Rose Bowl Trip Conti

Here are photos from the rest of my trip...

We arrived in LA on New Years Eve, and went to lunch in Pasadena. People camping out for the Rose Parade...24 hours in advance! (notice the blue tape marking off someone's territory):
Then we walked around Chinatown:
And Union Station:
And downtown LA. My fav was the DWP building, with the moat around it, and the museum about Mulholland inside:
New Years Day...off to the Rose Bowl!
Here we are (first time the 5 of us have been together in YEARS):
Nittany Lion warming up the crowd:
B2 that flew over during the opening ceremonies (pilot was a PSU grad):
It was a white out for sure at the other end of the stadium:
We had really good seats, most touchdowns were scored at our endzone:
My brother winning a $100 bet...
Celebration...for USC:
We hit the road on Saturday. Sad snowman outside hotel in Williams, AZ:
Car grill covered in ice...you can't even read the license plate:
Little Rock capitol (check another one off the list!):
4" thick Tiffany brass doors:
'Little Rock Nine' Monument:

After 5,377 miles, we returned home from a very memorable trip after 10 days on the road!

Wide Awake at 3AM (d'oh, knew I shouldn't have taken the cold medicine)

Happy 2009!
Well, someone always gets sick on a Rose Bowl trip...and this year, the lucky winner is, first timer, me! At least the Rose Bowl plane mishap this year put my two brothers in first class for one leg of their journey to LA today.

So since I'm wide awake, thought I'd catch on my trip blog...starting with some photos from the first day. Lovely visitors center in West Virginia:
Check off another state capitol building: Charleston, WV
Stayed the first night just over the border in Indiana:
Didn't take long to get to Missouri the next morning:
St. Louis Arch/Mississippi River from the car window:
Who knew there was a Churchill Museum in the middle of Missouri? My Dad remembered that he gave his famous 'iron curtain' speech at some small school and we just happened to stumble upon it. It was Westminster College in Fulton, MO. Very nice museum, I recommend it if you're ever in that neck of the woods. (there was even a whole room/display dedicated to his insults)
It was housed in the basement of a Christopher Wren church moved from London:
There was also a large section of the Berlin Wall there:
Then on to another state capitol building - Jefferson City, MO:
Also the site of the Lewis and Clark landing:
On to Kansas...that's when I started to not fell well.
We stayed in Burlington, CO on night 2. The next day I slept thru most of the Rockies. It was a weird weather day - 60's in Denver, over the snow covered mountains (and lots of traffic) and then just hours later, 15 degrees in Utah. There was snow on the ground through the entire state. This was the welcome center for Utah on I-70, boy was the bathroom cold!:
Night 3 we started looking for a place to stay after Las Vegas...and ended up all the way in Barstow, CA. Only 2 hours away from my brother's place in LA, but it was getting too late to push on.

Spent the day today walking around downtown LA...pics later.

We Are...Penn State! (that's tomorrow...or, um, later today now really)

Rose Bowl Bound!

Stayed the night last night in Dale, Indiana after about 10 hours of driving (or only 9 if you add in the time change, we're right on the border - it's 7 am, no it's 8 am, no now 7am, the cell phone changes in the hotel). We covered 4 states, and saw two others. ~630 miles (1/4 of the way there!) More later...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

In lieu of my usual photo collage holiday card...I'm went 'green' this year and just made a digital card. So here's to you and yours - wishing you a happy, healthy holiday and best wishes for the new year! Enjoy the photos of what I've been up to this year...

SEASONS GREETINGS 2008!
I started off the new year in a new city. I decided to go back to graduate school at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. I am studying public policy and should finish in Dec 2009. My concentration is environmental policy.
My jeep in the snow for the first time! With my apt building in the background...I'm in the penthouse on 8th floor with great views of the capitol bldg to the National Cathedral.
It didn't take me long to go back to one of my favorite spots in DC...up top the Old Post Office Tower:
Being back east, I have been able to spend more time with family. During my first semester, I exchanged laundry machine usage for babysitting my niece and nephews (Corrin and Karsten below, Max not shown - he was taking the pic).
Itching to go on a road trip...I went to Florida with my dad and brother for spring break. We traveled there via Montgomery, AL (check another capital off the list!)
Another state high point too - Florida...a whopping 345 feet.
Then on to Tallahassee - old and new capitol buildings:
Of course I joined the local DC chapter of Water For People (www.waterforpeople.org). This is from the World Water Day (March 22nd) event they hosted, filmmaker Amy Hart speaking:
In April, it was off to Costa Rica with my dad to visit Bette & Dawson. Here's a view of Playa Hermosa where they live:
Beautiful Costa Rican sunset:
While in CR, we went ziplining - so much fun!!
Arenal Volcano (near the ziplining place), which was spewing rocks when we were there:
My dad and I holding a python:
Yes, that's a monkey on my back:
My fav pic from the trip:
April also marked my younger brother's 30th bday!
I was finally able to see Corrin and Max practicing their Taekwondo:
In May, I did the Avon Two Day Walk for Breast Cancer with my friend Cindy:
Cindy and I at the start:
A huge thank you to everyone who sponsored me!! (sorry I have been a slacker with thank you cards)

On May 10th, I helped with a cool event in my 'hood - Learnapalooza (www.learnapalooza.com) where people teach free workshops for anything and everything you might want to learn.
Kamerine came to visit in May after her semester was over. We went to the opening of a sustainability exhibit at the US Botonical Gardens:
Part of the exhibit included numerous globes designed by artists to reflect sustainability themes. Here's the 'water' one, which was near the Water For People display:

Pretty much the rest of the year is documented here in my blog (or will be soon, once I have time to catch up on when my computer was broken). So check out the earlier posts if you want to continue on my other journeys this year...