Cheapest Days to Fly and Best Time to Buy Airline Tickets

Regarding our Wedding, here's an article from FareCompare.com that is definitely worth looking at. Key take-home points include:

• buy domestic tickets on Tuesday after 3pm EST, 
• fly on Wednesday, Saturday, or Tuesday, and 
• purchase your group tickets individually.

Check out the article at Cheapest Days to Fly and Best Time to Buy Airline Tickets.

The [mb Financial Bank] Bike the Drive in Chicago, IL

Florin is awesome ... because our tandem is awesome!

On Sunday, May 30th, Florin and I rode our newly acquired 1971 Schwinn Deluxe Twinn for 30 miles on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive as part of the [mb] Financial Bank and Active Transportation  Alliance Bike the Drive 2010 event.  We had stayed the previous night in the amazing Fairmont Hotel on the 32nd floor overlooking Millennium and Grant Park.  We were really jazzed about the lovely weather and the general excitement of being in the city again, especially by bike:


On the day of the ride, not only did we see a couple of other cool tandems (i.e., a dual-hitched tandem-recumbent), but we found another couple riding a tandem that looked just like ours!  As Florin and I were taking a quick rest, I watched the crowd going by.  Then, I saw it--a varsity green tandem.  As the couple neared us and pulled away, I was struck with the realization that it was identical to our own.  We needed to catch up to them and fast!

"Quick!  Get on the bike, Florin!  We need to catch that tandem!" I cried out and I pointed to their rapidly shrinking form.  He grabbed the handlebars to steady us as I threw my leg over my co-pilot seat.  We started pedaling as fast as we could.  It didn't take long before we pulled up alongside of them.

"That's a nice bike you have there," Florin nonchalantly complimented the pilot.  (We later learned his name was Ross).  Ross and his co-pilot looked over at us to say, "Thanks," and when they did, they realized they were staring at a reflection of their own bike.  We rode the next 15 miles together discussing cycling, the stories behind our bike acquisitions, and took photos.  We exchanged contact info and may plan a future ride together -- who knows?

Two is Better than One!

Florin scored a sweet deal today! As part of today's block yard sale, he spotted a tandem bicycle that our neighbor, Bill, had placed out for sale. For only $35, Florin picked up the (new to us) bike: a classic campus (or "varsity") green Schwinn Tandem Deluxe Twinn.

The serial Number beneath the badge is FG048363 which means it was produced in June 1971. The Schwinn catalogs (1967 | 1972) provide more information, although not exact data regarding our bike. (If nothing else, they are amusing to browse through.) The asking price for one of these in excellent condition, original, and operational can be $500+, although the going rate of resale appears to be closer to ~$250.

Guiseppe has a blog in which he shows some of the progress and changes he did to his 1973 Schwinn Deluxe Twinn over the summer of 2008:

• More Bike Related Shenanigans (Before)
• More Bike Related Shenanigans (Middle)
• More Bike Related Shenanigans (After)

I can't hardly wait to be able to ride with my beau on our tandem down the Rock Island Trail with our matching green picnic backpack in tow!

Family Visiting Family!

It's strange how 5 days can be both slow and fast at the same time. It's Monday and I'm already on my way back to Roanoke, VA. I have just spent the last 5 days in Peoria, IL with the love of my life and fiance, Florin, and his intriguing European parents.

It's exciting because this is the trip that Florin's family finally had the chance to come over to The States to visit us in our new home! I'm so happy and excited, because they can finally see what he and I are so thrilled about: starting our new and exciting life together! It's our own little International House--not of pancakes, though; we prefer waffles & crepes! Ha, ha! ;)

Although Geta and Mircea had already been in the house for a week before I arrived, it wasn't a problem. I could see that they had settled in and had a routine going and I didn't want to interrupt that. They had already done so much (for us) around the house: pressure-washing the deck, purchasing tools and stain, brought us gifts, etc. I was hoping to have more chances to fix them meals or introduce them to particular American ways (as they had done for me in Romania), but the opportunities were not many.

As I had mentioned, I was only able to get away from work for a short while and it was unfortunately already going to be a difficult trip for me. Many unpleasant things had happened just prior to the visit. First, all three of my work days prior to Peoria were long and disastrous; the system I do training on appeared to experience a system-wide failure and left me looking silly and the system inept. (Not my best days in the job.) Then, I learned that the husband of a friend of ours had died without any suitable explanation as to how or why. It made me feel really sad and scared to imagine my own life without Florin ... I shudder to think of how painful and difficult it would be to have to live each day without the man I love and respect above anyone else. I think it was tough on Florin, too, once I told him of our deceased friend. It made us really appreciate how important it is to have one another and to really cherish the relationship and respect that we have for each other.

Despite the emotionally charged start, things started off and remained well. We had a fantastic trip to Chicago! We let Geta and Mircea call the shots on activities. Geta likes Jazz and Mircea is like me (we like food). For Friday night, Florin was able to direct us all to Andy's Jazz Club. The food was stellar, the waitress was Romanian, and the Jazz was loud, but quite enjoyable. On Saturday, we went to a bona fide American diner, Ohio House, for breakfast and then we were able to tour around Chicago on the Double-Decker bus in some of the most beautiful weather I've seen in a long time. We saw all the big buildings, was introduced to some of the rich history, and had the chance to mentally note places we wanted to zone in on. We then walked the city, visiting sites along the way and stopped into Potbelly Sandwiches for a quick eat. (Yum!) We visited Millennium Park and joked about taking Segway tours! It was a lot of fun and the sun seemed to set very quickly that day. By night we enjoyed Maggiano's, a terrific representation of Italian-American food.

Sunday was well spent in the Museum of Science and Industry. Florin found a good parking spot (although I did give him a hard time about it). :D We entered and bought tickets to the museum, the U-505 sub tour and for the IMAX Wild Oceans viewing. It is so difficult to believe that we spent 5 hours there! I think we all could've spent days in there and still not seen or experienced everything. (I am definitely going back at some point, hopefully soon! I know that my own family is very interested in going when they visit in November.) After it closed and we had to leave, we piled into the car and drove back to Peoria. While the family spoke and discussed things in Romanian, I arranged for transportation back to Blacksburg from Roanoke for my Monday flight. (I ended up taking the Smartway bus which worked out extremely well for only $3!) Then, we were home. As I took a short jog, Florin picked up a Chicago-style pizza. We sat down and introduced (and explained) American NFL Football to his parents. I think they actually enjoyed watching it and getting a sense of an American national pastime.

Night came and went. I had to depart very early in the morning. I didn't really get a chance to say goodbye or thank you to his parents since the night before seems premature to do so. Besides, I never really think of it as goodbye. It's more like a "see you later," or "soon," or "until next time!" There should always be a next time when you're talking about family ...

Despite the short trip and some of the obstacles, I think we did a pretty good job weaving work schedules, workout schedules, food preferences, habits, and household duties and chores with the needs and attentions for both the parents and for ourselves. You can't please all of the people all of the time, but it's not about that, anyway; these trips are about coexisting as a family and making new family memories.

Trip to Minnesota

We flew into Fargo, ND and got a rental car (2009 Mazda 6) to go to Bagley, MN. The drive was very picturesque on back roads through the Detroit Lakes area and it really reminded me of Sweden. It explains why all those Scandinavians settled there.

We visited the Tamarack wildlife refuge and saw a few birds and a few chipmunks. I guess it really wasn't the season to be spotting wildlife, but regardless, it was a nice day spent together. We listened to some really good NPR programming and had very interesting discussions about it. It's just great to be together again.

In the evening we finally arrived in Bagley. First impression from inside the car: It's small. First impression from outside the car: It smells like cows. That being said, it was a cute little town with the bare necessities. There was Hanks Hardware, the SuperValu, Jennifer's Hardware, Daroo's Pizza, Subs & Mexican (the local international food place), DairyLand (the local ice cream shop) and last but not least, the Dutch Mill Motel & Video (which also offers tanning...as in sun tans, not furs). There were several other establishments, but I can probably count them on my fingers.

The motel was very clean, but very old and probably doesn't feature in the Travel Channel's best hotels list. But we learned they are the cheapest motel in northern Minnesota and that was good enough for us. We weren't planning on spending much time in the room anyways.

The following day, we went to Itasca State Park, which is where the mighty Mississippi begins its journey to the Gulf of Mexico. It begins in Itasca Lake and meanders north and east before actually turning south. Very interesting and quite a nice park to visit. Just make sure to bring bug spray aka. "Minnesota cologne," because the mosquitoes are relentless.

Later in the evening we went to Sam and Nathaniel's wedding which featured the funniest preacher I've ever seen, a Model A Ford, some of the best finger food I've ever had and more family and friends than I could count. It was a lot of fun and the reception, although segregated, was a total hit once the dancing began. I also was surprised by the amount of singing that took place. I've never been to a wedding where the guests get up and sing songs to the bride and groom.

Wedding lasted until about midnight which worked well for us because we had to get up early and drive back to Fargo. Once in Fargo we grabbed some breakfast at the Atomic Cafe and attempted to make our way to the airport. This was very difficult because all the roads were closed off for the air show. Lucky for us, we were there early and were able to watch the show for an hour or two prior to having to get on our plane.

We flew together to Chicago and then had to go our separate ways. Yet another weekend that was way too short but well worth the trip. We want to go back to Minnesota to go bicycling with Sam and take in some more of the natural beauty up there.

Pictures will follow as soon as Amber has some time to post them. (It's Blitz week now and it may take a while).

Even Calen doesn't want to see Daddy go!

Today is the day that Florin moves (up and out) of Blacksburg to the greater Peoria, IL area!


He's packed and ready to go, complete with a new briefcase and everything (Thanks, Nana!):


And even Calen didn't want to be left behind; I think he figured that if he curled up and was small enough, maybe we wouldn't notice him in the car before we drove off:

Skiing for the first time in 2 years

This weekend Amber, myself and several of our friends went skiing to Snowshoe Mountain for a weekend of skiing. Kate and Michael put together the trip and arranged for lodging in a very nice cabin at the top of the mountain. They invited us and 4 of their other friends, Gill and Jeremy, and Marty and Dave.

Although we were worried about the ski conditions, it turned out to be fantastic (at least the first day). The weather had been very cold at the beginning of the year, then it turned really warm for a few weeks. We were expecting to have very slushy conditions and earlier in the week only about half of the slopes were open. Since it was Valentine's day weekend, they apparently opened up all their slopes and although it was just above freezing, conditions were fantastic. No ice, no slush, just snow. We skied all day Saturday, then went to the local pool and relaxed in the hot tub for a while. After that it was off to the house for dinner and games. We played Apples for Apples, which was a very fun game that really teaches you a lot about the personalities of people you're playing with. It was great to get to know Kate and Michael's friends whom we had just met for the first time.

The second day wasn't nearly as good as the temperatures dropped significantly and the semi-slushy snow turned to ice. Not much fun but we got in another good day of skiing that will hold us over until next time.

Day 6 (Wednesday) in California

This was another relatively lazy day for the both of us. We talked over possible house bids. That's about it.

Day 5 (Tuesday) in California

Tuesday was not a very exciting day for me (Amber), but for my dad and Florin, it proved to be quite fun. I did a ton of laundry, watched the movie, 27 Dresses, with my mom, and wrapped Xmas presents for friends and family. Florin went fishing with my dad. Florin can tell the story of fishing, but from what I understood he caught twice as many as my dad (that would be 2 fish), and my dad caught a 68.5" endangered Green Sturgeon. So, even though our men caught fish, it was a catch-and-release kind of day. Upon their arrival back home, I made fantastic gourmet sandwiches and my mom made tomato garlic soup. Fantastic as always!

Florin and I then headed into town to meet up with my friends at The Madison Bear Garden to have a few drinks. Berta and her man, Dustin, Jon, and Rob were able to join us. We had curly fries, garlic fries, and beers all-around. It was great to kick back and shoot-the-shit with them. I'm amazed that no matter how much time goes by between visits, whenever I'm back with them I feel like it's the good ol' times. I have to say that I really do miss my Chico friends and California (in general). If only it wasn't so expensive and time-consuming to fly there!

Day 4 (Monday) in California

I went siteseeing in Chico with Florin. We were on a mission to complete our Xmas shopping (we succeeded). I noted the new businesses (Kohls) and lamented the loss of old ones (Kramore Inn). I took Florin with me to Spiteri's Deli (northside of Chico) and we split a delicious Garlic and Rosemary turkey sandwich on Dutch Crunch bread. After finishing the late lunch, he understood why I like it so much. I then took him to Donut Nook, only to discover that they were closed. :( That's okay ... it'll be something to look forward to next time we visit Chico! We then went to Trader Joe's for Florin's first time. I think he liked it--he said it reminded him of European stores. I was so glad to be back at a Trader Joe's. We bought artisan bread, Trader Joe's O's, sausage, fresh sage and parsley, two-buck chuck, and a variety of goodies from my favorite aisle. After that, we headed to Home Depot to check out potential Xmas gifts (for Florin) and then it was time to head home to a delicous dinner of richly marinated tri-tip and homemade french garlic bread. Yum!

Day 3 (Sunday) in California

After a few days at Yosemite and hanging out with Diana and Chad, it was time to reunite with the rest of the Gustafson clan. Leaving on time for a change, we rolled into the Chico's Chili's and waited for Mom and Dad to meet up with us. The food and company was good. Diana and I also decided that the margaritas were also pretty good! With full bellies, we headed over to visit with Grandma and Grandad. I haven't seen them since September and I cannot say that they are doing all that well. Grandma looks very tired and Grandad has lost 30 or more lbs; they both are beginning to wear their age. It breaks my heart to see them like this, but there is nothing I can do. There is nothing that any of us can do. It's the unfortunate end of the lifecycle ... it may be inevitable, but I don't have to like it. In any case, my Grandma is beginning to show serious signs of dementia or althemier's--I don't know which it is. She mostly keep mum during our visit to her house, but a few times she mentioned that we'd better lower our voices for fear of being asked to leave [the restaurant] and at the end of the visit she suggested (more than once) that perhaps it was time for her and Grandad "to go home." It's really tough to hear that and try to decide whether or not you want to mention that she's already at home. I cannot imagine what it must be like to not even be aware of whether or not you are at home. How lost must a person feel if they are unable to discern where home is? I have to admit, I'm just trying not to even think about it.

On an even darker, more sinister scale, we learned that my [formerly?] drug-addicted cousin and her recently-paroled husband were to be moving into Grandma and Grandad's house that very same afternoon. They were supposed to arrive by 2pm, but even by 5:30 they had not made an appearance. Apparently they are moving in to assist Grandma and Grandad. I'll reserve my true feelings about the matter, but I can say that everyone in attendence was not favorable to the idea, including my own Grandmother. I just (naively) hope that nothing bad arises out of that situation.

After saying farewell and in a shower of hugs and kisses, Florin and I rode in the dusty-blue minivan back to my parent's house. The house hasn't changed one bit in these past few years, but the landscaping has really come along. The southside is nearly completed with brick walkways and built-up sections. The northside has really flourished in it's "natural parklike setting" of redwoods, fruit-bearing trees and figs, and with a three-year old wysteria overtaking the rustic decaying boomtruck. Apparently, the grounds are slated to be included in the Spring Garden Tour of 2010.

Day 2 (Saturday) in California

Since Diana and Chad had DSL, Florin and I figured a good Xmas gift for them would be a wireless router. Little did we know that they already had a a DSL modem with wireless built-in, but not yet configured. Once we learned that, Florin was able to set them up with wireless access which in turn enabled us all to have wireless access to the Internet. (Yay!)

I'm not sure what else we did today, but it was relaxing overall.

Day 1 (Friday) in California

The day started with Amber taking Diana to work while Chad (Diana's husband) and I griped to eachother about how much graduate school sucks and how we would never do it again knowing what we know now. The only comforting thing is that it appears that no matter what field you are in or which university you go to, the life of a grad student is always the same.

After Amber came back, we borrowed Diana's car and went to get an oil change. While the folks at the shop changed the oil, we strolled to a Taqueria nearby for lunch. The weather in California was, as always, nice and we were marveling at how fabulous it is to be able to come from a snowy November day on the East Coast to a sunny shorts-and-t shirt day in California simply by hopping on a flight. Lunch was a delicious foot-long burrito that we shared. Mexican food is so much better here than anywhere else.

After lunch and the oil change we got on the road for the 4 hour trip to Yosemite National Park. The drive took us south through the central valley then east on a back roads through the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas all the way to the mountains. We stopped at an information booth about an hour out from the national park and were recommended a hotel in a nearby gold rush town for only $59/night. More on that later.

We went ahead and booked the hotel room site unseen because we wanted to make it to the national park and catch the views at sunset. This was a great idea as we rolled into the Yosemite valley just as the sun was setting. We pulled over here and there to allow me to take some pictures and by the time we made it to the village, it was dark. We turned around and went back to the hotel. Although the scenery was stunningly beautiful (as seen above), the most amazing thing we saw were two bear cubs playing near the road. Of course, there was a dumb tourist nearby trying to take a picture of the cubs dangerously close to the them. It all happened so quickly we didn't have a chance to stop and take a picture, but the image is firmly etched in our memory. We also saw a coyote cross the road right in front of our car and several deer who did what deer do and froze when hit by the beams of our headlights. But Amber did a great job driving and we did not hit a single critter.

We drove back to the hotel and when we arrived to Jamestown, we were greeted by a quaint little wild west town. It is as if we went back in time. We checked into the hotel and were informed that it would be wise to go out and get dinner before taking all our stuff to the room because everything "closes early in this town". It was 7:15PM. We took the advice and found a very nice restaurant at the National Hotel just down the road. This was a more upscale hotel with a saloon and a gourmet restaurant. All the decorations were typical for the time period around 100-150 years ago and the food was absolutely delicious. I treated Amber to dinner to celebrate her victory over the preliminary exam. After dinner we retired to our room and promptly fell asleep as we were exhausted and slightly jet lagged.

Thanksgiving trip to California

Amber just passed her preliminary exam and is one hoop away from having her Ph.D. and I have been working hard to finish up my research so that I can graduate by March and move to Peoria to start my new job with Caterpillar. So after the semester from hell, Amber and I finally were able to get away on a real vacation. We're spending thanksgiving in California with Amber's family.

We flew out on US Airways from Charlotte and quickly realized how spoiled we are since we've almost always flown with United. US Airways is TERRIBLE! Here's why:

1. Charge for checked luggage, which in turn forces everyone to carry on all their crap. Thus, boarding takes 30 minutes instead of 10 because everyone is trying to cram all their stuff in the overhead bin.
2. They charge for any type of refreshments including water. Now this wouldn't be a big deal on a 2 hour flight, but on a 4 hour flight across the US, it's an issue. Some would say unhealthy. So the solution is to just bring your own beverage; oh wait, you're not allowed to bring any liquids... I can't believe nobody has sued the airports and airlines for monopolizing the food and beverage market in airports. $8 for a sandwich in the airport. $5 for a water bottle. Incredible!

So we finally arrived in Sacramento without incident and were met by Diana, Amber's sister who graciously let us stay at her place overnight. While we were hanging out at the airport waiting for our bag, I took this picture in the baggage hall at Sacramento airport. Pretty appropriate decoration if you ask me.

July 4 in Tennessee

So this past weekend we had our first adventure documented on this blog: a trip to my host family in Tennessee. It was a good-old-fashioned country blowout with 3 grills going, copious amounts of delicious food, beer, stray dogs, cattle, and of course a 30 minute fire works display.

Before we made it there, we ran into car trouble. The Grand Am of Doom apparently had a few clogged vacuum hoses that prevented the engine from breathing properly. This in turn caused the internal pressure to rise in the engine which caused the cam shaft seal to blow out and ridiculous amounts of oil to leak out. Now for those who don't know the Grand Am of Doom, it has always had a bit of an oil leak, maybe a quart of oil per 3-4000 miles, but in this trip alone we had to add about 4 quarts (in 400 miles) to make it to our destination. The GPS Amber bought me for my birthday came in handy when we had to find a Walmart in the middle of the night to buy more oil.

After spending a significant amount of time this weekend with my host dad trying to fix the car, Sunday came around and we still hadn't fixed it. Needless to say, we couldn't drive the car back in the shape it was in, so dad talked me into taking his farm car and leaving the Grand Am of Doom in his capable hands. His farm car is a 1997 Ford Thunderbird, light blue with hints of yellow (bondo) and british racing green (a replacement door), which he uses to haul 500lbs of feed in on a regular basis because it gets better gas mileage than the truck. To quote him "I can almost get 10 bags in the trunk. But it has a big back seat, so I can put what won't fit in the truck there." Amber is so proud...all I need is a wife-beater and I'll fit the picture perfectly. For your viewing pleasure, I have added a few pictures of the "Thunder Chicken of Doom" below.



Notice the British Racing Green door. It's what makes this car so fast!