Surprise!

Andrew and Megan have conquered:
Egypt
England
Spain
France
DC 
NYC
Maryland
Pretty much all of Arizona...
Mozambique
South Africa
and
Morocco


And now, we're going to conquer the rest of the world.
With Baby Howell in tow.

...Coming April 2011, and we could NOT be more excited for little zygote to join us in our adventures!!!

Pipe Pictures.

Remember when I bought that pipe from the oldest coffee shop in the entire world?

Well, as you can see, we CLEARLY made good use of it around London.

We love London because you can pretend to smoke a pipe and no one will think twice about it. 

Pipe and Megs London sweatshirt

Pipe at a pipe store

Pipe at the Globe Theater

Pipe and Piper?

Pipe at St. Paul's Cathedral

Pipe and the Tower of London

Pipe anxiously awaiting the start of Les Miserables inside the Queen's Theater.

Pipe and Buckingham Palace.

Pipe really gets around.
Long live the Pipe!

Cheers to pipes and pipers and nonsmoker pretend pipe smokers everywhere,
Megs

The London Bridge is not falling down.

Why We Love London....
Because the Tower Bridge is 100% cooler than the fake London Bridge will ever be!

Also, the Millenium Bridge made us feel like we were walking straight through that one scene in the new Harry Potter movie.  EPIC!! 

Cheers everybody!
Meg

There's no place like London.

London was even better the second time around.


It's my favorite city in the world.  I think it is a healthy mix of NYC & Paris.  It has all the crazy city living and incredible architecture of NYC, with just the perfect amount of art and romance like Paris.  Not too mention, no other culture in the world is as rich with history as the Brits are!  London just feels so ALIVE to me.

I am going to break down our trip in a few posts,
so consider this round 1 of Why We Love London.

We love London because of 2 words:  ABBEY ROAD.

Mere words cannot even describe the sheer joy of being present at Abbey Road that morning!  Walking where they walked (and crossing Paul style, mind you)...reading the wall...soaking in the vibes at the studio where the greatest album ever was recorded was pretty much a day I will never forget.  There was so much love.
It was so, so awesome.  
I am now an honorary member of the true Beatles Fan club.  I mean... I kissed the wall!!  If that doesn't show devotion to John, Paul, George, and Ringo, I don't know what does.
 

All you need is love.
Cheers,
Megz

'Ello from London!

...the places where all your dreams come true.

*photo taken by Abbey Road WEBCAM .  My family got to watch from half way across the world as Andrew and I crossed over, and over, and over...  don't worry, many, MANY more photos to come.  Until then, just know I'm still on a high from being at Abbey Road.  LOVE IT!



Cheers
to the greatest band (the Beatles)
and the greatest city (London)
of all time,
M

Animal Tales

I saw a goat slaughtered at the butcher shop down the street from my house one sunny afternoon.  They killed it on the sidewalk and then brushed the blood into the road.

A few weeks ago, we were eating out at a pretty nice restaurant when I noticed the waiter walked through the restaurant and past our table with a large white trash bag that clearly held a freshly beheaded animal...  looks like it was the meat for the next days dishes. 

On our way to a mosque in downtown Cairo, we were traveling in a taxi through a busy street when I looked out the window and saw a dead horse laying in a large pile of trash on the side of the road.  Andrew said, "Well, what else would you do if your horse died?!"... um, BURY IT, that's what I would do.

Cairo is the breeding grounds to what I am sure is the worlds largest cat population.  They used to be worshiped in Ancient Egypt... now they just prowl the streets and sometimes sneak into restaurants and try to steal your food while you're eating it.  I see more cats than women during the day.  Which says a lot for the 24th most populated city in the world.

Tonight while Andrew was eating his first pigeon (one of Egypt's delicacies...) I saw a waiter carry a bag of bloody, de-feathered, headless pigeons into the kitchen next to our table.  Really, how has that happened twice to me???

I always thought camels to be a tame, noble creature.  Until I went to the pyramids and the rabid camel Aryel and Becca were riding kept snapping it's teeth in anger.  No one ever told me camels SNAPPED like that.  Many people almost had their limbs snapped off by the angry camel that day.

Welcome in Egypt everybody.

Even though it is our last night in Africa (*tear....) I still have lots, and lots of stories and pictures to share!  Stay tuned...

Here's to the animals,

M 

This is all about me.

I've had a thrilling, thriving, and thoroughly enjoyable life for the past 23 years.

I grew up in a happy home, surrounded by lots of love.
I rode a trolley in San Fransisco without my pants on once because I was a really naughty little girl.
I got the social butterfly award in 3rd grade.
I started playing the cello and never stopped.
I only got a couple of home school communications (yellow slips?) in elementary school.
I was in "Advanced Drama" in 8th grade.  (Drama queen since birth.)
I waited to kiss a boy until I was past the age of 16 (and then it all went downhill from there, bahahaha)
I went to see a Broadway play with my parents, instead of going to my senior prom.
I got a music scholarship to EAC.
I worked as a riverguide in Moab, and I wasn't super good at it, but I was great at camping, making up stories, and getting really funny tan lines.
I went to Mozambique and convinced 22 kids to march behind me chanting "Viva Megan" through their rural village.
I played with baby lions in South Africa. 
I dated lots of boys.  And once when I was dating 5 or 6 boys at once (it was just a stage!) I happened to meet one cute boy who made me never want to date anyone else again....
I had a skinny dipping club in Thatcher.  (Don't worry Mom, only girls were allowed.)
I got married to the man of my dreams when I was 21, even though I was voted "Most likely to marry in her first semester of college" in Seminary the year I graduated.  HA!  You guys got punk'd by me!
I waded in the Reflection Pool in D.C. on my honeymoon and ate a giant cone of Tom&Jerry's Half Baked ice cream for my 21st birthday.
I got called "classy" by a mean Provo boy once, and it inspired years of "classy" and "suck it" jokes.
I stayed in my first hostel in Barcelona, ate veal (and cried about it) in Southern France, sat on the floor of the Louvre in Paris, and had real British fish & chips with my British Aunties in London for my first anniversary/22nd birthday celebration!
I lived in Egypt.  For 3 months.  I rode a camel at the pyramids, I touched the Nile, I took illegal pictures in the Valley of the Kings, I snorkled in deep, amazingly clear water, I swam in the Red Sea 4 times, I hiked Mt. Sinai, I explored every corner of Cairo, and I pretty much just had the time of my life with my boyfriend/built in best friend.

And now, I'm going to London (again.) and we are going to see Les Miserables for my birthday and take the Beatles walking tour and I'm going to kiss Big Ben, and hopefully sing some London inspired songs and have a marvelous time before we return back to grown up life in the real grown up world.

I love my life and my adventures and I love my Mom.  Thanks for giving birth to me 23 years ago, Momilla!!!  You are momtastic in every single way, I owe my free spirit and my sassy-ness and my gypsy blood all to you. 
..................No, really.
None of this life could have happened without your love and encouragement and support!

Consider this the end of my boasting (that was for you, Millie) blustering, snotty, big headed, hoitty-toitty obnoxious, border line annoying, blog post.  I am just high on life.
Can't wait to see what the next 23 years bring!  Or even the next year, I feel like 23 is an age that will change my life forever.  I feel really good about it.

CHEERS TO ME!
Megara, the goofy, crazy, braggy birthday girl.

... was that too much?  That was definitely too much.  It's 340 in the morning, I think I'm going to regret this post when I wake up.
Eh.

Things I won't miss.

The honking and noise pollution.  Especially since we live on a seriously busy main road.  The honking only lets down between 3 and 6 am. 

The taxi drivers that have no idea where ANYTHING is.  Seriously, I've met maybe 2 that actually know where I need to go and I had a really bad experience with a crappy taxi driver by myself in the middle of the night.  Not ok taxi drivers...

Living without a/c.  The recent heat wave has made living in our place totally miserable.

That's all.

I'm not even going to bother making a "things I WILL miss" list because it would just go on and on.

We don't want to leave.  But, ready or not, we have one week left. 

Since living in Egypt...

...I'm proud to say that I have become quite the expert at peeing in holes, like the one shown below.

It's a skill that I'm sure will come in handy for the rest of my life.
Thank you, Egypt.

Siwaaaaaaat? Oasis

We took a weekend to go to the Siwa Oasis.
See it on the map???

If you are ever in Egypt... we highly suggest taking a weekend trip to Siwa.  It is totally worth it.  It was probably the greatest trip Andrew and I have ever done.

We left right after Friday church and drove 10 hours to get there.  We could have walked to the Libyan border, but to reduce the risk of being sex trafficked or kidnapped by terrorists, we stayed at our camp.  And a great camp it was!!!  We were with a Bedouin tribe in the middle of nowhere.
We all sat on the ground inside this huge tent and ate delicious food, and then they threw us a party at 2 am with lots of music, dancing, and tea.
And then, we slept under the stars.  GAAAAAAAAH, those stars!!!!!!!!!!  I can't even begin to use words to describe it.  It was the clearest night sky I have ever seen in my life.
Just try to imagine being in the middle of the Western Sahara Desert, where there is no pollution, haze, or lights.... we could see every single star in the universe.  Ok, I'm exaggerating, but you get the point?  Seriously though.  Every star.
We couldn't sleep because we were all so in love with the sky.

Anyways, we woke up, got into our Safari jeeps and took off to play in the natural springs, see the ruins in Siwa town, and ride the dunes of the great sand sea.  Really.  Best trip ever.

And here is a serious picture overload.  Good luck.

Inside our tent.  And there's Becca, taking a nap.  Don't let her fool you though, she slept outside under the stars too!

The outside.  Clearly the inside is much more lively and colorful.

The natural hot spring at our camp.  The Bedouins bathe in it every morning.

Campsite!

Our lil' Safari Jeep!

Jumping into Cleopatra's Bath, the most famous Oasis in Siwa!  It's ancient people!!!

Us, being naked.

The ancient Temple where Alexander the Great came and was told by the oracle that he was the son of God. Pretty cool if you ask me.....

Dare devils!

The city of Siwa, and part of the ancient fortress.

MegAndy on top of the Mountain of the Dead... all of those holes below us are tombs in the ground.  We found bones and everything.

Inside one of the tombs at the Mountain of the Dead.

Just us, our jeeps, and the great Sand Sea!

I bought that shirt for $5.  It is an XXL, and the sun has faded the color in some spots, but I am in love with it.

This is our jeep pointing straight down.  Literally.  I thought we were going to die more than once on that ride.  Those dunes are steeeeeeeeep.

This is not a mirage.  That's a lake.  In the middle of the DESERT.

Andrew, sandboarding down a ginormous dune.  The second time he went, he got going so fast that he crashed into the sand at the bottom.... he's had a scab and a black and blue and purple eye for about 2 weeks now.  He is proud of his battle scar.

This is me, and the Western Sahara Desert.

The perfect sunset to end the perfect day.

We love you, Siwa!

M.