Samana Dominican Republic

Madison Wisconsin Capitol Building

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The most beautiful Capitol building I have ever seen. Nicest Capitol city too.

Culvers Butter Burger, Wisconsin

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Culvers in Beloit Wisconsin. Thats my butter burger. It is a nice tasty way to have a cheeseburger. and accompanying cheese curds!!
Go Wisconsin!

Reno, NV the Peppermill Casino

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Adam and Eve and Jesus in Salt Lake City

Adam and eve in the Garden of Eden and Christ statue. The places a non mormon can see visiting temple square in Salt Lake City. The Adam and Eve cracked me up, they look like televangelists from the 80's.

Salt Lake City

I visited the Mormon Tabernacle and the Christus statue. Pretty terrific tour. I really liked the girls who lead it, they were it seemed always on the verge of tears talking about how thankful they are for their prophets. I did not know that the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints were Mormons. I also didn't know that the new Zion (the new Jerusalem) is being built in America. There is a town north of Salt Lake City called Bountiful, I wonder if that is it?

In the meantime SLC here i come

My schedule this week
SLC Monday
Reno Tuesday
Madison and Beloit Wisconsin Wednesday
Birmingham and Cullman Alabama Thursday
Home Thursday night

Bolivia/Peru getting ready

Tonio and I decided after much back and forth about how I wanted to go to Ecuador/Colombia and he wanted Machu Picchu, Peru, and Bolivia. We decided on Peru and Bolivia! Hmm. But I am so excited. La Paz is the highest altitude city in the world. The salt flats (salar de Uyuni) in Bolivia around Uyuni are a one of a kind lanscape. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. We plan on visiting the floating villages of Uros. And of course Machu Picchu and Cusco, Peru.
But, On December 24th Tonio and I decided we would buy our tickets to La Paz, Bolivia and return from Lima, Peru for our annual winter trek. We hadn't noticed the that less than a year ago Bolivia began requiring visas for Americans ($100) but a visa can only be granted if the applicant has a Yellow Fever vaccination ($110). Problem with the Yellow Fever vaccination is that you must have the shot 11 days before entering Bolivia. We leave in 15 days and as we called around no one had the vaccine and wouldn't have it till the end of November. (Other offices were closed till Jan. 3 because of holidays). Seems the vaccine manufacturer stopped making single doses and now only make 5 dose vials and the vial expires with-in one hour of first administering it which means they need 5 people at the same time! Tonio feared we were going to loose our tickets.
We called so many offices on the CDC yellow fever website. no one had it. I gave up, I figured I could call Monday and have better luck. Tonio did not give up, and half an hour later found a doctor in Prospect Heights Brooklyn. He was such a nice Doc, Dr. Boah from Ghana. He was so hilarious, got us in so quick! He cracked jokes about how next time Ghana would beat Italy at football. Both Tonio and I are so scared of needles but he was terrific!

Dyker Heights Christmas Lights, Brooklyn NY

Dyker Heights is an Italian American neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY near the Verrazano Bridge. It is famous for its Christmas light displays and over-the-top decorations. Tonio and I drove several blocks. The best being 83rd and 84th streets between 11th and 13th avenues.
Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=83rd+and+12th+dyker+heights+brooklyn&ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ll=40.62037,-74.011931&spn=0.017786,0.037637&z=15&iwloc=addr&om=1

Pretty funny and very festive. Made us feel a little lame for out lack of festiveness. I got over it later when I thought about the amount of electricity used to make it possible. We have left it up to our neighbors across the street, they have enough for the whole block.

Welcome to Montana

From Sheridan, Wyoming to Billings, Montana

14 degrees F i think.

"Toyose" Korean Food in Sunset District of San Francisco

This dinner I just shared with my friend Victoria was amazing.

In the Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco is a restaurant called Toyose on Noriega pretty close to the ocean and only a few blocks from my friend Paula's apartment. Because Paula is a vegetarian we left her at home to eat broccoli and beets. Victoria and I had kimchi fried rice with beef with an egg on top, seafood pancake, and fried chicken. We shared a very large OB beer and a bottle of shoju. Everything was perfect. So delicious. The bill came to about $70 for two people and it was plenty of food.

Toyose is in the garage of a house which gave it a speakeasy feel. Very cool! its open late but i hear it gets packed. Victoria (who is Taiwanese) is pictured here making her own sultry OB beer poster Girl try!

Ferry Terminal Building Market in San Francisco

A day at the Ferry Terminal Market in San Francisco with Jason and Jessie also visiting Paula in SF and also from NYC.

Chocolates, oysters, artichoke, California pinto grigio i think (i can't remember what the wine was. Jessie ordered it i'll have to ask again)

It was also the week before the annual Fungi Festival. This place made me wish i was wealthy.

hoh rainforest tree

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tiny little mushrooms

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Mushroom March

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I was in the Hoh rainforest for two days this week. It is one of the only temperate rainforest in the world! Absolutely enchanting, and wet and cold and wet. This day we had to move several trees out of the road to get through after a wild storm that knocked out all of the power to Forks, Washington.