For the last couple Septembers, my mom, aunt, cousin, and I have met up in New York City. We aren’t going this year and so I’ve had New York on the brain lately. From subway rides to coffee in Chelsea and goofing off in Highline Park, to picnics in Central Park and pizza at Grimaldi’s, to just wandering the city to see what we discover, we always have a blast and don’t want it to end.

Last year we celebrated my aunt’s 60th birthday and gave her a Fine Art album with the images from the trip. I was just at her place paging through it, and it brought it all back. *Sigh* NYC, you’ve got my heart!

Even though I’m missing being there now, I’m SUPER excited that Jake and I will be there for New Years this year. It’s been one of my bucket list items since before people started calling them that (mine was just “Life To Do List”). We’re waffling between doing the Times Square thing or the 4-mile Central Park run that starts at midnight. We’re not sure it sounds that fun to stand in a crowd that has no place to pee for 12 hours waiting for the ball to drop, but then again Times Square is THE NYE party. The run sounds like a festive thing to do and I’ve always wanted to do a race at night.  Hmmm… So what do you think?

That it’s in wine country is a double plus! We’ll be making a bee line down on I-5 but will be taking our time on the Pacific Coast Highway on the way back with Let’s Go Roadtripping USA as our guide (I rarely leave home without a travel guide or the Yelp app for good eats away from home :) ). I’m super excited since I’ve been wanting to do this road trip for quite some time and have heard only great things about it.

See you when I get back! I’ll have limited internet access so I’ll be responding to all emails upon my return. OH, and I have TONS of blog posts to catch up on, so stay tuned…

On Sunday Jake and I race Lavaman, our first triathlon. It’s no Ironman, but we will be racing on part of the Ironman World Championship course, does that count? Here’s hoping I don’t drown at the swim start in the sea of thrashing arms and legs. Wish me luck!

I spent some time in Kona while in photography school years ago, so here are some throw-back photos to tide you over.

This the view from Waynu Picchu, the peak behind Machu Picchu. Note the winding road leading up on the left (the shuttle buses take this route). Top center is Machu Picchu as viewed from above.

While it is true that there’s more to Peru than Machu Picchu, it goes without saying that it’s a pretty sweet place. What’s not to love about crazy old Inca ruins in the middle of the Peruvian highland cloud forest?!

It’s even sweeter if you get up at 4am and hike the hundreds of stairs up to the ruins so as to beat the horde of 3000 tourists that are marched through there every day by their tour guides. It’s so calm and peaceful. I could almost imagine what it must’ve been like when the terraces were full of crops, and the place was full of life.

It’s probably even sweeter still to be one of those in the quota of 500 people that get to hike the ancient Inca trail that leads to Machu Picchu. But I have to admit we passed on that one. A “must” though it may be, hiking for five days in the middle of rainy season just doesn’t sound like a grand old time to me. As much as I want to think of myself as an outdoor person, when it gets down to it, I’m really not. I love the city, but I also love the mountains. I just love them more when viewed from a train. :)

That doesn’t mean Jake and I didn’t get our share of hiking in that day. There’s another mountain peak just behind Machu Picchu called Wayna Picchu that Jake was itching to climb (keep in mind this man climbed Mt. Rainier, while I’m happy to stay and throw snow balls at the visitor station). Add a few hundred more stairs, treacherous drop offs, and shaky knees, and you’ve got the idea. I’m glad I didn’t know beforehand, or I may not have done it. Good thing we weren’t in the US or they would have made us sign a 10 page liability form that would’ve scared me off for certain! The views were pretty great, shaky knees and all!

We finished the day off in the nearby town of Aguas Calientes with a well earned liter of real cane sugar Coke (far better than the corn syrup-laced soda we get here in the States!) and a game of checkers. Perfect ending to a very lovely and exhausting day!

I gave up a few weeks of summer this August when I traveled to Brazil where it was winter at the time (photo above taken at the Oscar Niemeyer Museum in Curitiba, Brazil), so I’m going to redeem those weeks by enjoying Christmas in the Peruvian summer! I’m excited for this new adventure, for some couchsurfing, trekking, and yummy Peruvian food!  Oh, and of course adding country #30 to my list, hehe.

Stay tuned for some updates from below the equator….

If you get a chance to head there yourself (and you should!), check out some of the wineries we visited:

One of the US/Canada hockey games was happening that night, and when Canada scored a goal, the cheers rippled from inside the bars and into the overflowing streets filled with people straining to catch a glimpse of the action. The energy in the city was quite electric indeed!

I took this while I was in Miami last summer. We were hanging on by the waterfront when this sweet thundercloud started rolling in. It was quite a sight to behold!

Very exotic, and always an adventure, Vietnam is a place that will challenge and inspire. I must say, not too many Americans take them up on the offer, but the Vietnamese harbor no hard feelings, and you’ll bump elbows with many a French, German, Aussie, or Kiwi soul, plus get the chance to get your very own “Asian tatoo” from the hot muffler of a motorbike taxi (think blister, not ink)! Hint: a cold can of Coca Cola will do the trick as ice is hard to come by. Thank goodness I learned my lesson the first time I was there, but I did manage to drink loads of the sugar-not-corn-syrup version of “Coca,” as they say. Yum.