BURBANK, CA -- Well, what can I say? It has been over two months since my last post, and I've covered another 30,000+ miles around the world. I guess making it to all seven continents and all 50 states before my 25th birthday took a little of the spirit out of the blog, but have no fear, I am back with more posts and updates!
May 4, 2012 - Congratulations Brittany!
It would take forever to go through everywhere I have been since my last post, but in sum, I have been back home to Chicago three times - first, for my sister Brittany's graduation from Roosevelt University! I am so proud of her!!! The second trip was for Mother's Day, and the third was totally unexpected and just happened to be over my parents' 26-year anniversary! Beyond that, I also made it over to Arizona in April where I saw the Blackhawks beat the Phoenix Coyotes from the 5th row in OT - amazing game, though sadly the Hawks lost the series. The Los Angeles Kings eventually knocked out Phoenix en route to winning the Stanley Cup - it is nice having the Cup here in close proximity!
I also managed to make it to Las Vegas for Cinco de Mayo with some of the coolest people in the world - 11 of us Antarctica travelers spent a couple of nights on the Strip partying it up Penguin Highway style! I've been to San Diego three times and San Francisco once for work in the past couple of months, and also ventured over to New York as well. I only had a day, but managed to do the one NYC thing I hadn't made it to yet: the new September 11, 2001 National Memorial.
June 7, 2012 - 9/11 National Memorial.
Overall I found the memorial to be very well done. There is still a ton of construction going on in the immediate area, and it will be much quieter as intended once all of that is done, but that said on the whole, I was impressed. It was also nice to actually be on the grounds. Since the first time I visited New York in 2005, I have never been able to get into the grounds, as they have been closed - being on the inside gave a completely different perspective.
One of the reflecting pools at the 9/11 National Memorial.
Most recently, a week ago I visited two United States National Parks: Sequoia and Kings Canyon. They are next to each other and operate as one unit by the National Park Service, and I would highly encourage everybody to visit. We camped at Sequoia National Park at around 6,000 feet in elevation, a nice change from the LA area. The most famous attraction at Sequoia NP is the park's namesake, the Sequoia Trees, which are the largest trees by volume in the world. Put another way, there is more wood in these trees than any other trees on earth. The largest of them, the General Sherman Tree, is 275 feet tall, 25 feet in diameter, and approximately 2,300-2,700 years old. To put that in perspective, Socrates was founding all of western philosophy at the same time this tree was born.
June 18, 2012 - General Sherman Tree, Largest Tree on Earth. Sequoia National Park.
Over at Kings Canyon National Park we took a beautiful 4-5 mile hike to Zumwalt Meadow, surrounded by thousand-foot tall granite cliffs.
June 17, 2012 - Zumwalt Meadow, Kings Canyon National Park.
One other piece of awesomeness from the past few months: I finally put together a video of my entire Antarctica trip, and it is rather spectacular. See the video below!
Make sure you watch the above in 1080p HD quality, and let me know what you think! G Adventures, the group I went on the trip with, picked up the video and put it on their facebook and twitter pages, which generated a lot of the traffic. I really do love the video though, and hope you enjoy it!
I am also running a ton! Immediately after my last post on all 50 states, I came back and that weekend set a PR running the 2012 Inaugural Hollywood Half Marathon, at 1:59:57 - under 2 hours! I really toned it down for the rest of April and all of May, and then three weeks ago flipped the switch and kicked it into gear. Why? Well, I signed up for the Chicago Marathon back in February, and the race is October 7th. To do an 18-week training program, my first day was back on June 4th! I ran 19 miles the first week, 20 miles the second week, and 17 miles last week. This week we take a pretty big jump up to 23 miles - first run is tomorrow! On the plus side I'm losing about a pound per week, which is nice too.
On the travel front, I don't have anything on the calendar this week, for the 4th of July next week, or the following. However, on July 14th I am flying over to Brisbane, Australia with People to People! I will be "Down Under" for about two weeks with some of the best and brightest students from Southern California and elsewhere - keep tuned to this space, and I will be sure to post some stories and photos from the trip while we are over there! Highlights: Brisbane (never been), Great Barrier Reef (never been), and Sydney (only been once). As we get closer, my excitement continues to build!
Until next time, have a fabulous week everybody, and I will be sure to post more frequently now that travel season is here!
