Saturday, August 25, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
My I don't know what post it is anymore Post
I'm back from the dead! I know...I know...I probably don't have anymore readers anymore since I haven't written in so long. But in my defense I haven't had internet connection in a looooooong time. I'm in Portland now, and I do have it. Hooray. So let's see, when I last wrote I was in San Fran. I saw Jeebie and Vanessa, close family friends and their new baby Amelia!! She is adorable, and was very well behaved during brunch. I love Jeebie and Vanessa, they are going to be such awesome parents.
Benoit, Bernard and another German and I headed up to wine country for a day which was lovely, despite my lack of alcohol consumption. I guess I am now an official proud designated driver. The highlight of the day was buying a bunch of bread and cheese and nutella for a picnic overlooking a scenic lake (which I actually think was a fake reservoir). I discovered that it is an intense experience purchasing bread and cheese with a French guy - I think French people are born with a special gene for being extremely descriminating when it comes to these items. Note the photo of Benoit smelling the cheese. After our feast we had a delightful nap under the trees. Post-nap, Bernard stripped down to his underpants. It is still unclear as to why, but again, enjoy the photo. Back in San Francisco I hooked up with my buddy Craig from Bates for lunch, and then enjoyed a final good-bye dinner with my foreigner friends. I prepared s'mores for dessert, something they must experience before they return to their native countries. And they were a hit! We subsequently parted ways, and I must say that I miss them a lot. I never imagined that I would meet such enjoyable people on this trip and that we would share so much. I hope I will get to see them again someday.
After leaving San Fran I headed up to the Redwood national forest to spend a night in a little hostel on the beach. The drive through the redwoods is, hands down, the most outstanding drive I have done so far. It is so dramatic, so exciting, as the "highway" twists and winds through the great green giants. I caught a nice shot of the sunset from the hostel overlooking the coast. I found that I have become much more at-ease with meeting people in a hostel since I began my journey, and immediately struck up a conversation with a Dutch guy and some Americans. However, as I was only there for one night, it was not sufficient time to form a strong bond. I am now in Portland, and I love it here! People are so nice! I didn't have enough money to buy a hot chocolate in the coffee shop, so the barista simply lowered the price for me! I was approached on the street by a man who asked me if I'd like to hear a poem, and as he began to recite I began to panic "oh god, now he's going to ask me for money, or start harrassing me, or coming on to me, ahh, how do I get rid of him..." But it turns out all he wanted was to tell me a poem - as he finished he said "good day" and walked away. Whoa. That does not happen in NYC. Spontaneous poetry does not come without a price. It is a very liveable city here, and every person I talk to absolutely loves living here. People are genuinely happy. Even the people sitting next to me in the cafe were just talking about how nice it is living here. Hmmmm.....
Tomorrow I leave for Seattle. I'll hit you up with more when I'm there. Enjoy the pics.
Benoit, Bernard and another German and I headed up to wine country for a day which was lovely, despite my lack of alcohol consumption. I guess I am now an official proud designated driver. The highlight of the day was buying a bunch of bread and cheese and nutella for a picnic overlooking a scenic lake (which I actually think was a fake reservoir). I discovered that it is an intense experience purchasing bread and cheese with a French guy - I think French people are born with a special gene for being extremely descriminating when it comes to these items. Note the photo of Benoit smelling the cheese. After our feast we had a delightful nap under the trees. Post-nap, Bernard stripped down to his underpants. It is still unclear as to why, but again, enjoy the photo. Back in San Francisco I hooked up with my buddy Craig from Bates for lunch, and then enjoyed a final good-bye dinner with my foreigner friends. I prepared s'mores for dessert, something they must experience before they return to their native countries. And they were a hit! We subsequently parted ways, and I must say that I miss them a lot. I never imagined that I would meet such enjoyable people on this trip and that we would share so much. I hope I will get to see them again someday.
After leaving San Fran I headed up to the Redwood national forest to spend a night in a little hostel on the beach. The drive through the redwoods is, hands down, the most outstanding drive I have done so far. It is so dramatic, so exciting, as the "highway" twists and winds through the great green giants. I caught a nice shot of the sunset from the hostel overlooking the coast. I found that I have become much more at-ease with meeting people in a hostel since I began my journey, and immediately struck up a conversation with a Dutch guy and some Americans. However, as I was only there for one night, it was not sufficient time to form a strong bond. I am now in Portland, and I love it here! People are so nice! I didn't have enough money to buy a hot chocolate in the coffee shop, so the barista simply lowered the price for me! I was approached on the street by a man who asked me if I'd like to hear a poem, and as he began to recite I began to panic "oh god, now he's going to ask me for money, or start harrassing me, or coming on to me, ahh, how do I get rid of him..." But it turns out all he wanted was to tell me a poem - as he finished he said "good day" and walked away. Whoa. That does not happen in NYC. Spontaneous poetry does not come without a price. It is a very liveable city here, and every person I talk to absolutely loves living here. People are genuinely happy. Even the people sitting next to me in the cafe were just talking about how nice it is living here. Hmmmm.....
Tomorrow I leave for Seattle. I'll hit you up with more when I'm there. Enjoy the pics.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
My Fourteenth Post
Hi! I'm in San Francisco now. I had so much fun with Kathleen in LA - she took us all over, we took a lovely evening drive on Mulholland, Benoit and I went to the beach in Malibu and headed down to San Diego for a day. You'll see a couple of cute animal pics - on the way back had dinner with a good friend Collin in San Clemente. After LA Benoit and I headed to San Luis Obispo, where I went for a visit with my Aunt Sally. I have never really known Sally my whole life and we clicked the minute I arrived. I am so happy to have connected with her. Yesterday Benoit and I headed up through Big Sur to San Francisco. We really made a day of the drive - and what a drive it was! I really think this is the most beautiful part of the country I have ever seen - as amazing as Grand Canyon is, there is something about the coast that really moves me. I find San Francisco hilly. I'm staying in my friend's apartment as she is not here this summer, so after hostelling it is quite a luxury! Today my buddy Collin and freshman roommate Marie and a couple of other people had brunch at the farmer's market. Besides that, we've just been taking it easy! OH last night we went salsa dancing - I was in heaven! Definitely burned a few calories on the dance floor. I am excited to hit up Tartine, the famed bakery and pastry shop here. I have decided to skip my trip to Reno and just stay here until Thursday, I need a few days to decompress after so much travelling and excitement. The German, Bernard is here in San Francisco so I will probably meet up with him and Benoit again at some point. For now I am just enjoying reconnecting with old friends, sitting in the sun (it is very cold here!!!) and chillin. Or rather, I should say "chillaxin" - a new west coast term I learned last night. Well, enjoy the pics!
Monday, August 6, 2007
My Thirteenth Post
Here are a bunch of photos from my last week of travel with my lovely new travel mates. I feel so lucky to have met such interesting, kind, fun people along the way, and we have had a blast hitting up Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, Vegas and LA together. See if you can guess who is who: Yohei from Japan, Paul (or Wei-Lun) from Taiwan, Benoit from France and Bernard from Germany. I am having a great time with Kathleen, my old friend from the Chapin days - she's kicking butt these days in the tv industry - we got to go all around the Fox studios today with her which was really fun. As I am slowly catching up with my blogging I will write more on everything, but I wanted to get the photos posted. Tomorrow I head out for a day at the beach in Malibu - delightful! I cannot believe how lovely the weather is here in LA...I actually really like it here. It is very very different from NYC, but I find even the parts that are really tacky to be kind of charming. Now as usual, I'm exhausted and am going to hit the hay. Nite.
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