Pre-Adventure Butterflies

My fast-approaching trip is a far, far cry from the road trip I had originally planned.

Basically the only two similarities are Oakland and Portland, and who I am staying with in each place.

I'm no longer driving.

I'm not going with anyone.

I'm not staying for two and three days in each place.

I'll be in Oakland/Berkeley/San Francisco for a week, and Portland for slightly less than a week (pesky train ride takes a full day, darn [just kidding, I really love trains.])

What hasn't changed about my plan (at least since late-April, early-May) is the individual aspect.

Allow me to explain.

Whenever I go on trips with my parents (bless their souls for paying) I do whatever they  want. I sit around and read. I participate in board games. I drive and drive and drive and eat and sit and drive and sit some more.

I essentially provide them with my utterly enthralling presence.

But this trip, this trip is mine. I planned it, I have prepared to do what I want to do. Spend time how I want to spend time (at least in Oakland, where I was/am prepared to do everything, alone) taking a lot of photographs, eating food, looking at public art, reading outdoors, exploring abandoned buildings (Treasure Island, anyone?), playing in parks and just enjoying life in a city other than Phoenix.

I'm hoping to spend some time with Marcos, my friend (who I'm staying with), but if that doesn't work out (his car is in the shop and he recently shattered his wrist), cést la vie. L-I-F-E-G-O-E-S-O-N. And I'll be fine by myself.

House sitting: The ultimate staycation.

I just started an internship, and it takes up 25 hours a week, which is literally more hours than I have ever worked in a week in my life.

Don't judge me.

That being said, my hectic (though enjoyable) internship schedule has been leaving me savoring my free time more than I ever have before.

And this weekend, I hit the gold mine of free time. I house sat.

Nothing but me, a pile of books (that grew after a trip to the new location of Changing Hands, the Arizona equivalent of Powell's), my laptop, stuff to bake a pie, and a HUGE dog.
I'm labeling this as a staycation, and used it as a time to catch up on what I'm reading right now, and a general excuse to take a nap every afternoon.
And it's good.
Not to mention how amazing it is I was paid to eat someone else's food (just not the last of anything) sleep in someone else's guest room (I made the bed before I left) and to play catch with someone else's dog (only before he ate--not after). And eat freshly laid eggs, because chickens.
This is a glimpse into what adulthood will probably be like. Not just being in a house filled with two bookcases of poetry, but also only having free time on weekends.
mm.
I bite my tongue.
More and more I realized I'm probably not going to have the 5-day-a-week, 8 to 5 job. I'm probably going to end up doing something far more interactive, far more intense. Who knows what that will be, but hey. I'm all open.
Until then, I'm enjoying every little staycation bit I can get.