shawnlavoie.com » Travel

Off to Burma

Shawn — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:05:00 +0000

Missing him already

Flying Second class

Decorations for the holiday on board

Our journey to Burma begins with a 20 hour flight on China Airlines.

Mr. Potato Head

Shawn — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 17:23:51 +0000

In line for Toy Story at Hollywood Studios in Orlando. It turns out this ride is more video game than rollercoaster, but incredibly fun. It’s also probably the most popular in Disney World. Now if only Mr. Potato Head didn’t blink when I took his picture!

Priceless Works of Art

Shawn — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:35:00 +0000

Parms and I made a quick visit to the Art Institute of Chicago today and saw the Marc Chagall stained glass windows. My first memory of these windows is a scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The photo is not a perfect match but you get the idea.

Giant Ipod

Shawn — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 02:10:28 +0000

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: being on a Virgin America flight is like being inside a giant ipod.

Some Bangalore Highlights

Shawn — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:16:16 +0000

Something fishy at the airport

Trina, Jessica, Jen, Emily and Joel at the airport

Lalbagh Garden plant life

Emily using it

Meeting the director

The lake at Lalbagh

Let me tell you 'bout the I-D-C

Decisions

We Have Arrived

Shawn — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:07:41 +0000

The Parms and I arrived in Bangalore at 1:30 AM on Saturday, and have since pretty much recovered from the jetlag. Our hotel is the Fortune Select Trinity in Whitefield, about 30 minutes from the city center on a good day and over an hour during rush-hour (which lasts most of the day). On the plus side, the drive to the Accenture campus is about 5 minutes.

Over the weekend we checked out the Bangalore Palace. The palace is beautiful if not a bit quirky. We saw elephant heads and stools made from elephant feet. We also saw a very old wooden refrigerator, cooled only by ice. There were also a bunch of paintings of naked ladies on the walls, Chinese furniture, and a Spanish mosaic bench.

The bench

The crew

On Sunday we took a walking tour of Lalbagh Garden through BanagaloreWALKS. Our tour guide Vijay took us on a 3 hour tour of the plant life in the garden. The tour included a lunch at MTR, an ‘institution’ in Bangalore that’s been around for over 70 years.

MTR blue grape drink

Dosa Masala!

We stood on a 3 billion year old rock in the gardens, one of the oldest exposed geological features on earth.

Stroll up a 3 billion year old rock

At the top

More pictures to follow.

Outsourced

Shawn — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:08:04 +0000

For the past few weeks I’ve been preparing for a work trip to India for 4 weeks (followed by 3 weeks of vacation in south India and Thailand). Things were kind of under wraps, not knowing all the details or even if it would happen. Well, it’s happening and the cat’s out of the bag! After a bunch of shots and prescriptions (polio booster, h1n2, Japanese encephalitis (x3), malarone, and antibiotics), dealing with Indian visa shenanigans, and preparing materials for work, it’s on! As an added bonus, Jessica is also being sent with work on the same trip.

Per Dan and Karla‘s recommendation, Jessica and I watched Outsourced, a movie all about me. I’ll post more about our upcoming adventure after the 24-hour flight that starts tomorrow at noon.

Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe, CA

Shawn — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:31:51 +0000

Jessica and I are in north Lake Tahoe for a 3-day weekend in the snow. We’ve been staying at the River Ranch Lodge (our second weekend here), which is insanely convenient to get to Squaw, Truckee, or Tahoe City. Tahoe has just received 7 feet of snow and it doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. Some of these photos are from our trip two weeks ago. No joke – this storm makes it look like a completely different place from our last trip up.

At the Palisades.

Skiboarding!

Geared up.

Hanging out in the snow.

Mid-storm.

Peppermint Pattie.

Ninja Parms.

Hiking to the Hollywood Sign

Shawn — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:43:00 +0000

Mom, Maer and I hiked the Hollyridge trail to the Hollywood sign this afternoon. The hike is probably only about 2 miles round trip… worth it. The drive there (braving LA traffic) from my mom’s is the hardest part; I was feeling a little car-sick by the time we finally got to the trailhead. Note the lack of smog today!

Sign from Afar.

Smogless sky.

Mom and Me.

Mom and Maer.

Sign's backside.

Biking the Marin Headlands

Shawn — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:15:25 +0000

PARMS with bike and smile at Marin Headlands.

Shawn decked out to bike.

PARMS with the GG bridge.

Pretty.