Wedding Season: Weekend One

Remember when I flew home to Minnesota for a total of just under 56 hours after only twelve days in Colombia? I do.

And as insane as it sounds, I think it was one of my best ideas to date.

My friend Maria married her high school sweetheart, Johnny, last weekend and despite the plane rides, customs, fights with airline agents, terrible plane food and serious hours logged in Miami International, I am SO GLAD I went to the wedding. I can honestly say I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

My whole life, especially in college and since moving to Colombia, I have been a friend who makes time for my friends. It is one of the most important things for me. At the end of the day, no matter where we live I am going to make the effort to know about you, your life, and be there for you no matter what. For those true once-in-a-lifetime friends who have been so much a part of who I am today, there really isn't much that I wouldn't do. Therefore, there is no way I could imagine NOT being at Maria's wedding.

So fly home I did. The weekend included the wedding, a follow up morning-after brunch at Maria's parents' gorgeous home, dinner with my parents and catching up with friends. Anna, Andy, Michael and I had a great time at the wedding eating delicious food/cake, looking at the Minneapolis skyline from the Nicollet Island pavilion and dancing the night away. Maria is completely music centered and had spent months picking out music for happy hour and the reception and her hard work definitely paid off! I kind of want her to DJ my wedding some day.

My absolute favorite part of the night was watching her dance with Johnny to "Black and Yellow" while singing along to literally every word. There is just something fantastic about watching your childhood Midwestern girlfriend get down to "Black and Yellow" in a wedding dress. Another great part of the evening was the nice things that both Maria and her parents said to me about coming to the wedding - they were so grateful for my presence and it made me feel so special the entire night.

At the end of the weekend I left for the Minneapolis airport exhausted and blissfully happy for the new life Maria & Johnny have in front of them! I love them both so much and I am so glad for the chance to watch them celebrate their love for each other. May we all be just so lucky in love....

Ceremony at St. Patrick's Church in Edina, Minnesota

Anna and I at the reception at Nicollet Island in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Friends from 13 years old until forever... love these girls!

Maria & Johnny's First Dance

What would the end of the night be without stealing ties from boys? :)

At brunch the next morning with Catherine (left) and Maria (right).

To here's my to my fabulous friends, international travel and....doing the same thing in one week for another wedding! Hooray airline miles.

p.s. A million thank yous to my mom for picking me up from the airport, dropping me off, and playing DD the night of the wedding. You're the best :)

And then I went to Texas.

When I won a trip for two to San Antonio, Texas I thought no way is this for real. This is one of those jokes the internet makes up to keep our lives interesting, right? No one actually wins these things. And then I thought, and b-t-dubbs who wants to go to Texas anyway? Based on people I know from Texas (one of my least favorite presidents of my lifetime) I was seriously questioning things.

Then I heard from Jason from TwoBackpackers.com (where I won the contest), decided it was legit, and started planning my pre-birthday weekend trip to San Antonio with my friend Liz. Liz still lives and works in the Twin Cities, so I knew I would see her at home for the summer but with her crazy work schedule of wedding planning and my time trying to see everyone and do everything, I didn't think we would get a lot of one-on-one time together. I was right, so I am SO GLAD we went on this trip together.

After a three hour direct flight from Minneapolis, we made our way to the Emily Morgan Historic Hotel right in downtown San Antonio. A restored hotel, the place was gorgeous, beautifully decorated in brown, creme and gold tones, and right across the street from the Alamo. We found our dinner and drinks that night at Rita's on the River where we had delicious margaritas and shared the chicken fajitas.

San Antonio Riverwalk at night

One of many staircases leading from the Riverwalk up to the street level.

The next morning we decided to fuel up with a delicious breakfast before lots of sightseeing. Included in our trip was a gift certificate to Liberty Bar. They are open all day long but we decided to check out their Sunday brunch specials. With $50 to spend we made our breakfast well worth it with french toast on bread handmade at the restaurant, eggs, coffee, fresh fruit and mimosas! Mmmmmm. After brunch we hopped on one of many streetcars used for public transportation in San Antonio and headed to the Alamo! Liz and I both admitted to really having no idea what the significance of the Alamo was, therefore our tour and subsequent visit to the IMAX presentation on the Alamo were very informative. Turns out the Battle of the Alamo really did have an impact on the course of US history.

Liberty Bar in the King William neighborhood of San Antonio

Mimosas with fresh-squeezed OJ

Remember the Alamo!! (But what for?!?!)

Done with our tour and happy to know exactly what the Alamo is. :)

The next day brought us to Sea World San Antonio after a bit of an adventure on the San Antonio public bus system. Happy to have arrived we actually ended up spending the whole day here and I am so so so glad!! I am not usually an animal person, but the shows and exhibits at Sea World were awesome! I loved being able to see such unique animals up close and personal. Also, the Sea World waterpark was a welcome addition to our afternoon after wandering all around the park in the morning.

Welcome to Sea World!

One World, One Ocean presentation with a little guy named Shamu.

Water Show! Plus San Antonio heat :)

...I might not love animals, but dolphins are AH-DOR-ABLE.

Finishing the day off at El Mercado plaza with lots of Latin themed gifts, food and drinks.

Our last day in San Antonio we took advantage of another gorgeous day of weather and a bike rental certificate from Blue Star Bikes/Brewery. Biking about 4 miles through downtown we arrived at La Gloria restaurant for one last Tex-Mex meal before heading back to Minnesota. We enjoyed peach-strawberry margaritas, fresh salsa and guacamole and lots of water before a sweaty bike ride back!

La Gloria is right on the river north of downtown.

Biking next to the Riverwalk.

Ciao San Antonio, you were (somewhat surprisingly) fabulous!

As our mini-trip came to an end we really did have a great time in San Antonio. Texas isn't looking quite so bad anymore...especially when enjoyed with a friend and for free. :) Thanks Two Backpackers for an awesome trip/contest!

International Travel Tips

My dad hasn't ever travelled internationally. My brother has been to Colorado, Florida and a variety of Midwestern states - always with some sort of sports team or our family. On January 5 they will travel to meet me in Cartagena, Colombia before we head back to Cali, Colombia on January 9.

Needless to say I am somewhat concerned for them to arrive in Cartagena and intact together so I have assembled the following list of travel tips for international travel. I will follow up tomorrow with a list of tips specific to Colombia!

Kristin's International Travel Essentials

1. Make two copies of your passport. Leave one at home with someone staying behind and bring the other one with you - packed separately from your original passport!
2. Empty your wallet of everything you will not need while abroad. This includes credit cards you don't need (i.e. you don't really need to bring 5 abroad), charge cards to specific places, business cards, photos, etc. Once you have your wallet limited to the bare essentials, empty the contents and photocopy the front and back of every card. Pack this photocopy separately from your wallet when you travel.
3. Utilize online check-in to select your seats ahead of time whenever possible.
4. All customs forms to immigrate to another country will ask for your forwarding address - so know where you are going!
5. Be friendly to all customs agents! (And security people too!) They probably hate their jobs so the nicer you are to them the better chance you have of getting out alive. :)
6. Travel carry-on unless you absolutely need to check something for security reasons. Checking bags for just a short trip is a hassle, you run the risk of your bag getting lost, and there really isn't anything you need for 7 days that cannot go in a carry-on bag. Just remember that all liquids (this includes "weird" liquids like toothpaste, peanut butter, etc.) need to be 3 fluid ounces or less.

For detailed instructions on how not to be an obnoxious airport traveller, please reference my previous post.

Safe travels!

The Real OC: My First Trip to California

During this busy summer of travels I made some time to go out to California to visit my friends Lindsey and Alex, who are living there while Alex goes to grad school at UC – Irvine. Before this trip, I had never been west of Colorado, and living in Colombia for the year had really awakened in me a sense that I have not explored enough of my own country, so I was psyched to be traveling again!

The trip started with a flight from MSP to LAX during which I witnessed entirely too much PDA from the couple across the aisle from me. However, I blocked out the ridiculousness by listening to the Glee soundtracks and playing iPod Free Cell, so really it’s a pretty win-win situation for everyone.

In California, I stayed with Alex & Lindsey at their townhouse located right across the street from the campus, which worked out awesome. Their place is perfect for the two of them, but big enough to have visitors, and decorated in a way that totally reminds me of both of them. Since I was visiting during the week, they both had to make some time for work, but we also got the chance to do a lot of exploring!

Some notes, including my reflections, comments and corrected misconceptions of the other Cali:

In general, California is not as hot as I thought. Without the Midwestern humidity, things cool down quite quickly at night. Frozen yogurt, better known as fro-yo, is actually as delicious as my roommate Kelsi told me it was – I recommend YogurtLand. The LA Angels are known as the “wealthy” team with a nicer/newer stadium (they played hosts to the 2010 All Star Game) located in Anaheim, while the Dodgers are more of the “common person’s” team with a stadium from the 60s built overlooking downtown LA. Dodger fans are angry people and the same four letter words that would earn you frowns of disapproval in Minnesota are commonly yelled throughout the stands to roars of crowd approval. Palm trees are kind of boring to look at after a while. Marine layer – ever heard of it? Me neither. Turns out the clouds from the ocean generally hug the coast of the Pacific Ocean, so many times it isn’t even sunny at the beach. Despite my horrible track record with four legged creatures, I managed to live in the same townhouse as a cat for a full five days. The majority of The OC was filmed in LA County, NOT in Orange County. The pier diner from The OC is a real place on the Redondo Beach pier - I celebrated my birthday lunch there with fries and a white chocolate mocha. LA traffic really is the worst thing known to humans and if I could write an open letter to the person who set up Dodger Stadium so that only one highway exit and one road lead to the parking lot and stadium, I would probably use a lot of the vocabulary used by Dodger fans. I have now been to five of 30 Major League Baseball stadiums – oddly I have seen more National League stadiums than American League stadiums. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is cool but probably the biggest tourist trap in America outside of Wall Drug and the Corn Palace in South Dakota. Surfers are naturally gorgeous – all of them. Not seeing some of your best friends for 11 months really doesn’t change a whole lot about your friendships. Jamba Juice in Huntington Beach celebrates happy hour everyday from 5-7 by upgrading your smoothie to the power size for free. WIN. I am forever indebted to Lindsey for introducing me to roasted red pepper hummus. Santa Monica is by far and away the coolest pier to hang out on with the most delicious corn dogs outside of the Minnesota State Fair. Huntington Beach is the coolest beachfront with more beach volleyball nets than I could count.

Combination of many different types of fruit flavored tart yogurt - yum!

Seeing the Pacific Ocean from the US!

This is the REAL OC diner - located on the Redondo Beach Pier.

Seth & Summer at the diner - see it is the same!!! :)

Lots of sand volleyball at Huntington Beach.

Dodger Stadium

Dodger meltdown that included a discussion with the head coach, entire infield and four umpires. Brilliant.

Walk of Fame + me

Santa Monica

Santa Monica Beach - care for a swing?!?

Santa Monica Pier

Bench at Santa Monica Pier

Lindsey, Alex and me at Dodger Stadium for my 23rd birthday.

Overall, I had a fabulous time visiting and celebrating my 23rd birthday California style! They are going to be out there for at least another few years so I am hoping to get back for a second visit at some point.

Until then, California is pretty great in my book.

California, Here I Come...

In high school (& college for some extremely loyal fans, myself included) we used to get together on Thursday nights for the latest episode of The OC. Just another teenage drama series by Josh Schwartz, but for those four years I watched the lives of Ryan, Marissa, Seth and Summer unfold for one hour every week.

So when my friend Alex texted me to tell me he had decided between grad school in Madison, Wisconsin and Irvine, California, he sent me a message that said "California, here we come..." One year later, I am making a trip to visit both him and my friend (his fiancee) Lindsey. We have been discussing this potential trip for months now, and I am so excited that the plane tickets are finally booked! Alex happens to be home in Minnesota the weekend I leave, so we will actually get to fly there together after investing some quality time together at Target Field in Minnesota.

While my visit home this summer is probably going to feel about 2 seconds long, I am thrilled to be spending some time visiting Alex and Lindsey, as well as seeing California for the first time! I cannot wait to see where they live, go to school, go to work and spend their time. Perhaps we will squeeze in some time to check off another ballpark on my Life List... (ahem, Alex, the Angels & Padres are out of town all week...but the Dodgers play the Giants (in LA) all three nights at 7:10pm...I trust you will begin searching for tickets)