CLT+AVL, USA

Since I was in the proper earth-quadrant, I passed through North Carolina. Good thing I had this detour planned, because my parents are moving out of their house where quite a bit of my stuff has been living. I got rid of a lot of stuff, but can not bring everything to Europe with me. (Thanks for the continual storage space, folks!) I spent some time in the mountains fly fishing with my dad, then we headed to Charlotte for a few days of cleaning and hanging out with the whole family - the little sister was also in town. I was also fortunate enough to see my Grandma and an Aunt and Uncle - I didn't have time to make it to Raleigh, but will *knock on wood* be there in Autumn.

Asheville might be known for its beer, but the food that comes with it is pretty dope!

mole-mint lamb meatballs with cucumbers

Honestly, I ordered "the glutton" for the novelty value.
Fried chicken on a brioche doughnut with Gruyere and something maple. 

Back in Charlotte, I was forced to get a manicure with my Auntie B (Thanks! The "Game of Chromes" gel color I got to-go works great and I've gotten lots of compliments on it.) and was able to do some US American things like watching baseball and going to a bridal shower.

Family at the new-to-me downtown baseball stadium. So urban.

Technology can be difficult for the newly retired.

The lil'sis and me at her BFF's bridal shower.
Congrats, Emma! Sorry that I can't make it back for the wedding.

Gma aka my (probably) number one blog-reader.

Two sets of sisters. It  was great seeing all of you.

USA!

I spent most of October in North Carolina, the first week was at a conference on Water and Health at the nation's oldest public university, followed by a speedy trip to Florida and Hogsmede, then some more time in NC.

After answering some questionable questions about my time in Kenya (it is on the other side of the continent from the ebola...), I was allowed through customs and was whisked off to what was formerly the best pizza joint in the city by my parents where we met some friends. The pizza took forever and was not that great, but they have one of the best beer-lists of any restaurant in the city.

Then we walked across the street to see my favorite bluegrass band, Chatham County Line, perform at the Neighborhood Theater. What a great way to say hello to NC after being away for ten months!

I caught a train to Raleigh where I presented and had a poster (about business model innovation and reaching scale in the water and/or sanitation sector) at the conference. There was a good mix of researchers, practitioners and funders in attendance and it seems as if what I am studying is interesting for them.

I probably shouldn't be looking at the screen, but the spotlight gave the monitor in front of me a glare. 

My parents drove up and cooked a southern meal for all of my colleagues. They survived the BBQ, sweet potatoes, green beans, coleslaw, and pecan pie to pose for this photo:

We were rolling deep at this conference!

Pops somehow figured that the best day to escape the Muggle world was a Tuesday, so I spent the weekend in Raleigh, got my one and only pumpkin latte of the trip, and caught the Sunday afternoon train home so that dad and I could drive down to Florida to visit Harry Potter World! That gets a whole photo post of its own.

Tasty! My turkey, avo, bacon, cheddar, mustardish sauce croissant was even better - Helios rarely steers me wrong.

Upon returning to NC, Ma and I headed up to see G-ma, who treated us to lunch in the fancy dining room (like where you need reservations) at the old folks' home. We then continued on to Raleigh where we horsed around with one of my Aunties and her horse, Jack.

Such a good teacher! Mom didn't want to ride, but soon had much better steering capabilities than me!
I got Jack to walk in a figure eight and over a bridge (with a stop in the middle).

After church (and the brunch that followed) on Sunday, we drove back to the western part of the state for a week of sports!

I caught this guy. I have apparently not learned how to hold a fish in a photo, guess I just need to catch some more!
(Also pretty unhappy with how that nail polish color turned out.)

Brisket, corn bread, cheese grits and butter green beans from 12 Bones, when Barack and Michelle eat when they are in Asheville. 

We went to the Charlotte Hornets opener. Dad started taking me to basketball games when I was a little kid, like couldn't go into the bathroom on her own little. I remember taking a notepad to one game and keeping a tally of the score. So it was really neat to see them come back to town (Back story: long ago the Hornets moved to Louisiana, Charlotte got a new team called the Bobcats, Bob sold the team to Michael Jordan, the Hornets (now of New Orleans) changed their name to the Pelicans, fans lobbied to bring the hornets name (and purple and teal branding) back to CLT). They weren't doing so hot, and in the third quarter were down by over 20, but they rallied and hit a buzzer beater, sending the game into overtime.... So now my mom thinks basketball is fixed.

Cool honeycomb court. 

The martini glass bottle opener new building downtown lit up purple and teal for the win!

The following evening the Panthers lost to the Saints (American football). We tailgated with some neighbors down town. The new baseball stadium was open for concessions and beer. It seems pretty cool, hopefully I'll be in town when the Knights are playing some time.

U-S-A!

The big news around the stadium is these new giant screens. Maybe that is what was causing the QB to throw so darn high!

Halloween involved lunch at one of my favorite diners, a visit to the house I grew up in (my old bedroom is now a sizable closet), and heckling trick-or-treaters with some family friends.

Yum! Small block southern style with a side of fried okra!

This is (the garage of) where we used to live. We moved out 15 years ago and the garage is still the same.
We painted it like this when it became the kid's hangout. The dartboard was still on the wall! The house had been greatly expanded and is back on the market.

I thought of it too late, but it would have been cool to recreate this photo while we were there, but I didn't have any pumpkins.

No Halloween is complete without eyeball stew.

A few more days of packing, eating and hanging out with the perma-pup and it was time for:

My goodbye America breakfast. (Belgian waffle, two scrambled eggs with ketchup and coffee)

My goodbye America lunch. (mac'n'cheese, squash, deviled egg, tomato soup and a biscuit)

Thanks USA! That was a crazy on the go few weeks. Hopefully, next time I will have some more relaxation time built in. I'll be back for a really quick trip at Christmas!

Hogsmeade

During my recent visit to the US, I took a quick side trip down to Florida and somehow wound up back in Europe (all I know is that we traveled through the 1950s). It was magical. There was snow on the roofs, even though it was 86°F. I knew, generally, that Florida was warm, but didn't check the weather before we left.

First off, BIG THANKS to pops for being a sport and driving all the way while listening to an HP audio book.

The vintage-style hotel we stayed in was part of the resort and was really cool. Multiple pools, a lazy river, a gym, a shuttle bus we never had to wait for long, discounts at Margaritaville and most importantly the privilege of entering the park an hour early. (Only problem is that the walls are a little thin - I sneezed and the neighbor said, "Bless you!")

First stop: the goblin run bank! These guys are animatronic and move (someone I showed this photo to thought that they were real people in costume). This was also the first stop of almost everyone else who was allowed into the park at 7AM.

The goblin robots aren't so great at posing.

Such detail! This was a house-elf dealer storefront (wasn't actually a store). 

Pretending to go into Order HQ.

After exploring Diagon Alley a bit, we had some time to kill before the train to Hogsmeade departed, so we rode the Transformers ride - I'm pretty sure I saved the world during it. The Shrek 4D experience was okay, but the room they have you wait in was pretty entertaining.

If they have magic, why do they need all that coal? It seemed like the line for the Hogwarts express was the longest/slowest one we waited in all day. 

Sipping on some butterbeer (very vanilla-y) with an early lunch at the Three Broomsticks .
There is no way I could have drunk a full serving of this.

Such a dramatic looking school.

A pensive for your thoughts.

After riding the rides and checking out the shops in Hogsmeade, we took a lap around the rest of the park. I really liked the "The Hulk" ride, so many twists, accelerations, loops, and just upside downs! And pretty much no line! Then it was back to Diagon Alley for dinner and shopping; we had hoped to ride the Gringotts ride again, but there was something wrong... maybe they realized what had escaped from it earlier...

Beard bags for sale!

This was not on the menu, but my peanut butter-strawberry ice cream was delish!

Captured the dragon breathing fire on digital film!

I thought this shirt from the Magical Menagerie was perfect for my lil'sis, but dad said no :(

Overall, the trip was great! I can imagine going in the summer! It was hot and (the HP parts) were kind of crowded as it was. Since traffic was lower, we had time to look at other parts of the parks and take an afternoon nap a break to watch Champions League.

I prefer the old-school roller coasters to the ones where you wear 3-D glasses and are surrounded by screens as you are moving.

It was a really neat experience- walking around a few blocks that have been fairly carefully curated to be a world that only exists in books or on the screen. I made my coffee this morning in my souvenir beer mug from the Hog's Head and have my a quddich club pennant hanging on my wall. They had a lot of cool merchandise, but nothing as awesome as the Ravenclaw quiddich hoodies a friend and I made in high school (I do not have a digital image, but will scan it once I am home again for Christmas).

New Jersey, USA

After Grandma's party dad and I drove to Raleigh, where we spent the night at an Uncle and Aunt's place then took off for New Jersey Monday morning. Dad and I have spent a lot of time together in the prius (see all the excitement of out journey from Breckenridge to Charlotte near the end of this post) and I have gotten really good at navigating the satellite radio stations.

We arrived safely and spent the next few days preparing for the upcoming festivities: grocery shopping, getting mani-pedis (the upselled us to gel manis... quite the rip off), accessorizing our wedding outfits (this means buying warm things, as it was an outdoor evening ceremony in November). Dad and I even hit up the local fishing hole, but had no luck -- even though they had stocked the pond that morning. It was the most miserable fishing experience of my life, and I didn't even fall in-- cold, rainy and no bites. We also ate at Jim's Lunch, a south Jersey institution with a special sauce.

My cheeseburger

with onions and sauce. Tasty!

For Thanksgiving I made a coconut ganache pie. It had pressed and toasted coconut for the crust, a layer of homemade carmel, and dark chocolate filling. I might get disowned for saying this, but it was too rich. Thanksgiving spread covered the basics: turkey, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, sweet potatoes, and stuffing. All delicious! I was able to talk my dad into making some broccoli, so there would be some non-starch veggies. My Uncle Todd's plate was filled with all white food! Dessert was great: pumpkin pie, apple pie, my pie and reese's pieces cupcakes. Plus we went over to my dad's cousin's house where his extended family had gathered where there was spice cake, more pies and cookies.

My pie

The sugar caramelizing!

The Fam around the table!

After all that food, we had to get up the next day and get all fancied up for my cousin Megan's wedding. It was so cold at the ceremony, but they had a hot coco station, so there was a little bit of warmth. The ceremony was celebratory and casual, with lots of clapping and wooooo-ing. We were able to get a full family shot during the cocktail hour and several informal photos during the reception. The food during the cocktail hour was, as Meg would say, slammin'. They were so impressive that there was some scandalous discussion about if there would be a dinner to follow. Apparently, dinner is standard at northern weddings. There was dinner and it was tasty as well. My little sister also taught me how to order a martini -- she is so fancy and cosmopolitan. My family hit up the photobooth and we even got my dad out on the dance floor. His lack of moves made me feel better about mine, but also worried that I looked like him :)

All of the cousins!

Happy family!

Saturday we said goodbye to my mom and sister and went fishing with some of my dad's college buddies (for being a small southern school, Pfeiffer sure had a lot of kids from New Jersey). It was so cold, but a pretty day nonetheless. It is the only time I have ever outfished my dad! We fished for about four hours without a hit. Then I pulled in a little sucker fish-- it's not a trout, so doesn't usually count, but we were just happy to have gotten a fish. On my next cast, I brought in a 14 inch rainbow. A few minutes later, my dad caught a rainbow. Not long after, it was getting chillier and we hadn't gotten any more strikes, so we headed back to the car. That little suckerfish turned out to be the tie breaker! Dad usually out catches me 2:1 (or worse), so I need to celebrate the little victory!

The tie-breaking fish!

Sunday we joined one of dad's cousins and her husband's family to make grave blankets out of evergreens and holly to place on relatives' gravestones. Apparently, someone will probably steal these pretty soon, but I really like the new-to-me heard lots of good stories about my family and those of the others who went with us.

North Carolina, USA

Shortly after I accepted the position in Switzerland, I flew home to the US. I wanted to experience an American autumn (and all of its holidays) and didn't want to spend my savings living in Stockholm's gloomy winter. This means three months with my parents. Because I went to boarding school for part of high school and spent my summers in college interning abroad, I haven't been at home for that long in about ten years.

Mom with some trick-or-treaters (a witch, frog, and functional transformer!)

My dad retired almost a year ago, so we have been doing lots of retired-man things: going to the grocery store multiple times a day, home improvement/DIY projects, home brewing, and fishing two days a week at my parents' house in Asheville. I'm loving it!

We tiled the mailbox!

This blue heron nabbed our fishing spot. 

Also spending some quality time with mom when she isn't at work!

At the Southern Christmas Show!

Cleaning mom's stitches after her skin cancer removal.
(She's fine! Wear Sunscreen!)

It couldn't all be fishing and beer, after a few weeks, I started working part-time for our neighbour who has a home civil engineering office. She designs parking lots and stormwater management strategies for them. I prepare environmental reports and look up regulations for cities and towns. I also draw schematics of sewer lines!

After two weeks on the job, I had to take a 2 week vacation for Thanksgiving. My dad and I drove to New Jersey for Thanksgiving with his side of the family and the wedding of a cousin that happened on Black Friday (my mom and sister had to work, so they flew in Thursday - Saturday). On the way, we went to my Grandmother's (mom's mom) 80th Birthday Ice Cream Party! Most of the fam was able to make it and it was so nice to be able to see so many folks who have been part of Gma's life.

I also got to see my college friend/flatmate/classmate, Alyssa, while I was in Winston!