Adventuresam

We’re going to get cryptic here in this blog post, and by cryptic, I mean that there’s a 95% chance you won’t understand what I’m talking about. Unless you’re Helen, then you’ll 100% know what I’m talking about. No, I’m not going to write the whole blog post in morse code because who has the knowledge or the time? So if you want, put on your detective hat, grab your spyglass and your Sherlock Holmes pipe, and start an investigation to figure out what the heck is going on here. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the ride.

CLUE #1: The beginning of mystery weekend

The weekend began on Thursday, in Erie, where we went to see our one-time favorite comedian, Brian Regan, perform — both our past and present selves had a fantastic night.

Brian Regan!

CLUE #2- A coincidence or planted evidence?

Sometime during the weekend, an individual we had just met asked me how old I was, which I declined to answer because it was rude. So they asked a less rude question which was  “How much do you weigh?”  “Would you like that answer in pounds, kilos, stones, or ounces?”, I offered.  “How about in cans of beans?”, was the response. I laughed, how could they know how much I LOVE beans.

ANYWAYS, Helen and I get back to our house and guess what? We come home to an open can of beans in the fridge. Shall we call it LegumeGate? Was it all a coincidence? Regardless, LegumeGate had its own theme song — “You Bean-long with me”– a parody T-Swift song created by Helen (better than the original if you ask me).

CLUE #3- The classic “switcheroo”

After Bella performed at Cruz with Poppy Champlin, I drove her car which — hard to believe — is slightly different than mine. It’s the exact same, only Bella’s is a newer model and actually feels different to drive. But no one believed that it was not my car….or was it?

CLUE #4- The onion bowl infiltrators

At the dream flat, Helen kept the clementines and the onions separate. But I combined them because I didn’t think we would get confused.

Bowl mates.

Later on in the night, we decided to squeeze The Cuties in our mixed drinks because it was a good idea.  

CLUE #5- The unusual suspect

A heart-to-heart.

On Saturday, bright and early, we  worked out at our local gym where Helen had the most gleeful burpees our trainer had ever seen.

Back at headquarters.

CLUE #6: Gathering intel at the theater

At 2pm we went to go see Potted Potter and took some selfies by the stage.

Taking selfies with Mr. Potter at Potted Potter.

CLUE #7:

At our local bar (and since we “never want to be more than spitting distance” from our house) they had a mandarin infused vodka drink. Helen thought the onion infused vodka would not be far behind…
We woke up on Sunday, Helen’s actual birthday, and couldn’t believe there was still more birthday left.  I gave Helen her birthday present: Tickets to see Hamilton! I took a video; however, it is classified and you can just imagine that I’ve attached a link below:

http://www.youtube/imagine the video of Helen screaming, receiving Hamilton tickets.com

CLUE #8: Operation: Double birthday bash

So, when it came time for the actual party, I had to attend a meeting…standard procedure…nothing strange about it. Very normal.  Once it was over, Brit and I went to the party together, which was also a joint birthday party for a Great Dane turning one.

CLUE #9: The reenactment

During the party, Kristin had us recreate a moment from history: The frenemy side-eye, a classic.

Frenemies. Just kidding…just actual friends.

Bestie bliss.

CLUE #10- That magic Monday

“Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day. It was the nightingale, and not the lark, that pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear; Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree. Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.”  -Shakespeare
The nightingale has left the pomegranate tree. I repeat: the nightingale has left the pomegranate tree.
CLUE #11 – Harry and his muggles

Bonding with Mr. Potter himself, the ultimate gay ally.

For us, the clues from Helen’s birthday add up to one of the best weekends of our lives.  There are lots of loved ones who shared it with us who aren’t pictured, or they are pictured and they’re wearing their invisibility cloaks.  Our gauntlets (of fire) runneth over.
Happy birthday, Bella!
Love,
‘mi

Mississippi crew of 2.

So…Mississippi was not the 47th state to join the good old US of A.  (#47 is New Mexico, thanks Google). Luckily, this blog post is not based on historical accuracy, and Mississippi is, in fact, the 47th state that Patrick has visited!

For Patrick’s birthday this year, we headed out on a road trip to visit a state that he had never been to before.  Just FYI, one of his goals is to visit every state. We started out in Memphis, Tennessee, because it was the only ten I saw… (okay, I guess that joke only works in the present tense).

The morning of our trip, despite only getting 5 hours of sleep, I woke up on the first alarm, put in my guitar pick earrings (because “when in Memphis..”), and got to the airport an hour and a half early. Let me repeat that: This was the type of trip that I was so excited for that I got to the airport an hour and a half early. Thanks to Chase Sapphire and their priority pass, I was able to spend this extra time in an airport lounge eating jelly beans.

Right off the plane it was obvious that Memphis is known as a music city.  I started pointing out all of the musical imagery to Patrick just to make sure he knew he was included.  

I wonder what “sounds” encompasses…is it different than music? TBD

So besides the music, sights, and sounds (that may or may not also be music), the sign should have also included BBQ. Because there’s a lot of it, and they only sell it by the pound. The first thing we did after a super easy car rental pick up was drive to A&R BBQ.  We ordered 1 lb of hot sausage and 1lb pulled pork. They wouldn’t sell us any less.  Was it a ton? No, it was only 2 lbs, I told you. But was it a lot? Yes. But was it also delicious? Extra yes. It was probably the best BBQ I’ve ever had.

Now, in my right hand is one lb of meat smothered in sauce.

So we had some sights (that bbq shop was definitely a sight to see), we had some sounds (Does talking count as a sound?), so of course we had to get in some music.  And because Patrick was the bday boy — and when it’s your birthday you’re not supposed to do an ounce of work even though he was the one who knew the most about music — I decided to check out some funky jazz. I came across this one band — Thump Daddy. And if you’re not already impressed by the name, and if you don’t immediately picture a bunch of cool cats with black berets and sunglasses, then you know less about music than I do. 

Anyways, yeah. Thump Daddy. I checked out some YouTube videos of them; they were smooth, they were hip, they were super jazzy, and I was into it. I checked to see when they were gracing Tennessee with their presence, and, just our luck, Thump Daddy was playing at Cafe 152, which was right in our general vicinity.

Before we made it to the heart of the night life though, HQ was on and we pulled over on the side of the road to play and got our highest score yet… 11/12!  So close to winning!

We headed to Beale Street, specifically Cafe 152 in search of Thump Daddy, but we couldn’t find the bar. A little defeated, we ended up going to a random spot that wasn’t too crowded and didn’t charge cover because, let’s be honest, that’s almost as good as seeing Thump Daddy. There was also live music at this random bar, but it was just a bunch of old white guys singing Backstreet Boy covers. As we gazed upon this throwback cover band, we realized there was a “152” on the screen behind them. Could it be? Was this the Cafe 152? Was this the opener for Thump Daddy? With spirits high, I excitedly asked the bartender “Is this Cafe 152??  Do you know Thump Daddy?  What time will they be coming on?!”  

“That’s them.” She says pointing to the guys on stage, who were singing “Toxic.”

I was really confused. “Huh?”
Patrick said to me “Is this Thump Daddy?”
No! It couldn’t be!  I turned to him puzzled “No, this isn’t them, I looked them up before this.”

Patrick laughed at me the whole night as it dawned on me that this was indeed Thump Daddy.  They had become gentrified. They were no longer Thump Daddy — cool jazz cats with black berets — they were now “Papa Daddy” or “Thump Papa.” But hey, to be honest, this was kind of our demographic and it was really fun.

Thump Papa…at least one of them is wearing sunglasses.

After the Thump Papa show, we ended up going to a brothel-turned-bar. The brothel had shut down in 1992, and being in there was kind of eerie; I felt for the women. We met the bartender, Nate, who had been working there for decades, and (after finding cash) I even got him to sign a $1 star note (heads up, Andrew and Brian, one’s coming your way!).

Nate, the bartender and music selector.

Nate signing the $1 bill for my friends.

After our one wild night in Tennessee (which induced a memorable moment in Rayfords disco and Dominos that took so long to arrive that I fell asleep and ate it cold the next day), it was time to keep moving. We headed to Mississippi, Patrick’s 47th state. On the ride there we talked about if the leaves fall off in this part of the country (they do) and bought Russ a fake plant (you’re welcome).

So, of course, the first thing we did when we got to Mississippi (like the first thing we did when we got to Tennessee) was order some BBQ. We arrived at this BBQ place that I had researched and had won the title of world champion ribs for 6 years. WORLD CHAMPION RIBS! As we ordered the ribs, the woman asked:
Do you want the ribs wet or dry?
Us: …Yes…?
Silly Yanks.  We didn’t know how to answer that question, but after her recommendation, we ordered them wet. Which was a great decision.

Wet ribs and dry rinds.  If that lst BBQ wasn’t the best I’ve ever had than this definitely was.

Even though we were incredibly full after our world champion ribs, Patrick asked if I thought there would be good pecan pie anywhere. While we couldn’t find it at the rib joint, I made it a point to find some pecan pie while we were in Mississippi. I was determined to find pecan pie; I made it my mission to find pecan pie. I was going to find some amazing pecan pie if it was the last thing I did….for Patrick, of course.

We continued on our way to see Russ and I had 2 double shot cans of coffee on the way (YUM), SO IF I WASN’T ALREADY PUMPED TO SEE HIM NOW I WAS!

We met Russ at an arts festival (where I bought the perfect necklace) and also got to meet Ryan, the guy Russ has been working with for years (who I’d never gotten to meet until this point). He’s great.  We admired their booth where they were selling beard oil products and had a blast playing with some of their photobooth props:

The three amigos.

Don’t mess with Munson and Brother..actually yes, mess with them. Buy their beard oil.

After the art show and checking out some Southern Belles, we went to grab dinner. It was Italian night at the place Russ chose and, since he had been there several times before and has good taste, we all decided to order the exact same thing as him. For dessert I ordered the “energy bar” which, with condensed milk and lots of chocolate, was more like an anti-energy bar.  Still no pecan pie for Patrick.  As we were standing in line, Russ kept saying how exhausted he was. Our conversation went something a little like this:
Russ: Wow, I’m so tired, I can’t wait to sit down (Pause…)
Sammi: I can take a hint. Do you want to sit down? I know what you’re going to order. They call me Take-a-hint Sam.
And thus, my new nickname was born.

Russ had cleaned his entire place, gave us keys to his house, and made us feel completely welcomed — THANK YOU!  That night Patrick and I watched ALL the movie trailers in bed and unscrewed the lightbulb because of the clinking I couldn’t figure out.

The next day, we woke up, went for a run, and decided to go on a cultural excursion to church. I was vetoed from going to a methodist baptist church and we ended up at just a regular baptist church. It was a massive place, had hundreds of attendees, lots of singing with karaoke style entertainment and words on large screens above us (at one point on the screen there was a question in the form of a song called “Who can compare?”, but I leaned into Patrick and told him this was a non thinking question, a rhetorical question.  Take-a-hint Sam knew not to try to answer this).  In addition there was a live band and live singers — the whole shebang (but not with a bigbang theory…if you catch my drift). And I was really getting into it, singing, standing, sitting, standing again, sitting again.  It was engaging and I was all in.

I started off in the middle seat (between my besties) but every time we had to sit or stand (often) I moved so Patrick and Russ could have a turn.  The two of them stayed stationary but I, like a happy seal, moved all around. It was so fun to have the middle seat!  Everyone should get a turn! This was great!

That was, until, the message got unnecessarily mean. As the pastor was giving the sermon, he started getting hateful and judgmental. I was shocked and mad! I started crying — the message really rubbed me the wrong way, to say the least, and I felt like I was betraying my soul for not speaking up for the ones I love. But, I was a visitor here and I’ve traveled enough to know that there is a time to be respectful even when you disagree and so I held my tongue (but not my tears). Once the service was over, we got out of there ASAP and I let my sobs flow freely.

—————

To make me feel better from that less than wonderful experience, we finally got to meet Russ’s girlfriend, Marnie, who he’s been with for over a year and who I still hadn’t met. But it was amazing to meet her. She’s a musician, so it was cool to get to hear her talk about all of her music stuff.  She plays with multiple parts of her body!  Very talented. I ordered exactly what she did for lunch because I figured she had really good taste (spoiler: She does).

Marnie & Russ sittin’ in a tree…ok, sittin’ in a booth…

Sammi and Patrick sittin’ in the other booth!

Later that day, the 4 of us went all around town.  Bowling, arcade games, we even rode backwards on stationary motorcycles. We also got to visit Russ’s stomping grounds. He and Ryan gave us a tour of where they make beard oils and also (separately) where they make candles. 

Patrick and I each got to pick out a souvenir candle and Patrick said it was the best birthday present he’d gotten this year.  Not jealous, just remembering.

That’s Ryan telling a hilarious joke 🙂

One morning Russ told us he was training someone else to lead a meeting and I asked if he was looking for a new role.  He said he was and I asked if he wanted the “Take-a-hint” position.  He said, yeah, he was vying for it.   I told him solemnly, “I can take a hint, I’ll step down.”

We love Mississippi!

Visited Lydia’s moms estate, had a tour, and learned about local history.

By midday, Marnie had to go to work (her last day at her old job), and the three of us went to go see Amy Schumer’s new movie. Aka my previous favorite movie. “3 I Feel Pretties.”, please.
I feel pretty.
I feel pretty.
I feel pretty.

We hung out so long in the movie theater after the movie was over that the movie started playing again.  Same trailers and everything.  We dipped into the movie next door — Blockers.  We basically got a double-feature and both movies were hilarious, I’d highly recommend either one.

They (clearly) didn’t come to clean out the theatre between shows and, in the second film I was glad they hadn’t because I found a bag of gummy worms that someone left and shared them out with my crew.  (Better than the crawfish I had initially suggested as a snack, eh?)

Double-feature aka we just stayed so long we got to see two.

Some more delicious BBQ,  *bbq tacos*

On our final day in Mississippi guess what we found? Yes, correct!  We found what I… er, I mean, what Patrick… had been looking for this whole time. PECAN PIE.

And finally Patrick got what “Patrick” had been asking about.

But wait, not only did they have pecan pie but also they had…. 

PECAN PIE WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS!!!!!! MINE HAD CHOCOLATE CHIPS IN IT!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!!?!!  Pecan pie with chocolate chips exists! 

On our last stop in Mississippi, by a fluke, we found birthday cake popcorn.  What..!  Birthday. Cake. Popcorn.  If you know us, you know that we’ve bonded over popcorn for 7+ years. And birthday cake popcorn on Patricks birthday?!  This was living! We must be doing something right.

…After a while we couldn’t tell what was the wax and what was the colorful popcorn. 

As we were driving, we realized we had more time than we thought before our plane the next day and so, impulsively, we thought…you know what’s better than 47 states?  48 states! We decided to head to Arkansas, Patrick’s 48th state.

Buckle up for safety…are they talking about the roads…or about Arkansas in general?

We looked on the map and tried to pick a spot.  Here were our requirements: We needed a place that was still close-ish to the Memphis airport, that had a bar that was going to be open past midnight, a hotel in town, and Uber.

As they say in Jamaica, “Arkansas was brata.”.

Couple of crazy kids partying in….Arkansas….? 

After some quick, off the cuff planning we ended up staying at the Red Rood Inn. Not a typo. They had new bathrooms, new beds, but they couldn’t change the wifi code and so, we laughed a lot about at how fitting that felt.  The Red Rood Inn, where Patrick woke up on his official birthday.

That night we walked across the street to the casino to check it out.  They had live dog racing.  Neither of us had ever seen that before but when in Arkansas, right? So, we bet on a few dogs with crazy names and I lost every time…but Patrick won every time! And, since we pooled our resources it’s like I ultimately won.  We left with a collective $15 more than we walked in with.  They had a non smoking area which cost $3 to enter so we saved our money and just left smelling like smoke.

“Here comes Rusty!”

So, what did we do with our extra funds? We grabbed an uber to Ethels Old Airport club, a bar we had picked out from Google Maps.  It had 4 reviews with a 5 star rating and was open until 4am on a Monday night.

They thought it was hilarious that we had picked this bar off of Google.

We incorrectly kept calling the bartender Lisa until someone corrected us…”No, it’s Litha.” Right.

New bartender, who dis?

In birthday heaven.

Along with great music came great conversation, and by great I mean reality-show quality.  I learned from the manager of the bar that one of the girls there had a boyfriend who was locked up (for hitting her) and she was now secretly dating his best friend. This was the same girl who really wanted to hear her favorite song by Evanescence, so she jumped the birthday boy’s que, paid the the machine a little more, and snuck in her Evanescence song.  “This isn’t mine…” said Patrick laughing.

After celebrating midnight three separate times — for Pittsburgh, Arkansas, and Denver — we took the same Uber driver back to the Casino where we began our night because that feels like how it is done in Arkansas.   One uber driver forever. 

Casino? More like casin-yes!

We ended our memorable night with fried catfish and then began again, a mere several hours later, with cookie dough dessert for a breakfast in the Red Rood bed.  I insisted we check out the Bass Pro Shop because it had come highly recommended to me when we were at Ethels Old Airport club. But wait, I’ve been to a Bass Pro Shop before, wouldn’t this one be like any other Bass Pro shop? Turns out, no.  With very little expectation, we went and were stunned by how cool it was! It was massive, and they had everything inside — including loads of live animals. I could definitely understand why this was a recommendation.

At first, he thought it was the convention center.

Actual view from the Bass Pro Shop roof.

We took photos at the top with a women from Alabama who was also there, celebrating her birthday.  These two were practically twins. Er, birthday twins, don’t worry Patrick.

That moment when you visit a 47th state…and then a surprise 48th.

Overall, the trip was a success! The music, sights, and sounds were wonderful. And so was the bbq, the pecan pie (which, again, was totally for Patrick), and the company!

Until the 49th & 50th states — Oklahoma and Kentucky, here we come!
Happy birthday,
‘mi

If anything, bad weather just makes me appreciate the (few) days where the sun was actually shining and made me get my butt outside!

I kicked off April by helping the Pirates kick off their season; heading to the home opener game, it was worth it.  I also ran in a 10k race where, the morning of, we woke up to see actual, literal snow outside on the ground. All I could think was “this was a mistake” but we both powered through. I mean…Ben powered through. And I watched him collect his medal for 3rd place, pretty neat. Afterwords, I reminisced at the Wexford General Store.

Since this weather was pretty much a joke, I thought: what a great time to stay indoors and see some comedy! During the Burning Bridges Comedy Festival, I went and saw a comedy show for three days in a row.  I saw sketch comedy (the Philly team is amazing), an all-star hootenanny show, and an actual  Burning Bridges Comedy Festival show where Helen was performing. 

Tickets with Helen’s name on it…Look Martin, she’s made it!

Helbo’s professional festival pass.

Knock knock… who’s there?? Helen with some better jokes than this one!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m starting to become a huge fan of the non-event. Some of my other favorite moments included going to Cafe du Jour, Phipp’s Conservatory, the night a plant said “Hello back.” to helen, all the cherry blossoms, when Russian twists became freedom twists, getting invited to Joyce’s 70th birthday party, and a now a shout out to Katie Barbaro’s podcast: Showing Up Messy.

Hollywood visits Pittsburgh.

A non-event great night.

My first time at Eddie Merlots.

Hard to beat Pittsburgh in the SPRING!

Betting on children baseball games, we can’t get enough!

Just screen-shotting my own Snapchats.

So yes, April does come the many (snow) showers; however, every day I awoke to find more flowers than the day before.

Spring is my favorite,
‘mi

Even though Philidelphia is in the same state, I had never actually been there before this trip.  It felt like traveling; not a staycation since I was traveling five hours by car to a new city.  It was traveling. Spoiler alert: I think traveling in your own state is great!  

Map of Philly to help us tourists get around.

This was a very food-centered trip, and if you read any of my Greece blogs, just be warned that I’m doing a Philly cheesesteak showdown (inspired by the Greek salad ‘who wore it best’). 

Navigating our way through fish town.

We stopped at one market where there were a lot of Amish sellers. We tried all (ok, not all but a lot) of the baked goods they were selling…they were AMAZING. The Amish know how to make some pretty great desserts.  Chocolate chip whoopee pie is my all-time favorite. 

So now the moment I’ve been waiting to show you… THE CHEESESTEAK. To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting much from the Philly cheesesteak. Sure, I never doubted they were good, but were they really worth the hype? “Take a hint Sam” was on the case. The verdict is yes. Yes, the philly cheesesteaks are worth all of the hype. Here are the three that made it to the winner’s circle.

In third place, we have:

This delicious number from the famous Pat’s ,topped with some grilled onions. My mouth is watering just looking at it.

In second place, we have this fatter, fuller cheesesteak with some fries on the side.

This was the first cheesesteak of the trip.

And last, but of course not least (because it came in 1st place) is, drumroll please:

You can tell this is #1 just by looking at it.

This little number. Look at the onions, the peppers, the spinach, the cheese is super melty, and there’s a lot of it. You can’t blame me for choosing this as first– it even looks the part.

Nate loved the cheesesteak so much, he bought it flowers.

So, while we did do a lot of eating, Philadelphia does have a lot of history, and history is just as cool as food, right? Right.  And since history is so important, we decided to book tickets at Independence Hall. Easy enough… or so you’d think. When we actually showed up at our reserved time, we still had to wait in line for a bit. There were a lot of lines and a lot of people everywhere, and I was pretty sure (like 85% sure) that the line we were standing in was the correct one. But after standing in line for a while, and only a few minutes before our time slot, we figured out that we were in the wrong line, and we had to sprint to Independence Hall before we lost our reservation. Luckily, we made it there on time, and it became a funny little story of how we got to see Independence Hall instead of a not-so-funny little story about how I made everyone miss out on seeing Independence Hall because I was 85% sure we were standing in the right line, which was 100% the wrong line.

Made it to Independence Hall!

On our Philly history tour extravaganza, we also stopped at the Liberty Bell (of course). The bell was obviously pretty neat, but what was also fascinating was a machine in the giftshop that made a Liberty Bell coin out of your loose change; however, the fun thing about this machine was that it would give you extra money after it dispensed the Liberty Bell coin. Probably a flaw in the system, but definitely beneficial to anyone trying to make an extra two cents. Put in $1 and receive four quarters and two pennies!  Could this go on forever?? We considered standing by that machine all day.

This is a photo of the liberty bell from its better known angle and contains the smile of two people who just make an extra $0.02.

I had a great time walking around the city, soaking up the history, eatin’ some great cheesesteaks, watching improv, creating a scavenger hunt for Dana, daydreaming about how Odessa was spending this April Fools Day, about and enjoying the cherry blossoms blooming all around us. If you do visit: do not leave without getting a cheesesteak, even a vegetarian one. It’s for your own good. 

The new background on my home screen.

Let freedom ring,
‘mi

When I say “girls’ trip,” you might think of the usual suspect: Vegas. But nope!  Or, you may think of the actual movie, Girls Trip. And yes! For Colleens birthday destination, we traveled to a city with energy, abundance of life, and soul. And luckily for you, what happens there doesn’t have to stay there…it’s all in this blog. Think jazz, voodoo, mardi gras; the epicenter of vibrancy. Think, New Orleans!

The image that should pop into your head when you think of New Orleans.

Can you see the music in this photo?  Is it coming from the green or the black?  The black?  I love that!

So now before I continue, let me introduce to you the members of Team Team (that’s what we named the squad. Is it creative? Debatable. Is it original? Dubious. Is it catchy?  No doubt.  Is it fun? Absolutely).

The squad:

Lookin’ good!  “My one…er two true love(s).”.  — from you know who.

We wore these smiles all around town.

Introducing….Team Team!

We’re serving you The Beatles on Abbey Road realness.

Our wonderfully fun loving group consisted of yours truly and Nina, photography extraordinaire (almost every picture in this post was taken by her. And as you can see, the quality is amazing so I’m going to take a moment for some shameless friend promotion and say that you should check out her stuff at ninalaviva.com) Next part of the dream team is McKenzie, Colleen’s future roommate, coworker, and extra fun addition to the group; and last but not least, Colleen, my bestie, who brought us all together for the trip. McKenzie, Nina, and I didn’t know each other before this trip started, but knowing that (clearly) Colleen has great taste in friends, we were all really excited to meet each other.

We arrived at separate times, and even though it was for her birthday, Colleen showed us mad love by picking each of us up at the airport. We rented the car, which got nick-named the screaming b*tch mobile, and we went on our merry way to get to know each other and settle into the airbnb.

When we got there, Nina asked if we wanted to see her collection of indie movie DVDs, which she had laid out to display in the other room. The answer was no, but she was reaallllyyy eager for us to see the collection. After asking about it a couple more times (and us awkwardly finding excuses not to go see the collection), she found another reason to get us into the other room anyway and came back with a cake. It was then that we realized that it had never been about about the DVDs…she had been trying to surprise Colleen! Not only was this a super cute gesture, but we were also relieved that Nina wasn’t that into her DVD collection of indie movies.

So after playing some games (including the memorable Fresh air. Sitting in a chair.  No hair. #Don’tcare) and celebrating Colleen, all with a dawning realizing that we were going to have the best time together, we prepared ourselves for the excursions to come. The next day, we ended up on a swamp tour… because when in NOLA, right?

Swamp pig sittin’ pretty.

No alligators that we could see.

Lazy river cruise.

New swamp pals.

The swamp tour was very interesting to say the least. It was something I had done once before on a previous trip to New Orleans (you’ll read about it soon, don’t worry, folks. It’s only from last September, working on getting caught up.), but on the last one I hadn’t seen any mammels. It was neat to see the wildlife this time around.

Back to the car we changed clothes, added some lip color (!), and headed out for the day.  We ended up on Frenchman street and were inspired to have fun wherever we went.  I dared Collen to go take a bite of some random guy’s sandwich. I, of course, knew she would do it but was still excited to see her execution plan. She and the guy talked for 3 minutes and then, she looked straight at me and took, not one, but TWO large bites. So, Colleen was the truth or dare champion.

Back in the car on our way to some other shenanigans at home, sober Nina drove and I was the to copilot.  #shotgun  Nina was always several steps ahead of me.  For example, when I saw a car trying to merge, I would alert her 3 seconds after she already reacted. We passed a cop car, and I alerted her moments after she had seen it and we already safely passed. I used other car time to change every setting on the radio and air conditioning, just to make sure we were the most comfortable. Can’t wait to get into the car with her again.  It was a hilarious ride, and no one would question whether Nina will allow me to copilot again because she absolutely will.

Pilot questioning my decisions.

Pilot putting copilot in her place.

Pilot and copilot take the backseat.

SPARKLY SHOES AHD THEIR BIG DAY OUT

So, while we were not in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, we were there for St. Patrick’s Day. Same thing?  No. But still a party? You betcha. During our St. Patrick’s Day excursions, we found a pretty photogenic parking + photogenic women = photoshoot, so that is precisely what we decided to do. Here are some of the best shots:

Red brick to make the green pop!

Hugz N’ Smilez.

Beads N’ Stickerz.

Happy weirdos.

Birthday joy!

Schmoozing.

Snuggling!

Leeny helping me keep my whites white.

So after the photoshoot, our St. Patty’s Day spirits led us to Hunk Oasis…or did we end up at Hunk O’ Mania? Either way…the name isn’t important. What was important was what was inside!  The hunks!  This was our first time in a male strip club and it won’t be our last.

So I know that I said whatever happens in NOLA doesn’t have to stay there…but maybe some things should. Like the rest of these pictures!

One of my favorite nights, though, was when we went out, and due to volume, I waited outside of a club while the ladies danced.   I met this guy, and although I was tempted to do another round of truth or dare and make him take a bite of someone’s food à la Colleen, we ended up putting a little spin on the game…Introducing: Truth or Make Someone’s Life Better. The rest of the night, we did kind favors for people, took pictures of couples together when they needed a photographer instead of taking selfies, and nice things like that.  It was really fulfilling.

The next couple of days were filled with even more adventures. We went to brunch at a restaurant where you could make your own bloody Mary’s.

Birthday cake ordered for the birthday girl by the birthday girl.

The coolest guy in town, Uriah!

Nina, practically begging me to spill water on her.

Another standout event was the tarot card reading. Some of Team Team went to get their fortunes read, but apparently the tarot card reader wasn’t very intuitive and only told them things they already knew or things that weren’t true. Oh, and she farted the whole way through the reading.

While that was going on, I was also able to go see my favorite band called New Thousand. By accident.  I saw them the last time I was in New Orleans, and they were just as good this time. At the street side show, I also ran into a kid I met at summer camp yeeeears ago! Dimitri.  Talk about a throwback!

All around, there were so many laughs, so many dares, and three new formed friendships. It was a great trip, and I couldn’t have asked for a better team. Team Team, that is.

It was a prrriiiiiivilege to have met you ladies! 😉

#TeamTeam’sGoingHome

Love,
‘mi

Genuine hugs.

SUCH GOOD FOOD.

These glitter shoes, getting the attention they deserve.

We love our Colleen!

Nina takes the best photos in the whole world.

You’ll be seeing these ears again sometime soon…

Saying goodbye to Nola.

Sometimes doing the most mundane, everyday things can respark your love for your everyday life. I had been reading a book called Surprise, courtesy of Katie B, when I needed to go get my phone plan changed. For those of you who know me, I’ve been having a lack of data problem recently.  But for some reason, I couldn’t switch carriers it unless I paid extra, and the guy at T-Mobile literally gave me $11 out of his own pocket so that I could change my plan. Faith in humanity = RESTORED. It was such a nice gesture; it was something out of the ordinary even amidst the familiar. It reminded me that even at home, you can still have just as many adventures as when you’re abroad.  

Speaking of at-home adventures…I decided to pay it forward and do some Couchsurfing hosting since I had been so graciously hosted on the road. Maybe I’d even let a disheveled traveler with only one pair of pants do some laundry at my house if they needed. Turns out, the chore my visitor preferred was cooking (how’d I get so lucky?!) My Couchsurfer was from India, and he was happy to cook us some (amazing) Indian food.

Home-cooked Indian food? Yes, please!

And when he wasn’t cooking Indian food, he found and an amazing Indian restaurant and we went out for some more amazing Indian food…

Not home-cooked, but still…yes, please!

When in Rome! Or, when India comes to you!  Hanging out, the three of us, I really got to see Helens sense of humor translate across cultures.  (Another time, when we were watching the Olympics a guy from Georgia fell — “Well, he’s probably drunk”.)

Food seemed to be a reoccuring theme… For example, I celebrated Chinese New Year for the first time with a friend I knew through Ben. It was her first time celebrating her New Years in America, and she, too, was super into food (so we got along well), but she had a very…let’s say, artistic palette. She would make dumplings but add Doritos or whipped cream, she also make some cupcake dumplings.  It was a memorable Chines New Years for both of us.

But home-cooked food from abroad wasn’t the only fun thing I got to experience. I was also fortunate enough to watch Helen do standup (it was hilarious, and I’m not just saying that because she’s my best friend. I’m saying it because she paid me to. Just kidding). She’s so professional; I’m always beaming with pride while watching the show.

Wish I could capture both the joke and the audience’s laughter in a picture.

Everyone’s pretty much clapping specifically for Helen…right? Yes. Even Helen is clapping for Helen.

Besides the standup, another standout during those first few weeks back was when Andy drove in from Cleveland. Tony organized a tabletop game for me, Ben, Jodi, Julie, Andy, and we all had a blast. We also spent two nights in a row at the Banff Mountain Film Festival (so good), and ended our time with spontanious fireworks from the Pirates game, which made the whole experience feel even more magical.

With smiles like these, it must be game night.

Flag football.  Taking a 5…or a 10…or a 60-min. break.

One crazy memorable (or not memorable) night at Cantley’s it was Andrews birthday party 🙂 I won’t go into details but it’s not because I can’t remember them.

Stalker pic of the fam from above. But really, check out that massive bag of peanuts in the top right hand corner.

My mom took me to an anti-assault rifle rally in Pittsburgh, she made signs, and we marched in solidarity with the Parkland victims.  It was really inspiring to be around so many people who felt the same way we did. She’s a great mom.

No lies here…

Alex and Emily telling them to put your $$ where your thoughts & prayers are.

Overall, it’s been amazing to be back. Other than Newt Gingrich who is the worst.  Like I said earlier, there are definitely adventures hidden all around home. It would probably be poetic to say “you just have to go look for them,” but really, you don’t always. Even at home, sometimes the adventures just come to you in the simplest of forms. I don’t think you necessarily have to find them; you just have to appreciate them. It makes me think of the quote from Seinfeld: “I’ve come to think that the non-event is the best part of life.”

Full of non-events,
‘mi

So, if you haven’t noticed already, I’m a huge travel nut. Surprise! (That’s sarcasm.  Look, I’m getting it!)  And if you’re a travel nut like me, you know the process of ending your final adventure and heading back home can be bittersweet. You know the feeling: heading to the airport, staring at all the other travelers as you feel the chapter close, smiling while you reflect on all the crazy moments, nostalgic for the people you met and the times you had with them, sad to leave it all behind, giddy to hear “welcome home” from the TSA agent, and relieved that you get to sleep in your own bed.  Of course, travel can be hard (really hard) at times, and the thought of home’s comforts are intertwined in the jumble of emotions that come along with leaving Greece, Cyprus, and the former Soviet Union, so, instead of making this a “goodbye” post, I’ll make this a “hello” post and acknowledge some of the things I got to experience almost as soon as I touched back down into the good ol’ US of A.

This never gets old.

Andrew showing me some love.

Perk # 1

One of the main things I was excited about was getting to see Rick Steves speak at the Pittsburgh Speaker Series. If I’m being completely honest, I came home way earlier than I usually do because I knew Rick Steves was going to be speaking in Pittsburgh this year. I couldn’t not see him; I admire him so much.  He’s been someone who has influenced many of my travels, and I value his knowledge and what I learn from him.

Long story short, the talk was everything I hoped it would be. I stood waiting outside before the show in order to get a good seat, and what do you know? I got a seat in the 2nd row, close enough for me to gaze upon Rick in awe. Early bird gets the worm, kids. He (obviously) talked a lot about travel, but I love that he also incorporated some of his personal ideologies into the talk. He discussed a lot of hard topics like racism, drugs, cultural diversity, and poverty. I think he really inspires people to travel because of the way he approaches people.  

Front and frickin’ center.

Rick Steves droppin’ some hot travel knowledge on all of us.

Anyways, at the end of the talk I actually got to meet Rick Steves. This is not a drill. I repeat: I actually got to meet Rick Steves. I shook his hand and everything! And even though I may or may not have practiced what I was going to say to him in the mirror before the event, I somehow still found myself choking up and stumbling over my words when he asked for my name. But of course, Rick Steves is the warm, strong, and inviting person I imagined him to be, and he was really kind despite my shortness of breath. He even asked for my name a third time when he couldn’t understand me the first two.  He lingered with me for a while and signed my book (and took a selfie!) before he left. As he said hello to a few other people, I saw (because of course I watched him like a hawk as he walked around the room) that some woman gave him a business card. Genius.

NOTE TO SELF: Make business cards in case of Rick Steves sighting.

SELFIE WITH RICK STEVES!!! I mean… selfie with Rick Steves. It’s cool…no big deal. Do I look like I’m crying in that picture?

Perk #2

When you have a travel blog/ have any form of social media, people are going to see you looking cute.  They see you looking cute in front of a cool landscape; they see you looking cute in front of a famous monument; they see you looking cute in general. I mean, hey, I get to select the photos after all.  But — I’ve said this before — what they can’t do is smell you. Now, I’m not saying that I smelled awful (shout out to coco butter), but I did only have one pair of pants with me for 75 days.   I was able to wash them twice during that time (a HUGE thanks to Iryna and Despina!!!), so I was incredibly ready to put on a new pair of pants and finally do some laundry with an actual dryer. It’s hard to do your laundry on the go, especially when you’re moving around a lot, have only one pair of pants, and don’t feel comfortable walking around pants-less at a Couchsurfers house.   So I was definitely grateful for the spin and dry cycle when I got back home.  

Perk #3

The food: Going to a new place and trying the local dishes, the famous cuisine, the interesting, new flavors is all part of the fun of traveling. Not only that, but also you can keep a list of your favorite dishes and try to make them when you get back home (anyone up for a Greek salad?). That being said, I still love the food at home.  And, I ate my absolute favorite meal that very first night.

Being adventurous with your food while traveling is, I would say, a must; however, eating your favorite comfort food when you finally return to your old stomping ground is almost just as thrilling.

My number one.

Perk #4

🎶Reunited and it feels so good🎶.
I was extremely excited to reconnect with my city and the people in it, and of course, my wonderful friends and family.  I couldn’t wait to be near my best friend!  Bella probably could’ve worn me as a backpack because I just wanted to follow her around and soak up her presence as much as I could.  I was ecstatic that I could finally call my friends on the phone and not have to worry about a spotty connection with WhatsApp or calculate time to talk between time zones.  I got my hair done with Joyce! And, like always happens when I get back, I started talking to strangers in the grocery store because PITTSBURGH and ENGLISH and I MISSED IT ALL.

A picture from Mom and Dads birthday.  Also, please notice my mom’s amazing hair day.

Galavanting across the globe and coming straight back home,
‘mi

You can’t go to Greece without visiting its capital, Athens. Ok, I guess you could…if you were on a cruise or something and only visiting the islands.  But there’s a ton of stuff to see and do in Athens and so I spent a week there at the end of my time in Greece.

Great view of the Acropolis at night.

On our first full day, we started in Syntagma Square and went on a guided walking tour with Rick Steves (accompanied by Lisa). Maybe they weren’t physically right there in front of us, but listening to them via recording is pretty much the same thing, right?  

Syntagma square. Pictured here are our tour guides Rick and Lisa. Don’t see them? Yeah, neither did we.

On the walking tour, we learned and saw so much: churches, old department stores, secure banks (the banks here are so secure). We also saw two guards outside of the parliament building wearing skirts with 400 pleats. Each pleat represented a year in the 400-year Ottoman rule. That’s some serious dedication if you ask me.

When history meets fashion.

During the guided tour, our invisible guide, Rick, suggested that we check out a detour, and boy was I glad we did. Not only did we get to see some awesome relics of the past, but also once the regular walking tour resumed, Rick berated all of the “losers” (verbatim) who decided to miss out on such a cool detour. Rick can have a dark sense of humor sometimes.

I saw fresh squeezed orange juice from a vending machine and a cat who likes to sleep on top of cars not under them.  We ate snacks and food; oranges, olives, oil, honey, cheese
(was this a shopping list or just all of the things they do really well here?)  And more baked goods.  The incredible bakeries.  Plus baklava for dessert.

Relics of the past made us use our imaginations to picture what it looked like back then.

We walked around the Ancient Agora with our invisible tour guide speaking sweet nothings (aka directions and information) into our ears. We were contented to know that we were walking the same path Socrates and other Greek philosophers had walked centuries before us. We also got a great sense of history while we were here like…

• Greek’s Golden Age was about 1,500 years ago in 450 BC.
• 1922 was the last Turkish/ Greek war. This marked the time when the Turks had to get out of Greece (Greece has since become a country that’s hard to gain citizenship in. For example, you must become Greek Orthodox to do so).

Nothing could RUIN these Athenian views… haha get it?

Being the savvy travelers that we are, Ben and I planned out a full day of exploring the Acropolis, Parthenon, and its accompanied museum on the “free day” that happens every month. So we got to check out these neat structures for, yes, that’s right– $Free.99.  

A 15-minute walk to get to the top of the Acropolis, but Ben and I were expert walkers at this point.

Incredible!

Still standing…but not without a back brace…

They are currently restoring the Acropolis, which is actually taking twice as long as it took to originally build. And that’s saying quite a lot considering the feat of architecture this took to build. The architects did this all out of stone and made it look flat like an illusion. It took a lot of time and money. We learned that it took probably around $1 billion (modern-day dollars) to build.

We went to the Acropolis museum and learned about this beautiful building that is waiting for England to return the Elgin marbles that once sat on top of the Acropolis. England took the marbles in the 1800s, and Greece wants them back (can’t blame them!). England probably won’t return the relic because then other countries would want their relics back (this sounds like a job for Indiana Jones). The museum showed a 20-minute movie about the whole ordeal and about how the marbles were taken in the first place and why they belong to Greece. Will the relics ever be restored, or has Greece lost its marbles for good?

After this wonderful movie (Oscar-worthy, truly), Ben and I realized that we had accidentally gone to the wrong museum. We went to the Acropolis museum instead of the National Museum, which meant that we, in fact, payed for something that was meant to be free. Whoopsies.

Another stadium, did we dare perform?

If this doesn’t make your mouth water, you don’t have one.

On another interesting day of adventure, Ben and I watched as protestors in town were marching against Macedonia (the country) because of its name. Ben and I simply observed the demonstration as we drank some delicious coffee and watched democracy (which originated in Greece) hard at work.

But alas! Just like all the desserts we ate on our trip, all good things must come to an end, and Ben had to leave me one sad Monday. I joined a gym (29 Euros a month) because all of those baked goods weren’t doing me any favors (they needed my dad’s first name to put it on the gym membership, which was strange). Once that was all set up, I got an Airbnb at the last minute (12 euros a night) outside of the main part of town.

My host’s name was Ugur (pronounced Ooor); he’s a wonderful Turkish guy with an adorable, friendly cat named Minosh.

Jam sesh!!!

Minosh rockin’ out to Ugur’s music.

We became fast friends (Minosh, too) and spent that first night reading through my past blog posts–dozens of them– from the Mystery Trip and even farther back to my very first post.

I really enjoyed getting to know him, too. Ugur works at a call center (for Apple but doesn’t have any Apple products), and hearing his stories will most certainly make me remember to be really nice to people working in call centers. He just knows that people call to yell at him all day, but he is such a sweet guy. So the next time I’m on hold for 45 minutes and the person on the other end isn’t helping me, I’ll think of sweet Ugur to keep my anger at bay.

We had a nice week sharing his space together and watching snooker ball (his favorite sport on TV…I might’ve gotten really into it as well) and, of course, the Olympics. We also started getting into a Netflix show called Dark; it’s like Stranger Things except it’s in German, which definitely adds to the cool factor.

Some gorgeous views that don’t involve ruins.

During my last days in Athens, I went for several long walks and saw different parts of the city like the port area and parks. The streets were lined with oranges and olives, and it was really something special– so special I even texted Katie Diamond to tell her about it (shout out!)! I also went to the gym every day to burn off the delicious treats I was still eating…because really, I wasn’t about to stop frequenting those delicious bakeries. Plus, I really got the most out of my 29 euros. The yoga classes I took at the gym were in Greek, and the only words in common with English were ‘flex’ and ‘cobra,’ so I spent a lot of time peeking over at my neighbors to copy their form.

As it did get a bit lonely once Ben left, I was reenergized after I chatted with the beautiful and pregnant Melina in the land down under! It was so nice to catch up and see her face (shout out #2!)!

On one of my last days there, I ended up visiting the National Museum on my own. I can’t say that I remember anything I learned there, BUT I can tell you that I had a very pleasant time looking around.

They were clearly all about the detail in 500 BC.

Getting ready for some delicious food.

So, to end my trip the right way, I decided to go out for dinner and get one more Greek salad. I wanted that to be my final meal before I boarded the plane and departed from this beautiful, delicious country.  And of course a baked good.  I know, even if I get all the ingredients to make a Greek salad at home it won’t be the same.  The feta is incredible.   And I’ll be missing those Grecian sunsets that come on the side.

Efharisto (thank you),
‘mi

When I say Greece what do you think of?   Is it the musical??  Olivia Newton-John in a poodle skirt??  Or is Greece something that front line cooks have smeered on their smocks??  Or, when you think of Greece, do you think of a seaside escape with blue dome rooftops and white buildings … something like this:

From the sky, these blue dome rooftops look like the “you are here” dot on a GPS…the birds are probably always lost.

It turns out that these beautiful white washed buildings are mostly concentrated on one island in Greece: Santorini. So, to add variety to our trip, Ben and I decided to go island hopping.  We headed out from the Mani peninsula (goodbye!  We’ll miss you!) and made our way to Athens and onto a plane to this picture-perfect Greek island. We had to take a bus on the tarmac from the terminal to the airplane. The bus driver, who had clearly made this trip countless times, was confident enough in his driving that he was whipping all of us passengers around the tarmac. I, being the thrillseeker that I am, decided not to grab hold of any of the handholds and just use Ben as a barrier to keep me from falling. Ben struggled to keep us standing upright while we were both being thrown around. I was laughing so hard that I started crying. You know those people who are having way too much fun? Yeah, that was us. But I have no shame when I’m laughing until I cry!

The flight to Santornini took about 30 minutes, which wasn’t even long enough for an episode of Black Mirror #BitterSweet  but was long enough to consume all of the baked goods we had stopped and bought on the way to the airport #JustSweet

The island welcoming us to Santorini!

See, now… is that one of the blue rooftops or the “you are here” dot? Told you it was hard to tell.

We decided to stay in an Airbnb that was outside of the city, so on our first night we walked the 30 minutes uphill into town. We checked out some evening views and fraternized with some friendly, adorable stray dogs who needed some pettin’. Ürün from Turkey taught me that you can always tell what kind of people live in a place based on how their stray animals behave. I believe this is true, and based on the strays here, the people in Santorini are very kind (that’s also an observation based on the interactions we had with the locals here).

White buildings; blue sea…just like the Greek flag!

Clouds gathering to watch the sunset…but they’re blocking our view.

It is cloudier in the winter than it is in the summer, but just like everywhere else in this country, we were pretty much the only tourists around so the perfect sunsets were definitely something I was willing to trade in order to have the island literally to ourselves.

Because this was not peak tourist season–or tourist season at all–everything was pretty much closed. It almost felt like we had stumbled into a post-apocalyptic film where there are only like 10 people left in the world, but hey, there weren’t any zombies, so I’d say we were doing just fine. There were enough stores/ restaurants open that we were able to eat and find the things we needed, but there weren’t any people around. I half expected to see tumbleweeds rolling down the road.  

There was also a lot of construction going on during our time here. They were definitely spending this downtime on maintenance and growth. Ben and I spent lots of time imagining about what this place must look like when the cruise ships come to town.

Want some local wine? TOO BAD. Want some pumice accessories? TOO BAD. Want to stay at Hotel Mylos? TOO BAD.

That night, we happened upon our new favorite restaurant (one of the only restaurants, but it still would’ve been a favorite even if there were more) on the walk back to our apartment. It was a taverna where they had food in a display case, and when it’s gone, they’re closed. Hopefully the food wasn’t left over from last tourist season since this place was a ghost town and they probably didn’t really need to make a lot of food. BUT even if it was, it was darn good. We ordered some incredible bean soup, dolmas, and of course a Greek salad. We also stopped at a bakery because when you’re in Greece that’s what you do. You eat. I happily gained weight in this country; their food is incredible.

The next day, we spent waaay too much time debating whether we should rent a scooter or walk the coastal route from the town of Fira to Oia. We decided to walk. If you thought the 30-minute walk from our Airbnb into town was a bit far, get a load of this: Our walk to Oia took 6 hours. We did stop along the way to take in the views and congratulate ourselves on making the best decision ever. It was beautiful, and we started early enough so that we could see everything without getting stuck in the dark. We also didn’t run into any people on the hike, which made this popualr island feel new and relativly undiscovered.

So long! Firawell!

My question is…how do they keep these buildings so white?

Knock, knock, knocking on heaven’s door.

Extraordinary views just for us!

Beautiful seaside views…still no sign of people.

A body of water overlooking another body of water…

There’s a church on the other side of that cliff! They built their place of worship on a SOLID foundation…get it?

What you expect to see when you visit Oia.

Oia also had lots of construction going on; we heard the sound of saws everywhere, and we stepped over countless piles of donkey poop because they use the donkeys to move construction materials. But even still, we didn’t see many actual donkey’s.  Oia was a mix of lively and left behind. There were some stunning places, but then right next to a gorgeous building would be a shell of a building that had been trashed. I appreciated the juxtaposition. And again, the lack of people.

TWO PEOPLE: SPOTTED!!! Can you find them?? I could and I couldn’t stop starring.  If you know me, you know what a creep I was being.

Rick Steves was right yet again #swoon because this island made us the Sunset Chasers pt. 2. We planned our days around the sunset. We made it to Oia in time to have a snack (souvlaki and ice cream) and take the bus back to Fira where we drank hot drinks and slowly watched the sun dip below the horizon.  When it was officially dark, we headed to our favorite (and only) restaurant. Of course, after a 6-hour hike, we were starving, so for dinner we had moussaka — traditional pasta with meatballs — and another Greek salad.

The face you make when you’re about to save money on a taxi!

The next day, we had to wake up crazy early. We were walking experts by the end of this excursion, so we decided to save 15 euros on a taxi and walk to the airport instead. We left while it was still dark and walked for about 45 minutes through back roads and with no view, but we were proud of ourselves for saving money AND for getting in so many good workouts.  We made those baked goods count.

Unfortunatly, early wake up times come with their own set of problems.  And I must’ve been more exhausted than I felt because, silly me, I left my laptop at airport security. Just like the other strays on the island, the security guard at the airport treated my stray laptop with care and actually came to find me to let me know I had left it (SUCH a relief!!!).

After the short flight back to Athens, we got the chance to ride the bus on the tarmac again… I don’t know if it was the same driver or if this is just the way they all make their jobs exciting, but the driver was whipping us around again. And just like the first time, it was a fun ride! What better way to end an excursion with hysterical laughter?

Saying goodbye to Santorini!

In love with Greece,
‘mi

In honor of the Olympics, here are some fun facts I learned while in Olympia:

• The first ever Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece in 776 BC; they took place every four years and lasted until 939 AD (1,169 years)
• They started in order to honor Zeus, the king of the gods!
• The Olympic Games reached heightened popularity during Greece’s golden age (400-450 BC).
• Like any trendy event, the Olympics made a comeback in 1896 in Athens.  And, as now know, it’s comeback was successful!

My first time ever in Olympia, Greece, coincided with opening week of the 2018 winter olympics!   It was hyper cool since to be where it all began!  Back in Athens, I got to watch several of the events with my Turkish host. I always think it’s neat to see all of the countries coming together in support of the Olympics and sports and this year was extra cool to be with a Turk, in Greece (because, of their rocky history), watching the 2018 winter games.

In the past, a “sacred truce” was declared several months before the Olympics so that athletes and fans could travel safely to Olympia without fear of being attacked on their way there…and this would be a perfect place to insert a comment about our relations with North Korea and its proximity to Pyeongchang, but I think you can see the connection.

Ruins from the Altar of Hera…it’s time to use your imaginations, readers!

And Olympia, the place, is still linked to the modern day Olympics even though the games are no longer performed here as the Olympic torch is literally lit in Olympia and passed in a long relay to the next city that will host the games.  So, this years journey was 9,000 miles overland, in the snow, from Olympia to Pyeongchang, South Korea!  Really freaking cool.

After our first night in the region, Ben and I woke up early to eat a breakfast of champions, since you know, we were in Olympian territory after all.  What choice did we have, really?  As we finished up our cheese, bread, and fruit, sitting on a side walk, we headed to the Museum of Ancient Games!  Awesome!!  We saw tons of relics and used our own imaginations (plus helpful interpretive signs) to figure out what kinds of games they played in Olympia 1,500 years ago.

And then, we headed to see the ruins themselves. We walked around, read plaques, and gained lots of information from our guidebook (thank you Rick!).  The grande finale was checking out the old sprinting course, still used today.

Sprinting down the course and letting ghosts of past Olympians carry me to the finish line!

As we stretched and prepared for our own personal race down this old course (again, what choice did we have but to stage a race because #Olympia), we recalled that elderly Italian family at the stage of Epidavros who had decided to put on a show with songs and dance and had whistles blown at them. Thus, I was half-expecting the same thing to happen to us here, but luckily in running, whistles mean “GO!” And GO we did!!  Luckily, the fun police were not in Olympia that day, so we didn’t use the whistles as our starting pistol, instead we hit the track hard on our own count down.
3….2….1…GO!

Ben and I ran the sprints twice, and he won both times. I was forced to concede and announce his name in the winner’s circle (kick a girl while she’s down, why don’t you) and place an olive branch on his head.

Look at this Geeky winner.  Er, I mean, Greek-y winner!

After I graciously accepted defeat, we headed to the main museum.  Hours had already been spent learning about Olympia but there was way, way more information to take in! I told my brain to hurry up and digest.

Things we learned in this museum:

• If you weren’t in first place, you lost. Those who came in second or third place got nothing except the honor of competing…and maybe a t-shirt that said “I went to the Olympics, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.”
• Extra incentives for winning were that you didn’t have to pay taxes (um, where do I sign up?), you got free food (no, seriously, how do I get in on this?), and you received the honor of your village (bow down to Ben, Pittsburgh).
• Women were not allowed in the games. Only men could compete, and they had to compete in the nude (sounds like a reality show on NBC hosted by Bear Grylls).
• The statues and the relics we see today were once very colorful and not the white and grey that we see we today.  Again, imagination.

Maybe one of the games 1,500 years ago was moving these massive blocks…?  We just don’t know.

At the temple of Zeus with one reconstructed pillar showing me how massive the temple was.  I think reconstructing the pillar was probably its own Olympic sport.  Also, I see Olympic sports everywhere now-a-days. 

Here’s to the 2018 winter games!

Belated,
‘mi