Traveling Roths

Christmas Card 2011

2011-12-23T17:43:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the 2011 installment of the Traveling Roths' Microsoft Word Christmas Letter. If you received a card from us, or if you saw a post on Facebook pointing you here, thanks for clicking through, and taking the time to see what we've been up to this year, and what all those pictures in the collage are all about.

Winter

Too late for last year's card were the Christmas musical performances by Tristan and Zoe. The award-wining Glenwood Elementary Show Choir performed their holiday show at several locations, all with incredible professionalism for their ages.

Tristan had a solo with the North Carolina Boy's Choir at their annual Christmas concert at Duke Chapel.

Jennifer was the maid of honor at her best friend Tiffany's wedding in Atlanta.

The rest of the winter was pretty quiet. Dave spent another week in England for work. Here he is at Ice Bar, London.

And Zoe turned 11.

Spring

With spring comes Spring Break. Jennifer and the kids traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico to see Uncle Jared, Aunt Julia, and Cousin Zane for a week.

Zoe continued running 5K races

and in June, concluded her elementary school career by graduating from fifth grade.

Summer

This is where things get crazy, as they do every summer.

All of us went down to Georgia for a long weekend. We got to stay with Tiffany and Ceasar and their new baby Canon, and also with Dave and Michelle Wenegar for a few days. We visited some of our old favorite places, saw where the kids were born, and even went to a drive-in movie with a bunch of Jennifer's old school friends.

Jennifer and the kids went to Virginia so see Jennifer's cousin Jeanine and Sean and their daughter, Eliza and son Finn. From there it was on to Pennsylvania, where Tristan went with his Opa down to Maryland to join the rest of the NC Boys Choir to start their summer national tour, while Jennifer and Zoe continued on to New Jersey and New York. Tristan, Zoe, and Jennifer all got to spend a little time in NYC - Tristan with the choir, and Jennifer and Zoe with Jennifer's friend Kathi. They were all able to catch Tristan's final show with the boys choir in New Jersey.

At the end of the tour we all met up with the rest of the Roths at Uncle Andy and Aunt Shelley's house in Maryland. Joining us there was Uncle Tom, Aunt Jenni, Cousins Kayley, Krista, Alex, and Ella, as well as Opa. We had a great few days in Maryland, playing some volleyball, visiting the Udvar-Hazy museum, seeing some fireworks, and eating a lot of crabs.

After being home for a couple days (to do laundry and pack, basically), it was off to California. First stop: San Diego to see Uncle Jordan and Sofia (and In-N-Out Burger). We met up with Uncle Jared, Aunt Julia, and Cousin Zane at the San Diego Zoo. After a long day of animals, we drove up to La Jolla Cove so the kids could finally swim in the Pacific.

We finished our too-brief stay in San Diego at Ocean Beach Pier Cafe for a great breakfast and some pictures.

From there the four of us made the long an picturesque journey to Yosemite National Park. We spent the next few days camping in a cottage outside the park, and seeing as much of the interior of the GINORMOUS park as we could. Of the many pictures we took, there's the requisite shot of the Traveling Roths with Half Dome

And Jennifer celebrated her 40th Birthday!

We continued on to South Lake Tahoe to Uncle Jonas and Aunt Nellie's house. We spent the next week in that area, doing as much as we possibly could. Lots of hiking and swimming and eating California Burgers and a side trip to Reno for a day. We could've easily stayed for the rest of the summer, but we had to get back East.

We took another quick trip back down to Georgia for Dave Wenegar's "Match Game"-themed 40th birthday party, where Dave (Roth) was a Gene Rayburn-inspired host, and Jennifer was a French foreign exchange student contestant. . . . all in fabulous 70's style.

August came, and we headed up to Huron, Ohio with a bunch of our Southside Mebanite friends for a long weekend on Lake Erie at the Brouwer Cottage. We did plenty of eating, drinking, merry-making, and got to spend a full day at Cedar Point. And somehow in the process failed do get a decent family photo.

Summer ended, Tristan started 7th Grade, Zoe 6th Grade both at McDougle Middle School. In early October, we spent a weekend in Asheville, ran into a few of our Southside friends, and went to the top of a very frosty Mount Mitchell. Dave spent yet another week in England later in the month, and we celebrated Tristan's 13th birthday at the North Carolina State Fair in October.

In November we took a long weekend trip up to Northeast Pennsyltucky to see Jonas, Nellie and brand new cousin Aida, who was born in South Lake Tahoe a few weeks after we left. Joining us there were Jared, Julia, and Zane, as well as several of the local Saias. Once again, the trip was too short.

We spent a weekend in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where Zoe ran in the USA Track & Field Junior Olympics Cross Country Championship (Region 3). They also tried raw oysters for the first time.

And that's our year. We'll be up in Pennsylvania after Christmas, so for those of you we haven't seen yet in 2011, hopefully we will before the year's end.

Merry Christmas, and thank you to everybody for being part of our lives. Keep up with us here, on Facebook and Twitter. Happy New 2012

The Traveling Roths

Dave, Jennifer, Tristan, and Zoe

Mebane, North Carolina, USA

The Traveling Roths on Tour

2011-06-25T19:23:00.038-04:00

The Vortex, Little Five Points, Atlanta

The summer is a busy time for the Traveling Roths, mainly because 75% of us have the summer off. So when you have that much time to get away and see the world, you make the most of it. So here's how we're making the most of our Summer Vacation.

June:

Georgia

We all got to spend a few days in our old homeland, catching up with old friends, visiting some of or old favorite places, and finding some new ones. Some highlights (in a tag cloud-style) include: Blue Ridge Brewing, Historic West End, Canon Mitchell , Einstein Bros., Buckhead, Richard's Variety , Piedmont Park, Cafe Intermezzo, No Mas Cantina, Mia Morris, Gavin Holmes, Taqueria del Sol, Peachtree City, Dave and Michelle Wenegar, Little Five Points , Donna Holt, Taqueria del Sol (again), Starlight Six Drive-In, U-Haul, Shelton Fireworks

Virginia
Jennifer and the kids got to spend a few days in Culpeper, Virginia with Jennifer's cousin Jeanine and her two kids. From there it was up to Pennsylvania, and this is where it gets complicated. Jennifer and Zoe left to see some friends and family while Tristan and Opa headed to Maryland on their way to Virginia and the start of Tristan's summer tour with the North Carolina Boys Choir.

North Carolina Boys Choir National Tour Series

     Tristan and the rest of the NCBC are on their national tour this week, and if you're lucky enough to be anywhere near where they are, stop and catch a show. They're free, open to the public, and best of all, they are chock-full of musical excellence. You should follow their travel blog every day.

   Saturday, June 25
          St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, Annandale Virginia, 5pm

     Sunday, June 26
          St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, Annandale, Virginia, 10:15am
Knowlwood Military Retirement Community, Washington, DC, 2:30pm

     Monday, June 27
          Grace Episcopal Church, Westwood, New Jersey, 7:30pm

     Tuesday, June 28
          St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Haworth, New Jersey, 7:30 pm

July
We (all) plan on starting the month out up in Maryland with the extended Roth family, and then back to North Carolina for a few days to regroup before heading off for to California. That's the "big" trip of the summer, and we're all really looking forward to it. We're also planning another trip to Georgia to participate in a Match Game-themed 40th Birthday Party.

August
     For the first time ever, we're taking a trip with our Southside Swingers group up to Ohio, to hang out with our friends at their cottage on the lake, and finally make the pilgrimage to Cedar Point where at least two of us will really enjoy the roller coasters and other rides.

And then there's the beach. Definitely need to get back to the beautiful beaches of North Carolina.

So check back here and see what we're up to.

2011: The First Half

2011-06-12T15:23:00.001-04:00

Since Facebook came about, I've been really, really remiss in updating my blog. So in an effort to remedy that in one swell poop, here's 2011 so far, and hopefully, there will be more frequent posts as the year goes on.

January.

Pretty much nothing happened. Nothing I have any decent pictures of, anyway. It was dark, cold, and the weather was probably foul.

February

I (Dave) went back to England for the third time in a year, spending an entire month of the last 12 outside the country. Sure it's for work, but it's always fun too.

Parliament, AKA "Big Ben"

Terry and I among a huge crowd of people in London's Chinatown during the Chinese New Year celebration

Icebar, with Margaret, Jane, and Terry

Parliament and the River Thames, in fake tilt-shift, as seen from the London Eye

March.

Jennifer and the kids went out to Albuquerque for Spring Break to see Uncle Jared, Aunt Julia, and Cousin Zane.

April
Zoe ran in the Dogwood 5K, yet again.

May

While Tristan was on tour with the North Carolina Boys Choir, the rest of us went to the beach at Emerald Isle and Salter Path.

We got to catch Tristan's NCBC concert at First Baptist Church in New Bern.

Zoe's award-wining Gator Show Choir performed their Spring Concert

And, of course, no May would be complete without our annual Pig Pickin'!

June . . . so far.

Tristan and the North Carolina Boys Choir, Concert Choir, Chamber Choir, Training Choir and the brand new Girls Choir perform their annual spring concert at Duke Chapel

Zoe graduates from Fifth Grade, and heads to Middle School

And so the summer begins. We're all headed to Georgia for a few days, Tristan heads out on his second national tour with NCBC, singing in Virginia, Washington DC, NYC and New Jersey while Jennifer and Zoe are in Pennsylvania. We're all going to Andy and Shelley's for Independence Day and then in July we're headed to California. We'll wrap up the summer with a trip to Huron, Ohio and Cedar Point with the Southside Swingers Club, plus there will probably be a few beach weekends between now and October.

Stay tuned, more travel, pictures, and words to follow.

2010 in Pictures and Words

2011-01-16T15:40:00.000-05:00

If you got a Christmas Card from us, it looked like this. If not, well, here you go.

So here we go, 2010, in summary

January.

It snowed. A lot (for Mebane). Eight inches in one storm was the most snow we'd seen since 2002, and we tried to make the most of it, despite not really having much on the way of snow toys.

February

Zoe turned 10 (not pictured)

March

Dave spent two weeks in England for work (also not pictured)

April

We spent Easter weekend down at the beach on Oak Island. It should've been a little too cold for the kids to swim, but it wasn't.

May

Zoe runs in two different 5K races. Dave's 16-year old pickup dies (temporarily) Jennifer buys a (relatively) new Honda Pilot. Tristan mini-tours coastal North Carolina. Pig Pickin' 5!

Jun

The first Big Saia Family Vacation at Surf City. Tristan tours the south and midwest

July

The Big Roth Family Vacation to Alaska and Canada

August

Back to School; 6th grade for Tristan, 5th grade for Zoe

September

Dave goes back to England for another week

October

Tristan turns 12. State Fair Time!

November

December

Tristan sings with the Triangle Youth Ballet's production of "The Nutcracker", and has a solo with the NCBC at the Duke Christmas concert.

Zoe runs in the Reindeer Romp, coming in 2nd for girls 10 & under, and 3rd for boys and girls 10 and under. She also performs with the award-winning Glenwood Show Choir

Jennifer got to be the Maid of Honor for her best friend Tiffany's wedding.

And then the year took an unpleasant turn that I'm not going to get into here.

So here's to 2011!

Happy New Year from The Traveling Roths.

The Great Northern Adventure, Day 9: A River Runs Through It

2010-09-07T21:06:00.001-04:00

Awoke to fog and light rain. Met at the main lobby at 7:30 for our rafting excursion (exertion, as Zoe would say.) The four of us plus Kayley and Krista signed up for the canyon tour, class III-IV rapids. We had drysuits, hats, and gloves, so we stayed dry, though chilly.

The rafting was great, and so was our guide, Cassie. Tristan got her to sign a river rock for him, as his his rafting tradition. I recorded some of it on Jennifer's Flip, using her new waterproof case. It was an awesome experience.

We got back to the hotel at 11, and met our bus at 11:15 for the short ride to the train depot. We had a short wait, then boarded the big domed McKinley Explorer trains for the eight-hour ride to Anchorage. We brought snacks so we could avoid the high lunch and dinner prices in the dining car.

The Great Northern Adventure, Day 8: This National Park Brought to You by Aramark

2010-08-04T20:23:00.002-04:00

Saturday, July 10th.

Luggage out at 06:00, bagels & coffee from the hotel gift shop and coffee bar, and meet the bus at 07:00. A short ride to the Fairbanks train yard where we boarded the McKinley Explorer for the ~4 hour ride to Denali National Park.

It's a double-decker dome train with all the amenities, including a bartender in each car. I had a Moose Mary and Jennifer had an Alaskan Mosquito Bite. If there was booze in those $6.75 drinks, it was undetectable. Each car features someone else who is expecting a tip for their unsolicited commentary during the ride.

The kids found a way to make their own fun.

We arrived at the Denali Train Depot around 12:30,

and took a five-minute bus ride to our hotel The McKinley Chalet Resort, (an Aramark property). We didn't have a lot of time, but we dropped our gear and walked to the Denali Doghouse,

bringing Kayley and Krista with us. We enjoyed some really good hot dogs and burgers, though overpriced, of course.

Walked back to the hotel in time to board an old school bus driven by an over-educated naturalist for a several hour drive around the park.

We saw some moose and birds, the historical Savage Cabin, and some somewhat informative talks by a period-costumed ranger (Aramark) and a real live Athabaskan lady. We got back around six and tipped the Aramark naturalist/school bus driver a Hamilton. Kind of a pushy broad, but knowledgeable.

We saw a sign for a pizza place with 49 beers on tap, so it was an instant winner for dinner.

All of us except Ella, Shelley, and Tristan went. We had at least an hour wait, but that was enough time to sample three different beers whose names I can't recall. We got a baked chevre, three-mushroom pizza, and a grinder. We fed Dad again. The food was pretty good. Shelley showed up near the end (Ella was asleep in the room) and we took home leftovers to Tristan. Bed around 11, sunset around midnight. The weather is beautiful, and we slept with the windows open, enjoying the cool, dry breeze through the aspen and spruce.

The Great Northern Adventure, Day 7: Gold

2010-07-27T19:53:00.000-04:00

Friday, July 9, 2010

We walked to "downtown" Fairbanks, finding a coffee place called Mocha Dan's where we got some breakfast sammiches and coffee, avoiding hotel restaurants and their $14/person sorry buffets.

A relatively short ride on the bus to a riverboat ride on the paddlewheeler "Discovery III."

This took about three hours, including a one hour stop at a mock native village culture display. The "native" chicks were very cute,

and we learned a lot as well. We also saw a famous dog musher (Lance Mackey), as well as the widower of another famous dog musher (Susan Butcher).

From the boat ride we went to Gold Dredge #8, which ran from 1929 to 1959.

It was amazing how that process worked and how damaging it was to the land as well as the men running the dredge with its liquid mercury gold dust collection system. We also had lunch there. Miner Stew, biscuits, muffins, and horrible iced tea. (I'm always amazed how often something so simple is done so badly.)

After the dredge we went to the El Dorado Gold Mine.

We had a train tour of traditional mining, followed by a demonstration of sluice panning, after which we each got a bag of pay dirt that we were able to pan ourselves. That was a lot of fun. I had about 6.5 grains of gold in mine, worth around $24 (gold is ~$1200 oz. right now.) I have no idea what to do with it.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Alaska Pipeline. It was somewhat interesting.

Tristan dances about architecture

In the evening, Jennifer and I took Dad to a restaurant called Thai House.

It was really good. Being uncertain whether or not Dad would eat squid, when we got our calimari appetizer, I described the squid bits with the generic "seafood" term. Dad cleaned his plate, and we brought our leftovers back for Kayley, who really enjoyed them.

We finished off the night (since it was still really light out) by heading back downtown to the Fudge Pot. Can't go wrong with fudge.

The Great Northern Adventure, Day 6: Visiting North Pole, Meeting Santa, and Eating Reindeer

2010-07-23T19:23:00.001-04:00

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Woke up in Beaver Creek. Crossed back into Alaska, stopping at the border for some photos.

We stopped at a visitor center, with bathrooms and nice views.

We stopped at yet another Westmark, this time in Tok for a proper lunch. This one included red snapper, reindeer sausage, chicken, and sweet potato fries. It really hit the spot.

Back on the road, stopping at Rika's Roadhouse for some strawberry and rhubarb pie and ice cream.

Yet another stop, this time at North Pole, Alaska. We went to Santa's house, met the man and his reindeer (whose relatives were quietly digesting inside us at the time), and perused the tourist wonder~~waste~~land that is Santa's house.

By the early evening we were at our hotel in Fairbanks: The Westmark on Noble @ 10th Avenue. We're here for two nights, which is a nice break from all the packing and unpacking. We said goodbye to our motorcoach driver and handed him some cash somewhere in the neighborhood of the "suggested gratuity" amount of $4/person/day. (More on tipping later, what a racket.)

We scheduled our first "excursion": the Alaska Salmon Bake in Fairbanks. We took Dad with us because we knew he'd enjoy it too. We were picked up in a blue-painted school bus and dropped off at Pioneer Park, where the salmon bake is.

We had all-you-can-eat fire-roasted wild salmon, prime rib, fried cod and halibut, sides, desserts, and drinks. We ate outside in the dry 80F air. It was great to just sit outside, eat, and relax.

We walked around Pioneer Park to help digest some of that fantastic food, and caught the 9:20pm school bus back to the Westmark.

This far north, sunset is at 12:20 am and sunrise is at 3:29 am, though it never really gets all that dark in between. We've never seen anything like it.

The Great Northern Adventure, Day 6: Yukon Do It

2010-07-22T19:43:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Departed Whitehorse (after putting our luggage out in the hall for someone else to carry to the bus for us again) for another long day on the bus.

In the morning we stopped at Uncommon Journeys Ltd. for a "90 minute demonstrationand tour of our kennel, dog yard and sled dog training facilities at the Homestead.". We got to meet and play with 55 of their Husky sled dogs,

and the kids got to play with the new puppies.

Needless to say, they absolutely loved that - the kids and the puppies. A team was hooked up to an ATV, and we got a little demo on what these dogs can do. It was pretty impressive.

We stopped to eat lunch in ____ at their community center. We had sammiches and fruit. I guess the town made some kind of deal where they supply church luncheon-type food to the HAL tour buses in exchange for $. It seemed kind of random, but it was nice to get outside and walk around.

We made a few more stops throughout the day, mainly bathroom breaks and photo opps.

I've been able to sleep pretty comfortably on the bus and in the hotels in between stops. That's one feature of a motorcoach tour aimed at old people: you're never more than a few hours from a proper bathroom (in addition to the improper one on the bus.)

We stopped for the evening in Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory, at another Westmark. This hotel has dreadful reviews, but we didn't find it to be that bad considering we were in Canada's equivalent of the Australian Outback. This one had a dinner show in a large circular outdoor/indoor theater. We had enjoyed a few C$6 pints in the bar beforehand (Yukon Gold and Chilkoot Lager) as well as a few more during the show. The show was pretty good, as was the meal. We're far enough north now that it never gets completely dark at night. Can't imagine what winter is like.

Put the luggage in the hall. . .

The Great Northern Adventure, Day 5: Yukon, Jack

2010-07-20T19:23:00.001-04:00

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Today would have been the folks' 47th wedding anniversary.

We woke up docked in Skagway. We went to a meeting in the Vista Lounge (nightclub) where we met the rest of our tour group (#7A) and our tour director, Roslyn Hood. We disembarked and kicked around Skagway for a few hours, stopping for a crepe, and some salmon-tooth earrings for Jennifer.

We met our train around noon: The White Pass-Yukon Railroad, following the route of the Klondike stampeders of the late 1890s to Fraser, British Columbia.

The ride on the narrow gauge railroad was pretty cool, though mostly foggy. The geography was dramatic, and changed a lot along the ride.

We had a cursory customs inspection in Fraser, and boarded our bus with driver Parker Anderson. We drove several hours, stopping in places like Carcross, Yukon Territory.

We're staying at the Westmark, a very budget but clean motel chain. We were on our own for dinner, so my immediate family ate at a Vietnamese place. We stopped at the Canadian Superstore (or equivalent) to get some breakfast food for the next day.

The Great Northern Adventure, Day 4: To Alaska

2010-07-19T19:23:00.001-04:00

Monday, July 5, 2010

We get to leave the boat for a little while today. First stop: Juneau. The weather was cold, foggy, and misty. It was like walking around Twin Peaks. There were several other large cruise ships in port, so the town was crawling with tourons (tourists + morons, thanks to Donna Z. for the vernacular.) The town was filled with jewelery stores, gift shops, ice cream places, etc.

First stop was the Alaska Brewing Company.

This beer is highly featured on the ship, but probably not for the right reasons. Jennifer and I did a beer tasting yesterday where we tried four of ABC's different beers: Amber, Pale, White, and Summer. All but the Amber looked identical, and pretty much tasted that way too. I suspect Alaskan is the Coors of Alaska (that is so not a compliment.)

We found a coffee shop off the beaten path and relaxed a little.

On the way back we stopped at the Red Dog Saloon, a very touristy, but fun bar, suggested to us by Connie via Facebook.

We got a beer, root beer, and a smoked salmon, cheese, and cracker appetizer.

In town, the kids bought some Lego minifigs and some stickers for our journals.

Back onto the boat.

Dinner was casual again, with fewer people on the boat since some were out on excursions, (or exertions, as Zoe referred to them.) Last night on the boat, and the luggage had to be outside the cabin by 03:00. That was kind of a pain, and I guess the downside to almost never having to handle your own baggage. Thank you, overpackers for your laziness.

The Great Northern Adventure, Day 3: You and Me, By the Sea

2010-07-18T19:23:00.000-04:00

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Jennifer was up earlier than the rest of us, meeting up for breakfast on the Lido (#9) deck. The breakfast selection is excellent, of course. The whole day was spent at sea, so other than the eating, there was plenty of viewing of the geography.

To celebrate the holiday, lunch was grilled "outside" on the Lido deck by the pool with the retractable roof open. The bar even had some holiday-themed overpriced drinks.

And more pool time, of course.

(Jennifer, Andy, Shelley, and Jenni)

For dinner, which was "formal" night, we dressed up as little as we thought we could get away with. Jennifer used two of her travel skirts to make formal dresses for Krista and Zoe.

Dinner included some King Crab and other stuff. It wasn't a lot of food, but it was good, and our Indonesian waiter, Rianto , was very nice.

The Great Northern Adventure, Day 2: Here by the Waterside. There where the Lens is Wide

2010-07-17T17:53:00.001-04:00

Saturday, July 3, 2010

We got up Saturday morning and walked down to the waterfront,

taking a foot ferry over to Granville Island.

This place was awesome, and I wish we had more time there. We got croissants, coffee, crepes, and other cool stuff there, and ran into Andy & family. If we ever get back to Vancouver, we'll need to spend more time there, as well as Chinatown, which we missed entirely.

We checked out of the hotel by 11 and took three taxis (Dad took the bus) to Canada Place (C$ 8.50 + tip. $1 = C$ 1.06) There were two cruise ships boarding: ours, the Holland America Line MS Zuiderdam, as well as a Princess Cruises ship. Despite the huge number of people and all their luggage, the check-in and boarding process went very smoothly.

We were on our boat by noon, and went to the Lido deck to commence gluttony. Zoe was immediately impressed that she could eat all the sushi she wanted to. Tristan was amazed that he could go get as many ice cream cones as he wanted. We hung out and explored and took pictures. By 3pm or so we were able to enter our rooms. We're in 1112 on the "Main Deck", aka Deck 1 (the first deck above the water line). We have a 3' x 3' window that cost us ~$200 as an upgrade, but it was totally worth it.

We love the room. Zoe's staying with us while Tristan is staying with Opa (Dad) in 5008, an inside stateroom. Tom's family has a room like ours but with an additional flip-out bed, and Andy's family has a Verandah [sic] suite with their own balcony. It is sweet!

The kids got into the pool about as soon as they possibly could, and stayed there as long as they possibly could.

We have a 7:45 seating in the dining room and we're at two adjacent tables. Dinner the first night was almond-crusted salmon, steakhouse soup, and mussels for me, with baked Alaska and espresso for dessert. The kids couldn't believe they could have a salad, appetizer, entree and dessert. Since Tristan's medicine suppresses his appetite, he specifically requested not to take it so he could eat more.

After dinner, Zoe and I tried to see Seymour Narrows, site of Ripple Rock around 11 pm, but it was too dark, plus Zoe fell asleep under two wool deck blankets out on the observation deck (Deck 10). Pity.

The Great Northern Adventure, Day 1: Take Off to the Great White North

2010-07-16T23:23:00.003-04:00

Friday, July 2, 2010
RDU. Gate A25. Southwest flight #617 to Seattle via Baltimore.
It's 8:57 am EDT, so we should be boarding in ten minutes or so. The weather here is great. It's an hour to Baltimore, then an hour on the ground, then about five hours to Seattle, landing around 13:55 PDT. We're boarding A46-A49, so we should have decent seats, and will probably be able to upgrade them at the stopover. I have no idea how many people may be continuing through like us.

Some background on this trip, to the best of my knowledge. I believe the idea for this trip was my mom's, and I think she had even started saving for it. Dad continued, and by last fall had enough money to take his whole family on this cruise-tour. There will be 13 of us, including Tom, Andy, and their families, and Dad, of course.

Mom and Dad did more-or-less the same or similar trip: an Alaskan cruise-tour some years ago in the 1990's. I'm speculating Dad's comfort with revisiting a big trip that he'd already taken may have been a factor in this trip's destination, as opposed to say, Austria, where he has never been.

Another interesting note is that this summer marks the 30th anniversary of The Roth Family's greatest vacation: a six-week, 10,000 mile RV trek around the country with excursions into Canada and Mexico. In fact, the last time I was in Seattle was probably within a week or so of 30 years ago today. That trip was more significant than I can explain, but that's a story for another day.

11:48EDT. BWI-ish.
We took off at 11:22 but not before we were joined on our plane by Andy, Shelley, Alex (8) and ella (6). We didn't tell Tristan (11) or Zoe (10) that we were sharing a plane with them, though I think they figured it out. Smart kids, all of them.

We're flying to Seattle where we'll get on the Quick Coach Shuttle for the ~5 hour ride to Vancouver, BC (~$40 each). It was far cheaper to do this than to fly direct. Tom, Jenni, Kayley (13) and Krista (11) flew to Seattle Wednesday and hung out with friends for a few days. Dad (71) was flying from Harrisburg Middletown (a horrid little airport) to Vancouver via frequent flyer miles. Andy and I were discussing the odds of Dad making it to the hotel in Vancouver mishap-free. It shouldn't be too difficult, but Dad usually finds a glitch somehow. It's a gift. We're staying at the Quality Hotel on Howe Street tonight so there's little chance of missing the cruise departure early tomorrow afternoon. I've read that Vancouver has an impressive Chinatown - the second largest in North America. And since my kids speak Mandarin, I thought it would be cool to check out the Chinatown Night Market if we can.

The cruise portion of the trip is three nights, followed by six nights on the tour portion. We fly back from Anchorage on Monday the 12th at 20:20 (Alaska time), arriving back in Raleigh at 09:35 on July 13th, Jennifer's 39th birthday. Seems we're away for her birthday almost every year. She's OK with that.

We landed on time in Seattle, 5 hours 7 minutes. The adults got a snack at the Seattle Brewhouse (maybe) while the kids burned off some energy across the hall at the play area. We walked down to the bus loading area

and boarded the 15:30 (PDT) Quick Coach Shuttle (aka QuickShuttle). We made a few stops on the way up to Vancouver, but the drive was nice and the views were amazing.

The shuttle dropped us right at the door to our lodging: Quality Hotel, 1335 Howe Street.

We checked in, found Tom's family, then all of us other than Tom and Krista (who is nursing a recently broken but now healed leg) headed out. We got some pizza, then all but my family returned to the hotel. It was ~9 pm, but felt like midnight. We walked around some more, much to the kids' annoyance, and found ourselves in a nightclub/red light district. It wasn't that bad, but was getting a bit too saucy for 10 & 11 year olds, so we turned back, but not before stopping at Fritz, an all-night french fry place. We got traditional poutine (fries, mozzarella cheese curds and beef gravy - a Quebecois specialty)

The Traveling Roths on (Mini) Tour

2010-05-10T13:10:00.000-04:00

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OK, maybe it's not so much The Traveling Roths as it is Tristan Roth, and even then maybe not so much Tristan as it is the North Carolina Boys Choir, a part of which, Tristan is. The NCBC is on tour this weekend, and if you're lucky enough to be in a few select parts of North Carolina, you can go see them.

Friday, May 7th
     Jonesboro United Methodist Church
     407 West Main Street, Sanford, NC 27332
   Performance Starts at 7:00 pm

Saturday, May 8th
     Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church
     1401 South College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403
     Performance starts at 7:30 pm

Sunday, May 9th

     Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church
     1401 South College Road, Wilmington, NC 28403
     Performance (church service) starts at 11:00 am

   First Presbyterian Church
     1604 Arendell Street, Morehead City, NC 28557
     Performance starts at 5:00 pm

If you're in the neighborhood, catch a show. If not, the choir will be embarking on their national tour in about a month, shortly after their spring concert at Duke University on June 7th.

Travel Tips for Twelve-Year-Olds

2010-04-15T22:23:00.002-04:00

The daughter of a friend of mine is going on a two-week trip to England and France this summer through a program called People to People,

People to People Ambassador Programs offers extraordinary, life-changing educational travel opportunities for students, athletes, educators, and professionals. With nearly 50 years of experience, more than 400,000 alumni, and destinations on seven continents, People to People is the world’s most recognized and respected educational travel provider.

She asked me if I had any travel advice for her. I gave it a lot of thought, and wrote down what I could think of that would be useful to a 12-year-old. Not wanting to waste all that effort, I've posted it here as well.

International Travel at your age is tremendous, worthwhile experience that you'll probably cherish your entire life. You can't even begin to imagine the benefits you'll reap from this trip, and hopefully the many that will follow. You've made an excellent choice to take advantage of this opportuity, and becoming a comfortable traveler now will really help you later on too. You're on a guided tour, so you're not going to have to worry about transportation, translation, fees, most meals, lodging, etc. But there are still some things that can make a big difference during your trip.

Packing

You're going to over-pack. I'm sure your tour leaders will have provided a suggested packing list, and I suspect that there's too much stuff on it. They'd rather that you were over-prepared than overburdened with having to haul way too much gear around. But keep in mind that you will be responsible for packing, unpacking, carrying, stowing, retrieving, loading, unloading, dragging, and carrying this luggage around for the duration of your trip, and the more your bring, the more miserable the whole process of dealing with your stuff will be. For a fun exercise, I suggest packing up everything you're planning on taking on your trip, then get someone to take you and your luggage to the mall for the day. Make sure you're the only one who handles your luggage the whole time. Load it in the car, unload it at the mall, drag it around into stores, restrooms, restaurants, movies. . . . If after the end of the day you haven't completely rethought your packing strategy, then you're probably OK.

I suggest that for a two week trip to Europe in the summer, you can get by with one carry-on sized bag and a small backpack. Actually, I suggest you can get by with this strategy for pretty much any trip. Personally, I prefer a bag that does not have built-in wheels and a handle because they take up too much of the bag's available space. The MEI Voyageur is probably the ideal bag for this: http://www.meivoyageur.com/ Once you have the bag, you should learn how to pack it. The best site I know of on the topic is One Bag http://www.onebag.com/

Food

You're not going to Europe to eat American food. Avoid it at all costs. It's only two weeks. Besides, the food is better in Europe anyway. Most of your meals are probably included in the tour, but if you have any on your own, you can eat a lot cheaper at a grocery store than a restaurant. When you're eating in somebody's home (which you should do every chance you get) try everything. Even if you think you don't like something, at least try it.

Buying Stuff

Don't buy anything in Europe that you can buy at home if you don't really need it right then: it costs more and you'll have to lug it around for the rest of your trip.
Don't get travelers checks. They're so last-century. Also, don't exchange money at a currency exchange place. You'll get ripped off on either the fees or the rate. Instead, get an ATM card and let your bank know where and when you're going so that they don't shut down your card thinking it's stolen. Get used to translating prices in your head, or make a little cheat sheet before you go. If you look at a price and think that $1 = £1 = €1, you'll be in for a rude awakening when you run out of money a lot faster than you throught you would. ($1 = £ 0.65 (65 pence) = € 0.74 right now, or £1 = $1.54 and €1 = $1.36).

Memories

Get a camera and learn how to use it. A camera that takes AA batteries is a lot more convenient than having to bring a battery charger with you because you can buy spare AA batteries everywhere. Camera memory is also super cheap, so get more than you think you'll need. Take way more pictures than you think you should. . . every chance you get. You'll never wish you had taken fewer pictures. If you like to write, a journal is a great thing to have. In my opinion, the Moleskine journals are the best. You can get them at Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Amazon.

Advice from My Kids

I asked Tristan and Zoe what advice they would have for other kids traveling, and they recommended bringing plenty of entertainment - books, magazines, music, etc. When traveling with a group, you're going to have a lot of hurry up and wait time, so make sure you have something to entertain yourself with. Oh, and if you have the chance to use a clean, convenient bathroom, do it, even if you don't really need to. You never know when you'll find the next one.

Language

England is easy since you already speak English, but bear in mind that they call some things by different names than we do.
French: As part of a tour, you're probably not going to need to be able to speak any French, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't. You should at least learn a few common French phrases (yes, no, please, thank you, I would like. . , where is the bathroom, etc.) Most French people you would encounter probably speak English, but they really, really appreciate your attempts to speak their language in their country.

Adapters/Converters

If you have to take anything that plugs in, you'll need an adapter and/or a converter because power outlets are different shapes in England and France and different voltages too. You'll probably only need an adapter since most electronics (iPod chargers, battery chargers, hair dryers) can run on either voltage automatically. Get one adapter that has the British and European plugs on it. If you use a dual voltage hair dryer, make absolutely sure that you switch the voltage over to 220V before you plug it in over there. It'll blow up if you don't.

General

Rick Steves, who travels for a living, has a huge amount of great advice: http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/tips_menu.htm

Try to blend in with the locals - do what they do, eat what they eat. Try not to be loud (Americans are really loud). Be adventurous. Be outgoing. Make new friends. Don't stress. Have fun!

-Dave

Addendum: My friend Cricket has some excellent advice to add:

One more bit to add about France: EVERY time you go into a store (especially small stores, and especially outside of Paris), no matter how silly you feel, say "Bonjour Madame" or Bonjour Monsieur" (loudly enough to be heard) and smile or nod. If you were French it would be rude not to. As a foreigner, you'll make a good impression.

I'd also suggest learning to say "Where are the toilets, please?" and "I'm sorry, I don't speak ____" in the language of every country you're visiting. It's much more impressive to locals if you've made the effort instead of just asking "English?"! It's gotten me in trouble once or twice when I said it well enough for people to think I really could speak/understand well, but when I look baffled and repeat myself, they laugh in a friendly way and add their few English words and a lot of gestures, or break into full-blown English.

On packing, you can get by with less if you have fast-dry garments that can be washed overnight in the sink.

What to Do on a Two Week Business Trip to England, Part 1

2010-04-11T21:45:00.000-04:00

(that's totally not where I was working, but it was also in England, so it'll do)

Monday, March 1st (written weeks later)

Finally the reason I was in England - work. We met the others down in the lobby of the Hanbury Manor at 7:30, piled into our two rentals, and made the ten minute drive to the GSK site in Ware, which means me probably got there around 7:45, which was unfortunate because A) the cafeteria didn't open until at least 8:15, and B) the meeting wasn't scheduled to start until 9 or 9:30.

About the cafeterias at GSK in England, they're run by Sodexo (the same folks that run the cafeteria at the kids' school) and they don't take cash or credit cards. You have to buy a vending card (£2 deposit), the put money on it via a vending machine that seemed to have uptime issues. What a pain in the ass! I could see the vending cards in addition to cash & credit, but with a captive market, they have no incentive to innovate. Unfortunately, Sodexo will be running the US cafeterias as well pretty soon.

Back to the meetings. We met the rest of the attendees, maybe 20 in total. The sessions were divided into two streams, otherwise the workshop would've been four weeks instead of two (could you imagine?) The meetings went all morning, with breaks, then lunch in the cafeteria, then afternoon meetings, usually finishing up after 5pm.

Back to the food: breakfast was usually a couple of steamed eggs, a nice roll, and English bacon, which is close to our country bacon (American bacon is called streaky bacon.) They had the full complement of GSK-produced beverages: Lucozade and Ribena, but barely a low or no calorie option. The subsidized prices on that stuff were pretty good though. During the breaks we made avail of the interesting coffee vending in the break rooms.

A single machine dispensed everything from coffee, cappuccino, espresso, mocha, latte, hot chocolate, etc. into these small plastic cups, all free, fortunately. When you finish with your wee plastic cup (hot drinks in a Dixie cup? Weird) you dumped the remnants in the center of a special trash can, and then deposited the cup into one of seven cup-sized sleeves in the same can, so the cups could be recycled.

That part sounds good, but with people using as many as a dozen of these cups a day, I can't imagine that bringing your own mug or water bottle (the filtered water machine dispensed the same cups) wouldn't have been a better option.

Lunch: Meh. The sandwich station was OK, mostly because the bread in the UK is far superior to NC. They had pre-packaged sandwiches that really interested me because they were often very unfamiliar. I learned the difference between egg salad and egg mayonnaise (no pickles), and enjoyed things like prawn mayonnaise, roast beef and horseradish, BLT, and sandwiches with watercress. For the most part, I kept my lunches light to save room for dinner in a proper restaurant.

After the meetings concluded, we'd head back to the hotel, our out to explore. Since I waited weeks to write this up, I'm a little fuzzy on each day's details, so I'll probably summarize, generalize, and possibly mix up a few of the days.

The first Monday night (01-March) we went to a pub in Hertford Heath called "The Goat."

This was a very typical English pub. It was probably 200-300 years old, fairly small and cozy and wonderful. To me, I think it felt so comfortable because it reminded me so much of my early childhood. Our house and the houses of some of our family were of the same style and time period as the pub. They looked the same, and with the wood-burning fireplaces and coal stoves, they smelled the same. It was like being in Coventryville (Pennsylvania) and felt like home, but with hand-pumped cask ales and better food.

I asked some young guys at a table what they'd recommend (gesturing at the hand pumps.) They said "none of the above," and pointed to the "Ice Cold Fosters Lager" tap. I guess England has its beer drinkers that don't really like beer either. A pint of Abbot Ale it was!

I really wish my brother Andy could have been there with me at that bar, because I know he loves English pubs, and fine beer, and with a ceiling height of maybe 5 ½ feet, I had to duck a little, but he would have had to really bend over uncomfortably far, and that would have been funny. It's not often that my height is more advantageous than his.

About a dozen or so of us made the trip out that night, and after a few minutes with our first beers, we were seated in the dining area. We shared some appetizers around the table, and for my entrée I got the ribeye and chips (fries). It wasn’t very thick, but it was cooked perfectly. For dessert I had a bread & butter pudding. When the waitress, who claimed she liked our accents ( I think she was just sucking up, knowing that being Americans, we’d probably leave a tip) asked if I’d like custard on that, I asked her if she would like custard on that, since I had no idea if that was a good thing or not. She said she would, so I said I would. We were both right! Somebody picked up the tab, and off to the hotel we went.

Tuesday 02-March

The day started the same, though I was growing weary of departing at 7:30 for a meeting that didn’t start for 1 ½ - 2 hours, but I kept my mouth shut. The rest of the work day was the same.

After work, Tom, Pat (from PA), and I tried to find the Tesco Supermarket, but ended up several towns away at a Tesco Express convenience store. I got the first of my strange-flavored potato crisps, sweet Thai chili, I think, and a pear cider. We went back to the hotel. I looked at the menu at the mid-level of the three hotel restaurants. It was pretty unimpressive, but one thing did catch my eye, a cheeseburger, for £16. A $24 cheeseburger? That is absolutely insane. Who does that?

I went down to the lowest price restaurant, a golfer’s bar with a few menu items but none of the charm of a pub, called Vardon's. It turns out this was a popular spot for several of my coworkers, who ate and drank there regularly. With that cheeseburger on my mind, I ordered the Vardon's equivalent for a mere £11 ($16.50). I suspect it was the exact same burger that was served upstairs. I’d estimate its fair market value at £3 ($4.50). But dinner was fun, several of my coworkers were pretty lubricated by this point, and someone had the idea that we’d do a bowling night and dinner in nearby Stevenage on Thursday. Sounded good to me. So long as I didn’t have to eat at Vardon's again, a bowling alley sounded like an improvement.

Wednesday 03-March

Work was the same, though we did start leaving the hotel later and starting/finishing the meetings earlier.

After work, Tom and I went to “Sow and Pigs” another very traditional English pub that was located where the manor’s driveway met the public road, a mere 10-minute walk from my room. I had a lovely (they say lovely a lot in England) Aspall draft cider and an English bacon-wrapped stuffed chicken breast, while Tom had a ham hock the size of a grown man’s thigh. I exaggerate a little, but that thing was huge, and according to Tom, very tasty indeed (they say indeed a lot as well.)

From there it was back to the hotel, and typical hotel evening activities, which for me meant catching up on e-mail, a phone call home, and hand-washing clothing in the bathroom sink. That last part can kind of be a pain in the ass sometimes, but it’s essential if you want to pack light. Of all the clothing I brought in my single carry-on bag for my two-week business trip to England in the late winter, there were only three things that couldn’t be hand washed in the sink: two cotton quarter-zip pullover sweaters, and one pair of jeans. Everything else I could and did wash. So by the end of the trip I didn’t have a large suitcase full of dirty clothes I had worn one time. I am a big proponent of the One Bag school, but that's a blog post for another day.

Virtual Sets

2010-04-09T12:23:00.000-04:00

I like to take pictures. I like to take pictures a lot. When I'm out taking pictures, I try to encompass as many different kinds of photography as possible, for I believe that having the skills and experience to capture a respectably competent photo when it presents itself, regardless of genre, is the most useful tool in your camera bag. Whether it's nature photography, architecture, portraits, sports, panoramic, long exposure, landscape, macro etc., you should know the basics of all of them.

But in taking all these different kinds of pictures, I find that I'm drawn to some styles and subjects more than others. The recurring patterns that appear in my photo catalog almost suggest a logical grouping of their own. Virtual photo sets, if you will. So here are some of my virtual sets that I must get around to creating on Zooomr and Flickr.

Pictures of Cute Chicks Taking Pictures

This is so meta. Buckingham Palace

Or maybe this one should be in a "Pictures of Cute Chicks Having Their Picture Taken by Someone Other Than Me" set. Magic Kingdom

And here's one that's kind of both. (The photographer was also cute, I assure you.) Some Palace, Seoul

another set could be. . .

Pictures of Strangely Flavored Potato Chips

Roasted Chicken and Thyme (as far as I know.) Morocco

Worcester Sauce. England, which makes this "Potato Crisps," technically.

Oriental Ribs. England, so the use of the adjective "Oriental" is not passe and offensive.

Sizzling King Prawn, which is a much more awesome name than "Shrimp". England, some bowling alley.

So that's what I have for starters. Let's see what other virtual sets naturally assemble themselves.

I'll Be Flying High All Night

2010-04-02T13:23:00.001-04:00

I shot this four-engine jet at the Imperial War Museum Duxford in Cambridge. Ironically, the plane had absolutely nothing to do with the museum, and it was only because that I was walking around, camera in hand, shooting pictures of the many planes that did have something to do with the museum that when this one flew overhead (way overhead) I zoomed in as much as I could and shot away. Using an auto color/exposure fix in Photoshop Elements turned the deep blue sky black, and I stopped right there. This turned out much cooler than I had planned, and just reinforces the notion that you should always have your camera with you.

London Day 2: We Can Be Happy Underground

2010-03-04T07:23:00.000-05:00

28 February 2010

Woke up at 7:15 after sleeping like a rock all night. Checked out from the London Marriott Hotel Kensington. I emerged in London rain, pouring rain and 4 degrees C.

We drove to Harrods Department Store, which doesn't open until 11, at least 90 minutes after we got there. You can park for free in London on the weekend, and we got a choice spot right next to Harrods on a side road. We walked around and found a patisserie called Paul for breakfast. I had the French equivalent of the Guglhupf Brezel roll with ham and cheese, an almond croissant, and a cappuccino. It was awesome and authentic. I think the people working there were French, as were most of the people eating there. That's a very good sign, and a recurring theme here.

From there we walked to the Knightsbridge train station, but it was closed, so we walked to the Hyde Park Corner station, and took the Picadilly Line train (via another 1-day unlimited zone 1-2 pass) to the Picadilly Circus, which is strikingly similar to Times Square, but on a smaller scale.

We went to a sporting goods store called Lillywhites where I bought another shirt and a big golf umbrella for a grand total of £6. Since I now had an umbrella, which I suspect may be magical, it stopped raining. Haven't opened my umbrella yet. I wonder if there's a unicorn hair in the shaft.

Took the Picadilly line to the Covent Garden station and the London Transport Museum.

There was a great old covered marketplace there as well as the museum which was a good deal at £8 (much better than the £17 I would've spent at the Tower of London).

From there we took the tube back to near Harrods,

and ate late lunch at a Lebanese place called Al Araz, on Brompton Street right across from Harrods. Once again, the same deal with the Lebanese workers and customers. Tom and I both got the mixed shawarma plate, some allegedly spicy hummus, a couple of pastries, and I got some yogurt drink with dried mint. That part was just OK, but the rest was excellent and a lot of food. Total for that meal (for me) was £12.50.

By now Harrods was open, so we went in. OMG! I've never seen a £75,000 watch before, nor a 3-foot tall, £795 chocolate Easter egg. It was overwhelming, and I couldn't imagine buying pretty much anything there. It was like Willy Wonka opened his own mall.

We took the surprisingly convoluted and nerve-wracking drive to Ware in our rental car, checked in to the Hanbury Manor (more on that tomorrow or later) and met the other four (Bill and Terry from JCI, Linda and Nellie from GSK) in the "library" which was all Harry Potter looking for some extremely overpriced drinks (£12 for a cocktail). I don't see myself eating or drinking in the hotel any more than absolutely necessary.

So that's about it. I'm working on pictures, washing a bunch of clothes in the sink, and trying to get to bed at a decent hour, but since it's now 23:30 and I have to finish washing one pair of pants and a shirt yet, that probably won't happen. I do have to work tomorrow after all, since that is the real reason I'm here, so I should go to bed.

London, Saturday 27 Feb 2010

2010-03-03T07:23:00.001-05:00

Here's my day, in summary. I need to write it down in my journal, but I'm getting very sleepy. It's 11:15pm here.

The plane left on time, arrived on time, coach class pretty much sucks other than that the chick sitting next to me moved so I ended up with just OK amounts of space. I think I slept a few hours on the plane. We arrived at Heathrow on time, immigration and customs were a breeze, and the weather was cold and cloudy and rainy and sunny. It changes a lot and often.

Tom got his rental car and we got a Nüvi with it. Otherwise, I think we'd still be looking for the hotel. London is not as crazy as Paris, but everything is on the wrong side, so that is surreal.

We went to the hotel, Marriott London Kensington,
checked our luggage in, and headed out on foot.

We walked to the Gloucester station and got a one-day 1&2 zone unlimited travel pass for the tube/undergound/subway (£5.60 £1 = $1.53). We took the District line to the Tower Hill station, and then got lunch in a pub built under a bridge called The Minories. Fish and chips and cider. There's A LOT of cider here, and several different brands of pear cider. I should not have had two pints of cider with lunch.

We walked around the pub area, got some pounds from the ATM, saw a commercial being filmed, and went to the London Tower / Tower Bridge area. I think I got some good photos. We found a brasserie (with a bathroom! Here's me right before finding a place with a bathroom)

called Cafe Rouge, and got some coffee. From there, back to the now crowded Underground, and off at the Victoria Station. We found a Vodafone mobile phone store in the station, and both bought a £30 phone that came with £10 airtime, plus bought an additional £20 top-up, for a total of £50. Incoming calls from everywhere are free, outgoing calls to the US are only 5p a minute (AT&T charges 12x that BOTH WAYS), and calls within the UK are 20p a minute. What a deal. After taking the tube back to the Gloucester station we found a post office and got some stamps and touristy stuff, then walked back to the hotel to properly check in. Fortunately, we took the Nüvi with us.

We went to dinner at a real Italian restaurant called (restaurant name) that was loaded with real Italians, and a couple of French people. It was just like being back in Italy. on the way home we stopped at the Sainsbury's supermarket and got some stuff like water, and weird and wonderful British candy.

I'm back in the hotel in Kensington, and need to get to bed. We'll probably go back to the London Tower tomorrow and do the tour proper, then drive up to Ware, where the rest of our group will eventually be.

Onward through the Night

2010-03-01T17:23:00.000-05:00

Image courtesy http://www.flightglobal.com/

February 26th, 2010

I'm on an airplane! Why am I on an airplane? I'm going to England for two weeks for work. This all happened so fast that I still can't wrap my head around it. I've tried to worm my way onto many an international business trip, always to no avail, but here I am now at 40 on a trip to England for 14 days, and it wasn't even my idea.

I've only told a few people at this point, mainly because I wasn't sure this was going to actually happen until about a week or so ago, and I secretly feared the plans would change and the whole deal would be off.

There are several people going over from work; some from GSK and some from JCI, including Tom, my GSK manager (the guy that hired me 5+ years ago), and Terry, my current JCI supervisor. Tom and I are flying today (Friday night), staying in London Saturday night, and driving up to Ware, Hertfordshire Sunday where we'll be working long hours through Friday. We're trying to figure out how to get to Bruges, Belgium for the weekend next weekend, then back to Ware for the second week, and then fly home Saturday, March 13th. That's the plan at this point, anyway.

England has never been high on my list of places I wanted to visit. I'm not sure why, or what I have against England. Maybe because Jennifer is not really a fan, so the UK never came up as a family travel destination, possibly, and I didn't imagine myself planning vacations as a solo traveler, but since this is work and not vacation, it worked out. I'm here to work, officially, but I'm going to work fun into the downtime regardless, because "that's how I roll." On the plus side - I speak the language (I took English in school.) Not that not speaking the language has ever been a problem for me when traveling, and in fact, I prefer non-English speaking countries because they tend to scare American tourists off, particularly the novices. The last things I want to see on a foreign vacation are other Americans. On the downside, I'm a foodie and I'm currently under the impression (or stereotype) that British food is not wonderful. That's OK. I'm still going to try as much as I can, avoid American food entirely (if possible, it is one of the Traveling Roths Rules of Travel™ after all) and make the most of my time in the not-USA.

Now for some housekeeping. I'm flying on American Airlines Flight 147 direct between Raleigh-Durham and London Heathrow. Boarded at Gate C23 (first time in the brand new C terminal. It's nice, but where are the power outlets?) Boing 767-300ER, seat 37A. Like always, no checked baggage. My camera/laptop bag is at my feet and I have no room. There was a chick in the aisle seat next to me who asked if wanted the aisle seat in the center section a row up so here little friend could sit with her, but I declined. I book window seats for a reason. Fortunately, after takeoff she went up and took the center-center seat next to her friend, much to the chagrin of the other guy on the other aisle who had until that point had an empty seat next to him. But to my benefit, I now have space to spread out.

8:50 GMT We're in a holding pattern over London for an alleged 15 minutes. It's too cloudy to see anything. The rest of the flight was uneventful, and I did manage to sleep some. Going East is always tough, but at a time difference of only five hours, not too tough. Weather is 40s (~4C) and cloudy/rainy.

Travel Philosophy (from Rick Steves)

2010-02-27T18:23:00.000-05:00

I read this a few years ago and really liked it, and then couldn't find it again until just the other day. I thought it was worth sharing. This is from Rick Steves.

Back Door Travel Philosophy

From Rick Steves' "Europe Through the Back Door"

Travel is freedom... one of the last great sources of legal adventure. Travel is intensified living, with maximum thrills per minute. It's recess, and we need it. Experiencing the real Europe requires catching it by surprise, going casual... Through the Back Door.

Affording travel is a matter of priorities. (Make do with the old sofa.) You can travel simply, safely, and comfortably anywhere in Europe for $100 a day plus transportation costs. In many ways, spending more money only builds a thicker wall between you and what you came to see. Europe is a cultural carnival, and time after time, you'll find that its best acts are free and the best seats are the cheap ones.

A tight budget forces you to travel close to the ground, meeting and communicating with the people. Never sacrifice sleep, nutrition, safety, or cleanliness in the name of budget. Simply enjoy the local-style alternatives to expensive hotels and restaurants.

Extroverts have more fun. If your trip is low on magic moments, kick yourself and make things happen. If you don't enjoy a place, maybe you don't know enough about it. Seek the truth. Recognize tourist traps. Give a culture the benefit of your open mind. See things as different but not better or worse. Any culture has much to share.

Of course, travel, like the world, is a series of hills and valleys. Be fanatically positive and militantly optimistic. If something's not to your liking, change your liking. Travel is addicting. It can make you a happier American, as well as a citizen of the world. Our Earth is home to nearly 6 billion equally important people. It's humbling to travel and find that people don't envy Americans. Europeans like us, but with all due respect, they wouldn't trade passports.

Globetrotting destroys ethnocentricity. It helps you understand and appreciate different cultures. Travel changes people. It broadens perspectives and teaches new ways to measure quality of life. Many travelers toss aside their hometown blinders. Their prized souvenirs are the strands of different cultures they decide to knit into their own character. The world is a cultural yarn shop. Back Door Travelers are weaving the ultimate tapestry.

Join in!

–Rick Steves

Some Snow Day

2010-02-11T12:53:00.000-05:00

Living in The South, we don't get a lot of snow, and the snow we do get causes a disproportionate amount of misery. Schools cancel for the smallest amounts of snow, sometimes even when that amount is 0". People fear blizzards of Little House on the Prairie proportions when but a few inches are predicted. For the most part, people don't venture out in their cars (fortunately), but those who do abandon all common sense and maneuver their vehicles like Toonces the Cat. Its sad, funny, and frustrating all at the same time.

But snow also causes a disproportionate amount of joy. Kids want to try everything they've seen people do with snow regardless of how little they have to do it with. Sledding, snowmen, snow angels, snowball fights. . . the works. And adults who maybe have had the chance to do all those things remember what it was like to be kids.

So when we got ~8" of snow, we made the most of it.

Sledding on a borrowed cafeteria tray (because we don't own sleds)

and getting outside with the neighbors to see which unplowed street is the fastest.

And in addition to the sledding, the kids in the local school district (Alamance Burlington School System) had four and a half of the next five school days off.

In the wake of recent actual blizzards where people got 40" or more snow in a few days, our little snow day may seem quaint, but around here this is the right amount of winter, and one more reason why North Carolina is the place to be

Christmas Card 2009

2010-01-04T22:33:00.001-05:00

Now that it's 2010, it's time to write our annual Microsoft Word Christmas Letter™ for 2009. Yeah, it's late, but since we got the cards in the mail on Christmas Eve, it's not that late, and now you have something to do for the next several minutes.

So here's our summary: The Traveling Roths 2009 Year in Pictures.

January:

What better way to beat the mind-winter doldrums than to head to sunny Florida and the kingdom of the mouse. We met up with Jennifer's brother Jonas and his newly acquired fiancee Nellie Gilmore for a long weekend at Walt Disney World, and various Hyatt properties in the Orlando area. Tristan was still sporting a very broken arm from his mishap of December 2008, but that didn't slow us down at all. We even got to meet up with Andy, Shelley, Alex, and Ella who were in Florida at the same time. How fortuitous!

In February, Zoe turned 9, and Tristan got his cast off and his pins out. You don't want to see that.

In March/April, we spent a few days at The Troxlers' house on Harkers Island.

and it was soccer season for Tristan, once again

Zoe ran two more 5K races, one of them in Mebane

In May, Dave went to yet another OJR reunion, and scored a free pizza!

We had our 4th Annual Pig Pickin' which looked remarkably similar to the three previous pig pickin's.

Tristan performed what would be his final concert with the Training Choir of the North Carolina Boys Choir

for two days after the concert, he received his promotion to the Concert Choir

Over the crazy summer, we hit the beach several times

Washington DC with Andy, Shelley, Alex, and Ella

and the cabin in the Poconos with Tom, Jenni, Kayley, and Krista (and Andy, Alex, Ella, and Opa, and without Tristan, who was at choir camp in NC)

We went white water rafting in Tennessee with Mebane Presbyterian Church

School started: fifth grade for Tristan, and fourth for Zoe.

In October we drove to Mount Pleasant, Michigan to see Jonas and Nellie get married. Jennifer, Tristan, and Zoe were all in the wedding, and I got to play photographer.

In October Tristan turned 11, and we went to the North Carolina State Fair (for the 9th consecutive year.)

In December, Zoe ran yet another 5K, and finished approximately third out of several hundred Girls on the Run.

and Tristan performed several Christmas concerts with the NCBC.

So that's the year in photos, up to the point the card was made in mid-December. You can find these and more at:

http://www.zooomr.com/photos/travelingroths/

and

http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelingroths/

So Happy Hannukah, Happy Festivus, Merry Christmas, Happy Dave's 40th Birthday, and Happy New Year from the Traveling Roths: Dave, Jennifer, Tristan, and Zoe

Mebane, North Carolina

USA

World of Languages Now Among School Offerings

2009-10-29T12:23:00.000-04:00

This appeared in the October 23, 2009 edition of the Carrboro Citizen. (click through for a more readable size.)

We're so proud of our son, Tristan Roty for having is picture in this fine publication

A B C D E F G H I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo

2009-10-13T13:33:00.000-04:00

OK, technically, I do not have a gal in Kalamazoo, my brother-in-law Jonas does, and technically, she's not in Kalamazoo but rather in Mount Pleasant, a Michigan town that there are not two catchy pop songs about. But Jonas is going to marry that gal in Mount Pleasant on Saturday, and The Traveling Roths are going there to see it happen, and maybe help out a little if we can.

Jennifer (sister of the groom) is a bridesmaid. Maybe the oldest one!

Tristan (nephew of the groom) is the ring bearer, and possibly a groomsman (TBD)

Zoe (niece of the groom) is a flower girl.

Dave (brother-in-law of the groom) will be holding a box that captures light.

So it's going to be a crazy busy few days coming up, but hopefully we'll return with a few good pictures, a few great memories, and a few magnetic states to add to the kids' US map.

We're goin' to Michigan to see the sweetest gal in ~~Kalamazoo~~ Mount Pleasant

My Photography Bucket List

2009-08-31T19:23:00.000-04:00

While perusing Zooomr one day recently, and appreciating all the great photography that is being posted there and elsewhere, I found myself thinking about all the things I was seeing, and how I would like to get some of the same shots. As you can see from this snippet of the best photography on Zooomr in the past year, there's a wide variety of subjects there; wildlife, architecture, landscapes, macros, etc. The more I thought about what I'd like to shoot, the more I realized that I was building an unwritten list in my mind. My photography "bucket list," as it were.

So I got out a pen and some paper, and started brainstorming all the things I'd like to photograph in my lifetime. Here's what I came up with, grouped into a few categories.

ACTS OF GOD

Tornado
Lightning
Snowflake macro
Volcano eruption
Glacier calving
Northern Lights

ARCHITECTURE

Eiffel Tower (again, now that I know what I'm doing, somewhat)
Taj Mahal
Sydney Harbor
Golden Gate Bridge
Pyramids/Sphynx
Mohammed's Tomb
Great Wall of China
Acropolis/Parthenon (again, see Eiffel Tower)

GEOGRAPHY

North Pole/South Pole
Redwoods
Mt. Fuji
Matterhorn (again, it was cloudy the only time I've been to Zermatt)
Niagara Falls

Historical/Other

Shark
Blue Band, in Beaver Stadium, at field level
Auschwitz-Birkenau/Bergen-Belsen
Space Shuttle Launch
My Great-Grandchildren

So that's my first draft, and it's a living document. I'm sure I have glaring omissions, and that's okay.

What's on your bucket list?

Yet Another Fifteen Minutes

2009-07-03T12:23:00.000-04:00

Just saw this on Fark.com today.

Turns out Zoe's picture of her picture is now a part a photoshop contest.

Check out the thread here

http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=4474874

And in the meantime, enjoy some more photos.

Needless to say, Zoe is moderately amused.

Apt Chorister

2009-06-03T20:23:00.001-04:00

Sunday came, and with it the annual spring concert of the North Carolina Boys Choir at Duke Chapel on the campus of Duke University. This is one of two concerts a year that feature all three choirs; the Concert Choir (the main touring group), the Chamber Choir (tenors and basses), and the Training Choir, which is like the minor leagues for the Concert Choir. Tristan has been in the Training Choir since his successful audition last fall, and has been practicing about 90 minutes a week with the group in preparation for this concert as well as the Christmas concert back in December.

All the choirs did an amazing job. They are very professional and well-rehearsed, and not hindering their performance is the fact that Duke Chapel is an incredible live space for performance. The choir(s), combined with the tremendous pipe organ in the Chapel put out sound and power that I can't even describe. It was simply amazing. I literally had goosebumps, and highly recommend the NCBC concerts there if you ever get the chance to attend.

Tristan did an excellent job himself. Not only was his singing spot-on (which I wasn't worried about) but he also seemed to take his lessons in stagecraft and performance seriously. He kept his eyes on the director, hands behind him, didn't fidget or look around, and sung with a lot of heart. We, along with Jeff and Katie Smith, and Jeff Overstreet from church could not have been more pleased with his performance.

Then Monday came, and with it a letter in the mail from the NCBC:

"Dear Tristan,

I am so pleased to write this letter to you extending an invitation to become a part of the outstanding Concert Choir. . ."

Tristan got promoted! This is a huge honor and we are all very excited for him.

So what does being in the Concert Choir mean? First, he'll start the year-long season by attending camp in July. Once school starts, rehearsals are twice a week for two hours each. Concerts run nearly every weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as the big Christmas Concert in Duke Chapel (make your plans now --we have 10 tickets to sell.) There'll be a mini-tour in May, followed by a "major" (7-10 day) tour in June. In addition to that, there may be other concerts and the occasional wedding or funeral.

Tristan is very excited, and we're very proud and wonder where he got his singing skills from. . .

A Reunion of Sorts

2009-05-19T13:23:00.000-04:00

Saturday was the first (annual?) Owen J. Roberts multi-class reunion of sorts. It was held at the Inn at Saint Peters Village (that I previously wrote about here) out on the covered patio, overlooking the creek and the rocks.

The organizers weren't forthcoming with the guest list, so other than a few verbal commitments, I don't know that anyone really knew who all would be there. Maybe that was part of the intrigue. Maybe not. I think more people would have been there had they known who else was coming.

Regardless, I started recognizing people right away, from my own class as well as nearby classes that I shared a school with at one time or another, as well as people I didn't know, but who knew one or more of my brothers.

But before I get to the pictures, I just want to say that I didn't take nearly as many as I should have, especially seeing as how nice the scenery is at Saint Peters Village. I blame the Class of '88 reunion for that. I took a ton of pictures there, and from the very moment I entered the bar. I was so busy with the camera that I never got around to eating, and only had one beer the entire night. So this time I went straight to the open bar for a Yuengling, and another, and another, and appetizers, and eventually diner. My camera hand was completely occupied with food and drink for the first 90 minutes at least.

But then the camera came out, and I started to document the event and my old friends and classmates.

And in what was was an awesome surprise for me, Charlie Degenhart, a former classmate and current pro musician was there and did a few songs. How cool!

So in summary, it was a lot of fun and definitely worth it.

But my plan for the next one is to walk in with my camera in my right hand, and do shots with the left hand. That sounds like a winner.

My Peanut and I Fly Southwest

2009-05-08T13:08:00.002-04:00

Southwest Airlines: The official domestic Airline of The Traveling Roths.

( http://www.blogsouthwest.com/trackback/2176 )

The Traveling Roths' Pig Pickin' 4: 我不明白你疯了白人。

2009-05-07T13:23:00.000-04:00

(FYI, The Evite invitation is experiencing technical difficulties at the moment. So if you can't reply, you're not alone.)

In the wake 2006's "Traveling Roths' First Annual Pig Pickin'"
2007's Pig Pickin' 2: A Public Evening of Enjoyment , and last year's Pig Pickin' 3: Triple Figures, we've decided to do it yet again. You and your family (children are always welcome) are invited to join us. . . for

Pig Pickin' 4: 我不明白你疯了白人。

We'll supply the barbecue (eastern NC-style), plates cups & silverware, and some all-ages and adult beverages. Feel free to bring a side dish or a dessert to share (put what you're bringing in the comments), a place to sit, anything else you'd like to drink, and a portable table if you have one, and your cameras. We will have a traditional charcoal grill (pork-free) and a deep-fryer available, if someone volunteers to manage them. We'll probably have our hands full with the pig.

Please RSVP via the eVite invite process either way by Sunday, May 17th so we can get an accurate count, and get our pig order into Satriale's Pork Store by Monday the 18th.

Hope to see you here!

Dave, Jennifer, Tristan, and Zoe

Swine Flu

2009-05-05T15:57:00.002-04:00

Racer Z

2009-04-27T13:23:00.002-04:00

Just in time for the ridiculously hot weather we've been having lately came another opportunity for Zoe to run in a 5K race. This time it was the Mebane Dogwood Festival 5K, within walking distance of our house.

Zoe and her friend Deanna were right at the front of the starting line.

And at the 8:30 gun, they were off.

Around 35 minutes later, Zoe crossed the finish line by herself.

She thinks she could've done it maybe five minutes faster, had she not walked back to catch up with her friend, who wasn't quite as fast.

Unfortunately, the youngest age group was 0-19, and as a nine-year-old competing against 19-year-olds, she didn't stand much of a chance to win a medal. There was one young girl who finished before her, but she probably wasn't under 10.

But she'll get another chance next weekend when she runs another 5K in Chapel Hill.

Soccer Saturday

2009-04-07T20:23:00.001-04:00

Though I haven't said much about it, Tristan is playing soccer. . . when it isn't raining, which it has been most weekends of the season so far. There have been three games, Tristan's played in two of them, and the Terminators have won all three.

I just wanted to mention this shot. Unfortunately, in two games, this is the second time he's lost his shoe. What really made me proud is that as the sole fullback (the other team was missing players) and despite losing his shoe, he kept that ball away from the goal. He didn't even think twice about the right thing to do.

Next time though, I think I'll tie that for him.

OJR "GET TOGETHER" ALL Graduating Classes

2009-03-31T15:59:00.002-04:00

(I'm posting this just for more visibility and SEO. It's not actually me writing this, though I think it's a great idea, and I'm probably going to go. -DR)

(UPDATE 13-April: I've sent my check and confirmed my attendance. Hope to see many of you there. -DR)

(photo used without permission of Duck Brown)

OJR "GET TOGETHER" - ALL Graduating Classes

When: MAY 16th, 2009

Where: THE INN AT ST. PETERS, POTTSTOWN, PA

Time: 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Cost: $45.00 per person

*Includes - 4 hours Open Bar (beer Only), Hor d'oeuvres, pretzels, chips etc, tortellini dish,

potato salad, pasta salad, carved meats, salad, fruit, deserts, coffee, tea, etc.

Need to have RSVP's no later than April 24th to Shelly Davidson at
shellydavidson@comcast.net
or Lynn Bradford at fleckers@hotmail.com

Checks payable to Shelly Davidson or Lynn Bradford (memo - THE INN AT ST. PETERS),

MAIL CHECKS along with graduation year & guest(s) name

TO:

713 Wendy Dr., Pottstown, PA 19464 - no later than April 24th.

Anyone needing room Reservations please let me know Immediately so I can make arrangements for you and know how many rooms we will need to block.

Any questions please contact:

Shelly Hunt-Davidson Class of '87 - 484-433-9050

Lynn Bradford Class of '85 - 484-252-4548

Thank you.
See you on the 16th :)

PSA: The Fresh Air Fund

2009-03-18T13:23:00.001-04:00

The Fresh Air Fund asked me to help get the word out that host families are needed to "open up their homes for a few weeks each summer, so that children growing up in New York City’s toughest neighborhoods can experience the joys of Fresh Air vacations."

Host families are needed in the states (and province) pictured below.

I don't know what summer in the city's like, but I do know that summer in the country is pretty awesome, and if you can help a kid experience that, it'll be worth your while.

So check out the Fresh Air fund, and maybe make a donation.

A Shooting in the Winery

2009-03-12T13:23:00.000-04:00

Our local theater company, The Mebane Acting Company, knows that I like to take pictures, so with their current show, Murdered by the Mob, opening soon, they invited me to the dress rehearsals to get some shots for their scrapbook.

Unlike the work I did for Steel Magnolias, and another adventure with Stuart Little (that went so badly I didn't even write about it, let alone share the pictures) this time I had the proper gear and state of mind to get some decent shots.

This play was a dinner theater, and being performed at the Benjamin Vineyards and Winery near Graham, NC. The space was, I guess where they do the grape pressing and maybe fermenting and bottling. The light was a little weird, as were some of the paint colors of the wall. Thanks to a new control card I just got, I was able to correct for the light color pretty well, I think. It was a tight space with all the tables, but there wasn't much scenery, and no audience, so there was still some room to move.

Here's the synopsis:

Welcome to D'Angelo's, the hottest speakeasy around. If you think the '20's are roaring, you ain't heard nothin' 'til you've been to this joint. The jazz is hot and the gin is cold. Our master of ceremonies, Johnny Biscotti has his best show yet, featuring the ever popular Lydia LaJoy, and introducing a couple of cute chorines sure to turn the head of even the toughest mobster. The boss himself, Danny D'Angelo is sure to make an appearance, along with several of his, uh, "business associates." So sit back, order yourself an "ice tea," and enjoy the show. But be careful, and watch your back...this gangster murder mystery will have you "swimming with the fishes!" from James Daab

Some shots of the production

And the official cast photos

Danny D’Angelo: Thomas Drago

Johnny Biscotti: Andrew Porterfield

Sally: Lysandra Penn-Bartoo

Lydia Lajoy: Stacey Thomann

Betty: Veronica Penn-Bartoo

Butch: James Bailey

Pretty Boy Percelli: Christian Moore

Officer Mulroony: Walter Boyd

Miss 9

2009-03-10T13:23:00.002-04:00

It's not every day your young lady turns nine. So what does one do to celebrate?

One rents an inflatable bounce house

and invites seven other similarly-aged girls over to celebrate.

That's basically it. The rest pretty much takes care of itself.

Even Older Brother (哥哥) gets to enjoy a party with that many girls

Of course, there's more to a party than just bouncing.

There's food

and presents

and a birthday cake.

In this case, a King Cake, since Zoe's birthday was the day after Mardi Gras, she requested this King Cake for her party.

And to top it all off, Smores!

This was kind of funny because some of the girls, mainly the ones with Chinese parents had never toasted a marshmallow before. We totally corrupted them with American culture here.

After all the bouncing and sugar, it was time to sleep. . . or not. . . then wake up the next morning, re-inflate the bounce house, and do it some more.

Happy Birthday Zoe!

Cast Off

2009-03-05T13:23:00.001-05:00

Ever since Tristan broke multiple bones in his arm, right before Christmas, he had been counting down the days until he could finally lose the sling, get his cast off, and have the steel pins removed from his elbow and wrist.

February 3rd was that day. Six weeks and four days incapacitated, unable to dress himself or bathe properly, and continually answering the question, "What did you do to your arm?"

We went to the Orthopaedics department in the Ambulatory Care Center of the University of North Carolina Hospitals. First, Tristan had his arm X-rayed again to make sure that the reduction (bone-setting) held, and that he was ready to be unencumbered. Everything looked good, so they put him in a room where a helpful assistant guy came in to cut off the cast.

(click on the pictures for all the gory details)

He cut right through the ace bandage and whatever else was under there.

We finally got to see what had been hidden all that time, and it was not pretty.

We knew he had pins placed in his arms, but I don't think any of us realized that there were five of them.

One in the upper arm, three through the end of the elbow, and one in the right wrist.

Tristan had been a great sport up the entire time. He had been doing fine until he saw his arm. It made him a little queasy. He later said that he decided he wasn't going to be a surgeon, due to his aversion to looking at this kind of stuff. In fact, we only filled his pain medication prescription from December the day before he got his cast off, so we could give him a pill before we came, more for the psychological effect than anything. The next part would be the reason why.

These pins are inserted through the skin by being chucked in a drill and drilled all the way through to the bone. From there the excess exterior portion is cut off, and those little green balls (called Jernigan balls, I believe) are attached. So how does one remove the pins? With a big old pair of Craftsman pliers.

Allegedly, this doesn't hurt. It sure looked barbaric enough though. The pins are rotated coaxially while being pulled straight back out. Since they're coming out through a hole that goes bone-deep, there's bleeding too.

What made the procedure slightly more palatable was that Dr. Dahners was being assisted by Dr. AJ, a very cute southern girl resident surgeon.

That spoonful of sugar certainly helped the medicine go down. . . I would assume.

After a few minutes, Tristan was all done, bandaged, and slightly less queasy.

It'll take him up to a year to get a full range of motion back in the arm, but he won't need physical therapy, plus he has the cool benefit of having a gorilla arm until that long hair that grew under the cast wears off.

Now comes the pain for Mom and Dad; paying for all this.

Ouch.

Florida, Day 3: Magic Kingdom

2009-03-04T13:23:00.001-05:00

Woke up in the Grand Cypress once again and boarded the hotel shuttle, this time for The Magic Kingdom.

The Magic Kingdom holds a special place in my heart, probably because it was the only park in existence the first time I experienced the magic back in June 1978. Since it's the oldest, it's also the one I've been to the most; three times not counting this trip.

We left the bus for the monorail that travels from bus parking to the main entrance plaza. We paralleled the train that transports the Disney characters to the plaza right at the park opening time for the last quarter mile or so, and it was as if they were all waving right at us, and us alone. Very cool. Entering the park about as early as possible, we "ran" the Disney Marathon, heading straight to Tomorrowland

to get a FastPass for Space Mountain later in the day.

Since there was no line, we rode Space Mountain first.

Tristan was a little apprehensive, as he's not sure how he feels about roller coasters, but he quickly changed his tune. Right after riding, we got FastPasses for later in the day when there would be crowds.

Now's a good place for me to say something about toting camera gear around Walt Disney World. I carried my Lowepro CompuDaypack with me the whole time, and there wasn't a thing I couldn't go on with my bag. That's not to say that I didn't wish I had something smaller. That backpack barely fit under the seat on Soarin', and also barely fit in the car with me on Space Mountain. If I were to do it again, I would've picked up the Lowepro Slingshot 200 AW. That would've held all I needed to take with me (camera body, two lenses, spare battery, memory cards, filters, hoods) and would've fit in the stowage spaces on most rides much easier.

After Space Mountain. . . who can remember. The Speedway, which was the only ride that Zoe at ~50" couldn't go on by herself,

followed by the Lilo & Stitch thing (which was "Mission to Mars" in 1978 and 1985, and "Extra Terrorestrial" in 1997")

followed by the Pixar thing, It's a Small World, Haunted Mansion, a parade, some lunch, a few more times on Space Mountain, Carousel of Progress (There's a great big beautiful tomorrow. . .)

hot Brazilian chicks,

Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, Thunder Mountain (which Tristan also eventually warmed up to), Pirates of the Caribbean, more food,

another parade, and finally the fireworks. Phew!

We left when the park closed, and took the monorail back to the bus parking lot. I remember waiting in this exact same lot in 1978 with my Mom and Dad, and brothers Tom and Andy when some strangers gave us their unused ride tickets (each ride required a ticket back then) since they weren't returning to the park and we were. Amazing what sticks in your brain.

We took the shuttle back to the Grand Cypress. From there we walked to the Waffle House, since Nevada doesn't have one, and Jonas really wanted a Texas Cheesesteak. I guess maybe Waffle House to him is like In-N-Out to me, so I understand. Wanting to see what all the hub-bub was about, I got a Texas cheesesteak too. Not bad. The kids were beyond tired at this point, but pretty good sports.

We walked home and called it a night.

Florida, Day 2: Epcot

2009-02-28T10:23:00.002-05:00

Awoke to another beautiful Florida day, and realized we could see Epcot (and some of the other parks) from our balcony.

Got showered and out the door to the hotel shuttle to Epcot. Jennifer, Jonas and I had been here before, but it was once again new for Nellie, Tristan, and Zoe.

Based on a recommendation from Alex and Ella, we went right to Soarin' and secured FastPasses for later in the day. We then located Andy via text message and headed over to Test Track. We had Tristan and Zoe surprise Alex and Ella by walking up to them and talking to them. They didn't know that we'd also be in Florida with them. Wearing their best Prizer, they were completely unphased by the surprise turn of events.

We made some tentative plans to meet up later, and headed into Test Track, followed by World Showcase. We skipped Mexico since we can see that every day at home, and went right to Norway.

We rode like Vikings through Norway where Andy and Shelley, being much more Disney-experienced than us, schooled us on some very cool stuff.

(Jennifer getting schooled by Shelley)

First; the kids could collect these paper masks, and get them stamped, decorated, and festooned with a unique paper cutout at each country.

Second; the park had a Kim Possible-themed spy game that included communicators and missions and all kinds of international intrigue. And third: Epcot is the only Disney park that sells booze, and that maybe an alcohol-around-the (Disney) world is a pretty cool adult alternative to collecting masks and stamps. We quickly adopted that new mission, followed by some plum wine from China, and some Danish beer from Norway. (Denmark, Norway. . . all of Scandinavia is exactly the same anyway, right?)

Most of the rest of the afternoon is somewhat of a blur, not due to the alcohol, but rather to the wandering all over creation, hitting countries like China,

Germany,

Japan,

Italy,

as well as completing Kim Possible missions, eating Disney food, and riding on stuff like the aforementioned Soarin' (which the kids absolutely loved) and Mission Space, and meeting a buttload of Disney characters for autographs and pictures.

We had made reservations and plans in advance for everyone to eat dinner together in Morocco. This was kind of my idea, and everyone else was cool to go along with it. I wanted to go to Disney Morocco because a) I really like Moroccan food, and know something about it, and b) having visited the real Morocco six months previous, I was really curious to see how the Disney version compared.

We got there a little early, so there was plenty of time to take pictures. And I must compliment Disney on their architecture. They did a great job of making it look like the real thing, in my opinion.

Disney Minaret (Epcot)

Real Minaret (Koutoubia Mosque, Marrakesh)

Real windows

Fake windows

Pretty close, I'd say.

We even got to meet Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie, who, not surprisingly, found Morocco the most appropriate of the Epcot World Showcase countries to hang out in.

Dinner was kind of a disappointment. The chef was alleged to have worked for King Hassan II, and the food was just okay. The decor was very realistic, but the food was overpriced, and the service wasn't very good at all. It was still a fun dinner with the ten of us, and it was great to have that opportunity to have that much extended family all in one place.

We got back outside just in time to watch the big multimedia light/sound/fireworks/fire show in the world showcase lagoon. It was impressive, to say the least. Here's Ella, still small enough to watch the show from Andy's shoulders.

We said our goodbyes to the other Roths, and made our way back to the bus parking lot near the entrance.

This spot holds a special place for me. It was here on February 12, 1985 that the Owen J. Roberts High School Marching Unit spent maybe three hours hanging out in this parking lot due to the fact that the charter bus company only sent one of our four buses to pick the 130+ of us after our long day of travel from Pennsylvania, and hanging out at Epcot. How can that be fun, you ask? When you're 15 years old, and on vacation with a hundred of your closest friends in Florida in the middle of winter, even hanging out in a Disney parking lot is better than whatever you would've been doing back in Pennsylvania on a cold February Tuesday night.

Next up, Day 3: The Magic Kingdom

The Land of the Mouse

2009-02-25T13:23:00.001-05:00

In lieu of not being able to go to Spain for Christmas, we took advantage of some fortuitous coincidences, and made plans for a short trip to Orlando, to finally get the kids to Walt Disney World before they got too old for the magic not to work on them.

What were the aforementioned fortuitous coincidences, you ask? Well first, my youngest brother Andy and his family were already planning to be in Orlando at the same time as us. It also turns out that Jennifer's youngest brother Jonas and his ~~girlfriend~~ fiance Nellie Gilmore were also planning to come east from Lake Tahoe to check out WDW. And if that wasn't awesome enough, since Jonas and Nellie are both Hyatt employees, they offered to share with us their free rooms. What could be more wonderful?!

Friday night we flew from Raleigh-Durham to Orlando (with two carry-ons and a camera bag) and met Jonas and Nellie (for the first time ever) in the airport Hyatt, which is literally in the airport. We stayed there (for free) that night.

Saturday morning, we hired an SUV to take us over to the Hyatt Grand Regency, near the Disney property. We checked most of our gear with the bell boy or bell hop or porter or whatever you call him, and rode the free shuttle to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

This was the first trip to this park for all of us, and the first visit to Walt Disney World for Nellie, Tristan, and Zoe. So immediately after entering the park, we went to guest services to pick up first timer pins for those three.

As you can see, Tristan's arm was still in a cast and sling, so we were kind of curious about the things he'd be able to do at the various parks.

Our first attraction was the Toy Story ride/game

The kids were impressed, as this was the first serious theme park they'd ever been to, and up until this point were only familiar with rides at the North Carolina State Fair. Needless to say, the permanently-installed attractions of Disney are a much higher quality than those that are regularly assembled and staffed by carnies.

Right outside the Toy Story ride was an autograph and photo spot for Toy Story, including live-action Buzz and Woody. Tristan was a huge Toy Story fan as a younger kid, and had planned ahead by bringing a notepad and pen with him to get as many autographs as he could. He could not have been more excited to meet Buzz and Woody.

We hit a bunch of other stuff during the day, but most memorable was Tower of Terror. Tristan elected not to go on this, even though he would've been fine with his arm like it was. So Tristan and Jennifer did other stuff while Zoe, Nellie, Jonas, and I got in the long queue for the ride. (If you find yourself at Hollywood Studios, do yourself a favor and go right for the FastPass for this one.) Zoe was absolutely thrilled with this ride, complaining that it was too short, and wishing we could go again. It was pretty awesome.

We had to split a little early since we had tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show over at Downtown Disney (formerly Disney Village.) We took the boat from the park over to the Boardwalk resort, and from there got the Disney transit shuttle to Downtown Disney. We hauled ass across the whole thing to get to the giant Cirque tent on the other side, arriving right at showtime.

The theater people over there were pretty clear about photography being a no-no, so not wanted to get chucked, I kept the camera in the bag. It's a shame, because the show was absolutely incredible. Words don't really do it justice, but in my opinion, it was the best show I've ever seen. . . of any kind. . . anywhere. Go see it.

After the show we wandered around Downtown Disney, eating dinner at a Disney-priced McDonald's, and checking out a few of the stores.

Not least of which was the Lego store

and the Harley Davidson store

Making our way back to the shuttle stop, we took a bus to Swan and Dolphin where we gave up on Disney Transit and took a taxi back to our hotel.

We all shared a room Saturday night, with Tristan and Zoe sleeping on the floor, pretty warn out, but ready to see what Sunday held in store for them: Epcot.

Bits, Random

2009-02-19T12:43:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since we've posted anything new here, and rather than waiting to do a proper write-up of everything I could possibly post here, I'm just going to make a Brunswick Stew of sorts with the events of the past few months.

Now, where was I. . .

December.

It was our year to not travel to Pennsylvania at Christmas. We also did not travel to Barcelona like we had been planning, due mostly to government bureaucracy in Jennifer getting her automatic raise for the degree she completed five months prior. We did get a lot of sleep though, so that was nice.

And I finally replaced my Canon 40D DSLR that was stolen out of an Avis rental car at the Philadelphia International Airport. My new camera is a Canon 50D. It is choice.

With any new camera, it is my habit to make img_0001 a picture of the kids.

As you can see, Tristan has is right arm in a cast and a sling from when he broke it on the last day of school before the break (no pun intended). What you can't see are the four pins in his elbow and one in his wrist. So here are some X-rays!

Elbow

Wrist, showing the drill putting the pin in place.

The rest of the vacation was not nearly as exciting as the beginning. We did the usual Christmas stuff; baking, concerts, church stuff, gifts, and parties.

Here's the New Years Eve party we went to at the home of some of our nameless friends, who may not want search engine results showing this picture.

(one of the people in the picture may or may not be a teacher, and teachers can sometimes be funny about their students seeing that they actually have a life outside of school)

We also made it back to Pilot Mountain State Park for a little wintertime hiking.

So that takes us up through mid-January.

Next installment: Florida!

Senegal Trip June 14-26 2008

2009-01-03T19:45:00.002-05:00

Senegal Trip June 14-26th 2008

Now that my busiest summer on record is coming to a close, I am finally getting around to sharing my trip to Senegal with you.

Early last fall, I found out about an organization called Worldview. I was instantly drawn to it when I heard that this year's trip was going to be to Senegal! Senegal was next on my list of Francophone countries to visit. I just had not figured out a way that would work for me to travel there. UNC Worldview was the answer. I contacted Regina Higgins, the Program director and explained my interest in the country and inquired about the process. She explained that I simply filled out an application and waited. School systems that were partners with the organization had priority and unfortunately my school district was not a partner. One benefit of being a partner is that the school district PAYS FOR THE TRIP! $3300 to be exact. Those that were not partners could apply, and would simply hope to be chosen. I was one of these persons hoping persons. I made efforts early on to share the importance as well as my desire to travel to Senegal with Regina. I invited her into my 2nd grade classroom to share how I was exposing my second graders to Senegal. I also attended the Worldview conference in October, as well as participated in a curriculum writing project on Islam and Africa in the Winter of 2007. In late December I got a long anticipated email from Regina with this picture:

The email stated that I was accepted to be part of the teacher travel visit. This picture was immediately posted next to my desk to serve as a constant reminder that I would soon be traveling to Senegal. The next step or reality check was the fact that I had to come up with $3300 by the end of February! It was at this point that I considered grant writing opportunities through the Public School Foundation. I attended a workshop offered by my school system, free of charge. I was one of four participants, and the only teacher. I took advantage of this on-on-one opportunity to work with the grant writing experts that could offer guidance to someone who had never written a grant before! I wrote a draft and was provided with with feedback. I asked for $3200. In late March I received a letter stating that the Strowd Roses Foundation, a local foundation that supports the school system offering an annual sum of money to the school district via the Public School Foundation accepted my proposal. I was awarded $2000. I was thrilled, especially considering this was the first grant I had ever written. The Spring came and went and I went to the doctor to discuss any medications/vaccinations I made need. According to the CDC, there were no vaccinations that were mandatory, only recommended, so I opted out. I did get malaria medicine which was a pill taken once a week for 7 weeks. I was packed weeks in advance. I had one carry-on with newly purchased Ex-Officio clothing that was quick drying and therefore packed light. About half of my baggage was gifts purchased for teachers and other locals that I would meet throughout the trip. I had several yearbooks, children's books of games, southern candy (pralines and Peach Budds), some UNC pasta, and for the kids many packs of Pop Rocks. I left RDU two days after the school year ended. I was with 34+ teachers from all over North Carolina, two being French teachers and the rest teaching a variety of subjects, at all levels, from both public and private schools that are pictured below. My mind was racing on the 24 hour trip! I had several assumptions. I thought Dakar would be like other large cities congested with both people and an assortment of transportation. I thought that the food would be spicy according to American standards, but would be toned down for us. I also thought we would be pegged as tourists due to our large number, a significant portion being white, and the fact that we had two chartered, air-conditioned buses.

DAY ONE: We arrived in Dakar in around 3pm. We got off the plane on the tarmac. The airport reminded me of some of the airports I have been in when traveling to islands. There was a small baggage claim and porters ready to make a buck off the tourists by offering to cart their luggage. I declined the offer and begin to appreciate my ability to communicate in another language, French. We were greeted outside by our guides, Mariane and Josephine. We were also divided into two groups because we were staying at two separate locations. Mariane Yade, 28, worked for WARC, The West African Research Center which was a center for international students who did research or were studying abroad to learn about West Africa. Me and 11 other group members: Ann-Marie, Emily, Lauren, Brian, Mike T, Michael B., Felix, Mark, Steve, Keith, and Marguerite. Mariane informed us that there would be a reception at 7pm at Le Mini resto Camerounais with Professor Ousmene Sene, a professor of English at the local university. The dinner menu items included: Cassava, Rice, onion sauce, and fish. I spent some time getting to know Mariane and utilizing my French skills. After dinner, we called it a night and got ready for Day Two. As mentioned earlier, we stayed at university housing for professors. It was apartments with the basic comforts of home pictured here:

I had my own apartment by request. I chose to do this because I figured that I would be spending a large portion of each day with my group and that I would benefit from so alone time in the evening to re-group.

DAY TWO: We had breakfast at 8am which consisted of baguette and Nescafe. We then headed to meet the other group at their place and then headed out to Cathedrale de Notre Dame Dakar. In Senegal there are two seasons, the rainy season and the dry season. The rainy season begins in June and ends in August. While inside the church, there was an intense downpour, the 2nd rain of the season.

The 2nd stop was the bank. I really wish I took a picture of this, but I will do my best to describe the scene. Imagine two tourist buses unloading 30+ American tourists to an ATM. We are now prime targets for any and all vendors. Also, the fact that there was only one ATM lead us to spend about an hour there, some opting to exchange US dollars inside. We ate lunch at Chez Latta: Our group had reserved tables in a section of the restaurant. Each day Mariane would "take orders" for lunch providing us with a list of options so that when we arrived at the lunch destination, our food was ready. I had Yassa Poulet, yogurt and a Biere La Gazelle (a Senegalese version of Budweiser). Our third stop was at Le Marche Soumbedione. We were the only shoppers, which made us easy prey and this is where we got our first taste of Senegalese "salespeople". You are approached and if female the term My Sista is used to steer you into small stalls filled with a variety of products. I purchased a batik fro 4000CFA and a car rapide and a deux cheveaux 6000 CFA. This second picture you see me, down and dirty with the sales people and some of my group members watching from afar.

That night, and almost every night after, we were on our own for dinner. Mariane recommended a couple of restaurants within walking distance. My group chose Brioche Dore. I was the elected translator and ordered for everyone. I had a schwarma sandwhich consisting of a tortilla, ground lamb, tomatoes, onions, parsley and a horseradish sauce. We headed to the patiesserie next door, something a can never pass up in any country, where I got a flan and a pain au chocolat for breakfast. We headed back to the hotel, where it took me many hours to fall asleep. I was just too excited about being in SENEGAL!!!!!!!! I could not think about sleep, just about what I could do next.

DAY THREE: Today we headed to Ile de Goree. We took a ferry over and Marguerite and I seized the opportunity to distribute some of our candy to some boys. Once there we visited: Le Musee des Esclaves, the Door of No Return, Le Musee de la Femme, and Castel (the highest point on the island). Goree was a double-edged sword for me. I was moved by the Door of no return, but annoyed by the many vendors who took advantage of any and all opportunities to sell their products approaching us with an unforgettable term "My sista..". We had lunch on the island at Chez Tonton Place du Port. I had fish, rice, and bissap (a popular local drink made from dried hibiscus flowers, water, and lots of sugar). A highlight for me on this trip was a conversation I had with some school kids, swimming at the beach. They were visiting the sites and swimming as part of an end-of-school year field trip. I found their professor and asked for permission to interview and video them playing hand clap games seen here:

We took a ferry back to Dakar, a thirty minute ride. I continued my networking with some of the school kids who taught me a few songs. I met up with Mariane after we returned to our apartments. She took me to her aunt's house, upon request to see a typical home in Dakar. We sat and chatted with her aunt for awhile on the porch. Unfortunately, the house was being cleaned so our visit was contained to the porch outside. I was just happy to have the opportunity to meet some "locals", speak French, and catch a glimpse of daily life. Due to my "carpe diem" nature when traveling abroad, I already negotiated another authentic experience with Ousseynou for the next day. He was going to take me to his village near to our apartments.

DAY FOUR: Today, we visited a high school Lycee Seydou Nourou Tall and Institut Superieur de Management. The students ranged in age from 11-20 at the high school. We were greeted in their teachers lounge by the assistant principal who gave us an overview of the educational system. One struggle mentioned was the fact that the system was French and that the Senegalese culture/Wolof language was lost at school. There was a question of how to integrate Seneglaese culture into the system. One quote mentioned by Leopold Sedar Senghor was: "Culture is in the beginning and end of everything." which I found to be very interesting.
A lot of the discussion pertained to resources or the lack thereof and five major problems facing the Senegalese educational system:
1- The day a Senegalese child enters school they give up their culture.
2- There is limited access to education.
3- The system is not working in it's current state. Students are retained a higher rates and cannot pass the exam that allows them to move into the next grade
4- Financial Constraints
5- Teachers are not paid well and in some cases don't have contracts, work with too many students, and do not have enough teaching materials.

After the school visit we went back to the WARC, where we had lunch and an afternoon lecture about the Senegalese educational system as well as some Wolof lessons. Senegalese educators are very up front about the issues facing their educational system. There are not many easy answers, but there is the common concern of how to implement Wolof into the educational system. Though they have gained their independence from the French for decades, the French educational system is still in place, and not working for them.

Later that evening I went with Ousseynou to the village where he grew up, Ouakami, per my request to see some local culture. I was thrilled. I got to take a car-rapide and a ndiaga-ndiaye, two major forms of transportation. We visited his mom's house, stopped by a local convenience store to meet his uncle,and hung out briefly with his friends Pape Wama and Penda his wife. Ousseynou also offered me some fataya which is a meat beignet. I also had the thrill of giving kids Pop Rocks and taping their reaction.

Here are some pictures of the homes I visited:

DAY FIVE: This was one of my favorite days because I was in my element, an elementary school. We visited Saint Bernadette an elementary Catholic school.
VIDEO coming soon
I used up a significant portion of my memory cards taking videos that I am using in my classes. The students were very polite and I was very impressed with recess. 1500 kids go outside, at the same time and play. You see no fighting or chaos. Teachers can also leave their classrooms and rely on a student monitor!

I learned how to play the game 3 Pions seen here:VIDEO coming soon

We also visited College Abdoulaye Mathurin Diop. We then visited Institutut Superieur de Management, a higher education institution.
I also met Rosalie Helene, one of the teachers and presented some gifts to her class including: Pop Rocks, books of American games, a Webkinz and a Flat Stanley. That evening we went to a reception at WARC to meet with the professors. I met with M. Yade, Mariane's dad at principal of St. Bernadette.

DAY SIX , SEVEN and EIGHT: Touba bound. We packed into our buses and headed several hours away. Touba is a holy city (equivalent to MECCA in Senegal). We visited a Center that studied and practice Muridism. Because it was a holy city, we had to dress accordingly. This has to be one of my favorite, really capturing how we all felt at this point, fully covered, in 100 degree heat.

We also visited la Grand Mosquee, where Emily snapped this great shot!

After the mosque, we got back on the bus and headed to Toubab Dialaw for the weekend. Imagine, total darkness, dirt roads, dodging livestock and then stopping literally at the end of the road. We then took part in a midnight buffet which included FLAG beer. We could not fully appreciate where we were until the next morning...Just check out this view!

A mini paradise in the middle of nowhere. I shared a room with Emily and got my first taste of sleeping under a mosquito net. Pictures speak volumes:

The weekend continues with a dance lesson. But wait, it's hot, we're in a small arena with the Worldview Paparazzi, and people took video footage too! I did learn a few moves, but felt it the next morning.

In the spirit of living like the locals, and trying no too take up too much of Mariane or Ousseynou's time, I made some other friends. Moussa Doiuf was our bus driver. I made one enemy, the batik instructor because I traced some of his cut-outs and he said it was like stealing. I guess bringing his craft to the states and sharing it with hundreds of kids is not what he considers a compliment. I also, by accident, met Alpha Diallo, one of the young dance instructors that night. The dancers and band members put on a small concert. It was kind of hot in the room they were playing, so they moved out to a patio overlooking the ocean! The next morning I met up with Alpha once again and he took me on a tour of the town before saying good-bye and heading back to Dakar.

That evening, I hung out with yet another local friend, Demba Diouf who worked at the front desk of our hotel. He was my French-speaking outlet most evenings, and agreed to go shopping with me on the last day I was there for all those items I needed to get at a Senegalese discount. Marie-Therese, another teacher from St. Bernadette invited me over for dinner. I learned that Seneglaese time is a bit less prompt then US time. We had agreed on 8pm. She picked me up at 9:30pm. This was the most adventurous part of the trip. I agreed to meet her at the end of the street, where she and her husband picked me up. Bear in mind, I met this woman briefly at the school, and emailed twice. I also found out that getting/giving directions is somewhat of a skill that foreigners can't master overnight. There is no "address" just a description you give like, on the corner of the McDonalds and the Shell station. So I asked Demba to write down this description in case I may need to take a cab home. Marie-Therese was very kind, gave me a tour of her home, and I got a chance to see a Senegalese home, which was great. She lived in Dakar ville quartier H L M grand Yoff with her husband Roger and four children: Mariane 15, Nathalie 13, Josephine 8 and Georges 2.

DAY NINE: Today we visited three schools. First was the equivalent to a Pre-K called Case des Tout-Petits Ouest Foire. The children we adorable, ranging from 3-5 years old. We then went to a school for street children called Empire des Enfants which was a temporary school/home for children who stayed anywhere from one week to three months. Mme. Antambo was the founder and converted an old cinema into a safe-haven for kids ranging from 4-18 years old. The school is non-profit relying exclusively on donations. I bought a great sous-verre for 25000 CFA created by a nine year old boy named Kalidou Seydi from Guinea Bissau. He arrived April 2, 2008 after being beaten by his teacher, an imam that was supposed to teach him the Koran. The design shows his deceased father and his step-father, two brothers, and a friend. The sun is protecting him on his voyage by car on his way home.

The last school we visited was an Ecole Franco-Arabe. Students there prepare for an Arabic of French degree. That evening I had dinner with Rosalie-Helene at her daughter's restaurant in the Quartier Liberte 1. I had Thiof Braise (an enormous fish), Aloco (des bananes frites) and my new favorite drink, buoy. Buoy is a cold beverage made from dried baobob fruit, that is soaked, and then milk and sugar are added. It tastes similar to a pina colada without alcohol. After dinner she gave me a sarang, a dress, a necklace, a bracelet, and two bottles of juice concentrate (1 bissap and 1 ginger). Bissap is made from dried hibiscus flowers.

DAY TEN: The day of mosques..We visited La Mosquee de la Divinite in Ouakam, La Grand Mosquee de Dakar, and finally la Mosquee de Fass.

Marguerite took both pictures which are two of my favorites. The first at the Divinite mosque on the beach and the second next to Mosquee de Fass made us laugh because we did not realize this woman had twins until she turned around.

For this last night in Dakar, I planned nothing. I went to the supermarket for some last minute local pleasures Liptonic and Panache (both French) but available in Senegal, got some local fast food for myself and Demba then headed back to Mermoz just to hang out. Demba and I planned the next morning. I had to mail postcards, visit Sandaga market, and some bookstores

Day Eleven/Twelve: I met Demba in the morning and we headed out We walked to the bookstore then took a car-rapide to the Sandaga Market. He was a real sport and understood the meaning of the expression "shop til you drop" after spending several hours with me
It was so nice have a local friend to help negotiate prices One funny thing that happened was that the locals we encountered assumed we were married. Keep in mind that Demba is 25! I was flattered and a certain I got great deals on the batiks, mini sous-verres, and earrings I purchased on my last day in Senegal. I treated Demba to lunch and headed back to Mermoz via taxi
Once back at the apartment, I re-packed my things and got my djembe drum from Ousseynou (his brother hand-made it!) and we headed to our farewell dinner It was bittersweet.
The experience was unforgettable and I was sad to go, but took enough pictures to fill four memory cards.

I hope this blog provides you with just a small taste of what I took away from the experience.

Xmas Letter 2008

2008-12-18T12:59:00.004-05:00

Xmas Letter 2008

Welcome to the 2008 equivalent to the Traveling Roths' Microsoft Word Update Letter. (thanks to Snide for the term). If you're following the link on the Christmas Card, and this is your first visit to travelingroths.com, welcome. We hope you'll check back regularly, and maybe even subscribe to the feed.

It's been a year for us, so we'll give you the summary in words and pictures. All pictures are hosted on Zooomr. Check out these and others there when you get the chance.

January
We traveled to Winterplace Ski Resort in West Virginia for our first ever family ski trip. Dave and the kids snowboarded, and everybody went tubing.

February
Zoe turns eight, gets her picture published in JPG Magazine, and enjoys her first solo Big Mac. We photowalk the UNC campus and 9th Street in Durham

March
Soccer resumes, spring arrives, and so does Easter.

April
Evidently nothing happened, but we took pictures of it anyway.

May
Pig Pickin 3: Triple Figures. This time with a whole slew of Roths from four different states.

June
Jennifer spends the better part of two weeks in Senegal, and the kids take their first solo flight to Chicago.

July
Jennifer receives her Masters degree, and we take our first whole-family international trip to Morocco

August
Vacationing with the Roths in Black Mountain, North Carolina, the Saias in Washington DC, and a beach weekend at Fort Macon State Park.

August was also back to school time; Fourth Grade for Tristan, and Third Grade for Zoe.

September
Fall Soccer for Tristan, Girls on the Run for Zoe, and the Ben Folds Five reunion concert for Dave and Jennifer.

October
Our eighth annual trip to the North Carolina State Fair for the family, a trip to Las Vegas and In-N-Out Burger for Dave, and the Owen J. Roberts Class of 1988 20th Reunion for Dave. Zoe also became Disaster Girl, a new internet meme.

November
Tristan turns 10, and Dave's truck turns over 300,000 miles.

December
Zoe, with her Girls on the Run group, runs her first 5K race; the third annual Reindeer Romp in Cary, NC with a time of ~35 minutes. She didn't even break a sweat. Tristan performs in Duke Chapel with the North Carolina Boys Choir in the training choir to an audience of several hundred people. Tristan and Zoe both perform solos in the church children's Christmas program, to much acclaim.

And in case we hadn't had enough excitement for the year, Tristan, executing a sweet move at recess of jumping from a picnic table to a tree manged to score a supracondylar fracture of his right humerus, as well as a fracture of his distal right radius, or in other words, he broke his arm in two places, but at least he made points with the ladies. He spent all day Friday the 19th in the University of North Carolina Emergency Department, followed by surgery that evening. What kind of surgery? Closed reduction with percutaneous pinning; two or three pins in his elbow and one in his wrist. After an overnight stay at UNC Childrens Hospital (big kudos), he came home to start his six weeks with a fully-wrapped arm and sling. He's been a real trooper through this whole thing, and hasn't needed any pain meds since he got out of surgery Friday night.

And that's the year in words and pictures.

Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Festivus, Joyeaux Noel, Buon Natale, [Happy Birthday] and Happy New Year to all.

Stay tuned to this space next year to see where we go next.

The Roths: Dave, Jennifer, Tristan, and Zoe.
Mebane, North Carolina, USA

http://tinyurl.com/563xmj
http://bit.ly/rhhV

I Have a Meme: Disaster Girl

2008-11-16T17:45:00.003-05:00

Almost four years ago, one dreary January Saturday morning, the kids and I were hanging out at home, watching TV and waiting for springtime, when Jennifer came home and said "I can't believe you're not up the street at that huge fire."

Huge fire? We gotta go see that, so we grabbed the camera and the kids and took of up the street to check it out. Two blocks away was a single-family home that was fully engulfed in flames. The Mebane Fire Department was already on the scene, but not really doing anything, other than wishing they could drive up and down the street with their sirens on some more. . . but I digress. It appeared that this house was donated to the fire department for training, as no one really seemed very intent on extinguishing it. They were even letting kids hold the firehose and point the spray at the house.

Regardless, it made for some great photos. I shot what was a bunch for me at the time, probably 20 or 30, including a couple of the kids with the fire in the background. Most noteworthy of those was this one of Zoe, that I call "Firestarter"

It got a lot of positive attention on Zooomr, where it was originally hosted, even earning some kudos from photographers I admire, like Daniel Krieger, Thomas Hawk, Jeremy Brooks, and others. That was posted in early 2007 and I didn't give it much thought for about a year.

I was checking out JPG Magazine, which publishes a full-color glossy magazine of user-submitted photos. They had a theme at the time called "Emotion Capture." I thought this shot may be appropriate, so I uploaded it, and submitted to the magazine. Lo and behold, the picture was selected for publication! I got my picture in a national magazine, a free subscription, and a hundred bucks! This photography stuff is fun! The picture on the JPG Magazine website got a lot of positive attention, views, and kudos. JPG had me shoot another photo of Zoe, holding her copy of JPG Magazine, and used that picture in a blog post.

Once again, I didn't think too much about it, until Ben Dan Hawks, a contact over at Zooomr let me know that my picture was on digg.com and reddit.com in various caption and photoshop contests. From there it made it to Fark.com and then more places than I could keep up with. My picture on the JPG Magazine site is now up over 95,000 views.

The fun part are the photoshopped revisions of the original photo, crediting Zoe with whatever disaster is pictured

There's even a history of "Disaster Girl," Forest Gump-style at many important events through history.

And a video!

JPG Magazine has done a follow-up blog post on the image's Internet meme status.

I've had people, so-called "image experts" e-mail me and inquire about the photo, and what alterations I've done to it, whether is was photoshopped or not. They have these tremendous theories about the alterations I've made, but the truth is, this shot is straight out of the camera, no processing whatsoever. Take that, image experts! And as far as getting Zoe to pose like that with that subtle smirk. . .just dumb luck. I wish I could say the whole thing was masterfully skillful on my part, but it really wasn't. If you take enough pictures, you're bound to get a few keepers, regardless of your skill level.

All the while, Zoe, who did not start that fire, is mildly amused.

And now you know the true story of Disaster Girl.

UPDATE: 12/29/2008

Disaster Girl was featured on an episode of Rocketboom

Update, June 27, 2009

You can now buy your own officially licensed copy of the Disaster Girl photo from Redbubble, with a part of the proceeds going to Zoe herself. Just follow this link

http://www.redbubble.com/people/travelingroths/art/3326855-3-the-original-disaster-girl

Owen J. Roberts Class of 1988 20-Year Reunion Teaser

2008-10-27T23:04:00.006-04:00

For those of you looking for pictures from the class reunion this past weekend, here they are:

On Zooomr (my preference)

On Flickr

So far (as of 10/27 at 11 pm) I have the morning party shots processed and uploaded. ~~I should have the evening party shots up probably tomorrow night.~~ The night party shots are now also posted. For others with pictures hosted online, label them with the ojr88reunion tag. For other Zooomr users, that tag will add your photos to my reunion set automatically.

Now as a disclaimer: I may not have pictures of everybody, your name might be misspelled or missing altogether, and not all the photos I took are online. If anyone wants full resolution copies of any of these pictures, e-mail me at diamonddaveroth at gmail dot com, and I'll be happy to send them to you.

In a few days, I'll have more to say about the parties, if anyone wants to check back to see that. In the meantime, enjoy the photos. I definitely enjoyed taking them.

How to Walk to In-N-Out Burger from the Las Vegas Strip

2008-10-15T22:53:00.002-04:00

I talk about food on this blog. I talk about it a lot. This post is no exception. Actually, this post is all about food. Food in the context of a small personal victory. This post was two and a half years in the making.

In May 2006, when we were out at Lake Tahoe for Jennifer's brother Jonas's college graduation, we ate at In-N-Out Burger for the first time. Jonas has spoken of the restaurant in glowing terms, and their brother Jordan seconded the endorsement of Jonas. So when we ate at the In-N-Out in Reno, we quickly agreed with Jordan and Jonas.

In-N-Out is a privately-owned burger chain that exists only in the American West. It has always been owned and run by the same family since its founding in 1948. It has never been a public company, and never franchised. They've also never installed a freezer in their restaurants. Everything comes in the door fresh, the meat, the buns, and the fries come in the restaurant as potatoes. The restaurants are spotless, the employees loyal, cheerful, and well-compensated. So as you can guess, the food's pretty good. The menu consists of four items: hamburger, cheeseburger, double-double, and french fries. You'd think that's simple, but it's not. There is a whole list of customizations to your food, and that's known as "the secret menu." The secret menu items are already laid out on the cashier's terminals, so it's not much of a secret, but you need to know what you want before you come in, as those special upgrades aren't advertised in the store.

There also isn't an In-N-Out burger within 2000+ miles of my house, so the only time I get to return is when I'm traveling to the west. My first chance to return to In-N-Out was September 2007 when I was in Las Vegas for work. Despite my best efforts, I failed to make it to the restaurant. I knew where it was, scoped out the route on Google Earth, figured out the schedule of The Deuce, and headed off on foot on a 100 degree day. Despite my best efforts, I never discovered the Northwest Passage over I-15. I should've taken a taxi, I guess, but it seemed excessive to spend $20 for a $6 meal. I determined that I would take a taxi the next time, if it came to that.

But I was hoping it didn't come to that this year. I'm back in Las Vegas for work again, and I did my homework. I found three In-N-Out restaurants within reasonable walking distance, and definitely within taxi distance. One on the UNLV campus didn't require an Interstate crossing, though it was a three mile trek from the hotel, or a little under two from the Deuce stop. The one I attempted last year was about 0.6 miles from the bus. . .provided I could get over the interstate. I opened Google Earth and Google Maps with street view, and researched the route to see if there was anything I had missed.

And it turns out there was! One thing I saw on the map, and one thing I didn't see until I was on foot today.

First, in the green circle, what are those stripes? A crosswalk! Since there was a crosswalk, there must be a sidewalk. That's a good start.

So with a break at lunchtime, I made my second attempt at the summit. Here's how to do it.

Take The Deuce to the Excalibur

Near the main drawbridge entrance to the casino is an escalator up to the overpass. Take the sidewalk around the escalator,

heading West parallel to W Tropicana Ave.

Once the sidewalk takes you under the on-ramp, you have a choice to make. This is where I screwed up last year. The sidewalk bifurcates, with one path headed West toward the restaurant, and the other heading East.

Take the eastbound (right) sidewalk. That sounds counterintuitive, since it's heading away from the restaurant. It snakes around, up onto the bridge, heading West... the way you want to go. (see the green path in the Google Earth capture above.)

Here's that crosswalk that was visible from space.

From there, it's a piece of cake. Cross I-15 on the bridge, then via lighted crosswalks, cross the on-ramp, Tropicana Ave (headed north), and the on-ramp again (headed East), and you're there!

And now back to the food.

It was noon, and the place was packed. They had a ton of friendly people working, so the line moved quickly.

I ordered a double-double, animal-style, extra toast, with french fries, well-done, and a chocolate shake. You'll need to do your own research on the secret menu to see what that means. $6.39 including tax

Here's what it looks like though.

How did it taste? You'll just have to visit In-N-Out for yourself. I don't know if it was that burger I was in love with, or the idea of that burger, but this was a cheeseburger I could be happy with for the rest of my life. And rolling-back the failures of last year's quest made lunch taste all that much better. Now the only question is, do I go again for lunch tomorrow, or wait 'til next year. I think you know the answer ;-)

Made it to Nevada

2008-10-13T16:25:00.002-04:00

I'm here in Las Vegas, and for proof, here's a picture of me in my room.

Leaving (for) Las Vegas

2008-10-13T08:37:00.004-04:00

I'm headed to Las Vegas again for work, returning once again to the Infor user conference, Inforum 2008. It's foggy here at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, so my 8:15 plane had to divert to Norfolk to refuel, is supposed to land here at 9, and depart at 9:15. It's 8:40, and still pretty foggy, so I'm not placing my bets on a 9:15 departure either. At least Southwest Airlines does usually appear to make a real effort to be on time.

Track my flight here: Flight Tracker SWA298

And another: Flightview

and another: Flightaware

A Shooting in the Theater

2008-10-02T14:15:00.003-04:00

Our local theater company, The Mebane Acting Company, knows that I like to take pictures, so with their current show, Steel Magnolias, opening this week, they invited me to the dress rehearsals to get some shots for their scrapbook.

At first, I was hesitant to do it. After all, I lost my good camera a few months ago and haven't replaced it yet, so I wasn't very excited about what I'd be able to do with any of the point-and-shoots we have sitting around the house. Going backwards in equipment quality has really taken the wind out of my sails. Plus indoor shots in a dark room (preferably without flash) are tough under the best of circumstances, and trying it with snapshot-quality gear would only make it worse. But I decided to do it anyway, because they were going to get pictures anyhow, and at least I know how to use my cheap(er) cameras, so I should be able to get something usable, as frustrating as it may be

I was happily surprised! Using a tripod and the High ISO setting on my Sony DSC-H2, yielded some not-too-shabby pictures. There's blatant sensor noise in there, but it's not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. Kudos, Sony!

And there were some other parts of the task that made it more fun than I had anticipated. First, since I was the "official" photographer, and it was a dress rehearsal (empty theater), I could feel free to go wherever I wanted to to get the shot. I was all over the place, and the actors were instructed to ignore me, which was perfect. That's so much nicer than trying to get a decent photo from wherever you happen to be sitting in a crowded theater, while not using a flash and not disturbing the other patrons. . . . and all that's assuming that photography is even allowed, which it usually isn't.

Another enjoyable part of the process is that I had my iPod on and cranked while I was shooting. Since Steel Magnlolias is really a chick-flick of amateur theater, I didn't really care about the dialogue. With the music blasting, the whole process was kind of surreal, with the disconnect between the sight and the sound. I highly recommend this process.

Once I took what I thought were enough shots, I left the theater and shot some surprisingly cool stuff in downtown Graham, using my same loud rock soundtrack in the process.

I left Graham that night feeling pretty satisfied with the work I'd done, and realized that this was the most enjoyment I'd had with a camera since losing my 40D in July . Photography is fun again.

UPDATE: 05-October-2008

The theater company was happy with my work, and asked me to return to shoot the remaining three scenes of the play. (It turns out that I had previously only shot one scene.) Since Jennifer wanted to see the show anyway, she came with me to the Sunday matinee, where she watched the play, and I got an additional 280 shots. Actually listening to the dialogue, I and the other three men in the audience (in addition to a few dozen women there) found some really funny lines, and some excellent acting.

Fall Soccer

2008-09-26T12:51:00.005-04:00

What's going on while we're all at home most of the time?

Soccer!

And other stuff, but the soccer makes the best photos.

Tristan's playing his 3rd season for the U10 Terminators, and is having a great year, scoring at least one goal in every game so far.

And here are some pictures to prove it.

Zoe's not playing this year, but she is participating in an after-school running program called "Girls on the Run," and really enjoying it. She'll be running a 5K race at the end of the fall.

In unrelated photography news, I'm saving my money for the soon-to-be-released Canon 50D, my current "good" camera (Sony DSC-H2) has a half-busted shutter release button, so the shutter lag is a full one second or longer, which makes shooting action an absolute pleasure, Zoe's broken Canon A570IS is in for warranty repair (!), and Tristan has been doing some fun work with his Lego minifigs recently. Check out his pictures on Tristan's Zooomr Account. Hopefully he hasn't snuck in any colorful obscenities that he's currently so fascinated with.

One of these days, I plan on posting about:

our early August weekend in Washington DC where we met our new nephew Zane Saia
our Roth Family Vacation to Black Rock, NC
the Ben Folds Five reunion concert

One of these days.

Paris. One of my favorite cities in the world

2008-09-19T13:15:00.005-04:00

Our friends Ron and Lisa are going to Italy, France, and Spain for their 15th wedding anniversary next week, so I sent them my recommendations for Paris. Not to waste all that typing, I'll tell you what I told them. Here it is.

Paris. One of my favorite cities in the world. I've only been there twice, but I plan on returning as long as I'm able to. You'll have a wonderful time.

Before you go, read up! I like the Lonely Planet books a lot. Also spend some quality time with Google Earth. There's a lot of good information there, plus it's always helpful to be able to picture in your mind how the city is laid out, and generally where the big things are. Having a Metro map card to carry with you would be a good thing too. The metro is pretty straightforward and economical. You can probably get passes for the length of time you'll be in the city, plus just about everything is accessible via the Metro. The station entrances (like a lot of things in Paris) are very cool looking and worthy of photography.

When you first get to Paris, the best thing you can do is take a boat tour to get a feel for the layout of the city. The long, open-topped boats are called Bateaux Mouche, and can be located near Pont de l'Alma over the Seine. . . the river that divides the city. There are day and night rides, the latter often including dinner. Prices vary, but the daytime no-meal rides are fairly inexpensive.

The Seine river has two islands in it; Île de la Cité (where Notre Dame Cathedral is located) and Île Saint-Louis (ill san whee). When you visit Notre Dame Cathedral, (if you arrive via the Metro), you'll exit at the Cité station. Since the station is well below ground in the middle of a fairly small island, you'll notice that the walls are reinforced steel bolted into the dirt. It's like being inside a giant ship, and is very cool.

After you check out the cathedral, walk outside toward the rear of the church to the end of the island. There you'll see a pedestrian bridge over to the Île Saint-Louis. On this island they make a very special ice cream that is not sold anywhere else. It's called Berthillon, and is available at several places. Just look for the signs. It is awesome, and you must try it.

There are also some cool creperies,

small grocery stores, cafes, and a decent toy store if I remember correctly. Ile Saint Louis is my favorite place in Paris.

The other major tourist sites are also worthy of a visit; Louvre Museum, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysses, Monmartre, Sacre Couer, etc. And of course, the Eiffel Tower. The tower is surrounded by parks, and you'll see a lot of old men out playing petanque, the French version of bacci. (they make for excellent photos too) When I first saw that at age 27, I decided that's how I want to spend my retirement; playing petanque under the Eiffel Tower. Going to the top of the tower is definitely worth it, but for the best views (and photos) of the tower itself, I recommend the Trocadero. . . a plaza a short distance (0.3 miles) northwest of the tower, across the Seine, and up a slight hill.

As far as food goes, you cannot go wrong in Paris. I first discovered panini there. The boulangeries (bakeries), pattiseries (pastry shops) and brasseries (taverns) are awesome, as are the restaurants, and bistros, cafes and groceries.

Be sure to check out Panache and Liptonic. The first is a beer/lemonade combo, and the second is an alcoholic tea, I think. You buy them in cans like soda. A cool thing to do at night is take a walk on one of the quays on Île de la Cité. A lot of people like to picnic there, eat baguettes and cheese, drink wine, sing songs, smoke a little doobage, etc. It's very casual.

So that's the bulk of my Paris knowledge. I know you two will have a great time, and I look forward to seeing your pictures.

-Dave

Another Beach Weekend

2008-09-01T18:47:00.004-04:00

I know I said I'd talk about travel gear in my next post, but since I'm taking so long to do that, I figured I'd get this in before it got too stale.

We went down to the coast a few weekends ago for a typical beach weekend for us; leave work Friday, go to the beach Saturday and/or Sunday, drive home Sunday afternoon.. We ate at The Steak Barn in Kinston on the way down. No need to go back there a second time. It's the kind of place my mom would've liked; everyone in there was her age or older, and they had good pie. Other than that, it was very unimpressive. We'd passed this place a million times, and it's pretty cool looking on the outside, but the enchantment stops there. Oh well, now we know. Next time: The Beef and the Baron.

Saturday, the beach. Atlantic Beach still hasn't worked out their parking issues, so it was back to Fort Macon State Park again. I didn't bring anything valuable to lose in the surf this time.

And since Flickr now hosts videos, here is one:

Dinner was takeout from Sanitary Fish Market, which is always good.

Sunday the kids went fishing with Laura and Graham. They did a pretty good job with their Scooby-Doo and Barbie fishing rods and reals, catching some puppy drum in no time.

Jennifer and I drove back home while the kids stayed down at the coast for the week, doing some more fishing and discovering that they really like golf!

Morocco: Epilogue

2008-08-14T13:09:00.002-04:00

Now that our Morocco trip is over, and we're back home, I thought it was a good time to tie up some loose ends, and maybe talk about some stuff that's been on my mind, but didn't really fit within the narrative of a travel journal. I'm going to talk about our experience in Morocco and say some things about traveling in general.

When we first announced we were going to Morocco, we got the question, "Why Morocco?" The answer to this question was, and always is "Why not?" We (mostly) hadn't been there, we knew people there, and we had places to stay. Any one of these reasons would've been good enough. The fact that they speak French in Morocco didn't hurt either, but not speaking the language hasn't stopped us before (Greece, Italy, Korea, etc.).

The best way to see any foreign land, in your own country or out, is to stay with locals. Every time we've done this, without exception, our hosts have been extremely generous, gracious, and very eager to show off their culture and their country. Our Moroccan friends, even ones we had never met before we got there, went to a lot of effort to make our stay comfortable and enjoyable. They invested a lot of time and effort into preparing tremendous meals for us. They shared their homes, and really went out of their way to make sure we got where we needed to go on all the planes, trains, automobiles, buses and petit taxis on our journey. They included us in one of the biggest events of their lives, a wedding, and made us feel like we were part of their family. We were never treated like tourists, we were close friends, or maybe even cousins from The States.

Once we've arranged to visit some place where the people are generous and hospitable, we have to make sure that we're prepared on our end. And so long as we're flexible, and able to keep open minds, we're able to make the most of our travels. They do things different over there (wherever "over there" is), and you have to remember that just because it isn't your way doesn't mean it's wrong. If you find yourself getting upset at how people do things differently from you, remember, it's probably more your hang-up than anything.

For example, the chaotic traffic scene in Marrakesh. After two days, I was ready to kick over the next moped that careened within centimeters of my elbow, but looking around, I noticed that I was the only one with an issue. No one else was getting bent out of shape. Maybe my white-people adherence to arbitrary rules tendencies were getting the better of me, so I decided to relax and do as the Romans do.

Another example were the beggars. There were tons of beggars in Marrakesh. In Islamic culture it is not shameful to beg, plus their religion says you should give money to beggars. The beggars were annoying the crap out of us, but that was something we just had to let go. While their morality tolerated begging, ours did not, so we just ignored them, but refused to get upset about it, or try to force our beliefs on them.

Along those lines, the best way to make the most of your travels is to try to be as little like a tourist as possible. Granted, in certain places you're just going to stand out, but you still want to minimize that as much as you can. It was hot in Marrakesh, but I didn't wear shorts because Moroccan men (generally) don't wear shorts. Interestingly, as pale white people (Moroccans also consider themselves white) in Morocco, we were generally assumed to be French. In fact, we hardly saw any other Americans the whole time. Now there's nothing wrong with being American, and we're very proud of our nationality, but it's pretty cool to present an ambiguous appearance, and maybe avoid some of the negative stereotypes associated with your country of origin. Stereotypes are an evil thing, especially ones about people from other countries. (As an aside, it seems to me that most of the negative stereotypes about other countries and the people in them are perpetuated by people who usually a) don't personally know anyone of that nationality, and b) have never been to that county) I don't want to be assumed to be loud, rich, and have a cultural superiority complex because I'm American. Granted, the French stereotypes aren't any better (rude, smelly, bad tippers) but at least they're different, and since they don't apply to us at all (we smell very nice), we're not offended by the assumption. Do what the locals do: awake when they do, eat and drink as they do, dress like them (as practical), greet people like they do, and try to learn at least a few words of their language. That last tip will go a long way to ingratiate yourself with the locals, and they'll really appreciate the effort, and gracefully forgive your missteps.

One of the best things you can do for yourself as a traveler is to travel light. I saw a great quote somewhere that said "There are two kinds of traveler; those that pack light and those that wish they did." I couldn't agree more. Having too much stuff and luggage is an easy way to overburden yourself, tire yourself out, and put you in a foul mood. You're much better off with less, more versatile stuff that gives you more freedom. Not checking luggage is the only way to go for many reasons. Having clothing components that you can mix and match allows you to have more distinct outfits with less clothing. Buying good quality travel gear and clothing that you can hand-wash in a sink and air dry will lighten your bags tremendously, and give you a lot more flexibility when you don't need to find a laundromat, or run out of clean clothes. Good travel gear is usually more comfortable, stain-resistant, packs smaller, dries faster, and has more pockets. It shouldn't need to be said, but shoes take up a huge amount of space in your luggage. Try to get one pair of shoes to meet all your needs if possible, and if you're visiting a culture where they remove their shoes upon entering a room, get slip-ons.

If you're reading this, it's because I think documenting your travel is pretty important. Buy a good quality journal (the TravelingRoths use Moleskine journals exclusively), take it with you everywhere so you can write when you get a free moment, and never get more than 24 hours behind on your writing (you'll start to forget important details if you do.) Get a decent camera, and learn how to use it. Read some websites on photography (here's a good one) to learn how to take interesting, good-quality pictures under a variety of situations. Definitely learn how to turn off your flash so you can take pictures where photography isn't strictly permitted. Have extra memory cards and batteries (and a way to charge them) and be very liberal with the shutter release button. I recommend at least 100 pictures a day, regardless of your skill level. You'll never regret having too many pictures, only not having enough.

Travel is important, and necessary, in my opinion. And with a little forethought, preparation, and an open mind, you can really make the most of your time away. You'll be a better person for it.

(Next post: Some travel gear specifics)

Morocco: Day Ten: Gone to Look For America

2008-08-07T13:23:00.001-04:00

Monday

Awoke at 5:45 am, (12:45 am back home), bathed, dressed, and stowed the rest of our unpacked gear. Everyone else was still asleep, and we'd said our goodbyes before going to bed, so we were able to sneak out of the house around 6:30.

Hicham had arranged a cab for us the day before, but since the streets don't really have names or house numbers, the cab went to Fatima F. and Hicham's house, picked up Fatima who guided the cab to our house, and then stayed there. We rode in the grand taxi, a fairly old and beat-up Mercedes sedan, as opposed to a petit taxi, which are white in El Jadida. We made the 90-minute drive from El Jadida to the Casablanca airport for the very reasonable price of 500 dirham ($68).

We were to early to check in, so we got some breakfast at the airport, using up most of our remaining Moroccan cash. When we checked in, we weren't able to pull the same switcheroo we did at JFK with the baggage weight and number, so we just checked a few bags of mostly dirty clothes. Mostly, that is, except for Jennifer's cell phone, which was in her bag. . . for the time being. We spent a few more dirham at the duty free shops in the international departure lounge, and eventually were able to board the bus to the plane, around 10:45.

The flight was unremarkable. We sat on the left, and were in daylight the entire 7 hours, 25 minutes, sleeping off and on somewhere over the North Atlantic, and landing at JFK around 2:45 pm Eastern Daylight Time.

The first thing to do at JFK was immigration. There's no cell phone usage nor photography permitted in Immigration for reasons that completely escape me. It's a bunch of guys sitting in cubicles, with a bunch of tired tourists waiting to talk to them. What's the big secret? Since I couldn't take a picture (legally), I've made this artist's rendition of the scene.

The very nice immigration guy, who sounded like he was an immigrant himself, joked with the kids, stamped our passports, and sent us to our next stop: baggage claim. Here we were reminded of one of the major reasons that we don't check baggage. We waited at least half an hour for our bags to show up on the carousel. Time that we could've been on our way. What was taking them so long? Maybe all that additional time was needed for the JFK baggage handlers to rummage through our stuff and steal Jennifer's cell phone. We didn't find this out until later though.

We retrieved our bags, and since we had nothing to declare, sailed through customs and into the arrival hall. A quick walk to the AirTrain, a short ride to the Howard Beach Station, and we were on the A train into Manhattan. The train got very crowded, and despite the fact that they don't announce the stops, and you often can't see the station's name signs on the platforms, we managed to disembark at the Port Authority Bus Terminal/42nd Street Station. We got some snacks, and soon boarded the Bieber Bus, pissing off some chick who alledged there was a line to board in the process.

Less than two hours later we were back at the Charcoal Drive in, and Opa arrived shortly. He brought some delicious hoagies with him from the Ice House in Pottstown, but failing to find a decent place to stop and eat them, they waited 'til we got back to the house. The food in Morocco was excellent, without exception, but those hoagies and Wawa iced tea were very much welcomed. We were back at Opa's house by 9 pm, but since it felt like 2 am to us, we didn't stay up long.

Next Post: A summary.

Morocco: Day Nine: Winding Down

2008-08-05T12:48:00.005-04:00

Sunday

Woke up around 11. Ate again. Hicham and Fatima F. drove us out to the house they're building on the outskirts of town. It's on the first floor while Hicham's brother Salah owns the house on the second floor. They're both really nice two bedroom, one bath houses with A/C and beautiful tile work. Hicham's planning on a nice outdoor grill and a wood-fired pizza oven too! I think this house is for Hicham and Fatima F. when they move back to Morocco in a few years when Rania is out of school. Salah's house is for when he and his family visit from Belgium. The complex has an excellent pool, and most of the kids were making good use of it. T&Z were pissed because they didn't bring their swimming costumes.

We got dropped off in El Jadida and walked to the Portugese City (El Jadida, previously known as Mazagan (Portuguese: Mazagão), was seized in 1502 by the Portuguese, and they controlled this city until 1769, when they abandoned Mazagão. Its inhabitants were evacuated to Brazil, where they founded new settlement Nova Mazagão) It was good to get outside and walk along the ocean on the boardwalk. The walled city was impressive. Most impressive were the boys jumping off the walls and into the waters of the port. It had to be at least 50 feet, maybe more. T & Z were fascinated by this activity that would certainly be prohibited at home, but here no one cared.

We walked back to the Choukailis' and ate some leftover pastilla and lamb, then promptly slept it off. After we woke up, Fatima C. returned and opened presents. The gifts were very similar to those at an American wedding. They got a lot of stuff for formal entertaining, including at least four tea sets. Apparently, they don't do bridal registry here either as they don't have many chain stores. I was informed that the duplicates would be "re-gifted" for future events. I wonder if there's an Arabic word for that.

We said goodbye to most of our Moroccan friends, and returned to Shakir and Jalila's house. We packed up our bags, which didn't take long, then went outside to hang out by the pool. We sat under the, I don't know, tiki hut(?) by the pool, and enjoyed some beer, Moroccan wine, and scotch and friendly conversation with Shakir, Hicham, Salah, and Geraldine. This went on until the wee hours. Tristan and Ghita came out to swim, while I comprehended maybe half the French-language conversation, and lamented the lack of a backyard grill and a decent cheeseburger. A cheeseburger really would have made that scene.

We camped out in the salon, as Abla's room was being used by some older woman, maybe Shakir's mother, I'm not sure. Sleep came easily.

(repost time 7/20)