After a wonderful two weeks at home, it was back to work for me. Only I didn't go straight back to Switzerland. I worked for 2 different Swiss clients with locations throughout the US. In 2.5 weeks I made this little "tour of the USA". It was an extremely busy 2.5 weeks with lots of time spent in airports and on planes and I was very happy to finally make it back to Zurich and not be living out of suitcase! As you can see, I covered a lot of ground:
A. Bright, IN
B. Schenectady, NY
After leaving my amazing hometown of Bright, IN, it was off to Schenectady, NY. There was a slight problem when the two Swiss guys I would be working with for the week picked me up at the airport Sunday night (they had flown in Saturday night) and they locked the keys in the car! After over an hour and a half waiting in the freezing cold, the rental car company came and unlocked the doors. The week was of course busy, but we took the train Friday night to New York City.
C. New York City, NY
I took the Swiss guys to a bar and we met up with some of my friends/former co-workers. It was great to see them. Our hotel wasn't far from times square, so on the way home we went to times square for hot dogs.
Saturday we unfortunately had to work. In the late afternoon we took off. The boys went shopping and since I could fit nothing more in my suitcase after all the shopping I'd done in Cincinnati, I decided to go to the 9/11 memorial, which wasn't finished the last time I was in NYC. The memorial was really neat to see, I'm so glad I went. I also took the opportunity to practice with my new camera, which I love!
The tree that made it through it all.
I walked through battery park a bit and saw the statue of liberty, but it was too foggy to take good pictures. I met up with Minh's sister Liz for a couple beers and it was great catching up with her. Then I had to meet back up with my team from work and we went to a nice steak dinner and then saw the Broadway show Evita, starring none other than Ricky Martin. The show was pretty good. Another check off my bucket list.
After the show we went to a rooftop bar and some other bars and in the meantime I found out Diane had had her baby! On Sunday morning I went for a run to and through Central Park:
After a work meeting and then some souvenir shopping at Times Square, we headed to the airport. It was a really fun weekend, but they are always too short!
D. Newark, NJ
E. Pittsburgh, PA
F. Youngstown, OH
In order to get to the lovely town of Youngstown, OH, we took a cab to Newark airport, flew to Pittsburgh, and then rented cars and drove the hour to Youngstown. In the short 2 days I spent there we ate at this wonderful Mexican restaurant twice! Then off to Denver.
G. Denver, CO
Once I landed in Denver, I met up with my friend Melissa and we headed to a bar to watch the disappointing IU game. It was great catching up with her though!
H. Vail, CO
For the weekend, we headed to Vail. Since the others in the group are Swiss and naturally are good skiers, they went off Saturday morning and after renting my skis, boots, and helmet, I signed myself up for an all-day lesson. Our group consisted of 8 adults and one Dutch ski instructor. The group was really fun - almost everyone was around my age and we improved quite a bit from learning how to put skis on to going up the lift and back down the little slope.
It was a gorgeous day. it even got so hot that our group took our jackets off for awhile!
I met back up with the team from work for some apres-ski beers. Then met up with Melissa for more beers back at our hotel bar (she had been skiing at Beaver Creek that day). After dinner, we went to a bar with a live band which was fun. After two of the guys from the team went back to the hotel, Rico and I met up with my friends Tommy and Jimmy. I would have never known they were in Vail that weekend but Tommy had seen a picture I posted on facebook. After way too many beers and shots, we finally made it back to the hotel via the bus.
The next morning, ok, the next 24 hours, were rough. The ride back to Denver took forever because of all the traffic. We finally made it to the airport, then had to fly to Houston, then an hour drive to La Porte.
I. Houston, TX
J. La Porte, TX
There was nothing too exciting to report from Texas, other than it was my first time in the state of Texas...getting closer to my bucket list goal of making it to all 50 states! Our hotel was right down the street from NASA space center. Maybe next time we won't be working so much and I'll have a chance to see it!
And that ends my USA tour. I flew back to Zurich Wednesday night, arriving Thursday late afternoon. It was good to be home, and it really has started to feel like home now.
