Mexico 2023: a Return to San Juan del Río

Early early on Liz asked “when can we go back to Mexico?” and I loved it. We got a Thanksgiving trip in our heads, and then got it into our heads to invite Mom and Dad with us. And guess what? It all worked out! We went to Mexico for Thanksgiving!

But first…Liz and I had to drive to Chicago! Along the way we stopped at the Lincoln Oasis rest stop.

And then we made our way up to Bob Chinn’s Crab House in Wheeling to meet up with Mom and Dad after their temple shift had ended. I hadn’t been to Bob Chinn’s in 25 years and it was a favorite of Liz’s family during their Illinois/Wisconsin days so it was awful good to kick off our trip with a nice meal there. AND to get some new souvenir cups!

Then the next morning we were up nice and early to catch our flight to Mexico!

Goodbye Chicago!

Hello Mexico!

From the airport we picked up our rental car and then hit the road because this Mexico City trip was different from all the others (so far) … this Mexico City trip was going to start with a trip to San Juan del Río, Querétaro, a “small” town that was my second area on my mission. I cannot say the drive up was very familiar.

For dinner we stopped at Los Cochinos right outside of San Juan (we had considered another place but the owner had recently been execution-style murdered and weren’t feeling so crazy about it because of that…plus they mainly served lamb) for a wonderful porky start to our Mexico eating. What a porcine wonderland it was!

Back on the road for a bit…

Mom had found us a little hotel right in the middle of downtown San Juan del Río and it was absolutely perfect. The most wonderful little place to call our home base. After settling in a bit we had a nice walk around the main plazas and streets of the city, places I was very familiar with from back in 1997.

Perhaps this would be a good place to insert a little color re: Brigham & San Juan del Río c. 1997? I received my transfer to San Juan on (I believe) December 30th, 1997, just as I was starting to get comfortable in my first area, El Molinito. Molinito was a WILD place to start a mission, the easygoingness and general safe feeling of San Juan a welcome change. And San Juan del Río is flat! Molinito was very hilly. I lived there in a house with 3 other missionaries and worked with 3 companions. It had its ups and downs, but on the whole, it is easy to remember San Juan as a peaceful and happy part of my mission. And, in 2023, San Juan del Río proved to be a peaceful happy place still.

The next morning I woke up a lil early (as I do) and walked around the plazas and Main Street and side streets down to the river and back, wondering if I’d maybe find the old church building, but I didn’t know where exactly it was so I did not find it. But I saw a lot of great stuff and really ate up the feeling of the town waking up, people heading off to work, buses starting out their routes, all that great stuff.

Then we all met up at the hotel’s little restaurant for a breakfast that just hit the spot so hard. Probably one of our absolute favorite meals.

And then we all took a nice long walk to the river and back, but with a different route than all the other walks.

And then, holy smokes - we ran right into a parade! Turns out it was Revolution Day! It was quite the parade, we only saw a little bit of it before continuing our walk but still saw a lot.

Something you need to know about downtown San Juan del Río is that the sidewalks are all paved (tiled?) with this tile.

We kept on heading down to the river, admiring the beauty of San Juan as we went. On the other side of the river we visited a cool cemetery, then headed back up to the hotel.

And then it was time to leave San Juan del Río! It was such a nice little trip, so good to be back. On the way out I drove kind of blindly through the city kind of trying to figure out where I used to live but just wasn’t recognize BUT we did pass by a new, big SUD church and it’s nice to see the San Juan del Río saints got themselves an upgrade from the house they met at during my SJdR days.

We Live in Ohio! September - November 2023

We had a pretty cool Thanksgiving, but before I tell you about that, I think I should show you some of the stuff Liz and I got up to between when I got there and when we took our Thanksgiving trip.

I was barely an Ohioan for a week before my folks showed up for a magnificent visit. Stop number one? Filipino wonderland Bonifacio, which immediately earned a spot on my list of Columbus Restaurants that Drive Me Wild. (And after dinner Liz gave us a tour of her music-teaching workplace)

The next day, while Liz was at her music-teaching workplace, I took Mom and Dad to Las Carnitas, another Columbus restaurant that Drives Me Wild.

And later that afternoon we went to Greekfest at Columbus’s big Greek Orthodox church.

The next day we visited one more Columbus restaurant that Drives Me Wild, the soon-to-close Meshikou Chicken. What a place! And from there we drove through downtown and down to the Bookloft bookstore. And then that night, we went for it and bought our tickets and booked our Air BnB for our soon-to-be-posted Thanksgiving trip!

The next morning we went to this bakery, Fox in the Snow—it was the first time for 3 out of the 4 of us and, Wow! What a bakery! Columbus is an amazing city!

Then we went back home, took some porch photos, and dropped Mom and Dad off at the airport (after a lunch stop at Brassica, of course)

Here is Cornelius.

Here are pictures from an early morning walk I took around our neighborhood.

And then that Sunday we had everyone over to celebrate Peter’s birthday.

That night Liz’s music teaching job had a concert.

A nice midweek walk at twilight.

Liz performed at Endeavor Brewery and the Ginger Rabbit — after that Ginger Rabbit show we got Bojangles! There was another night where we had Indian food and walked by the church below.

After church one Sunday we walked around the quarry park and visited the posh farmhouses that had recently sprung up there. I thought they were cool but don’t need a house that tells me I’m cool.

The next Friday was pretty exciting. We were going to go to a nice lil dinner to celebrate our 6 month anniversary buuuut I slammed my finger in our patio door so incredibly hard. Urgent Care date leads to a Cracker Barrel date and actually it’s bit of a nice night in its own way.

Cornelius and I saw a squirrel. And the moon. And now Cornelius just pokes around the house, thinking about that squirrel.

Took another nice evening walk. Liz was teaching me to read while walking. She’s real good at it.

The next morning we went to Aubrey’s soccer game and then the next day we helped with a big Gardner family photo shoot. And showed off cheerleading moves.

And the next week? A few more nice evening walks!

Then Liz went out of town for a few days. I kicked off my alone time with a trip to the Asian Buffet (a.k.a. “Heaven”).

The next night I went with the Gardners to a High School football game, it was so fun!

Then - this was wild - the next day my work hosted a tailgate before an OSU football game so I went down to soak in all the Ohio football energy. Wow! I’d never witnessed anything like it. I think I would be willing to go to an OSU football game. Yes, I would do that sometime.

And then something wonderful happened, Liz came back from her trip! And sang for the oldfolks. And sang at Hyde Park steak house.

And we shopped for food storage!

Then it was Halloween! Boy was poor Cornelius forced to celebrate.

Here he is in more dignified circumstances.

Liz brings me beautiful lunches.

Then Liz played at Hyde Park again! Afters we ate at Brassica and had a nice time.

And now, to conclude, pictures of a weekend walk, Cornelius, and a work walk.

Coming soon . . . a Thanksgiving Multi-Parter!

I Lived in New York

Back in August I blogged about my trip to California in August. This is a post about what happened next.

What happened next was I flew to New York City to pack everything up and move myself over to Columbus. It turned out to take about two weeks, with a few final New York activities worked into the workdays.

Honestly I should’ve known better but I couldn’t believe all the work it was to get the 101 Cooper all packed up and the move all figured out. Very foolishly I thought I’d have time to get up to more final New York activities, but I enjoyed greatly the ones I was able to do.

One lucky day I was able to get Los Mariscos at the Chelsea Market (I will miss those salsas!) and walk through the West Village past my happy West Village home (2004-2008) and through Soho one last time and then get another lunch at Thai Diner before waiting on the Broadway Lafayette platform for the train back to Inwood.

There was another night when I was able to go back down to the Village and enjoy a little Whitney Museum time.

One evening I went down to Midtown for a final visit to JPress (needed to get some office pants!) before having a little supper at Le Bernadin (that’s another blog post—sorry, there’s actually a whole other New York post coming after this last New York post).

My last Wednesday in town I had time for a major outing. With the clock ticking, I made my first deep Staten Island journey and visited Snug Harbor with Patricia. I found out about it for its being where the movie Damsels in Distress was filmed, but learned that there was so much more to it than the Damsels in Distress buildings. At Snug Harbor we visited their Maritime Museum (an absolute A++ of a museum), the Museum of Staten Island (eh), their Chinese garden (surprisingly great!) and walked the grounds a good bit, too. I took a lot of pictures, they wound up a little out of order, but I hope you get the general idea here. Generally.

Oh and before getting on the ferry I walked by a Chinese buffet I used to go to sometimes during my Financial District worker days.

Then on Thursday I realized I was basically all packed up, my move helpers were scheduled and my truck was reserved! I went down to the Financial District for some final NYC activities.

I wanted to get chicken and rice but walked by a Xian Famous Foods and remembered telling Carol one time that the restaurant I’d miss most after leaving NYC was XFF as I don’t know where I could get food like that anywhere else in the country so I thought I better pop in for a pork bun. I was glad I popped.

Then I picked up some chicken and rice and ate it beside the briefcase man statue.

Then, because I love poetry and bookends, I rushed up to the Chambers Street McDonald’s, where, along with Mom and Greg, I ate my first Manhattan meal back in August 2003. They’ve fixed the place up since then but I sat in basically the same spot we sat that morning. I’d known for months, if not years, that I’d needed to have my last New York meal here and I’m very glad the plan worked out. Looking over these pictures now they give me a bad “furtively racing against the clock” feeling, these last minutes of my New York life were so rushed. That’s just how it had to be.

One last rush that night up to Lincoln Center to watch an outdoor screening of Moonstruck. A perfect New York movie, the perfect New York goodbye.

Then one last trip up to Inward, one last visit to C Town Town, and, miracle of miracles, tenderest of mercies, the neighborhood skunk I had been fixated with and tried to befriend WAS WAITING FOR ME AT MY BUILDING’S DOORSTEP when I got home. Thank you, friend!

That night during my evening prayers I wept crocodile tears of gratitude for the blessing of having gotten to live in New York and for all my New York friends and foes that made it such a rich experience. I don’t think one could have lived a finer New York life than I did, I was even the king of the city for a while there and managed to stick around long enough to see several generations of people come and go. Of the 2003 arrivals I knew I can’t think of anyone that stayed longer than me (just a few people who predate me that are still there, true Gotham barnacles). No complaints, just gratitude.

And then the next morning it was go time, no time for feelings, just time for truck retrieving (goodbye bodega cat! goodbye subway! goodbye Washington Heights! Hello and Goodbye Bronx neighborhood I had never been to before!) from the Bronx and moving. I hired some dudes to pack my truck up (the amount of things they broke in loading the truck? Astounding!) but Ned, Patricia, Rebecca, Angelique, and Jason all turned up to say adios and help oversea the job. It was a swift 3 hour loading (could’ve been swifter if you ask me) and by 11:30 or so I was on the road!

It was the kind of drive where you seem to be making good time for most of it and then takes 3 hours longer than expected at the end somehow (or, because you wanted to get your first Baconator in 16 years).

But it was all undoubtedly extremely worth it.