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I arrived Monday afternoon at the Denver airport and immediately took off for Boulder. I missed the direct bus by approximately 30 seconds, which resulted in a three-transfer journey, but I got to see some of Denver in the process (last time I was in Denver – which was before my Kerouac phase - Larimer street had little significance) and I ended up saving four bucks (always the frugal traveler).

That night I had dinner plans with three amazing LAF volunteers – the Birdsongs (LIVESTRONG couple-extraordinaire who I had visited in Boulder once before, last summer) and Bill (who does an amazing job with signage each year at the Challenge events). Bill was gracious enough to be my ride and host for the evening, and he picked me up at the bus station just off of Arapahoe.

That night was amazing. We met at Michael and Patricia’s gorgeous home, and after a tour of the place ( farmhouse on the outside meets modern décor on the inside) – including the spots where the remains of each of their rescue bassets now rest – we headed down to the Pearl Street Mall for dinner.

The food was good, setting (a rooftop deck in the middle of Boulder with a view of the mountains in the distance) was better, but the company was the best part of all. Bill and the Birdsongs are just three more examples of the incredible people I get to meet through my job at the foundation. They are interesting, fun, smart, and selfless, and I feel so blessed to know each of them. We chatted through dinner – and then again in their backyard in the cool evening – about trips to Alaska, volunteer work abroad, and stories of finding love. It was a great first night in the city I plan to call home next.

The following day I woke up early and met Michael at the cancer center where he volunteers each Friday. Being that it was only a Tuesday, the nurses and patients were pleasantly surprised to see Michael and receive the donuts that are typically an end-of-the-week tradition. After leaving the cancer center, Michael took me on a tour of Boulder, including a visit to the CU campus and a trip up to Chautauqua.

From there I spent time exploring Boulder. I visited the library (my favorite modern library yet), strolled through the city parks and met Bill for lunch at the amazing tea house. After lunch, I went over to Naropa to visit campus and meet with financial aid and an admissions advisor.

Blake, the fried I made four years ago in Kansas City who I always visit each time I go to CO, picked me up from Naropa, and the two of us headed out for drinks at Rio, browsing at the bookstore and dinner – on Pearl Street, of course – with his friend, Matt and Matt’s girlfriend. After a couple of glasses of wine, I was ready to head home and get some sleep.

The next day was even better than the last. After sleeping in, we headed out to Gross Reservoir where Blake and I took out his canoe. We paddled out in the water, and Blake fished while I read my book. After docking for a lunch that Blake packed for us, we headed back to his truck and he took me into Boulder for my second day of visits at Naropa. That night Blake drove us up into the mountains where we stayed at his aunt and uncle’s cabin. We rode mountain bikes from the cabin into Grand Lake, drank a couple beers and then rode back (up hill, in the dark). Back at the cabin, we started a fire and roasted marshmallows in the chilly mountain air. It was amazing.

The next morning Blake and I got up early and headed to the base of Shadow Mountain. Just under 4 miles and 1100 feet of elevation change later, we had summited the mountain – to discover a fire outlook (reminiscent of Ray Smith’s summer gig in Dharma Bums). On our way home, we stopped for honey wheat deep dish pizza and got back to Blake’s in time to crash for a few hours.

The next morning Blake woke up early and took me to the bus stop. I headed back to DIA and flew back to Kansas City confident that Colorado would soon be my next home…

Last Wednesday I left straight from work on my road trip – the much anticipated 10 day vacation I’ve had planned for months.  While I have managed to take a day or two off in the past few months, this would be my first trip without laptop, blackberry or e-mail access.  I couldn’t wait.

I love road trips.  Something about them feels so liberating.  I love driving on the highway with my windows down and sunroof open, feeling the wind blow through my hair.  I love listening to NPR, local farm reports, audio books or music that inspires me to sing at the top of my lungs without shame.  I hadn’t been on a road trip in almost a year (Labor Day of last year), so I was long overdue.

My first destination was Cuba – Cuba, Missouri that is.  It was too long of a drive to do in one day (especially since I didn’t leave until 4pm), so I found the northernmost Texas state park (I have a pass) on my route – Eisenhower State Park – and set up camp for the night.  It was already dark by the time I arrived, but I was able to pitch my tent (thanks to a headlamp Graham bought me) and I felt safe camping alone (thanks to the young girls I ran into in the bathroom).  I slept well, woke up to a beautiful view of the lake, and hit the road early.

Around 3pm, I arrive in Cuba, MO, home of my favorite relatives (with the exception, of course, of any relative reading this blog post): Uncle Bill and Aunt Do.  I love them for many reasons – because they are huge sports fans (Uncle Bill – my great uncle, technically – played on the 1952 Kansas Jayhawks national championship bball team), because they are the only other liberal democrats on my mom’s side, because they are hilarious and  because of their amazing hospitality.  They live on a lake in Cuba, and summertime visits to their home have always been an amazing, relaxing part of summer for me and my family. 

I had a great evening with Do and Bill.  We ate (though not as much as usual – I think my vegetarianism threw them off), talked about politics, books and religion, visited with some of their neighbors/friends and drank beer and ice cream shakes (though not at the same time).  And I was able to lie in their hammock, watching the sun set over the lake while I read.  If that isn’t a perfect summer vacation, I don’t know what is.

On Friday morning, after a big breakfast and a couple hours of reading in the hammock, I took off for Hallsville.  It was straight shot up highway 63, and on my way from Cuba, I drove through Vienna (there is also a Versailles, MO, but it is pronounced VER-SAY-LEES.  Don’t ask).  The drive was gorgeous – incredibly green with amazing trees and rolling hills.  And I even saw an Amish man riding in a horse-drawn buggie.

I arrived in Hallsville, site of Ashley and Mike’s brand new home, just after noon.  It was amazing to see the house that my childhood friend and her husband built – everything was gorgeous and new.  And the land on which their house was built (given to Mike by his parents) was incredible – complete with a pond.

After taking a tour of the house (which, by the way, smelled of freshly baked cookies – amazing), Ashley and I looked through their honeymoon photos and played with their dogs.  They had just gotten a golden retriever puppy, Maggie, and I – in no way a dog lover – have never felt such affection for an animal.  Later I helped Ashley cook dinner, and then we sat outside amidst the lightening bugs while Mike fished in the pond.

I was sad to leave Ashley and Mike, but I left with confidence that my friend was creating an amazing life and home for herself.  I continued on 63 north headed toward Des Moines where I would witness another friend starting her married life.

Lauren and I met during the summer of 2003 when we interned together with Coro Kansas City.  We haven’t lived in the same city since, but we’ve done a great job of keeping in touch, and I was honored that she invited me to her wedding.

Lauren’s sister, Alyson, graciously offered for me to stay with her in the hotel (where the wedding and reception were being held).  I stopped at Café Ritual for a great veggie lunch and then checked into the hotel.  A few minutes later, Lauren and Alyson returned from their hair appointments.  They had a couple hours before pictures, and I got to spend that time hanging out with the girls, their mom and their aunts.

When I think to the weddings I’ve been in during the past nine months, the best part – without a doubt – is the time spent in the back room of the church hanging out with the bride, other bridesmaids, mothers, etc.  It truly is a gift to spend those precious last single moments with your girl friend before the chaos of the wedding and reception sets in and she is married. 

I feel blessed that Lauren and I got to share a few such moments, despite the fact that I wasn’t a bridesmaid.  We caught up and chatted, and I got to see Lauren in her dress before Paul did. I even got to carry her train for her (something – along with helping the bride use the restroom while wearing the dress – that I’ve grown very good at through much practice). 

The wedding was wonderful, and I had a great time at the reception.  Lauren put me at a table with young Kansas City lawyers, a woman who works in sustainable agriculture in Moab, a woman who was departing for South America the next day and a PoliSci professor from Mizzou.  I had tons of things to talk about with each of them, and I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation.

Around 9pm, when there was little else to do but dance (which I do NOT do), I decided to take off and make the three hour drive to KC.  I was ready to go home and see my family for a day before taking off for Colorado…

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been a little remiss in my blog posts.  My excuse for the delay in my Ohio blog is that a) I did nothing but work the entire four days, so I don’t have too many travel adventures to recount and b) the LIVESTRONG blog already does a fantastic job of telling about the Summit (check it out: http://livestrongblog.org/)

The best part of the weekend for me was witnessing my LAF worlds collide as the delegates comprised of Challenge participants, professionals I’ve met at conferences, people I’ve befriended during my travels and many of our partners and grantees.  I was most excited to see Dan (and meet his fiancée Megan) and Vince.  [Riding around Columbus in the back of a huge van with no seats - let alone seat belts - was a close second.  And if I had gone to see Vanilla Ice Saturday evening after our zoo visit, like many of my colleagues did, I’m sure that would make the list of highlights as well.]

It’s not that I didn’t travel at all in June.  In fact, I’ve traveled much since Chicago– including two trips to KC (one bachelorette party, one wedding), and work in Atlanta and Anaheim.  And it’s not that I haven’t been writing – I have.  I’ve just been boycotting technology as much as possible.

It’s hard not to be connected when you have a work laptop, a personal laptop, a blackberry for work calls/email and a personal cell phone.  And so I find that the last thing I want to do is sit down to my laptop after a long day of work and type more.  Instead I opt for reading (most notably, Dharma Bums and Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius – apparently getting myself ready for my excursions in and around San Francisco) and writing – actually writing – in my Chinese journal (thanks, Traci).

Still, some of you have noticed by lack of postings (really? People are reading this?), and so I thought I’d give a (very) short list of highlights:

*Laura’s bachelorette party – there were shirtless bartenders and mechanical bulls involved, and an entire purse went missing.  Enough said.

*An amazing veggie dinner with Michael in Atlanta – nothing like catching up with a high school friend over a plate of flax chips, hummus and kale.

*Being the first to stay in Traci and Joel’s guest bedroom – since when are my friends so grown up that they all have new last names, husbands and homes?

*Tea with Nathan – It’s amazing how a conversation can fundamentally change your outlook on life.  And I’ve had more than one of such conversations with Nathan– back in our Coro days (five years ago) and one June morning in downtown KC.

*My sassy, straightened hair-do as styled by the lovely Jami after a delicious brunch in the River Market at Succotash.

*Laura’s wedding – the perfect ceremony, the swanky limo ride, the hilarious introductions, the fun reception, and cracking up with Ashley as we practiced the Maid of Honor speech in front of our parents before delivering it to Laura and Shawn.

*The artisan cheese plate that I ordered from room service each night that I stayed at the Anaheim Marriot.  [Yes, I’m admitting that this is what I ate for dinner three days straight.  And, yes, this is the only highlight I can come up with from four days in Southern California.]

And then, on July 1^st, I flew to San Francisco for what would be the best week of travel yet…

The top ten things about my week in Chicago (in no particular order): 

1. Lilacs – the city is teeming with them.  Literally everywhere I went – in every park, beside every sidewalk, in front of every building – there were lilac bushes in full bloom.  Lilacs are my favorite flower. Sadly, they don’t grow in Texas.  So I took this opportunity to breathe in their amazing aroma every chance I got.
2. Running – on this trip in Lincoln Park, Grant Park, Millennium Park… and the memory of having run my first marathon here, two-and-a-half years ago.
3. Wrigley Park, an afternoon ball game, beers beforehand at Harry Carey’s, $20 for a ticket just seven rows behind home plate, and a Cubs comeback from an eight run deficit to beat the Rockies.
4. Watching the Sex and the City movie at 10am on opening day and loving every moment of it.
5. Free Sunday Times delivered to my hotel room, which I read while lying in bed and eating a fresh yogurt parfait (also delivered).
6. Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum and every other place my eighth grade class visited on our day trip to Chicago twelve years ago that ultimately led to my first kiss, on the plane back home, from Isaac Nichols.  There’s nothing better than revisiting those old sites and feeling like a girl of fourteen again.
7. Catching up with old friends – including Nick from Coro and Sally from George Brett’s.  Even better?  Knowing that one of your good friends has met the perfect guy for her and getting to know him better, too. (Just how perfect is Jeremy for Sally, you ask?  Check out his t-shirt business: kosherham.com.  Enough said)
8. Traveling with work colleagues who are also good friends, drinking wine and eating at the most amazing vegetarian restaurant, the Green Zebra.
9. Stumbling upon a breakfast spot – Lou Mitchell’s – that you didn’t know was featured on America’s Top Chef and getting a free mini-box of Milk Duds there, not to mention a complementary powdered sugar donut hole.
10. The cheapest Chipotle I’ve ever purchased (forty-eight cents cheaper than in Austin!), Frank Sinatra playing in every public place, and free Wrigley chewing gum in restaurant restrooms.  Amazing.

The only downside to my trip?  I didn’t have the accidental run in with my biggest celebrity crush/most admired Chicago resident, Ira Glass.  Guess you can’t win them all

I’ve never had good luck with wedding dates.  The first wedding I attended as an adult, I was stood up by my date (never to hear from him again).  My first real post college boyfriend, TJ (who, PS, I just found out is engaged!), broke up with me just days before we were to attend a wedding together.  A few months after that, the guy I was seeing backed out of a wedding at the last minute to go on a trip to the lake with his buddies.  Most recently, I broke up with Michael the day before I flew home to be a bridesmaid in Traci’s wedding last October.

And so I pledged to not bring a date to any of the weddings I’m attending this summer.  Luckily for me, one of my best friends was already going to be at this wedding.

Jackson and I met because of Ashley and Mike.  One day last year I got a call from Ashley explaining that her fiancée’s brother was moving to Austin.  She asked if I could show him around.  And the rest is history.  Jackson and I hit it off fabulously, and now he’s one of my closest friends in Austin.  He was the best man in the wedding, and I was a bridesmaid, and together we had a blast.

Kansas City is a weird place for me.  In many ways, I feel out of my element there.  And that’s one thing that Jackson and I said over and over as we rode around on a party bus taking photos with the wedding party Saturday afternoon.  It felt surreal to be hanging out with my Austin friend in KC, as though my two – very different – worlds were colliding.

Yet as much as I feel as though KC and I have grown apart, it is – and will always be – my home.

During my six days there, I borrowed my mom’s car to run errands. In flipping through her CDs, I found a favorite song – Kenny Loggins’ Celebrate Me Home.  It was one of four songs my mom put on a CD she made for me when I went away to college, and the lyrics were as relevant now as ever  - “I’m finally here, but I’m bound to roam, so celebrate me home.”

And that’s exactly what happened.  Home celebrated me, and I celebrated being there.  I  got to spend almost an entire week in Kansas City – having brunch with the family over at Grandma’s, catching up with my mentor, Karen, eating lunch at ACI with my former co-workers, and having happy hour with my closest Kansas City friends. 

But, once again, it was time for me to roam – onward to Chicago…

I arrived on Wednesday to the most beautiful Philly day I’d ever experienced.  It was one of those rare late-Spring days that feel like summer but without the awful sticky heat and humidity that would soon follow.  It felt like the weather on the last days of grade school or high school – when we would all buzz with the excitement of having the next three months off to play before school started again in the fall.  The air teemed with that sense of celebration for school being over, anxiety about the future unknowns and anticipation about the possibilities.

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten over that sensation of summer break being just on the horizon, and each ear around this time I feel an overwhelming urge to take off and travel.  It was this time in 2006 that I left my job in Kansas City to embark on a 48 state road trip.  It was this time last year that I started looking into jobs and apartments in San Francisco.  And so it only makes sense that right now I’m daydreaming of South America.

But, I was here in Philly, which at the moment was exactly where I wanted to be.  My first day there I was a little grouchy – from lack of sleep the night before and some mix-ups related to work.  Thankfully, it was nothing a walk through Rittenhouse Square and an incredible dinner with an old college friend/former teammate, Jen, couldn’t cure, and I strolled back to my Center City hotel that night enamored of this city more than ever before.

I credit Philadelphia with so much of who I am.  My desire to travel, my confidence in navigating new cities – especially public transportation – is a result of having gone away to college here.  My ability to do things alone – like eat out, see a movie, attend a show – is because I learned to do that here.  It was in Philadelphia that I learned to love opera, classical music, fine food and wine.  I believe that I always carry a bit of Philly within me, and being back here made me feel at peace.

On day two I ate lunch at Reading Terminal Market and went for a run - down Broad Street to the Parkway, around PMA (resisting the urge to climb the “Rocky steps”), through Fairmount Park and along Boathouse Row.  During my run I saw dozens of Penn Seniors stumbling drunk down the streets of Center City for the annual Walnut Walk pub crawl, and it brought back memories of my second favorite day in college (#1 was my Senior Day for softball). 

Later that night, I drank Yeungling beer with my dinner, and then ate Rita’s water ice with Kim Le.  It was while walking around the 12^th and Spruce neighborhood, eating my mango gelato, that I pondered the possibility of moving back.  As if reading my thoughts, Kim spoke up and said how much she is able to appreciate Philly now that she doesn’t live there anymore.  And just like that, I realized that, like Boston, it was time for me to leave Philly in the past, to appreciate it for being exactly what I needed in my life at a certain point in time and to take satisfaction in that.

And so I did.  The next morning I met Karin for breakfast.  It was so great to see her and catch up, but after our breakfast was over, I felt like it was time for me to go.  Just as I had been brought to Penn and Philly because it was exactly what I needed then, I now live in Austin because it has enabled me to become who I am now.  Austin is now my home, and I was ready to get back.  So after two more long days of work (which, thankfully, included much fun and laughter with Melissa), I was ready to head back home – to Austin for a few days and then to my permanent home of KC for the first wedding of the year…

This year, rather than sending the staff and a group of delegates to Washington as in years past, the foundation chose to have LIVESTRONG Day reflect the grassroots focus of our efforts this year.  And so, each staff member was sent out into the community for a different event.  I had the pleasure (and no, I’m not being facetious) of traveling to the suburbs of Detroit to visit Marc and Chris Applebaum.

I’d been to visit the Applebaums twice before.  Last August, Michael (my boyfriend at the time) and I drove up to Traverse City, where we met up with Marc and Chris and stayed with their friend, Ed, at Ed’s vineyard on the Leelanau peninsula.  It was, quite possibly, the most perfect vacation imaginable – most of it spent outside in the fresh Michigan summer air, tipsy from locally produced wine and comfortably full from cheese and cherry pie.  It was also the high point in Michael’s and my relationship, which ended two and a half months later.

And so it was hard for me to go back to Michigan during my visit last December, especially because I (sadistically) was re-reading my and Michael’s favorite book and because Marc and Chris had photos to share with me from the trip that previous summer.  It was that visit to Michigan that made me realize I’d never gotten over Michael, and suddenly all of the painful, raw feelings of fresh heartbreak resurfaced and I ended up spending most of my Christmas vacation in tears.

Because of this, I knew that spending a day in Michigan would be a sort of test for me.  Thankfully I passed, and I can say with confidence – and gratitude – that my broken heart has finally healed and that I truly have moved on.   It was fitting, then, that I spent most of the evening reflecting about love and loss, hope and heartache, joy and sorrow and the power of relationships. 

Chris and Marc’s LIVESTRONG Day event was a “Unity Walk” through their neighborhood, followed by drinks and dinner at a local bar and grill.  During the course of the evening, I got to witness true community.  The dozens of people who were at the bar, wearing yellow and buying raffle tickets were there for a reason.  Sure, they want to raise funds and awareness for the fight against cancer (several of the attendees were cancer survivors themselves), but the real reason they were all there was to support Chris and Marc.  From the viewpoint of the Applebaums’ neighbors, the LAF was worth supporting simply because Marc and Chris believed it was.

I hope that someday I am fortunate enough be part of a community half as strong as the one I witnessed in the Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills.  I hope that I one day meet a man with whom I can create a life of service, laughter and joy that the Applebaums have.  I hope that I one day live on a street where I can raise my children in this sort of community, where the kids play with one another and politely refer to the other adults as “Mr” or “Mrs” so-and-so.  And, I hope that if I one day have a stroke or am diagnosed with MS, as one of the neighbors I met last night had, I will have a husband who refers to me as his “hero” and a group of neighbors who will be there for me at the drop of a hat. 

There are many amazing parts of my job with the LAF, but the best one – hands down – is getting to meet and work with people like the Applebaums.  Thanks, Marc and Chris.

I’d been to the Rose city three times before – first during high school for the national championship debate and forensics tournament, next during my 48 state road trip during the summer of 2006 and then again last September for the LIVESTRONG Challenge bike ride and 5k fundraiser.  Each trip has been great (despite the fact that during that first trip my luggage was lost and I was forced to wear my plus-sized debate coach’s clothing while competing), and this trip was no exception.

I arrived Saturday and Eric picked me up at the airport.  Eric and I met almost two years ago on a train ride from Prague to Krakow.  We spent only a few hours together (once we arrived in Poland, we went our separate ways – he to visit his cousin and me to drag my hung-over Aussie friend, Simon, to the hostel), but we clicked and have stayed in touch since. 

We spent the afternoon exploring the Saturday market, ate a great lunch (amazing asparagus – just barely in season in the northwest – pizza and local beer), and browsed for a couple of hours at Powell’s book store (where I learned that William Carlos Williams graduated from Penn and was a member of Mask and Wig - who knew?!).  That afternoon we rode bikes up to the top of a mini-mountain.  The rainy trek up was completely worth it when the sun peeked out and we saw the most incredible rainbow.  That night we saw Eric’s friend’s modern dance performance (very Portland-esque) and met up with friends (including Scott, Laura’s little brother, and Valerie) for sangria.  By the time we got home, I had been up for 24 hours because of the time difference.

Sunday morning we went to my #1 favorite place to visit in the US – the Grotto.  We attended Mother’s Day Mass with Eric’s friend’s family.  After brunch we drove out to the Columbia River Gorge.  We visited Multnomah Falls and hiked 7+ miles to the top of Dog Mountain and back.  It was cold and windy (thankfully it wasn’t raining), and it was worth every bit of it.  We reached the summit, and the views were absolutely breathtaking.  Photos never do it justice, but I’ve included some here.  No wonder the travel channel named the Gorge one of the “Top Ten Wonders of the West.”

All in all, it was the PERFECT Portland weekend.  With that, my vacation was over.  I was back to work and off to Detroit for LIVESTRONG Day.