Wednesday, July 27, 2011
There were fireworks
I did catch some fireworks this year. I miss seeing them over water. Maybe one year I'll trek down to the beach to see some but for now I'll just enjoy the illegal ones soaring above Highland Park.
Roaming
While I was off traveling around the States in May, I also stopped in Upstate NY for a week to visit friends & family. My first stop was in Rochester where I went to college the 2nd time around. I was only there for a weekend which is a bummer b/c I love it there. I arrived completely exhausted from a red eye flight & spent most of the weekend trying to readjust my sleep schedule. I got to stop by the Lilac Festival for a little while, where I promptly got a nasty sunburn. More importantly I got to spend lots of time with my wonderful friend Erica & her family. Off to Park Ave to eat & later on to eat at some place on East Ave. I forgot how much I kind of adore the whole restaurants & shops inside houses thing. It really brings an atmosphere to Rochester. I wish I had more time for general lazing about there.
Then it was off to stay with my mom for a few days in Little Falls. I only lived there for a couple years when I was younger, so I never really explored around the area that much. I finally walked out to Moss Island & saw the canal Lock up close. We also went up to see the waterfall that was mere blocks from where we used to live that I never knew was even there. If I had only known, I would have spent more time crawling around the woods there. Something I really miss about living in NY is being able to just wander around the woods. There is some beautiful scenery there when it's nice out.
Then it was off to stay with my mom for a few days in Little Falls. I only lived there for a couple years when I was younger, so I never really explored around the area that much. I finally walked out to Moss Island & saw the canal Lock up close. We also went up to see the waterfall that was mere blocks from where we used to live that I never knew was even there. If I had only known, I would have spent more time crawling around the woods there. Something I really miss about living in NY is being able to just wander around the woods. There is some beautiful scenery there when it's nice out.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Portland (West Coast)
Right after I left Seattle by train (great deal at $30 btw) I went down to Portland Oregon. My second visit to this town, I love it even more. It has a very warm & welcoming vibe. It's very artsy, very natural, very weird. Like they say, "Keep Portland Weird". Did you know that for any new improvements or projects, the city requires a percentage of the cost be attributed to public art? It's a great idea & really keeps Portland looking interesting.
I wish I had more time to spend here. Three days is hardly enough but I got a great feel for the city. The Metro there has to be praised. It's so awesome! It would be faster for sure to have a car, but the buses, street cars & Max system are amazing. Especially downtown where they are free, all the time. A day pass at $5 is hard to pass up if you are traveling in & out of downtown a lot, which we did. We stayed at the Portland Paramount Hotel which I rather liked and is located in the SW section. It was very close to all Metro, and is located at the top of the South Park Blocks, where there is a small Farmer's Market. Also, to be said about the Metro system is that they are all connected with GPS so you can call or text the number posted at each stop to find out the real time arrival of the next bus or train. Pretty cool!
It rained almost all of our second day there, which unfortunately for us was the day we went to the Hoyt Arboretum & hiked outside in the woods. It was still beautiful & we hiked up to Pittock Mansion, which is an incredible house - take the tour! A lovely volunteer tour guide gave a wonderfully detailed & interesting story of the house, and luckily for my friend & I, gave us pathetic girls a ride home when she saw us on the street in the pouring rain. A downside of it raining that day was not being able to see the views of Mt. Hood & Mt. Saint Helen's. If you ever get the chance to go, go!
I wish I had more time to spend here. Three days is hardly enough but I got a great feel for the city. The Metro there has to be praised. It's so awesome! It would be faster for sure to have a car, but the buses, street cars & Max system are amazing. Especially downtown where they are free, all the time. A day pass at $5 is hard to pass up if you are traveling in & out of downtown a lot, which we did. We stayed at the Portland Paramount Hotel which I rather liked and is located in the SW section. It was very close to all Metro, and is located at the top of the South Park Blocks, where there is a small Farmer's Market. Also, to be said about the Metro system is that they are all connected with GPS so you can call or text the number posted at each stop to find out the real time arrival of the next bus or train. Pretty cool!
It rained almost all of our second day there, which unfortunately for us was the day we went to the Hoyt Arboretum & hiked outside in the woods. It was still beautiful & we hiked up to Pittock Mansion, which is an incredible house - take the tour! A lovely volunteer tour guide gave a wonderfully detailed & interesting story of the house, and luckily for my friend & I, gave us pathetic girls a ride home when she saw us on the street in the pouring rain. A downside of it raining that day was not being able to see the views of Mt. Hood & Mt. Saint Helen's. If you ever get the chance to go, go!
July 4, 2011
It's the 4th of July and I am sitting on my couch. How did this happen? With my job, I almost always have to work this holiday, today being no exception. However, I did get out at 4pm & found myself wondering, what to do? Loose plans falling through, here I am longing for days of large fireworks displays over rivers... my most memorable being in Bridgeport CT on a dingy & sitting on 6th St bridge in Pittsburgh. It's been a long time since I've had an amazing Independence Day. Exhausted & knowing I have to work tomorrow at 6am, I think I'll sit on my balcony, have a drink & hope that there are fireworks to the North tonight.
*Postscript (did I really just write that?): The fireworks were really lacking in my neighborhood (I might have seen 2 go off) so I headed on over to Highland Park & visited some friends & watched a bunch of illegal fireworks going off, and saw a huge blazing fire from such out in the distance. Hope no one lost their house tonight!
Last year from Highland Park LA CA:
*Postscript (did I really just write that?): The fireworks were really lacking in my neighborhood (I might have seen 2 go off) so I headed on over to Highland Park & visited some friends & watched a bunch of illegal fireworks going off, and saw a huge blazing fire from such out in the distance. Hope no one lost their house tonight!
Last year from Highland Park LA CA:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
