Home for the Holidays

In good corporate fashion, our project practically shut down from December 18th through January 2nd giving me ample time to do a lap around the States. I was even able to sneak out two days early thanks to South Africa's "Day of Reconciliation." This holiday is remembered by the Afrikaner community as a day in 1838 when they defeated the Zulu army in the Battle of Blood River, while the ANC [African National Congress] commemorates it as a day in 1961 when they first armed their soldiers to overthrow Apartheid. Either way, I reconciled myself to skip town early.

Stop 1: Dakar, Senegal

The flight to New York is just too damn long, so the plane made a planned re-fueling stop in Dakar, Senegal. Unfortunately, no passport stamp, no pictures, and not even a breath of the warm desert air. 

Stop 2: New York, USA

18 hours and 41 minutes later I landed at JFK where it was a starkly different 18 degrees (it was 85 in Dakar 8 hours earlier). I grabbed a cab and was excited to see Courtney and get into the Christmas spirit (summer in December just doesn't set the mood). We spent the weekend watching [American] football, saw Elf on Broadway, tried some new restaurants, attended Christmas parties, and saw friends.

Stop 3: San Francisco, USA

Home for the holidays! The family met me at the airport and we enjoyed an evening in San Francisco walking the streets, shopping, and having dinner. Christmas came and went too quickly... but I had all the best of friends, family, and Dad's never-ending yard work. Plus, I was the only one to successfully elude Drew's cold.

Drew's first Chirstmas and first red wagon

Nana and Drew

Courtney met up with us in San Francisco for a couple laps around the Lafayette reservoir, friends dinner in SF, family dinner at Round Hill, and in a flash we were on the move again to Los Angeles.

Stop 4: Los Angeles / Pasadena, USA

The final stop of my U.S. tour was the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Courtney's brother Cale plays for the Rose Bowl newcomer, TCU, which meant I needed to find something purple quickly. We made our way to the team hotel and met up with the rest of the Patterson clan.We had a fun couple days and New Years, but we were there for a football game and TCU came to play!

In purple with CP1 and Gary
(Gary?? ..where did he come from?)

GO TCU

CP3, CP2, CP1

Dalton back to pass

TCU Gloves

FROGS WIN!

CP1 and me

CP4 and CP1

The Patterson Eight

Post-game celebrations with the team
Texans stood out a little bit in LA

In, undoubtedly, Gary's most spontaneous decision ever, he boarded a plane within two hours of finding out there was an extra ticket, good work. Special thanks to the Patterson family for allowing me to partake in "The Granddaddy of Them All".

Stop 5: London, UK

Between the back to back overnight flights I stopped in London... nothing to report. However, I think that traveling for 35 hours was the most relaxing thing I did over the quick trip home.