Nile Ethiopian Cuisine - who knew?!

For some reason in the middle of the night on the flight to Orlando, I got this hankering for Ethiopian food. We do not have such in Alaska, so perhaps it was the possibility of finding such a restaurant in a metropolitan area that struck me. Anyway, a search in the phone book did not produce any leads. While perusing the Sunday paper, however, sure enough, on the local listings for restaurants there was a listing for an Ethiopian restaurant in South Orlando. We had already planned to go to the Mall at Millenia down there, a very fancy mall with more upscale stores (see http://www.mallatmillenia.com/). Greg's mother, Marion and his brother Gary, went with us and enjoyed the food and a little bit of Ethiopian culture for the first time. Yes, we did have the coffee ceremony, including the burning of frankincense. The food was as good as we remembered, the people were very friendly and glad to see us. Come to find out they have been open for two months and had just placed the ad in the paper that Friday, so they were quite pleased that it had already paid off. And if you're ever in Orlando please go eat there, we want them to still be around when we visit again! For Menus, Directions, etc... Here's the website link - Nile Ethiopian Cuisine. (updated 9/13/08)

Montana!

After graduation weekend, see post below, we went up to Montana on our journey back to AK. We spent a very wonderful few days with some very special friends that we knew in Zimbabwe. I will add captions to the pictures. Thanks for the hospitality Karen and Tim!!
After our arrival and for a little R&R we went to the Water of the Gods hot springs to enjoy a Memorial Day bluegrass festival. Greg soaked in the hot springs pool and listened to some tasty tunes along with Tim, Sanna, Eva and an assortement of Montana color. This was a very cool place. Outside air temperature was in the 60s and the spring was 110 degrees.



Views from Greg's trail run.


Eva contemplating her next design...
A great hike up to Palisades Falls
Karen, Jill and the girls.
Sanna in her cute pink dress and clogs, clutching her stuffed ostrich was all over those rocks!

Great Celebration for Family/ Friends

Well, she did it!! My sister officially graduated from Med School. She is now an MD. She starts her residency in Emergency Medicine at the end of this month. The parents are truly proud and pleased as punch, needless to say! Greg and I went down to participate in the festivities. We started out our journey south after work, our flight left at 12:55 AM! Note the picture below of Bob (thanks to Becky for taking such good care of the old guy!!) and the scenery from the truck on our way to drop him off and proceed on to the airport, it was 9 PM! Our days are getting longer... when we got on the plane at 1 AM there was a beautiful red glow on the horizon. There was a special "hooding" ceremony on Friday night to acknowledge the support of spouses and family. The commencement ceremony was held outdoors under tents with much hooting, clapping and blowing of airhorns! We had a very nice time. Many of our family friends also attended, people who have known us since we were very little. How time flies.

Juneau, Alaska

Jill took a business trip in mid May to Juneau for a team building seminar. The first day she managed to blend in with the cruise ship tourists to get a feel for the City. She took the tram up the mountain, there was lingering snow, so she could not navigate the nature trail with her wheelchair. But the views, vistas are breathtaking. Needless to say, a small town overrun by tourists in the summer and apparently quiet in the winter, besides the hot air blowing around during our State's Legislative session! Anywho, she is going back in a couple weeks (more meetings) and taking her parents along. It will be a blast... enjoy the pics.