Bowling a la Paris

We recently headed up to Paris to do something truly American!  Bowling!  I was super psyched!  First, Bram and I join my good friend Melanie for dinner at a nice Parisian cafe, where we could eat outside in the beautiful evening sunshine.

 

The bowling alley was like stepping into the US once more.  It's hard to see in this picture, but the walls were plastered with license plates for every state in the US.  There was even a gas pump and a jukebox.  American 50s theme!  

Although, there were two main exceptions that let you know you were not in the US.  

1.  The bowling alley was only 8 lanes (everything is bigger in the US).  This picture shows the full extent of the bowling alley.

 

And 2.  Wine was served.  Hey, it's France after all!

 

It was a lot of fun.  Here, Melanie and my master's student Christopher are really getting into the bowling spirit!

 

And Melanie and Lapo enjoy some wine.

Epic Journeys through the Desert

Going to New Mexico also gave me time for something else I don't get to do in France - wander in the desert.  My mom took us to Tent Rocks. These structures were made by volcanic tuff.  When there was a rock to protect the top, the water and wind was free to erode the softer tuff, leaving these bizarre structures.  Structures like this in only to places in the world: Tent Rocks, New Mexico, and Capadocia, Turkey (both of which I've been to.)

The erosion causes the roots for some trees to be exposed, which, of course, led to opportunities to play.  :)

 

It looks like this tree is crawling down the canyon.

Walking into the canyon - I had a hard time believing the sky was really that blue!

 

The walls begin to close in on us.

Bram on the side of the canyon.

 

Mom ducking through low spots.

 

After a while, I get tired of walking, so Bram carries me.

Finally at the top!   Notice Cochiti Lake in the background.

Looking back down on the canyon.

Bram takes some time to be Zen.

And this is something I thought I would never see - Mom falling behind taking too many pictures!

Even though it hasn't rained in 180 days, life still blooms.

Next we went up to the Sandia Mountains for some hiking there too.

There were lots of birds there.

And butterflies!

My parents take some time to look out at the view.

The interesting bark of an alligator juniper.

Mom sniffs the Ponderosa pine to see if it smells like vanilla.

Soaking up the Culture Americana

My husband and I recently were able to visit home.  It was interesting to be back, and to see how much our point of views have changed.  And of course, to have lots of Mexican food, green chili, root beer, and Mountain Dew*!

*Bram only.

Here he is enjoying a hot dog with guacamole and ketchup.

A good friend's baby decides he has a taste for baby-sized Sprite!

That baby gave my mom a chance to test out being a grandma.  I thought it would satiate her appetite for a grandchild a bit.  Oh no.  It only made it worse.

Yup.  Only made it worse.

And room service!  What trip to the US wouldn't be complete without a hamburger the size of your head?

Reverse Culture Shock - from France to Southern LA

Unless I were to go to India or Africa, I would be hard pressed to find two more different places than France and Southern California.  I suppose nothing makes you feel like you are finally beginning to feel at home somewhere than to visit your own country and have it feel totally alien.  (Given, California is like its own country).  Driving down the 405 highway during rush hour coming from LAX was a horrifying experience, and made me joyous that I wasn't the one driving.  My hotel was on a normal city street, one that happened to have 8 lanes of traffic and a speed limit of 55 miles per hour.  The fact that I didn't have a car seemed to perplex a lot of people (which actually would explain the brown haze I descended into as I landed at the airport), and there wasn't much within walking distance at all.  In fact, when I had to cross said 8 lanes of traffic, the cross/do not cross sign was so far away it looked like a little dot on the horizon.  I worried I wouldn't be able to make it across in the street in the allotted time I had.  So far to go!

So, I got to see only a small fraction of LA.  The beach wasn't that far away, but it seemed horribly out of reach, given that to walk there would probably take a few hours and I would have to cross half a dozen highways, and as far as I know, there is no public transportation where I was in LA.

(I hear there are metro systems in other parts of LA - good for it.   Let's hope that things like that continue to get funded and support through time.)