So my journey to Hawaii was a somewhat roundabout route, but was a great trip for sure!
It all started with my 10 year high school reunion...can't believe it's been that long! Was cool to see everyone and catch up a bit- wish we had had a better turnout in numbers, but got to see most of the folks I was closest to anyhow.
I then took about a week to visit friends and family in New England first. With time constraints though- each visit was a bit abbreviated, but it was good to see everyone none the less. Pit stops included the following:
1) Morning walk with Abbey and her new pup Orienne in Rhode Island
2) Bike exploration of Nantucket Island, then great dinner and hanging out with Shanna and Maia
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| Nantucket Island |
4) Good food, town touring and hiking with Danee, Dave, Benedetta, Giacomo, Maddie and Chris in Portsmouth, NH (picture of walk along the shoreline below)
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| Portsmouth, NH |
I returned to Annapolis for a few days prior to my flight- just enough time to finish packing, get Miles all packed up for my sister's place and enjoy a couple nice dinner's with family and friends! Finally got to experience Mexican Cafe- have been meaning to do so all year, and my roommate, Alicia, agreed that this was a requisite prior to leaving Annapolis. I was also surprised at my last dinner in town (at the always delicious Main Ingredient) that my oldest niece had returned to Maryland with my parents- so I got to spend some more time with her before the big move! I definitely wasn't sure about Annapolis initially when I moved here- not close to the mountains, traffic might be crazy because DC's so close, the entire town seemed to be full of polo shirts, khaki shorts and loafers, etc...but it turned out to be a great town and I enjoyed my time there!
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| Overview of the Severn River and Naval Academy in Annapolis |
Well, onward west- first stop was in Reno, NV to catch up with an old friend from Virginia Tech! Jim had some friends in Tahoe we stayed with for the first night- beautiful area with Lake Tahoe and all the massive trees around! Then we spent a long weekend in Yosemite National Park, which neither of us had been to before. It's amazing how pristine and wild they've been able to keep most of the park- really a great job that other parks should take note of. We did head into the more touristy area of the park though- in order to see the 'must see' sites and such for the first visit. Next time- definitely need to backpack through the wilderness areas!
I was challenged by an amazing hike up the hardest day hike in the park- Half Dome. We budgeted about 5 hours for this 7.2 mile, 5000+ ft elevation change hike. Luckily- we hiked it in about 4.5 hours, also benefiting from the cool night temperature, and were able to catch the sunrise from the top of the rocks. The craziest part was this steel cable climb at the end- 400 meters almost straight up the side of this thing, probably like a 75 degree incline- no joke. We agreed that it was definitely worth the pain that was endured for such a climb, both that day and the next...
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| Picture of Half Dome from elsewhere in the park, Ansel Adams style |
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| Sunrise from the top- can't really beat that, eh? Got to watch the whole valley light up...crazy... |
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| Ummm...yah.... |
Next stop was Los Angeles, CA to visit Amy and Natasha from Tufts. Luckily- I didn't have to walk much that day, as we just met up for a classic Japanese dinner just like in Westboro! I also have the best map of LA ever, hand drawn by Amy and Natasha...awesome- full of everything you need to know about LA. We chilled at Santa Monica beach, I enjoyed a churro, went out for a Lebanese dinner- which I hadn't yet experienced, and then over to Hollywood for the touristy things. Apparently- they don't light up the Hollywood sign at night anymore- just in case you are out looking for it at night, look a little harder. As pointed out by the kind gentleman who helped us find the sign- just look for the big letters on the side of the hill...kind of cool to see- couldn't get a picture though since it was so dark. We then went to downtown Hollywood, saw parts of the walk of stars (which is apparently several blocks long), the hand/foot prints at the Chinese theatre and the Hollywood wax museum.
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| LA crew |
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| Dave H, that one's for you...=) |
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| Will probably always be my hero (although this replica did him no favors...) |
