Would you go on vacation by yourself, and if so where would you go? Submitted by Sean & Stefan. I’ve done it before & I’d do it again. The first time was when I was 24. My oldest brother, Brian, who lived in San Francisco at the time, had jus…
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Having spent the past few days reading through travel guides, getting inspiration for our trip and making some destination decisions, I have become even more interested in visiting this extraordinary natural beauty. Can’t wait to see it in real…
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I had a business meeting at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay on Friday. The past few months have been crazy at home (new baby + major home remodeling), so Megan and Allie came along to stay over the weekend for a little R&R (Abby stayed with Nana). The hotel is beautiful and the cool ocean breeze is a nice break from the heat and humidity of Texas. It’s been a treat for us to just relax in the room and watch movies or go for a walk along the coastline. I used frequent flyer points for our flights and my company is covering the room and rental car, so it should be a cheap getaway, right? Wrong.
It astounding how quickly you can hemorrhage money here.  Treat yourself to a massage? $200. Bottle of Odwalla juice smoothie? $9. Breakfast buffet for two? $94.
Now don’t get me wrong - I would expect to pay a lot for these things at a Ritz Carlton. But there’s a point where pricing gets so ridiculous that all you can do is laugh. At least the newspapers are free.
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1. Being in Barcelona
2. Listening to music in your hotel room in Barcelona
3. Mojitos at thewhitebar in Barcelona
4. Eating tapas in Barcelona
5. Musuems in Barcelona
6. Camp Nou in Barcelona
7. Hanging out with your girlfriend in Barcelona
8. The sun in Barcelona
9. Architecture in Barcelona
10. Being home from Barcelona
Stephanie and I are going to San Francisco when she gets back from Africa. This is going to be a great trip because, well, we’re driving to San Francisco and we both have great taste in everything. In order to facilitate cheap and easy, I joined couchsurfing.com, a website dedicated to that most exquisite of activities. The people on it all seem really awesome. I have been hearing about gay-bashing on couchsurfing, but I really haven’t delved into it at all, so I don’t know. And either way, I don’t care - there seem to be enough LGBT-friendly folks on the site where I don’t really fucking care.
I’m excited for this trip because I get to get the fuck out of Ann Arbor for a really extended period of time and go somewhere I’ve never been before in my life ever. I will be driving in a car with someone I don’t know too well, but well enough to know we’ll have a great time (great equation for famous friendship: take a road trip) and hell, the West is the place to go on an epic summer road trip.
For now, I’m biding my time, sitting on my porch and smoking hookah, playing backgammon and yelling at the yuppies who have invaded my town. (Fuck those guys by the way. The other morning I had to walk through the thick of it to get home. Fuck those guys.) Although it is a little funny that everyone who walks by my house is so concerned about the fact my sidewalk says “Penis Vagina Titties” and there is broken glass everywhere. I could get used to this shit.
i don’t really have much to report.
i spent the past week at taylor reservoir doing the last bit of fieldwork on our bighorn sheep habitat project. on tuesday, i was headed back to the jeep by myself to shuttle it to the bunkhouse while bob and ryan recorded a few more sites in the other direction, and i managed to fall 50-75 feet down the side of a mountain (right after i’d climbed up it, naturally). it hurt. like, really hurt. i was pretty banged up, but got back to the rig alright and headed home. i had a lot of cuts, scrapes, and bruises. luckily, my backpack kept me from hitting my head. so i was basically fine, except for feeling like i’d been run over by an 18-wheeler. also, every surface of my body (shins. knees. thighs. stomach. elbows. shoulders.) had some sort of open wound. but that was alright.
what wasn’t alright was getting sick wednesday, running a fever, throwing up all wednesday night, and having to stay in the cabin by myself for two days. i felt terrible and was bored out of my mind. i didn’t eat anything besides a half-bowl of jello and some instant mashed potatoes for three days.
then we came home.
i’m not in a very good mood, but i’m sure it will pass. staying in the wilderness definitely has its perks, but it can get lonely. the lack of communication and long days start to get to you after awhile.
anyway, here’s a pretty mountain picture to end this entry on a happy note:
So it was a pretty amazing week. God really spoke to everyone who was a part of this amazing week. Going into this past week I didn’t think I would get anything out of it, but it turns out that I did. God showed me how much I need to be loving others. It was stressed a lot this week about being a witness and being “salt and light” in this dark and lonely world.
I took a lot of pictures as usual, and i’m working on getting them together in a video. I’ll be showing that video at my church tomorrow night. Hope that I can get it done by then. I’ve gotta get a few cameras from other people so that I can include their pictures as well. I hope everyone has a great week. In case you were wondering why I didn’t post untill today this week, well I had no access to a computer. That really helped me in growing closer and hearing God more clearly. There were no distractions.
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lake, mountains, reflections, nature, outdoors, woods, sky, grass, blue, green, contrast, texture, tranquility, peace, trees, log, abandoned, birth, growth,
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Whatever happened to inexpensive travel? Parking at Denver International Airport for four days was $86. I could’ve parked in long term parking but it’s out in the open and with Colorado summers and their propensity to hail I opted for covered parking. If the expectation is to make travel cheaper maybe they should start with parking.
When I got home everyone was happy to see me. Ayden ran to the door and Kylea accidentally knocked him over. Tyler was watching television and redirected his attention to me and asked me how my flight was and if I was glad to be home. I brought home dinner and everyone was extra-happy to see me.
It’s great to be home. Though my trip wasn’t that long it still brought me away from home and away from my family. Hopefully this weekend will be fun and full of laughter and happiness.
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