Denver Giraffes Through the Years

Unsure as to whether even-toed ungulates at the Denver Zoo would hold enough blog-worthy interest, I decided to go for it for sake of enjoying the picture of my brother sporting a Miller beer hat as a plucky nine year old. And Lord knows what possessed me to wear head-to-toe turquoise, thank you 1989.

At any rate, the pictures range from about 1984 to 2012, taken near the giraffe exhibit, and I thought it was too cute to pass up.

1984: King of Pop gets severely
burned while filming a Pepsi commercial.

1986: Hands Across America attempted.
So close!

1989: The Simpsons debut and
Chicago tops the Billboard 100

2012: Last known Pinta Island Tortoise
Lonesome George goes extinct.

2nd Verse, Same as the First

Old Lady Schlink: back in action! Today I conveniently (or not-so-conveniently) informed the hotel manager our temperature regulating unit died in my room. With utmost courtesy they sent the handyman to inspect the damage who found the compressor totally croaked. Repairing this would take weeks, and thus they promptly gave the cue to move myself next door. The same suite that housed my favorite door slamming, bitter teenagers and parental units. Hope karma doesn't come back to bite me in the ass.

So with that said, should I find it weird that the good folks at Town Park Suites already moved a new tenant into our former hotbox of a room? Hmm.

Deets and I make daily escapes from our temporary home, doing the predictable mommy-tot routine of hitting the museum, hiking trails, and  frequenting the bike shops. It's been lonely without Mark, but we are managing.

Hiking up Flagstaff

GrammaK and I took him to Tiny Town, a quaint historic site of miniatures complete with a hand operated diesel train run by overall-clad grandfatherly trainspotters. While he loved the train, I loved the people watching: a Polish family of 6 who smashed themselves into a miniature church, the professional photographer who followed a mom and her lil' Augustus Gloop sized child, and the manic and clearly fastidious gift shop employee who all but alphabetized the souvenirs were my favorites.

Just like Dad, he knows a good
stoop when he sees one.

Yes. That IS Wilford Brimley and Richard Riehle.
Well, at least they should be.

Today's escape was to a wonderful place called Once Upon A Child, a store full of second hand awesomeness. It was absolute mom-crack: child friendly, well-organized, and loaded with cheap finds. Deets sampled the toys for an hour while I scoured their huge collection of books and shoes.

 Those are just the 0-3 months clothes!

What $15 worth of Duplo looks like. SCORE!

Tomorrow's plans? The ZOO! I figured it was time to prove to Deets that elephants do exist...

The Quaintness of Hotel Living

I can't decide who entertains me more at my free Marriott breakfast buffet: leathery Maui Jim who took fifteen packets of cream cheese, the gal who ate four powdered doughnuts with her diet coke, or String Bean Jean who literally grabbed all the Styrofoam plates and stuffed them into her Walmart sack.

My life for the next few months feels suddenly transient as I am holed up in an extended stay hotel for the next few months.  I officially have become the old crotchety lady who complains about the stomping, slamming, and stumbling noises above me. I requested a move thinking ending up next door would be better than below, and the new digs aren't as green on the other side. Nads! Turns out I am up against disrespectful belligerent teenagers who clearly, are not happy to be stuck in close proximity with their equally pugnacious parents. For two more weeks...

Despite intense homesickness and the jolting, brazen politics slathering the Colorado front range, it's good to be back. How I've missed the perfect taste of milk, good beef, and the indulgent pre-washed, pre-cut sweet carrots! And my lovely family. I had no idea how much I've missed my big brother's stories, my sister-in-law's hugs, and my parent's utter delight to hang out with Deets. Yeah yeah, go ahead and gag.

Only in the U.S.
Effort free carrot enjoyment.

Tough guy.

"High Altitude" Training

Typical Traffic Jam. BAAA.

With the pending Colorado departure, Mark, Deets, Jim and I spent Labor Day up in the mountains checking out Lake Balea and the Transfăgărășan Highway. A whopping 6,561 feet above sea level, I thought nothing of the elevation. After all, I'm from Colorado. But I found that a 3 1/2 year absence really kicked my ass as I grunted my way up the trail. It was hilarious, scrambling after the boys like a chimp. In my skirt and sneakers no less. Hey now. If I had pants that would fit, I'd wear them...

Deets dragging mom.

Deets ditching mom.

Dad and Deets laughing at mom.

Now Lake Balea has glacial reputation seeing as how the water originates from a glacier. Check out my friend's winter pics for a cooler taste of gorgeous. If you can't get enough of Romania's stoic winter snows there's an ice hotel built there every year too.


I consider this highway a rite of passage for those prone to motion sickness. Combine that with the ridiculous "high altitude" sickness I experienced, I think I deserved a freakin' medal after I successfully avoided barfing. My cure all solution? Doing it on my bike. No ifs, ands, or buts, I want need to master that road on two wheels. So stuff me into some spandex and grease me up with sunscreen, it will be done.

The road just feels so naked without its bike.

Curvy, eh?

Go Michael Jackson Go!

Bucharest loves them some MJ, and what better way to celebrate his legacy and birthday than a flash mob tribute? I waddled my butt up to Herastrau Park tonight to enjoy their mini dance show, complete with Annie and about fifty original portraits of the King of Pop.

The vigil runs 24/6 but today it was
especially fragrant and waxy.

They're bad. You know it. Uh huh.  

MJMJMJMJMJMJMJ....

My particular favorite.

Things Will Be Great When You're Downtown!

Home sweet home. Again. Recently the Schlink clan moved from Bucharest 'burbs and landed a new roost downtown. We traded a large 4 bedroom house for a 2.5 bedroom apartment and already feeling the love of the city after two insanely busy weeks. While I miss my insanely awesome neighbors, that is literally the only thing I miss about our last home. Apparently we eclipsed the sightings of Sharon Stone who is temporarily shacked up in our old neighborhood while filming here in Bucharest. Darn. But you know what? We got to see Messi!!! I consider that monumentally FAR more exciting.

Yum. Like a walking tequila sunrise.

We have so much to look at in our neighborhood, with two huge parks on either side, and a fantastic green belt that has provided a good source of people watching: cyclists, commuters, and crazy folks who like to throw sticks at you while watering the dog. That happened to me earlier this week, but she failed to take into account wind trajectory and missed. Regardless, our new home is a pretty good fit. So hurry up and come visit!

Here are a few snapshots of what we've seen so far...

Ballsy (in more ways than one) Chihuahua
letting us have it from his perch.

Dudes doin' the butterfly stretch oh so well.

A dog and his boy.

Billets, billets everywhere so let's go
have a drink. At the plentiful neighborly bars!

The FAMOUS Bucharest City Tour Bus hits all the
haute spots: check out the stupendous
Schlink household on your left!

On the Road Again

Well, technically Google Maps wasn't wrong when we followed its suggested route to Harghita but we went from this:

New section of the A3, a VERY aspirational hwy
that should go 584 km from Bucharest to Oradea. A lovely
piece of deserted heaven, if only for a short 68 km.

To this: 

Hard to capture the actual bumps and jolts,
but I assure you they were there.

which was about an hours' drive through ruts, cattle, and tiny dilapidated villages during a conveniently timed downpour.  It's always an adventure, and the whole car load (Jim included) were quite good natured if not a little dazed when we rolled into town to see our lovely friends for a short weekend. 

It was a bittersweet visit since a friend of Mark's during Peace Corp days suddenly died the week before, and the funeral was the same weekend. The whole town was shocked by the loss of this well known gentleman who served in Odorheiu's city government and the streets were packed with mourners to pay their respects. On a lighter note, there was also a Hungarian music, dance and craft fair we went to. Apparently, all the cool and popular kids dance to traditional folk music and they were good! I wondered what would be comparable traditional dancing to the US would be. Square dancing? Disco? Could folk dancing ever win a popularity contest? Well I will tell you, if marching band still isn't these days, it probably never will.

Bring it on.

As usual, the food spread was impressive: honey, palinka, cheese, and cured meats with original animal skin intact. I could feel my blood pressure rising just from the decadent smells as we enjoyed the beautiful wood work, embroidery, and felted wool products. I managed to buy my unborn daughter her first strapless too which I unashamedly put on Deets (for sizing purposes only of course). The highlight of the trip however was watching Deets play with the rabbits, who really did multiply... like rabbits! They must have tripled their numbers since our last visit in May.

Heading back on Sunday, we made fantastic timing until we ran into backed up traffic in the mountains. It literally took us one hour to drive 14.4 km along the 2 lane highway between Predeal and Busteni, reminding me of the seemingly endless I-70 traffic we frequently encountered in Colorado but with two differences: 1, the traffic was entirely due to the MANY crosswalks and lack of traffic lights in Busteni and 2, no where on I-70 do you get to buy baskets of berries freshly picked by the locals. Like a scene fresh out of Office Space with the geriatric man hobbling past our car faster than the crawling traffic, the berry sellers were making considerably better headway than we did!

Sixty minutes until the nearest bathroom stop at nearly
8 months pregnant... it wasn't pretty.

Doritz? You want?