Part 1: Nov 4-8 - Miami
After 6+ months abroad, we finally returned to the US in November. Nathan was supposed to have a work trip to New Orleans, so we flew into Miami. That was canceled, but our flight couldn’t be, so we still made a stop and got to enjoy a little more beach time.
We stayed in the South Beach neighborhood, famous for spring break party crowds, but this time of year, it was more relaxed. The atmosphere was still a bit lively, with people dining outdoors in front of all the cute art deco hotels.
The day we arrived the beach had flags warning of dangerous seas, and there weren’t many people on the beach. We still enjoyed walking it and seeing the colorful custom lifeguard stations. Later in the week, I walked there again and found the water full of swimmers. I got to join them on my ‘lunch break’ and on the weekend. It felt like a little slice of vacation!
On friday night we went into downtown, a chaos of construction. We walked to the Wynwood neighborhood, which reminded me of London's Shoreditch. It's almost completely covered in street painting, including a colorful version of the giant troll art installations named Joen & the Giant Beetle
We also got some incredible Cuban food that night. The whold city is full of plantains, slow cooked pork, guava pastries, empanadas, and cubano standwiches. I relied heavily on the tiny, strong Cuban coffees to get me through the jet lag.
Part 2: Nov 8-14 - Sunnydale
Instead of NOLA, the work meetup occurred in Sunnyvale, not far from our first Bay Area home in Santa Clara. Just like when I lived there, I spent a lot of this week on the Caltrain or in the car getting up to San Francisco. As always, it was lovely to see my beautiful second home and catch up with friends there. We even had another unseasonably warm beach day!
Part 3: Nov 14-30 - Pacific Northwest
Finally, we returned to my first home, the Seattle area to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families. We stayed with my parents for most of the time and made a trip down to Eugene to see his. We got to meet up with a grandpa, an aunt, an uncle, two siblings and a brother-in-law, plus a handful of good friends. I even got a couple more birthday celebrations in! One was atop Seattle's first skyscraper, the Smith Tower.
It is always bittersweet visiting home. Too much time in one place but never enough time for all the people I love. We had to head out immediately after Thanksgiving to another work event - a conference in Bangkok!