I’ve posted the photos from our Arizona vacation here. Samples below the jump…

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• Current Mood: Tired
• Currently Listening To: "Atomic", Sleeper

I recently spent almost a week in Arizona visiting family. It was my first time visiting Arizona, and suddenly, I understand John McCain a whole lot better…

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• Current Mood: Capstoned
• Currently Listening To: "Moon, Turn the Tides...Gently, Gently Away", Jimi Hendrix
• Currently Reading: "Fear Less", Gavin De Becker

We started out in Philadelphia, then spent two days in New York. Our last weekend was upon us, though, and we in DC. We arrived early Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel in Rosslyn, across the river from Georgetown. Julia used to live in Rosslyn during college, and Mo’s girlfriend also lived in the neighborhood, making it a convenient location. We stayed in a Hilton, which was nice enough, but after the hotel in New York, it seemed wastefully gigantic.

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• Current Mood: Hungry
• Currently Listening To: "On The Run", Pink Floyd

Our first couple days in New York behind us, Wednesday Julia wanted to go shopping, so after sleeping in a bit to recover from the previous night’s barhopping, we headed out to shop first at the Century 21 store (where Julia bought a new purse), then to SoHo. Like our previous shopping experiences, we saw a great deal of things we couldn’t afford, but there were some nice, more affordable clothes that Julia picked up at places like Banana Republic and Esprit. After our shopping spree we went to a sushi place in Midtown for some all-you-can-eat sushi, which wasn’t bad. Post-dinner, we went to a couple bars in Midtown, then back to the hotel for the night.

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When we left off, we had just arrived in New York outside of Penn Station on the Bolt Bus. We grabbed a cab, not wanting to haul our suitcases on the subway, and headed down to Chinatown where our hotel was located, the Comfort Inn Manhattan Bridge. It is a fairly new hotel, in a very convenient location, and had a pretty good price for a New York hotel. As you can see in the review, I would recommend it no problem. And it has a pretty nice view:

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• Current Mood: Monday headache
• Currently Listening To: "New York State of Mind", Billy Joel

Julia and I left for our vacation on Friday, September 25th. It certainly didn’t start out well: due to a light mist falling and runway construction, our flight to Milwaukee was canceled before we even arrived at the airport. Fortunately, we were rebooked onto a direct flight to Philadelphia, but it wouldn’t be leaving for several hours. After spending that time at Ike’s in the airport, and enduring several more delays, we finally boarded for the uneventful flight to Philly.

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• Current Mood: Relaxed

Julia and I are heading off to Philadelphia, New York, and DC for a bit of a vacation. Neither of us have been to Philly, and Julia has never been to New York, so it will be a lot of fun. I’m taking my camera of course, and I’m looking forward to taking photos in a very urban environment.

Back in October!

• Current Mood: Excited

I’ve posted photos from my trip to Colorado here. Some of my favorites below the fold…

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• Current Mood: Peckish

I just returned from a nice little trip to Denver, a place that I had never visited before. Actually, Denver is now the farthest west I’ve ever been in the U.S. (well, technically, it is Silverthorne, just west of the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70, the extent of our driving). I liked it, despite typically heading eastward when I want to get away. There’s something about real mountains that is impressive to somebody who has spent most of his time in flat states.

I was only there for a few days, but I found a number of amusing and confusing things while I was there (and not just the airport that is almost as large as the city of Minneapolis, and located almost as far from Denver)…

• I-70 heading west out of Denver into the mountains is surprisingly wide. Why such a huge freeway? Seems out of place.
• Many times on the freeways I’d see people traveling around 45 MPH for no apparent reason. It wasn’t the terrain, since this was in the flat areas. Not being Minnesota, though, they were not in the left lane.
• Peña Boulevard, the freeway to the airport, allows bicycles on the shoulder. I didn’t see any, but bikes? On a freeway? That sounds more dangerous than the bike lanes on Hennepin in downtown Minneapolis.
• The Chevy Cobalt is a crappy car, but it become a bit less crappy once you figure out how to move the seat back from its default recline position.
• Suburbs look the exact same no matter where you go.
• Hotels are much cooler when they come with a semi-tame fox that lurks in the parking lot at night.
• States that allow grocery stores to only sell 3.2 beer should have large signs next to said beer informing people of this fact. Breweries that make 3.2 versions of decent beers should be mocked.

I took about 500 pictures while I was there, so processing them will take some time. I’ll have them up as soon as I can.

• Current Mood: Headache

I’m coming at you live from Littleton, Colorado, where home base is currently a Marriot hotel in the foothills. Colorado is a very pretty place to be. So far we’ve driven up into the mountains and visited Colorado Springs (no, not to visit Focus on the Family, but the Garden of the Gods). Today is a trip to Boulder. Hopefully, we’ll go into Denver too sometime, since Littleton isn’t all that exciting.

Once I get back, I’ll have a ton of pictures to post.

• Current Mood: Rocky Mountain High
• Currently Reading: "A People's History of the United States", Howard Zinn