Does anyone else find it incredibly creepy and yet still amazing that every single day is someone’s anniversary, birthday, or deathday?
Every single day.
Anaheim, CA
An update, for once!
Sorry we’ve been on hiatus, we’ve been acting in the Charles Dickens Christmas Faire for anyone in San Francisco.
However, there is a new event on the horizon!
I, Jeff, am moving from San Francisco down to Anaheim, CA in January! Finally, Megan and I will be living together, in sin as it were.
But, more importantly for traveling, I’m going to be taking my motorbike on a nice, long trip from SF to LA. It should take at least a few days in which I’ll be live-tumblring the thing as I go. (Well, not as I ride, but you know, after each stop.)
I hope you’ll enjoy it and comment yourownselves about trips up and down the coast.
It starts in January!
This is exactly why it is INCREDIBLY important to know the local laws when you go traveling.
So. Important!
(via did-you-kno)
Source: did-you-kno
Aaaaaand speaking of coffee, this is a short clip of me trying cappuccino in Milan, Italy back in 2006. You can see how much I am enjoying it. My friend Jessa was with me at the time and prevented me from switching back to my adored cola.
The rest of the clip is us wandering around Milan. Always fun with the crushing of bull crotches for good luck!
Jeff does not like coffee.
It is rude of me to out him, I suppose, but I do it all the time. I enjoy the shocked faces people make when I tell them he doesn’t like it. I am endlessly fascinated by the idea that someone mightn’t like the fruity-bitter-acid-smoky-caramelly-brownness that so many Americans love so much. I don’t mind that he doesn’t care for it, as he is quite adept at making it. My own java making skills are poor enough that I have been mostly barred from coming anywhere near the French press in my kitchen. Poor brewing skills notwithstanding, I adore coffee. I remember fondly the comforting smell of my mother’s evening cup- in a greyish greenish stoneware mug- after watching The Muppet Show with family friends every week.
I cannot speak for Jeff’s personal experiences with coffee, though I can tell you that when we first started dating, after years of friendship, I was stunned that he so reviled one of my favorite beverages. He tried, I will grant you. At my behest, he often sipped my coffee, and no matter how lovely the blend, how much cream and sugar I dumped into it, his nose would wrinkle, and he would rush off to brush the taste from his teeth.
After nearly two years of dating, you must imagine my surprise when he ordered a cup of coffee in a Costa Rica restaurant. I nearly fainted dead away when he did not make the “baby eating a grapefruit for the first time” face. In Costa Rica, said Jeff, they drink coffee. Therefore, in Costa Rica, said Jeff, I drink coffee.
And drink it he did. Every morning, he drank coffee, and he appeared to enjoy it. He is a bit sneaky at times, but I doubt he’d have kept up the charade for a full week. No, Costa Rican coffee is just that damned good. The taste is very mild- but bright citrus and deep chocolate notes save it from mediocrity. We brought back several bags to give as gifts to friends and family.
They do say that travel changes a man- and now that we are home, Jeff continues to drink coffee. He is not nearly as pleased with the varietals available in San Francisco- I guess Costa Rican coffee is just too mild for San Franciscans, but he perseveres on. He is a very determined man once he makes his mind up. (I did interfere recently, when he attempted to order a cup of Foglifter at a San Francisco café. *I* don’t even drink that stuff.)
You can find excellent Costa Rican coffee at Café Britt’s online store: http://www.cafebritt.com/costa-rica-gourmet-coffee
Devil’s Swimming Pool
The Zambezi River is at its lowest during the dry season. A Natural rock ledge at the very lip of Victoria Falls creates the world’s highest and most dangerous infinity pool which is popularly referred to as the “Devil’s Swimming Pool”. Every year hundreds of adventurous swimmers wade through the enclosed patch of water to the precipice of the 100-meter falls and look down upon the gorge below.
Words cannot express just how much I want to go do this now.
Seriously, there are no words. I need to make up a new one…
SNARFTOTS! I would heplurger the HELL outta that place!
I would wexottle45 so much!
There. There are now three words to express how much I want to go to this place.
You are welcome.
Source: did-you-kno
Wandering through torrential downpours - a lesson guide
When you are wandering around a rain-foresty country like Costa Rica, you are going to get wet.
Lemme clarify that a bit, you will get wet.
Sure, the average temperature during the day even in the rainy season is about 75’ F, but you’re not going to stay dry. Either you will be sweating profusely from the high humidity/temperature quotient, or you will inevitably get caught out in one of their daily thunderstorms.
This isn’t a bad thing.
Rain showers in Costa Rica are exactly that, showers. Buckets of rain descend straight down on top of you like a shower, last for 15-20 minutes, and then it shuts off. End of story. Usually, the showers were between 2 pm and 4 pm every day, so if you wanted to, you could avoid them. But what would be the fun in that?
So here, especially for you folks, is the Two Forks in The Road guide to wandering around in a torrential downpour.
- Don’t mind getting wet. As long as you aren’t the Wicked Witch of the West, you aren’t going to shrivel up and die. You will survive a drenching.
- Make sure your day pack is fairly water resistant. Put your camera, phone, and wallet in there. As long as you aren’t using a sieve for a bag, it should stay relatively dry. If you are worried about rain getting into your bag, spray it with a water resistant solution. You can use the same solution to waterproof your shoes, too.
- Have dry socks to change into when you get back. Do NOT carry extra socks with you. That’s ridiculous. They will get wet. (See point 1)
- Carry a poncho in your bag. Those plastic, emergency ponchos are great. They flatten down to nearly nothing, don’t weigh a lot, and, because they are vinyl or plastic or something, will keep the rain off of you, and your bag, like nobody’s business. Also, ponchos were invented for climates like those in Costa Rica. It stands to reason that people invented them that way for a reason. Learn to love the poncho.
- Don’t worry too much about your appearance. Your hair and makeup have already given up the fight due to the humidity and general sweatiness of the day. And now you are walking around in a torrential downpour. You look like a drowned rat. So does everyone else. That’s okay, drowned rats are sexy. Rawr.
- Give yourself time to go home, dry off, and change before trying to do anything else, like go to a fancy dinner. When you’re done wandering around, give yourself a bit of time to get back to your room to change and fix your makeup/hair/flying monkeys. Then again, the drowned rat look is SEXY. Own it. Just don’t sit down on anything made of fabric. And maybe go easy on the cheese. Stereotype.
There you go. Now you are prepped to wander around in a torrential downpour. Megan and I went for a lovely walk where we discovered a snake and a waterfall. And it was a good thing we had our ponchos, because adding a waterfall to a torrential downpour… really didn’t add much of anything, to be honest.
