Buon Giorno, Cinque Terre....

Well, we arrived here safe and sound last night! Time to start our honeymoon. Observation Numero Uno: Italians all smoke. Every one of them. lol. Our flights were good, but long, we arrived in Roma and had a yummy lunch, Kebabs on the street. Delisioso!  Roma was very busy and a little scarey, a lot of people and not all of them with good intentions.  The train ride was very neat, and we got to see a lot of the beautiful Italian countryside. We even went through the town of Pisa and saw the leaning tower in the distance. Cinque Terre is more amazing than I could have ever imagined it to be. It is situated on a mountainside directly off of the Medditeranean Sea. Very quaint and small. I LOVE IT. Our apartment has an awesome balcony that over looks the sea, it is very loud at night - as we can hear all the Italians walking the small streets and talking, the sounds of the language and the nearby sea lulled me to sleep soundly last night. It is truely the most amazing place on earth. Relaxing. Gary and I got up this morning and walked to a nearby market, we got cookies, "blood" oranges (which are so yummy), and of course a bottle of Italian vino! We plan to hike the countryside tomorrow (weather providing) and see all 5 villages in the area. We will take a train back to ours (the southern most village - Riomaggiore). There is a small internet cafe in our town, but not sure we will be here too much - takes away from our time conversing with the locals.. lol. We love and miss you all, and promise to bring back lots of awesome pictures and stories also!  OK, now it's Garys Turn:  Well, I can't believe we are finally here.  The travel to get here was very, VERY long and tiresome, but well worth it.  Last night we had pizza and Italian beer at a local hangout and already met some friends.  We were able to make it until about midnight until we crashed )that is about two days with about 4 hours of sleep on an airplane (economy class) and a train.  That should make the whole vacation easy now that we are on the correct schedule.  As Julie mentioned, we were up early this morning and decided to be slackers and not go for our run.  Maybe tomorrow!  The plan for the rest of the day is to explore a little, eat some foccacia, drink some wine, and maybe have a little vino!  Alright, enough from me.  Julie and I are going to go check out the sights.  Miss everyone back home!  Talk to you all soon!!!!

P.S. Julie bought a cute scarf!

Packing

We are working on packing for our trip this evening.  We are packing as light as possible, meaning hopefully one small suitcase (the ones you can use as a carry on) and one small duffel bag.  Chances are we will be leaving some of our clothes in Italy so we can make room for all the wine, errr, I mean souvenirs we are going to bring back.  Only a couple more days and we will be on the plane to Italy!!!  Wish us luck!

A Fun Weekend

Wow. What a great weekend we just had! Friday night, Kristen and Trevor (Gary's friend from college, and her boyfriend) made the trip from Denver to come visit us. Saturday morning we left our house by 5 am and made our way over to Palisade for a 10K race. The weather was just PERFECT on Saturday...warmed up to 80 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. The run was fantastic, very beautiful scenery. The race was a gradual up hill and down hill course, that ran across the Colorado River, and through some beautiful vinards. We ran through the valley and had mountains on either side of us. By far the most beautiful race I have run yet. After our race we decided to hit up a Brewery in Grand Junction, we sat outside and had lunch and a couple cold ones.  The afternoon ended at our house, grilling chicken and ribs for dinner and telling lots of great stories while Kristen and Trevors dog Trace, played with Hunter all night. They were too funny together. I did some gardening on Sunday, and Gary did yard work. Our place is looking very cute for the spring!  Only 4 more days til we take off for our honeymoon!!!

Another Run

Yep, Julie AGAIN. Gary is in Denver this week, so I have a lot of time on my hands. Just finished up another training run this evening, 3 miles - 26 minutes. Not bad at all. Got home and rewarded myself with a yummy trout dinner, asparagus and rice! (and a glass of vino)...kinda lonely with just the dog and cat, but it affords me the time to get some much needed house work done for the weekend!  We are running a 10K race (6.2 miles) in a small town called Palisade on Saturday morning, it will be a very beautiful run over looking the wine vinards and the Colorado Monument. The weather is supposed to be perfect, a nice warm 75 degrees and sunny. We have some friends coming out from Denver to run it with us, it will be a great weekend! We will be sure to post some pictures.  Gary and I started a garden this year, and have some of the plants inside by our window until we are sure the frost will stay away. I have spouts coming up for carrots, lettus, jalepeno, basil and tomatoes! I think I even saw a small spout today for a bell pepper! Never thought gardening could be this exciting! I love it...

Day by day

Julie, checking in again...Some days are better than others, when it comes to missing Michigan. When I say Michigan, I don't mean "the state of"...I mean my home, my family, my friends and the comfort of being somewhere familiar. Knowing where to go and who to go to, when you are having a rough day. Don't get me wrong, I love Colorado, and when I say Colorado, I do mean "the state of". It is more beautiful, exciting, and adventurous than any place I have ever been, but it just doesn't compare to "home".  It can't, no matter how many absolutely beautiful days, awesome hikes, mountain goats next to the expressway, and antelope in a field...I still miss Michigan. Believe it or not, I miss metro-Detroit. It's the complete opposite of where I live now - but it holds so many memories, dear friends and family...some days I wake up and for a brief moment, I am back in Rochester at my old apartment, ready to go running with "The Team" at Stony Creek...there are days I am driving home, I get lost in a thought, the mountains disappear and are replaced by the Lakes of Waterford, and I am just minutes from good friends and cocktails on the boat. Sometimes the memories catch me off guard and I am lost in a sea of them...one after another, a long day at work, and I find myself day dreaming about General Dynamics and the years of friendships made there, softball, business trips and the long-never-ending-meetings I used to despise that have somehow become a fond memory now...it's funny how your mind does that. Sunday's after church, I find myself thinking of what I could bring to my parents for a late afternoon bbq...those are the toughest ones, because I would give anything to just hop in the car and head over there, but I can't (or it would take me 2 days, lol). That is when I must move forward...on to the next big plan - don't let the tears come, because then it's all over and they won't stop. Stay busy, go for a run with my honey...thank God for him. Before you know it, 6 months are up and we are home again - even if it is only for a couple of days. A sweet taste of familiarity and love. It will be enough to get me through until the next time I can make it to the mitten...and until then we will stay busy and enjoy life and all that the State of Colorado has to offer...we LOVE visitors :)