Lisa and Michael

Here’s hoping that 2010 is just as amazing as 2009 was Lisa!

I love you so much!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday today, sunshine. I love you!

Yes, once again the holidays are here! Now that the house is quiet from a wonderful Thanksgiving full of family and best friends, its nice to sit and enjoy the tree and get the rest of the Christmas cards out. It’s also a really nice feeling to know that our shopping is pretty much complete, thanks to a wonderful trip in September and other on-line shopping! I for one am ready to enjoy the rest of the holiday season relaxing and enjoying family and friends and the beautiful sights and sounds of New Mexico.

We got up early this morning to take advantage of last night’s snowstorm, and wouldn’t you know, it was continuing today. We all loved it!

Oscar and Junior, a bit too much snow for the day. They’re getting tired:

Junior and Oscar

Yes, I’m still in shock! I can’t believe we went from coast to coast in two weeks. What a great time. I think Michael should plan all of the vacations from now on. He did awesome and he can keep a secret really good. We are almost done with Christmas shopping, planning our Auntie Robin Thanksgiving and also planning a wedding right now, so we really needed that vacation. Thanks so much Hubby! You did an awesome job–can’t wait till next year!

I finally finished sorting through over 1400 pictures taken from our 2009 Mystery trip and and posted them to Picasa. You’ll find 500+ photos of Denver, San Francisco (including separate Russel Wright exhibit at the San Francisco airport), New York City, and Miami Beach. Now I just have to go through and add captions to all those pictures!

This was a trip of a lifetime, with so many memories. A number of things stand out for me:

1. How cold San Francisco was.
2. The booze cruise around San Francisco bay.
3. Breaking my finger climbing down to Sutro Baths ruins.
4. The NYC subway system.
5. 9/11 in NYC.
6. Accidentally encountering Barack Obama in Wall Street.
7. My unexpected Miami Beach sunburn.
8. 3 baseball games in 3 different cities.
9. The columbarium in San Francisco and the gothic churches in NYC.
10. The Italian influence in South Beach.
11. Hookers in the subway. Cranky ones at that.

Oh, the list could go on. But most memorable was hearing Lisa scream in delight when I told her finally where we’d be going, and of course watching the amazement and joy in her face those 2+ weeks we spent on both coasts.

Thanks for sharing this special time with me Lisa, can’t wait for next year!

Long travel day home, very tired after 20 hours up and a drive from Denver to Albuquerque!

Excellent trip, one we’ll never forget. Have about 1200 pics to download, should have them posted in coming days.

Good night.

Walked along the beach at high tide on our last night here, it is kinda bittersweet in a way since we don’t want our vacation to end but we are ready to come home. I won’t miss all the cigarette butts littering the beach, I am shocked that not only are there still tons of smokers out there but they llitter at the same time! Asses! Ignoring that, Miami Beach is beautiful, we willl likely come back again, probably to get on a cruise ship.

More sun, more sand, more ocean, and a hell of a lot of fun (except for sunburns, ach)!

There seems to be a lot of hookah lounges and Italian restaurants in Miami Beach for some reason, and its French and Italian tourist season, where tops are optional. Wasn’t expecting that. To our detriment Lisa and I have sunburns, but that shouldn’t slow is down. The water is just too perfect to stay out of.