Washington, D.C.

Over this past Canada Day weekend, I took off with Baron and my brother to go visit my cousin who lives just outside of D.C., in Bowie, Maryland. We flew into D.C. via Porter Airline’s recently launched service to there. It was, as always, a short breezy trip. It was my brother’s first time flying porter, and I was excited for him. He is no stranger to all manner of flights, so it was nice to see he was also impressed with Porter.

OMG! It's DC!

OMG! It’s DC!

As we were flying over D.C, Baron noted all the lush greenery. Vast swaths of trees, and not very many buildings to be seen! We noted the craziness of American highways, but still lined with trees. I had failed to realize how far south D.C and area actually is. Since it’s below the Mason-Dixon line, I believe that officially makes it “the south”. Which officially makes this trip my first to southern USA. How exciting.  I was quickly reminded of this fact, as only a few hours our safe arrival and personal refueling at my cousins house, we were hit with an intense storm. Wind, the likes of which I had never seen, combined with a heavy rain caused the power to be cut. We wouldn’t learn until later that we were amidst a record-breaking heat wave and the storm had cut power to a million homes and businesses in the D.C. area.

I was JUST learning how to use their awesome verizon fios cable when it went out. This didn’t hamper our ability to be tourists, too much. But boy was it ever hot. Luckily we were safe, just really, really sweaty.

We made our way to the Smithosonian museums. I’ve wanted to visit these museums since I was a teenager (because as you can tell, I was unbelievably cool). We visisted the National Air & Space museum, and the “American Indian” museum. I really wanted to see the American History Museum, but it’s a lot to take in, especially when there are a few people with differeng tastes.

The Air part of the Air & Space museum featured aviator Snoopy and his exploits with the Red Baron

The Air part of the Air & Space museum featured aviator Snoopy and his exploits with the Red Baron

Fighter Bee & Me

Fighter Bee & Me

Hello Space Kitty

This is a space Hello Kitty available at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum gift shop. It was very hard to resist buying it.

I am very interested in all history, but there is a specific interest in American revolutionary and civil wars. Just being in D.C. was great to see some of that history, but I definitely would love to go back and absorb more.

We then made our way out of Air Conditioning to the National Zoo. I was blown away by the fact that all the smithsonian museums are FREE. The zoo was also free. Thankfully the Zoo also had a bunch of cool stations so we could tolerate being outside. It was still pretty hard. They had a lot of cute animals and of course they were all just as tired as we were. we didn’t see them all but I did get to see the most important ones: Giant Pandas.

Which way to the zoo?!

Which way to the zoo?!

This was important because I spent a fair amount of my 20th year obsessivly watching the Panda-Cam at the National Zoo. It was amazing to see these creatures ‘up close’. I still think I would make an ace panda-cam (or any animal-cam) operator. Not only do I actually have a professional technical background in streaming video, I also have a silly background in watching panda-cam. I think that counts for something.

The panda's were also hot

The panda’s were also hot


New fav, prehensile tailed porcupine.

New fav, prehensile tailed porcupine. Check out the schnoz!

We also saw the Lincoln Memorial and the newly built MLKjr memorial. Both were breathtaking an amazing.
We also walked past Ford’s Theatre, but unfortuantely didn’t get to go inside.

Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial


Back of the Lincoln Memorial

We learned that the back of the Lincoln Memorial boasts not only a beautiful view of the Potomac river (not pictured), but a wicked breeze.


Awesome MLK memorial

Awesome MLK memorial


Good 'ol sunset

Good ‘ol sunset


Damage from the storm

Damage from the storm – we saw a lot of branch debris around

The second day we drove up to Baltimore, and spent just a few hours in the Aquarium that is downtown. It was pretty neat. We then drove down to Annapolis to walk around. The heat was absolutely punishing at this point, but I still enjoyed it. The quaintness of the houses with covered porches, rocking chairs and the American flags was just too cute.

GIANT sea turtle

GIANT sea turtle

Unfortunately our camera battery died when we got to Annapolis so you’re just going to have to take my word for it.

Annapolis is home to the Navy training center as well as the oldest still-in-use parliment. There’s a boardwalk and brick streets that take you through a cute little town.

We stumbled upon this store, which was unfortunately closed at the time, but the pictures on their site are great. I’d love to order some sort of Lake Ontario/Great Lakes piece at some point. The pictures don’t do the detail justice.

Nautical North, in Annapolis, MD

Nautical North, in Annapolis, MD

One thing that I noticed was that the architecture in those cities (D.C., Annapolis, downtown Baltimore) is simply stunning. I love Toronto, but I understand now why people say it’s ugly. In the past two years Baron and I have also visited Manhattan and Chicago (where we took an architecture boat tour) and it really makes us realize how sore our poor little home town can look!

I had a great time not just visiting the new cities, but also visiting with my cousin, who graciously drove us around everywhere. I’d definitely like to go back and do more touring and visiting. One more knocked off the list!

Vacation Dream List

I love travelling. In recent years I’ve been able to do more of it.  One of my more masochistic hobbies is putting together dream trips. I also love hearing about other people’s travel adventures. Sometimes though, I hear of a place and think oh, that’s neat but not for me, it’s not “my top 10″.  Y’know, those places that are super high on your list and if money and time were no object you’d go there before anywhere else? I realized I have a few of those places but I’ve never actually MADE the list. And one thing I love almost as much as I love planning fake vacations is making lists.

So I give you, my top 23 travel dreams. You’ll notice some trends: cold, animals, food.

  1. Galapagos Islands – This has always been my #1 destination ever since I heard of it. I love animals and wildlife so this seems like the mecca of nature tourism.  The history of Darwin and everything is a big appeal.
  2.  Churchill Manitoba Polar Bear trek – I once watched a documentary featuring Ewan McGregor (swoon) on a Tundry Buggy tour. Sold! I’m somewhat keen on the colder places of this earth, and polar bears are one of my favourite animals. [Note: BlogTO is running a contest to meet a Polar Bear Expert (http://www.blogto.com/contests/2011/12/contest_meet_polar_bear_expert_dr_ian_stirling/) and to enter I must state why I think *I* deserve to go! I think the fact that a trip to see polar bears in their natural environment is #2 on my dream vacation list speaks volumes! I love and am fascinated by them! I hope I win!]
  3.  Alaska(n Cruise) – Again with the cold. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a cruise, but I do want to see the glaciers and so this seems the easiest way to do it. I’m tentatively planning this trip in May 2012 with my family. Hopefully it happens
  4.  Maldives – This is not cold, but a beautiful tropical island. This is a more recent destination of desire for me. It’s not too far of the coast of India and I will be going back there – so I’m hoping next time I go (Winter 2012?) I can make the quick flight over for a weekend.
  5.  Patagonia/Antarctica – Back with the cold! I’m just fascinated with the polar regions and the mountains and… everything. I need to improve my athletic level before I venture down here.  I also like stories of Shackleton and other explorers, so I feel the history is rich, if only in layers of ice.
  6. Banff – Beautiful! I like mountains and blue waters! Who doesn’t?
  7.  Switzerland – I know a few people who have been here recently and rave about it. Everything I’ve heard and seen seems to be wonderful. Also the chocolate.
  8.  England – I can’t explain what exactly it is about England I want to see, other than it’s old.  The historical significance is huge and I would love to see it in person. I want to see London, because I love big cities, and I want to see the country side because it looks so charming.
  9.  California (San Diego, San Fran, a bunch of stuff inbetween). Again – it looks wonderfully beautiful.
  10.  Rome – Ruins! Ever since I saw the Taj Mahal, my mind was blown by wonders of the world and would like to see a lot of them. Again, the history thing.
  11.  New England – HISTORY! I’m fascinated with the American Revolutionary war and Civil war – so I want to see New England for that reason. I took a lot of history classes in high school and loved reading about the revolution itself, Thomas Payne, The Boston Tea Party etc etc.
  12.  Savanah, Georgia – See above re: civil war. I’ve seen photos and it looks gorgeous. I’d like to see old plantations and slave houses… this part of American history is so important and fascinating.
  13.  Germany – Land of chocolate.
  14.  Back to Singapore – I went here when i was 19 and fell in love with the place.  At the time I felt like I could definitely see myself living there for a few years. I’m sure I still could. It’s beautiful, and neat. and close to the south pacific.
  15.  Lake Tahoe – google pictures of this. It’s like Canada’s Banff.
  16.  New Orleans – I read Interview with the Vampire when I was 14 and was hooked. The little proto-goth in my fell in love with New Orleans. It’s fallen down my list of places I’d like to visit, but it’s still got a strong pull. If only for little 14 year old Anita.
  17.  Tofino – I’ve been to Victoria and my gracious host took us to French Beach. It was amazing, so I’d love to see more of Vancouver island, and I’ve heard this is one of the best spots.
  18.  Argentina – I would like to have a proper, grass-fed steak in Argentina. I’ve heard the food & wine are top notch.
  19.  France – I feel like it’s mandatory to see Paris. I also love chocolates, pastries and baking, so another culinary must.
  20.  French Polynesia – Bora Bora. C’mon. Ocean Stilts.
  21.  Hawaii – Any island is automatically awesome, and I really don’t need to explain why I want to go to Hawaii.
  22.  Mexico – Day of the dead. I’d love to go experience a Day of the Dead parade and related festivities for reals.
  23.  Japan.  Again with the island – Also the food here. I like Japanese food. I also have seen pictures from friends voyages and the amount of ridiculous things (like a bus that’s been made to look like a dog) beg to be witnessed.
This list is going to change as I remember things, or hear about other people’s vacations, but that’s the fun part! I’d love to hear your comments and AT LEAST your top 5 travel destinations. While the rest of my list will surely change I can assure the top 5 is absolute.

Birthmeh

For most of my life I have gotten really excited about my birthday. I would sometimes have expectations that were too big to fill but for the most part I’ve always had a great time. As I got older, I started to feel that it was decidedly uncool to love your birthday like a child, so I learned to hide my excitement. I’m sure I didn’t do a very good job. My late 20′s have changed that. I’ve stopped caring about doing anything special and it felt like just another day, but at least another day with guaranteed chocolate cake.  I still don’t hate or fear my birthday. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of dealing with aging. Maybe it’s because I look a lot younger than I am – something that used to bother me when I was younger but of course now is something I treasure.  Maybe it’s also partially because of my child-like behaviour… Either way, I’m not sweating birthdays… yet.

I remember when I was a teenager I’d prepare the birthday wish list no less than 1 month in advance. Having a mid November birthday meant that all unfulfilled birthday wishlist items automatically became the Christmas wishlist. It was just efficient, I thought! Then I got to that point where I could buy myself whatever I wanted, and all the things I really wanted were way too expensive to ask of anyone.  This never stops my mom for asking me what I want.  It’s an interesting thing. As a kid I’d ask my mom what she wanted for mother’s day, birthday and Christmas and I’d rarely get a real answer. Every couple of years she would run down her old slippers or run out of perfume and those were easy… but other than that she mostly wanted nothing. How frustrating! Surely there’s something you’d want! Well, now I find myself in that position.

Last year when I turned 30 she bought me and Baron a return flight to NYC as our combined birthday gifts. It was perfect. I’d always wanted to go, flying is very convenient and this way I could force Baron to come with me. I loved it. I decided at that point that every birthday in my 30′s will yield a trip. Lavish, indulgent and maybe a bit much but that’s what is happening… Though I can save up and take these little weekend trips myself, and I could never ask someone to buy me that… so it doesn’t quite solve the problem of what my mother wants to give me.

Since I am taking myself to Chicago (my kinda town), I started to think of things I would want.

So far I have come up with this:

A chocolate covered caramel apple.

Birthday Yum

Birthday Yum

 

Failing that, I will gladly take an edible arrangement:

More Birthday Yums

More Birthday Yums

There are a few other things I want like a cusinart food processor, a better blender and perhaps slight more fun, cooking classes. Those things can still get pretty pricey.

So apparently I want either: fruit dipped in chocolate, or things that will allow me to cook. Hrm. Can we say one-track-mind?  I wouldn’t mind getting a wacom tablet, but it’s not a necessity. When I was younger it was so easy to make a list of things I wanted… now even the things I want seem slightly silly. Perhaps I’ve actually succeeded in becoming less materialistic. I’m totally fine to not buy things, to wait it out or at least save up for it.

All I really want on my birthday is this: to spend time with people I love and to have chocolate. Taking a trip to somewhere is really just the chocolate on the fruit. :)