My Road Trip (Part 2).....

After a short drive to Lexington, KY, I arrived at the home of my friends Mike and Lianne. I arrived early in the morning (only an hour drive) and was able to relax for the afternoon in their beautiful home. It was great to have a chance to just relax for a little while.

Mike in front of the WWI Memorial in Lexington.

That evening, Mike came home and we hit the town! Okay...not really. He showed me around the city a bit and took me to a fantastic pizza place. I was really impressed with the town and it was really beautiful and easy to get around.


The next day I spent reading and watching TV again, as well as trying to figure out the washer/dryer (they were new and I was having some trouble). That night Mike and I went out to eat again and tried to figure out how to build a retaining wall. He had everything measured out, but then we got a little worried that we might hit some type of line, so he called the people to plant the flags and we had to delay the construction project for another time.


The next day we took some pics around the city and had lunch with Lianne before I had to begin my drive to Washington D.C. to see my buddy Dustin and his wife Sara.

It took around 8.5 hours to drive to DC, but luckily I was listening to A Walk in the Woods the entire way. It was really a nice drive, through the mountains and wilderness of West Virginia, a state that I had never been through before.

Sara and Dustin

In DC, I was staying with Dustin and Sara, who were staying with a great family that Dustin knew from his time in England. I won't lie, I had a blast in DC. I was able to see some great sites and Dustin and Sara took a few days off, so we were able to cause a bit of trouble in the area.

We saw a couple of Smithsonian Museums (Natural History and the Air & Space), a ton of memorials, Mount Vernon and we even had a tour of the US Capital Building, where we saw a sweet statue of the first king of Hawaii.

King Kamehameha of Hawaii

Sadly the trip had to start winding down....so on Wednesday night Dustin and I went to a SuperLiga match between DC United and Monarcas Morelia of Mexico (more in the next post). It was a fantastic game with an amazing atmosphere. Whenever I decide to move back to the States, I would love to live in a city with an MLS team. There were 14,000 people at RFK Stadium and we had some great seats to watch an entertaining game. It was a pretty sweet bday gift (even though it's a month away...thanks buddy!!)

The next day I decided to try and drive all the way from DC to Iowa City (the most foolish decision of the trip). After stopping in Pittsburgh to have lunch and chat with my cousin Sarah, I was back on the road and I made it back to Iowa City at 11 pm after a long and exhausting drive. The next day I visited with my friend Megan again and then I drove back to DM the next day.

Overall the trip was a blast!! Thanks to everyone that let me stay with them and for spending a bit of time with me before I have to take off again.

My Road Trip (Part 1)......

While I was in Egypt, many of my friends decided that they were going to travel to different parts of the US to either continue their education or to do an internship for the summer. So, I figured that since I was home for almost a month, I would spend a few weeks driving around and visiting them.

Now I love road trips. I love to drive. I love to put my ipod on the radio and jam out to whatever music I'm loving at the time. If I was able to throw all of these things together and see some great people in the process.....how could that not be fun??

The trip began with a short 90 minute drive to Iowa City. I used to live in IC, so I knew a few people and was able to see a lot of friends in my two days there. I visited the Before and After School Program at Lemme (where I worked for 3 years) and some of my kids that were so small when I started (as kindergartners) are now huge 5th graders (and I subsequently felt really old). I then spent the rest of the day visiting with some friends. I hung out with my friend Kim and her daughters Fiona and Sophie. I was also able to see my friend Kandi and two of her kids and my friend Susie. That night I hung out with my friend Megan before leaving the next day for Elmhurst, IL.

Fiona and I hanging out.

After an eye appointment in Iowa City, I made the foolish decision to begin my drive to Elmhurst, IL with my eyes dilated. Probably not the best decision that I've ever made, but it probably wasn't even the most foolish on the trip......(no, really).

Travis, outside of Portillos

While there I was able to stay and visit with my friend Travis. Travis and I met while he was working in Youth Ministry at a church in England. I was there visiting my buddy Dustin, whom Travis (or Captain Independence, as he prefers) was working with. Travis and I took a day and went into the city to visit the Imperial War Museum and from then on, we've become friends. Travis and I had some wings, then hit the batting cages and go karts before calling it a night. Then next day we went to Portillos, where Travis explained to me how being able to eat at Portillos is the essence of freedom.

After Portillos I left Travis and drove 5 hours to Louisville, KY to see my friend Richard. Richard and I worked at the Blank Park Zoo for a couple of years together. He was the manager and I consider the Zoo as one of the best jobs I ever had. We had a ton of fun at the grill and it had been a few years since I went to Louisville to see him, so I figured this would be a great opportunity.

We had a good dinner and I was able to chat with him and his fiance Sarah (another teacher) as well as Mike and Lianne (more to follow on them). Then Richard and I went back to his place to chat and he gave me the audio book, A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson, a DM native (which is hilarious, I recommend reading it or listening if you get the chance).

In the morning it was off to Lexington!! (see Part 2)

My MLS hopes.....

As some of you may know, this man has just arrived in the US to play soccer for the LA Galaxy. Today was the day that David Beckham was officially welcomed and announced as a player for the Galaxy.

His face has been plastered all over the place in recent weeks. Billboards, the Internet, ESPN and he is even on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Even as I write this, he has an Adidas ad playing on ESPN News. If you didn't know who he was before all of this, it seems almost impossible for anyone to ignore his presence now.

I am not a big fan of Beckham (my buddy Dustin can confirm this). I think that he is a good midfielder. He is well known for his ability to cross the ball, take free kicks, set up his team mates and he is in amazing shape and can defend well. He is also very marketable and I've heard that a few women find him attractive. He has already helped bring unprecedented publicity and exposure to the league and LA has even changed their jersey, logo and team colors (for the first time ever) just before his arrival--and have sold 250,000 jerseys of since.

While all of these positives are great for the league, I still have a few concerns about his arrival. Yes, Beckham will bring people into the stands and will get people to watch MLS on TV. But I hope that people aren't thinking he is going to come in and save the league. Beckham is not a goal-scorer or a highlight machine. Looking back at his stats since 2001, he scored 16 goals that year....and it has fallen since. He had 11 in 2002, four in 2003, four in 2004, four in 2005 (but 13 assists) and three goals and five assists this year at Real Madrid.

I will admit that he has battled some injuries, including some this year and during one or two of the last World Cups. These numbers however are not exactly impressive and he is coming into the league as the highest paid player.....ever (roughly $6.5 million/year not including endorsements which push it to possibly $25 mill). That's a lot of money for a guy that plays wide, defends well, sets up his team mates and takes free kicks.

I am optimistic however that Beckham will improve MLS' standing in America. I've already seen other former stars from Europe and Mexico coming over to play in the States and get a high pay-day while doing it. Juan Pablo Angel is having a great year in NY and Cuauhtenoc Blanco agreed to play in Chicago. There are rumors of other big names coming from Europe in the near future and as long as they are coming over to play (not just to be payed), I welcome the additions, but I don't want MLS turning into a western version of the league in Qatar, where players go for one last pay check to finish their career.

So the attention turns to Beckham. His first game is on July 22, an exhibition against Chelsea oddly enough. Normally this game might get highlights on Sportscenter, but because of Beck's debut, the game will be shown live on ESPN. Beckham as already began to put the wheels of change in motion.....

My Visitors....

For my last few days of Egypt I had my first two visitors coming in from the States. My Mom and my cousin Sarah came over to see what Egypt was all about (and possibly to check out some of the cool sites).

There visit was pretty crazy. The first day we saw a lot of pyramids, including Saqqarra and the pyramids of Giza, as well as the Sphinx. Then we went to the Egyptian Museum for the afternoon (ahhh.....air conditioning). Mom was looking a bit pink and possibly starting to overheat, so we then went back to my place for the night. We had to get up early the next day to start our cruise because we had to fly to Abu Simbel (see picture above).

The cruise was a blast and I would just like to thank my friend Abi for helping me set that up. We were on a nice boat and we were able to see a ton of sites:

The Philae Temple

Kom Ombo

Edfu

Karnak Temple

and the Luxor Temple

After a few days of the ship, we took a flight back to Cairo late one night. This gave us two full days in the city before they had to head back to the States. So we met up with my friend Reham and we took them to experience Khan-al-khalili market one day and then we took a felucca ride the next night as a final good bye.

I hope they enjoyed their time here and I hope that if you are at least interested in seeing these things, go to Egypt and see them. The people are very friendly and willing to help you out with any problems that you may have (if you need it ;-)