Recently in Travel Category

It's been a rough week. There were plenty of bright spots, like our dinner with Meryl and James last Saturday, birthday dinner for Becca on Tuesday, lots of Olympics on TV, and getting paid for all the work I've done on a website. But other events have left me feeling frustrated, beaten down, and tired. I will spare you the details, mainly because this blog is not an appropriate place for the details, but suffice it to say that I am VERY glad that Friday has arrived.

Instead, here are some photos I took last month when I went to California for a day. The weather was brilliantly sunny on the return leg from Ontario, CA to Phoenix, and I had a lot of fun taking photos out the window.

It's always interesting to see the land use patterns in the desert. The contrast of bright green and surrounding tan and brown is striking, especially when it's as bright and sunny as it was that day.

When we flew over this cloud, and the view was really strange! You could see the blurry shadow of our airplane, surrounded by a halo. No tricks -- this photo captures exactly what it looked like. I'd never seen this phenomenon before.

As we neared Phoenix, I noticed we were basically paralleling I-10! I watched the tiny cars move along for quite a while.

Hello, Phoenix. I enjoyed my half hour in your airport.

So a couple weeks ago when we were in Florida...

After watching the most excellent launch of STS-130, we all drove back to our hotel in Orlando and took nice long naps. My parents and brother headed back to Charlotte that afternoon, but Jose and I stuck around for one more night, which gave us time to head over to the KSC Visitor's Center.

Unfortunately for JSC, the KSC Visitor's Center really runs circles around Space Center Houston. It feels more modern, more welcoming, and much larger right from the start. You walk through the main gate and are met with this huge NASA meatball, so of course we had to take a photo. (The "meatball" is NASA's nickname for the agency logo. Even that article I just linked to doesn't explain why, other than to say that it's round. Like a meatball. Shrug.)

Next I took a picture of Jose in front of this Orion mockup. Of course Orion is the vehicle that was just cancelled. Another shrug.

We walked past this shuttle mockup on our way to the Space Shuttle Launch Experience. This is a fairly new attraction, and is a ride that gives you a feeling of what it might be like to launch on the shuttle, complete with shaking, smoke, and the roar of engines. It was actually very well done, and I was really impressed. The ride presented a lot of solid technical information, but in a way that made it accessible and understandable to the general public (which, after all, is the point of a visitor's center). They had lots of video interviews with former astronauts describing the entire launch process, and I was very amused to see that the astronaut who did the bulk of the narrating for the ride was Charlie Bolden. Who is now the NASA Administrator!

After the ride, we walked around the Rocket Garden, which included the gantry that the Apollo 11 astronauts walked across on their way into the capsule!

Jose stopped to admire this F-1 engine. There were five of these babies on the first stage of the Saturn V rocket that took men to the moon. Seeing Jose stand next to it really shows how big they were!

We also hopped in a Gemini capsule mockup, which gave me a newfound respect for the early astronauts. Let's just say I would NOT be first in line to spend two weeks in one of those. Talk about cramped...

Next we walked over to the early space exploration area. One of my favorite things there was the flown Gemini 9 capsule, which was down on the ground so that you could walk all the way around. I particularly love seeing the heat shields on these old vehicles, and imagining all the craziness that went on during the heat of reentry.

After our trip to the visitor's center, we used our badges to drive into KSC. The sun was setting so we had to hurry, but we made a quick stop at the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). This is where they attach the orbiter to the external tank and solid rocket boosters before flight. Then it rolls from here down the 3-mile road to the launch pad. This picture really doesn't convey how immense the VAB really is. It's the fourth-largest building in the WORLD by volume. Each of the stars in the flag painted on the side is 6 feet wide. Yes. It's big.

We drove out to Launch Pad 39A, the site from which Endeavour departed so spectacularly only 14 hours earlier. We had to stop at the gate, but it was still cool.

The sun was setting rapidly, but we also made a quick stop at the press site across the street from the VAB. If you've ever watched a launch on TV, you probably recognize this view of the big clock and flagpole. It was counting up. 14 hours, 25 minutes, and 15 seconds had passed since STS-130's launch!

We also drove past the Shuttle Landing Facility (aka the big runway), but it was almost completely dark by the time we got there, so there was little to see.

We hit the road back to our hotel in Orlando, and the next day we started the two day drive home. The only incident was that I left my toiletry bag in our hotel in Mobile, Alabama. It's been more than 2 weeks, and I've yet to get it returned. I don't care so much about the bag itself and the shampoo and crap in it, but my glasses were in there! I'm hoping it turns up this week, because I really don't want to have to buy a new pair of glasses. My eyes suck, and thus my glasses are not cheap. They say they have it, and each time I've called they say "oh, I'm sorry, we'll go mail it today." But I've heard that 3 times now.

All in all, it was a great trip. Going to see the launch was 110% worthwhile, and although I'm not planning to undertake another drive like that anytime soon, I'm so glad we did it.

Here are my photos of the STS-130 launch early Monday morning. For those interested, I had my camera on a tripod and used my 70-200mm lens, fully zoomed of course. I framed the image prior to launch, and set the camera to f/8 and 1/125 based on the advice of this site. Sure, the launch was in the middle of the night, but it's also bright. Very, very bright.

The launch pad lit up a few hours before launch

I also had my remote, which let me take pictures without viewing the launch through a viewfinder. I got to watch with my own eyes and still get a few photos. In retrospect, it would have been cool to try a long-exposure, but I wasn't entirely confident I'd get the settings right, so I decided to go for single shots.

For those not familiar with all the details of a shuttle launch, this photo shows the moment of main engine ignition. The shuttle's three main engines (the ones on the back of the orbiter) are actually lit 6 seconds before launch. Mission Control has 6 seconds to make sure they're functioning properly, before...

...the solid rocket boosters light. The exhaust from the main engines (which is actually just steam, since the gas is just oxygen and hydrogen) billowed up between the orbiter and those of us on the causeway, which led to a cool silhouette of exhaust that the shuttle rose out of. When the solid rocket boosters light, there is no doubt -- that thing is GOING somewhere, and fast.

It's the solids that are so bright, and they light up the entire sky.

As soon as it clears the launch tower, the entire shuttle stack rolls on its vertical axis to better orient itself for the climb to orbit. This is what the "Houston, roll program" call that you hear from the astronauts means.

The shuttle is really zippy. It jumps off the launch pad like it's been shot out of a cannon, and well, it kinda HAS. A launch is nothing more than a carefully controlled explosion.

After the solid rocket boosters separated two minutes into flight, we were able to see Endeavour's main engines moving through the sky like a star. I think we would have been able to watch them through main engine cut-off at 8.5 minutes, except she went flying over the horizon and out of view.

By the time the crew performed the burn that truly puts them in orbit a half hour later, we were already in the car on our way back to Orlando. I watched the rendezvous from my laptop in an Alabama hotel room.

Photo from Mom's camera (forgot to bring my card reader to FL, so my pics will be later)

At 4:14 a.m. this morning, STS-130 launched on its mission to the International Space Station. And we were watching from the causeway! The second time was the charm, and the weather was obviously more clear last night. We spent the pre-launch hours snug in the car, where it was warmer. There weren't nearly as many people as the night before, and although I still don't totally understand the massive decrease in crowds, I'll chalk it up to a combination of it being a "schoolnight", plus the Super Bowl, plus people not wanting to spend another 4 hours waiting in the cold.

The launch was spectacular. This was the third that I've seen, but the first two were in 1997 and 1998 so it had been quite a while. I'm so glad I was able to see this one with Jose, my parents, and my brother. That made it extra special.

It is difficult to describe what viewing a launch is really like, especially a night launch. I can say things like "it was as bright as the sun" and "the sound crackles and pops and creaks," but that doesn't do it justice. Even the pictures don't do it justice. You really just need to be there yourself, see the light, hear and feel the sound.

So instead of continuing in a futile attempt to describe what seeing a space shuttle launch is like, I will simply encourage any and all of you who are able to make your way to Florida for one of the last four shuttle flights, currently scheduled for March, May, July, and September. It is a trip that is well worth your time.

We left at 3:45 on Friday, stopped in Spanish Fort, Alabama for the night, and arrived in Orlando at 8:15 last night. After a few hours of chilling out with my parents and brother David, who drove down from North Carolina, we headed to KSC. We met my brother, his girlfriend, and her son, who drove up from Miami, just after midnight at the Astronaut Hall of Fame. Packed into two cars with two car passes, we scooted on site and by 12:45 we were parked on the causeway.

The view from the causeway was actually far BETTER than I expected. The launch pad was perfectly aligned with our viewing spot, and the orbiter was in full view. You could easily make out the shape of the orbiter on the stack with your eyes, even though it was more than 6 miles away, and the view through binoculars was awesome.

I was feeling really good about things, but alas, clouds moved in towards the end and scrubbed the launch. Traffic moved quickly off the first part of the causeway, and I optimistically thought we'd beat the rush. But it slowed to a crawl, then a dead stop, and it took 2.5 hours to get back to our hotel next to the Orlando airport. At that point, we all crashed for some much-needed sleep.

I found the scrub far more disappointing this time than other times, perhaps because this time we drove 16 hours to see it. Although I know it's completely irrational, I also feel like it's somehow my fault, because my family drove all the way here and they didn't see it! And Brian and Cindy and Danny were only able to come last night. They drove up from Miami and got little sleep all to see a launch scrub. :(

The five of us will be back again tonight/tomorrow morning. I'm crossing my fingers that it goes this time!

After a day of shopping and eating in San Antonio, we decided we should take in some Texas history before we headed back home. I'm about to admit my ignorance, but oh well: until this weekend, I thought the Alamo was the ONLY mission in the area.

(Picture me ducking as the native Texans throw things at their computers.)

Anyway, it turns out that the Alamo is only one of FIVE missions strung along the San Antonio river, each a couple miles from the next, and together they make up the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. The Alamo is certainly the most famous of these, but of course its fame comes not from its days as an active mission, but rather from about 50 years after the Spanish and Franciscans had "secularized" it, when a small group of Texans took a stand against General Santa Anna. However, the other four missions are arguably much prettier than the Alamo, and they are all home to active Catholic parishes that hold regular services in their churches.

Mission Concepcion

Our first stop was Mission Concepcion, which is only a couple miles south of the Alamo. (The Alamo, if you've never been, is smack dab in the middle of downtown San Antonio, so it's kinda hard to miss!) Mission Concepcion was advertised as the most well-preserved of the missions, having avoided much of the wear-and-tear -- and use as a bullseye for target practice by various armies -- that affected the other missions after they were secularized in the late 1700s and given back to the Indians.

Corridor at Mission Concepcion

Sadly, the church is closed for renovation through March, so we didn't get to view the interior, where there are still remnants of the original frescos. We did enjoy wandering around the grounds though, and the weather was beautiful, but with the church closed, we quickly headed another couple miles down the road to Mission San Jose.

Church at Mission San Jose

Mission San Jose is called the "Queen of the Missions" since it's the largest in the area, and it underwent significant restoration in the 1930s. The park's main visitor center was located just outside the gate, and the entire mission compound including outer walls, gates, church, and granary was there to give a really good idea of what things looked like in the 1700s.

Gate to Mission San Jose

You can see in this photo from the gate that there was a lot of empty space in the middle of the compound. This is where the missionaries and natives would hold classes (both to learn religion and to learn new skills), store their crops, slaughter animals for food, and just hang out. The purpose of the missions wasn't just to convert the natives to Christianity. Instead the Spanish and Franciscans had a clear plan -- convert the natives, yes, but also develop their skills and turn them into productive, tax-paying Spanish citizens.

The natives lived in rooms all along the outer wall of the compound. One of the more interesting things I learned was that most of the natives came to the mission willingly. Many of them were from the Coahuilteco tribe, and were attracted to the mission because it offered a steady supply of food as well as protection from enemy tribes. The Lipan Apache, and later the Comanche, often pushed south from the Great Plains to attack groups in the San Antonio area. The protection offered by the Spanish to weaker tribes if they came into the mission must have been pretty tempting.

Fresco remnants

It must have been a pretty awesome sight to come upon one of the missions in their heyday. We're so used to seeing plain stone churches today that I forgot that the churches were much more colorful when they were built. Frescos covered the entire facade of the church when it was built.

Granary at Mission San Jose

Immediately outside the walls of the mission were the fields where they'd grow all of the crops. When they were harvested, they were brought to this building, the granary, which was located in one corner very close to the church.

Extending from the back of the church was a great series of arches. Originally this was the convento, or "priest's residence", so there were many rooms on two floors.

There was also a courtyard located right off the back of the church and beside the convento where the mission residents could gather before and after church each day.

We had a really nice time wandering around Mission San Jose and I learned a lot. It inspired me to learn more about Texas history; after all, I've lived in Texas for almost 8 years (and that doesn't even count my co-op years) so it's probably time I took some pride in that, right? Right??

Flags outside the Institute of Texan Cultures

There are two other missions farther down the river but we ran out of time on this trip, so we'll save them for next time. Our final stop before hitting the road back to Houston was the Institute of Texan Cultures. When he was a kid, Jose's class took a field trip to San Antonio and they visited this museum. Somehow it really stuck in his mind, because he has mentioned it every time San Antonio comes up in conversation, so of course we had to go.

The museum is divided into sections according to the culture -- and I'm not just talking about the natives, the Spanish, and the French. They also had extensive sections covering pretty much any group of immigrants that ever ended up in Texas, including everyone from Germans (who famously settled in and around Fredericksburg in the hill country) to Swedes to Lebanese. There were so many cultures and so many stories to take in that it was actually overwhelming. We stayed there for about an hour and a half, but it would take days to actually read all of the information.

Here's the entire set of photos from our weekend in San Antonio, for your enjoyment:

I've now spent 4 of the past 7 nights in 3 different hotels in 3 different cities. MAN, that sounds so cosmopolitan of me! There was last Saturday night, spent in downtown Houston at the Four Seasons before the half marathon. Then there were Monday and Tuesday nights, spent at the Mission Inn in Riverside while I was visiting my Vomit Comet teams (and there is a whole blog entry to come about that place). And now last night and tonight are being spent at La Mansion del Rio on the Riverwalk in San Antonio!

(And after this, we'll be staying home for a while because hotels don't grow on trees, you know.)

The "weekend getaway" idea was hatched a couple months ago when we noticed that the Rockets would be traveling down I-10 to play the Spurs last night. "Hmm, that sounds like a great excuse for a mini-vacation in San Antonio," we thought. And so it was. We left yesterday afternoon, checked into the hotel, and headed straight to the basketball game. The AT&T Center was a really nice arena with both more variety and better prices than the Toyota Center. There was a huge bar area where you could 1) purchase a beer for less than $7, which is amazing at a sports arena these days and 2) take your pick of a least 15 different beers, including the non-Budweiser variety! (I had a St. Arnold's Amber. At a sporting event. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure you can't find St. Arnold's at Houston sporting venues despite the brewery being IN HOUSTON.)

I've got to give the Spurs fans credit as well -- they were great fans. On their feet during the intros, cheering wildly only 2 minutes into the game, and so on. Too bad for them that the ROCKETS WON. Oh yeah. It was a great game, a nailbiter at the end, and a great win for the Rockets. They really needed a boost after some of their recent performances. There were lots of Rockets fans that had the same idea as us, and we saw lots of red shirts both at the game and on the Riverwalk afterwards.

El Mercado

This morning we relaxed in our hotel room for a while before heading out for a full day of shopping. I'm amazed to report that we actually didn't buy much -- just a ceramic spoon rest (I know, random) and some awesome pastries from the Mexican bakery in Mi Tierra. The weather could not possibly be any nicer, and it's been awesome walking around in the bright sun and perfect temperatures, especially after all the cold weather of a couple weeks ago. The coolest part of the afternoon was when we stopped in a small museum, on the spur of the moment, after seeing a banner advertising an exhibit by an artist that Jose recognized: Jesse Trevino. As we paid our admission fee, the woman at the desk told us that Trevino, who grew up in San Antonio, was actually in the museum already leading a group on a tour of his art!! We were able to join in and listen to him talk about his paintings, which was totally cool and unexpected.

Tomorrow we plan to get cultured -- after all, San Antonio really seems to be the cultural center of Texas (in my opinion) -- before heading back to Houston!

There are so many things that I want to share from my 36 hours in southern California that I barely know where to begin! It was really a fantastic trip. Each of the previous times I have mentored Vomit Comet teams, there hasn't been enough money available for us to travel to visit our schools, so I didn't quite know what to expect from this trip. I was a little nervous about "clicking" with the teachers and the students, and covering the questions about their experiment that we needed to discuss. But of course I shouldn't have worried at all. Every teacher I have ever met who has a relationship with NASA...well, they've all just been exceptional and inspiring people.

My day started at my hotel, which you will hear MUCH more about tomorrow. I got in late on Monday night after my flights were delayed due to bad weather out west and I had to get up super early to get to the first of the two schools that make up my team. The two schools are about 60 miles apart, one in Huntington Beach and one in Moreno Valley. I stayed in Riverside, which was much closer to Moreno Valley, so I had to make the drive down to Huntington Beach and still get to the school by about 8:30 am! Fortunately I managed to time everything wonderfully, and traffic cooperated, and I arrived right on time. The drive was actually kind of pretty, despite the weather -- it's just sooooo darn nice to see some hills!

I arrived at the school and immediately saw this sign next to the front door! That was so cool; I loved it! It immediately put me at ease, and I was no longer worried about whether the trip would be productive. It's always nice to feel welcome. I spoke with the principal for a few minutes (she will be traveling to Houston along with the two teachers) and then went down the hall to meet the kids and see their experiment! There are about 20 5th graders participating from this school, and they are investigating buoyancy and static electricity while learning about the periodic table and concepts like atomic mass.

I spent about 20 minutes just answering their questions about NASA and space, and then they showed me their experiment. It involves four balloons each filled with one gas: carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon, and helium. Helium is the only one that floats in normal gravity, while the others sink to the ground because their atomic mass is heavier. The kids are predicting how things might change in zero gravity, and whether the balloons will float or sink, and whether they'll do so faster or slower. It's a simple experiment (one for which I'm sure you can all guess the outcome), but it's perfect for elementary school kids. After they headed off to recess, I was able to talk to the teachers to take care of all the technical details and paperwork-type stuff that NASA needs.

After an hour and a half at the school, it was time to drive back towards Moreno Valley to visit the second school. I stopped for lunch at a VERY crowded Panera, mainly because I wanted their free wi-fi. It started to rain while I was there, but I didn't think much of it. I left with 25 minutes to spare, knowing that the GPS had told me I needed 15 minutes to get to the school. I hopped in the car and got on the highway and immediately hit a snag. Traffic was just crawling -- and it wasn't even raining that hard! I was mentally making fun of the LA drivers who can't handle the rain when all of a sudden, it started POURING. As in: torrents of water gushing out of the sky, covering the roads, and making it next to impossible to see anything.

Here's that part where I must pause to mention my rental car. I had a reservation for a compact car, but when I arrived, the agent asked me if I wanted to upgrade to a full-size car for only $1 more. "That's ok," I replied, "a Yaris or Aveo is fine, it's just me." She typed for a minute or so. "Are you suuuure?" she asked again. It was late. I was tired. And I just wanted to get to my hotel and get some sleep. "Ok, fine, I'll take a full-size car," I said.

And here's the part where she said "oh, I tell you what I'll do -- I'll give you a new 2010 Mustang! It'll be great."

And that is how I ended up in a convertible that 1) I couldn't use because it rained both days I was there, 2) was so low to the ground that I could barely see anything when the rain came pouring down and 3) had a canvas roof that sounded like it would be ripped apart when the hail began.

Hail? Oh yes. While I was driving 20 mph down the highway because I couldn't see 10 feet in front of me through the rain, it started HAILING.

At that point, I stopped making fun of California drivers.

I finally got to the school only a few minutes late, except my arrival coincided with school letting out for the day, which coincided with a hundred parents wading through the rivers of water flowing down from the foothills to pick up their kids. I sat outside the school in traffic for a full half hour before I made it into the parking lot. WHEW.

Finally, I made it out of the car and into the library where the 4th and 5th grade science club was anxiously awaiting me. After another Q&A session, they showed me their experiment, which involves taking some toys into microgravity and predicting how they will behave. One of their toys is a balloon rocket car, which they were testing on a wooden track. Another simple experiment that's well suited for elementary kids.

I ended the day by going out to dinner with four teachers from the second school. They have flown a couple experiments in years past and have a solid group of teachers that have developed a great relationship with NASA and with their school district. They actually have a WAITING LIST of kids who want to be in the science club but can't because there's no room -- how awesome is that, that the demand for science is so great?! One of the teachers even talked about how she had come up with a new project for the wait-listed kids to work on.

It was so cool to see teachers who are so excited about getting their kids hooked on science and math. I can't wait till they get to Houston to fly their experiments!

I'm in the Los Angeles area for two nights and one day to visit with a team of elementary school teachers that I'm mentoring for their upcoming flight on the Vomit Comet this spring. I flew out last night and landed in Ontario, California, a city I had never heard of until I discovered that it was much closer to Moreno Valley, and thus would save me the 90-mile drive from LAX! I am actually working with two schools, one in Moreno Valley and one in Huntington Beach, so I still have some LA driving ahead of me today.

I flew Southwest, an airline that I seldom even consider for personal travel since 1) they don't fly to one of my common destinations (Charlotte) and 2) I greatly dislike their "cattle call" boarding policies. If you don't check in 24 hours before your flight, you risk getting in boarding group B or worse, which pretty much means you'll be stuck in the middle. And people in general are just unreliable and annoying when faced with having to make a quick choice of seat after actually getting on the plane. In any case, I prefer being able to actually select my seat online well before the flight.

But on the flip side, if you do manage to check in early, there are advantages. I only made it into group B for the first flight from Houston to Las Vegas, but made it high into Group A for my connecting flight from Las Vegas to Ontario. The result? I snagged what is the best seat on the plane, in my humble opinion: window seat, exit row, with no seat in the row in front of me! Hellooooo, leg room. That was nice to have, since my legs are still recovering from the half marathon and were starting to bark at me after the cramped quarters of the first flight.

(Observation: people travel to Las Vegas in packs, and are quite chatty. Everyone on the plane seemed to know at least 3 other people, and the volume of conversation was higher than any other flight I can remember being on. It wasn't annoying, but I did find it interesting.)

I should also give Southwest credit for one of the most comfortable airport terminals I've seen in quite a while -- their terminal at Hobby. All flights into and out of Las Vegas were delayed due to bad weather, so I spent almost 2 extra hours sitting in the terminal. I found myself a nice spot in a plush armchair next to a stand full of power outlets, got 2 hours of free wifi, and went to work. It was the most comfortable flight delay I've ever experienced.

As for the weather, I fully recognize the irony of coming to southern California for 36 hours, only to find that it is expected to be rainy with a temperature in the 50s the whole time.

If this past weekend had been my first trip to Seattle, I would be making plans to move there immediately. We had a fabulous time, and the weather was INCREDIBLE. Sunny and warm every single day, low humidity, barely a cloud in the sky. The light sparkled off the water of Puget Sound and off the glaciers of Mt. Rainier. It was awesome.

We spent Thursday hiking the Burroughs Mountain trail with Jen and many of her other friends and family in town for the wedding. My sister Katie was able to take both Thursday and Friday off work while we were in town (and staying at her house), so she came along too! The only downer was that my brother-in-law Joel couldn't get off, so I just told him that the weather was bad and he wouldn't have liked it anyway. Sorry Joel!

The first time I hiked at Mt. Rainier four years ago, it was so cloudy and overcast that you couldn't even see the mountain despite standing on its slopes. This time, the mountain dominated the view for the entire hike, looming large in front of us. The glaciers looked particularly cool in the sunlight, and it felt so close that I wanted to reach out and touch it. The hike was fairly strenuous, and I have no more illusions of being in any kind of shape right now after huffing and puffing my way up those ridges. But the views and the company were both definitely worth it.

Friday was more relaxing, and we enjoyed a huge breakfast at a cafe in Auburn (the suburb where Katie and Joel live) followed by a leisurely ride on the Bainbridge Island Ferry to take advantage of the great weather and great views of downtown Seattle. After Katie caught the train back to Auburn, Jose and I even managed to squeeze in an hour at Pike Place Market where he picked up some spices and things to add to our new cooking repertoire! Since Jen was having a fairly small wedding, we were all invited to a welcome dinner that night. I had lobster chowder and mahi tacos and they were both delicious! I pretty much ate seafood all weekend.

Saturday was Jen's wedding which was all sorts of fun. Jen looked beautiful, of course, and it was great to be able to be there. Her new husband Jonathan looked giddy the entire night -- the smile never left his face. The reception gave us an opportunity to yet again soak up the evening sun and views of the sound, as well as catch up with some Georgia Tech people I hadn't seen in years. It was especially fun to see my old friend Daniel again, and meet his adorable son Henry, who had just celebrated his first birthday! Almost all of my college friends are married now, so the "wedding phase" of our lives is really winding down. I think we should just start renewing vows or something, so that we all have an excuse to get together every few years!

The reception went late into the evening, so we didn't do much yesterday other than grab a quick lunch with Katie and Joel before heading to the airport to catch our flight home. The airplane ride did nothing to help the low-level cold I started developing on Thursday night, probably a byproduct of my crazy overnight schedule during the shuttle mission followed by a pretty strenuous hike on Thursday. A cold is TOTALLY worth it though, in exchange for such a fun weekend.