Mountains!

We've had beautiful clear weather in Seattle, so the mountains have been out:

Tomorrow: back on the road. 

Conveyer belt

We have been on a movie watching rampage and wanted a quick and easy dinner near the theater. Solution: sushi on a conveyer belt. Hooray! 

Old year

On the last day of the year, we got ready to toast in the new one:

And finally saw Star Wars!

Around and in Seattle

In chronological order: 

Moar Pacific Northwest

Photos by David from our walk today!

Washington State

Staying with family out on the peninsula in Washington State. Scenery! 

Christmas pizza vol. 2

With David's family! This is one of our favorites!

And a bonus photo of David trying to dry off Riley.

First class!

A little late, but our dec 26 photo is from our first class leg (bought with miles) from Chicago to Seattle. Very comfortable!

Christmas pizza vol. 1

Homemade Chicago-style deep dish, thanks to David's skills!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Here is a picture of the Christmas dog guarding the Christmas tree:

Happy birthday mom!

My mom's birthday is today. While there are downsides to a Christmas time birthday, one upside is I can always make it to town to sing happy birthday!

Cookies!

On one of my first days back home, I am assigned the task of making three kinds of cookies. This time, I had 3+ helpers to make the cookie making go more quickly and happily. Hooray!

Delayed

Unless I miss my connection at O'hare, I'll be either in the air or racing between planes for the next sixteen hours - not exactly much time for blogging. So here is a picture of my flight delay due to a delayed flight arrival:

A strange taco

Instead of repeating my excellent dinner from Monday, I decided to try a nearby taco place that had multiple vegetarian offerings on the menu. The place I went (Boca Tacos) also specializes in homemade salsas, and the three little cups were their offerings for the day (they included chickpeas and pineapple). The strange taco? It was called the "AM Taco" and boasted hash browns and a fried egg with a cilantro sauce. Imagine my surprise when I pick up that taco and discover that hash browns actually means a fast food style hash brown patty. It was surreal.

Hipsters. 

The roof

It's an obstructed view of the mountains, but it's pretty nice considering that I get to see it on my way into the room that I was meeting in all day. Tucson is very sunny after weeks of Berlin!

Familiar

After over 10 trips, Tucson feels familiar. As soon as I get outside the airport, the mountains looming in the northeast feel comforting. Here's a terrible picture from the hotel lobby:

The feeling of familiarity was reinforced when I went to dinner. I picked a place based on simple criteria of being a 10 minute walk from my hotel, serving multiple vegetarian dishes, and having my favorite beer (Left Hand Milk Stout) on tap. When I walked in, I realized that I had absolutely been there before, but forgotten the name and location. For the curious, it's the B Line, and it was delicious.

Tucson is sort of like my sixth home. You know, after all of the places that I've actually lived. 

Brunch in Chicago!

Today I took the train downtown to meet Carolyn for brunch! Coming out of the Jackson Street exit at union station, I saw this map on the side of the building... I swear it's new.

And brunch involved the excellent and delicious french toast with pumpkin filling. Tomorrow: Tucson!

Dawg

This is Jack, who makes me sneeze whenever I'm staying at my parents' house. I love how the expression on his face just says "really? a picture?"

Express connection

I've been handed this before - it's for when you have an international connection that's a bit tighter than usual, and they want to let you skip security lines. Of course, it tends to give you the impression that there's NO TIME LEFT and you must RUN... that was not the case.

Related news: back in the US for a few days!