ovoadmala

and yes it’s an expensive place to live, but if i have one more person look at me like i must be heir to mounds of cash because i grew up there i’m gonna scream. note to everyone who has never been there—we didn’t all sit on our yachts in blue blazers and khaki pants sipping champagne and talking through our teeth.

but now, it’s a little too built up and dense for my preferences anyway, so i will be happy visiting family there and living in upstate new york.

;)

did my first real skiing at loon mountain, spent a summer vacation at lake ossipee—jumping off the dock into clear cold water…

mountains, the ocean, and okay, mud season, but just a beautiful place…

the fact that anything can live and thrive in such a climate is a testament to the perseverance of life. the sonoran desert is beautiful, the skies ‘are lovely, dark and deep’, and i went when the tempertaure was 80 during the day and in the 50s at night. (i suspect in august it’s a different story…115 degrees…gack!)

i would love to back when i have more time to explore, hike, and go to Kitt Peak observatory.

miami and i are polar opposites personality-wise, but it’s good to get out of your zone of comfort periodically, right?

it was incredibly hot—i prefer cool.

it was loud—i prefer quiet.

it was big—i prefer small.

it was fast paced—i prefer calm.

it is hip and trendy and filled with youthful exuberance—i am a dork. ;)

but it’s wonderfully multi-cultural, cuban food is awesome, and i went to a gorgeous beach at cape florida on key biscayne and sat in the water all day. very nice. go.

i’d like to go but i’m stressing out about the heat and humidity in miami, so if/when i do go, it’s going to have to be the dead of winter here.

very knowledgeable staff at the national parks sights, very willing to talk. when you’ve seen all the sights, head over to city tavern - a historically accurate replica of the original - to lift a beer to the authors of the declaration of independence where they hung out after hours.

and i’ve been very disappointed by the way the people who work at the sights treat people. go to the smithsonian, though.

imho, if you want to see american history, go to philadelphia. i found the parks services people there much more willing to converse with tourists.

if you go, make sure to see the monuments at night. iwo jima, jefferson and the lincoln memorial are beautiful when lit up. just keep an eye on your car, since mine was vandalized twice there.

what an amazing place to visit. (folks there have been very forgiving of my dusty high school french btw) i mean, it’s a walled in city!! the petit quartier champlain (sp?)is so romantic, it’s unbelievable. i’ve been there in summer and in winter, (holy goodnight, carnival is so much fun) and you can’t go wrong. go see the citadel—especially if you’re from the u.s. so you can learn about history from another perspective.

loveitloveitloveitloveit!