Mark and Sasha

Mark's Book

2009-01-05T06:28:00.000-08:00

Mark was really inspired on our trip abroad, and he has written a book! He has published it himself through this great website lulu.com.

You can order it or preview it here:
http://www.lulu.com/content/4350192

Mark really enjoys talking about this idea, so feel free to email him at: mark at morris dot net!

We're buying a house!

2008-04-10T17:04:00.001-07:00

We're buying a home in Cary, NC!! We got a great deal thanks to Mark's hard bargaining!! We love this house and can't wait to move in. We close 5/29!

Here are some pics (seller's stuff):

Yes We Can!!

2008-01-26T04:49:00.000-08:00

We went down with Triangle for Obama and canvassed in SC. It was a great experience going door to door for someone we really believe in. We were lucky enough to make it to the victory party in Columbia, SC and see our candidate make an amazing speech.

We painted our car, but unfortunately some Hillary supporters vandolized it with stickers!

December 20-24: Wadi Rum, Jordan

2007-12-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

Pictures from Jordan...

December 16-20: Petra, Jordan

2007-12-17T15:28:00.000-08:00

Pictures from Jordan...

December 1-16: Italy

2007-12-02T17:50:00.000-08:00

I'll comment more later, but here's some pics!

November 13-December 1: London, Amsterdam, Paris

2007-11-13T18:58:00.000-08:00

London was amazing and a complete culture change from the controlled chaos of India. We had an amazing time visiting Margaret and Eric and seeing their life in London and went to this delicious Lebanese restaurant in their neighborhood. The museums were all very interesting and the best part-- Free!

Amsterdam was a beautiful city, even in winter, though it got dark at 4 pm! We still got out and enjoyed the city. Mark was surprised, considering legalized drug use and prostitution, how clean and charming the city is.

We rented an apartment in Paris through http://www.frenchyrentals.com (highly recommended!). We stayed in the Montmartre area, and really loved our neighborhood. Despite not knowing much French, we managed on the kindness of many Parisians (or the cursing and eyerolls after we left). We saw the major sights, but also some local restaurant recommendations. My favorite was Le Gourmet, amazing 3 course dinners with a daily menu change and a lovely waiter.

We left for Florence on a night train out of Paris, not the most restful night, but we made it!

November 1-November 13: India

2007-11-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

Place holder for India. We uploaded our pictures to clear our memory cards and still need to get them back. Below, we do have a few form Jaisalmer and Jodhpur.

We really loved Jaisalmer in western Rajastan, near the Pakastani border. Fort Rajwada, our hotel, was probably the most beautiful we stayed at in India. But most importantly, the people in Jaisalmer were extremely kind. Our guide at the fort, was a Brahmin who actually lived in the fort for many generations. Our camel safari guide was a very kind man who loved the dessert. We had a very enjoyable experience thanks to the people we met.

Jodhpur is called the blue city. They paint many of the homes with Indigo paint to keep the buildings cool and the mosquitos away. Their fort was probably the most impressive because you could tour many of the private palace rooms. We were also able to tour the villages and see village life. Our hotel was called a "heritage hotel" meaning it was done up kind of Disney style to look like a British camp. Since we didn't have four walls, it was quite noisy on Diwali!

We got a quick view of Jaipur after our flight back to Delhi was canceled!

October 28-November 1 Brooklyn, NY

2007-10-29T02:58:00.000-07:00

We had 1 night in Raleigh to dump our stuff and our dog before we felw out the next morning to JFK! It was a packed evening, but nice to see my parents for a bit.

Brooklyn was awesome. We met up with Grayson, Mark's friend from HS who is now an artist and his girlfriend Hollis, who is persuing her acting career. They were really nice to let us stay with them in their lovely (albeit small) flat in Brooklyn. We walked around their neighborhood a bit and saw Grayson's studio-- http://www.graysoncox.com

We celebrated Halloween with Grayson and Hollis. The theme for them was 80's movies. We'll try to post some pictures for you to guess what they were. I went as more of an anti-Iraq war statement, hopefully I didn't offend too many people!

We had a great time with them and wish them both much success!

October 23-26 Indiana & Nashville

2007-10-24T02:54:00.000-07:00

Mark stayed with Jim for a few days spending some time together and doing some hiking with Frisco and King (Jim's dog).

I went on to Nashville for the SWE conference. It was a good conference, and I met quite a few people in my new region. And now I know a few people in the Raleigh chapter to network with. Our region conference is going to be in MIAMI in March!! can't wait for that one. I went to the career fair, but didn't get a lot of prospects. I guess the job search will really begin when I get back.

I made it back to Indianapolis to spend one night with Mark's parents before we went on to NC. It was fun to see them one last time before they headed out to CA for their own adventure!

October 17-21 Iowa & Minneapolis

2007-10-18T02:45:00.000-07:00

We stopped through IA to visit Auntie and Uncle Johnny. They made us a nice dinner and Mark and Johnny stayed up until 3 am talking about politics. I think both enjoyed it. We slept in and then met up with Chad for lunch at a great BBQ place.

We headed up to MN to visit Sasha's cousins and Grandma Sallee. We stayed with Robin and Leslie and their two adorable boys Sidney and Bailey. We had a great time talking with them and playing with the kids. We went over to Angie and Jim's for pumpkin carving and some extremem pumpkin carving (Robin!). The kids put on a halloween puppet show for us! :) It was our first time meeting Sidney, Bailey, and Corey, so we were really happy to finally get up to see everyone.

Grandma reserved her traditional Grandkid's brunch for ME on Sunday, so we went out and toured the city.

October 13-17 Oklahoma

2007-10-16T02:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry we've been pretty slow to update things. Internet access and time are at a premium and seem to be used for following the Democratic Primary more than anything! LOL!

Oklahoma was wonderful! Upon arriving Mark went to play Halo 3 at Casey's on some huge 4 big screen TV party he was having! (Sasha slept!) During our time, we visited all the family and had a great time chatting with Grandma about US Politics past and present and all the family stories. We went to the Moose Lodge with Becky and played shuffelboard and over to Scott and Lynn's new place for movie night. Todd and Alicia joined us at Grandma's a few times, and hoped to find out the sex of Alicia's baby, but we were a few weeks too early.

Sadly, Frisco had a few problems-- a thorn in his paw and a respiratory infection. The Woodward vet fixed him up at a fifth of the price we would have paid in CA!

We visited Chris at his new place in Oklahoma City! It was nice to see him in a new environment where he seems to be so happy. We had some of the best mexican food there since leaving CA.

October 13 Leaving Utah

2007-10-13T20:38:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in Utah! We forgot to mention this great restaurant we ate at near Bryce Canyon-- Buffalo Bistro

http://www.visiteastzion.info/buffalobistro.html

We had wild boar and buffalo ribs-- delicious! We also had the local brew "Polygamy Porter" (why have just one?!). And ended it with rubarb cobbler. YUMMY!

Another funny thing was the Arches National Park brochure. It had a section called "The Story Geologists Tell..." which described the scientific theory on how the arches formed millions of years ago, but ended with "--probably. The evidence is largely circumstantial" But for the most part, there weren't too many religious influences.

We drove almost 15 hours to get to Oklahoma. But Mark still managed to go out with his cousin for a few hours to play Halo 3 with some friends on 4 GIANT LCD tv's!

October 12 Dead Horse Point State Park UT

2007-10-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

Dead Horse Point is another park near Canyonlands NP and Arches NP in Utah. We decided to check it out, since they allowed dogs on the trails.

DHPSP has a peninsula with a narrow neck and canyon on both sides. Cowboys used to chase horses beyond the neck and corral them off with branches. They would choose the horses they wanted and for some reason leave the others to die. Despite this sad story, the park was really beautiful.

October 11 Arches National Park

2007-10-11T00:05:00.000-07:00

We took the primitive trail at the edge of the park. Since the trail was over rocks, it was marked with piles of rocks instead of a path. There were actually a few scary scrambling parts to the climb, but we enjoyed using some of our skills!

October 10 Goblin Valley Sate Park (near Moab, UT)

2007-10-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

This was a state park we walked through before heading to Moab. This place used to be called "Mushroom Valley" but was eventually changed to "Goblin Valley" There was no trail, so we were free to explore. We had fun climbing and finding goblin faces in the rocks.

October 9 Zion National Park

2007-10-09T23:55:00.000-07:00

We hiked 4 miles up to Observation Point. It was somewhat strenuous, but it had amazing views the entire hike. Most of these pictures were taken along the hike.

October 8 Bryce Canyon National Park

2007-10-08T23:51:00.000-07:00

We skipped the Grand Canyon, and decided to head to Bryce Canyon instead. We spent a lot of time hiking around the rim and looking at the vistas. We also saw the Navajo Trail.

October 6-8 Las Vegas, NV

2007-10-06T23:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry! What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. (especially when your camera battery dies after 1 picture) We had a great time and highly recommend the "Pink Taco" Mexican Restaurant at the Hard Rock Hotel.

October 3-5 Joshua Tree National Park

2007-10-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

These are pictures of our stay at Joshua Tree National Park:

We camped at Hidden Valley campground for 3 nights. Every night we would hear a pack of coyotes howl on the rocks around us, initiating a response from distant packs around the park.

October 2 San Bernardino Forest

2007-10-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

These are slides from our hike in San Bernardino National Forest:

We had a great time, though Frisco got really worn out at the end! Along the way a park ranger told us not to have him off-leash because coyotes frequently send out an attractive female to lure dogs away into an ambush!

Itinerary!

2007-09-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

We just posted our itinerary with some links on the right, so you can keep track of where we will be. We're in the final days of packing up, selling our stuff, and taking care of last minute tasks. We're really going to miss all our friends in CA, but we're excited to be starting a new phase in our lives and kicking it off with this awesome trip.

Looking forward to seeing many of you on the road! Please keep in touch with us, and we'll certainly be back in the bay area for visits often.