Sun Valley with Pony

First you should know, Pony is my friend Mollie. And I am Pony too. It all started freshman year in college, when I made Mollie a pony poster for her birthday. And as you all know, I love ponies. Sometimes we call eachother Pone for short. Do I sound like I'm on drugs right now? Perhaps. Anyways, I stopped into Sun Valley for a few days to visit Pone and celebrate my 27th Bday. Unfortunately, Sun Valley is absolutely drenched in smoke - it is really horrific - you can barely breathe and all the mountains around are being burned to a crisp. The only good thing to come of this tragedy is that Pony got off work so we got to spend more time together. We went up to a pretty lake for my birthday with a couple of her friends and had a relaxing day in the sun, before eating ribs overlooking a stream and mountains. We went camping for a night and to Mollie's parents' house in Mackay, about an hour away from Sun Valley. Random side-I ran into the mother of an old classmate of mine - Lindsey Andrews - in a bakery in Stanley, ID. BIZARRE. I loved seeing Pone and am so happy that she is so happy in Sun Valley. Dingo the dog is a sweetheart too - they make a happy family. I caught a pretty stunning sunrise leaving Sun Valley for Denver and managed to get a decent pic of it.

I'm BAAAAACK

heyza! Sittin here in a coffee shop in Boulder, CO with lots to catch up on. When I left off, I had gotten to Portland, OR. LOVED IT. Hung out with my buddy Dan and his friend Joanna for a few days - Did some good wandering around the city, drinking coffee, ate an incredible donut, went to a $3 movie (The Lives of Others - INCREDIBLE!), barbequed, slept, and just generally enjoyed myself there. Looking forward to going back this fall. Unfortunately, the batteries died in my camera partway through my visit in Seattle, and I didn't get new ones until Sun Valley. So I don't have many pics from Portland or Seattle. Seattle was lovely too, I stayed with my friend Cle from my singing days back at college. Seattle definitely has more of a city feel than Portland, and there's a lot more water there too. I hit up the aquarium with my friend Lindsay and her family, sea otters have to be about the cutest animals. Cle and I went to a deep fryer party my final evening in Seattle. This involved deep fried buffalo wings, deep fried twinkies and deep fried candy bars. UGH.
I have some sad news to impart to you. Somewhere along my journey my yellow sunglasses died. I tried to duct tape the situation but it did not work. So they are gone. I'm sorry, I know it is heartbreaking. But i do have some good news to follow this up in a later post. XOXO CYN

Eastward Bound

I start my trek back east today!!!! Sun Valley here I come.

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.

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!

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.