Recent Travels Part 4: Portland

This series of post is about 5 weeks over due. I really had hoped to live blog my travels out to the west coast but hanging out with friends and family and the time differences made that untenable. And then life started up again but no more excuses. You'll get one of these a day this week and if you click on the headings to each city it will take you to my Picasa albums for the rest of the photos from that local.

Portland

My trip to Portland was the last stop in my voyage westward. I spent 3 nights and 2 days staying with a former coworker from DC out of our Portland field office. I also had a great dinner with a friend from college I hadn't seen in years. I loved Portland and the vibe of the city although the cold and damp weather certainly was an adjustment. I found the public transportation while it took me everywhere I needed to go a bit unwieldy since I had trouble orientating myself with all the rivers. 

I could have spent DAYS in Powell's books. As it was I spent more than 4 hours there. 

I found the Food Cart pods. Including one that sold  Vegan Grilled Cheese. It was AMAZING. 

Visited the Oregon Historical society. Not sure it was worth my admission but it was interesting all the same. 

Found occupy portland.

Visited the Duck Store and spent WAY too much money on gear for myself and my Dad (an alum)

Visited the International Rose Test Garden and took a lot of flower pictures

Visited the Japanese Garden and spent a long as I could before I froze to death taking pictures of the gorgeous grounds. 

Recent Travels Part 3: San Francisco

This series of post is about 5 weeks over due. I really had hoped to live blog my travels out to the west coast but hanging out with friends and family and the time differences made that untenable. And then life started up again but no more excuses. You'll get one of these a day this week and if you click on the headings to each city it will take you to my Picasa albums for the rest of the photos from that local. 

San Francisco

This section of the trip was entirely dedicated to family. I stayed with my Dad's younger sister and husband, my Aunt Laura and Uncle Jay. However, my visit coincidentally coincided with my Dad's older Sister and husband (who travel the country in their RV) visiting for a few weeks and staying in an RV park about 500 feet from my Aunt and Uncle's home. This combined with the fact that my grandparents (Dad's Dad and stepmom) live about 30 minutes away led to A LOT of family togetherness over 4 days. But thankfully I only have to do that much of my Dad's side about once every 10 years so it was do able and we did a lot of fun things!

Enjoyed this view every morning while enjoying a hot chocolate from the shop just behind this view and steps from my Aunt and Uncles home

Enjoyed this view every night from my Aunt and Uncles home 

Visited Half Moon Bay and wandered around enjoying the small shops and quaint town. 

Found a stingray in the water. Unfortunately it was dead or as we told the young boy near by "resting"

Wandered out to the point where they host the Mavrick surfing competition each year and is the winter destination for many big wave surfers. There are underwater rock formations that cause the waves to break unpredictably and has killed 2 surfers in past years. 

Wandered the Labyrinth. That's my Aunt Laura taking a meditative stroll. 

Visited a street fair in Kerouac's Alley in downtown San Fran.  

Went to Club Fugazi for a showing of Beach Blanket Babylon, America's longest running musical review. Performers wear disproportionately large hats/wigs and gaudy costumes while performing satirical renditions of popular songs. It was pretty silly/stupid but I enjoyed it. 

My uncles relieved their aging hippy ways and serenaded us ladies in song. 

I snuggled with my Aunt's adorable 6 month old kitten Simba. 

we visited the California academy of science where I took too many pictures of animals including this adorable octopus. 

Recent Travels Part 2: Austin

This series of post is about 5 weeks over due. I really had hoped to live blog my travels out to the west coast but hanging out with friends and family and the time differences made that untenable. And then life started up again but no more excuses. You'll get one of these a day this week and if you click on the headings to each city it will take you to my Picasa albums for the rest of the photos from that local. 

Austin
Austin seems to be where a lot of my friends from undergrad ended up. My friend Josh for his phD and other friends for just the vibe of the city. I stayed 1 night with Josh and 2 nights with a former coworker from my time in DC with an agency that had a field office in Austin. I had also supported her boyfriend while he was deployed as a doctor last year by sending him DVDs of his 49ers playing so it was good to meet him in person. I wanted to like Austin but I just don't think that I'm the kind of person attracted to Austin. It was nice to visit but 3 days was plenty! Here's what I saw:

The Atrium was really impressive. All those red boxes hold presidential papers

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center where I took a lot of pictures of butterflies because Texas doesn't have much in the way of wild flowers in October

The 307-foot tall UT Austin Tower is best known for the 1966 sniping rampage by Charles Whitman which killed 16 and wounded 31. Prior to 2007's Virginia Tech shooting it was the deadliest school shooting. 

I really wanted to buy cowboy boots when I was in Austin. Do you know how freaking expensive those things are?!

Recent Travels Part 1: San Antonio

This series of post is about 5 weeks over due. I really had hoped to live blog my travels out to the west coast but hanging out with friends and family and the time differences made that untenable. And then life started up again but no more excuses. You'll get one of these a day this week and if you click on the headings to each city it will take you to my Picasa albums for the rest of the photos from that local.

 San Antonio

I flew into Austin and rented a car for the day to drive down to San Antonio. The purpose of this trip was 2 fold--one because I've always wanted to see the Alamo and two, my former boss and her husband retired to San Antonio about a year ago and I was looking forward to seeing her, touring Brooke Army Medical Center (like her husband said only I would visit a hospital on vacation) and seeing the new home they're having built from the ground up. I really enjoyed San Antonio but I also lucked out at getting AMAZING weather. I think that I would love it a lot less when it was 167 degrees out. 

Visited the Alamo, its a lot smaller then Texans would lead you to believe based on the battle

Learned that I missed a very basic lesson on taking self portraits I either look confused or constipated (or both!)

Visited the Riverwalk. Which if we're being honest is just a very pretty gutter. But it was a gorgeous day and because it was 3 pm on a Tuesday was pretty much deserted

Visited the Mission de San Jose. It was GORGEOUS and I took an excessive amount of pictures as evidenced from the rest in this post