagine it with blue skies on a sunny day.....

 

(Yes, my hair is getting ridiculously long.  I can't stand it)

 

Next we proceeded to go on a hiking adventure like neither of us had ever been on before! The first few miles were partially off-the-beaten-path.... I was climbing a dang mountain!! With a lot of loose rocks, soft soil and tree roots everywhere. I didn't take too many photos during the hike as I was being extra-careful with my brother's camera, but here are a few....

I was not feeling so adventurous at that point ( I was being a  big baby, actually) but things got better once we found the main trail again.  We came across the Spur Trail, which is part of the Superior Hiking Trail system.  We did not have a map with us (as we had not really prepared for a hike at that point in time in that particular area) but decided to continue our hike.  There were a lot of obstacles in our way, such as this cluster of trees that had been uprooted.  They had been growing on a solid layer of hard rock.  It's crazy that they were able to grow there for as long as they lived without the roots being able to anchor into the ground like they do in soil.

Some other photos from the hike

 

 

After 4-5 miles (about one mountain over from where we started) and not having a clue where we were headed, we turned back the way we came.  A few miles later we came across the first official sign (which we had somehow missed on the hike out so we must've been on a slightly different path).  Only 3 more miles to go, all of which was slightly different than the way we came.

 

About 8-9 miles after we started our hike ( holy moly was that tiring!), we finally made our way back to the top of the mountain where we could catch the gondola for a  ride back down the mountain to our car.

 

We saw some of the ski runs and chair lifts that they use in winter.  (Sidenote: Downhill skiing is something I have never done in my life, nor will I ever do.  I would hate to go out like Sonny and that is probably what would happen, knowing me.  Breaking my arm while sledding in third grade was quite enough for me, thank-you-very-much.)

 

We both loved Lutsen and look forward to going back again.  The fall is a beautiful time to go but I am sure it is beautiful in spring, summer and winter as well!

Trip to Lake Superior's North Shore

Last week I took a couple of vacation days for the first time in three years and spent a nice long weekend up at the North Shore.  I have been to Duluth many times over the years and my family used to camp up on the North Shore way back in the day, but to my recollection, I had never been any further than Little Marais.  (Here is a MN map for reference)

 

Here is a map of Lake Superior

 

The first night we stayed in Duluth at the Holiday Inn.  I had earned four free-night-stays during a promotion they had going this past summer when I stayed at the Holiday Inn in Austin, TX and decided to cash a few of them in for this trip.  It rained all day Thursday and we were off to a late start so we didn't get to Duluth until late in the evening.  Here is a view of Canal Park from our hotel room.

Early Friday morning we left rainy Duluth and started our drive northeast along the North Shore Scenic Drive.  The rain prevented us from stopping at many of the scenic overlooks, but we stopped at Split Rock Lighthouse for about .32 seconds until we realized you had to pay $8 admission.  Forget about it! 

It had stopped raining at Silver Bay so we stopped at a scenic overlook.  It was sooooo  crazy windy that day, like 40-50 mph.  The swells of the lake were 8-12', it was like being at the Ocean the waves were so big.  I have video footage that I will post sometime soon.

 

It was nearly impossible to catch a clear photo of the berries, it was so windy

We got back on the road and continued the drive to Grand Marais.  The weather got better the further we drove north along the lake.  We stopped at another scenic lookout  somewhere between Lutsen and Grand Marais.  It is so incredibly beautiful! Being at Lake Superior is almost like having the ocean in Minnesota, especially on windy days that bring big waves.

 

We had lunch at the Gun Flint Tavern (which has an awesome Cuban sandwich that I will be reviewing on the Twin Cities Restaurant Blog soon) and then sent some time walking around the town and browsing the shops.  

 

Cool little scene in the Grand Marais Harbor

Later in the afternoon we drove back south to our new hotel in Tofte and then out for a fancy late dinner at the Blue Fin Grille (which I will also be reviewing soon).  Took a couple photos on their beach as the waves kept crashing in.

 

The hotel we stayed at was overlooking the lake and our room was literally less than 20 ft from the waves that were crashing all night long.  I was so tired that I slept peacefully anyway.  We got up early the next day before heading the Lutsen Mountain, which I will be blogging about next!

The Long Forgotten Colorado Post #2

I am just home from another out-of-town adventure but I can't post about that until I finish blogging about my trip to Colorado two months ago.  By now you have probably read about the first half of my Colorado trip (back in early August!) so I better get on the horn and tell you about the 2nd half of our trip.....

After staying two nights in the Westminster/Boulder area, my immediate family drove two hours up into the Rocky Mountains to stay at the vacation home of a friend-of-the-family.  It was an awesome place, big enough for all of us to sleep comfortably (and then some!).

 

Our mountain cabin was at 10,000+ altitude.  It took some time adjusting to the altitude and several of us (myself included) got dizzy and nauseous.  It was about 5 minutes after we arrived at the cabin that I fatally dropped my camera.  No wonder I felt so sick! The combo of the altitude and breaking my baby was enough to really do a number on me, but I am a trooper and toughed it out.  That night we kind of took it easy and just hung out at the cabin and grilled steaks for dinner.  A friend of my brother Jeff lives in Denver and came up to hang out with us Sunday night too.  The group of us enjoyed some wine and a beautiful night out in the hot tub after the kids went to bed.  I am told that everyone who has a home in the mountains up there has a hot tub and I can see why.  Such a cool way to enjoy the evening.....

 

When we got up on Monday morning my mom made omelets for everyone (and she makes the best omelets!) then all of the adults (with the exception of my mom who stayed back to babysit Annika, Bianca and Bennett) went to Hoosier's Pass to do some mountain hiking.  It was at this place that I did my Colorado video blog.

It is so incredibly beautiful and peaceful in the mountains.  You have to experience it for yourself to truly understand the feeling.  Doesn't this look like a post card?  We hiked for a couple of hours up into the mountains.

 

 

A few with us in them....

 

After hiking for a few hours we went back to the cabin and had sandwiches for lunch.  Later Monday afternoon Jeff, his friend Bill, Amanda, and I all drove into Breckenridge while the rest of the group stayed at the cabin with the napping kids.  We had ice cream and cookies from Clint's Bakery and took advantage of the free wi-fi for a few hours. 

The rest of the group met us a few hours later but unfortunately it had started to rain in Breckenridge, so walking through town was not very appealing.  We decided to change our plans from having pizza in town to heading back to the cabin to make fajitas for dinner instead. I love fajitas  and Jeff makes really good ones ;) Later that night we sat in the hot tub again for awhile and then played cards.

Tuesday morning Jeff and Amanda talked me into going hiking with them again that day.  We went back to Hoosier's pass but hiked up the opposite side of the mountain.  Pretty high up there in the Continental Divide!

Jeff took this panoramic shot.  Click on it to make it bigger, it is quite spectacular!

 

Another panoramic shot

Other beautiful shots

We kept seeing these various piles of rocks along the mountain path....

 

Had fun making optical illusions with the distant mountain peaks....

 

A few posed pics....

 

 

After our hike we went back to the cabin, met the others and then we all drove into a nearby town for a picnic.  They had this cute but tiny old church

 

After the picnic we went back to the cabin where we played horseshoes for a few hours while the kids took naps.  We had a lot of fun!

  

 

Once the kids were up we all drove into Breckenridge since the weather was better than the previous day.  Breckenridge is a cute town. 

We had wanted to ride the gondola but it was closed that day.  Good thing we found other ways to amuse ourselves! We saw a license plate that read "BigButt" so Amanda and I posed by it...

 

The kids had fun playing at the little park in Breckenridge (photos by Michelle Sauer)

 

We walked around for a few hours and then ate dinner at Fatty's Pizzeria.

We enjoyed a mellow evening back at the cabin, watching movies and hanging out.  We got up early the next day, had breakfast, packed and cleaned up and then headed out of town.  A couple of family photos at the cabin before we left....

 

It was a very cool trip and I am thankful that my family helped make it possible for me to be there.  This was our first family trip in over 16 years, which made it even more special. Thanks for everything, guys!

The Long Forgotten Colorado Post #1

It was almost two months ago that I went to Colorado with my family for my cousin Katie's anniversary party and I almost forgot to blog about it!! (I may have forgotten to blog about it but  I did post the slideshows my dad created. )  Quick refresher on my trip:  I went to Colorado immediately after working in Austin, TX for three weeks.  The first night in Colorado was spent enjoying happy hour at Que Bueno and going out with Jeff, Heidi and Tony.  The second day we went to a nice picnic with other family and out-of-towners  and then took a walk down Pearl Street in Boulder Colorado. So now I'll continue where I left off...  

After shopping on Pearl Street for an hour or so, we all went back to our hotel to relax and get ready for the upcoming anniversary party.  The party was a dessert reception so a bunch of out family went and had an early dinner on the rooftop patio at the Lazy Dog before heading to the party.  This place had great food, I did a  mini- review for the Twin Cities Restaurant Blog.

After dinner we headed to a Contemporary museum in Boulder for the anniversary party, which was a dessert reception.  Katie and EZ. got married on August 1, 2008 and decided to wait until this year to have a reception for their first anniversary. 

Lots of yummy treats in little nooks and crannies around the space....

My mom and dad....

Michelle and Brian ...

A shot with a few of the girl cousins.....

Jeff and Amanda (there are at least two hundred pics of these two while in Colorado!)

After the party ended, several of us young, cool cousins all went out to Pearl Street.  We had a lot of fun! This was the first time that this particular group of cousins had ever gone out together before and we were all in Colorado celebrating, so it was even more cool.  It reminded me of the fun times Katie and I used to have when we were roommates at SCSU where we both did our undergrads.  It would've been great if Brian and Michelle could've joined us but they had to take the kids back to the hotel for bed. 

Beautiful and Educated Sauer girls ~ Heidi (P.A.), Me (M.A.) and Katie (PhD)-

Cousin Stevie and Jeff

We took cabs back to the hotel at the end of the evening and got a few hours of sleep before going out to breakfast at Perkins and then driving into the Mountains for Part 2 of our Colorado vacation.  Stay tuned for the next installment of my Colorado trip coming soon ;)

Family Vacation in Colorado

Its been quite the summer of traveling for me, as I am sure you have noticed.  After spending three weeks in Austin, TX for a project I was hired to work on, I flew back home for approx. 12 hrs before hopping on another plane headed to Denver for my cousin Katie's wedding anniversary party/family vacation.  This was the first family vacation I had been able to go on since my 16th birthday (many, many moons ago!) and I am glad I was able to go.

For the first few days we stayed at the Westin in Westminster (a far cry from my hotel in Austin!), which is between Denver and Boulder.  Between all of us we took a ton of photos, but here are some of my favorites from the hotel area....

 

 

 

 We walked around and explored the area which included a Happy Hour stop at Que Bueno for margaritas and appetizers.

 

Some of my other aunts, uncles and cousins on the Sauer side of the family also came to Colorado for Katie's party and some of them even stayed at the Westin.

Later that evening Jeff and I wandered over to Bar Louie with our cousin Heidi and her boyfriend Tony.  There was a 20-year HS reunion going on, it was great hearing all the songs that I listened to in 6th grade! LOL

Colorado Mountains Video Blog 12,000 ft

Just wanted to say hi real quick from Colorado! I will be home soon......

Sunset at the Oasis ~ Austin, TX

I was told by several people that while I was in Austin, one of the things I needed to do was check out Lake Travis and The Oasis some night during the sunset.  The Oasis is a restaurant that sits high up on the cliffs overlooking Lake Travis, just west of Austin in the hill country.  I had been trying to check out the Oasis for over a week but the weather wasn't cooperating for a decent sunset.  Finally last Monday night I had a nice night to check it out, so I went out there by myself for dinner and to see the sunset.  Here are a few of the pics....

The decks at the Oasis are very impressive, seating 2,000 people.  I have a review of the Oasis on the Twin Cities Restaurant Blog if you'd like to know more!

 

 

Some sunset shots

 

 

 

 

Hopefully ya'll aren't sick of all my travel pictures yet because I only ahve about 16576157612357612 more to post!

Fajita NIght with Chaitra!

One night last week I met my friend Chaitra for dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Pappasitos Cafe.

 

We had Fajitas

(and a margarita!)

Our service wasn't that great and the fajitas were way over-priced, but it sure was nice to spend time with my old friend from high school! Thanks for meeting up with me, Chaitra!

University of Texas Campus....

Here are some photos I took on and around the University of Texas campus:

Texas State History Museum (Located somewhere between campus and downtown Austin)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Eiffel Tower replica (much smaller scale than the one in Paris) was off-campus, but still near the campus.

Salt Lick BBQ ~ An Austin Favorite

I had a list compiled of restaurants to try and Salt Lick was one of the top 5 by many different sources.  On Sunday night I was finally able to try it out! A group of my colleagues planned to go that night and it worked out that I was able to join them, along with my friend Chaitra (from high school) who happens to live (and teach!) here in Austin.  It was great to see Chaitra, it had been a very long time since we'd seen each other.

 

We didn't go to the original Salt Lick, we went to one that is closer to where we're staying.  The beef brisket was the bomb and the ribs were darn good too.  The sauce was the best part, though.  I have to stock up on that shiznit before I head home!

 

 

 

Mmmm, good stuff.  Going to bring some home for my honey when I fly home for the weekend.....just found out they have a location at the Austin Airport!!

Hula Hut: A Hawaiian Restaurant with Mexican Food...in Texas??!!

I was told to check out the Hula Hut while in Austin and I am so glad that I did! This place is totally cool!

 

 

 

 

Hula Hut is located on Lake Austin, just west of downtown.  Lake Austin is actually part of the Colorado River that is dammed up.  No doubt it is big $$$$ to live in one of these houses overlooking the lake!

 

They have the best fish tacos, I highly recommend them (especially if you pile on the fresh homemade salsa)

 

So that's the Hula Hut!

Tour of Downtown Austin.......

On Saturday Betty and I took a long walk around downtown Austin.  We saw so much and I took several pictures. Here are a some of the photos.

Congress Street Bridge, home of 1.5 million bats

 

Olives are just one of two foods I have an aversion to, but I thought this was cool

 

 A bridal party posing for photos down by the river

 

Not sure the name of this building, but it has gorgeous architecture

 

Playing around in a souvenir shop...

 

This guy was in a souvenir shop too...

 

 

 

Me at the Capitol

 

Inside the dome of the capitol

 

Some sites around the famous 6th Street

 

 

 

 

Keeping Austin Weird at the Museum of Weird

 

Tears of Joy Hot Sauce Shop

 

After we walked and walked and walked some more, Betty and I met our co-worker Erik at a Cuban restaurant on 6th St. called Habana 6.  Both Betty and Erik are Cubanos living in Miami and missed the cuisine, so they wanted to see what Austin had in the way of Cuban food.  I had never had Cuban food before but I thought it was pretty good and they both liked what they ordered as well.  I am in the process of doing mini-reviews of all the restaurants I eat at while in Austin on the Twin Cities Restaurant Blog.

 

 

More to come later!

The Natural Beauty of Austin....

On Saturday afternoon Betty and I braved the heat and took a very long walk through downtown Austin.  We started down by the Colorado River and worked our way north to the Capitol.  The nature down by the river was quite pretty......

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would you have guessed that the temperature was over 100' F and that Texas is experiencing the worst drought in 50 years?

Buddhist Temple in Austin

Discovered a beautiful Buddhist temple not too far away from where I am staying.  My friend Betty and I stopped to check it out and after getting permission to take photos, I got busy taking shots!

 

 

 

 

View of Downtown Austin from Congress Street Bridge

While I was checking out the bats in Austin, I also saw some cool photo-opps of the city.  These were taken on the Congress Street Bridge, on the south side of the Colorado River (aka Lake Austin).  You can see the bats flying in the 2nd picture!

 

The riverboat was one of the many bat-seeing cruises that they offer here.  These bats are a BFD (big frickin deal)!

Texas State Capitol ~ Austin

My first visit to the Texas State Capitol was on Wednesday night when I went to see the bats.  Since the Capitol is less than a mile away, I decided to head over to get some photos of it.  The top of the dome was just catching the warm glow of the sun as it was starting to set....

 

 

 

Same shot as above but with different focus (shot this way on purpose)

 

I loved the fence with the star posts!

 

I visited the Capitol again today and had a chance to go inside, so I will be posting those photos soon.....

Gone Batty!

Here I am earlier tonight at the Congress Street Bridge in Austin, TX.  This is the home of the World's largest bat colony....1.5 million!  Sorry about the shadow on my face... didn't realize until I was already long gone

Guest Post: Jeff's Big NYC Adventure

The following post was written by my brother, Jeff Sauer
************************************************************************

Apparently the entire Sauer clan has gone through a post-holiday rut when it comes to blogging, because I have heard rumblings from both my sister Kristi and my sister in law Michelle about how they haven’t had the time or desire lately to blog.  So when my sister asked me to do a guest post, I thought maybe I could breathe some life into the Sauer Blogosphere.  That was two weeks ago.   

While I agreed to do a guest post on Kristi’s blog, I wasn’t sure when I’d actually get around to it.   For whatever reason, I got the writing bug while sitting in the back seat of a Chevy Suburban speeding down I-94 in Wisconsin, and just started typing away about my January trip to New York City.   Before too long, my story grew in length from paragraphs, to pages, to essay, and ended somewhere in between masters thesis length and a Tolstoy classic.  It was far too long to post on Kristi’s blog.  It also wasn’t very funny.  

Rather than bore Kristi’s readers with my novella, I decided to come to the ultimate compromise; post my long, drawn out diary series on my site, and then pick out the best parts of my story and recap them on Kristi’s blog in hilarious form.   Welcome to my weekend in New York.

My first time in New York City was far from forgettable.  Less than an hour before my train crossed the Hudson River into the former New Amsterdam, a much more significant thing was occurring on the Hudson.  You see, the my first time in New York coincided with the miraculous landing of an airplane in the Hudson River.   That same plane also happened to float past my hotel just 15 minutes before I checked in.  Many of the passengers and flight crew ended up staying the same hotel as me.  
Unfortunately, I ended up learning many of these facts after they had already taken place, so I never had a chance to reflect on what was going on around me.  Instead, I spent my time becoming familiar with the city by taking the subway to most of my destinations.  I only got lost once during the entire weekend of Subway travel, but it happened to be the one time that I had to meet someone at a specific time.  That meeting happened to be with a peer of Three Deep’s (my company), and our tardiness was embarrassing from a first impression stand point.   
After that meeting, I engaged in a little “stress eating” and had a sandwich from a street cart vendor.   Gotta love street meat.  A few hours later, I saw the movie Notorious on opening day in the city where the title character was born.  This would have been a wet dream for me in High School.  

I enjoyed free booze at the hotel happy hour and ended up making a new friend in the process.  Buzzed off the wine, I somehow managed to navigate my way to the subway station, transfer trains twice, and make my way to meet some old and new friends at the best valued watering hold in Manhattan.  For $5, you get a pint of beer and a ticket for a free small pizza.   This was particularly important because I was meeting my friend Molly, who was a poor med school student.   Along with Molly were several other med students, as well as some of Molly’s friends from Chicago (who I have partied with many times in the past).  

As the beer was flowing and the pizza was baked, I turned into crazy fun Jeff and had the whole med school laughing at my observations on life.  They particularly enjoyed when I talked about my impulsivity when it comes to purchases from Amazon.com.  Nobody believed me when I bragged about my recent toaster purchase.  They couldn’t quite grasp the fact that the toaster could also cook eggs at the same time.  It wasn’t until I pulled up a photo from my Amazon.com iPhone app that they finally started to grasp the extent of my Amazon obsession.  
Not wanting to dominate the conversation, I also asked the Med Students for some funny stories about their rotations.  Without hesitation, I got a response that added fuel to our comedy fire:  “A lot of people come to the emergency room because they have stuff up their asses.”   Hearing that made me glad that I’m not a doctor.   Hearing specific cases of rectal conditions made me want to change the subject to something a little higher up on the body... Like drinking more beer.

From the pizza joint we headed over to another place in Manhattan that happened to be of exceptional value.  While walking in I noticed all kinds of deer heads and other decorations on the walls and decided to name the place “Shenanigans.”  The deal here was $2.50 for a pint of Pabst.   With all of the dead deer and Pabst, it felt like a little piece of home.  Probably a little too much like home, because I started chugging beers and buying shots.  I did not feel good the next morning.
After coming back to life after a massive hangover, I explored the town with a new set of friends who had come to the city to see me from New Hampshire.  We took the subway uptown and I quickly realized that with the sheer vastness of NYC, it would be impossible to see everything in a weekend.   It would take several months.  We went to Rockefeller Center to try to get the NBC tour, but we were too late.  However, we were able to get some awesome cupcakes from a place next door.  We went to a restaurant where the entire menu was chocolate, but didn’t eat anything.   A few more stops around town and it was time for happy hour at the hotel.

For those of you who have not partaken, the Embassy Suites has an awesome happy hour.  Basically, you drink for free for 2 hours.  At some locations, they may impose limits on consumption by issuing drink tickets.  In Manhattan, there were no such limitations.   Before long, I was back into crazy fun Jeff mode and had my entire group of friends rolling on the floor.  At that point I was convinced that I should be a stand up comedian.  

After Happy Hour, we met up with Molly and her crew at a bar across the street from the comedy club we would be attending.  We got there a little late, so I barely had a chance to order a beer before we had to walk over to the comedy club.  Just before leaving, though, I went to the jukebox and downloaded a song by Dragonforce and paid extra to have it play first.  Shortly after, Dragonforce was blasting throughout the joint.  Man that was awesome.

The comedy show was hilarious, and I recognized a few of the people who were on stage.  One of the guys was the person from the TV game show “cash cab.”  He was alright, but spent a lot of time talking about the weather (it was COLD in NYC that weekend)... It was funny, but being from MN, I feel like cold jokes are a little overdone.  Another guy was Mark Marin, who I had seen on Comedy Central before.  He was good.  The funniest guy was the third act (there were 5 total).  He was noticeably drunk and kept on picking on an older gentleman in the front row.  He kept on calling the guy “Sully,” which is the name of the pilot of the plane I mentioned earlier.  At the end of every sentence, he simply exhaled and said “Suuuullllyy.”

The comedy club was great, and well worth the price of entry.  After enjoying a happy hour and some beer at the comedy club, Jeff was pretty hungry.  We regrouped at a watering hole across the street, and I tried to order some food, but I soon learned that they didn’t serve any.  My friends said that they saw a Gyros place down the street that looked pretty good, so I decided to go there.  I soon learned that they didn’t accept credit cards, and I had used up all of my cash at the comedy show.  There wasn’t a cash machine at the restaurant, but I was informed that there were tons of cash machines on the street.  I walked around looking for cash and had a mini adventure in itself.

The first cash machine I saw was absolutely filthy and didn’t appear to be working.  Luckily, there was another machine one building over that appeared to work.  However, after I scanned my card and entered my pin, I realized that the whole left side of the keypad wasn’t working, and I could only select the options on the right.  Unfortunately, I chose to attempt my transaction in Arabic.  Let’s just say it didn’t go too well.  I actually got a few screens into it based on memory, but when I had to choose which account to withdraw from, checking was on the left... So I had to choose savings.  Fail.

I was discouraged by this point, so I decided to stop in the store next door, which happened to be a cupcake store offering free samples.  I took my free sample, tipped the guy my last $1, and refueled my quest for cash.  The next machine was much of the same.  I scanned my card successfully, entered my pin, selected my checking account and tried to withdraw some cash.  One again, I got an error message saying I could not withdraw.  

The 4th time ended up being a charm, and I finally got some money out.  Being a little inebriated, I decided to tell my story to anyone who would listen.  It turns out that the only guy who would listen to me was the the Gyro guy.  I told him of my quest, and he displayed about as much empathy as an immigrant who works his butt off each day can display toward an over privileged white kid in Manhattan.  He also made me a kickass lamb and beef pita-wich.  I ate it in .02 seconds.

After the cash machine fiasco, I rushed back to meet my friends and tell them my story.  They found it humorous as well and we laughed over a beer.  Half of the group left to some “dance club” about 50 blocks away.  Those of us who weren’t into recreating You Got Served on the dance floor decided to stay behind.  As we were leaving the bar, I took one last opportunity to play Dragonforce on the jukebox.  I couldn’t help but overhear the people sitting next to us say “What the hell is this crap?” as I smirked in amusement.

The next day we enjoyed the great breakfast at the Embassy Suites and then went and toured more of NYC before I had to leave for my flight back to MN.  I went to Chinatown (sort of cool, EXACTLY like every other China town I’ve been to) and Little Italy (sort of cool, sort of overrated and run down).  The best part was eating pizza in Little Italy.  It just seemed like the right thing to do.  

Overall, it was a great first time in New York, and I can’t wait for another weekend in the big city!

For an even longer and more drawn out version of this story... Head on over to Jeffsauer.com.

Party time for Sally!

Attended a bachelorette party last Friday night for Sally, one of my college girlfriends.  I always have fun when I am reunited with these ladies :)  It was a Black (with Sally in white) theme and we had a green party bus.  Fun stuff!

I am by no means a downtown party girl, but there is ONE club downtown that I have consistently had fun at over the past 10 years because it is such a good place to dance...its had many names over the years but has gone by The Annex for many years now :)  We spent the last couple fo hours at that bar shakin our groove thang and then slumber party. 

I Dream of Hawaii......

I have always wanted to go to Hawaii, all the photos I have seen from there are incredibly beautiful.  You know.....beaches, palm trees, exotic animals and plants.

1. wave, 2. Another Green World, 3. Going to the Volcano, 4. Hawaii Vacation 081, 5. Kualoa Ranch, Oahu, Hawaii, 6. Lei, 7. Hawaii 06, 8. Rainbow over SugarCane, 9. Feast at Lele, 10. Mana Road, 11. Petals & Pollen in Paradise, 12. Kona Coffee Cherries, 13. Baby Luau, 14. Above the clouds: Maui sunrise, 15. Island Traditions, 16. pineapple, 17. Manila Palm, 18. Tikis, 19. sugar cane, 20. USS Arizona, 21. tiki tiki, 22. Blue Hawaii, 23. Diamondhead, 24. Bird of Paradise, 25. Colorful Surf Boards on Waikiki Beach Hawaii, 26. A New Year, A New Camera..., 27. Seconds, 28. Big Makena Beach, Maui Hawaii, 29. Ginger flower lei, 30. Volcano meets Ocean, 31. I Know of You, Camera Boy, 32. Oahu USS Arizona Memorial 12 (2), 33. No Photographer Was Run Over During The Capture of This Sunrise Over Mauna Kea, 34. fragrant, 35. Haleiwa Beach Park, Oahu 1/17/06, 36. Rhythm of the Ocean

One of my blogging buds, Samara, just got back from Maui and posted a few of my new favorite photos on her blog.  Check it out and you will SEE exactly why I am ready to hop on a plane  to Hawaii!!!!!!!!!!!

Our scrappy trip.....

Got back yesterday afternoon from a fun weekend filled with scrapping....
As I mentioned in my last post, I went with Michelle, Erin and eight other girls to a scrapbooking retreat in northern MN.  Wow, I have never scrapped so much or for so long in my life!!!
The building we were in is awesome!  The lower level is half scrapbook store called Once Upon A Page, the other half is a large crop room.  Here is what that room looked like with all of our stuff spread out at our tables.....


Notice the table in the middle full of snacks?????!!!  We had a wide range of goodies to keep us going!
Erin and Michelle, getting their scrap on!!

Scrapping for hours and hours on end is really exhausting, both mentally and physically! I was so tired!

So that was the crop room.  The upstairs of the building was the living quarters (which was really modern and great!) Besides this Great Room, there were three bedrooms to sleep 10 girls (plus one more on an air mattress) and two full-size bathrooms.  We had everything we needed!

We had pre-arranged for small groups to provide each meal, so we had baked mostaccolli on Friday night, and then waffles, sandwiches and enchiladas on Saturday.

It was a nice trip and I got just about everything I wanted to get done finished.  I will post my layouts later!

Thanks for inviting me, Michelle, I had a great time!

PS  They had some great product in the store, but I didn't allow myself to even go inside until Saturday, 30 minutes before they closed.  I was the only girl on our trip who did not spend a single $$$$$.  It took some restraint, but I will not buy anything else for a long time.  I have too much as it is and I just cannot justify spending $$ on scrapbook stuff with as much stuff as I already have!

Scrapbook weekend is here!

In just a little while I will be heading up north with Michelle and Erin and several other girls (half of whom I do not know) to spend the weekend at The Intensive Crop Unit.  Going to have a fun time and will hopefully catch up on all my recent photos!
Have a great weekend everyone!

Jeff's blogging from his Alaskan Cruise!

Remember my brother Jeff? The one who used to blog about his fun travel adventures and other trivial things (but works too much now to keep up the blog)? Well, he and my dad are on an Alaskan cruise right now and he is blogging about his adventures.  Make sure to read them and comment too because I want him to blog every day that he is out there.  The kid seriously cracks me up with his stories and it sounds like he is having a ton of fun and making some good money at the ship's casino.

Alaska Day 1:

Alaska Day 2:

Alaska Day 3

Alaska Day 4

Alaska Day 5

Daytrip to Duluth.....

I actually got to go somewhere for my spring break after all!  Lanee had to give her brother a ride up to Duluth yesterday, so e and I decided to tag along with her and make it a fun road trip!  The weather was sunny and nice, so we spent part of the afternoon down on the rocky beach of Lake Superior....
It was a great time!
So glad I got to go somewhere, even if it was just two hours away!

Jeff's European Adventures.....

Many of you who have followed my blog over the years know that my younger brother Jeff is also a blogger.  In fact, he has actually been blogging for longer than anyone I know (like 6 years now), but his posts have been sporadic over the past year or so because he isn't sure if it is worth it to write so much if he doesn't have an audience.
I know some of you have read several of his blog posts in the past and have wished he would write more often, so I wanted to point out that he recently went to Europe and has written several posts about his adventures.

Go read his blog and leave him some comments, he isn't feeling as loved as he should after spending so many hours writing about his trip!! Feel free to tell him I sent you there, or that you are a friend or dotcomrade of mine.  As soon as he sees this post, he will be expecting you.  Don't disappoint....I can guarantee you won't be disappointed with his stories! He is a funny clever guy and also SINGLE, good looking and extremely successful.  Badly in need of a girlfriend to spoil. LOL

Jeff has also initiated a rating system for each of his posts, please show him how much you enjoy his posts so that he keeps writing!!  And don't forget to add him to your Bloglines or Google Reader subscriptions!

http://www.jeffsauer.com/blog/

Happy Friday ya'll!

 

See the USA.....

Do any of you remember this post last October when I told you guys about the Hometown Invasion Tour? I have faithfully been following Bugsy's (aka Justin Sailor) journey as he makes his way around the country, staying with various hosts and visiting Small Town America.  He has thus far made it to over 25 states and is about half-way home.  This week he made it to Tennessee and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that he was staying with Krystyn, one of my blogging buddies who had heard about his adventures from my original post!!  How cool is that??  Bugs even gave me a shout-out in this post on his blog!!

I have visited 21 states (those in red) in my lifetime and would love to see all 50.  Anyone want to host me?? Its obvious which sections I need to see!

Pathetically, I have only been to two other countries outside the U.S.: The Bahamas and Mexico...but I have been to Mexico 20 times!

Cruisin'

I'd like to hear from those of you who have ever taken a cruise....

Where did you go?

What cruise line did you use?

What time of year was your cruise?

What important things about cruisin' do you think I should know???

Thanks :)

My Costa Rican dream....

Okay, so I am already sick of the snow and we are supposed to get 12-18" MORE in the next few days.

Spring break isn't for another 5 weeks or so, but I am already thinking tropical, as you could probably tell by my new banner :)

I'd be happy to go anywhere warm and sunny this year, but for over 12 years now the one place I have wanted to visit more than anywhere else is...... Costa Rica.

Why Costa Rica?  Well, back in 11th grade my Spanish class had a student teacher who had gone to SCSU and did a travel abroad program there.  She brought in many pictures from her trip and it all sounded so exciting, that I actually went to SCSU with the intentions of minoring in Spanish and doing the Costa Rica program.  So fall quarter of my freshman year I took Latin American Studies 250, the prerequisite for the program.  It was a terrible idea to take this class as a new college student!!!  I was just young and naive enought to think that the course would involve learning about the culture of latin america, similar to what we had learned throughout highschool.  I was very wrong...the class was all about the politics of Mexico, Costa Rica and Brazil.  I am not even into the politics of my own country ,let alone these ones.  the class was a terribel experience for me.  I remember a certain assignment I needed to complete and standing in the campus library for the first time, crying because I had no idea what I was doing and I was so frustrated. It is such a helpless feeling. Thank God my roommate (and still very dear friend) Bradie, was taking an orientation class and later helped me find what I needed.  The entire class was a total failure and I ended up getting the first and only C I have ever gotten in my life.  My dreams of going to Costa Rica were dashed when I realized that the professor of my class was the advisor for the whole Costa Rica program.  I gave up the idea of studying there in college.  I also could not get in to any of the Spanish classes because of my they were all full long before freshman werre able to register.  There went my dream of minoring in Spanish.

So to make a long story short, I still want to go to Costa Rica.  Colleen & Matt have been there.  So have Becky and Miles.  And Laura and Jeff.  I am extremely envious, but I know I will still make it there someday!

I cannot wait to see the jungle and all the exotic plants and animals, the mountains, the beaches, the people, the food.

Someday.

Soon, I hope!

Ps  Speaking of traveling, I thought I'd direct you to a cool post my brother Jeff recently wrote about his experience filming a documentary in Kenya, Africa while he was in college.  Glad both of my brothers studied abroad even though I didn't :(  Make sure to leave Jeff a comment!

More from Madeline Island....

Last night after dinner E and I went over to Lanee and Roger's house....it is awesome that they only live two miles away!  I am making them an album for their wedding and needed to get more pictures of the two of them.  Lanee took me on a walk down memory lane while looking at pics of them over the last 7-10 years.  Fun stuff! She took out a bottle of wine and I discovered why so many people drink it.....it gets you snookered so quickly!!!!

We also looked through Lanee's pics from Madeline Island (I put all 175 of them on CD for myself).....she (with Sonja's help) got soooooo many good ones!  They take after their mother who was a photographer :)  I think our pictures compliment each other more than duplicate, since we had our cameras out at totally different times.  I just have to share a few more!

***PS I learned that the Ojibwe call Madeline Island, "Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker".  I am reading a historical fiction book called The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich, about an Ojibwe family living on the Island a few hundred years ago.***

An action shot of Sonja and Olga on the Ferry going over to the Island.....

Girls Retreat to Madeline Island

*****Forewarning:  I took 187 photos and 5 videos in 3 days.  This is going to be a long post!

Got home late last night after a fabulous weekend retreat with my best friends.  We rented a cottage on Madeline Island, which is the biggest of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior (Northern Wisconsin).  Lanee is a veteran of the island (she used to nanny at the resort we stayed at) and thought it would be great to have us girls go up there in lieu of a bachelorette party for her upcoming wedding.   Great idea!!

We got on the road Friday later than planned, but made it to Duluth by mid-afternoon.  The drive wasn't much fun because of all the rain and wind (but we never let it rain on our parade!). We stopped at Little Angie's Cantina in Canal Park for a late lunch and Margaritas before crossing over into Wisconsin for the second leg of our journey.

 

More rain through Wisconsin.....the lake was really choppy by the time we got to the Madeline Island Ferry in Bayfield, WI.  Huge waves.  Needless to say, my first-ever ferry ride (with a car) wasn't smooth-sailing.  Our car was parked so that we were faced backwards when the boat was moving. It was a really rocky ride and oh man, do I get sea sick.  And I totally forgot my meclezine for motion sickness.  I stood outside the car in the freezing, whip-you-in-the-face, wet wind so that I wouldn't get sick! Being the photojournalist that I am (ha!), I got this pic of Kim and Mary with another Ferry in the background.

About 30 minutes later we made it to Madeline Island.  Did I mention that we accidentally butted in line and snuck our way onto the Ferry? Lanee, Sony and Olga had to take the next one! We had a little time to kill before their boat came over.

Our cottage (Mariner's Rest) was just a short distance from the Marina.  It is part of a  resort called The Inn.  Such a cute place, even better than I expected! 3 bedrooms and three full baths!

and a fireplace that Sonja did such a great job of keeping warm and toasty all weekend long.

We had pizza for dinner and then went to have a drink at the only bar on the Island that was still open.  Got the only picture of all six of us that night.  Played a quick game of darts with Kim and played pretty awesome considering I've played only 2-3 times in the past 5 years!

Spent the rest of that evening back at the cottage having heart to heart discussions.  Played some poker.

Woke up to more dreary weather.  Made a huge breakfast.  Went on a wet, muddy drive around the island. Boo Rain!

Watched some movies and played Cranium, made a huge spaghetti dinner.  Had a great time together despite the crappy weather.  We played charades later that night....that was one of the highlights of the trip! My girls crack me up!!  I totally wish we had taken a real video camera with us to capture it all. We had a total blast playing Cranium too!

Sunday was the best day of all because "the sun came out and dried up all the rain". Woo hoo! Our first stop was the Indian Cemetary.  Members of the local Ojibwe Nation still keep watch over the graves of their ancestors and bring offerings.  Its pretty cool and I got pictures, but I know these things are often sacred and I'd hate to be insensitive by posting them here.

Click here to learn more about the Ojibwe people. 

Here is another cool source.

We went to Big Bay State Park and went on a scenic photo hike. So, so pretty!

We also visited a beach and made our mark

It was a great weekend with my girls.....I hope we can start doing this together every year!

The North Shore

On Monday I took a day-trip up to the North Shore of Lake Superior with my parents and my brother Jeff.  It was probably the most gorgeous day possible.......the Lake was calm, the skies were blue, and the weather was warm.  Perfect for sight-seeing and taking scenic pics!

Our first stop of the day was Tobie's in Hinckley.  Its a tradition to stop there for a donut every single time we go to Duluth!

Once we got to Duluth, we stopped at the Visitor Center overlooking the city to get our map of the North Shore (although we have been up here a bunch of times when I was a kid). This is the view overlooking the city and tip of the Lake. I thought this bridge looked pretty cool.....

We stopped for lunch at Grand Superior Lodge just past Two Harbors.  The restaurant, Splashing Rock, had an excellent view from the patio...see picture below. I'd love to stay here sometime...they have large cabins for rent in addition to the Lodge.

Here we are at Goosberry Falls (the water level is EXTREMELY LOW... Normally the waterfall is raging!)

And then we drove a little bit further to a spot where we could see Split Rock Lighthouse

And then up to Palisades Head

We then drove up to Little Marais for a trip to a gift shop, but were disappointed with what they had there.  After that, we drove all the way back down to Duluth.

In Duluth, we went to Canal Park and down to the boardwalk. 

We finished the day off with dinner at Grandma's Saloon & Grill. (Another Tradition.  My family is FULL of them! )

Yes, Northern Minnesota is truly gorgeous.  God's Country!  Anyone out there spend time on any other part of the lake? I know it touches Ontario, Michigan and Wisconsin.... 

Jeff, the World Traveler

Hey guys.... you all might remember my brother Jeff from these two guest posts he did for me back in February....

Brush With Celebrity

Back from Hollywood

Well anyway, Jeff is going abroad again on Saturday.....this time to Scotland for nearly two weeks.  He is looking for ideas of What to do in Scotland (see link). He also just updated his blog with new software so that he has an RSS feed.  That means you can add him to your bloglines or whatever you use to know when he has updated.  He plans to post daily while in Scotland, and I am sure he will have many great stories to tell!  If you haven't checked out his site before, you definitely should now :) He also has figured out a way to make  a poll right on his website.  I think I need to ask him how he did that...very cool feature! Go ahead and vote...he is goofy!

I am jealous....he has made it to Africa, Asia and now on to Europe.  I still have yet to leave North America!!  Maybe Jeff and I will visit South America or Australia together someday.  That would be totally fun!

Guest Blogger:Back from Hollywood

Many of you know from my little brother Jeff's guest post last week that he was going to be doing a little security gig in Hollywood at a Celebrity Fashion Show. 

Well he is back and here is what he had to say about the experience:

As recently as February 2006, I was asked by a friend to describe my favorite traveling experience.

I didn’t have an answer.

It wasn’t due to a lack of experience; I have a travel resume that would inflict jealousy into the hearts of all but the most seasoned of travelers.

While I’m only 24 years old, I have already amassed an all-star itinerary of locales. I have bared sweltering temperatures while running (literally) through the African Rift Valley.

I have been viewed as a giant in cities as cosmopolitan as Tokyo.

I have fallen in love with several continents, and felt at home with people whose genetic makeup represents my polar opposite. I am an ambassador to the nation of travel, and my people are the world.

Until recently I have never been able to quantify traveling experiences into a humanized ranking system. How can one assign values of finality to such an intangible experience?

That all changed when I spent this weekend in Hollywood.

At the risk of breaking rhythm of my philosophically laced sentences above, I am going to make an attempt to explain to you the merits of what I now consider my favorite traveling experience. I got to see celebrities!

While I don’t want to give you the perception that I am shallow, I feel it’s important to let you know that I thoroughly enjoyed being surrounded by celebrities. I’m not sure why I find celebrities as a source of enthrallment, it clearly defies logic.

As I explained to you earlier, I’m a computer guy. I should be relatively unphased by celebrity; I should continue with speaking in computer nerdery. 01101000 01101001 (That’s “hi” in binary).

However, I am sure that many of you readers are equally enchanted by the celebrity mystique. That may even be why you’re reading this particular post (other acceptable reasons are boredom and masochistic inclinations).

To document my hypnosis with Celebrity and Hollywood, I have posted my photos online at www.jeffsauer.com/hollywood.php.

Rather than bore you with pictures taken, and places visited, I will use my remaining space to summarize Hollywood’s impact. I realized that I am naïve. I guess I always knew that, but Los Angeles brings naivety to the forefront. I realized that celebrities come and go.

While being surrounded by people from “the business,” I quickly realized that celebrities (talent) have very little to do with an actual Hollywood production. They are merely pawns in the game.

I realized that there are more elements going into big-time productions than one can possibly fathom. For every super star (think Ashlee Simpson), there are 20 people responsible for their every move.

I realized that Hollywood isn’t nearly as beautiful as it seems. I commonly refer to myself as a man of average intelligence and below average looks. Prior to my Hollywood experience, I thought I’d be constantly embarrassed in Hollywood by people of greater beauty and power. I left feeling the exact opposite of these notions, and I ultimately realized that I’m overly self-conscious.

Last, I realized that Minnesota is way too damn cold! I need to move away, and soon!

Well, I’m glad that I could sum up my trip in ambiguity laced statements. For more lighthearted excerpts from my trip, follow the link to my website above, or simply visit my site: www.jeffsauer.com

There you are folks!!!  Give Jeff some love by leaving him a comment here or by checking out his website! I had to include this pic of Jeff with Sheila E!

Guest Blogger: Brush with Celebrity

I speak often of my younger brother Jeff.  This kid is pretty funny...cracks me up all the time.  Jeff just spent the past two weeks in Florida (comes back to Minneapolis today) and then is flying out to Los Angeles tomorrow for a special opportunity.  So I have asked him to be a "guest blogger".  Hope you like! He has his own website/blog that he has kept for YEARS. He also owns his own web design company.  Oh, and ladies, Jeff is single!

Brush with Celebrity By Jeff Sauer

I’m just an average Joe. Well, that’s not entirely true. My name is Jeff. One sentence into this and I’m already lying to you. This bothers me.

I pride myself in being an honest man, so I’m not sure why I have already lapsed in talking to you. People have called me sincere, and even honest. One time, I even think I overheard a guy at the gas station saying that I was trustworthy. In fact, before that President Lincoln guy came around, I was known by honest Jeff.

So, it bothers me when people think I’m lying when I tell them about my plans for this weekend. You see, this weekend, I will be traveling to Los Angeles, Hollywood to be exact, to be a security guard at a Celebrity Fashion Show.

I know nothing about security.

While I’m a sizable man, the notion of working security has never occurred to me at any point in my life. I work with computers. I’m a geek. I design web pages. I’m a dork. I think that playing with databases and working with numbers is fun. I’m a nerd.

I am an all-purpose pseudo intellectual with a penchant for the inane. That’s what I do.

That is why you may find it strange that when the opportunity arose for me to rub shoulders with celebrities, enjoy a backstage point of view to an exclusive event, and do something completely out of the ordinary, I volunteered my services in about 2.2 seconds.

Actually, I doubt that you find that strange at all. You may very well take the same opportunity if presented. I was presented this opportunity through one of my business partners, who is a former security guard for the artist Prince. While he has since retired from being a security guard for celebrities, he still has ties to many celebrities and still does security for special events. He was selected by his good friend Sheila E to be head of security for her fashion show, and he gladly accepted. He then needed to round up a series of volunteers to help staff the event, and I was an invitee. The rest is history.

I am excited for the event, and I have a feeling it is going to go very well. My lone inhibition is that I literally know NOTHING about security. While I’ve been assured that this will be an easy event, I still wonder if I’m getting in over my head. I will find out soon enough.

It’s hard to point out a single celebrity that I’m most interested in meeting, they are all great. I am probably most interested in meeting Olivia Wilde, Angelina Jolie, Bill Cosby, and Gabrielle Union. Check back soon to see how everything goes!

Good luck Jeff and Have fun!!  I wish you could get some good pics, but that'll probably be hard to do.  We want to hear all the details when you get back!

Peeps....give Jeff some love!

Thanks to the Travel Channel...

...I now want to move to Portland, Oregon!  (Well, at least take a trip to see if I like it as much in person!) I know I have mentioned many times that I do not watch much Prime Time TV...its too hard for me to keep to a schedule and I would want to catch every episode.  So when I do actually want to watch TV, I usually turn it to the Travel Channel first to see what cool places they want to tell me about today!  I have found that I can travel vicariously just by watching these shows :)

The show they had on Tuesday night was all about the cool things and places around Portland.  The Pacific Northwest looks sooooooo gorgeous.  And it is one area of the U.S. that I have not yet traveled to, but have always wanted to visit. All that natural beauty not too far from the city.....the best of both worlds.  Did you guys know that they have these enormous red sand dunes in OR that kids go boarding down? Its just like snowboarding but you don't have to freeze your ass off! 

You can also go panning for gold in the Columbia River, whitewater rafting (which I would never do), fishing for salmon and maybe even look for Bigfoot while out camping or hiking.  I want to go there and discover all of the reasons why so many settlers risked the trek across the Oregon Trail just to get there.  Thank you, Lewis & Clark, for your remarkable voyage and opening up the West to the rest of the settlers.

One thing I would love the most is being close to the ocean and being able to have fresh seafood everyday if I wanted! The special on the TC highlighted lots of cool things you can do and places you can go around Portland....I can't remember all the details, but I do remember that they showed a donut shop that had out -of- this- world looking donuts! And Mo's World Famous Clam-Chowder.

Anyone been to Portland? Was it as cool as I the Travel Channel made it out to be?

Chipotle Chicas

I whipped up this layout when I got home last night....I just got a bunch of Prima Flowers and wanted to use them, but it just didn't feel right.  They are so cute and tiny, but I just need to use BIG flowers on my layouts.  I don't think they would be me without them.  Aren't these big lilies beautiful? I thought they mimicked the flower in the paper perfectly.  I bought them at Michael's and pulled them off the stem, just like I do with all my bigger silk flowers. These pics are me with me girls Lori and Jen.  We are the Chipotle Chicas!  We love meeting for lunch there whenever we get time away from students!Using just one pic on a layout is something new for me!!

Peace out, peoples!

Two big white guys in Tokyo

Yesterday E and I went to my parent's house for dinner to help celebrate my brother Jeff's 24th birthday.  We made homemade pizzas and spent the afternoon hearing about Brian and Jeff's recent trip to Japan.  They both had millions of WorldPerks miles saved up and were able to fly to Tokyo last weekend basically for FREE.

It sounds as though the boys had quite an adventure in this country that is quite different from America.  Most of the adventure stemmed from not speaking any Japanese and not having any idea what they were doing, where they were going, or what they were seeing!  Everything is spoken and written in Japanese, of course, so my brothers had to guess at much of what they were doing.  Many of the restaurants had plastic models of what items were featured on their menus to help with non-Japanese speakers, and they relied on that most of the time.  They went to one really cool restaurant called Ninja that had English speaking servers... They had a lot of fun eating sushi and other Japanese cuisine.  I am really proud of them for being so adventurous...when we were growing up I would never have dreamed of either of them ever trying sushi, yet alone liking it!

They got to visit Narita Temple and the Imperial Palace, legendary sites in Tokyo.  They also went to the Ginza district (Like Times Square).  They also had an amazing view of Mt. Fuji from their hotel, The Westin Tokyo.

If you are interested in seeing all of the pictures or just hearing more about the trip, visit Jeff's Tokyo Pictures . He has not yet added commentary to any of the pictures, but plans to do that soon!  I can't wait to visit Tokyo myself sometime!