Boston - Home to 'Merica!

As I prepared to leave Europe, I thought of all the experiences I had been through in the last three months and four days...

• Stood on top of a glacier and down below in its lava tubes within hours of one another
• Tasted glacier ice, roasted chestnuts, octopus pizza, sardines, blood sausage, haggis, minke whale, puffin, reindeer, paella, and francesinha
• Drank brennivin, Guinness, Oban and Blair Atol scotch whiskies, and ginjinha from the sources
• Slept in a teepee and on a cattle ranch
• Stood and watched the sun rise and set in the same day
• Witnessed the elusive and impressive ocean sunfish
• Attended mass at St. James Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela after walking 500 miles
• Crept through a Chapel of Bones with over 5,000 skeletons
• Earned the wickedest farmer's tan ever
• Prayed with nuns and monks
• Watched flamenco dancers and fado singers
• Was inhabited by a ghost in the vaults of Edinburgh
• Checked off the Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye and Fingal's Cave on the Isle of Staffa from my bucket list
• Survived bed bugs
• Learned how to drive on the wrong side of the road
• Stuck my head over the cliffs on the Aran Islands
• Had FUN, like serious fun

Holy moly, that's a lot of things, and so much more.  The people I met on the road are truly amazing and inspiring and the friends that joined me along the way made all of my experiences so much richer because I was able to share them with them.

I metroed to the airport the day I left and climbed aboard that Airbus (shudder) plane, sad to leave, but very happy to get home.  I did miss my family and friends and longed to be home with them and to give them all hugs.  After one final cafe con leche and... yes... pastry, I said goodbye!

We made a quick stop in the Azores Islands which I had never heard of before starting to look into my Europe trip.  They looked gorgeous from the plane, like a little Hawaii in the middle of nowhere (kind of like how Hawaii is in the middle of nowhere).  

When I landed , I sailed through customs and found Maureen (through a miracle).  As soon as I got to Maureen's house she put on the onesie and cracked me a Sam Adams Seasonal... and then, she introduced me to the coolest koozie I have every seen.  Triple win.  Matt, Mo, and I watched some baseball and chatted about life, so good to catch up with these two!

And after an incredibly restful sleep, she made my other dream come true.  Two words - Dunkin'. Donuts.  I mean life just doesn't get better.

Mo and I drove up to Salem, MA (yes, of the witch hunt fame).  Fall was in full swing and the trees were glorious.  We started at the cemetery filled with Hawthornes.  Pennies littered some of the graves in the Irish tradition.

Salem was decked out in full Halloween splendor.  Scarecrows, ghouls and goblins, witches, cobwebs, pumpkins and maize littered the streets.  We drank our coffees and took some photo ops.

Next we visited the House of Seven Gables - just like the Nathaniel Hawthorne book.  The house N.H. grew up in was actually moved from down the street to inside the property and we were able to view that too.

We ended the day at the Salem Witch Museum.  This museum is super trippy.  The first room has everyone sitting facing inward, above you there are thirteen sets shrouded in darkness.  As this booming dramatic voice tells the tale of the Salem Witch Trials, different sets light up.  I appreciated the theatrics, but several of the mannequins seemed to have melted faces (and the ones affected were mannequins of the little girls) similar to gargoyles.  I suppose it added some flair to the whole production.

Had a great dinner with Maureen, Kate, and Will where like a child of divorce I was handed off to the new set of parents.  Went back to Will and Kate's pad and was introduced to... the dinosaur hat!  Kate said she bought the hat to wear when she needed it... because we all need to get our inner reptile on don't you know.

The next day, Monika had taken the day off work to take me to the Science Museum downtown.  We went to see the Pixar exhibition - all about how Pixar is made.  It was super cool to see all the engineering behind the stories.  I asked Monika what job she would have if she had her druthers and she chose lighting, which I admit was very cool.  I really liked the research done before the CGI even starts - the people fashioning ant cameras near ant colonies to research A Bug's Life, or the divers taking footage under the water to capture the underwater light for Finding Nemo.  Super cool.

I made my own fish, isn't he beautiful?!

Before we left we caught the lightning show at the Tesla coil - science rules!

When I got home from the museum, Kate and I took a walk through the park near her house.  At times the leaves were so gorgeous the entire air seemed to breath orange and yellow.

I also got to spend some quality time with her cats - Milo and Bandit.

And then... I headed home - to Wilmington to see my family.  My mom and Will were waiting at the airport and it was incredible to be there, giving them hugs.  I felt like I had been waiting for that moment for such a long time.

As for a wrap-up, well it doesn't really feel like an ending, just a good segway into Part 2.  I'm deep into planning mode for New Zealand, etc.  I will be sure to keep everyone tuned!  Thank you to all of you who have kept up with me and read some of these looooooong posts.  And if you're in the mood to travel sometime this year, give me a call.  Who knows?  We could possibly meet up somewhere exotic and eat pigeon, stranger things have happened.  :)