what. a. year!

after returning from europe in mid-november i spent three weeks in the philadelphia area for two wedding celebrations, thanksgiving with my east-coast family members, and time with my friends who live there.  since i'm moving to texas, in my mind it functioned as a kind of good-bye visit.  : (  

other than that trip, most of my time has been spent with my california family - my sister, brother-in-law, two nieces and two nephews.  i've been soaking in the blessing of getting to know them better and living life together.   they've needed some work done to their house, and i've needed some gas money...  so i painted a few gallons onto their interior and tore down a wooden playset in the back yard for them.

tomorrow (christmas day!) i set off on the 1800+ mile drive from hughson, california to houston, texas.  my plan is to split it into about four days.  i'm so excited to drive again!!!  : )   hopefully my van also enjoys driving again.   once i get a job in houston, replacing my van's leaking fuel tank will be top priority.  hopefully i don't blow up on my way to houston. that would be bad. 

just thinking back over this year...  What A Year this has been!  so much to be thankful for.  : )  and i'm very excited to discover what next year and houston have in store for me.

as for blogging?  i haven't committed myself to anything yet...  to blog at all?  to start another one?  to keep this one active, put it on pause until i again journey geographically, or close it down altogether?   my hunch is that i'll have some kind of blogging going, but i doubt it will be as regular as this one was while i was on the go.   

thanks again for all your support by checking in here.  i hope you've enjoyed the wild ride around the 50 states and i hope you anticipate with me the discovery of what's next on my journey of life....   please stay in touch.   and merry christmas!

spain

i flew on wizzair from cluj to zaragoza...  well actually it was too foggy to land in zaragoza

to we had to land in madrid instead.  madrid!  how convenient.  i ditched the plain and decided to stay in madrid.

after a couple days i took a bus back to zaragoza

zaragoza

then returned to italy on ryanair to catch my transatlantic flight back to the states.

romania

i took a train from budapest to cluj, romania where i stayed with an awesome hungarian family.  the german family i'd met in canada last summer heard i was going to romania and introduced me via email to their friends who live in romania.   daniel and anita were incredibly kind to me.  i'm very glad i got to meet them and their fun relatives too.

daniel showing me around cluj

bus ride from cluj to sibiu

sibiu

train from sibiu to sighisoara

sighisoara - the town where daniel's parents lived and who i stayed with for a night.

ride with daniel's parents back to cluj

hungary

i took a train from prague via slovakia to budapest.  i stayed in a hostel and explored for a couple of days.

i met up with some friends of friends at a cool coffee house.

went to an opera with people i met at the hostel

spent a day in hot spring baths

czech republic

i took a train from berlin to prague to visit my friend talitha.  i had a wonderful visit there.  i stayed with her friends jake and melissa who were amazing hosts!  prague is beautiful.

i felt rich with the currency exchange rate

plastic people of the universe

me and talitha on an early morning photo shoot in the cold

she's a photographer

and lot's of fun to be around

germany

i flew on ryanair from milan to berlin and visited my friends danielle and matthias there.  they were awesome and i'm so glad i got to spend a few days with them.

wall

cool multi-level train station

italy

my trip to europe was great!  i visited italy, germany, czech republic, hungary, romania, and spain...   i'll make a few super brief posts here for each country.

my sister's wedding in italy was beautiful!  i loved hanging out there with my sisters and my mom and my new brother-in-law and his various relatives too.   we explored venice, florence, and milan.

venice

florence

milan

the wedding near venice