Turks and Caicos - June 19-26, 2021

Mark, Alisa, and I signed up for a dive vacation to Turks and Caicos, pretty sure we'd be fully vaccinated in time (and thankfully, we were right - mid-May was when Mark and I were 2 weeks after our second shot of Moderna).

We flew in with a bunch of dive friends from Aquatic Adventures, hopped on the boat and met Jay and Jo, our guides.

Though technically Alisa and I had done a liveaboard in Thailand, this was much more luxiorious, even for a boat. Mark and I were in bunks down the hall from Alisa and Wendy.

The boat had this fun way of doing a figure 8 in the water when it was moored. One night dive, Mark decided to drink so JJ and I were buddies - and though we were with Jay, we didn't make it back to the boat, so the little Zodiac came and got us.

A day in, Alisa learned that Jo had volunteered at a dog shelter on the island. She hurriedly submitted her application, and the day we left the boat, we took a look at some puppies. One had just gotten its medical papers to travel, so little Josie came home with Alisa!

2020 - a year in review

Last year left off with us being (fairly) new homeowners, meeting our first nephew during a New Year's trip to Arizona, and continuing on at our corporate and government jobs.

This year because with the biannual international rugby tour - Mark and I took some early vacation to visit England and Wales (during Brexit no less) at the end of January/beginning of February. We then flew down to Stuttgart, staying with one of Mark's college friends and his family for a few days before driving down to Switzerland (and Liechtenstein!) for a wintry wonderland of Alps, snow, and cheese. Little did we know that was the last flight I would take in 2020.

Mark and I spent our first anniversary in February celebrating the people we got to visit in 2019 and 2020; we had decided our "honeymoon" was all the trips to see friends across the country and around the world. 

Then Alisa and I were headed to Uruguay for our spring break - on March 13th. On March 12th, as the NBA canceled games, and European flights were halted, we decided that international travel wasn't a good idea, and we spent the week staycationing at her place in Pittsburgh, painting and planning her remodel.

And we and the world pivoting from thinking about the future to thinking about the present. This is where gratitude begins - not only did Mark and my jobs continue, Mark got an increase in responsibility with a new position as a program transition lead. I transitioned to fully remote, and, when our roommate Vivek moved out in May, I got to move out of our bedroom to make the spare room an office to myself! It took Mark until early November to move off the dining room table for the 3+ days a week he works from home. Since the summer, he's been spending the other days at his masked, socially distanced, partial capacity office.

From there, our gratitude extends to our friends and family. We became close with our neighbors, doing weekly outdoor meals with them from April until we couldn't stand the cold in November. A weekly D&D campaign turned virtual, and continued into July. A women's book club started in March and is still going strong. The family reunion for my mom's side turned virtual in July. After quarantining for two weeks, my sister Valerie and I drove to visit our my dad's mom in Milwaukee. (Not grateful for the flat tire and COVID tests on the way home.)

Oh, and games. Mark and I have worked our way through Klank! legacy, and started both Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion and My City. You'd think we'd have played everything after being mostly home for most of year, but you would be underestimating the collection.

In June, though, it was clear that gratitude wasn't enough. With the death of George Floyd and the protests that began, it was time to turn our gratitude (and privilege) into action. Joining and volunteering with local anti-racism groups, donating to organizations across the country, reading books, and monitoring what I was consuming online - my passion for inclusion has manifested into action. And what is gratitude but the precursor to understand where we are strong, where we have support, and thus where we can make a difference?

I am grateful this year, and I am grateful for this year, because it is another step in the journey for justice, the movement toward equality, and the cause of change. Don't stop the fight,

Corinne (and Mark)

Irish Trip to UK; Visit to Switzerland (and Liechtenstein) - Jan. 29-Feb. 10, 2020

Wed. Jan. 29 - overnight to London

Jan. 30 - had afternoon (evening) tea with the WAGs after seeing Twickenham in the morning with the boys.

Jan. 31 (Friday) - stopped by the Mastercard office in London in the morning  (by taking a double-decker bus), visited the Wallace Collection in mid-afternoon, before a great tour of Kensington Palace. I watched the boys play the WASP RFC in the mud.

Feb. 1 - Drive to Cardiff (first time in Wales!) for Wales vs. Italy 6 Nations game. 

Feb. 2 - Chesnut RFC on turf.

Feb. 3 - flight to Stuttgart from London. Dinner at very German restaurant.

Feb. 4 - Mercedes Benz plant tour! And the pretty log houses of Stuttgart

Feb. 5 - Sarah took us to Burg Hohenzollern - castle with a beautiful bit of snowfall. We had to wear little shoe covers as we walked around the fancy rooms, including one with a very impressive painted family tree. We had a little bit of warm drink in the cafe before heading back down to the car. We stopped at Tubingen.

Feb. 6 - Rittersport factory where we (I) made sure to press the "free chocolate" button more than once. 

Friday, Feb. 7 - we headed to the mountains! We found a cute little town, then a hiking trail that we definitely weren't going to do much of... until we saw people with sleds, and then we had to hike (with Reina in her sneakers) all the way to the top. We got to our hosts house - turns out, we were staying in the upstairs with a woman in the side room. A woman who smoked and played loud music and had late night conversations (including with us). We checked our love languages, then went to bed.

Feb 8 - played in Davos. Tried the Foxhunt, where we got to chase around a briefcase all over the city. We walked through a park, then rode up an incline with a bunch of kids with sleds. Much better to take public transport to the top of your hill, instead of hiking! We got some free cheese.

Feb. 9 - Mark and I said goodbye to our friends, then drove to St. Moritz for horses! Especially the ski-joring. We ended the day at Liechtenstein to add to our country count.

We drove to Zurich (only an hour and a half) to get fondue cheese for dinner. We flew back to the US the next day.

Bonaire (and Aruba) - Nov. 22-Dec. 1, 2019

Mark, Alisa, and I traveled to Bonaire, spending a day on each side on Aruba, another of the "ABC" islands.

Packing dive gear, picking up a stick shift truck (that only Mark could drive), then getting a pass to unlimited tanks with a chain of dive shops called Dive Friends - we set ourselves up well. By the end of the trip, Alisa and I could navigate the island... and Mark could make the correct turns.

We mostly ate at home after dark, getting (expensive) groceries, but it meant we didn't have to loose any daylight to stop diving!

A guide from one of Mark's dive shop friends was useful in plotting our courses for the days. There was the rough entry where most of us ended up skidding on the rocks. There was the shallow dive we finished by the pier - with enough air and time to do another, dusky dive (which is one of my most memorable).

For the eastern shore, where the currents need someone with knowledge, we paid a guide for a dive across an estuary (swim hard and near the bottom, or get caught!) to a reef wall.

We ate at a food truck - paying extra for the lionfish burgers to show them who really ruled the Caribbean.

After our days of diving, we got in 17 dives before getting on our plane back to Aruba. We stayed at a more luxurious spot, floated and watched the sunset (after going to a piano bar and eating along the strip).

Puerto Rico - February 2019

Puerto Rico is technically the US, and I only post about international trips on here, but wanted to call out the few days around our wedding so I could remember them.

It started with a Southwest flight on Feb. 15 from BWI with Valerie and Ben - but my cousins were also on the flight!

The week leading up to the trip had had its bumps - with a major one being that Mark's best man had pneumonia and was prohibited from flying. He still had his sister to be by his side, but Paul was missed.

Getting in, we checked into the hotel we'd be at for the long weekend - the suite at the Coral Princess Hotel. Just a few blocks from the beach, we'd rented out every room for the days around the wedding. I had made little room signs for each guest, and then I ensured that the sparkling wine that was promised as a gift basket was given to each room. Also on Friday, with the wedding party in town, we did a pre-rehearsal dinner. 

In the week leading up to this trip, the original restaurant I had booked for our rehearsal dinner had backed out on us. With 24 people and 5 days before the booking, I had reached out to Asere, where we were having our pre-wedding reception. So, we got a preview of what we'd be eating and drinking on Saturday, but on Friday night.

It was steaks and Old Fashioneds, for quite a lot of the folks. However, not all mixed drinks are created equal. It became a dinnertime roulette of which server or bartender was going to make the drink and thus how drinkable it actually was.

Saturday morning (the 16th), we started the morning with a rehearsal at Hacienda Siesta Alegre. It was early in the morning, but the sun was hot! We hid in the shade in between the walks up and down the aisle, as we scanned our memory to see what we remembered when we visited in January of 2018. If anything, it was greener and more luscious!

Mid-afternoon, Mark and I met with the owners of Kabanas, which was doing our post-wedding brunch. We looked around the place, finalized the menu, then got ready for our pre-wedding reception at Asere - this time, we were taking up nearly the entire top floor, including an outside balcony, for all wedding guests. It was a delightful time of talking with rugby friends, family, college friends, and more. We ordered a couple extra rounds of vegetarian appetizers, but overall, we'd guessed fairly correctly. We'd pre-ordered two drinks per person, then any remaining drinks the guest would have to cover. We had tickets to help with the pre-payment, but with not everyone showing up, a few more free drinks were handed out.

Then, it was our wedding day: Sunday, February 17th, 2019. First was hair and makeup, which were easy since we'd brought Kath with us to PR. Then it was time for Saul the photographer to show up... but he was much later than we'd expected or talked about with the day-of planner. Turns out, she had gotten her schedule wrong and reminded him of the wrong time.

So, Saul came in, and worked miracles in the time he did after. Glamour shots, dress shots, then the wedding party (plus two good friends of Mark, to sub in for his best man) piled into our van/bus to hit Old San Juan.

We did our first look at the fort, tried to look alluring and serious and fancy, then walked around the cobblestones and brilliantly-colored houses. I had to fling my dress to get some good action shots.

We ended up with an extra bouquet, which featured in some of our great pictures around the old city. 

Next was getting to the venue. Hacienda Siesta Allegre had a room below the bar area where I finished getting ready by putting on my lace bolero - and met up with the flower girls.

With just enough benches to fit our 100 guests, it was a full house when showtime began.

Charlotte stole the show (and broke the tension) by dumping her basket of flowers. Claire and Paige just looked lost - they knew what they were supposed to do, but not how to handle this wildcard.

Mark held it together, then we hugged our parents, listened to Pastor Scott and the readings by our sisters, said some vows, exchanged some rings, then got the shot I wanted - us kissing with our entire group of guests cheering behind us.

We went straight to the library, where we did the legal part with our friend-of-a-friend judge, then it was photo time while everyone did reception. We corralled a variety of pictures, then tucked into the back for our intro.

We had our own table, and we got to pause to watch the tables full of our family and friends before dancing and drinking the night away. The desserts of churros and ice cream were a hit - we barely got any! Charlotte stayed on the dance floor all night, while Claire and Paige feel asleep watching movies in the big bed downstairs - which I saw when I popped off to use that bathroom halfway through the night.

A few rugby friends had been eyeing the pool, and we thought they might not want photos of their escapade (and didn't want them too wet too early in the evening), so had them wait until Saul was nearly done. However, he didn't want to miss the shot, so we got some happy, damp friends to ride back to the hotel on buses with.

As we were pulling onto the main road, the bus ahead of us stopped on the side of the road. Concerned, we didn't realize it was because there was a gas station - a source of libations - that Nyk had conceived of and Duma had rallied the troops for.

That started the after-party, which was on the top floor of the hotel. Changing out of my dress, I got to relax with one of the many, many bottle of champagne that kept showing up - I guess our free gift from the hotel was a gift that came in very useful that night! Mark dropped one on the stone floor, and God was smiling, because it bounced instead of breaking.

As we were headed to bed, we ran into Ashley and Rory, who'd been invited along to help with childcare. They had done their duties and were off to have some fun of their own.

The next morning, we made it up for our post-wedding brunch at Kabanas. We sat with friends coming in from the beach, just getting up, and those headed out. It was also delicious.

Mark and I were around for another few days - saw my dad's sisters and families out at the house they'd rented, then stuck around with his family at a condo as well. We flew back on Saturday the 23rd after our "family-moon", now a married couple.

Sydney - Sept. 15, 2018

This was it - our last day in Australia. Mark's was a very short last day - he headed out at 6am for his flight. My luggage was back at the WeWork to make it easier for me to tour around today, so, after two hours of seeing if I’d fall back asleep, then finding Dick van Dyke’s Diagnosis Murder, then a quick shower, I was back on my way. 

I rode the train (I was getting good at navigating the stations with my Opal card) up to St. James, hopped out and walked to the WeWork, then ate breakfast (thanks APT), charged my phone, and figured out my plan.

Decided first to walk north to The Rocks on my way to the Harbor Bridge and the Pylon Lookout. 

The narrow streets of The Rocks, an area just outside of the main ferry terminal at Circular Quay, are cute as long as you are going downhill on all the staircases. I wove toward the center, found a market, and realized this was the one place that I actually needed that Australian cash. I got some things, but the ornaments were cash-only, and the nearest ATM was out of service, so I considered it a sign and kept walking. 

I ended up underneath the Harbour Bridge, thinking the Pylon Lookout would start at wharf level. Instead, you had to walk out on the pedestrian walkway on the bridge to get to it. Not too hard, but quite a steep walk back up to where the bridge started. 

The Lookout was actually a museum as well. The 1920s and 1930s, when the bridge had been built, were impressive for their ability to make huge things with the machinery and manpower they had - and with telephone lines that went up for the managers to talk back down to the workers stationed at the edges!

After photos and descriptions of feats of engineering, I climbed up to the viewing deck. Looking out over the bridge, the first thing I saw were three groups of bridge walkers! For only $150 more, I too could have climbed the steel arch of the Harbour Bridge! (I made the economical $10 choice, and, looking down, I got plenty high enough.)

I gazed across the weaving of the harbour, watching ferries and, specifically, keeping an eye on a wedding ceremony site just along the harbor. I was there at 12:25 - I stayed until 12:35, hoping to catch the ceremony starting, but by then guess it wasn’t supposed to start until 1, if not later.

Instead, I learned that white cats lived in that pylon when it was a curiosity museum! Also, the pylons weren’t needed for engineering of the bridge - they were just a pretty decoration that got incorporated into the design. 

My next stop was going through the Royal Botanic Gardens to see the harbor from sea level. It was a beautiful, sunny day (and I had put my sunscreen on!) at around 80 degrees, so it was easy to meander and listen to my podcasts. I found a rock outcropping to play in, then some birds - including a kookaburra! - and some statues and some flowers, but just taking iconic pictures of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge was keeping me happy. 

My stomach was growling, and I had happened to see a daytrip out to Watsons Bay on the ferry recommended, with a fish and chip shop right at the ferry dock. 

I spent ten of the twenty minutes before the ferry trying to figure out which of my credit cards had a PIN, or if I needed to go find an ATM or use my debit card. It got sorted (my new favorite verb), and I was aboard the ferry. 

It was a thirty minute trip, and it really showed some of the ins and outs of the bays along the harbour (since there was a stop at Rose Bay), and all the water sports people did. Kite surfing and wind sailing and sailing and yachting (is that a sport?) and kayak and stand up paddle boards - and just swimming and playing beach volleyball! I’d need to pick up at least one of those before moving here!

The tempura-fried whiting almost flew away at the first picnic bench past the lunch counter, so I moved further up the hill. I’m glad I did, not because someone awkwardly tried to make me the caretaker of a lost wallet, but instead because my plan of walking around the point went out the window when I realized the Tasmanian Sea was just over the hill. 

I walked along the cliffs, which had memorials and signs for suicide hotlines, which was sad but uplifting for those that were giving hope and ways to get help.

The ocean against the cliffs was artistic, though a sunrise there would be stunning instead of nearing sunset. I went along to the two viewpoints that were closest on the map before checking my watch - my ferry was leaving, and I had a plane to catch!

I made it onto the 4:50 boat, back to the WeWork by 5:45 to change and grab my luggage, and airport by 6:30 via the train again. (Exiting, I had $1.30 on my Opal card - nearly perfect guesstimations of train and ferry costs.)

The Hawaiian Airlines check-in was just opening, so essentially the entire flight was queued up for bag tags and passport checks. I found a restaurant that took Priority Pass, bought enough food for two meals, then continued binging on the “Up and Vanished” podcast while cross-stitching.

A layover in Honolulu (another lounge) and a flight to NYC before getting to DC. Essentially, it was two red-eyes in a row. While the long flights are a downside, they are where the majority of this blog got written - so forward-thinking of me. And that's all from the Grand Canyon + Australia 2018 30th birthday trip!

Wollongong and Bondi - Sept 11-14

I headed out mid-day on Tuesday from Manly to get down to Wollongong to see where Mark was working. While it was nice to bookend my week with working in the Sydney office, it wasn't necessary, so I figured hanging out at a hotel would be fine as well. I found Mark and his hotel, he made me dinner in his kitchenette, and I, again, slept for a bit before my meetings at midnight. 

Wednesday was all at his hotel. I met him and coworkers for lunch at a Thai place in a trendy part of Wollongong, then took an afternoon nap, worked until dinner, and walked with Mark to Clifton, 1km and one town down. We found his coworkers again (plus one of their partners, so I wasn’t the only one who didn’t work together) and sat in the back area of a bar where others didn’t find us until they’d had a drink on the other side. 

We conversed - well-traveled people, Australians who’d lived in England, took month-long vacations to America, and still knew which spiders and snakes could kill you. We got a lift back and the cycle started again - a little bit of sleep before a midnight meeting, then up by 7am to catch the tail end of their day. 

Thursday the 13th I was headed back to Sydney, and I actually timed my train so I wouldn’t have to wait half an hour to ride an additional 90 minutes, as I did on the way down. I was giving a noon session presentation on UX at APT - cobbled together a few presentation from back in DC, then did a lot of Q&A. 

For evening activities, a coworker had made a reservation at Mr. Wong’s, a well-known Asian fusion restaurant. It was down an alley, so you felt cool just for knowing how to get in. And the food was on point. The fried ice cream was a “religious experience” for some of my coworkers (maybe if I liked butterscotch more? It was certainly delicious!)

I took at taxi out to Bondi where I was staying on a coworker's couch for the evening, and we took a walk along the beach and circled the town before heading to bed. 

Friday, Mark headed in from Wollongong, but there were company-wide meetings and office sessions that I was busy attending. He came by at 5, we grabbed some beers from the WeWork taps (well, a cider for me), and I introduced him to the dozen people in the office. We rallied some troops (three coworkers and a partner) to go to The Baxter Inn - yet another entrance in an alley that made me feel special.

The bar had a speak-easy feel, and we only had to wait a bit for a table to open up and us to sit. Sadly, it was very, very loud. Still, with some vocal gymnastics, we conversed over whisky and wine. 

Mark hadn’t had dinner, so we headed off to a recommended Hunter & Barrel, a round restaurant on the water. I convinced Mark to get the lamb (which was pricey, but worth it!) while I got bread with oil and dukkah (an amazing spice blend).

We finished with a walk over to The Star, a fancy but kinda empty-looking shopping mall so we could try Messina, a recommended gelato shop. We entered by a movie theater but otherwise, the white hallways were pretty echo-y - until we got to gelato. Dulce de leche, strawberry and cream, and chocolate - great end to the evening.