Visit to the U.S. - December 2007 and January 2008
As the title indicates, Angela and I visited Colorado and
Seattle over a month in December of 2007. Hope you enjoy the pics!
Angela in front of her first plane ever, which took us from
San Jose, Costa Rica, to Los Angeles.
A (fortunately) simulated photo.
We took this picture (as well as a shaky video) of my grandma
driving her car to prove to Angela's family that...well, that my grandma could
drive a car. In a town where most women don't even know how to drive, the idea
of a lady in her 80s driving causes quite a lot of interest.
Angela and me in front of my grandma's house...sorry, I mean
my grandma's freedom and liberty house.
Eating with my family at a Japanese restaurant in Fort Collins
(aka Fort Chronic). For me, when I miss "comfort foods" from the U.S., I usually
miss things that aren't even native to the U.S. As a result, Angela had to eat
at Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Indian restaurants during her stay.
For a girl raised on rice and beans, this was mighty daring and nice of her, and
in the end the only thing she complained about was having to use chopsticks.
Taking chopstick problems in stride.
In my parents' neighborhood in Colorado.
This was a trip of "firsts" for Angela: When we went on this
walk, it was her first official Walk in the Snow.
Man, looking at this picture reminds me of how freaking cold
it can really get on this earth. It's easy to lose perspective down here in the
"tropics."
Angela liked the snow.
My parents' neighborhood is called "Vista Bonita," and
accordingly all the streets have Spanish names. I never really realized it until
I came home this last time, but the house where I grew up is on the corner of
"Royal Road" and "Noisy Street." Weird.
Me giving Angela the Crazy Eye at the Denver Zoo Light Parade
or some such thing. It was really, really, really cold.
Angie Blackberry and I pose with Santa.
Bear-shaped ice sculptures.
Matthew and Annie, with whom we went to the Denver Zoo light
show.
Annie's family (background) and Jim (foreground), who invited
us to the zoo (and to eat delicious funnel cakes and churros).
This picture scares the shit out of me. I never imagined my
wig and Smart Guy Glasses would be used in an inappropriate manner.
My mother, with her dictatorial bread-making prowess, attempts
to teach my wife how to "git 'er done," in the parlance of our times.
A gingerbread man from the church coffee hour.
Smart Guy attack!
Christmas Eve Fondue Night is my new favorite Sitzman family
tradition. This box pretty much says it all.
In fact, can we get a close-up on that?
Fondue fixins.
Mom attempting some nasty fondue dare that we put her up to.
Annie, if you're reading this, I have you and your sister to thank for the idea
of Fondue Dares. We based it on the Lee family game with a name like "Eat
Whatever I Put On This Spoon." Thanks!
All the cousins in my mother's side of the family. My sister
Di, cousins Brian, Katie, and Kiersten, me, Angela, and my brother Paul.
Print this out and put it into a "Our First Christmas" framed
Christmas tree ornament. Hang on Christmas tree. Repeat.
Di, Angela, and Kiersten decorating cookies.
Angela lacing up for another first: ice skating. I'm including
quite a few pictures from this event because it was so...fun.
Angela with the skating crutch, which probably made it even
more difficult to skate on the ice.
She had some problems...
Gliding like an angel.
This looks a lot more painful that it really was. Or so I
imagine. I'm not to the one who ate it.
This is the only moment in which we were stable on skates and
not actively falling.
Brian, Katie, Kiersten, and Angela.
This is the note that I wrote to put under the windshield
wipers of a minivan that "parked us in" in a snowy parking lot in a Broomfield
mall. Seriously, even if you can't see the stripes, you should be able to tell
that the car in front of where you're parking already in turn has a car in front
of it...
Here I am with Bobby and the Christmas machete I gave him as a
present. This looks really weird, but I'm actually attacking his green shiny
pants, not his crotch. See, the first day I ever met this guy, he was wearing
these damn pants, and it nearly preemptively cost us our friendship of about 10
years. I just sat in our German class and wondered, "Who the hell is this clown
in the shiny green pants?" While Bobby probably thought, "I sure like these
shiny green pants." As fate would have it, though, my hate diminished, and today
Bobby is one of my best friends. True story. So in any case, we were re-enacting
my initial Shiny Green Pants Rage.
I do weird stuff.
My mom, Angela, and my dad all trying to get the air bubbles
out of Paul's waterbed, where Angela and I had to sleep for the month.
Angela menacing the camera with an icicle. Seriously,
that's how you spell "ice-cicle?"
Angela in Grand Lake.
The Fam in Denver.
A cowboy statue in downtown Denver. I'm convinced the sculptor
used actor Ed Harris for a model. If anyone can confirm this, I'd be grateful.
In front of the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver.
Phylis "Da Streets" Sitzman.
Sunny downtown Denver.
A nice ironic picture at the museum.
Angela at the automatic car wash (with free do-it-yourself
vacuum!). Strangely enough, I think this might have been the highlight of her
trip. She really, really liked the automated car wash.
Look at the shine in her eyes. She doesn't look at me like
that anymore...lousy automated car wash....Angela! It can't love you like I do!!
Here is a picture from the second leg of our trip when Angela,
Paul and I went to Seattle to visit Annie and Matthew. This is a pair of shoes
nailed to a Lamppost. Seattle is awesome. As an aside, this was on a street
corner that had four coffee shops. Three on the actual corner, and
another two stores down. Seattle is really awesome.
Matthew and Annie in front of the Seattle night; taken from
Queen Anne Hill, where they live and let us use their futon.
Paul and I giving dork faces.
Angela and I. I love that view.
Another great Seattle Coffee Moment. The cops apparently don't
even bother with donuts there. I really liked Seattle.
You've seen pictures of people taking pictures. But, have you
ever seen pictures of people taking pictures of people taking pictures? This
might be one of those...or did I just freak you out?
A gratuitous tourist shot of the Experience Music Project
building with the Space Needle in the background.
Angie and Paul in Coffeetown.
The view from the Space Needle.
Another gratuitous tourist shot.
Paul by the market in Seattle.
A bird. Huh? What am I, an ornithologist? It's a freakin'
bird.
A cool picture, an even cooler sign. I know that a sign that
reads, "spaghetti and balls" means "spaghetti with meatballs," but that doesn't
mean I'm not obliged to laugh when I see it.
Old Ryan Of The Sea.
This is a sort of photographic representation of my Retirement
Plans.
Annie. Annie is the greatest.
Angela. Angela is the greatest, especially since she's
representing liberty and justice for all. All that, using only a hat.
Sea wood.
Here we are looking rustic.
Careful bird! You're about to tread upon Lady Liberty! I may
not agree with what you squwak, but I'll fight to the death to defend your right
to squwak it! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
It was a nice, peaceful afternoon in West Seattle.
Drinking Charles Schwab wine (aka "Two Buck Chuck") from a
measuring cup. By the way, the movie "Rescue Dawn," seen to my left, is good,
but there's a nasty Snake Scene. Just so you know.
Downtown Seattle.
A metal penguin.
Back in Colorado: here's the dog statue that Angela's dad
Honorio gave to my dad. (At least that's what legend holds).
Since my dad's vet clinic was cleaner than the dentists'
offices in Coast Tasty, we decided to get a bit of bonus dental work done while
visiting.
Seriously, though, doesn't that look freaking painful?
Here I am in front of a gator...a stuffed one, in the Denver
museum.
Dad, me, and Angela (dad's in the choir).
Churchy Angela.
The stockings were hung by the owl-nest-filled chimney with
care...
Here is from our tour of Fort Collins finest, which included
New Belgium Brewery. It was tasty and boozy.
My aunt Kris with Angela. Kris really liked the tour, too!
Here I am reading newspapers that I scavenged in the airport.
Did you know that the Sunday New York Times costs five dollars at the airport?!
At that price, I'll trade a bit of dignity and try to find one that someone else
left on the seats in the waiting area.
The intrepid captain on one of our flights.
Angela got her wings, too. We had six flights on this trip,
and we finally got a picture with the captain on the last flight. It was like
Angela's main goal in going to the U.S. (Sorry, "Visiting Ryan's Family," but at
least you were number three...yeah, the automatic carwash...yep, number
two...uh, anyhow...awkward).
So, that was our U.S. trip. I hope you enjoyed the pics, and
that you noticed that I started with a picture of a plane and ended with one,
also. That's what they call foreshadowing, jack. It's a literary
metaphor. A metaphor for flying.
In any case, thanks for looking. Also, pretty soon I'm hoping
to get up some pictures from our Colorado wedding reception, so be on the
lookout for those!