The drive was easier than I expected. I am not sure why I was expecting more traffic. It might have been easier because I was coming down with Kate. The trip went very quickly. I just hope the drive back will be that easy.
It is the night before Kate and I end off to San Diego. We went to Target to buy snacks for the trip. I have taken this trip a lot in the past, but I cannot describe what it will be like. I do not not take this trip often enough that is in the front of my mind. I think that it will be great to drive down with Kate. it is just a time for the two of us to be alone.
I have been thinking about America Airlines new baggage fee structure that was announced recently. It has been all over the news. Most of the people I have heard talk about this is upset. How dare American Airlines try something like this? How can they charge customers for something that used to be free.
That is one of the catches. Checking baggage was not free before. The charge was included in the price of the ticket. People were paying for it if they used it or not. We are just not used to paying for it separately. It is like raising the cost for just the customer using the service.
In many ways this change in fee structure is a response to the internet. Right now it is really easy for everyone to see the price for every airline. Every airline has to compete on price. There is no space anymore to charge more than another airline. they only way to have another price is to change the bottom line price without changing the top line price. This is just want American Airlines is doing.
Many people who rail against this say it is a poor way to treat your customers. I know that this is called Gotcha Capitalism. People say if you leave the customers with a poor experence they will not come back. I have heard lots of people say that customer service is the new marketing and that you need customers on your side. In the internet age, the top line price is what gets people to buy your product.
My experence is that no one wants to pay for customer service. There are plenty of categories where people want to pay the cheapest price no matter what. They will complain if they do not get good customer service, but they are not willing to pay for it. The problem is that good customer service costs more money. It is not just a matter of people working harder. It is really hard to see customer support ratings on air fare search engines. If I am searching for just the lowest price it is hard to see what I am paying for.
The other interesting part of the news coverage I have seen about this is attitude of customers. The coverage has had a lot of "Traveler on the Street" reaction shots. People are acting like they are entitled to low air fares. They talk like any change in air fares something evil. They talk like the Airlines do not have the right to charge whatever they want. It is a strange idea to me. I think that airflight is a luxury and will be more so in the future.
I am surprised how low the price of airfares are. I would have expected them to explode. Fuel has gone through the roof. I am still finding flights from San Jose to Philadelphia in October that are less than $300. That is amazing to me.
To say the least, my trip to Portland was great. Kate really loved Portland also. We only went to a fraction of the places that I usually like to go and she still loved it. We talked about the chances that we would move to Portland some day. I told her that there were only a handful of places that I really wanted to live. Portland was near the top of that list.
It was a great trip for a lot of reasons. Kate and I travel well together. I am someone who like to keep plans open when I travel. I see that this did not bother Kate. We spent a lot of time visiting with Don and Jenna. Kate did not mind that we spent a lot of time with someone she had never met before. He instantly clicked with Don and Jenna and we all had a good time. That is also important to me.
Things I meant to show Kate but did not have the time: Powells City of Books The Rose Garden Tom McCall Waterfront Park Pioneer Courthouse Square SW Park blocks Bagdad theater
I have the feeling that Kate and I will make our way back to Portland. It would be cool if I could live there again. Even if we just go visit there it will be cool. I have visited Portland on every even year since I left. I do not see that trend ending because of Kate.
We drove home yesterday. It was 12 hours south on I-5. It was not a bad drive, but i was kind of tired. After a exciting vacation it is always hard to drive home. Kate slept a lot on the way home. I did my best to not fall asleep on the way home also. I was mindful not to speed too much, which made the trip drag on. To be honest I would have to loved to stay in Portland. I guess all vacations have to come to an end.
I asked Kate to marry me in Portland and she said yes. Yes, I asked her on March 17th St. Patrick's Day, but I am getting a head of my self here.
Kate and I started Monday by sleeping in. After breakfast and internet at the Kennedy school we looked for places to get Kate's nails done. We drove around Portland for a little bit before meeting Sean for lunch.
The whole time all of these things happened I was trying to figure out when I was going to ask Kate. Kate knew the proposal was coming soon. She knew that I ordered a ring but I did not have it with me in Portland. Knowing that, Kate has accused me of being kind of "squirrelly". She knew something was up.
I figured my only chance was to make her think I was going to do something at Dinner and ask her earlier. After a couple of text messages with a friend I decided I was going to ask her on the Hawthorne bridge in the late afternoon. I wanted to get my hair cut first. I was just hoping that the weather would hold out.
I had an appointment for get my hair cut and Kate had a nail appointment. My best friend for high school and college, His sister Shannon is a hair stylist in Portland. I had seen her over Christmas. She said she would be happy to cut my hair. We tried to hook it up two years ago, but the timing was all wrong.
It was cool to have my hair cut away from home by a person who knew me. It was a good haircut. I do not have a hair stylist in San Jose I like this much. If I lived in Portland I would go to Shannon at Dirty Little Secret all the time.
I told Kate after the Haircut that I wanted to take some photos of her on the Hawthorne bridge. Earlier in the trip I told her how the Hawrhorne bridge in Portland. Not only did it go between two of my favorite parts of town, it is also a beautiful bridge. Since I take a lot of photos it was not hard to convince Kate that I wanted to take her photo on the bridge.
I knew that I wanted to ask Kate with a photographic months back. I got the idea while we were in Philadelphia after Christmas. I wanted so way to ask Kate that I could later post on Flickr. In February I had Peter Conrad make the sign for me and take the photo of me. The photo of me at the top of the post was taken at the place where Kate and I had our first date, Mission City Coffee.
On Saturday I had Don run out and make a print for me. I knew that I was not going to be able to slip away from Kate for long enough to get it done. This lead to the whole thing with me acting "Squirrelly".
I walked Kate on the bridge and started taking some pictures. After a few pictures I said I had a prop for her. I handed her a bag with the photo in it. The print was 8x10. She looked at the photo and was surprised. She did not expect me to ask her there in this way. I am happy I could surprise her. I told her there were two more signs in the bag, 'Yes' and 'No'. I told her she needed to pick one of them out and hold it up. She held up the 'yes' sign.
We were both floating six feet off the ground when we got off the bridge. We went back to the Kennedy school. It was packed when we got back there. St. Patrick's day attracts a lot of people to the Kennedy School. We used their soaking pool for a little while. It seemed perfect. The water was warm and air was cool. We were as close to weightless as we could be. We floated around each other was we talked about the future.
We headed back to the room to take advantage of the Romance package, which was a bottle of champagne on ice and two chocolate truffles. After a little time in the room we decided to get some dinner in the hotel restaurant. The wait for the restaurant was 90 minutes, but when you are staying at a hotel with its own brewery and six bars, waiting 90 minutes for a table is not too hard.
We had a lot of beer, chicken wings, tater tots while we waited. We mooned at each other over steak and beer for dinner. Steak has become a celebration meal for us. It seemed perfect that night. Lets just say we were pretty free with the drinks that night. Everything that night seemed to make us happy.
We stumbled back to our room after a few hours. When got there I wanted to make sure we finished I wanted to make sure we finished off the bottle of champagne. I paid good money for it and I did not want it to go to waste. It was a little warm and flat for sitting out, but that was fine by me. The only glass clean in the room was a pint glass. We ended up sharing that glass, trading it back and forth. I ended up Twittering "we finished a bottle of flat sparkling wine out of a pint glass. what a perfect day."
After that I had this Idea that we should go out side and look at the stars. We we got outside we found out it was raining. The sky was gray and we could not see any stars. So we ended up dancing outside in the rain. It was still pretty cool. It was the end of a perfect day.
We are staying the night at three different places in Portland. Most times this might get in the way of a trip, but this trip it is working very well. It is giving me a chance to show Kate different parts of Portland. It is making the vacation feel like we are doing more without spending a lot more money. It is working out nicely.
Sunday we checked into the Kennedy school. I love the Kennedy School. It has been once of my favorite places in Portland since I moved there. I will admit that I am a bit of a mark for McMenamins. The idea that they are selling appeals to me greatly.
I am very happy that Kate also liked the Kennedy School. She likes the art that is on the walls. She like the design of the place. She loves that the building is an old elementary school. I think that is shows a lot in common with us. I think it something we see the same way.
Saturday we did two very Portland things. In the afternoon we went to the Portland Saturday Market. I love the Saturday market. When I lived in Portland I spent plenty of weekend mornings shopping there. There is something I really like about crafts. I even bought Kate a new purse there.
In the evening we meet Sean for the Portland Trailblazers game. It was a pretty good basketball game. I had never been to a Trailblazers game before. The Rose Quarter is a good arena for basketball. We were all the way at the back of the lower bowl in the corner, but we could see all of the action fine. The Blazers beat the Timberwolves 107-96. I am happy to see NBA scores back in the 100s.
It was just fun to hang out with my brother. We were late for the game, but that did not matter because I was hanging out with Sean. That was the whole point, for us to hang out with my brother. We ended up having to park no where near the arena. Note for next time, if there is a next time, take the MAXX to the Trail Blazers game.
On this trip we are going to be staying a couple of different places. I think this is an interesting way to see a city. Thursday night we needed to stay someplace cheap. From the moment we got into town I had a place in mind.
When I first heard the Decemberist song On the Bus Mall the line In our rat trap hotel by the freeway made me think of an place by my old apartment. Last night we decided to stay there.
I am not sure this was the place the Colin Maloy was really singing about, but after staying there, it just might be. It was not the worst motel I have ever stayed at. There was no evidence of rats, mice or cockroaches around the room. The carpet was not sticky under my feet. It did not smell funny.
This roadtrip is the first for Kate and I to take together. During the drive I felt like I was in less of a hurry that past trips. I guess that has to do with Kate being with me. The long roadtrip gave us a lot of time to talk. To be honest, I was not bored at all talking with her. I think this is a good sign.
Travel, driving, San Jose, marriage, wedding, kids, houses, tattoos, college, the Decemberists, religion, Philadelphia, mix tapes, snacks, Delaware, "I've Been Everywhere," engagement rings, beer, animal crackers, depression, Michael Stipe, wedding rings, Death Cab for Cutie, Portland, family, sour patch kids, photography, AIDS, Mt. Shasta, mobile homes, rain, place, Iraq war, food, Volcanoes, music, R.E.M., Ashland OR, parents, family vacations, Mt St. Helen, the election, Twitter, Wilco, Circus Peanuts, RVs, Shakespeare festival, homelessness, Comic Con, politics, Son Volt,
We decided to Leave Wednesday night and drive past Sacramento. I did not want to start my first full day of vacation looking at traffic. I usually like leaving after work to get my start on vacation. It makes the vacation last longer.
Kate and I made it up to Corning. That was a nice jump on the trip. I can drive from San Jose to Portland in a day, but it is not a great drive. Starting early gets me in Portland early enough to do things when I get there.
I am glad I stopped in Corning. We got to see lots of beautiful country side as we drove north. We would have missed this in the dark. My favorite part of I-5 to drive is around Mt. Shasta. You can see much more in the daylight than you can in the dark.
The first Stop is a Denny's on I-80 on the say to Sacramento. We had a Kathy like experence with a homeless guy when we got out of the car. He walked up to me and asked for money. I was pinned in with another car right there. Scaring people is not a great way to get me to willingly give money.
We are one hour into the road trip and it is going well. Once we hit the road everything was great. There was a little getting on each other's nerves as we were packing the car, but that all went away. More about the trip later.
I want to focus on traveling on inside of California. There are lots of places in the state that I have not gone yet. I need to start knocking some of these places off this list. I made a list of 20 places that I have not gone before. I hope to go to 10 of these this year. I know lots of these are baseball themed, but I am a baseball fan.
Getty Museum Santa Clara University Baseball Game Joe DiMaggio's Grave Joe DiMaggio's Boat Lake Tahoe Disneyland Sacramento AAA Baseball Game Modesto Nuts Game San Francisco Zoo Yosemite Golden Gate Fields Chabot Space & Science Center Humboldt State University Natural History Museum USS Hornet Museum U.S. Naval Museum of Armament & Technology Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake Dodger Stadium Asian Art Museum of San Francisco san francisco academy of sciences lenny dykstra's car wash Castle Rock State Park
This is something that scares me. There are lots of reason people lie when they are being asked questions. There are lots of reasons to not tell the truth. I know more than enough people that will lie just because they are being asked.
Maccario emphasized that the program takes into account the typical stress many of us experience when traveling, especially during the holidays.
Ordinary people who are feeling anxious are "much more open with their body movements and their facial expressions as compared to an operational terrorist (thinking) 'I've got to defeat security,' " Maccario said. "We're looking for behavior indicators that show a certain level of stress, fear or anxiety above and beyond that shown by an anxious member of the traveling public."
Once I was driving from Vancouver BC, to Seattle WA. I crossed the boarder on I-5. I was nervous going though customs. I was not nervous because I was doing anything illegal. I was nervous because I did not know all the rules. I might have been doing something illegal without knowing it. The customs agent searched my car and was hoping to find something. He was very disappointed to find nothing.
I know they have to look for people who are trying to do harm, but I still feel like they are shooting in the dark and claiming victory when they catch something my accident. I do not think this makes for good policy.
Look at the claim:
Since January 2006, behavior-detection officers have referred about 70,000 people for secondary screening, Maccario said. Of those, about 600 to 700 were arrested on a variety of charges, including possession of drugs, weapons violations and outstanding warrants.
What worries me is that this does not have a footnote. If I was a newspaper I would not print this claim without verification. There has been too much lying by the government to think other wise. I also want to know how much this program costs. We need to know what kind of bang for our buck we are getting and what programs are not getting funded.
San Jose, CA Andalusia, AL Montgomery, AL Seattle, WA Kennewick, WA Louisville, CO Albuquerque, NM Cambria, CA Navato, CA San Diego, CA Coalinga, CA Scottsdale, AZ Selina, CA Warminster, PA
Airports San Jose, CA - SJC Houston, TX - IAH Montgomery, AL - MGM Sea-Tec, WA - SEA Pacso - PCS Portland, OR - PDX Denver, CO - DIA Albuquerque, NM - ABQ Phoenix, AZ - PHX Las Vegas, NV - LAS Philadelphia, PA - PHL
The New York Times travel section did a story about the 53 places to visit in 2008. I would like to be able to visit all of them. Right now San Francisco and San Diego are the only two places on the list that I will likely travel to next year. In San Diego I doubt I will get a chance to stay in the new Hard Rock Hotel. If you want to hire me for some kind of job that will send me to all these places, I will be happy to go.
There is a good chance I will go to Portland sometime next year. My guess is that I will do a lot less travel next year. I doubt I will get to as many places as I did this year.
I do not know when I will get to Portland next, but it has been calling me. Next year I think I will be there. I have visited Portland every even year since I left there. I am looking forward to going again. I know I was not there long, but it still has some of my heart.
I am going back to Philadelphia for Christmas. I am taking my girlfriend back to meet my parents. It should be one hell of a trip. I am looking forward to Kate meeting everyone and everyone meeting Kate. I am a little stressed because there is a lot of planning and I am not close to the planning. I am just hoping it will be a good trip.
It will be good to see my parents. I think they will like Kate.
Hey, you, get away from your computer and go find the part of the world that is close to you, but you do not see that often. It will be rewarding. I promise.
I went to Arizona to meet my parents. My parents no longer make it all the way out to California. Since they will not come to me, I went to them. I do not get to see them all that often. It was great to just hang out with them. I miss seeing them. I have been out here long that I am ready to move back. I am not sure what their health will be like when I am ready to move back. For now I have to take any change I get to see them.
My advice to my friends is go out and see California. I know lots of people around here that never get out to see the rest of the state. You have to take the time to see what is going on around you. California is so big, it is hard to see all of it. Every once in a while you need to take the effort to see part of the state you have not seen before.
My blog is really falling behind right now. I spent a week on vacation with my sister Kathy. We spent a week kicking around anywhere from Point Reyes to Lone Cypress. It included lots of baseball and lot of driving. It was a fun week, but I did not get much blogging done that week.
I have spent much of this week recovering from my vacation. Attending to all those things you cannot attend to while you have a house guest. On top of that I have to catch up at the office. Neither of those things put me in the mood to blog.
Of course in my wisdom I have plans for vacation next week also. That will give me another week where I have much better things to do that blog. I might be able to get an entry or two done, but it is not the kind of vacation that will give me much time to rest.
I guess I am just giving my readers a the reasons my blog is a little under published this month. I hope not to many people will care.
Today I toured Hearst Castle on the central coast. On my current vacation I have been trying to do things that I have been putting off. The top of the list are Hearst Castle and the Getty museum. I picked Hearst Castle because it is closer, would cost me less to visit it, and there is a much better chance I will go to Los Angeles in the future. I have a hard time seeing myself just happening through San Simeon.
I am happy I have came to see it. It is a pretty cool place. It is in the middle of nowhere on the central coast. It is not the kind of place people come by accident. I can see why it was a good get away in William Randolph Hearst's time. I can see why it was popular with famous people.
I have to file Hearst Castle under crazy California homes of Rich People. Currently the other place in that file is the Winchester Mystery House. They both have a lot in comment. Never ending construction, never finished, owners who kept on changing the plans, and ended up being historic sites.
I know that William Randolph Hearst just called it the Ranch, but a castle is a good name for it. You can see how visiting the castles and residents of Europe influences. It reminded me of the Würzburg Residence. Both building were build to impress the guests who came to visit. I wonder if it was a way for Hearst to remind people who came to visit who he is. No matter what kind of Hollywood star you are, you are not as big as William Randolph Hearst.
Walking though the building I just thought to myself, "of course this place is in California. California is a place of people putting really big dreams into action. You would have to dream really big to build a place like this. It is on the top of a hill that is 1000 feet up. The place has amazing views of the country side and of the ocean. It is just an amazing place.
The building is amazing, but it is also a mis-mash. Both on the inside and on the outside it is a strange combination of styles. The building complex exterior is a combination of Spanish, Italian and Ancient Roman. In my head I can hear an architectural snob declare how the different style clash. You get the feeling that Hearst could not make up his mind. He wanted everything.
On the inside there are a ton of different art styles. I cannot even count how many different countries the art came from. It is almost dizzying. I bet that is what Hearst was going for. I bet it looked better when it was a house and not a museum. Now it is too much to take in. All the different styles were too much.
There is something about the Hearst Castle that made me a feel a little sad. I get the same feeling when I go to the Winchester Mystery House. All of these effort went into making this house, but now it is not a house. If feels like it is a little dead. It would be better is someone was living there. Since it is just a display piece now, it has lost a little of what made it special. Worst of all it was only in use for 29 years. It has been a state park for almost 50 now.
Staying at the Hostel in Cambria I meet Tuan Cháu Tiên. He brews Cháu Tiên. His website is PaleAle.com. I will have to look for his beer when I get back to San Jose.
I have nothing to say about this picture. It was really windy while I was on top of the Space Needle. It kept me from getting some good night photos. I guess I will have to go up there in a less windy season.
I was temped to just jump ship in Portland and not come home. I knew that would not be a good idea so I got on the plane. There are too many things that tie me to my current life.
I am in an airport so small that security closes between early flights. Everyone is waiting in the cafe for security to reopen. At least I know that the plane only hold 25 people.
I am in Kennewick, Washington for business today. It is a small place in Eastern Washington. It is part of the tri-cities. Most of the people I talk to never heard of it before. Saying it is south of Spokane gives people some idea of where it is.
I was driving down a street seeing houses that were built in the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's. I tried to think what this area must have been like in all of those eras. Most of the people I have worked with here came here from someplace else. I wonder how much of the population have been here all their lives. The woman who checked me into my hotel told me that she has only once been on an airplane. When you are in a place where most of the people grew up there, it changes the weight of history.
I am not going to be hear long enough to ask myself if I could really live here or not. My guess it not. I had to fly a turbo prop to get here. That would cut way down how often I get away. It looks like a pretty nice area. I was told the best times to visit are summer and vine harvest.
-The Seattle Central Library is really cool and worth visiting. -Damn the Space Needle can get windy -The mini donuts at the Market are very good -There is not as much graffiti as I expected -I was disappointed that the Seattle Art Museum was closed. -The new Seattle Art Museum Sculpture Garden is amazing. -I am still not paying $20 for the Music Experience Project. -Cutter Bayhouse is really good. -Like very one expected I took a lot of pictures. -I am the worst kind of picture taking tourist, one that uses flickr.
I have been to Seattle a half Dozen times or so now. My experience of Seattle is one of being alone. I have never come here with someone else. I have never explored the city with anyone else. I have been on my own every time I have come here.
I am not sure what that say about Seattle or about me. I like Seattle. I feel there is something that draws me here. Every time I go there I try to figure out how I can move there.
It is hard to travel on your own. It is hard to go sight seeing and not share it with anyone. It is hard to motivate myself to keep on going when I get tired. I usually see less when I am alone. I face these things all the time. It is rare for me to travel with someone else.
I left Seattle early today because the weather was rough and I was out of ideas of things to do. Now it is onto the business part of this trip.
Between the Seattle Central Library and the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park there is a lot of new interesting Architecture in Seattle. Not only does it have lots of cool tall buildings, the new condos going up in Belltown are also interesting. There is something really alive and vital about the new architecture in this city.
I will go as far as saying that this is the American City with the most interesting new architecture. It does not seem to have anything holding it back. Even the new stadiums are interesting to look at from the outside. I think that Seattle is putting the rest of the West Coast Cities to shame. (I'm looking at you San Francisco.) This is something that makes me love this city.
While I was in Seattle I tried to stand in the background of as many photos as I could. The challenge now is to see if any of those photos show up in flickr. I am wondering if anyone can find me is someone else's photos.
Terms that might help this search
Seattle Space Needle Seattle Center Pike Place Market SAM Olympic Sculpture Park Waterfront Park
Every time I come to Seattle I notice how the quality of the light is different here. It has to do with the latitude. The light is noticeably different than San Jose or Philadelphia. It is something that I forget after I leave. I have to come back here again to remember it.
I do not think I have captured this light difference in my photographic. I think I would have to be a much better photographer to capture it. It is hard to describe how it is different, it just looks different.
This difference is on of the things I like about Seattle. I am not sure if I would see the difference if I lived here. I might stop noticing if I was here everyday.
There is something about traveling that wears me out. Especially traveling for work. Yesterday I came home from a week in Andalusia, Alabama. My flight left Alabama 6:30 in the morning CST. When I got back to my place I could not get myself into the swing. I was really useless when I got home yesterday.
Being away from home was really tiring. I did not sleep well. I usually do not have that problem in hotels. I think the time shift had something to do with it. I was getting up much earlier then I was used to. At night I had a hard time falling asleep. I am not sure what this was a sign of. I had to deal with being tired a lot. That is not something I enjoy.
I would like to travel more. I am not sure how much I would like to travel for work. I got to see very little of Alabama on this trip. I was more focused on work than seeing the sights.
I did not do a recap for 2006. I do not think I will do a full recap. It was too complex of a year to fit into a blog post. I am breaking my post into several smaller posts. Here is one of them.
I like to keep track of the places I have visited. For some reason I am now fixated on the places I have spent the night. I think it is a good thing to keep track of. Of course my blog is the best place to keep track of these kinds of things.
Places I spent the night in 2006
San Jose, CA San Francisco, CA San Diego, CA Carmel, CA Carmel Valley, CA Yerka, CA Portland, OR (2 Locations) Warminster, PA
I am traveling for work. I am visiting this small town Andalusia, Alabama. The town is really small. I was told that restaurants are not often open on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday night. Those nights are so slow, it is not worth enough money for the restaurants to be open.
The town is the county seat. After a couple of conversations with people I am working with, they told me about the town square. I was driving around today looking for the town square. It was only 7 PM and everything was closed down. Almost every store on the square had a tenant. They just close early.
I ask the people I am working with what they do for fun. The answer falls into three categories. 1) Go 90 miles away and so something fun, 2) Stay home, and 3) Nothing. I am told you are either the type of person who likes this kind of area or you are not. The people who are not end up leaving.
Whenever I go anywhere I ask myself if I could live there. I can say that I could not live in Andalusia, Alabama. The houses are nice, but I need to be able to do things. I am a bit of a home body, but you have to be an extreme homebody to live here.
I did not know there was such as thing as an astrology travel guide. It is telling me I should go to Vegas or New York City for a fall vacation. i am not even sure I am going to take a fall vacation this year. A trip to New York would be nice. I am just not sure if this is really the place for me to go or not. What does the birth order travel guide say for this year?
I have driven from San Jose to San Diego several times now. I have done it enough to say that I know the drive. This year Andrew is coming to comic con with me. This is the first time I have done the drive with another person.
Taking a long drive with another person is different that taking it alone. Andrew and I talked the whole time. We never ran out of things to talk about. The trip was a constant conversation. The miles just flew by. I think I did not speed as much because of the conversation.
In the past I have liked the solitude on this ride. I did not miss the solitude this time. It has been years since I have taken a long drive with anyone. I have missed taking these types of trips with my friends.
I love conversations on the road. You really have nothing to do but sit and talk. I am known as the kind of person who loves to talk. There are few things better than really good conversation. Andrew is a good match for this idea. He can talk just as well as I can.
It took us about 8 hours to make it from San Jose to San Diego. We made good time and we only spent about an extra hour in Los Angeles traffic. It felt great to get here. I even found Steve's place without directions, I left the directions at my computer.
We did not do much once we got to San Diego. The drive took a lot out of us. It is funny that driving takes a lot out of you. You are just sitting down, but it it not as easy as it seems.
I hate packing for trips. Packing is only cool when you get to buy new stuff for the trip. I am not getting to do this for this trip. That means I just need to pack all my old crap. That is never fun.
There are lots of reasons I do not like packing. One of the reasons is that I always pack too much stuff. Even when I try to pack light I pack too much stuff. Since I am away from my stuff, I want to bring everything with me. I need to not bring stuff just in case I need to use it.
I know I need to break myself of this habit. I should find a way to travel light. Taking my car does not help. Driving makes it really easy to take too much stuff. I take less stuff when I fly, but it is still too much.
In JFK airport, terminal 6 there is not gate 13. There is a gate 12, 12A, and 14.
Food
I always eat a lot while I am home. This trip I ate two cheese steaks, one chicken cheese steak, one hoagie, Peanut Kandycakes, and a little water ice. I washed that down with a little yuengling lager. Going home is always about food. There are so many foods that I cannot get in San Jose. That is what I really miss about home.
Back
I am somewhere over America, in an airplane, flying back to the city that is now my home. I am tried, uncomfortable, sore, barn sour, and bored. I am flipping through the channels on the DirecTV feed they have on JetBlue. I feel good because I gave my Mom a great surprise. I feel bad because there will be a lot of work on my desk when I get back. I feel revealed because I know how I am going to handle things when I get back.
What I really know is that I am going to land in Oakland at 1:30 AM tomorrow, get out of the airport around 2:00 AM, get to my apartment around 3:00 AM. All of those things add up to me wanting to do nothing but sleep tomorrow. I will figure out the rest of my life from there.
Last week I was talking with Cool Eric about home. He just got back from visiting his family in central Pennsylvania. His most of his extended family is all in one area. They all live within a day drive or Redding. He feels like he is expected to move back there. He feels like the east coast is calling him. He wants to be close to his family, but he feels some conflict because of this.
Many of my friends from the East Coast have told me that their parents expect them to move back there. They are all about my age and have come out here to find their way in the world. There family understands that, but they are still wondering when they are going to come back.
To me, it does not really matter to me what my sisters think. They can think that I should move back, but they have no say in the matter. I understand that they miss me, but they are not responsible for me. They cannot help me make my life. I am jealous that they get to hang out with each other so much, but that is just the cost of living out west.
The only people that I really care what they think is my parents. I feel that I have a strong connection with them. My mother thinks I have to make the world for myself. They do not need me to live close to them to be close to them. This makes me feel good. I think that my relationship with my father is as good as it ever was.
I am not sure where I will end up. I might stay in San Jose or end up in another city. One idea I have is to live in a row home in Philadelphia. I might find my way back here. I might go on to a whole other city.
Family
Last night was my mother's birthday dinner. It was a great dinner. We had two of my favorite foods, corn on the cob and baked potatoes. I really love having big dinners with my family. There is always so much good food to eat. My family knows how to love food.
Dinners are also great because the people. We do not get together often enough. There are so many little conversations going on at the same time. I wanted to just sit and wait to hear people talk. There was just so much going on.
We took lots of pictures. We took so many pictures that we used all the up all of the patience the kids had. They did not want to stand still for the pictures. It is funny to think about all those pictures.
I do not know when I will get another night with my family like this.
When I had grown up in Pennsylvania I would hear people from other states talk about how Pennsylvania was so green. I never got what they were talking about. Now that I have lived in San Jose for almost four years, I can understand it. The hills to the east of Silicon Valley are so yellow. I do not go places with lots of leafy trees and green grass. It is all over the place around here.
Traveling Home
I still have a lot of friends who live in this area. On this trip home I will not see any of them. I am spending all the time seeing my family. Tonight I am playing cards with my parents. I feel that there is so much time I can just spend with my family. I see them so little, I would feel bad about cutting out on them.
I feel like I need to start going home for a longer period of time. If I want to see my family and my friends I have to take longer trips. I am thinking that I would need to spend 10 or more days here if I want to see everyone. This is not even counting the people I know in Harrisburg. Maybe I should take a whole month back here. I would be able to do anything I wanted. I would not have to worry about how I spend my time.
I flew Jet Blue back to the East Coast. They do not fly into Philadelphia, so I needed my sisters to pick me up at JFK. The fare was really cheap for being so last minute. It made it worth all the extra time.
This is the first time I have taken Jet Blue. One of their big marketing points is that it had DIRECTV on all its flights. The planes are Airbus A320’s. They have LCD screens in the back of the seats. There are about 20-some channels to choose from. I flew out here on the red-eye so there was not too much to watch. The choice of channels were pretty interesting, ESPN, Food Network, WNBC from New York, Headline News, and Discovery. I was surprised there was no TNN, HBO, TNT, USA, or FX. I wonder how they picked the channels.
One of the channels you can watch your plan on a map of the US. You can see how far across the country you are. This is one of the best things ever. You have some idea how much longer you will be in the air. I like the fact that I can say that I was thinking about Jeremy as I was over Chicago.
JFK
I landed at JFK airport in New York. This is one of the airports that you could not build now. It was built in the middle of wetlands. You could see all the water around it as we landed. There is something funny about the smell about JFK. I guess that is what you get when you mix swampland, body odor and jet fuel. This is what many people are greated by when they come to America.
I keep on thinking about its old name, Idyllwild. There is something special about names that are no longer used. It is like you are invoking something by using that name. The name was changed in the Sixties. I was told for a long time no one used the new name. People started to call it JFK when the FAA changed the Airport code to JFK. I wonder if the airport would be any different if they kept the old name.
When I got on the street outside of JFK, I knew I was no longer no longer on the East Coast. The air was thick and humid. It felt like I was swimming in the air. It was only 5:45 in the morning and it already felt like this. That is the East Coast that I remember.
Surprise
The whole idea was to surprise as many people as I could. Most of my sibling did not know I was coming. They were surprised to see me, but a little annoyed that they were not let in on it. They said they would have changed their plans if they knew. I know it might have been good to tell people, but I liked the idea of the surprise.
My mother was very surprised. My sister said she wanted to stand behind my mom so she did not fall over. I thought my sister was being over dramatic. That was until my mom walked in the door. My sister had to catch her. Mom loved the surprised. She was so happy to see me. It really made her day. She admitted that she was a little sad that I was not going to be there for her birthday.
Firsts
Today was the first time I have gotten to meet my niece Emily and my niece Rosemary. Emily is four years old and this is the first time I have gotten to meet her. It makes me think of how little I get to see my family. I have not seen my brother’s children in five years. That is what happens when you are halfway around the world from each other.
I am traveling back to Philadelphia. My goal is to surprise my Mother for her birthday. I talked to her on the phone last Wednesday. She sounded sad that I was not going to be there for her birthday. Everyone else is going to be there, even my brother who lives in Germany. I know that my mom really wanted to see all of her children and grandchildren together.
Now I am going to catch a flight that will arrive in New York at 5:30 in the morning. I will hang with the family for a few days. I will spend all the time with them. I will be back to San Jose before the weekend. Thank goodness for low dollar fares and red-eye flights. I just hope that nothing will screw this up.
Airport
Airport is a very American word. Airport has that ring of a word that was on a list and the marketing department chose the best one. It just seems like the kind of word an American would come up with. It is the kind of word that people in other languages just adopt.
I wonder what other worlds competed with Airport when that world started. It is the same idea as jeans and dungarees. What other terms did people come up with? The British called it an aerodrome until after World War II. I wonder if there is any way to figure this out. I wonder if there are any words better then airport out there.
High Speed
It cost $7 to access the wireless broadband at the Oakland Airport. It is really not worth it. I am only going to be here for the next 45 minutes. It looks like I will have to wait a while before I publish this.
Flight Mix
Wilco - Dash 7 Netural Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea Pavement - Hit the Plane Down Microphone - I'll Be In The Air Dead Milkmen - Air Crash Museum R.E.M - You're In The Air Richard Thompson - Jet Plane In A Rocking Chair Talvin Singh - Flight IC408 Jets To Brazil - Air Traffic Control Ben Folds Five - Air This Flight Tonight - Joni Mitchell Meryn Cadell - Flight Attendant
I have already taken my baseball roadtrip for this year. Back in May I saw games in San Diego and Phoenix. I got to see the Phillies in both cities. At least the Phillies won one of those games. It was one of the highlights of my trip.
Many people know that baseball is my favorite sport. I love taking these little trips every year. There is almost a pilgrimage factor to baseball. I cannot think of any other sport were people talk about how many stadiums they have been to. They do not talk about the stadiums they want to see. I think there is something about baseball parks.
I have to think about what parks I want to see next year. By then the new park in Philadelphia will be done. That would be a trip worth taking. I wonder if I will get a chance to get back home next season.
Veterans Stadium (Philadelphia) Comiskey Park II (Chicago) Skydome (Toronto) Tiger Stadium (Detroit) Fenway Park (Boston) Camden Yards (Baltimore) Kingdome (Seattle) Oakland Coliseum Pacific Bell Park (San Francisco) Edison International (Anaheim) Quacom Stadium (Old Jack Murphy San Diego) Bank One Ballpark (Arizona)
Baseball Teams Seen
Phillies Pirates Cubs Braves Mets Cardinals Expos Giants Dodgers Padres Reds Astros Brewers Rockies Diamond Backs White Sox Tigers Blue Jays Yankees Red Sox A's Mariners Rangers Indians Angels Twins
1. Where were you born? Abington, PA, but I never lived there. I grew up in Warminster, PA. Both townships are suburbs of Philadelphia.
2. If you still live there, where would you rather move to? If you don't live there, do you want to move back? Why or why not? I on longer live near Warminster. I would think about moving back to Philadelphia, but I do not think I am ready yet. I would love to be closer to my family. There are things about Philadelphia that I still love. I am not sure I am ready to move back yet.
3. Where in the world do you feel the safest? I think I provide most of my own treats to my safety. I think I feel safe most places I go.
4. Do you feel you are well-traveled? I feel well traveled inside the US and poorly traveled outside. I have done all my traveling here. I keep on telling myself that I have to go overseas.
5. Where is the most interesting place you've been? Mt. St. Helens, Washington. It is unlike any other place in the world. It is a place of such beauty. You know that it was created by such force. I like that feeling.
The plans are set. I am going to San Diego. This will be the third vacation I have taken this year. After this I will take at least one more. After going to San Diego I will still have three weeks saved up. I have to use them anyway.
If you could go on vacation at this very moment, where would you go?
Back in high school Bill O'Neill and I have a fascination, maybe obsessed, with nuclear power and nuclear war. We saw the obvious absurdism of having weapons that could destroy the world many times over. We loved the old educational films about what to do in case of an atomic attack. If we had a travel guide like Atomic Tourist I know we would have tired to visit a lot of these places.
SJC - San Jose (21) PHL - Philadelphia (19) LAS - Las Vegas (5) SFO - San Francisco (5) STL - St. Louis (4) PDX - Portland (4) ORD Chicago-O'hare (4) SAN - San Diego (4) ABQ - Albuquerque (4) PHX - Phoenix (3) ATL - Atlanta (2) SEA - Seattle(2) BUR - Burbank (2) OAK - Oakland (2) IND - Indianapolis (2) MSP - Minneapolis/St Paul, MN (1) DAY - Datyon (1) PIT - Pittsburgh (1) TUS - Tucson (1) CVG - Cincinnati (1) DEN - Denver (1) SLC - Salt Lake City (1) LAX - Los Angeles(1) IAH - Houston (1)
