Monthly Archives: June 2014

Cesari showing us how it’s done.

We met our friend Jim’s baby boy.

We had our first xmas tree in our new apartment. We got it from the bodega across the street.

We snuck in a quick weekend to South Beach.

On December 21st, we headed out to New Mexico.

We checked out some petroglyphs outside Albuquerque. They were carved into volcanic rock by Native Americans and Spanish settlers 400-700 years ago. We referred to this one as “lizard with lollipop”.

I got lots of quality animal time. I might be allergic to cats.

I took the dog walking job whenever possible. The sun was shining every day we were there. I could get used to that.

Noah showing how the mud baths are done. Pretty neat to be covered in mud in the middle of winter.

Santa Fe Basin was pretty impressive. Only 16 miles from downtown Santa Fe, its base was at over 10,000 ft. Since the air is so dry, any snow they get stays powdery for a long time. I’ve always wanted to ski on Christmas Eve day!

This sign cracked me up. There was a surprisingly large number of very bad skiers. I thought it was because of the holidays. Someone on the lift told us it was because of the proximity to Texas. Oh, dip.

Selena joined us snowboarding at Taos. She scraped her outfit together with what she found at her parents’ house. It looked like we were there with our pre-teen son.

John took us shooting one day on some public land. We brought some cans to shoot, not knowing there would be other fun targets already there.

NYE with Kaye and Nick in downtown Santa Fe. At one point, almost all of Noah’s family was out west.

We played quite a bit of Mexican or Train Dominoes while we were there. No one could explain the name to me. In case it wasn’t offensive enough, we added a sombrero to the mix.

I got to pretend to be a cowgirl for a day, too.

I came to think of New Mexico as the land of giant breakfast. Huevos Rancheros, Chilaquiles, breakfast burritos; oh, my!

It was also the land of beautiful sunsets. I’m looking forward to returning.

We were first introduced to St. Maarten a few years ago by some friends. Reliable weather, warm water, beautiful dive sites and an easy, direct flight from NYC make it a great place to go.

The hotel was quiet, so I got upgraded to a fancy room. This was the view from my balcony.

Go Pro selfie. In order to do the Rescue Course, you need to have your Advanced Open Water and be current with CPR and first aid. I had just finished my EMT course a few months prior, so it worked out well.

Southern Stingrays are also a very common sight on these dives.

Here are her girls being squirrely on the kitchen counter.

It’s the largest spring along the St. John river. The manatees are there during the winter months.

We did some fishing along the Intracoastal. This is the red fish I caught. We fried it and it was pretty tasty.

I saw my first swimming raccoon. Growing up, these things only came out at night, unless they were rabid.

Here he is again, annoyed that I interrupted his shellfish eating session.

We also did some fishing off the pier at my folks’ place. Here is a skate my Uncle caught.

We also managed to bring in the world’s smallest flounder.

“Clematis by Night” in West Palm Beach, FL (10/2008). Thanks, cousin Pete, for taking us out.

Note how we are in the same orientation. This was not planned (Steamboat, CO 10/2013).

This is literally Casey’s backyard. I get why she lives there.

We were there for some of the first snowfall of the season. Should have bought that early bird ski pass after all.

You know you’re in a good place when you can see the ski mountain from downtown.

Fish Creek Falls; super close in downtown Steamboat. We got a beautiful day for a hike.

We led Sarah to a bridge in front of a waterfall where we had arranged for Mike to be waiting with a proposal.

We got her good! The only person who might have been more surprised was the dude in the red sweatshirt.

The happy couple. We’d all be together again for the wedding 7 months later. Stay tuned.

This is where we stayed. One of the best motel logos I’ve ever seen.

Some fun nightlife to be found in Steamboat. Seek out the 80s cover band if you want to get your dance on. We met up with Chris, another Elmira transplant in Colorado.

Our next stop was Strawberry Park Hot Springs.

We spent the night in this little gem.

This was the downstairs of the cabin. Nice and cozy.

Casey and I slept upstairs. I found the cabin much less charming in the middle of the night when the mice were running around inside the walls above the bed and pooping on us.