Don't stop

Vacation: a time of relaxation right? Wrong.

Vacation is a time to pack in all of the social and familial obligations that you have missed out on over the past collection of months. You work and you work so you can go on vacation and then you don't stop moving until you're back to work and vacation is over. And then, honestly, you're still moving because you're at work. It's an interesting structure. Both fulfilling and depleting. When you're not on vacation you miss the feeling of the break: seeing old friends, spending time with family, visiting new places. When you are on vacation you miss all of your new friends, the people you've just started dating, and the regularity of your everyday life. Everywhere you go, you are winning and losing, giving and taking, stopping and starting.

All that I'm saying is, that I'm tired and I'm not sure when that is going to go away. Maybe that's what the actual act of traveling is for. Sleeping. Sleeping on planes is my specialty anyways so I might as well embrace it.

The Big City

This past week I visited San Francisco. I spent some good time with the little sis, and some sweet but fleeting moments with the elder of us kids too. I went on an impromptu date, ate so much delicious food, checked out downtown Oakland, and spent a few nights with a good friend from back in school. I also got to see a bunch of cool things and experience what a beautiful city San Francisco was.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

The sisters in front of the "golden" gate bridge

Delicious pastry I couldn't resist eating a bit of before photographing.

The view from Buena Vista park (you can kinda see the bridge in the distance)

A buena vista park bench

Coit Tower, where I met my impromptu date

A mural of naked people I stumbled upon

A "yellow tree" with yellow leaves walking away from the famous part of Lombard St.

Don't park here, I guess

The Tenderloin area had awesome murals

Mural in the Tenderloin

Same mural

The kind of close together housing that I miss about Richmond

A shop sign on Haight Ashbury

A carousel in The Golden Gate Park

Store in Haight Ashbury

I think this is a eucalyptis log

Plant in Golden Gate Park (everything grows there)

One kind of San Francisco architecture.

The view from some famous pier where there are sea lions

Giant Yoda statue made out of Legos

I'm about to turn in for the night. Trying to wake up and go to a morning Yoga class tomorrow. We'll see if that happens. Trying to be productive with my free time these days.

East Coast Smeast Coast.

Some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

When I was packing up my green backpack and suitcase I realized that I owned a lot of green

In Delaware before we left for Virginia we tried to learn how to use the Camera's timer.

This was our best attempt.

A sink in my friends crazy old Richmond house

Another Bathroom's sink in the same house. A house full of crazy sinks

A flourless chocolate cake that my older sister made for my dad's birthday

Almond cheesecake covered in delicious fruit for the same birthday.

This is by no means all of the photos that I took but I thought I would give you a quick taste of how I spent some of my time while I was on the east coast. The report might be a little skewed towards sinks and cakes but I see nothing wrong with that.

Aspen-Breckenridge: a journey

After a loud show and a lovely evening in Aspen we woke up to a continental breakfast and then a beautiful, if slightly perilous, drive to Breckenridge.

Continental breakfast in Aspen

Mountains on the drive to Breckenridge

Aspen trees made a tunnel to drive through

but I only got the end of it in picture

Shout out Katelyn for driving, and the family for hanging around in the middle of the day to let us into the lodge in Breckenridge.

Canyons and other adventures

Hey! Hey! Pictures. Yep, I've got something special for you.

Yesterday Katelyn and I went to an awesome canyon while Stephanie was at work. Yay to visiting sisters who live in awesome places!

Then last night, after the work day was over, we all headed over to Aspen to meet with Stephanie's friend Jenny, eat an overpriced dinner, and watch a kinda strange show. Sorry, I don't have pictures from the show. I forgot to bring my camera there. But, here's the canyon

Black Rock Canyon (see that little river down there?!)

Some of the high peaks inside the canyon which was crazy deep

Rocks, bush, and the sky at the top

Lichen on the rocks at the canyon

Stay tuned for more great pictures. It's vacation baby!

Staying up all night and going to Colorado

Last night, I didn't come home to make my blog post. I stayed out all night at my friend Natalie's house since we were busy keeping her boyfriend awake for his super early flight to Miami this morning. Tonight looks like it's shaping up to be almost exactly the same situation but instead of keeping Alex awake, we're keeping me awake and instead of flying to Miami I'll be flying to CO for some quality family time.

I can't wait for some sweet, sweet vacation. I'll see most of you all very soon.

All the best.

Nothing Much

I haven't gotten up to much in the past couple of days. Didn't even manage to go on my long run on Friday. I don't know why, but working up the energy to run has been hard this week. I think I made a running buddy that I can do a 7 miler with on Wednesday. So, I'm looking forward to that. Maybe I can make up for my missed run a bit.

Tomorrow and then Monday = last two days of work before vacation! Yay! Now, I just gotta work out how I'm getting to the airport so early in the morning. I'm sure it will all turn out though.

Hope your all's weekends are going swell.

Best!

Burning ball of excitement.

Like a small sun.

A very small but hot and excited sun.

That's how I feel right now.

I am on fire with excitement.

There are so many things to look forward to.

Landing in Philly and getting lunch with my friend Matt, going home and seeing my Mom Dad and brothers, getting to see my sisters and get ready for Jon-Mike & Jackie's wedding, Wedding!, Mamaw!, Uncles from all over, Mom's birthday, Riding in a car, Richmond VA, Friends, Family, Friends, and back to the west coast.

I am currently waiting in the airport and writing this blog. I have started to send out my Facebook feelers and text alerts. I can not wait for the east coast and me to be one again.

Hope you all are sleeping soundly as I type.

East Coast! East Coast!

Today I did a big thing and applied for food stamps. It's possible that I won't qualify but I also just spent a bunch of money on air fare to get back to the east coast- so I probably will- and that brings me to the fun stuff!

I'm coming back east! I'll be flying into the Philly area on March 23rd 2011 and staying in DE for my brother's wedding on the 26th. Then! I will head on down to good ol' Richmond, VA to stay from the 27th to April 1st (Which just happens to be the birthday of a very sweet lady I'll be kickin' it with)

So, if you'd like to see me during this time get on top of things because this is a limited time offer.

Hope you're all having a great day. Thanks for reading.

Return to Portland

I'm back in Portland. It turns out that it takes forever to fly to and from Portland, OR.

Thankfully, however, my day of travel was broken up by a really great lunch with my parents!! I found out at about 8:00 am that I had layover in Philadelphia on my way back west from Augusta, GA. Upon notifying my dad about my flight itinerary we decided to meet in Philadelphia. Luckily that was my longest layover and I had a few solid hours to spend with them. I'd like to say now. Thanks Mom & Dad for lunch, snacks, and my birthday gift! All are/were greatly appreciated. And seeing you made my day (maybe even my week).

Other than that sweet moment of happiness, most of my travel experience involved me falling asleep with my mouth open on planes and waking up very, very thirsty. Still, eventually, I returned to what is now my home town of Portland, OR and what I found surprised me. The weather was beautiful. I caught the MAX train back into town and from there rode a bus home. All in all, I got the the airport in Augusta, GA at just past 9 in the morning EST and arrived home from the airport in Portland, OR at around 2am EST. It was a long day.