Vacation

Here I am, about to set off on my new trip to Peru, with my best friend and a good friend from college. In all honestly, I haven't had the experience of traveling the world, exploring Europe or anything that remotely resembles that sort of escapade.

I've been fairly conservative, in the sense that I have simply been afraid.

I know I'm still pretty young, only turning 27 this year, but still, I feel like I let life slip me by because I had been so consumed on competing with friends. All of that has been an internal battle in regard to academic achievement. None-the-less, I had tell myself to take a step and prioritize. Work and school will always be there.

My youth won't.

I can finish my professional goals at my own place.

Seeing the world takes a little more time. And I don't want to become more cynical than I have. Off I go, into the wild blue yonder.

Canada

I haven't been back to Canada in over ten years. The last time I was here was in high school, with both my grandparents, and both my siblings. Again, years ago.

I'm only here for the weekend, for a brief visit. My cousin is marrying his high school sweetheart tomorrow. It's funny to see how people who are the same age are at different stages in their lives. While my cousin and I are the same age, he is ready to get married and settle down while I am still trying to sort out my professional future. Odd.

In other noticeable differences, my uncle's house in Ottawa is significantly smaller than I recall. I remember the summers I would spend here, a month at a time, playing hide and seek, going miniature bowling, and running around with random neighborhood kids. I have some fond memories, and some not so fond memories. But it's just strange how some things change, how some things stay the same, and how some things I always remember. I never realized how rural the suburban neighborhoods of Ottawa were. You can pick corn, strawberries and raspberries out here, go rope swinging over an actual creek filled with water, and experience summer showers. All that is non-existent in California.

It's strange how I spent so much time here in this country during my childhoods. I remember being so excited about seeing my cousins, and being just as excited when they would come and visit us in California. Time has changed, everything has changed. I think what is fascinating is to see how the dynamic has changed over time, how we were once close as children, and are now just distant relatives due to the actual physical distance. Geographic location is always an interesting factor over a long duration.

Anyway, being here reminds me of a childhood from long ago. And going to my cousin's wedding brings forth the slew of memories of hide and seek. Congratulations to them!

Michigan

A few weeks ago I flew out to Detroit to meet Patrick's Irish side of the family. In a nutshell, they were very nice people, and talkative. I have never been surrounded by so many first and second generation Irishmen and women, nor have I ever celebrated an Irish grandmother's birthday at a Gaelic League pub. I have had friends that were Irish, and very proud of their heritage, but Patrick's family hails from Cook county, where his grandfather still spoke Gaelic, rest his soul.

Detroit, despite its reputation and economic situation, is geographically located in a very beautiful setting. I did see the run down buildings and homes, which is a sad reminder of what our post-industrial economy looks like in the rust belt. It costs $10,000 for the city of Detroit to raise a building but I am sure, given how many abandoned buildings there are, it costs hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars to bulldoze. But then, even if Detroit could afford to do so, empty plot after empty plot doesn't look so good either.

Anyway, I think I'm falling in love with the mid-west, in a very romantic sort of way. I loved Chicago, and the people I met in Detroit were very cool. Wish I could have seen more though. Such is life.

Adventure

This year I have been to Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was a very nice, albeit brief, visit to my old college roommate Makah and her fiance Andre.

But I will be visiting other places this year. Next trip will be to the city of Detroit. I just realized that I will be in Detroit celebrating Patrick's grandmother's 80th birthday during Mother's Day weekend. This makes me feel guilty for not visiting my own mother. I am contemplating on driving down to Los Angeles next weekend to say hello to the parental units.

The next big trip I will have is to visit Peru. Of course I will be touring and site seeing in the city of Cusco. I am a bit sad that my friend Carlene will be leaving on July 31, five days before I arrive to Cusco. At least I have an extremely reliable source for traveling advice and information. Carlene has been in Peru for over a year now.

Other trips this year will include the possibilty of me flying to Ottawa, Canada to visit my family for my cousin Richard's wedding, and a trip to the Pacific Northwest to see my old coworker Tammy.

But the trips I miss the most are my camping trips. There is nothing more exciting than traveling with friends on the open road in the US. I'm attaching one of my favorite photos from last year while touring southern Utah.

Break

Determined to continue my journey of going somewhere I had never been before, I set off to Albuquerque, New Mexico. There I arrived, visiting my old roomate from college and her fiance. I also got the chance to go to Santa Fe, which was nice. Surprisingly, I enjoyed Albuquerque more so than Santa Fe, and I want to try to make it back out this summer.

If you ever get the chance to travel out to New Mexico, you must try to the sopaipilla. They are usually served with the meal, or as a meal, stuffed with other food. New Mexican cuisine is subtly different from regular Mexican cuisine. Green chili is a big part of their food. Anyway, all the salsas I had in Albuquerque and Santa Fe was the best, hands down. Better than any I have had here in California (including San Diego, which most of the food is really Tex-Mex).

I had a great vacation, if you're wondering.

Albuquerque

Recapping 2008

Every year I tell myself that I need to go somewhere I have never been before. I haven't traveled internationally since my trip to China (which was back in 2003), and going down to Rosarito and Ensenada in Mexico does not count for me.

Last year, I went to Philadelphia, Gettysburg, Delaware, Chicago, Orlando, and southern Utah. I visited three different National Parks: Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce. I also went snowboarding at Brian Head, again southern Utah. I consider that a fairly successful year of traveling.

Of all the places I visited last year, Chicago was hands down the best. Orlando, courtesy of Song and Masa, was a very cool place (and I did not go to Disneyworld). Philadelphia was nice too, but my poor choice of visiting museums on Mondays (museums there are closed) prevented me from exploring more of the cultural aspects of the City.

This entry was prompted by the fact that my best friend is about to finish Law School, and she wants me to go with her down to South America. I have been a little hesitant on making travel plans mostly because I have no income. I say, screw it. If I don't go through with the plan, I will always regret never going somewhere I have wanted to go for a long time. I don't have time for regret.

Florida and Utah

Getting to my destination is never the problem, it's returning home that is.

Anyway, I had a fantastic time in Florida and camping in southern Utah. Apparently I missed the week long heat-wave in Los Angeles while I was out looking like a deranged woman while I was camping in the Colorado plateau.

Will post photos later on this evening when I return home.
And for those of you who read my blog, I was recently accepted into San Jose State's Master's in Urban Planning program. That's right, I will be returning to school, leaving behind my job. All I have to do now is put in my notice. I'll do that when my supervisor is actually at work.

Traditions

When Patrick and I first started dating back in 2004 we both were avid outdoors recreational kind of people. Our first date was a hiking trip to try to reach the Mount Lowe hotel ruins. We overshot the destination point by four miles. So our hiking date ended up being 11 miles, instead of 5. Whoops. Anyway, farther down the line we ended up camping together for the first time in June of 2004. We went to Yosemite the day after getting mugged at Berkeley.

Since then Patrick and I had been back to Yosemite every year for Labor Day weekend. For me, this year will be the fifth time going back (I actually went with a few friends in August of 2003 after my skydiving adventure). It has been a sort of traditional between me, Patrick and our friends. Every year we have a few people that come back, but every year we also have new friends that join us. There hasn't been a time, despite my cranky behavior, that I didn't enjoy being at Yosemite for a few days, void of any sort of real communication. For me, I love the fact that cell phone reception is essentially non-existent.

In 2004 it was just me and Patrick. The following year it was Tho, Patrick, The (Tho's sister), Daniel, Matt, and me. The year after that, in 2006 we had enlarged the camp site to two and had Tho, Patrick, Matt, Kimmy, Delia, Kelly, Patrick and me. Last year, we had Tho, Bruce, Chris, Brian, Patrick, Delia, Kelly, Kathy, Will, Patrick and me go to Yosemite. For the past four years we had camped at Crane Flats. Unfortunately, because of my laziness and such, I forgot to make reservations at our usual place. So for 2008 Patrick ended up reserving three campsite at Hodgdon Meadows, which is why I had a random post with a Google Earth image. It's much closer to the western entrance of the park, and much much closer to Hetch Hetchy Dam and Tuolumne Meadows.
Despite the hectic planning, travel arrangements and providing directions each year I feel that there is nothing better than sitting around the campfire, eating, drinking, and being obnoxious. Letting go of the real world and submerging myself into a group of friends that enjoy these moments every bit as much as I do is the best feeling in the world. The only irritating thing is by the time we are done with our trip, the group always ends up with an excess amount of beer, and none of us want to take it home.

Exploration

Money was always an excuse for why I did not travel. For a time I saw myself as being deprived of traveling because my parents simply would not pay for my trips. So I held back for years on wanting to go and explore the world. A few regrets I held are monetary decisions, one in particular where I wished that I could have studied abroad, but my parents would not allow that. Though I may not be as fortunate as others, and by no means do I feel that I am unfortunate, the excuse of not traveling has waned and essentially become non-valid.

Of course I was a bit envious of friends and family members whose parental units did offer to pay for international trips, but I figured at least when I wanted to travel on my own, visiting places without my parents, everything I had done had been without their financial assistance. My trips to Seattle, Portland, the Grand Canyon, Philadelphia, and Chicago have been all paid by me. So have my camping trips. And my ski trips. As one can see my trips do not consist of international travel, but none-the-less a bit costly.

And so now, after going to three different states (well four technically), in a span of two months I must confess that I have caught the traveling bug. My supervisor at work called me a jet-setter the other day, which was amusing. In no way am I truly a jet-setter, but I suppose that I am a little bit. Certainly there are times where I romanticize or tease myself with the thought of going abroad, but due to my Type-A personality I have unwillingly admitted that I probably will not go to Peru this summer. Instead, I will be heading off to Toronto (where I have visited on several occasions, just not recently). Those are my summer plans, or at least a portion of the plans. The other portion of my summer trip will consist of heading into New York and meeting with my sister and her husband a few days before the wedding in Toronto. Since airfare will be costly, I rather spend the same amount and see New York as opposed to spending the same amount and only spending a few days in Toronto. Another decision I am considering is flying into Boston, visiting my younger cousin there for a day or two and then busing into New York to meet up with my sister. Why Boston? Because my cousin is working at Fenway Park this summer. If I could potentially say that I visited both Fenway and Wrigley that would great, especially in the course of the baseball season.

But I have one more trip coming up, which I haven't planned for entirely. That trip will be another trek back east. With Patrick. Yes, this time I will not be leaving my boyfriend at home to study. In fact, this trip will be a highlight for him because he will be taking his Step 1 Medical Board exams in late May. After he is done we will be headed east. Where our destination will be has yet to be officially determined. While I do want to visit Washington D.C. and Philadelphia again I have been flirting with the idea of heading out to Florida. Plane flights alone will be drastically cheaper. Yes Song, you read correctly: we are tempted to go out to Orlando, and visit you! As I said, my monetary excuse is no longer valid. And I miss you. And I said I would visit you, so I think I may just do that! D.C. is not a feasible option considering that I wanted to visit all the Smithsonian Institutes there, take a tour of the White House, visit Arlington National Cemetery, and visit the surrounding Civil War battlefields. If you know me, you know that I will spend countless hours at each site because I am a nerd. That trip will be reserved for a later date, possibly later this year.

As much as I am saddened that I will probably not travel abroad this year it must be noted that there is an entire country I want to see that I call home. Europe and South America will be two great adventures that I am sure I will do, but for the time being those two continents simply cannot diminish what is here. One of my goals in life is to visit all the National Parks. Yes, that means going to New Mexico, Wyoming and Montana. And another is visiting all the Major League Baseball stadiums. Even though many people view America as lacking culture, I disagree.

Land of the stinking onion

Chicago, home to... the tallest skyscraper in the United States, and soon to be home to the tallest building in the world. What does the title of the have to do with Chicago? Well, that's what Chicago means, courtesy of The Josh and wikipedia.

Anyway, I took a direct, non-stop flight to Chicago and landed in O'Hare. The flight to Chi-town only took 3hours and 19minutes. Catching the wind is always a beneficial thing. Of course I was greeted by snow but luckily for me it wasn't too bad. As I headed over to my friend Josh's place (which he so graciously housed me), the cabbie knew immediately I wasn't from the area. Yes, I keep telling myself I will purchase a real coat one day. He outed me because of my jacket. Since going to Philadelphia and now Chicago, I have come to realize the importance of coats covering your butt. Unfortunately this little Californian native does not spend enough time in the snow-cold winters to warrant said coat... yet.

The night I landed in Chicago I quickly walked out to the shore of Lake Michigan. It was cold to say the least. This was after I had dinner. Josh lives in a really nice neighborhood, and when I mean nice, I mean surrounded by lots of great places to go grab a bite to it and close to transit. Something we Angelenos seem to be lacking all the time.

The next day, Friday, I went to the Field Museum of Natural History. I have never been to a museum that had so much to do and see. The only downside to this visit was that there were a ton of kids, and parents, and school kids. Hello, don't people know that I am THE most important guest. Haha. Later that Friday night Josh and his friends (they're so awesome) took me out to a comedy sketch called Bye-bye Liver. It was good. Then we headed off to Russian Rush and Division, a stretch that I guess is known for bars and such. I have photos on my facebook account on what happened that night. Lots of singing. And randomness. And awesomeness.

I'll get back to Saturday and Sunday on a later post.

Travels

So far February has turned into a month of short journeys to two different regions in the United States for me. Earlier, I went off to Philadelphia to visit my friend Kim (and I somehow managed to end up in Delaware too). Over Presidents Day weekend I ended up at Grand Canyon National Park. One could say it was a romantic Valentine's Day getaway (no, it wasn't, but it was romantic none-the-less). One trip, planned literally months in advance, the other acting on an impromptu idea. Sporadic, most assuredly. I was always hesitant to say that I had visited Arizona, even though physically, yes, I had stepped foot onto Arizonan soil. In reality, my family crossed over a bridge from Laughlin, Nevada to Arizona for maybe ten minutes and that was my trip to Arizona (over a decade ago). I have had lay-overs and stops in Phoenix for my flights to Anchorage and Philadelphia, but I have yet to actually set foot and explore the city. So at the might age of 25, I finally visited the "Grand Canyon State" and saw the Grand Canyon, driving on desolate Interstate Highway 40.

For now, until I get around posting my photos of my trip back east and trip to the Grand Canyon, I have visited two places this year I had never been to. I make it a point to go somewhere each year I have never been. Last year it was to Lassen Volcanic National Park and Mount Hood. This year, so far, it has been Arizona, Pennsylvania and Delaware. By all means I have yet to travel internationally, but I figure, better to start off somewhere than no-where at all.