Comfort Inn Frederick

... Baghdad before reaching Shanghai.

Still ten months out, I'm excited beyond belief that this trip is really going to happen. Tomorrow, I'm going to wander the roadsides of Urbana, MD to collect some more aluminum cans. Best of all, next week, I'll receive 40-hours worth of vacation pay. Every penny of it will go into the travel fund.

It's real! I truly can't believe it! See you in China!
Jen

... got little to show. I can sometimes hold my own if I'm having an "on"-day--sink a few free-throws, drain a couple 3-pointers, slam a dunk (okay...not even on an "on" day). But anyway, the three of us played. It didn't take long for me to realize that I'm in no shape to play basketball. I was out of breath, throat dry, legs aching, feeling dizzy... did that stop me?? Well, yeah, for a couple minutes. But then we played some more.
Now, to compensate for my lack of skill, I just amp up ...

... experience. And I didn't have to turn of my cell phone during the show :)

Busy day this day! If I remember correctly, we spent the afternoon with Arn (our host) touring downtown Frederick. Kelsey took a lot of pictures with her cell phone, and I'm not sure how to upload them onto the computer. If I figure it out, I'll add them.
But we visited the Center for the Arts, strolled a riverside park with some ...

... the plane and ask the flight attendant where my duty free stuff is and she has no idea! OK... weird... she says she'll go look for it, and so I sit down in my seat. The one that matches the letters on my ticket.

The flight attendant comes back onto the plane and says...

"Excuse me, where are you going today?"

"Ottawa."

"Oh there must be some mistake, this is the plane to Newark."

"What?!" I jump up from my seat and run down the stairs. One problem ...

Today we just had one school, but three shows throughout the day. Between shows, Kelsey and I had a nice talk with Arn (our host). We talked about life, finances, marriage, careers...
I realized that we're rarely in one place long enough to be able to sit and talk with someone for so long. Ordinarily, we come into a school, do our thing, and leave. But lately, we've established some ...

This is the day I waited for for at least six months! I haven't been on a big vacation for quite a while so I was excited. I just completed my first marathon, the Marine Corp Marathon, a little more than a week ago. How do you top a life accomplishment? How about with another life experience! Two weeks in Japan!

The day started with ...

... the US, strolled around bike trails and around the city and scoured the Native American market in Santa Fe.  From here, we made our way to hot Phoenix, AZ where we stayed one night with a friend of Paul's. Around noon on Saturday we left for Big Bear, CA where we planning on staying overnight to see our friend Bob compete in the Rim Nordic mountain bike race on Sunday morning.  Driving from AZ to CA is rather uneventful to say the least but we did ...

... http://www.turismovenezia.it/eng/dynala y.asp?PAGINA=407 Venice Tourist Office http://www.comune.bassano.vi.it/ Bassano del Grappa http://www.tours-italy.com/veneto/hillt owns.html Hill towns of Veneto Tour http://www.asolo.it/turismo/asolo-uk.ht ml Asolo WHERE I DINED: Florence: Caffe Bigallo Enoteca Via del Proconsolo, 73/75r Florence, Italy I enjoyed their 13 euro lunch ...

... without success. I told her we had to knock it out before heading into the boonies of Iceland. Using her cell phone, she contacted both sisters, a CVS pharmacy in Frederick, and her doctor in Friendsville, MD to have an antibiotic prescription awaiting her when we arrived. We had a little trouble finding the pharmacy but we got the pills ...

W saw Washington DC! We were both very exited about seeing the city and I thought it would be really cool to see the famous buildings like the Lincoln Memorial and the White House. And it was except for the fact that we were jetlagged and therefor nothing seemed real. I can still not believe that we saw all those building but it didn't feel like much ...