Tucson, AZ

Took my first trip back to Tucson, after almost two years away. Had a wonderful time visiting old hangouts and seeing friends.

My friend of many years,Matt, got married. It was my first time to meet his wife Cynthia and even so she invited me to be one of her bridesmaids. The wedding was at Z mansion a beautiful location. Thought the ceremony and reception were all wonderful. Plus it was great to see old friends that I had not seen in years and of course meet new ones.

Saw some of the local color and interesting artwork on 4th Ave that makes Tucson unique. Definitely do not see these things in Boston!

Had fun traveling all over the state and visiting friends in Phx,Tucson,Prescott,Flag

Will make sure it's not two more years before I get back to Tucson.

Reykjavik, Iceland

Got my first stamp on my new passport! Spent 5 days in Iceland and absolutely loved it. Things did not go quite as planned, d/t weather, but we had an amazing time. According to locals it was the most snow they had seen in years.

It was pretty amusing trying to walk around on all the ice and snow. They definitely do not have the same clear your sidewalk regulations that we do. We were pros by the end of the trip

I loved how clean everything was. The people really pride themselves on being environmentally conscious.

Reykjavik is beautiful. Only 200,000 people live there. And only 300,000 in the entire country! We ended up having more time to tour around by ourselves then planned. The sun doesn't start to come up until after 10am and people don't really seem to start moving until 11. Sounds good to me

We tried some of the local brews- good and cuisine-yum. Really didn't have a bad eating experience while we were there. Were recommended to try a local hotdog, which was very tastey. Also ate seafood soup which was always delicious and even tried some Minke Whale and Reindeer.

One of the famous sites of Reykjavik is the Hallgrímskirkja- a church that is meant to look like a mountain. It stands about 244ft high, or for my European friends approx 75 meters. It really is quite impressive.

Inside the church

Snow!!! and to think we were contemplating whether we should bring our snow boots : )

During our tour of Reykjakik they took us over to the presidents house. We just walked right on the grounds. There are no guards or security that we could tell. Our guide even told us that he got a flat one day and the president gave him a ride. Coud you imagine Obama doing that?! I also thought it was great that 80% of their taxes go to healthcare and education.

Grounds of the President's house

This door reminds me of "Lord of the Rings" Found out that Icelanders have a strong belief in Elves and even have committees to make sure that Elf habitat is not destroyed during construction.

One of our tours that we did was caving and snorkeling in a glacier lake. We had a great time and it only ended up being 3 of us plus our guide. Because of the snow the entrance to the cave had to be dug out.

We slid on the snow into the entrance of the cave. There were times in the cave that we had to slither on our bellies to pass through narrow areas. It was interesting to learn about the volcanoes and formation of the caves

After the cave we went to a glacier lake where we spent some time snorkeling. The water was crystal clear and it was absolutely beautiful looking around the lake at the snow covered landscape. They had us bundled up in big snow bib type outfits which were covered by drysuits. It was freezing standing in the snow trying to get it all on.

We ended our trip with a stop off at the Blue Lagoon. A hotsprings. It was fun to sit in the warm water with snow all around us.

Had a wonderful time. Definitely want to go back!

NYC/Jersey

Finally, after a year and a half of living in the east coast made it to New Jersey to see family. Spent a day in NYC. An easy ride on the New Jersey Transit system and checked out some of "the city's" holiday spirit.

Rockefellar Center Xmas tree

There were a lot of people sightseeing, shopping, ice skating. Got a little overwhelming at times.

Made it over to Times Squate where the ball drop for New Years occurs. Saw the stage set up for the big event. I still can't get over that people choose to go stand in the cold for hours with no beverage just to count back from 10. Watching it on TV sounds much better to me.

The stage where they will do the countdown for the ball drop

Spent some time with family in New Jersey. My cousin Em lives in Hoboken;
a nice escape from the craziness of New York City. Loved checking out the shops/restaurants/bars of this area.

Hoboken-quite the contrast from Manhattan.

Cousins : )

The Cake Boss Bakery is in Hoboken. Personally have never seen this show, but people were lined up around the block to get in.

Great views of Manhattan from Hoboken.

Not sure why I hadn't bothered to head this way before. It's an easy, inexpensive trip. Definitely will have to make it back this year.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Viva! Las Vegas! Went to Sin City to celebrate my 33rd B-day and run in a half marathon. I definitely did not prepare like I should have for the half, but I managed to finish, jogging about 7miles and walk/jogging the last half. Kate, Kristall, and Jason were all nice or crazy (depending on how you look at it) enough to run with me.

(I really wanted to find a party hat for my b-day, but had to go with a St. Patty's day one)

The half marathon course started at Mandalay Bay went down Las Vegas Blvd, over to the Fremont District and back towards Mandalay. Running down the strip and seeing the lights of Vegas was a pretty neat course.

There were 45,000 people running which made it nearly impossible to run at times. Bands were set up along the course to play music for us "runners" I found that most of the time they weren't playing when I went by, which I found to be very frustrating.

Of course couldn't go to Vegas without doing a little gambling and having a some fun. Wish I could say that I won big, but no such luck. Thanks to my family, Kristall and Jason, Robbie and Nicole, Lela, Mark for all the fun.

It's Christmas time so a little holiday spirit Vegas style.

As always has a lot of fun! Next year I'll have to prepare better. Anyone interested in running next time?

Washington, D.C

Took a quick trip over to DC to see our nation's capital, the monuments and museums.

First night there I ventured down to the National Mall. Loved seeing the monuments all lit up at night.

The Capital

Washington Monument
Usually they have tours here, but due to the earth quake that hit the East Coast a few months ago they are currently fixing some structural damage.

World War II Memorial
I particularly liked the way this one looked when lit up at night

And of course who could forget good ol' Honest Abe

Lincoln Memorial

Of course also saw the sights in the day light. Here are the memorials for the Vietnam and Korean Wars.

I enjoyed walking around the "Mall" even though the weather could have been nicer.

Also went to Pennsylvania Ave to see the White House.

DC also has a lot of museums which are free! I managed to make it to the Holocaust museum, Natural History Museum,and Air and Space museums

There is definitely a lot more museums to see and even more in the museums that I did make it to.

My Hotel was right near China town with lots of restaurants and shops near by. I even figured out the "Metro"

A pink building and interesting architecture

Night time in DC

Was able to meet up briefly with my cousin. Next time will have to go when the weathers a little nicer.