The journey began at approximately 1:30pm when I arrived at the Santa Ana Amtrak Station, LA-bound. From there I was to take the Metrorail Gold Line to Pasadena and then head to Morro Bay for a weekend of camping adventures.
Today I arrived in San Pedro, Belize after what ended up being about a 7-hour series of flights from LAX. It's quite surreal being here considering I booked my ticket extremely last minute...just yesterday morning! My friend Angela and I had been talking about going for a few weeks now and she wisely booked her ticket right away. I, however, hesitated and missed the boat on good flight prices. Week after week, prices kept creeping upwards and I was beginning to lose hope. Fortunately though I checked tickets one last time yesterday and found an American Airlines flight that was pretty reasonable. I booked, went home and packed (my grandma's vintage luggage) and VOILA! A little over 24 hours later I am unpacking at Pedro's Inn in San Pedro, Belize.
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| Mud Run 2009 |
Every summer my family spends some time camping in Yosemite. It's a tradition that started about 6 or 7 years ago and this year was my 4th or 5th time going. It's quite a drive from Southern California, but SO worth it!
I spent 3 days up at Housekeeping Camp and shared a tent with my mom, my sister Savannah and three of her friends. Yep, there were two adults and four ten year olds...a detail my mom conveniently forgot to leave out of the conversation before I left. :) It worked out fine though, they were all very well behaved and didn't get into too much trouble.
I spent my time there going for runs, reading and relaxing. I love to just sit down and listen to the sound of the wind in the trees. I didn't see any bears this year but we did hear a wolf howling not too far from camp one night! Half Dome wasn't on my agenda this year since we weren't there with any family friends. Normally we have a group make the trek but I don't think it would have been wise to attempt it on my own. Instead I visited Vernal Falls and Mirror Lake. Pictures can be viewed here.
I would like to send another huge THANK YOU to everyone that either donated or participated in this year's Relay for Life. We enjoyed a successful event this year, in total we raised over $127,000 that will go towards cancer research, and had a great time doing it! Each and every one of your donations (time or money) make a difference and I can't tell you how much your support means to me.
Ahhh Paris, I don't know what it is but I absolutely love this city. So many people, so many places to see, so much history, so much life everywhere. I love it. This is now my third time here and I feel like everything is brand new, I want to absorb as much as I possibly can while I'm here. And so far, James seems equally as infatuated as I am.
The train ride from Montpellier to Paris was quick and comfortable. It was a TGV so in about 3 hours we were on the other side of the country. I had found an apartment for rent that was listed on craigslist that sounded too good to be true. View of the Eiffel Tower in one of the better areas of Paris for only 49 euros per night. The owner, Antoine also offered to pick us up from the train station at 1:30am since the metro wouldn't be working. A little hesitant of what we would encounter, I decided to book it since there really wouldn't be anything close to that price.
Apparently we have some very unfortunate timing. As Malcolm Scott Thomas (a Scottish bartender we befriended) summed up, "It's sunny in Montpellier 300 days of the year, the streets aren't even made for rain!". Well in a place that sees rain approximately 15% of the year, we saw it for over 50% of our stay. Not just drizzle either, we're talking flash flood, wake-you-up-from-sleep thunder storms. We didn't let it ruin our trip though, luckily we had gotten the majority of our walking done during our first day.
Even though the sky was not on our side, I still really wanted to say we'd gotten to the Mediterranean on this trip. We had hoped to go to Sete, recommended to us by the nice ticket agent at the train station, but it didn't seem worth the effort now. Instead, I discovered that there was a beach only 20 minutes away by bus. With no better options, we decided to give it a shot. The ride took a little longer than normal - the door on the back of the bus malfunctioned and the poor bus driver was finally able to close it after struggling for almost 15 minutes. We arrived at our destination, Perols, which turned out to be a nice harbor with an area full of restaurants, creperies, ice cream shops and souvenir stores. Of course the majority of them were closed until high season, but James and I were hungry and decided to give one a go.
Day two in Montpellier was another day of exploration and discovery. We found a different hotel (the first one was great but way out of our budget), got some laundry done (a challenge in itself) and still managed to get outside for more walking. The hotel we're at now, Citea Coupole, is a little bit away from the city center so we're getting a feel for the train system. It also has small kitchens in the room so we will be able to save some dough and cook a few meals.
As the old saying goes..."No Pain, No Gain". Waking up this morning was quite painful since we only got about 5 hours of sleep, but the train ride was quite memorable. For most of the journey, we followed the coastline with amazing views of the water. We also went through gorgeous countryside with fields and cottages just like those you see in movies. Despite my battle with extreme fatigue, I stayed awake for most of the 4 hour ride, except the last hour when my eyelids simply got too heavy to hold up. My slumber didn't last long though, James quickly woke me up to point out a castle we were passing by.
Our final day in Barcelona was just what the doctor ordered. We'd been running around like mad dogs trying to see everything over the last three days so today we decided to take it easy. We still did some more sightseeing, but mainly wandered wherever our eyes took us. Sometimes when you're traveling you get so focused on seeing all the things, you don't really take time to observe the lifestyle or absorb the energy of where you are. I've decided that Barcelona is a city I could get used to, definitely one I'd like to see again. Maybe next time I can learn a little Spanish before I come.
For those of you who don't know, every year I participate in the Relay for Life which raises money for cancer research. I'm happy to say that, as of today, I am in the top 5 for fundraising so far. I hope to keep that up. If you would like to donate or join my team, view my personal page. 
Today was a poopy day as far as weather went. It was pouring pretty much the entire 24 hours. Sightseeing was another story - we perused the Park Guell created by Gaudi. I'm surprised by how much I am enjoying his work because I normally like very simple, clean art and architecture. Gaudi is nowhere near simple - his temple is said to be one of the most enigmatic structures in the world. Maybe it's because his work is so unique and unlike anything I've ever seen before that I like it so much.