Salt Lake City

Well, the next step of our vacation is a stop in Utah. It has been too long since I have spent time with my family and friends in the area. This is my nephew who is as cute as he is crazy! We got to spend a little time with him and Bart, Sarah and Jaxson. The worst part about living in England for the last three years is how much the people in our family change during the time between visits. Jessi and I are really excited about being able to see them all a lot more!

Salt Lake offered the first snow that I have seen in a couple of years and Jessi got to experience shoveling for the first time! We have been able to get to see a lot of Salt Lake and it is crazy how much it has changed in the 5 years since I was last here for any period of time. The relaxation factor has been fantastic.

Chris and I went to see The Great Buck Howard, the movie that started the Sundance film festival in the "locals showing" It was a really good movie about never losing sight of your dreams and believing in something.

Chi-City

So, We have a friend named Nikko that we met in England. He is a good guy...really funny and a lot of fun to hang out with. Well, as long as we have known him he has been talking about Chicago and how much fun it is and how we have to go. Well, two and a half years later we finally made it to Chicago and it was well worth it. We stayed right downtown and it was really neat. The whole city (that we wanted to go to) were within minutes of the hotel...as long as we were in the cab. We ate good food (Chicago Style Pizza and hotdogs) and drank good beer (312 which is a Chicago area code and a pretty descent beer) The first day that we were there was spent on the hunt for some warm clothes and the rest of them were spent recovering from the long nights( the bars are open until 4am). The only thing that could have made it a little better is if it was warm enough to spend any kind of time outside. As it was we spent the whole trip dashing from building to cab to building and the little bit of walking that we were able to do was done with the utmost care taken to ensure as little skin as possible was exposed to the elements. Lots of fun though! We are going to try to make it back there in the spring or fall one of these years. There is a lot that we didn't get to do and those times of year are supposed to be fantastic!

This is one of the many "Birthday Desserts" that we got for Nikko. I think all but one restaurant that we ate at in during our time in Chicago we had them sing to Nikko and bring him dessert...it was hilarious...his Birthday was a month or so ago! That's funny, I don't care who you are, that's funny!

Back in the States!!!

We made it! Jessi and I have made it to San Diego and have outprocessed the Air Force! We have already had some Mexican food and a walk on the beach...I think that this place could agree with me.
England made it on the plane with us. We did have to break into Eric's house to get her out but she made it through the almost 24 hours in her kennel and is none the worse for wear. Joe and Anita picked us up at the airport and had the house and our room all decorated for a home coming...it was really nice!
Yesterday we went back up to LA to outprocess. Now it is just a matter of a month of vacation and we are back to being civilians. We spent a little time in LA! it was a beautiful day...75 degrees and so sunny that our eyes (still not used to seeing the sun after three and a half years in England) were sore by the end of the day. We had lunch at a little organic cafe that was very good. I am not sure of the name of it but it was lovely. Then we went to an eclectic little bookstore and found some reading material and a gift or two.
On the way back to Escondido we stopped in a little town called San Clemente...it was so Mediteranean I felt like we were back in Crete! The town center had a lot of little shops and while you can not escape the size of American buildings these relatively small houses and shops made me feel right at home! The beach was beautiful and not too crowded. There were a few surfers and as we walked it became obvious that some people had skipped out of work early to come down and enjoy the beautiful day. I was surprised by the age of the surfers. While quite a few of them were young, the majority seemed to be older men with salt and pepper hair and when they looked out at the water they had a kind of intense ease in their gaze. Like they knew that they had to get out there, and do what they loved, but there was no particular hurry, they certainly didn't run or even walk too fast. I thought, "here are some people who do everyday the thing that they love." It was very nice to watch.
Like I said...I think that this place could agree with me.

New Year's Day

Well, we made it up to Nottingham for New Year's eve. We had tickets to see a band called Bullet for my Valentine. There was a little bit of confusion on the times and we ended up getting there just as they were finishing their set. Then the venue turned into a rock club and we hung out for the rest of the night. We chased in the new year with a shot of Jaegar and kisses all around. For Jessi and I this is going to be a very turbulent year but we are both looking forward to the craziness with more anticipation then anything and my guess is by then end of it we will be ready for some sanity!
The next day we walked around Nottingham and came across these statues of Robbin Hood, Little John and Friar Tuck. They are right outside of Nottingham castle which we walked around for a few minutes and enjoyed the landscaping...the castle, like most of the city that day, was closed.
We are back in Mildenhall and staying on base for the rest of our time here. One more week and then we are off on the next great adventure!!!

Been a while

Wow, It has been over a month since the last time i blogged anything. I would like to say that I have been too busy but that isn't true. There have been plenty of times when i could have sat down and written something but I haven't wanted to take the time. So here is a little synopsis of the trip that I just got back from. I was in Vegas working twelve hour days and not enjoying much of it. I did have some good company and I was happy about that. The guys that i was with were good dudes who wanted to do pretty much the same things as me. Problem is, when you have six guys sharing the same van it can be difficult to get everyone moving in the same direction at the same time.

I was able to get away for one of the weekends and went up to St George to visit some old friends. It was incredible to see everyone and just enjoy the time that I was spending there. I am really looking forward to being back states-side. You don't realize how much you miss something until you get a taste of it and then have it taken away again. Only a couple more months though and we will be within driving distance of almost anyone in the family and friends circles!!!

The Church!!

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This weekend took us to a bar down in Kentish town, London called the Church. It is something of a legend over here. They open the bar at 11 am Sunday morning and close at 3 pm. We got a little lost on the way once we got out of the tube! But it made for a nice little detour and we were able to get some breakfast out of it. Which was good because when you leave from Mildenhall it takes about two hours to get to London and then another hour on the tube so no one was up early enough to get breakfast. When we got there the line stretched all the way around the block but it only took about a half hour to get in the door! It is hot and sweaty inside but with the recent ban on smoking you can see across the whole place. The first thing that you do is stand in a queue for vouchers that you then stand in another queue and trade for beer. We waited for about 20 minutes and we didn't go anywhere. Jessi took matters into her own hands and worked her way up to the front in about 3 minutes! She bought enough vouchers for everyone who came with us and we quickly made our way over to the beer queue. This one went a lot quicker and before long everyone had a bag of beer tied to their hip. A voucher buys you three beers in a bag, and you tie this bag to your belt loop to keep at least one hand free for participation in the various acts that come on stage.
We found ourselves a little spot where we could stretch out and enjoy ourselves. We danced and sang along to all of the songs that we knew and a few of the ones that we didn't know! There was this crazy lady who was sprinkling glitter all over the place and everybody in our little group was absolutely covered by the time we left. The thing that I like the most about the church is that it seems like everyone gets along in there. It does not matter who you came with you will, at some point, end up with your arm around someone screaming along with some song at the top of your lungs. Maybe it is because it is a daytime event but it seems that there is never any drama surrounding the day.
When the church closed down, we got back on the tube and took it to Cambden town which is a Gothic area of London with one of the best markets in the world! You can get all kinds of clothes and crafts but we went straight to the four blocks that hold the food booths. We walked through half of the booths before deciding on Chinese food and ate our fill. Then we got back on the tube and went to Kingscross Station where we caught the train up to Ely and finally made it home. It was an intoxicating day and one that I would not repeat on a weekly basis but it was well worth waking up early on a Sunday!

Auction

Jessi and I went to an auction this last weekend. It was the first time either one of us had been to one and it was kind of intimidating! But let me give a little back story first. There is a little barn two towns over that acts as an auction house for antiques on the weekend. Patrons are encouraged to come around on Friday and peruse the merchandise, making notes of anything that they are interested in. Then Saturday morning at ten the auction starts and the items are put up for bid around the room. The whole process takes from 10 in the morning until 5 in the evening. There is a camper that parks out front and offers a variety of different sandwiches and there is a little tea shop around the back. People are constantly coming and going throughout the day and if you see something that you want but have to leave before it is time to bid on it you can make what is called a commission bid and then the people who are still there begin the bidding with the price that you put down. Several items are sold this way as people usually put the max that they are willing to pay for an item and no one is willing to top it. The gentleman who does the part of the auctioneer goes non-stop from 10am to 5pm with only an occasional pause if there is some kind of confusion. Well, Jessi and I went Friday night and found a couple of items that we were interested in and then got up the next morning and headed down. Before we made our first bid we were both pretty confused because the guy was just zipping through items and he was a little hard to understand, having a fairly strong English accent. Jessi caught on just in time and was able to get nice little display case for 11 pounds! After that we started to get the hang of it. We left for lunch and came back in the afternoon having had our eye on a couple more items. There was a really nice little china hutch and Jessi got into a bidding war with a lady. It is hard to know when to call it quits when you are in the middle of bidding and the guy is talking so fast. It can be pretty confusing but Jessi finally backed down and let the lady win. There was another little number that had our eye and I started bidding on it. Wouldn't you know the same lady started in on me(she obviously had good taste if she was willing to go for the same stuff Jessi and I were going for). I had set myself a limit but I tell you, when you are there it is a lot more simple to raise your hand and keep the bidding going. I ended up getting the corner cabinet but for 5 pounds more than I had been willing to pay! We both had our eye on a couple little items and we were both able to get them. I got the little typewriter(it still works) and Jessi got the wash basin and jug. It was a really neat experience but one that our pocketbooks won't let us take more than once a month!