2017 Year in Review

2016 may have been my first complete year without graduate school but 2017 was my first complete year without graduate school and the proper time to plan trips. The result was several incredible journeys with friends and family and my most country-countingest year ever: 21!*

Before I re-hash some favorites, I’ve just come back from a trip with Dad to Honduras and Guatemala. We cruised Mayan ruins, saw Star Wars in Spanish, and visited a fort.** The trip trifecta, if you will. 

I also neglected to post about a lovely Thanksgiving week at Cumberland Island off the coast of Georgia.*** The island was beautiful and it was incredible to be so close to home and feel so remote. We rode bikes, toured old homes, and were thankful for each other’s company. The Thanksgiving trifecta, if you still will.

Looking back at the many trips of 2017, I have a lot of favorite things beyond the amazing places I visited. In perhaps chronological order:

• In Lebanon I ate a magical dessert that was delicious and also was a giant chocolate ball that dissolved when a sauce was poured on it and revealed the gourmet equivalent of a Nestle’s Crunch bar inside. I would be lying if I said I didn’t think of it often.

• To fly to and from French Guiana/Suriname/Guyana, AT and I had a completely bonkers flight plan that included four different Caribbean countries. We got stuck in one and flew a completely empty plane out of it.****

• Teachers Summer was a reality in London with frolleagues in one of my all time favorite cities. 

• What “favorite things” list would be complete without a tribute to the queen of all things that are favorites?

• The accidental theme of riding bicycles places with fellow sporty people.*****

• Hamilton. 

• Friendships? More like friendTRIPS!

• 2018 needs more beaches, but St. Lucia came through after hurricanes canceled a few other plans. 

• And of course, these goofs. 

I can’t wait to see where 2018 will take me. I hope everyone has a wonderful start to the new year!

Love,

KT

*As always, country counting is designated by the Traveler’s Century Club. I continue to remind you that I did not make the list but I must now disclose that I am a local chapter advisor.******

**We now consider ourselves to be fort experts (Fortperts? Expforts?) and I can tell you this one was highly enjoyable due to: 1) no insane climb to get there, 2) abundant greenery and flowers, 3) no lectures about how people were tortured. The fort trifecta, if you must. 

***This was not a failure on the trip’s fault and was 100% a failure on December’s fault. December is a very busy time to be a musician, a teacher, or a music teacher, let alone all three. 

****Also I forgot to pack underwear so now whenever I pack for a trip someone in the family asks if I packed underwear this time and laughs. You’re welcome, family. 

*****Not pictured is bikes in Indianapolis with Robert. Probably because we were on actual roads and neither of us would have been coordinated enough to take a picture, ride a bike, and avoid crashing into traffic. 

******A completely separate story that I am happy to share in person about how improperly timed meals can lead you to make questionable life choices. 

Saint Pierre (and more)

The last trip of #teachersummer2017 started with a little bit of history and a lot of fantastic friends. I managed to squeeze in all my old* favorites and several of their children!! I took practically no pictures during all the quality hang-out time, but I did manage to get tons of Ptarcie and I on our impromptu Freedom Trail tour.**

 From Boston I met up with Dad and AT in Halifax, Nova Scotia.*** We had a lovely time touring the boardwalk, including the Maritime Museum and Canadian Immigration Museum. The latter was total propaganda about how nice and easy it is to move to Canada and I was sold hard. The former was a whole lot of boats.

In the afternoon, Dad and I headed to The World's Worst Fort.**** It was straight up a hill but didn't have much of a view up top. Inside the fort were barracks you could tour but mostly tourists being hot. We did, however, find the perfect accessory for all future Keltic Kudzu gigs.

Upon leaving the WWF, we found the nicest art gallery so we were able to call the day an overall win. It featured the work of Maud Lewis*****, a Nova Scotian folk artist best known for painting her house and selling her paintings out of it. They have the house on display in the museum along with her artwork. All of her work was charming, colorful, and joyful.

After a full day in Halifax, we boarded a plane for Saint Pierre.****** Saint Pierre and Miquelon are two islands just south of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean. You can see Canada from them but they are territories of France. They speak French, they use the Euro, and they have all the rights of the EU. It is a fascinating comparison to our April trip to French Guiana. There, everyone wanted more attention from mainland France and felt very misunderstood. In Saint Pierre, they feel it's no big deal. They're just France.

The island of Saint Pierre has a population around 6,000 and everyone knows everyone. There is a small town with brightly colored buildings bracing themselves for a harsh winter. We primarily traveled around the island looking at beautiful lonely vistas. Occasionally there were horses and once there was a seal!*******

Tomorrow the dream team returns to Halifax and drives north to Prince Edward Island.********
-KT

*Know this is not a reflection on their age but how near and dear they are in my heart. But we also talked about how old we are now.
**AKA the tour where I insisted Ptarcie and I continue to follow the red line throughout the North End until we had other plans.
***Not a point, nice try. Just Canada.
****Devoted blog readers will know we have been to a great many forts and have very strong opinions.
*****Soon to be featured in the upcoming movie, "Maudie," or "that preview I saw last week where I wanted Ethan Hawke to to stop being so Ethan Hawke."
******Point.
*******Photographed here but incredibly poorly.
********Point.