Vietnam Vacation Pictures

Below are all my pictures from Vietnam. I have them divided into four albums based on areas that we visited. Enjoy!!

Hanoi -- November 23 & 26

Hanoi

Halong Bay/Cat Ba Island -- November 24 - 26

Halong Bay -- Cat Ba Island

Saigon -- November 22 -- December 6

Saigon

Mu Nei -- December 1 - 3

Mu Nei

Halong Bay/Cat Ba Island

Halong Bay Tour group

Cat Ba Island Beach 1

Katie hiking

Me falling

Me hiking

Halong Bay

Katie and I on the boat

Kayaking

Katie in the cave

Fish for lunch on the boat...and dinner...and lunch again...it never ended

Our boat tour

Hanoi Pictures

Water puppet show

Our $17 a night hotel !! Woo Hoo!!

Saigon Pictures

Uh oh, we're lost in the Vietnamese countryside. Suze, can you call someone to get us out of this????

Reunification Palace...ta da!!

Katie on her motorbike

Ben Thanh Marketplace

Opera House

Saigon Post Office

Notre Dame Cathedral

Hanoi

Katie and I made it to Hanoi this morning. The airport is about 45 min-1 hour outside of the city, so we got to see some farming areas. I am still overwhelmed with everything and still don't know what to think. It is all very interesting. Everyone is very "pushy" here (in both Saigon and Hanoi) and we have to tell them that we are not interested many times and they will still follow us a little ways. But it is nice to observe their culture. I did not know that the French had such a large influence in Vietnam. It is a little strange to hear fluent French being spoken by a Vietnamese person in the street. Hanoi is different from Saigon in that there are a lot more trees along the streets, so much so that some of the sidewalks are taken over by the roots. Katie keeps pointing out other differences and I guess I will understand more once we tour Saigon more. We are staying at a hotel in Hanoi tonight (US$ 17 for a clean room with 2 twin beds). Tomorrow morning we leave for a tour to Ha Long Bay and Cat Ba Island. It is about a 4 hour bus ride east of here. Pictures of it are gorgeous, so I hope that it lives up to that. We will stay 1 night on a boat and 1 night in a hotel before returning to Hanoi on Wednesday to catch our flight back to Saigon.

Oh, Saigon

Well I made it on my first overseas flight. The flight really wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I did sleep the majority of the time, but I made sure that I stayed up more in the second half of it, so that I would not have trouble sleeping. No major hiccups along the way. Though, since all my flights were either on time or early, I was praying that my luggage made it. If you didn't know, I have the worst luck when it comes to flying. I know I may be speaking too soon, but if anything happens on my flight home at least I will be back in the United States. Once I got through customs, I went searching for Katie. At the international terminal here, everyone must wait outside for their party. I saw her before she saw me and I just started waving like crazy to get her attention, which I did. Then we both went running to the closest opening and gave each other a really big hug. I am sure some people thought we were crazy, but we are best friends who have not seen each other in over a year :) Next we were in search of a taxi from a reputable company. All the taxi and motorbike drivers were really pushy and wanted us to use them, but Katie kept telling them no and we tried to walk away from them as fast as possible. Once the taxi was found and we were on our way, it was a surreal experience. Motorbikes out number cars by quite a bit. I saw up to 4 people on one bike (2 adults and 2 small children). Also, they drive very different here. Lanes and stop lights do not matter. Katie tried to point out many landmarks along the way, but it was dark so I didn't get to absorb too much. Once we got to Katie's house, she took me on her Motorbike for a little quick tour and to find her food. The weather was warm and very humid, but to her it was cool. It was a nice quick tour and I can't wait to see more later this week. Now we are headed to Hanoi and Halong Bay until Wednesday.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane

I can't believe it is here. I leave at 6 am in the morning and SuperShuttle is suppose to be here to pick me up at 3 am!!! There is still so much to do, but I am sure it will all get done. I hope to post more while I am gone, but it is still uncertain. Pictures will definitely come when I get back. So tomorrow just think that at 6 am (Mountain Time), I will be leaving Denver for San Francisco where I will leave at noon (Pacific Time) for Ho Chi Mihn City with a stop in Honk Kong. I can't believe that I am doing this, but it is a chance in a lifetime. When else would I have a built in translator and tour guide :) As much as I am looking forward to seeing Vietnam, I am more excited to see Katie!!

Orange Power

Oh, how I miss being in Stillwater and going to OSU football games. I have been lucky enough to go to 2 football games this year. As you know, Brandon, Jodi, Chris, Chip, and I traveled to Seattle over Labor Day to watch the opening game. Then this past weekend, OSU traveled to us to take on CU (University of Colorado). We have been looking forward to this game for a while, especially with how well OSU has played this year (GO POKES!!). Chip got the tickets for us and Jodi planned the rest, she really takes care of us and makes sure that everything is in order :) On Friday after work, the Alumni Association planned an event for the Denver Alumni and Alumni traveling from out of town for the game to network and get excited about the football game on Saturday. Jodi, Chris and I bailed on this a little early, but we had a good excuse....COOKIES!!! Jodi and I had to get the cookies baked for our tailgate. So we baked and we baked and we baked some more and then we decorated. We ended up making 3 different batches of cookies...Chocolate Cookies Sandwiches with Orange Frosting, Chocolate Chip, and "O"-shaped Sugar Cookies. As if you couldn't already figure this out, but Jodi and I are the bakers of the group :) We ended up staying up until 2 am baking and decorating cookies. We might have gone slightly overboard, but it was a blast and everyone had a variety of cookies to eat (not to mention, more than plenty). Despite the late night, I was up early on Saturday to make Tortilla Cream Cheese Pinwheels (because I got lazy on Thursday and didn't do it then). We then all met up at Jodi's before heading up to Boulder, where the rest of the group would meet up with us for the tailgate.

Colorado has been having some beautiful weather lately. Saturday was no different. I had a turtleneck with a t-shirt over it and a light jacket when I got to Jodi's and I was a little warm. But in Colorado, it doesn't matter how nice the day is, it gets really cold when the sun goes down. So we arrive at our tailgate spot at 3 pm, which you would think would make for a couple hours of nice warm sun...not so much. The sun started setting 15 minutes after we arrived and that is when the freezing started. Since the game was at night I had packed a sweatshirt, jacket, blanket, gloves and hat, but I had not planned on putting any of this on until I got to the game. We were all in our sweatshirts within no time and the gloves soon followed. At this point we all became really stubborn and didn't want to put anything else on until we got to the stadium, for fear that it would not be enough. So after are wonder tailgate ended we were off to cheer on our Cowboys.

Our Cowboys won, though it was not pretty. We had a great time at the game and it was warmer in the stadium, which made all of us happier.

Oh, how I miss our Cowboys.

Now We're Even

Brandon turned 25 on Monday and so I am no longer "older" (Yes, I know I am still older, but I am not being technical). It really doesn't bother me being a whole two months older than him, but I do have to give him a hard time about dating "an older woman" :) Brandon's parents flew up for the special occasion and we had a wonderful time. Brandon was able to come home Friday night and wasn't called back to work before he was officially off on Sunday night!! Brandon's parents came in on Saturday and were a little surprised to see Brandon so soon. As soon as we got back from the airport, we headed downtown to watch OSU take on Texas Tech and that is all I will say about that. The good thing of the night was that we were able to introduce Don and Charmaine to a few of our Denver friends and we had a delicious dinner (Hawaiian Pizza on the Chicago-style crust...yum). On Sunday, we lounged around awhile before heading up to Boulder to have a late lunch, window shopping and driving in the mountains. For Brandon's actual birthday we drove up to Allenspark and went ATVing. This was the first time I had ever been on an ATV and I was a little nervous that I would fall off it and break something...I am a pretty clumsy person, so it could happen. I did not fall off and I actually had a fantastic time. There were a couple occasions in which I was a little scared, but overall I enjoyed it. It was a cool day with a few snowflakes and snow on parts of the trail. I think this made it an even better day. For Brandon's birthday dinner we went out for a scrumptious dinner at Joe's Crab Shack where Brandon was humiliated by everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to him while he played the "drums". (He had a good time, even if he doesn't want to admit it). It was so nice to have a few days off work and spending time with Brandon and his family.

I am an American

On Tuesday, November 4, 2008, I voted in my second Presidential Election. This was much different than my last voting experience, because I actually voted the day of the election at a voting booth. Woo Hoo!! The last election I was in college and had to vote by absentee ballot. I thought that it was really cool to go to vote, which I believe makes me an even bigger geek :) Anyway, I got up really early on Tuesday morning, so that I could leave my house by 6:30 A.M. to get to my voting place. I was really lucky and it was just a short walk 3 blocks away from my apartment. I arrived 20 minutes early and was number 9 in line. (During the last election, Denver had really bad lines and issues on voting day, so I thought it best to be an early bird). When the doors finally opened, I was off to vote. But being me, it wasn't without some glitches. First, I only received page 1 of the ballot. I probably would not have noticed this had Amendment 58 not been on the first page. So I had to ask for page 2, which luckily they didn't hassle me at all. Then as I am voting, my pencil breaks. Should I have taken this as a sign? I got a new pencil and finished voting. In and out in 15 minutes. I wore my "I Voted" sticker proudly all day (even out to dinner at Olive Garden with Brandon). Not all the election results went in my favor--I only got 1 of the 3 things/people I wanted, but I will not let this discourage me from voting in the next election for what I believe in. So I am an American and I have a say (good or bad) about how I feel the government is taking us because I did my civic duty and voted.

October

Well October has come and gone and I feel like I am still trying to keep up. I just don't know where the month went. It has been a very eventful month. At the beginning of the month Brandon and I got moved. So I had to get things unpacked and in its place before my mom, my aunt and his mom showed up a week and a half later. I basically killed myself trying to get as much done as possible and it turned out pretty well but I still have a lot to do. As mentioned, I had an apartment full of visitors which was wonderful. This was the first time for our moms to meet and I think it was a success :) We spent most of the weekend shopping and eating. Poor Charmaine probably had no idea what she got herself into when she agreed to come. This has been an annual event for my mom and aunt since I moved to Denver two years ago. We had a great time and each came away with some good bargains. Charmaine came to Denver bearing a gift for Brandon and I--an OSU Christmas Tree!! I love it and already have it up in my apartment in support of my OSU Cowboy Football team. As I was writing those words, Toby Keith's "Should've Been a Cowboy" came on my radio. For those who are not familiar with OSU tradition, this song is played after every home game (football and basketball) and is our unofficial school song. (I am sure that Toby is not happy about this as he is a huge OU fan). So I am going to take this as a good omen--GO POKES!! Speaking of the Pokes I have spent many of my Saturday's of this month at Old Chicago's in Downtown Denver with my fellow OSU Denver Alums cheering on our Cowboys. We have been very proud of them and have probably run a few people out of the restaurant with our loudness :) It has been great to hang out with Jodi, Chris, and Chip again. We have added a few more people to our table this year and have begun planning our assault on Boulder when OSU play CU on November 15th. I have also had some fun this month. I spent the Friday before Halloween carving pumpkins at Brittany's house. I cannot remember ever carving pumpkins before (I think we painted a few), so I had a lot to learn and my poor pumpkin looked like a 5 year carved it :) Unfortunately, none of our pumpkins survived the warm weather we are having and had all collapsed inside themselves before the Halloween party, this was probably a good thing for mine. Brittany's Halloween Party was great. Everyone had great costumes and was super nice. Brittany and her sisters were great to me and lent me a costume (at 10 am yesterday I did not have one). I was a pirate and Brittany was Young Elvis. Her costume was so good that she was hardly recognizable.

So October has come and went and I know November won't be much better. I leave for Vietnam on the 21st, so I have better get busy getting stuff together!! Hopefully I will be much better at keeping everyone updated.

Florida State of Mind

I spent about a week in a "Florida State of Mind" at the end of September. This started out as a work trip and ended with a great visit with family. Each year a few Analyst from my department are selected to attend the national conference (NALTA) and this year I was a lucky one!! I was especially excited because it was to be held in Orlando, Florida this year and I have never been there and I really wanted to see Micky. When we found out I was going, Brandon planned to join me out there and we would spend a day at Disney World then travel to Fort Meyers, FL to spend time at my Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sandi's house. Unfortunately, our plans did not work out and Brandon had to work and would not be able to make it out and there would be no Disney World for me :(

It ended up being an awesome trip anyways. We ended making it into a girl's only week (with the exception of Elaine's husband, Mike, but he was so sweet and just went with the flow that we will take him anywhere). It started out with a very long 4 hour flight. Good thing Brittany and I sat next to each other because I didn't know if that flight would ever end. Plus there were a good amount a little kids on the flight who enjoyed to scream back and forth. I don't know why I didn't remember to bring the earplugs that Brandon is always giving me when we fly together (I guess I should listen to him more often). But once we landed, we were off and going. As soon as we got checked into the hotel, we had to check into the conference and head to the opening reception. At the reception, you knew that this group was trouble because when a group of women stole our table (with all of purses and stuff laying below) we all started giving them the "evil eye" and Elaine wanted to put them in their place :) When the reception ended we headed to a Mexican Restaurant for Margaritas. Instead of each ordering our own, we decided we would try the "Mug-O-Rita" which was huge and perfect for the 4 of us to share.

The next day the conference started a little too early for all of us, but we made the best of it. We were like a bunch of school girls passing notes. But for the most part we had really good classes over the two days. The only thing that we could complain about was how packed together everything was. It was class after class and then events, so it didn't leave us anytime to sit by the pool and enjoy the beautiful weather. During each of our breaks the pool kept calling us, so it was torture not to get to enjoy it.

Our first night's activity was a Pirate Dinner Theater. It was really cheesy and the food really wasn't great, but we enjoyed ourselves by laughing at the cheesiness and trying to catch the Green Pirate's attention for Brittany. The next night we headed to Downtown Disney so that Tiffany could find purple Micky Mouse ears for her daughter, Kendall. I flew out to Fort Meyer this night, so I had to lug my luggage all around that evening. Downtown Disney is right outside Disney World, so I at least got a taste of it. We had a great time chatting and having a drink before heading to dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Restaurant. I had an excellent Pumpkin Ravioli (makes me want to learn to make my own pasta, but then I think the better of it).

That night I flew out to Fort Meyer's to my Uncle Jeff and Aunt Sandi's house. They just built this house and have only lived there a year, so this was my first time visiting. So when I arrived I got a tour of their beautiful house. I was so jealous of her kitchen, it was huge and open with dark wood cabinets, everything I want. The next day we headed up to the club for lunch and then off to the beach. This beach was very different from the beach at Port Aransas in that there really weren't any waves, it was clearer (but more green), and there were sea shells everywhere. On Sunday, it rained so Charlie took me on a tour of his campus (which is so close to the house) and then Sandi and I went shopping and on a tour on the city. It is a nice little city and I loved so many of the little houses. Since I had a mid-afternoon flight home on Monday, Sandi and I did more shopping at the Outlet Mall. I was able to find some good bargains on stuff for me and some Christmas presents. Oh, how I enjoy bargains :)

Overall, I had a great trip to Florida. I do wish it could have been a little longer and Brandon would have been able to join me. Maybe next time.

Life's a Beach

Another weekend, another trip, another great time. This past weekend Brandon and I spent the weekend with his parents in Port Aransas, Texas. This was basically my first time at the beach (Brandon calls me sheltered for this). Our condo had a great view and the beach was just wonderful. I did learn a few things about the beach:

• Salt water is really really salty and tastes disgusting
• I am not as coordinated as I thought I was, especially when it comes to trying expend less energy and use the wave to my benefit.
• The highest SPF sunblock should be applied every 15 minutes, because I am now a sore lobster :)
• The moment I finally caught a wave on the boogie board was awesome and it completely made up for the 5o tries before.
  
• You are never too old to play in the sand and build a sandcastle (or a Sand Sea Turtle)

While we were on our trip I had my 25th Birthday and Don and Charmaine made it really special. They woke me up singing "Happy Birthday" and bringing me breakfast in bed--a girl could get used to that :) Charmaine made me a wonderful Lemon Cake with Cream cheese Lemon icing that she decorated with fresh flowers that she picked from around our Condo. I am trying to savor the piece she sent back to Denver with me. When we got back to San Antonio, we went out for Mexican Food to celebrate which Brandon and I so enjoyed because Colorado just doesn't compare to Texas when it comes to Mexican food.

Seattle

Brandon and I spent this past Labor Day weekend in Seattle with our friends Chip, Jodi & Chris. I had been wanting to go visit Seattle for a long time and when we found out OSU football would be playing their season opener there, Jodi and I used it as our excuse. Jodi, Chris, Brandon and I all arrived on Thursday night, but by 4 separate flights--could we make anything more complicated? It was a very busy weekend, but it was wonderful and we were able to see quite a bit (though I was wishing it was slightly warmer, but I guess a girl can't have everything.) Our first stop of the trip was eating at Alki Cafe overlooking Puget Sound. This place had a wonderful breakfast and I think Chris and I picked the best breakfast of the bunch...The Cafe Benedict (English Muffin, Crab Cake, Poached Egg, with a Swiss and Asiago Cheese Sauce...Yum!!) Afterward we headed to the beach for some pictures, though unfortunately it was too cold to hop in the water. After all the pictures had been taken, we finally headed to Downtown Seattle to start all the site seeing which I have summarized below:

• Friday
• Pike Place Market and watching the fish fly!! The Market was so cool and there was so much more than just the fish. My favorite part was all of the flowers. They were everywhere and they were so cheap ($5 for a decent size bouquet). Jodi and I wanted to move there just to be able to have the flowers every week. Sadly, I was unable to convince Brandon to buy me any :(
• The Seattle Public Library is a very cool modern building inside and out. While looking around I sometimes forgot that I was inside a library.
• Seattle Underground. In 1889, Seattle was destroyed by a fire and had many infrastructure issues. To help ease some of the infrastructure issues, the decided to regrade the city from 45 degrees to 18 degrees. Since it would take time to regrade the city and buildings needed to be rebuilt before hand, Seattle was left with sidewalks and buildings still intact (for the most part) under the city of Seattle. It was really cool to learn some history about the city.
• Saturday
• OSU vs Washington State @ Qwest Field--OSU Wins!! It was a wonderful game and we were sitting in the first row. It felt slightly like college cheering for OSU. Only having the OSU band there could have made it better.
• Walking the Piers--Brandon and I headed down to Elliott Bay and walked along all the piers. We had dinner at Ivar's Fish Bar and ate with a lovely audience of Seagulls. Even, though I am not a big fan of seafood, I have to admit that the Clam Chowder and Fish and Chips were delicious. (Thanks Gretchen for the recommendation!!)
• Experience Music Project--This is basically a museum of Music, but it also has an area where you can learn to play different instruments. We spent more time in that area than actually looking through the museum.
• Space Needle--I had to see this thing up close, though Brandon and I decided not to go up. I think Brandon was happy that I didn't think it would be worth the $20 a person to go to the top, since he is terrified of heights :) But I was still completely satisfied with just seeing it and taking tons of pictures.
• Sunday
• Sailing--Brandon and I spent part of Sunday afternoon sailing on Elliott Bay. I think this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We got a beautiful view of the city and it was just very peaceful out there. Brandon was able to steer the boat for a good amount of time and I think he had a great time. Especially when we were on the way back to the hotel and he said that we should just buy a sailboat and live on it. Though when I asked him where we would park the boat he decided that maybe there were a few things to work out still :)
  

Overall it was a wonderful trip and I wouldn't mind going back. We ate some wonderful food got to experience most of Seattle. Hope you enjoy the pictures, sorry there are so many of the same thing, but I couldn't decided which ones I liked best.

Family

So this past weekend was all about family for me. I flew to Houston to see my Grandma and attend a baby shower for Baby Rainwater.
My visit with my Grandma was wonderful and I got to find out so many things I never knew about her and my family. She told me about how she met my Grandfather...

Her friend was driving a member of a band to a BBQ and had invited her to join along. When she got out of the car the BBQ organizer greeted her and then called my Grandfather over and asked him to help her get food. My Grandfather replied that he would make sure that she never went hungry for the rest of her life.

We also spent time looking through very old family pictures and what I call her "box of treasures" that included her Wedding Ledger. Which has put me on a scavenger hunt to find the table cloth used at her wedding (which she was the 4th Generation to use).

While I was in Houston, I stayed with Brandon's cousin Chris and his wife Tammi. Tammi is expecting their first child the end of September/beginning of October, so while I was there I was able to join in this celebration by attending the Baby Shower for Baby Rainwater. I really enjoyed the time I spent with them along with the other members of Brandon's family that were at the shower.

I love spending time with family (and those who are technically not family) and I can't wait to make another trip to find out more stories that my Grandma has to share and spend time with everyone.

Blogging for Beginners

Hello, my name is Hillary and I am new to blogging. So now that I got that out of the way, I guess it is time to get blogging. Many of my friends have blogs as a way to keep their family updated on new additions to their family or on their travels. Since I live so far away from many of my family and friends, I decided to start a blog to share what I am up to in Colorado and as I travel (which will be quite a bit in the next few months). So please enjoy...