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By the way, just as a side note (inspired, obviously, by my current header photo on this blog), if you are ever in Tuscany, do yourself a favor and book a tour and a meal at Avignonesi. The food is absolutely phenomenal and accompanied by - what else? - lots of wine!

We had a mini vacation this past Monday and Tuesday taking advantage of a 'ski and stay' package to do some snowboarding at Sunday River (near Bethel, Maine). This was the first time at a bigger place and only my 3rd time snowboarding overall. (Before this trip we had only been to Nashoba Valley and Wachusett, both nearby in Massachusetts.)

It was a lot of fun. Sunday River is nice and BIG. There were no lift lines. I highly recommend going midweek in the Spring.

Want to see a few photos we took from the trip?

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Here is a reenactment of a silly comment Mom made at dinner one night in Rome. I got in the habit of making people repeat funny things so I could capture it on video.

While I'm waiting for the laundry (yes, I know, I'm up too late... dude, don't ask, it's pet-related) I wanted to throw up just a few photos of my trip to Italy because I feel guilty for not posting any yet. Really, there are literally around 2000 to go through so I'll work on that and when I have them all nicely organized and labeled, I'll put up nice posts of albums for you to look at.

In the meantime, just used iPhoto and the admittedly pretty terrible templates for webpages that come with it by default.

Regardless, the photos are great! Click on the photo below for the first teeny group!

Here is a photo of Eva and me the last day of our trip. This is at the castello in Rome near sunset. There are so many photos to go through. But I love this one so I wanted to post it. We had such a fun time together!

Yes, I know, I need to post photos

I took over 2000 on my trip I think, so I hope you realize it's going to take a little bit of time to sort through them, folks.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a couple of things I learned from my trip:

1. The metro in Rome is actually WORSE than the T. At least when there's a strike. Believe it.
2. Americans really are kind of completely ridiculous. Most noticeable on my flights home surrounded mostly by Americans.
3. You can never have too much pasta. Or cheese. Or gelato. Or bread.
4. Dessert wine is hardcore. Possibly so hardcore I can't even drink more than a sip. Sorry, dessert wine.
5. Risotto is something that I should be eating at least once every single day.
6. Mosquitos in Italy really really like the taste of my blood.
7. You get a lot of credit for attempting to speak 2-3 words in Italian. And then everyone just speaks English to you anyway.
8. Medieval Tuscan towns don't get good cellphone reception but they do make delicious ravioli.
9. Burlusconi is basically super crazy.
10. Italian TV sucks. It's a fact.

More info to follow when I have a chance. Trying to get a lot of stuff done in my regular life right now folks.

Here are just a few photos from Saturday and Sunday in Monza and Milan. When I get home I will need to go through them all and do some more work organizing them and presenting them.

But for now, click below for some first photos. Of note: in Monza and Milan there is a TON of graffiti. For some reason Gary Coleman is heavily featured. Random. Also, the airport in Zurich had lots of smoking lounges. Remember smoking? Europe does.

You all know I'm always up for a good road trip. In fact, I grew up taking long road trips pretty much every summer of my life for family vacations and other adventures. Here is an article about some especially scenic road trips in the U.S..

Which of these have I been on? Hmmm. I think I've been on parts of Route 1, years and years ago, but it might have been at night. Rob and I have been on the Blue Ridge Parkway which is very pretty. I've been to the Rockies in Colorado many times. So pretty, one of my favorite places ever.

Anyway, if you're looking for a good road trip, check these recommendations out. They're all over the U.S. so you should be able to find one that's not impossibly far away from you.

People, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times:

Caution! Many visitors have been gored by buffalo!

When are you going to listen?

Sorry India, I don't mean to generalize too much, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to visit you while there are people getting burned alive for practicing "black magic". No thank you. I don't want you to think my cell phone or iPod is "black magic".