On top of the world at Mount Evans

Hello. It's me. I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon. More specifically, I launched myself off of it, got rolled over by the wagon several times, and lost all semblance of sanity in the clusterfuck that is wedding planning.

But I emerge victorious, with a ring on my finger and one hell of a wedding story (which I'll go into another time.)

People keep asking me what life is like now that I'm hitched. And I'm always tell them, it's the exact same. Seriously - nothing has changed, other than feeling relief that the big day is over. And I guess it doesn't make as much sense to refer to Derek as "the boy" anymore. He is hereby officially promoted to the exclusive title of "my husband."

But he was still "the boy" when his parents came into town the week before the wedding and we made a trip out to Mount Evans.

Mount Evans is one of Colorado's 14ers and is particularly famous for its eponymous scenic byway being the highest paved road in North America. To my delight, its peak is also home to some incredibly photogenic goats.

Living Ikea rug

The baby stole the show, for obvious reasons.

Squad goals.

That tongue!

That smile!

This goat was definitely flirting with the camera.

We watched the goats for probably twenty minutes, enthralled by their weirdness and totally ignoring the majestic views around us. Eventually we pried our eyes away and walked the couple of switchbacks that took us to the peak of the mountain.

A small man fell out of Derek's shorts.

The background looks awfully precarious. I promise I was very secure when this photo was taken, Mom!

Altitude can make people do funny things.

Mount Evans is well worth a gander if you're looking for a half day trip from Denver. I left feeling cheery, slightly light-headed and genuinely curious about where I could buy me a baby goat.

The English countryside

Having seen the beauty of Scotland's highlands, it was now time to give the English countryside a visit. We hopped into our rental car, scooped up a friend, and journeyed south.

A great way to experience British hospitality is to stay at a bed and breakfast. They are everywhere here and seem to be the default choice for many travelers. Quaint, charming and so much more personal than most hotels. 

We pulled up into ours in the wee town of Shrewton just as the sun was setting.

An vintage stone manor nestled within the rolling hills of the English countryside. Could anything be more romantic? The boy tried his hardest to blend in with the setting.

The next morning, we tucked into hearty breakfasts. Unlike most places on Airbnb, bed and breakfasts here take the latter part of their name just as seriously as the former. Some common breakfast choices in the UK include porridge, smoked salmon with scrambled eggs, and my personal favorite, the full English breakfast, which is a glorious array of sausage, bacon, baked beans, fried egg, grilled mushrooms and tomato, and black pudding, which is made with pig's blood. All served with tea and toast, of course.



Our next stop: Stonehenge. I'll be honest - I wasn't exactly jumping up and down when I first heard we were going to visit a very old pile of rocks. But we arrived on a sunny day, and I was surrounded by friends and family, and everyone was in high spirits. So a lot of jumping up and down ensued!







After doing my cardio, I moved on to my strength workout.

Do you even move giant monolithic structures, bro?

We learned about the structure's past and the history of the people who built it over five thousand years ago. Most of the context as to why Stonehenge was built remains up for speculation (and probably always will, as there is no documentation of its use). The how of its construction was more interesting to me: I learned about several relatively simple techniques involving rope and wooden tracks that may have been used to transport the stones. A couple of researchers proved that a wooden sledges enabled a team of only sixteen men to pull a 2-tonne stone. Painstakingly difficult, but not at all impossible as we'd once thought, and definitely one of the more impressive feats of human engineering.

Stonehenge, you're alright.



Lunch was a quick stop over in the city of Bath, named so because the Romans had turned the place into a spa and erected their much-loved baths there two thousand years ago.







We saw a rather fantastic street performance by a violinist named Joel Grainger in the square where tourists lined up to see the original Roman baths. Here is his YouTube and Facebook. Really excellent stuff, and makes me feel a twinge of regret for not keeping up with the violin.

Our last stop was in the town of Castle Combe. It was so quaint and perfectly picturesque that I almost felt like I was wandering around an artificial theme park - just goes to show how green America is by comparison! But these stone houses were all very real and the town had just been very, very well preserved from when it flourished in the 1500's. No wonder it became a filming spot for movies like Dr. Doolittle and the boy's dad's favorite, War Horse (Joeeeyyyy!).

We stopped into The Old Rectory Tea Room and helped ourselves to scones and clotted cream in Anna's beautiful living room. A tasty, relaxing break from all the day's frolicking.







I'll conclude with what might be my favorite picture of the whole trip: my camera-shy, impressively-bearded siamese twin made a rare appearance. Say hello to my little friend!

Thanksgiving

I spent my Thanksgiving in Maryland this year. It was a peaceful four days filled with family, friends, and food - the three things I am always most thankful for this time of year.

Thanksgiving day began with a turkey trot 5k in Frederick, Maryland. This was my first ever race in Maryland! I loved the home-baked cookies, pretty fall scenery, and small-town feel of this one. It was uplifting to see thousands of people, young and old, gather together to run a 5k...at 8 in the morning...in 20 degree weather.

We clocked in at around 24:30; not my best time ever but not too shabby either. I was really impressed by the variety of runners, from the little kids who ran alongside their parents to the four young men who finished in just over 15 minutes to the 79 year old man BAMF was just doing his thing on this sunny morning. Thanks to Mom and Dad for getting up so early and cheering us on in the cold - you guys were real troopers. And thanks to the owners of a dog named Berkeley for letting me and the boy pet their devastatingly adorable 13-week old half lab half golden retriever puppy. Getting to eat cookies, run a 5k, and pet a puppy made for a pretty kickass morning.

With all this exercise nonsense out of the way, we focused on the real task of the day - cooking! I was responsible for making the stuffing, salad, cranberry-applesauce, and gravy.

Thanksgiving was extra special this year because we spent it with my aunt from China, my cousin, my cousin's cousin, and my grandparents on my dad's side. In total there were 10 people. And it felt like there was enough food to feed maybe 20 more.

What's Thanksgiving like in the Fan family? Fairly normal, I think. We make most of the traditional food, like turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes. Some Chinese dishes always end up on the table too - this year we had Asian versions of salad, meatballs and ribs. (And Tsingtao beer, of course.) What was more interesting than the cuisine were the languages, if you ask me. We had my grandparents and aunt who only speak Chinese and the boy who only speaks English and everyone else fluent in both languages, so there was always a lot of side translating going on. But some of the stories told around the dinner table - in particular, one my aunt told in which she re-enacted me as a youth tugging a toy away from another kid - needed no translation :)

After dinner we relaxed with a few rounds of Carcassonne before hitting the hay. The next morning, the boy, my sister and my mom met up with my best friend and her sister to watch Catching Fire. We had all patiently waited to watch this film with each other so it was a treat to finally walk into the theater together to see what Katniss was up to. Skip the next paragraph if you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want to read any spoilers.

I thoroughly enjoyed Catching Fire. Just like with the last Hunger Games, it felt like forever until Katniss actually entered the arena, and that by then much of the out-of-games plot was so ripe and thick that I was left feeling "no wait, I'm not ready for her to leave yet and start killing children, stay in District 12/on the train!" I hadn't read the book prior to seeing this installment so I was completely clueless as to the motives of the other victors. I think they did a good job building tension and suspicion around the others - especially Finnick Odair, who kept me guessing until the very end. Complaints as follows: the marriage and baby thing was kinda weird and had no follow-up, Peeta bread and Katniss only knew each other's favorite colors before she sorta maybe fell in love with him (???), and the end was hella confusing (though perhaps it was meant to be.) Highlights include the stellar cinematography, Liam Hemsworth's cheekbones, and J-Law's badass performance. I, along the rest of the internet, proclaim my undying love for her.

We didn't do much shopping on Black Friday, just a quick trip to Nordstrom Rack before saying goodbye to friends and heading home for dinner, where big a treat was in store for us...

The proximity to fresh seafood is one of the strongest pros of living on the east coast. Once the lobsters were steamed and ready for consumption, chatter died down and sleeves were rolled up round the table as we each confronted the crustacean deliciousness on our plates.

The rest of break was pretty low-key; we met up with more friends, watched the Michigan-Ohio State game (and subsequently died a little on the inside), shopped, and spent some quality time relaxing and hanging out with the fam. I also ran every day, which assuaged my guilt from all that eating out and home-cooked goodness.

And of course, no post about Maryland is ever complete without a picture or two of Mochi, the feline love of my life.

I can't wait to go back home in a few weeks for Christmas!