A non-traditional Thanksgiving

I started Thanksgiving day last week with a run down Co Rd 44, towards the foothills. The day before I had tried running around a local lake only to find it was bordered by barbed-wire fence (it was actually a well-protected reservoir and not meant for recreatioon) so I ended up circling some neighborhoods instead. The county road passed by another lake and to my surprise it was actually a part of a tiny nature reserve and had a dirt trail around it. During this run I discovered how painfully intense the sun is here, one mile above sea level, and I also noticed several prairie dog colonies, small groups of gigantic black-billed magpies (real magpies, not Australian 'maggie pies'), and a large coyote (It was only about 30m away and did not run off when I passed by, which was a little freaky).

Co Rd 44, with the foothills in the background

One of several prairie dog colonies (this one is outside the state pen)

Thanksgiving was sunny, warm, and full of family. I ran to a Vietnamese bakery and grocery store with Mom and Aunt Phuong and Aunt Be (aka Aunt Amy, Ut, or Thanh--I will need to learn all the different names and titles of my relatives). When we returned, many of my aunts and cousins (most of whom are female) had arrived at the house and were making plates and plates of cha gio (fried spring rolls) and pate chaud (meat-filled puff pastries). Andrew, Jennifer, and Carter came over with Jennifer's sister (Adrienne), brother-in-law (also named Andrew) and father (Bob). Adrienne and Andrew Clay live in Longmont, CO, about an hour away, so it was good to visit with them, especially since I don't know when I'd get to see them again. I imagine being should-to-shoulder with dozens of Vietnamese and trying strange foods was a bit of a culture shock for them! For us Westerners, the Aunts heated up some Costco stuffing, gravy, chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, and two pre-cooked turkeys. My Aunt Lieu, the head chef of a local Vietnamese restaurant, prepared a huge batch of beefsteaks and the second they were cooked and we were about to serve my uncles arrived, just in time, haha. There were about 45 people over so it was quite a gathering!

Picking up an order for 20 loaves of bread (check out those desserts!)

Che!!

Another bakery :o)

Preparing pate chaud and cha gio

Aunt Be and her Pate chaud

Que and Kim and cha gio

Bob, Jennifer's dad, pointed out how special it was to see an entire family in one place working together and getting along so well. It was absolutely something I feel thankful for, that of 21 adults, everyone is on good terms and loves each other very much. Despite typical sibling bickering and tension, at the end of the day everyone goes home happy, as far as I can tell, anyway. The cousins are great, too, of course!

Uncle Peter carving the turkeys

The men at the table, drinking beers, the ladies at the island with the desserts

The Western table

A typical Thanksgiving kiddie table

Us with Grandma

Denver

I have been spending the eight days around Thanksgiving in Denver, CO, along with many, many people I have not seen in years. On Sunday my grandfather on my mother's side passed away and on Tuesday I flew out to Colorado. This was a starkly different Thanksgiving from the one I had been anticipating (going to Seth's house in NY for traditional turkey, pumpkin pie, and Black Friday shopping), but since Seth sadly could not make it to CO I came out by myself and was met by dozens of aunts, uncles and cousins.

Amazingly and wonderfully the entire family came out for this, though it has taken me the past couple days to mentally and emotionally adjust. Not only has been strange being back in Denver (I was born here), but I also have not seen most of my aunts and uncles and cousins since the last time I was here, nine years ago. In fact, I have never met several of my younger cousins and many of the older ones I don't even recognize. And, our family is big--Mom is the oldest (and therefore the whip-cracker) of four sisters and five brothers. Each is married (except Aunt Phuong, who is divorced, though Uncle Vi is still very much a part of the family) but each interestingly has only one, two, or no kids. There are only 16 grandchildren from 10 sets of children.

I am staying with my parents, Andrew, Jennifer, Carter, and Aunt Phuong and her two daughters, Que (the oldest cousin, 29) and 'Little' Phuong (the cousin who visited us in Philly, 24) at Aunt Be and Uncle Peter's large, lovely house with their two kids, Angeline (6) and Austin (2). I has been great staying with them and catching up--there is so much to talk about! It has been also fun to watch Austin and Carter play, especially since Carter is a few weeks older than Austin, though technically 'Uncle' Austin is a generation older.

Wednesday afternoon was the pre-viewing at the funeral home, followed by a Pho dinner in the Vietnamese/Mexican part of town with Andrew and my Uncles Minh, Dien, and Tan, and Aunts Kim and Lieu. It is always a riot eating out with my family--they usually end up getting Andrew to eat all sorts of things, though he is a good sport about trying just about anything. They ordered us the Special Pho, and while I ate the beef flank and not much else of the meat, Andrew ate his tripe, tendon, and jellied pig blood. After dinner I managed to meet up with my high school friend, Danielle, and her boyfriend, Jason, who had been studying/working in Golden for the past few years.

Pho dinner

Andrew eating his pig blood... with a smile

After dinner our uncles treated us to xoi (sweet sticky rice), che (any of a variety of sweet rice and bean with coconut sauce desserts), and these little silver pyramids of steamed rice and meat

Coffee with Danielle and Jason

Philadelphia

Last Thursday Seth and I drove down to Philly (actually we bummed a ride with one of his grad students--thank goodness we didn't have to take the bus) for the big annual American Musicological Society Conference. We had a really great time doing lots of diverse things but unfortunately once we returned home and I tried moving my photos from my camera to my computer, Dell decided to destroy my memory card. Hence I have only a few pictures supplied from my cousin, Phuong. In lieu of images I will have to use words to depict the fun we had :P

One of the best things about the trip, I'd hate to admit, was the hotel. We booked an awesome suite right downtown and across the street from the conference hotel, so not only was the location phenomenal, but the amenities included a gigantic buffet breakfast, wine and soft pretzels in the evenings, a small kitchenette and separate bedroom, and a gym and 'office'. I can't believe we were going to stay at a youth hostel until we remembered we could place a bid on a hotel online and pay 1/3rd the usual price. It didn't take long before we got spoiled and didn't want to leave at the end of the weekend!

After we arrived on Thursday we took a walk to Old City to see the Liberty Bell just before it closed, and booked the last tour of the day for Independence Hall. We also stopped by Christ Church, the Betsy Ross House, Elfreth's Alley (the oldest continuously occupied neighborhood in the US), then had dinner in China Town. We ate in a Vietnamese restaurant that was packed nearly shoulder to shoulder and had the best Pho (beef soup) outside Vietnam. We were not ashamed to eat there again Saturday night, even though we try to steer clear of eating at the same place twice, especially when new to an area.

Friday morning we visited the Museum of Art down the road and induldged in some European art for a few hours. In the evening, after Seth sat in on some conference papers, we went out to dinner with a group of his old colleagues from UNC.

Saturday I was treated with a visit from my cousin, Phuong, who lives two hours from Philly in Alexandria, VA. As Seth hung out at Macy's (yes, the department store) to hear a concert from the Wanamaker Organ (the world's largest pipe organ), Phuong and I took a tour of the Grand Masonic Lodge. We are both fascinated by the Masons and we finally got to go inside their not-so-secret headquarters. In fact, I'm so intrigued by the Free Masons that I have been trying for months to get Seth to try to join, but for some reason he isn't as keen about the whole thing as I am... Anyways, our tour group was led through perhaps 7 or 8 rooms, each with a specific cultural theme (such as Gothic, Egyptian, Norman, Corinthian, Ionic, etc.), but as far as I could tell each room could serve the same purpose. This lodge apparently is considered one of the three major lodges in the world--the others are in London and Scotland. The tour was so fascinating--I wish we could have stayed longer! If only I were a man.

Phuong and I spent the rest of the afternoon window shopping and exploring the bustling Reading Terminal Market, the large indoor market downtown. Here we indulged in a bit of sensory overload, complete with a lunch of soft-pretzels which had been twisted then dunked in butter and salt on the spot by Amish girls.

Between the hotel, Phoung, the Lodge, the Pho and pretzels, I'd say it was a very successful trip!

Here are a few of Phuong's pictures of the Grand Masonic Lodge:

The Lodge is to the left of City Hall, also a very impressive building

Oriental

Norman

Egyptian

Creepy stained-glass window

Londonderry, Vermont

This weekend was the annual First Lutheran Church retreat in Vermont. It was my first time in VT and its charm and beauty totally blew me away; I would love to go back with Seth to spend a few longer days soaking it up. However, it was wonderful to get a taste of our neighboring state and share it with the good company of 16 other adults.

There was lots of down-time and plenty of opportunities to relax, though the highlight of the trip was a Saturday afternoon hike to the top of Magic Mountain (the lodge we rented for the two nights was at the base)--not a long hike but pretty steep and a bit snowy. I had tried running up the mountain that morning but couldn't find the best trail to the summit and had to turn around as it had gotten late (I spent nearly an hour and a half running up and down ski runs trying to find the best route--each trail eventually became so steep that I had to use my hands to help pull myself up before deciding to shimmy back down).

Snowy trail on Magic Mountain

The sun is coming up

Getting steep...

This is about where I had to head back down (you can see the lake that Cindy and I ran around the next morning)

Later in the day a group of us try again (Tom apparently knew the best way to go up)

We lost a few but most of us made it!

At the top all there is is a chair-lift

Half-way back down (actually really close to where I turned around earlier in the day)

The rest of Saturday afternoon and evening was very laid-back and cozy inside the lodge; there were games, books, painting, a warm fire, wine, fudge, an unused hot tube, etc...

So cozy and warm...

Sunday morning Cindy joined me for another early morning run (6am) around Lowell Lake. It started off great but became surprisingly muddy and poorly marked, which made for an exciting yet slow and extremely long run (we were out for 1 hour 40min). We even exited the park from a different road from which we entered and had to double back--this of course didn't help.

Lowell Lake with Cindy

After the run I was late to breakfast so had to eat as much 7-grain hot cereal, waffles, and granola as fast a possible before our casual Sunday morning service. Sadly we then had to check out of the lodge and headed home, stopping for a picnic lunch in a small town nearby. Luckily for me, Paul and Susan, who kindly offered to let me ride with them, decided to take the especially scenic route back home, which passed by several old covered bridges before winding through New Hampshire on its way back to Massachusetts.

Sunday morning breakfast

The lodge in front of Magic Mountain

Picnic lunch (it got so much warmer!)

Spooky nights out

This weekend was very exciting, beginning with an excursion downtown Friday night. Seth and I first met Cindy and Tom for a quick dinner at the Vietnamese sandwich shop in Chinatown (Cindy and I loved the food so much when we went there over the summer we decided to let the guys experience it for themselves!), then hustled around the corner to the Cutler Majestic Theater (a part of Emerson College) to see the opera La Boheme. We actually got 'group' tickets through my Italian class, though the only other people there were the professor, her husband, and one other girl from the class.

We had been aching to see an opera for a long time (it was actually our first full-length, live opera), so we were lucky it was La Boheme. And, as the musical Rent is based on it, we were already felt a bit familiar with the storyline.

Yesterday, to celebrate Halloween, we spent the late afternoon/early evening in Salem. We went last year so had some idea of what to expect. However, since it was Saturday and also freakishly warm (around 70 degrees), everyone else in New England had the same idea as us and the city was totally packed. I usually don't like a mob but it was truly fun to see all the really great costumes parading through the streets.

The Witch House, purchased in 1675 by the judge of the witch trials, Judge Jonathan Corwin

Essex St, by 5:00pm it is already packed!

Salem's oldest cemetery

The view from the cemetery

Nearly a full moon over the harbour

The House of the Seven Gables (not sure what a gable is, but the house is sure spooky looking!)

We went trick-or-treating, too, though not intentionally! We walked by a house with people sitting on their front steps handing candy to trick-or-treaters, and as we past by one of the guys said, "oh you're sure brave to be wearing such a scary costume (referring to Seth's Yankees hat), my son would kill me, but here, have some candy." We each took a piece, and as we continued on our way someone chucked another tootsie roll at Seth's back. We gladly ate it. Finally, somewhat positive 'reverse heckling'!

The Crow Haven Corner--the first witch shop in Salem

A very, very cool costume (though I bet Meghan can make an even better one!)