My first thoughts on being back in America:

1. I have entirely way too much stuff. Despite the fact that it all fits neatly into boxes in one closet, it still feels like too much.
2. Since when do we have to pay for bags at the grocery store?  I leave for 3 months and all hell breaks loose.
3. Speaking of all hell breaking loose, there is a hideous ferris wheel on the Seattle waterfront. I'm sorry, did a bunch of carnies move in while I was gone?  It looks ridiculous.  If you want views, that is what the Space Needle is there for.  We don't need both.  Thank god I took plenty of pictures of the skyline over the last 5 years.  I certainly won't be taking any more.
4. Furthermore, why is the Space Needle painted orange right now? When is the next mayoral election?   This crap can't continue.
5. Today, I observed a group of construction workers on a smoke break on the street. They were also drinking kombucha.  Only in Seattle.
6. A haircut and an eyebrow wax can make you look like a brand new person.
7. I don't like wearing seat belts.
8. As expected, the sun does not shine here. :(
9. Everything is so orderly! 

Tiger Kingdom

I miss cuddling with tigers. Drugged or not.

Hvar

Well, our hostel is full of drunk idiots, but hvar is beautiful.  We have to stay in our hostel again tonight, but tomorrow we're moving to a private apartment.  Looking foward to another day of sun!

The chameleon at our hostel

Onward

We had a great day in split yesterday and we are headed to hvar this morning via boat. I successfully downsized my bag. I'm now traveling with a daypack, a computer bag, and a purse! FTW!

Split

Safely arrived to our hostel in split!

Zagreb

We successfully made it to Croatia!  We're spending the day in Zagreb, and we have a flight to Split tonight.  I'm certainly looking forward to a day (tomorrow) that doesn't involve travel.  We're sitting at an outdoor cafe in Zagreb right now, trying to beat the heat. We will be staying in Split for two nights, and then we're heading to Hvar for 3 nights.  I can't wait to be back near the water!

Interlaken2

Well, interlaken was a total bust.  The storm literally shut everything down.  They weren't running anything (canyoning, paragliding, rafting, etc) today at all because there was too much rain and lightening.  So rather than sitting around at our hostel (that occasionally had power - it cut out during the 2nd half of the Eurocup final!) and dying of boredom, we decided to get the hell out of dodge early.  We're on an overnight train tonight to Zagreb, Croatia. We get there in the morning, and will spend the day exploring before catching a flight in the evening to Split. We're pretty excited to get out of the rain and into the sun.  We're both pretty disappointed that the trip to interlaken was an (expensive) waste, but oh well!  We just picked up a travel book on Croatia and we're chilling in a Starbucks in Zurich before our train leaves in a few hours.

Interlaken

We safely made it to Interlaken!  Unfortunately, it is storm of the century in Switzerland right now.  It is windy, cold, raining sideways, and there is occasional lightening.  No sign of improvement for the days that we are here. Oh, and did I mention that we're staying in tent/yurts?!  We're in for an adventure!