Visit with Jamie, Elisa, and Mary Beth.

My oldest and dearest girlfriends visit to Melbourne was everything I had hoped it would be and more.  With only one week with Jamie and Elisa, and two with MB, things continue to fly by at an exceedingly speedy pace.  While the girls were here we had a terrific time exploring Melbourne and on our Great Ocean Road trip.  

Striking a pose at Builders Arms.

 

Enjoying the trampoline's on the beach in Lorne after hours...

With friends at the races.

The girls at Erskine Falls in Lorne. 

Mary Beth and Prior at the "best tram stop in Melbourne"

The girls vacation wouldn't have been the same if wasn't for all my wonderful friends who reconfirmed that Aussie's are super friendly and hospitable by showing us an excellent time daily.  

I had the Monday the girls arrived off of work and Tuesday was a state holiday, the Melbourne Cup Day; the race that stops a nation, but I was up bright and early the rest of the week!  I also took a three day weekend for the Lorne trip.  Work has been busy and going really well.  Thankfully they are flexible because Neal arrives on Thursday and they are letting me take a couple of days off for his visit as well.

I posted a couple of photo albums compiled from a sampling of the 900 shots Elisa, Mary Beth and I took during the holiday.

Heading to the Melbourne Cup!

Pictures!

Me and Neal at Bolsa Chica Beach.  

Thanks to Neal and Maaike for some of the California album photos...

Lily, the birthday girl, and me minus our masks...

Had to go into the field for work...

Stopped to pick these from the canal bank :)

Check out the links to the new albums...  122,000 more words.  

Yo quiero un burrito.

I miss Mexican food!  Not only is delicious but it is also so cheap in the southwest and of course Mexico... aww the memories.  

I don't know if you can read this menu but it goes a little something like this:

Burrito $3.79, Taco $.49, Shrimp Ceviche $2.99.

Photos I snapped of the menus at Holy Mole, a great authentic Mexican joint, down the street from the LB apartment.  Besides all the wonderful salsa choices they also have free roasted and seasoned peppers, bonus!  

If you are in PHX go to Rito's and think of me!  Or Amados, Revas... the Ranch Market... 

27

Things have been busy since my mom’s visit.  I barely had time to get back into my usual routine before heading out to Los Angeles.  I was able to take a week off of work to go home to celebrate my birthday with Neal, friends and family.  The four flights to get myself there and back were less than fun but the week in LA, Long Beach, and Newport was very nice.  The weather was perfect and I was able to go to the beach four times.  The ocean has already cooled down quite a bit, but I was able to relax and get a start on my tan for the approaching summer here in Melbourne.   My good friend Maaike was able to fly in for the weekend and Neal, Peter, Maaike and I all went to see a show at the Hollywood Bowl (which is my absolute favorite venue).  Unfortunately we are slackers and headed out way behind schedule and tried to use LA’s less than adequate public transportation system to get there so we ended up missing two of the bands we had really wanted to see.  The rest of the week went really smoothly and way too quickly.  My parents drove over from Arizona and brought their bikes so the three of us had fun biking around Long Beach one day while Neal was at work.  The area is really beautiful and has really nice bike paths and trails all along the coast.  It was very hard to say goodbye to Neal again but thankfully he is able to come out to Melbourne for a visit over the Thanksgiving holiday (which of course is not celebrated here in Australia). 

 

I got back into town Sunday and back to work Monday morning… I handled the jet lag very well and made it through a busy work week.  This past weekend I went to see two shows, had a picnic at the botanical gardens, and attended a nice potluck dinner party.   The weather this weekend was very nice but yesterday was cold and rainy.  Last evening I got caught in an intense downpour that was accompanied by strong winds that turned out my new umbrella, (which had just replaced the yellow one that the wind had already destroyed)!  Just as I was thinking, I’ve had about enough of this Melbourne weather; I turned and saw a huge, stunning rainbow spanning the Yarra River perfectly.  It was really beautiful and I was very disappointed that I didn’t have my camera on me.  I hope to post a new album from my trip home soon....

Here's one I took of Neal on the beach.  

Sunny Days

I uploaded some new Melbourne Pics...  checkout the link.  Highlights include the Melbourne Zoo with my mom.  Here we are at the Fitzroy Gardens:

The weather is warming up and the days are much longer, spring is in the air!

Brighton Beach with my Mum ;)

My mom is here in Melbourne for a visit!  She spontaneously bought a ticket for a nice two and a half week stay with me and arrived on Saturday, August 23rd.   We have been having a great time, as I do my best to show her all Melbourne has to offer.  Here are a few pictures from our day at Brighton Beach, famous for it's colorful "bathing boxes" and the "Million-dollar Mile" describing the string of amazing houses along this stretch of beach.  Despite a bit of rain and wind we had a very lovely day exploring this beach community.