Wild Cat Birthday Fun

To celebrate J's birthday (01/02) we took a short family vacation to Walt Disney World. Fun was had by all and the winner for most fun attraction was High School Musical, which almost didn't happen because of rain, freezing temperatures and slick pavement.



Still, the intrepid Wild Cats performed to screaming groups of freezing people (not all of whom were screaming in order to keep warm, though it did help a bit) and a good time was had by all. The American Idol Experience was also quite fun. It was difficult not to compare WDW to its more mature cousin Disneyland and that is another post. I am still with Dorothy (there's no place like home).

2009 in review

I thought about doing this as a newsletter kind of post but really I think that facebook keeps anyone who cares up-to-date on all Ammon-Reed household events. Instead, here's a few pictures of the highlights of 2009.

Spring Break trip to St. Augustine at Ripley's Believe It or Not



Big highlights -- Cousin Marc and Karen's Wedding in St. Louis



Jasmine's Graduation from Watauga High School



We had a terrific time in NYC on the trip to celebrate Jasmine's graduation



I got to make an intentional John Lennon pilgrimage in NYC



and in Montreal the AAR was at the hotel John and Yoko stayed in for the bed-in



In August, our trip to Mexico was awesome and fun




Back in NC, it was a beautiful autumn (Florida was very hot and there were no hurricanes!)



Jasmine's first semester at ASU



Where she was inducted in the National Honor Society



And the year ended with the snowy-est holiday break ever!

Yucatan Cenotes

It is nearly time for a year in review post. But before I begin that project, I have a little leftover posting to do from earlier this year. I want to post this image that I meant to write about before the fall semester spun completely out of control.



This is seriously the best vacation picture I have ever taken. (You have to click on it to enlarge and then you can see the bottom of the pool as well as the reflection of the ceiling in the water.) This is a cenote in the Yucatan, part of our vacation to the Mexican Mayan region in August. To get to these cenotes, we had to climb down steep and damp stairs, in one case we climbed down a ladder into near complete darkness, to arrive at cool and marvelous underground mineral lakes. The water is crystal clear, the air is cool but heavy with minerals, though the scent is pleasant and there is sunlight streaming in through holes in the limestone ceiling of the caves. There were few people at this site, as the cenotes are difficult to find and require a guide with a horse drawn cart in order to traverse the landscape. These cenotes are on a former sisal plantation about 50 kilometers outside of Merida. Swimming in that soft, cool water, I felt some sense of why the Mayans believed that paradise was under the earth. We were alone in this particular pool, floating in the refreshing water with the sunlight filtering down through the roots of massive trees. Snorkeling here was incredible -- small fishes and amazing rock formations. Climbing out of the water, I was able to take this picture before the next group climbed down the ladder to take their swim.

Suddenly the End of Summer

Cue dramatic music. This means it's time to turn my thoughts away from research and back to teaching and writing syllabi. But, as a reward for a little work, I thought I would post a bit about Mexico.

We went to a ruins site, Ek-Balam, about 45 minutes from Valladolid. It's only 30km but there are lots of topes, which are giant Mexican speed bumps, and those can slow down a trip quite a bit. The landscape is wild and lovely, punctuated by some villages, subsistence farming, and federale stations.



We had to hire a Taxi ($300 pesos plus tip at 12 pesos to the dollar, so it was pretty darned inexpensive). Ek-Balam is off the tour bus path, so the site was amazingly empty -- just a few archeologists and some other adventurous travelers.







We thought we could see Chichen Itza from the top of the tallest temple, but only if it's a clear day and you squint.



There's some terrific restoration going on there, with lots of work on the main structure and one of the living spaces. The base of this gallery half way up the main pyramid is a giant Jaguar mouth, with many large teeth and some fantastic figures.







There were some dogs, lounging around in an effort to stay cool and some workers moving huge amounts of dirt and rocks to uncover more of the site. Ek Balam is worth the effort to visit because of the rich restoration and opportunity to explore the various structures.

I put some more pictures of Ek Balam http://picasaweb.google.com/lauraammon/EkBalam via Picasa.

Mexico

Ah, so much to share about Mexico and yet I am so exhausted (Randy likes to say that he needs a vacation after his vacation).

It was beautiful. Here's a sample.



More when I wake up.

Mid-Summer

It's nearly August and this summer has been quite the topsy-turvy challenge. Lots of ups and downs, in a way this summer has reminded me of Space Mountain. Very fast, all in the dark and unpredictable. Fun, in a scary, adrenaline charged way.

Last summer, Ran and I went to Cuernavaca and Taxco Mexico to plan a trip for this summer with students. Because of some minor annoyances, such as the global economic meltdown and swine-flu, not enough students signed up for the class. So, no study abroad for me this summer. That's ok, though, I got lots of writing done and faced some financial demons that might have continued to have been ignored.

We are returning to Mexico this summer with Jas in tow. And we are going back to the Yucatan to explore Mayan ruins and cenotes and the fine snorkeling that is promised on the coast at Tulum. Since we are cheap and anti-resort kind of travelers we are staying off the beaten path (though I could not convince Ran that he wanted to stay in a cabana with a hammock for a bed). More about that after it happens. In anticipation, I was pursuing my pictures from last year and thought it was time to post a few of those.

Taxco and Cuernavaca are both inland cities. This is the view of the cathedral (Santa Prisca) in Taxco from a hike we took. I wrote about our best hike and site visit on my other blog here. (Eventually, I'll move those posts to this blog. Probably.)



Taxco is a lovely town, with a quaint zocolo. The Taxco zoloco is smallish and filled with life, street food, collectivos, and all the silver you could ever hope to buy inexpensively. Taxco was once the silver-mine center of Mexico. We also visited a very extensive cave area near Taxco.

We were with a huge group of people, most of them Spanish speakers, though a few Europeans (mostly from Germany). The group was too big for us to follow much of the guided tour but the caves were fantastic. Apparently Emilio Zapata used these caves as a refuge.





Gearing up to go again is such fun. Randy really loves the planning stages and as a result our vacations are much more organized that they would be if I were in charge. Last year we stayed at three truly awesome places that he researched and found. I would go back to any of the three of them and had planned to take students to those places. The quaintest was in Taxco, Hotel Mi Casita. Such a lovely space, so many plants, great view, terrific hosts and delightful rooms. We had two different rooms there, one with a roof-top patio (very romantic) and one called The Library.

Sweet Ran at our sweet accommodations.


View from our rooftop patio.



This is image heavy and somewhat disorganized. But filled with fun memories. I can't wait to make more.

Summer activites, vol. 1

I have been swamped with many events here in the "oooh pretty" state and have fallen behind on blogging. There is much to catch up about here in my blog and I will begin with an extremely happy post. On May 9, my adorable, delightful, intelligent, witty, and down-right gorgeous cousin got married to a woman his equal in all things. We drove to Marc and Karen's wedding and got to spend time with St. Louis family that we rarely see. For Jasmine, it was the first time she'd met any of these folks and she had a marvelous time. The weekend was too short. The wedding was a marvel of perfectly executed performances, fantastic accommodations at the Omni Majestic Hotel and Chez Bohack-Mendolia, topped with an exquisite reception at an art gallery.




Marc and Karen have purchased a lovely home, complete with garden and swimming pool. It's got a terrific yard and some lovely volunteer plant life. Marc is tending his own vegetable garden. I'm only slightly jealous, as I watched him water the expanse of his garden plot. He has peppers and tomatoes and herbs. It's like having his own farmer's market just outside the kitchen!



I couldn't be happier for my delightful cousins and look forward to many wonderful things from that newly blossoming branch of the St L family.