050 - USA - San Diego The End: Back to Americana Check out the pictures from our final leg of the trip: Family photos from the West Coast. Click here. What a time to be back. Coming home to Americana after 14 months of traveling the world is like jumping into a lake of ice water: it’s a shock to the system. Add to that, a bearish economy, a dry job market, and significant losses to once booming investments, and it’s like jumping into a lake of ice water with a lead weight anchored to your feet! Lucky for me, I [View Full Entry]

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049 - USA - Washington Family photos from the West Coast 04/18/09 - 04/22/09 Here are the photos from the final leg of our trip... driving down the west coast of the country. [View Full Entry]

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048 - USA - Montana Closing the circle in Montana 04/09/09 - 04/18/09 Life comes in circles. Montana marked the closure of three highly personal phases of our trip and of our lives. To begin with, this was Hannah’s first time back in her native state as a visiting adult (she flew back a couple of years ago for a funeral but didn’t spend significant time there). This was also the first time we were able to see our dear friend Leslie Morningstar since the tragic events that brought us together in Cambodia. Finally, besides visiting a few friends and family [View Full Entry]

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047 - USA - New York 03/25/09 - 04/09/09 New York: A city, a mountain house, and a waterfall New York is one of those truly unique places in the world. The City radiates energy, sometimes good, other times not, that grabs you the moment you step onto that grate-filled sidewalk and get brushed between a high-heeled power suit and an off-duty Pakistani cabbie. Your neck creaks and your eyes absorb the concrete stimulation, while your stomach and $30 drop as you pay for those two martinis at the hidden neighborhood watering hole. It's exhilarating, it's intoxicating, and it's the reason [View Full Entry]

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For all you Elvis fans, here's to Taking Care of Business in Graceland! Enjoy the pics! [View Full Entry]

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046 - USA - Memphis 03/23/09 - 03/25/09 “I'm going to Graceland... Graceland... Memphis, Tennessee...” -Paul Simon Ever wonder how we chose the destinations for our round-the-world trip? It wasn't a scientific process but we did have some selection criteria. First, we wanted to go to places that we've never visited before (except for Greece which was our halfway 'recharge' point). So, as cool as Aussies are, I've been there, so Oz was out and Indonesia in. Next, we chose places that we'd rather not go with a family in tow... so New Zealand out, India in. We didn't want any [View Full Entry]

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045 - USA - Colorado 03/20/09 - 03/23/09 Brother Levi in Colorado Springs Coming back to the States after 13 months of global travel injected some serious patriotism back in us (especially Hannah!). Waiting for our luggage at LAX I saw an older Hispanic lady struggling with her jumbo-bags. Speaking in Spanish, I offered her a hand... then I thought, wait a minute, I bet she speaks English! In fact, everyone here speaks English! I can read the road signs, order food from a menu without being lost with 40% of the choices, and bus numbers aren't in Arabic! Woo-hoo, it's [View Full Entry]

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044 - Peru - Cusco 03/01/09 - 03/13/09 Tourist ready Peru Visiting Machu Picchu is like visiting the pyramids of Egypt or the Acropolis of Athens: hordes of tourists flock the grounds snapping photos, listening to their private tour guide explain the area in their native tongue, while screaming kids and old folks with canes hobble around distracting you from the sites. Still, you gotta do it. It's big, it's impressive, and it's possibly the destination spot for all of South America. After over a year of traveling with a 'Do It Like The Locals' credo, Peru was a tough country [View Full Entry]

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Here are some photos of the amazing children of Oruro. They are primarily of the girls from the Hogar Penny (orphanage for girls) and the underprivileged children at the comedor (soup kitchen) we volunteered at. [View Full Entry]

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Here are some fun photos from the Salar de Uyuni. All the photos are 100% original, undoctored, and Photoshop-free!! [View Full Entry]

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