Snow!

This winter we have had a lot more snow days than the past few winters combined.  When it snows here, pretty much everything shuts down. And today was no exception.  I worked from home today and did not attempt to go anywhere. Neither did any of my roommates, except one. Not only did it snow, but it is really cold too, so there's ice and I did not want to be out on the roads.

 This is what my car looked like when I went to clear it off after work.

It may not look so bad but there was a layer of ice that was hard to scrape off the windows, even with the defrost running full blast, because it was so cold.

The wind must have been blowing last night or this morning because the back of my car got a lot worse than the front.

I've lived lots of cold places in my life and I know this cold and snow does not compare to most of those places but this is the first place I've lived with snow and had a car.  To me, it's a little different story when I have a car to deal with on the icy roads and not just my own two feet or someone else who is willing to drive in the snow.

My roommates Melinda, Kara and I built Olaf during our last snow day on February 13. Isn't Olaf cute?! :)

A Little Roadtrip- JMU

I told, my nephew, Spence that I would go and visit him at school and take him out to lunch since he began JMU in the fall of last year. This weekend I finally made it! 

We ate at Jack Brown's Beer and Burger Joint and can I just say the burgers there were delicious?! I think it was one of the best burgers I've ever had. I had The Cowboy, which had bbq sauce and bacon and it was juicy and cooked just right.  

 I told Spence he had to let me take at least one picture of us together before I left and he appeased me and let me take one picture. :)

After Spence and I parted ways I walked around campus for a bit. I had never been there before and it's a pretty nice campus!

I was planning on trying to do other things around the area while I was there but I decided I wanted to take the more scenic route home which I wanted to see in the day time so I headed for home. Even though it's winter time, the drive was beautiful!

Thanks for letting me come and visit Spence! I will let you know when I come to the area again and I can't believe I forgot the peanut butter bars. :)

Hot Chocolate!

Can I just express how much I like hot chocolate in the winter time (and sometimes in other seasons too:)?  It is delicious and it warms the soul. That is all.

Stay tuned for two more posts about Mexico City...

Mexico City- Temple of Quetzalcoatl

Temple of Quetzalcoatl. This is along the Avenue of the Dead near the Pyramid of the Sun and Moon. Archaeologists found over 200 human sacrificial burials at the site of this temple.  Click here to read more about the temple.

Enjoy the pictures!

 Nate.

Looking at the Pyramid of the Sun and Moon from the Temple of Quetzalcoatl.

After we finished at the temple our guide stopped at some other ruins off the beaten path. Although they were not too far from the pyramids, there were no other tourists there. But we did have to drive on a bumpy dirt road to get to the ruins and they were cool but definitely underwhelming after just seeing the pyramids.

After the ruins, it was time to go back to the hotel. By the time we got to the hotel it was almost dark and we were hungry.  We didn't want to go too far away from the hotel, so I asked a concierge if he recommended any restaurants nearby.

 This was one of the restaurants he recommended and it was awesome!  I got a delicious chicken dish with yummy sauce and Nate got fajitas that he said were the best fajitas he's ever had. :)

Apparently in Mexico they eat cactus. We, of course, had to try some. It was okay, but it definitely was not my favorite.

My legs were sore from hiking to the top of the pyramids and we were tired from the walking we did that day, so we just spent the rest of evening chillin' at the hotel.

Mexico City- Pyramids of the Sun and Moon

Our tour guide, who barely spoke English, got us safely to the Pyramids in the ancient Aztec city of Teotihuacan, one of the largest urban centers of the ancient world. It was about a 50-60 minute drive from our hotel.  (If you want to learn more about the city, click on this link.)

This is the Pyramid of the Sun.

We were there early enough in the day that there were not too many people and it was pretty cool (temperature wise) at first, but it soon warmed up with the sun beating down on us. The weather really was pretty good the whole time we were there though.

We climbed to the top of the Pyramid of the Moon first. We could not climb all the way to the top as they had it blocked off, but we went up as high as we were allowed.  Look how tall those steps are!

The side of Pyramid of the Moon from the highest point we could go to.

On the Pyramid of the Moon with the Pyramid of the Sun in the background.

Looking down the steps of the pyramid. My legs may or may not have been sore for the next few days after climbing both pyramids.

Nate.

So my camera stopped working at this point and I didn't get anymore pictures with my camera on this day, but Nate took tons of pictures so it was okay and the rest of the photos are his. (My camera did start working again the next day, thankfully.) This is the Pyramid of the Moon.

 On the steps of the Pyramid of the Sun.

 Pyramid of the Moon from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun

After almost 250 steps we made it to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun!  People claim that there is an energy at the top of the pyramid, and we sat down for a few minutes to try and feel it, but alas did not ;)

 The view from the top!

To be continued... Temple of Quetzalpapalotl next post...

Mexico City- Basilica of Our Lady Guadalupe

One day in early November, my brother Nate, called me and asked if I wanted to go to Mexico City with him... two weeks away.  I must admit I had to think about it for a couple of days, but then decided what the heck? Why not?

Away we flew, me from D.C. and Nate from California. We were there for 3 days, Friday evening through Sunday afternoon.

I got to Mexico City a couple of hours before Nate did and hung out at the airport until he got there and I will just say that I spent a lot more time in the airport both flying in and flying out than I ever wanted to. Although they do have quite a few shops and restaurants in the airport, there's only so much airport I can take after a while. (P.S. if you're ever meeting anyone in Mexico City flying in from different places make sure you know what terminal they're flying into.)

This was the view from our hotel room.  It's a pretty awesome view! On Friday night, we took it easy and stayed at the hotel and planned for the next day, read books, surfed the internet etc.

For Saturday, we had arranged for a tour guide to take us to the Basilica of Our Lady Guadalupe and to the  Pyramids of the Sun and Moon.  Our tour guide spoke English...kind of. (Let's just say I probably understood him about half the time.)

The picture above is the new basilica. 

This is the old basilica. They rebuilt the basilica because, although you may not be able to tell in the picture, the building is leaning to the right.

Some of the doors to the new basilica. I thought they were pretty cool!

We got to listen to a choir performing in the church while we were there. We only stayed for a couple of minutes, but it was pretty awesome!

Some cool windows in the basilica!

There was a whole complex of churches to walk around. We didn't have a ton of time, but we did get to see all of the churches at least from the outside and some the inside too.

This is the view of the old and new basilica from a hill we climbed to visit a couple of the churches.

One of the churches on the hill. 

Of course I have a self-portrait.

A cool clock tower in the complex.

I liked the basilica complex. It was pretty awesome!

Pyramids of the Sun and Moon post coming up next...