Egypt: Further Up the Nile

I have never been what you would call a "morning person".  That moment in adulthood when you realize you just said "I just can't sleep in past 9:00 anymore" has never happened to me.  (I also never grew out of loving fart jokes and midnight snacks of jalapeno poppers, so maybe there's just no hope across the board.)

But the thing is about being in Egypt in late June is -- it gets truly punishingly hot... quickly.

I took this screenshot my first morning in Aswan as I was waiting for the boat rep.  I don't care how tough you are, this kind of heat is no joke.  The good news is that our tour guides understood that this was something we tourists weren't exactly used to.  But that, of course, meant that we were down the gangplank and on the minibus at 6:00 AM.  There are few things I will cheerfully get up at 5:30 AM for.  A train or plane ride makes the list.  So does going off for a day of mind-blowing incredible sightseeing in freaking Egypt.  Yay!

The first thing we did was visit the Aswan granite quarry (the place that furnished much of the stone used to build everyone's favorite monuments and temples), and take a look at the Unfinished Obelisk.  Unfinished, because it cracked while they were still carving it.  Really bad day for some poor guy 3,500 years ago.

I want to take a sec right off the bat to say good things about our tour guide, Ismail.  This guy could not have been friendlier or more patient, and he had a staggering degree of knowledge in all areas of Ancient Egyptian history and mythology.  He could read hieroglyphics.  Read hieroglyphics.  He cheerfully fielded every one of my enthusiastic questions, and often stayed behind to chat further once everyone else had wandered off.  He made four wonderfully exhausting days so much better than they would have been without him.  Cheers to you, my friend.  You were awesome.

After the quarry, we swung by Aswan Dam to get some pictures of Lake Nasser.  No crocodiles poked their noses out to pose for us that day, oh well.

Then, it was time for seat-bouncing anticipatory glee, because we were on our way to Agilkia Island and the temple complex of Philae.  The complex was moved from its original spot on Philae Island because the recently-created Lake Nasser was flooding it.  Let's just think for a moment about the undertaking that would be involved to move not one but several Ancient Egyptian Temples.

We piled onboard a completely safe-looking motorboat and headed over, accompanied of course by the small throng of vendors who had joined us for the ride.  And then we saw THIS:

Temple of Isis

I was positively flipping out inside.  My first Ancient Egyptian Temple!!  Ermahgerd.  I was here and this was happening and OMG it was suddenly just about the best day ever!

Walking around that temple complex was just... amazing.  Over the course of the next week, I would see so many famous monuments and sights that would make me embarrassingly actually tear up, places like Karnak and Luxor and Giza.  But the Temple of Isis was my first, and you never forget your first love.  I have never been so happy to be anywhere.

Bit of sad historic trivia -- many of the reliefs here and in other temples all over Egypt were damaged and/or defaced by early Christians who had repurposed the temples for churches.  The whole false god and iconoclast thing.  Thumbs-down to you, early Christian dudes with chisels.

After what has to be the most exciting morning I'd had in a long time, we trucked on back to the boat for lunch an a grateful collapse on my giant-size bed.  The boat was finally pulling off that afternoon and taking us upriver towards Luxor.  I headed up to the roof to the the amazing southern Egyptian desert roll by, and also avail myself of the pool which seriously would have been worth the price of the cruise all on its own.

In the late afternoon, we docked and went to go take a look at Kom Ombo.  The Temple of Kom Ombo is interesting because it's kind of an object lesson in clever marketing ideas.  To hear Ismail tell it, originally the temple was dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile god, and was built here precicely because this stretch of the Nile had quite a lot of crocodiles.  (There are no crocs in the Nile anymore, they've all been lovingly rehoused in Lake Nasser.)  But because there were a lot of corcodiles, a lot of people started getting attacked and eaten, and -- surprise surprise -- no one wanted to come to the temple anymore and the priests weren't making any money.  SO, they decided to re-dedicate the temple to a god that they pretty much made up, but who just so happened to have the same name as one of the most popular Egyptian gods, Horus.  They called their new god Horus the Elder.  So now, with both Sobek and Horus the Elder to attract devotees (and the offerings they brought), eventually Kom Ombo got popular again.  Way to go, Ancient Egyptian PR Team!

Ismail being amazing.

Kom Ombo also had a small museum full of crocodile mummies that had been excavated from the site.  There was even a little mummified croc fetus.

That night on the boat, they had traditional Egyptian food for dinner and the staff all wore Egyptian dress.  Instead of ringing a bell for dinner, they let us know it was time to eat by singing a folk song in the lobby.

Calling everyone to dinner.  With flair.

After dinner, there was a party in the lounge with fun silly games and dancing.  I'd become pretty good traveling buddies with two extremely cool women from Boston, and we closed out the night dancing to YMCA with the staff before they tried to teach us an Egyptian folk dance.  I just... love the hell out of my life.

Another early(ish) night though, because the days just kept ramping up with sights even cooler than the day before.  The next day -- the Temple of Horus, Karnak, and Luxor.

Egypt: Cruising the River Nile

First, some housekeeping.  This is my blog, my online journal if you will, and in it I write accounts of my experiences as I interpreted them.  It may in fact be a very different point of view from your own, and if that upsets you, well, there is not a thing I'm going to do about that.  If you don't happen to like what you read here, I just want to offer a gentle reminder that there is not a law in the land that forces you to continue soldiering on.  The internet is a big place, and I'm sure with only a minimum of effort you'll be able to find something else more suited to your tastes and preferences.  Also as a reminder, I do not publish abusive or excessively negative comments, and I am certainly not going to let myself get drawn into a virtual comment battle with someone who doesn't even offer the courtesy of a name.

Ahem.  Anyway.  Where were we, friends and lovers?

After my distinctly fish-out-of-water first day in Aswan, I really was very much looking forward to getting on a river cruise boat for a four-day journey up the Nile.  And right on time, an extremely nice representative from the boat rescued me from El Selam's lobby and took me here.

Oh.  My. Goodness.  The rep introduced me to Ismail, my group's tour guide, and I liked him immediately.  And then... they told me that there were two rooms left on the boat.  A single room, which is what I had booked, and... a suite.

Oh. My.  Goodness.

My room was huuuuuge!  It was just amazing.  There was a king-size bed, an entirely separate living area with comfy couch, French balcony doors and a big beautiful bathroom.  To the day I die I will never understand why they decided to give this to me and not some young couple in love.  I never get upgraded!!  After I finished jumping up and down, I unpacked a little and then went exploring.

I'd never been on a cruise before, and of course I'd always wanted to.  One thing about long-term budget travel, it allows me to see a lot and to meet so many wonderful people along the way, but it is not exactly what you'd call luxurious.  It's more than a fair trade, and I know that any traveling I do in the near and not-so-near future is probably going to include more than a couple dorm rooms.  It's all just part of the experience, but it meant that I was possibly the happiest person walking around on the Tower Prestige that morning.

Roof deck POOOOOL

The cruise was undoubtedly a splurge for me, don't get me wrong.  But it meant I'd get to see parts of Egypt I'd never be able to get to on my own, and quite honestly, with the meals and accommodation and guide and transport and tickets to sights all included, this four-day cruise turned out to be both amazing and a very economical choice.  (Which of course I appreciated at the time, but appreciated even more when I got to Cairo and saw how much money I was hemorrhaging on a daily basis.  But more on that later.)

I was meeting Ismail before lunch because my tour apparently included a feluca ride.  I actually didn't know this but happily accepted.  (A feluca is basically an old-fashioned sailboat.)  It was just Ismail, the boat operator, and me, and Ismail and I enjoyed a really nice conversation about Aswan, Egyptian history, tourism, etc.  Ismail said that this summer was the lowest low season he could remember, which I guess at least partly accounts for the desperate aggression of all the vendors I'd have to fend off during the length of my stay.

The heat was getting to be truly impressive as it got towards midday, but I was just loving every minute of actually getting to sail on the Nile.  However, we ended up not getting very far as after about ten minutes, our operator suddenly set the boat in a slow circle in the middle of the river, and started pulling out bag after bag full of beaded jewelry and other random trinkets which he shook dramatically in front of me before laying them all next to each other on the boat deck.  Um, talk about your captive audience.  I was glad Ismail was there but also kind of annoyed that my hour-long cruise apparently really meant ten-minute cruise followed by awkward sales pitch.  But I was still new to Egypt and hadn't quite yet grasped the constant extent to which I'd be pressured to fork over money for goods and services I did not want.  So, I bought a necklace, and it's pretty neat.  The guy (through Ismail) assured me it was turquoise and camel bone, but I think something must have gotten lost in translation because surely what he meant to say was "plastic".

Ah well.  It's different, anyway.  And I have yet another story to offer up whenever anyone asks me where I got it.

After I handed over my bills, the cruise was apparently over because the guy packed up his stash and took us directly back to shore.  Whatever, I guess it's what I could expect for free.  It was time for lunch on the ship anyway.

At lunch I met the other member of my tour group, 12 of us in all.  Pretty nice, diverse group of people.  After lunch there was an optional (read: not included) boat ride to a "Nubian Village", which I decided to go for.  Back out on the Nile!

Camels!!

At the village, the first thing we did was visit this one dude's house for tea and crocodiles.  No, really.

Obviously completely safe

Then, we just walked around through the gauntlet of vendors.  Egypt makes Istanbul's Grand Bazaar look positively asleep.  You already know how much I love being heckled and hassled while browsing so I didn't stop to look at much.  Then just as the sun was going down, it was time to get back on the boat and putter home.

Getting to hold a crocodile was fun, and I really loved getting to see more of the Nile, especially since my feluca ride had been rather a disappointment.  But I'd been in Egypt for two whole days at that point and had yet to see anything truly ancient or awesome, and I was getting a little antsy.  So I was very much looking forward to the next day, where among other things we would get to see the Philae Temple of Isis and Kom Ombo, a Ptolemaic temple dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek and Horus the Elder.

After dinner, I had a very quiet glass of wine in the ship's lounge, then retired to my incredible room and had myself the earliest night in a long while, because days in Egypt start early.  5:30 wake-up call, anyone?

Aswan: Welcome to Egypt

Why haven't I written about Egypt yet?  Well.  First, I'm lazy.  Second, I have been busy.  Sort of.  Third, my mind's been focused on other things, like how in the hell I'm going to get myself out of here again.  Fourth, writing about Egypt is going to be hard, because while it was quite literally the trip of a lifetime (as in, I've wanted to go for my whole life and it's extremely probable that I will never go again), it was also at times extremely frustrating, or frightening, or just plain weird.  And the thing is, traveling to Egypt was important to me.  I didn't want to churn out a "Here's what I did and ate, enjoy some pictures", and be done with it.

I went to Egypt, and afterwards I arrived in grateful exhaustion at Dulles' Custom's Counter none the worse for wear.  I had had a marvelous adventure, and was riding The Biggest High Ever from actually getting to see the freaking Pyramids a few days before.  But as a friend said when discussing her recent solo trip to Jordan: (paraphrasing, sorry Mallory) "I had a great time.  But I realized while I was there that I was vulnerable."  She said (I think I remember her saying) that she was so glad she went, but that she probably wouldn't put herself in that same situation again.

That is exactly how I feel about my trip to Egypt.

On that note, let's finally try and begin.

I don't think I've ever felt so unsure and unprepared as I did getting on the plane from Istanbul to Cairo.  The travel thrill was up and running at full speed, because let's face it, it is fucking awesome to look up at the Arrivals Board and see your flight number next to the word "Cairo".  But I really didn't know what I'd be facing, and I was worried.  Plain and simple.

The short flight was fine, and before I knew it, I was on Egyptian soil.  Or at least, tarmac.  I walked into the Domestic Terminal feeling very much like Alice... but wow.  I'm not sure what I expected, but this sparkling clean and completely fucking empty airport is not what I had in mind at all.  I actually thought for a minute that there might have been some sort of attack or crisis that had happened while I was in the air.  Where on earth was everybody?

I bumbled around and eventually got my visa sticker and passport stamp.  Gigantic Hooray!  It was weird and confusing only because it was so damn easy.  No lines at either counter, and I was legit in a very small room all by myself with two friendly Customs guys, getting that all-important stamp.  They joked with me about where my husband was, and one guy tried on my sun hat which he though was hilarious.  And then I was through, stamped and stickered and legit in Egypt.  Holy hell.

I found my gate for the Aswan flight in the utterly deserted airport, and then got myself a very much-needed beer at the cafe next door.  So far, so good.  I still had butterflies the size of velociraptors, but I was over the first big hurdle and feeling optimistic.

I went down the stairs to my gate... to see that I was the only woman there and also the only white person.  Everyone else there was an Egyptian man in their traditional dress, which looks a lot like a long pajama shirt but I won't call them pajamas because that is probably insensitive.  I sat discreetly away and buried my nose in my book, which is my standard defense against unwanted attention in a public place.  The waiting area continued to fill up, and soon there were a handful of other women including a handful of tourists.  Yay, solidarity!

We flew to Aswan.  And there, in Aswan's tiny dilapidated airport, I had my first hiccup.  Sisyphus didn't come out on the baggage carousel with all the other bags, and as I stood there wondering how to handle this latest development, a couple airport guys started asking me questions and I began to understand that, because I had flown internationally, even though I'd gone through customs in Cairo, my bag was in a completely separate room, which they eagerly escorted me to.

And here it was that I had my first brush with the one thing that I ended up just completely hating about Egypt.  Baksheesh.  Baksheesh is the Arabic word for tip, and it's one I really got to loathe during my nine days in the country.  This one porter was so aggressive about carrying my bag it was frightening.  I grabbed it off the floor and literally had to keep pushing his hands away as I got it strapped around me.  I made it clear I didn't need or want his help, but the guy stuck to me like a barnacle as I went out and found my car waiting for me. (Oh blessed lord thank you!), and then he tried to pull the backpack off my shoulders while I still had the waist belt buckled.  And then, after all that, when I was flustered and stressed and totally at sea, he got right in my face and stuck his hand out for a tip.  I tipped him a few coins to get him away from me, except he refused to move and kept saying "too little too little."  This fucker actually tried to keep me from opening the car door, and the driver didn't help.  I eventually got in and we drove away as he continued to shout after us.  Fucking lovely, dude.

Ugh.  So as I'm shaking and trying to take stock of all my stuff and make sure the guy didn't rob me while I was all distracted, my driver is chatting me up and trying to convince me to go with him to this bazaar instead of taking me straight to my hotel.  I politely declined, and thank heaven he did indeed take me to the door of El Salam Hotel.

Aswan and its environs, in the southern Egyptian desert, is absolutely stunningly beautiful.  It is also stricken with poverty, and as I drove through the city I probably had one of the biggest "Holy crap what am I doing here??" moments of my entire life.  We got to my hotel... and that feeling did not abate one bit.  The owner was nice and I felt pretty safe at least, but this was unquestionably one of the strangest and dumpiest places I had ever stayed.  It was also largely empty, which didn't help with the whole "Shining in the desert" vibe.

Oh yeah.  I hadn't said.  Aswan was... hot.  Unbelievably hot.  Like 110 degrees in the shade hot during the middle of the day.  At least when I checked in it was getting to be early evening, but there was no AC in any of the common areas and I felt like I was moving through an oven.  It's a cliche but that's also exactly how it felt.  Like I was being slow-cooked.  The next person who says anything about dry heat not being bad is getting a punch to the throat.

El Salam was across the street from the Nile, so that was kind of extremely awesome.

View from the hotel's lobby

Anyway, I checked into my horrible little room and asked the front desk guy about where to go for dinner.  He suggested... KFC or McDonald's.  I am serious.  I said I was looking for somewhere a little more authentic, and he gave me these complicated directions to a cafe his friend owned.  I thanked him and decided to ignore his directions in favor of staying on the main road.

Before I got dinner, I wanted to secure a couple of beers to drink back at the hotel later.  But... you can't buy beer at a market in Egypt.  I didn't know this.  I stupidly thought it would be like Turkey, where beer is scarce in restaurants but readily available in little shops to be found all over.  Wrong.  I walked for probably not very long but it was starting to seem like an awfully long time to me.  My death stare was getting wobbly from being held so stiffly for so long.  Just as I was giving up, I saw a dude outside this little kiosk thing.  I asked if he had beer, and he did!!  Yaaaay!  He charged more than twice per can than what I had paid at the Cairo airport, but I so did not care.  I stuck the two cans in my backpack and went to get dinner.

Yeah, it was only after I got back to my hotel that I realized I had paid 70 EGP for two cans of non-alcoholic beer.  My record of savvy monetary dealings in Egypt was not looking good thus far.

However.  Dinner happened to be amazing, so that was lucky.  And, they had beer.  Real beer.  Wondrous.  I had a very tasty plate of "chicken with rice and herbs" and a friendly waiter who managed to both put me at ease and not bother me.  The restaurant was outside, on a legit floating pier on the Nile River.  I watched the cruise ships and felucas sail past and finally began to really smile.  I had made it!  I was in Egypt!  And tomorrow, I would actually get to be on one of those boats!

I finished up and went back to my hotel, where I discovered the beer fiasco and so decided to try my luck at the expensive-looking hotel across the street, in the hopes that they might have a bar.  I was afraid to venture far afield, but it was only something like 9:30 and the idea of spending hours just sort of sitting around in my awful little room or the slightly less-awful but more-awkward lobby was not appealing.

The hotel did indeed have a lovely outdoor bar right on the river.  I got a glass of wine and amused myself as the bar's only other patron was a woman in Muslim dress who was enjoying a hookah by herself.  I felt like we should fist-bump or something.  It was blissfully quiet and I got some good journal writing in, until one of the sailors on a docked feluca began to chat me up and refused to be dissuaded by any of the conventional and increasingly pointed signals that I wanted to be left alone.  He told me his name was "Habibi", but as chance would have it, that is one of the few Arabic words I know and it means "sweetheart."  I laughed and told him there was no way I was calling him sweetheart.

I got back into my room a little before midnight, and took a cold shower in my room's very... grotty bathroom.  I got to look forward to a slow morning the next day, as my boat was sending someone to pick me up at 10:00 AM.

And that, boys and girls, was my first day in Egypt.  A lot of confusion, a scam or two, but also plenty of really nice people and an evening spent on the banks of the Nile River.  I was so happy to have arrived and to have conquered my first major hurdles with only a couple of good stories to tell.

I was also really glad I'd be checking out of El Selam, because Yikes.

Maine: Off the Grid, and What I Did There

Hi everyone.  Something really weird has happened, because it is all of a sudden the end of August and I have no idea how that is even possible.

Sorry for the unannounced, unofficial, semi-unintended break that I appear to have taken from the blog this summer.  I've thought about doing blog posts constantly, surely that counts for something?  Yeah, I didn't think so either.  But, here I am again, still in one piece, still unbowed.  And while I know that the entire internet world is just waiting with a two-month baited breath for me to finally pony the fuck up and talk about Egypt, I figured that to finally break my silence, I should at least explain what exactly it is that I have been doing instead.

You already know about Pensacola and that wonderful month I got to spend with my sister, brother in law, and their brand-new baby son Paxton.  But then I flew home, and was here in Virginia for something like three days, before I got in the car and drove up to my parents' cabin on Lake Pemaquid in Bremen, Maine.

Unnamed as of yet.  Ideas?

Inside our modestly adorable abode.

The idea was that I would have around a month up there on the lake in blissful serenity, writing my head off, cooking and eating good things, and taking daring road trips on uncharted paths to see bits of the last great eastern wilderness.

But for better or for worse, that's not what happened, pretty much.  I did get in one hiking trip on Mount Battie, and that will be a post all its own.  I did not get to Canada, which kind of breaks my heart a little, but for a variety of reasons it just wasn't in the grand plan this time around.  I discovered a few things about myself, not the least of which being the fact that I was far more bothered by the lack of internet at the cabin than I ever thought I would be.  I didn't get a blessed thing done -- not even blog post drafted.  My resume remained un-updated.  There was a fair bit of hanging out at the floating dock, a respectable amount of lobster consumed, a few card games won (and lost), and a manful quantity of gin n' tonics sipped in the sunshine alongside slices of cheese and pepperoni.  Maybe it wasn't exactly the vacation I envisioned, but it was the one I had and, especially when I look back through my pictures to remind myself, it was pretty amazing.

I spent about three weeks up in Maine, which is less than I'd planned but ultimately decided to come home early in the hopes that I'd actually able to get a single fucking thing accomplished.  I'm very excited and determined to go abroad again, and the time is long past due to be focusing on making that happen.

Because I can't (or really just plain don't want to) relate day-by-day happenings during all this time I was Off the Grid, here's a few sights and surprises that helped to make my time up there special.

Boothbay Harbor
This little harbor town is just adorable, and has always been one of my favorite Maine destinations from when I was a little girl.  Of course, it's completely subsumed by tourism, but if you want to come back from Maine with a little stuffed loon that makes noise when you squeeze it, Boothbay is the place to come.  There are also more than several good restaurants in various degrees of fanciness, ranging from Not At All to You Probably Shouldn't Wear Shorts and Flipflops Here, But We'll Still Cheerfully Serve You If You Do.

The always slightly-awkward selfie.  Mom and me in pretty Boothbay.

There is also the Boothbay Opera House, a lovely local hall that hosts a variety of evening entertainment.  We saw a sort of "Classical Music Medley" there one night, and it was quite excellent.  Bach to Copeland, with some Romanian folk thrown in for fun.  Recommended.

Camden, and Mount Battie
As I mentioned, my one Great Adventure this trip was hiking up Mount Battie (and getting pretty wet and lost on the way down).  If hiking poorly marked trails isn't your thing, you can also drive up from the base at Camden Hills State Park.  The view of the bay and Camden down below are not to be missed.

From Mount Battie, looking down at Camden Harbor

Note:  The actual hike up to Mount Battie itself was stupid easy and I'm pretty sure anyone could do it with little difficulty.  MY trouble came when I decided to hike from Mount Battie to Mount Megunticook, and lost my way in the middle of fog and a pouring rainstorm.  So, as long as you don't let that happen to you, a hike up and down is a very pleasurable way to spend two hours.

Camden itself could pretty much be Boothbay -- it's crazy cute with plenty of Maine kitch, local art, and restaurants.  The one downside is that Route 1 runs straight through town, which can make for bad traffic getting in and out.  As it happened, I got to walk through Camden during my hike, but due to certain extenuating circumstances I decided not to stop anywhere.

Pemaquid Point
Another place my family has been visiting since I was little, Pemaquid Point has some of the best rugged coastline I've ever seen.  Kids will be entranced, mothers will be flipping out.  The lighthouse is quite pretty and picturesque too, and you can go up to the top, which we did not due to crowds.

Pemaquid Beach
Nearby Pemaquid Point is Pemaquid Beach, one of the few stretches of sand in midcoast Maine's rocky coastline.  Beware, this ocean water is about the coldest thing I have ever put my feet into, and you would not get me to actually swim here for a hundred dollars.  I might be convinced to do it for five hundred.  However, it is a beautiful spot, and quite excellent for relaxing on a sunny afternoon.  Mom and I went in the early evening and the light was just perfect.  We lay on the sand for probably half an hour, just sort of silently hanging out.

Shaw's Wharf
My family may have been going to Maine since before I was born, but it wasn't until this very spring when we finally graduated from "tourists" to "summer people."  Which I guess some folks may say isn't much of an improvement, but it's sure felt like a hell of a one to us.  Anyway, we've gone for decades to Shaw's Wharf for lobster, steamers, onion rings, and the prettiest view around.  This year, our neighbors made sure to tell us that Shaw's is a tourist trap, and we'd be better off buying our lobster out of a cooler direct from the fishermen, like they do.  But we can't stay away from Shaw's.  To us, Shaw's and lobster are ONE.

Serious business.

Lobster feast vanquished!

Rachel Carson's Salt Pond Preserve
On the way to Shaw's, don't forget to stop at Rachel Carson's Salt Pond (if it happens to be low tide).  More good rock hopping and photo ops, and probably a critter or two in the pond.

Rachel Carson's

Pemaquid Lobster Co-Op
On the recommendation of the neighbors, this trip we also checked out a new lobster spot, Pemaquid Lobster Co-Op.  Decidedly less touristy than Shaw's this place had excellent lobster for pretty excellent prices.  I got two softshells for $15!!  I'd say Shaw's by far has the better view and atmosphere, but if what you're looking for is a hidden local dive where said locals come to tuck into some serious seafood, this is your place.  Oh, and BYOB. :)

Iconic Maine view from our Pemaquid Co-Op picnic table

Maine Wineries!
Right, so wine and wineries wasn't exactly the first thing I thought of when someone says "Maine", either.  But on one cool drizzly day I convinced my Mom that we should take a picnic and check out a couple wineries that I'd seen signs for off of Route 1.

We ended up visiting three:  Savage Oakes, Sweetgrass, and Breakwater.  Savage Oakes was nice but really small, and I thought that their wines were kind of on the sour side, especially the whites.  Sweetgrass was pretty cool; it's a distillery as well as a winery, and we got to try cranberry gin, apple brandy, and vermouth in addition to a nice array of wines and ports.  I bought a cranberry port that's pretty good.  My favorite wine at Sweetgrass was their "Bluejolais".  See what they did there?  If you love blueberry wine or think you might love blueberry wine, come to Maine.  They have more varieties than I ever even though possible.  Our last winery, Breakwater, had the nicest indoor facilities and the sweetest tasting lady.  I really liked their Pinot Noir, that was so light it was almost a Chambourcin.

We had our picnic at Sweetgrass, with this incredible view for company.

But seriously, out of all of this, my very very favorite thing to do on this trip was to hang out all afternoon on the swimming dock, reading, chatting, listening to music, taking a dip whenever it got too hot.  Drink in hand, unhealthily delicious snacks on the table.  It really doesn't get more perfect than this, folks.

The path down to the floating dock.

Dad fishing on our new rowboat, the intrepid Tiny Whitie

It is so incredible to think that my family owns a tiny piece of this paradise.  It was amazing to be up there, and so hard to decide to leave it in favor of, well, what passes for my normal life, and getting that up and running again.  I'm ready to be on the move, ready for my next adventure, next incomprehensible language, next plate full of weird food, next classroom full of sweet shrieking little monsters.

But for a little while, I got to do this.  I am a very blessed person indeed.

Paxton Connor, Welcome to the Light

I know it comes as a bit of a disappointment (and I know, think of the stories!), but actually I did not get sold for camels while in Egypt.  In fact, what happened was that I had the literal time of my life, in what is quite possibly the best trip I will ever get to make, ever.  I rode a camel, took photos inside Tutankhamun's tomb, climbed inside Khafre's Pyramid, got scammed into buying non-alcoholic beer, got emergency diarrhea at the Temple of Horus, and cuddled a baby crocodile.  It was utterly and completely fantastic, epic even, and when I finally get around to telling you about it I'm sure you will agree it was well worth the wait.

However.  This post is not about Egypt.  It's about something even cooler, an outright miracle, even.

Allow me to introduce my nephew, Paxton Connor.  He came into the world on June 27, 2013, is adorable and perfect, and frankly makes all of my recent accomplishments seem kind of unimportant.

Taking my leave of Egypt via Dubai (one long-ass trip, let me tell you), I landed in Dulles on the morning of June 29 and almost immediately acquired myself a gigantic plate of take-out Mexican food and one of those pre-mixed margarita pouch thingies that look like Capri Sun for adults.  I was home just long enough to do my laundry, fry and consume a pound of bacon, wrap presents, and read the last Sookie book while swinging on the porch swing (it was effing terrible [the book, not the porch swing]).  And then I packed myself up once again (red wheelie suitcase, sorry Sisyphus), and got on a plane one more time to celebrate Pax's fourth day of life.

Proud Mommy!

When I arrived, I joined up with my Mom and Dad, who had come down the week before and were actually able to be here for the big event!  I so wish I could have been here as well, but... pyramids.  You know.

Needless to say, the past three weeks have gone by in a blur.  It was really fantastic to be able to have all of us under the same roof again, which hadn't happened since the Christmas before Eve and Brad left for Okinawa.  We celebrated the 4th of July together with a lunchtime backyard barbecue and swim, and then went into downtown Pensacola to watch the fireworks over the bay.  Paxton was a real trooper and didn't seem to mind too much. :)

Microbrews downtown

A few days before my parents flew home, the four of us ventured downtown for lunch at one of my favorite Pensacola beach spots, Flounders, and then watched a local airshow on the beach.  And once again, Paxton seemed perfectly happy to let us get our hangout time in.

But mostly what we've been doing is hanging out quietly at home.  I've been cooking a bunch again; I think my biggest new triumph is a from-scratch arrabbiata spaghetti sauce.  Managed to get in a little Girl Time with my sister between nursings, and have enjoyed a few late-night conversations/debates with my brother-in-law which seems to be our standard for entertaining ourselves once everyone else goes to bed.  (Or in my sister's case, lays down for two hours.)

Rosemary garlic chicken, stuffed mushrooms, and avocado crostini.  I rule.

Paxton is a pretty good baby -- he loves to nurse and isn't too fussy as long as his food supply and schedule isn't interrupted. :) He does seem to have inherited my Night Owl genes, which I think Eve rather wishes wasn't so much the case.  But overall he is amazing, and he's made a whole bunch of people I care for very much happier than I've ever seen them.

I feel so privileged to be able to be a part of Pax's first month of life.  So many little developments and changes already!  He's wasting no time getting bigger and stronger every day, and looks to have some of those long tall O'Connor genes floating around in there!

Stretching out with Daddy

I'm so excited to be able to watch him grow, and play, and learn in the months and years to come.  To say the least, life in our family is never going to be the same, and I think that is fantastic.

I also promised him that I'd take him on an African safari if he doesn't poop on me.  So far it looks like I'm going to have to pony up for some vaccinations and cargo shorts in a decade or two.  Fair's fair.

"In Italian, the literal translation of 'to give birth' -- 'dare alla luce' -- is: 'to give to the light'."  Paxton Connor, welcome to the light!