Home cooked food

This past year has been a real whirlwind, but a beautiful one. Within a one month period, I got married, moved to a different continent, started a new job, and found out I was pregnant. There have been many new adjustments to our new life--adjusting to living with a partner, after spending 8 years living by myself, adjusting to a new culture and a language that is not my mother tongue, adjusting to new functions at work, and adjusting to changes in my body.

We have also made new friends here--a big difference between Geneva and New York is that it is easier to make friends here. Perhaps because there are a lot of others in my situation--young women who are recently married, and who are pregnant or recently had children. I have found the people that I met, mostly expats, to be welcoming.

Nevertheless, I was really homesick for the first month here--though I have traveled, lived, and worked outside of the US before, this is my first time leaving the US with no plan of returning. I missed many basic things--such as being able to read websites in English. Most of the websites I use are in French, which I can understand, but not with the same ease. I really missed the food in the US, and realized quite quickly that I would never be able to access good Asian food in restaurants here--or at least, not as easily as in New York. I have found Korean and Chinese food to be satisfactory, but not to the standard that I am used to. 

I am proud of myself because I have been focusing on learning how to make good Asian food at home, and realized that it is quite possible and with time, maybe even easy. I made soondubu, Korean soft tofu stew, and chicken satay today. Whole chicken was on sale, so we bought two whole chickens. Gordon Ramsey has a video on how to process a whole chicken, which David followed. I realize that I have been making a mistake buying separate chicken parts this whole time. You can do so much with a whole chicken that you break down yourself! First, you take the bone from the carcass and make chicken soup. I did not know that we could make such a flavorful chicken soup, like how my mom would make growing up, with only chicken bones! We then used the drumsticks and thighs to make chicken satay. I found a thai spice store, and I bought a chicken satay marinade. Instead of skewering the chicken, I wrapped it in foil, and baked in the oven at 200 degrees celcius for 30 minutes, then unwrapped and broiled for another 10 minutes. The result was chicken that was juicy, tender, and packed with flavor.

The breast and chicken wings we are saving for tomorrow. I found a recipe for baked chicken nuggets.

As for the soondubu, I followed a recipe online. The kimchi tasted great, but stank up our entire kitchen. We were keeping it on our balcony for a while, until I got an airtight container that I put the bag in.

I'm feeling more confident that we can make a life here in Geneva, since I'm starting to be able to cook my favorite foods.

We also bought a Christmas tree today. It is my first time having an actual tree, instead of an artificial one. Now I understand the fresh pine smell that people talk about--As we unwrapped the tree from the netting, the scent filled our living room. This morning, we had awoken to a soft blanket of snow over the city--we did not see any snow last night, so it was an unexpected and welcomed surprise.

We took our dogs for a hike on the mountain nearby, and they were ecstatic. A fellow dog owner at the park said, "all dogs are crazy for the snow--big or small, they all love it". I guess he has never met a chihuahua, but our two dogs do enjoy it. The snow was so fragile that by noon, it had all melted. It was a brief moment of magic.  

Settling in Geneva

I have been in Geneva for about two months now, and the time has gone by pretty quickly. It has been very hectic though. It is a beautiful city, and I am happy here, but the settling in process has been difficult. I wonder if foreigners feel this way in New York. I used to think finding an apartment in New York was difficult, but it is a piece of cake compared to Geneva!

Housing is difficult to find here, because there is a shortage of housing, and a lot of people with high salaries. Finding an apartment is almost like finding a job. You have to apply to each apartment, sometimes with a letter of motivation explaining why you like the place! Each apartment accepts multiple applications, so then owner then reviews and picks who they like. It can be arbitrary, and it is unclear why one application is picked over another. Most people I spoke to say that they get accepted in one out of four apartment they apply for. We applied to about 8, and got accepted in 2. In our case, the apartment that we chose is owned by a man from Kosovo. He really likes Americans, due to the recent political history of Kosovo, and he also really likes families with children. Apparently, of all of the applicants, none had children. I however, am pregnant, and we put that in our letter of motivation. Those two factors ended up getting us accepted.

In order to apply for an apartment, you have to have three recent payslips, a certificate stating that you have no debt in Switzerland, proof of employment and salary, copies of your passport, and sometimes, a letter of recommendation. When you finally do get accepted, you have to put down three months rent as your security deposit, and pay first month's rent.

It was complicated because as an American, it takes longer to open a bank account here--and the security deposit must be paid through a Swiss bank account. My account took three weeks to open. Then, it was empty because all my money is in my US account, so I had to wire money to myself. The security deposit has to be certified by the bank, which you have to make an appointment to do (and then mail the original to the building manager).

There are a lot of rules in Switzerland, and an office for almost everything. Public daycare here is very good, but you need to register far in advance. You are allowed to register when you are 12 weeks pregnant. You need a certificate of pregnancy, and then you register online. Unfortunately for us, our new address was not registered in the office of population. To register with the office of population, we have to have our address updated by the Swiss mission, which needs the information from my employer, the united nations. The entire process takes a month.

We had a particularly bad week during which my dog got arrested! Literally arrested. The police called my phone and asked me if I had a white dog named Max. Apparently he managed to escape from our apartment, leave the building, and was wandering around by himself on the street. We had left the door unlocked for the dog walker since we did not have a spare key yet, and the door is apparently loose so it popped open. Someone accidentally let him out of the building. In any case, I rushed from work to meet the police, and had to pay a fine. The dog was sitting in the back of the police car, like a very happy, fluffy criminal. He quickly changed his face when I arrived, since he knew he was in trouble. I have a second dog, which luckily stayed in the apartment, out of trouble.

To register a dog by they way, you have to get it a passport at the vet, and then pay a dog tax at the minicipal police. So many offices to register with, and papers to fill out!

Dublin

We went to Dublin for a weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving with my sister-in-law. Though I have travelled and lived abroad, this is the first time that I a relocating permanently. I realize that I do miss a lot of cultural american things. I was looking for Turkey in Geneva, and could not find it easily. Someone recommended that we go to a specialty store, but there a turkey is 100 dollars!

Other Thanksgiving staples that I love include stuffing and cranberry sauce, both of which are hard to find. Apparently, there is a special staff store in the American embassy, open only to staff, that sells stuffing. Thanksgiving food is one of my favorites. In November, a lot of restaurants have thanksgiving specials. Three that I remember most are the following:

Boston: Thanksgiving sandwich. In the food court at my university, there was a carving station that had one of the best sandwiches that I have had in my life. The thanksgiving sandwich has stuffing, mashed potatoes, warm turkey, and cranberry sauce in it. I have never seen another sandwich like it outside of Boston. For those travelling to Boston, you can stop by the George Sherman Union and see if it is still there.

New York: Thanksgiving pizza. This was at a pizzeria in midtown east. Unfortunately I forgot the name. However, in November they have a thanksgiving pizza that is topped with turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, and bits of pumpkin.

Fishkill: Traditional thanksgiving plate. This is served at the Dutchess Biercafe in upstate new york. It is essentially a plate of Thanksgiving dinner--slices of turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and gravy. They also have a thanksgiving poutine which is good, but not as good as regular poutine.

In any case, Ireland was almost like a small American break. We did not get to see anything outside Dublin, and spent most of saturday cooking, but it was a comforting visit. I went to a yarn store and bought a bunch of Irish yarn (that unfortunately got disheveled by my dog later). Irish food reminds me of American food, probably because a lot of American food comes from irish food. While living in Boston, I never would order Boston baked beans. Since I am a bit homesick sometimes, I love them now. We had baked beans, sausages, and excellent brunch in Dublin. Brunch is not really a thing in Geneva. I miss a good brunch with bloody marys. When I visit New York again, the first thing I will do is eat chinese food, and then find a good bloody mary brunch that puts bacon in their bloody marys. 

Geneva

I have been living in Geneva for two weeks now. It was very stressful at first, since I had a lot of moving issues to deal with, but things are a bit calmer now. I still have to find housing, but am settled in a temporary place for the moment.

Geneva is a beautiful city; when flying in, you see the Saleve, a mountain range that reminds me of the wall in game of thrones. When I first arrived, I stayed in a pretty horrible hotel that smelled like paint--they were renovating that week, and the paint smell permeated through all of the rooms.

I brought my dog, Maggie with me. She did well on the trip, and was really well behaved in the hotel. I feel so lucky to have such a good dog. Sometimes on the street we pass these aggressive yappy dogs, and I do feel a bit smug that Maggie is so good, even though it's really just her personality. Except with trains. Maggie hates trains and goes nuts when they pass by, and literally will run into traffic to try to attack the train. 

Geneva is quiet, and almost everything is closed on Sunday. The public transportation is excellent--trains are clean, and they come regularly and often. There are many beautiful old buildings here, but the most stunning aspect, for me, is the mountains. The lake is a close second.

When my mom came to visit, we took a day trip to Divonne, France, and Nyon, in Canton Vaud of Switzerland. We visited a castle in Nyon, which is built to overlook the beautiful lake--Mont Blanc is visible in the distance. Divonne has a Sunday farmer's market which is very big, and vendors from all across the region come there. 

The main downside so far however, is the lack of good Asian food. I had Thai food here that was so bad that it literally made me cry. Since then, I've been on a hunt for Asian restaurants. They are all very expensive, but everything seems to be so in Geneva. So far, Boky is an acceptable Chinese restaurant, and Bap had a decent bibimbap.

Astoria

On our first day in Astoria, I already like it more than Brooklyn, but I suppose that's the excitement of moving to a new place. I really did like Brooklyn--but Astoria has a lot more restaurants that I like. I prefer Asian food, and found that there are a lot of restaurants right by my new sublet, including a ramen place. There is a small Japanese grocery store around the corner.

This area is more urban and less quiet, but it seems to be full of young professionals, so there are a lot of bars nearby. It is less convenient for the dogs, since we do not have a yard. The building we live in is very so friendly, so our dogs already made some new friends, including. Shiba-Inu named Hachi. Supposedly Hachi was a dog do loyal that he would wait for his owner at the train station every day--even after the owner died, Hachi would wait there. "Max would never do that for me," my boyfriend remarked. "Someone else would give him food and he'd be like, 'sweet, my life moves onward!'" Well apparently Max really likes Hachi, because we have a new problem that Max will stop outside Hachi's door and refuse to move, and then whines and yips!

As I write this, I am having a pleasant dinner by myself, and sat down to a plate of perfectly done takoyaki, which look like meatballs, but are filled with a mixture of flour and octopus. It sits of a bed of lettuce and is perfectly golden brown, crispy on the outside, and hot and mushy on the inside. It is topped with bonito flakes, which sway gently due to the heat. 

The perfect reward after a move, which is always stressful, is a hot shower, a nap, and a good meal. 

For a long time, I used to think that Totto Ramen was the best in New York City. I used to go there and wait for over an hour for Totto; there was a bar nearby so I would have a drink while waiting. There were residential apartments across the street, and I used to think it would be nice to live there so I could put my name down at Totto's and then hang out at home, or work out a deal so they would let me do take out. I've been back to Totto, and started to feel disappointed because they were getting worse. I now realize that they were not getting worse, rather other ramen places were just getting better.

Tamashii ramen, where I am at today, is better than Totto. Their miso ramen is thick and flavorful, with a perfectly done soft boiled soy sauce egg. I might just be very hungry, but I thought everything about it was excellent.  

Across the street, there is a dollar store which has a lot of my favorite, unhealthy snacks from childhood, including microwaveable pizza rolls. There are familiar chains that I like, including bonchon, and a hot pot place! 

I used to think if I stayed in New York, I'd live in Brooklyn, but now I think I have to revise and live in Queens.

Last day in Brooklyn, last month in New York

In less than a month, I will be moving to Switzerland.

When I first came to New York, I loved it--it is the most exciting city in the world. Every day there are events to go to, and almost every major musician has a concert in New York. There are so many cafes, bars, and restaurants that it is impossible to try all of them within one lifetime. Within a year however, I started to become more critical of the city. While being a very fun city, it is also a very dirty city, and incredibly crowded. I thought for sure that I would leave it after law school, but ended up staying for a year...then a few more years...and then I reached a point where I was sure I would probably be in New York for a long time, if not most of my life.

I love New York, but I will admit that I am looking forward to living in a city that is a bit calmer, cleaner, and quieter. I moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn a few months ago, and have been enjoying it. Last week, I went to see Lady Gaga in concert, for the third time. We managed to get last minute tickets at Citi-Field, on the floor, only seven rows from the stage! Unfortunately, it rained the entire evening--and Citi-Field has no cover. It was one of the coldest summer days, and despite wearing a poncho, I was freezing. Lady Gaga played piano and sang in the rain like a real trooper, which really impressed me. However, I think I will think very carefully before buying tickets to an outdoor concert again.

There are many good bars in this area, one of which is a Tiki Bar called Super Power, which features tropical drinks, and oyster happy hours. It is also more spacious and dog friendly. I have two dogs now--a mystery mix who is pretty lazy and very food motivated, and a samoyed, who loves to run. I recently started "urban mushing", which sounds ridiculous, but has proven to be a really effective way to make sure my dog gets enough exercise; it actually is really fun too. I bought a razor scooter (which supposedly is NOT what should be used an can be quite dangerous), and a waist leash. I tie my samoyed, Max, to my waist, and then he pulls me through the city on the scooter. Before trying this, I knew he was a fast runner, but it's completely different when being pulled. I've learned how to control the speed better, but he has the capability of going very fast. There is a circular track by the Brooklyn Museum, which I take him to.

One negative thing about crown heights is that there is more crime, especially compared to Manhattan. During our first month here, my boyfriend's bike got stolen, and I was followed home by a guy on a bicycle who would not leave me alone--luckily there were police cars outside my apartment (someone escaped from a psychiatric ward and they were looking for him in the local bar), so the guy left as soon as he saw the squad cars. During the past month, there was a young man who sexually assaulted four women in the area. Luckily, he was caught.

I was hoping having a wolf like dog would help serve as a deterrent, but so far it hasn't. At the park, I met an elderly lady with a white husky named Lulu--she said she goes out at midnight, and when she seems someone, she makes the dog sit and says, "Killer, wait. WAIT. WAIT." Apparently that works for her. Max however, is too happy looking. He always has his tongue hanging out, and really looks more like a friendly bear than a guard dog.

Given the short time frame before my move to Europe, I am subletting a place in Queens, so at least I'll have a chance to explore a new neighborhood before I go.

Crown Heights

I didn't realize so much time had passed, but it has been an incredibly busy past few months.

I move from Manhattan to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, which is rapidly changing. When I visited five years ago, it was a very different landscape. It may be one of the examples of gentrification in New York, in which people who are being priced out of Manhattan are moving increasingly towards Brooklyn and Queens. I think Brooklyn is still more popular among young professionals, so now the housing prices in Brooklyn are becoming more expensive. The rising rents unfortunately, are forcing people who have lived in those neighborhoods for a long time to leave.

Crown Heights is approximately an hour from Grand Central station, so I have to commute an hour each way. However, it is worth it for extra space, the "tranquility" (a much as a city like New York could be tranquil), and the trees. Manhattan has a lot of ambient stress, and it is very crowded. Every now and then I see videos or articles about ridiculously small apartments, and I do feel a bit nostalgic for the home that I had in upper west side for 3 years--a fifth floor walk up, which was so small that the bed had to be lofted so that I would have my "living room" underneath the bed, the bathroom door didn't open all the way, and the fridge and shower were miniature versions. It was a cozy space that was my own, but at the same time, I am relieved to never have to live there again. If I miss it, maybe I'll rent a pod hotel next time I'm on vacation and reminisce.

We sublet a one bedroom in Crown Heights with a small garden that is unruly and full of colorful little flowers. There is a rose bush in the back that bloomed, so that when I looked out the window, I could see the red roses, yellow daisies, these blue flowers (not sure what they are), and orange lilies. One of the things that I love most about crown heights are the gardens. People in the neighborhood love flowers and color. The yards are not big, but people manage to do something with almost every foot of dirt. There is much more of a community feeling here. It seems that someone takes care of the dirt around the trees on the sidewalk, so that even those areas will be in bloom. There is a "community herb garden", and a "doggy water stop" down the block, where someone always leaves a bucket of water outside for thirsty dogs walking by. The herb garden has a small pair of scissors, so you can help yourself to mint, thyme, and other basic herbs, with express instructions "please do not take entire plant!"

We live close to thee pretty great establishments (though they have just okay reviews on yelp). Abigail's Bakery has three items that I have not seen in any other bakery--snickers cookies, s'mores bars, and tipsy vanilla ice cream (which has bourbon in it). You can get an ice cream sandwich, with any cookie or brownie in the store of your choice, and a scoop of ice cream. The s'mores bars are one of my favorites. Their cakes are just okay.

Catfish is a soul food restaurant, which has a pretty good chicken fried steak, and bloody mary. On another note, I had a "bloody mary kim" at Mokbar, a Korean restaurant, which has kimchi in it, and is actually one of the best cocktails that I have had in a while.

Cafe Rue Dix is a Senegalese restaurant, named after the street that the owner grew up on back in Senegal. Of course, the food is much more expensive than in Senegal, but the quality comes pretty close. I haven't had really good Senegalese food in a long time.

This area also has a lot of Asian Mexican fusion places, and of course, Caribbean food. I tried the Japanese-Mexican place, Domo Taco, the Korean Mexican place, Kimchi Bowl, and the Vietnamese Mexican Place, Bahnmigos. All of them have really good beef burritos. The tacos are good as well. I think perhaps those places helped me transition to actual Mexican food, which I'm starting to like a lot.

Brooklyn easily felt like home to me. Despite the long commute, it was nice to step off the train and feel like I had left the hectic work world behind.

Assateague State Park

Assateague Island is divided between Virginia and Maryland. We went to the Maryland side multiple times, as that side is dog friendly. The Island has many wild horses. On the Virginia side, the horse population is closely regulated--the horses are actually kept in a fenced area, and a few times a year, a vet visits and gives them their shots. Apparently, in the spring, they round up all of the foals, and there is an auction. During that time, 50,000 people go the Chincoteague, according to our hosts.

The horses of the Maryland side are less closely regulated, and there seemed to be a lot more of them. As you enter the island, there is a public beach, and then the park fee area. The fee was waived for President's Day. The weather was wonderful, and the beach was fairly empty because it was the off season. Our dogs ran along on the beach happily, chasing the waves.

Within the State Park, there are several short trails, through marshes. The boardwalks were well maintained, and apparently, you can catch crabs there. Signs were posted, reminding people that crabs had to be a minimum of 5 inches in order to be taken. I can definitely understand now who Maryland is famous for crabs. There were pieces of crabs all along the beach!

We saw several wild horses, though people warned us that they would sometimes attack people. I'm not sure whether that is actually true, or just told in order to deter people from approaching them too closely. I did see people feeding the horses from their cars, despite the many signs forbidding people from feeding them, with threats of fines. I can understand the temptation to feed the horses though--since it is winter, there is less vegetation, and all the horses we saw were skinny, so thin that you could see their ribs. I was tempted to get a bunch of carrots and accidentally drop them, but I did not--the park rangers do not want them accustomed to approaching people, as not all people will have good intentions, and some people might even be afraid of horses.

This part of Maryland seems to be very dog friendly. We went to the Burley Oak Brewing Company, which is one of the few bars that allow dogs inside. They do not serve food, but allow you to bring food from outside. They have a selection of interesting beers. I had a coffee and cream beer, which I liked a lot. They have some sour fruit beers too, which smelled nice, but were not really compatible with my tastes. We ordered pizza from across the street, and it was also a very good pizza--the "Godzilla", which had every type of meat, plus ricotta cheese, and bombs of tomato sauce.

It was such a nice trip. I also found a new appreciation for this gas station chain called Royal Farms. Apparently they always have fried chicken, a good selection of coffee, and milkshakes.

Chincoteague Island

Having been in the big city for so long, it is hard for me to imagine those small towns where everybody knows everybody else. Last weekend, we went to Chincoteague Island in Virginia. There is one stretch of highway that goes straight to the island, with billboards every five feet. Once you arrive on the island however, it's very peaceful.

This time is not the tourist season, so a lot of restaurants were closed. This quiet however, made it a really nice escape from the busy city. We got lucky with the weather. As we approached the island, my first thought was how blue the water is. It's a different type of blue though, since it isn't indicative of how clean the water is. Indeed, if you look closely, the water is murky and really muddy, though as a result, the shores seemed to be filled with oysters. One man said that his friend used to just hop to the seashore during his lunch break and open oysters and have them as a snack. The water there smells pretty bad too, probably due to the minerals. Nevertheless, from far away, the water is such a dark, bright blue, that it looks even bluer than the clear sky above it. The seagulls also eat the oysters, by flying with them above the highway and dropping them onto the pavement so that their shells crack open, and then they can eat the meat inside. I saw one seagull do this--later the islanders would complain that it is a danger actually, as sometimes the oysters end up hitting people's cars!

You can drive around the entire island in about 15 minutes. Main street wraps around the island. The church is on church street, and there is a school on school street. Farther out, the names of the streets are ocean themed, like seaweed street.

We stayed with an older couple who had six dogs, since we wanted to bring our dogs with us on the trip. It was a great environment for them, since the couple had a very large yard, where the larger dogs would stay in for most of the day. Two smaller dogs stayed inside, and a cat came to visit every now and then.

The seafood on the island was very good. On friday's the American Legion is open to the public, and they have excellent shrimp and clam happy hours. There is only one bar that is open during the off season, which is Chattie's Lounge. The atmosphere was really good, with live music. The seafood was indeed very fresh, but so fresh that there was still mud and sand on the oysters. I was not such a fan of the raw oysters, but the fried oysters that I had from one of many seafood carry out places were very good.

The main attraction from Chincoteague Island is the wildlife preserve on Assateague island. Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed, even in vehicles, from the Virginia side of that island.

We did a few short hikes on Chincoteague, through old marshland, around the High School. 

New Year in Las Vegas

Bacchanal Buffet

Jerome

Nellie Bly

Fireworks on the strip

Our plan was to spend New Year's Eve in Las Vegas, so on the morning of the 31st, we left Sedona to go farther west. First, we stopped by Jerome, a former mining town turned ghost town turned artist community. The fog was thick due to the rain last night, and as our car wound its way up the hill to Jerome, it did look a bit weird and eerie. 

There were several boutiques with impressive glasswork, including glass jewelry. I bought some pottery from local artists, and we visiting Nellie Bly, which is the largest kaleidoscope store in the world. I have never been to a kaleidoscope store at all before, but it is a lot of fun. They had kaleidoscopes of all sizes and type. I bought a necklace with a small kaleidoscope of on it, which is made with shards of gems from gem shows. It actually works as a kaleidoscope! I like it because it looks like a plain silver necklace with an Alice in Wonderland design on it, but it sort of has a secret--that you can look inside the tiny lens, and see all of those jewel tone colors.

We stopped by the Mine Cafe for a fantastic breakfast. The waitress convinced me to get a blackberry mocha latte, which ended up being the best latte that I have had in my life. 

From Jerome, we continued about four hours to Las Vegas. We rented a condo that overlooks the strip. 

For dinner, we went to the Bacchanal Buffet in Ceasar's palace. The price was marked up because of the holiday, and we had to wait about 45 minutes, despite their kiosk system. Their kiosk pretty much let's you take a ticket, and they will text you when you should come back in line, during which you still have to wait about 45 minutes. Not the best system, but I suppose it could be worse. The food was phenomenal. The crab legs and bone marrow were my favorite. Their impressive dessert bar made me feel like a wimp, since by then I was so full that I could only try three desserts. 

That night, we walked along the strip, which was entirely closed to traffic. It was like one giant block party, since apparently 300,000 people are on the strip for the New Year. There was also a random parade of zealous religious folk, who were yelling about how everyone there would be going to hell, and Jesus was alive and watching them. 

We left earlier to watch the fireworks from our hotel. Since it overlooked the strip, we had a great view of the entire performance. 80,000 firework were shot from seven of the casino rooftops, choreographed to music. It was a fantastic display.

Sedona

End of Cathedral Rock Trail

Cathedral Rock Trail

Casa Grande

Cafe Elote

Vom Fass

While I was marveling at the beauty of the Tucson area, my family kept assuring me that Sedona was even more beautiful because of the red rock.

On our way to Sedona, we stopped by Casa Grande National Monument, which is the first protected archaeological site in the nation. Casa Grande was first "discovered" by a catholic priest, but was built around 700 years ago. It is the largest ruin of the Hohokan people, who now prefer to be called the ancestral Sonoran Desert people. That area used to be river, so they built an irrigation system around Casa Grande. The river has since dried up, probably due in large part to damming projects. Holes were put into the Casa Grande walls, to measure passage of time based on the sun. The Casa Grande was abandoned, but the descendants of the SDP still live in the area. There is a very informative video at the visitor center about this history.

We continued on, through Phoenix, to our destination, with my dad complaining that I drove too slowly because everyone was passing me. I was driving well above the speed limit, which was 75 miles per hour, but everyone else seemed to be doing 90. People drive very quickly around here. 

Sedona was beautiful as promised. The red mountains loom high over the town, and I wondered if people who live there just take it for granted, kind of like how I would take the Empire State Building for granted. The mountains stand like stalwart guardians of the town. Apparently a lot of artists live here. 

The forecast was for rain tomorrow, so we rushed to Cathedral Rock Trail, which others warned us was steep and narrow at times.

The red dust reminded me of Uganda and Tanzania. As we got to the steeper area, people had to descend or ascend single file. Daunted by the climb, I decided to sit to the side, and let my brother go on ahead. A younger girl sat next to me. "I'm not going to make it back down if I go up," she said.

"Yeah, me too," I agreed. "Besides, the view is really nice here, it can't be that much nicer at the top."

I should interject here that I was wrong, and as a general rule, not only for hikes but maybe for other things in life, the view usually is indeed nicer at the top. 

We chatted for a bit, when she finally said, "do you want to try to climb it? Maybe we can climb up together?"

The peer pressure was enough to motivate me, so I said okay--mainly because I felt like I would also be holding her back now, if I didn't go. I'm glad that I did though.

We climbed up that narrow section, which was the steepest part of the hike. There was a significant amount of climbing after, which wasn't hard for me since I used to live on a fifth floor walk up. Most of these areas may seem steep, but the way it is designed makes it unlikely that you would fall very far if you slipped, so if you did slip you would be injured but probably not dead or permanently maimed. 

I caught up to my brother at the top of the trail, which overlooked everything around Cathedral Rock. It was worth the climb. The sun was about to set, and the valley below was a deep red. 

We made our way back down, and made an attempt to catch the sunset from the Cathedral Rock viewpoint, but unfortunately did not make it. 

That evening, we put our names down at Cafe Elote, for dinner. It is a popular and highly rated Mexican restaurant, that takes no reservations. The wait was two hours, so I did a bit of shopping and returned. The rain came, a downpour, making me really glad we rushed to do the Cathedral Rock Trail when we did. 

I went to Tlaquepaque shopping area, which is a beautiful little village style mall decorated with lights for the holiday season. I stopped by Vom Fass, which has an impressive collection of artisan oils and liqueurs. I bought a rose liquor that was very fragrant. The store gives samples of almost everything. 

Cafe Elote had good food, but was not worth the wait. I had the lamb adobo, which was good, but not two hour wait good. I would deal with a two hour wait for a small handful of restaurants, but this is not one of them. The corn cake dessert is interesting. I would recommend trying Cafe Elote at least once. 

There is a lot is Sedona that I did not get to do, so I hope to go back one day.