Summer Trips Beginning to Form

There's no way this summer is going to be as eventful and travel-filled as last summer was, but that's because I have a job this summer and I can't claim my vacations are "pre-existing" as I did before I was hired in the middle of last summer. What I've learned from working is that life is all about balancing the spending and making of money, and my two summer trips look perfect for that.

In May I shall be traveling to Tahoe with Daniel as soon as school gets out. We're going to take a two week road trip surrounding his sister's wedding, which will include Vegas, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, and Highway 1. We're paying for basically everything, except for room and board in Tahoe and Vegas. His parents are also giving us a little bit of money (what would have been one airfare ticket) to help us along.

In June my neighbor's daughter is getting married in Colorado. I originally didn't want to go on this trip because it surrounds my birthday (I hate traveling on my birthday), but then my mom mentioned that I could bring my lovely "brain-twin" Becca, and since she and I were already planning a 5-day weekend camping trip to Colorado, we just decided it would be better if we accompanied my parents as they would pay for everything and we would get to have just as much fun going off and being adventuresome.

So, in summation, California road trip with my sweetheart in May and Colorado Adventure trip with my best friend in June. And who knows--I'll probably join my other best friend Hannah on a 5-day weekend trip to her uncle's cabin in July or August. All in all, it's going to be a rather inexpensive summer of traveling, and I am so excited.

Sufjan Stevens and the Rialto Theater

It sounds like the beginning of a good children's book. Sufjan (SOOF-yan) is a whimsical name, and the Rialto Theater is the place of dreams.

This past Monday was the first time I ventured down to Tucson for a concert, and I can honestly say there is nobody else I would have rather gone with.
Daniel, our friend Harley, and I piled into the Subaru at 5:30 on Monday night, half an hour behind schedule. We really didn't make it outside Phoenix until 6, but we made it to the theater by 8, when the show supposedly "started."
Harley kept mentioning that this was a miniature road trip, but I have to disagree. A road trip occurs when you stop, smell the flowers, and take photographs either on the way to your destination, or as your destination. We certainly didn't do that.
However, we did listen to some great music, yelled at other cars who sped past us, and talked about how school was going.

By the time we found parking and navigated our way to the Rialto Theater, it was 8. We hurriedly got in line to pick up our tickets from will call, and entered the theater.
The lights were very festive, red, and Christmas-y, and a large spinwheel was set up at the back of the stage.
The opening act, one of Sufjan's backup singers, was standing on stage doing a comedy routine related to Christmas. We stood and listened for five minutes, when she left the stage. I suppose we were later than we expected.
Half an hour later, fashionably late, Sufjan Stevens and his band appeared on stage. It was time to get the party started!
Now, we should have known from the title of the concert (The Sirfjam Stephanapolous Christmas Sing-A-Long Seasonal Affective Disorder Spectacular Music Pageant Variety Show Distaster) that it would consist entirely of Christmas music, but we were optimistic that other music would be included as well.
I suppose it's a good thing that not one of the three of us are Grinches, because it was entirely Christmas music. It was honestly like going Christmas caroling inside a theater, and Sufjan was the choir director. He would pick an audience or band member to spin the Wheel of Christmas, and then play the "chance-chosen" Christmas carol, and encourage the audience to sing along. It was certainly unlike any concert I had ever been to before, but it was fun.

The Christmas music ended nearly 2 hours later, at 10:30, with a paper snowfall and his song "Christmas Unicorn." It would be an understatement to say that some of his songs are downright strange, but it was fun to dance to at least.
After a few minutes of the audience yelling "Encore!" and "Get back here and play some normal music," he returned alone, with his guitar, and without his unicorn horn on his head, and began to play a few songs from his most popular album, Come On and Feel the Illinoise.
I'm pretty sure I was jumping with joy by that point. Not only is that the only album of his that I own, but he began the 4 song encore with one of my favorite songs of the album, and then continued the encore with 3 of my other favorite songs. Hearing him play Chicago, Casmir Pulaski Day, and John Gacy Wayne, Jr. made the concert 110% worth the drive to Tucson.
Before long, he gracefully took a bow and left the stage. I took my phone out, saw it was nearly 11:30, and encouraged Daniel and Harley to jet out of the venue. I had 9 am classes the next morning. We left the venue, perused the merchandise table (it was all cd's and LP's, and I have no more room for either of those in my collection at the moment), and headed to the car. We ran into my friend Ben, and reluctantly turned down an invitation for coffee with him. I needed sleep.
I crawled into the back seat of the Subaru and fell asleep the entire ride home, while Harley and Daniel bantered about school, music, and the next concerts they want to go to. All in all, I certainly would not be opposed to going to another concert in Tucson, but it would be great if I could do it when I didn't have class the next morning.

I didn't realize how close we were to Hotel Congress until I looked up as we exited the parking garage.

A Local Adventure

Some days, when you are tired and simply feel like laying around, that is what you need to do. For me, that was last Saturday. I planned on going to the last home football game of the season, but by the time I had finished lunch, I predicted the first quarter of the game would be over before I even arrived.
Rather than rush to the light rail to simply sit and be bored for forty minutes, then spend another two hours sitting on a hard metal bench, cheering desperately for ASU to score (our season hasn't been all that great), I decided to grab a picnic blanket, my book, Daniel and his camera and head downtown.
We each ordered either an iced tea or a toddy coffee from Fair Trade Cafe, and spread out in the nearby park with our books. We had every intention of reading them, but we decided talking would be more enjoyable. We discussed classic authors, foreign countries, and where we want to move someday. All in all, it was a nice rest from our busy lives.
When that became humdrum, we folded up our blanket and set out on a walk to capture the various and unique street art adorning the sides of buildings throughout Phoenix.

Wallace and Ladmo

Sentrock. I have one of his prints at home.

Fabulous framing, if I do say so myself.

I saw this being painted at First Fridays in November.

Brewery parking lot.

Part of a new park on 3rd Street and Roosevelt.

Oregon Photos

June 28 to July 7, 2012

I honestly feel like there are no words to describe the amazing trip I took to Oregon this past summer, so I am going to let some photos do the talking now, and allow our recorded videos to do the talking later, after I get them all uploaded to YouTube. If you really like all of my adventures, then come over and see the fully edited (and too long for YouTube) documentary movie Becca and I made about our trip.

 

If I ever were to get married in a courthouse, it would be the Yavapai County Courthouse in Prescott, Arizona. The beauty of that building has captivated me since I was a young child, traveling up north with my Dad on various Triumph Club trips. I've always loved the grassy square surrounding the white marble building, the tall trees wishing in the wind.

Yes, if I ever were to get married near a courthouse, it would have to be that one.

Hacer Camping

Literally, "to camp."
I figure it is appropriate for the title of this post to be in Spanish, as the purpose of my latest adventure (a camping trip) was to study over the long weekend ASU likes to call Fall Break. And I did study, a lot.
A few weekends ago (three, to be exact) I took the advice of my office mate Bob, and set out on a study camping trip before Midterms. There was Political Science to be studied, the History of Journalism to be read, and Psychology to be reviewed. And what better place is there to do that than in the middle of a scrub brush forest, by the light of the sun, next to your boyfriend who happens to be studying some of the same items as you?
This is the first trip where I really had to ask permission of my parents to go. I've asked them for money (Europe) and I've asked them for blessing and for them to hold on to their peace of mind (Oregon), but I've never really asked them permission to go on an adventure with a friend. Even though I am a legal-age adult, I live under their roof, and because I would be using their tent and camp stove, I felt it necessary to ask if I could go on a camping trip with Daniel...just me and him.
After much deliberation, and assurance that his parents were letting him go (he told them he was going camping...not asked), my mother came around to letting me go. My dad was more alright with it from the beginning, as he said "We want you to feel [like an adult], and let you make your own choices. But if you need me to come get you, just call. No questions asked." There's a reason I get along with him better...he respects my choices, but still expresses he is there to help me if I need it.
That was on Tuesday. The rest of the week Daniel and I spent much time planning a menu, creating a packing list for each of us, and getting excited. This was our first overnight trip together.
Friday came around, and went. We left early Saturday morning, after I baked orange rolls and emptied my backpack of laptop, calculator, clicker and tablet, and filled it with hard back textbooks. Daniel picked me up and took me to his house, where we loaded the car with all of my stuff, and his few bags, and we were on our way!
After we stopped for the routine picnic food, which was simply ice this time, I picked up the car keys and drove all the way up to Sedona.
We arrived two hours later and stopped at the customary visitor's center to say hello to our forest service friends, and ask their recommendation for a dispersed camping site. We were pointed to a beautiful place somewhere south west of Sedona, where there were wonderful views of Red Rock state park. It was described as "Not too cold at night, but [you guys] brought a tent, right? Because you're going to want one." We had brought a tent, and it provided just the perfect amount of insulation.

We set up camp quickly, with my dome tent, chairs, and camping stove, and Daniel's shovel, tarp, and Subaru. It was nearly 2 by the time that was done, and it was time to shut off all cell phones. We were free from all social media for the weekend! We didn't understand that turning our phones off meant we had no idea what time it was, at all. So from then on, we followed the pattern of the sun. We woke up with it, we went to sleep when it set, and we ate when we were hungry. It was a glance back to the simple way of life.
Looking back, the rest of the trip was really just a blur. We only spent two full days at the camp ground, plus two half-days (so three days total). The weather was warmer than I would have hoped, as I packed sweat pants and footie pajamas (they make those for adults now, and they are just as comfortable as they were when you were a kid.) I ended up wearing shorts and tank tops, getting a light sun burn, and reading the day away.
The entire plan for the weekend was, after all, to study, and to study a lot. We sat by the fire pit reading for hours at a time. We went back into town once (on Sunday) to buy a starter log for our campfire, because all the brush was wet. Besides that, we stayed out of civilization's way!
Now that my midterms are over, I can attest that the plan worked. The hours we spent studying in our little dispersed campground paid off with two A's and three B's, which is pretty spectacular. Chances are, we'll plan another little camping trip for December, before finals start.