Thursday, December 25, 2003

Christmas in Wegberg: 17-27 December, 2003

Same procedure as last year.
First: a couple of days in Aachen, cooking Tom Ka Gai and Huhn mit Koriander with Andreas, Elke und Ludgar, of course a visit to the Glühweinmarkt, meeting Bernard, Stephan, Michael, Lya, and of course Andreas and Elke. Christina came up from Zurich, so Andrea spend a day with her, while Greg went with Andreas and Elke hiking in the Venn.
Then: holidays in Wegberg with Andreas parents, Claudia, Rene and Matias.
We were back in CA for New Years....sleeping off the jet lag.

Wednesday, November 26, 2003

Thanksgiving in Reston: 25-29 November, 2003

We went to Reston to spend Thanksgiving with Greg's Family.
Greg's dad had gotten tickets for the Redskins game on Sunday, so the three of us went to see the game live on/in FedEx Field. The Redskins lost against the Saints in the 4th quarter 24-20. :-(
It was still a great experience.
2nd down on the 35

Thursday, September 25, 2003

Las Vegas: 25-28 September, 2003

On a long weekend in Vegas, we stayed at the Luxor in one of the pyramids with slanted walls.
:-)
Enjoyed exploring all the hotels and casinos, played some nickel-video-poker, woho,....and went to see the "adult Cirque du Soleil show "Zumanity", which was great.
One night we had dinner at an asian-fusion place in the Mandalay Bay, while Billy Idol was playing in the back yard.
inside Luxor

Sunday, August 03, 2003

Andrea in Fiji: 2 - 15 August, 2003

On her way back from Australia, Andrea had a "short" stop-over on Fiji.
She spend some time in Suva auf Viti Levu, in Levuka auf Ovalau, on the tiny Leleuvia and in and around Nadi, Viti Levu.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn't appropriate for a beach vacation, and there isn't that much else to do....
auf Ovalau

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

Andrea in Australia: 17 July - 2 August, 2003

Andrea took a conference in Australia as an excuse to travel a bit.
- July 17: Stopover in Sydney, Australia.
- July 17-23: ICBIC in Cairns, Far North Queensland, Australia.
- July 24-29: Exploring Far North Queensland by car.
- July 30- August 2: Sightseeing in Sydney.
Green Island on the Great Barrier Reef

Sydney Opera and Harbor Bridge

Saturday, June 07, 2003

Hiking Snow Mountain: 7-9 June, 2003

We went backpacking in the Snow Mountain Wilderness Area in the Mendocino National Forest.
We left home early and drove up there. On our walk in, Andrea almost stepped on a rattlesnake that Greg had disturbed. It was quite furious. After only a couple of hours, we came by a really nice stream that looked promising for some fishing, had a good camp spot up above a bit on a ledge, so we decided to be lazy and stay. We spend the afternoon playing around the river, fishing, swimming, exploring the million lady birds all gathered in one spot, etc...
The next day we went on a day hike up the the summit of Snow Mountain, encountered another rattlesnake too close by, came by some old snow patches, walked through a large part of burnt forest with weird white, sun-bleached tree trunks, saw nice wild flowers on a pretty meadow. Greg had a refreshing bath when we got back to our campsite.
After some lazing around and some more fishing in the morning, we packed up and walked out to the car again. Saw a doe and her faun really close by and were sad to chase them off "their" trail.
Back to the Bay Area.
lots of pretty lady birds

Monday, March 24, 2003

New Orleans: 23-27 March, 2003

In New Orleans, Greg attended the ACS meeting.
Andrea explored town and surroundings, including the French Quarter, Jackson Square, the Riverfront, walked around Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1 (the oldest cemetery in New Orleans), enjoyed the various street artists, etc.
One day, Andrea took the bus (quite an experience in itself...) out to the Audubon Louisiana Nature Center in the Mississippi Delta. It was all green and wet, with lots of little and not so little creatures in the water....
One night we had really good Creole food at Oliviers (a good tip from the LP).
A Mississippi Riverboat

Friday, March 14, 2003

Salt Lake City: 14-16 March, 2003

We went for a long weekend to Salt Lake City.
While Greg had a business meeting on Friday, Andrea went to explore the town, the Temple Square, Cathedral etc.
On Saturday, we went out onto the Great Salt Lake to Antelope Island and hiked around a bit.
It was super windy, the island was pretty barren, there was a herd of wild (?) bisons we had to pass by rather closely...
On Sunday, we went skiing in Alta. There was little snow left before, but on Sat night a foot or more of fresh powder came down. Very nice, and not crowded at all.