Adventures: Past and Future

I've done a lot of learning as I've traveled in 2014.

My trip to Austin in February taught me to be spontaneous, which is really the biggest lesson I've learned. That, and to always remove my laptop from my luggage before going through TSA.

In March, I learned that I am just as badass as one of the boys when it comes to backpacking, camping, hiking, etc. That was the trip where we drove to the Superstitions, arrived late, hiked in and set up camp in the pitch black night, were rained on, and nearly rained into the canyon. This is also when I had a bee fly into my backpack (while I was wearing it) and woke up to a beetle in my sleeping bag. And I didn't freak out either time.

May is when I committed to my trip to Oakland and Portland, spending more money on transportation than I ever have.

When that trip came around in June, I had learned a lot about being flexible. My plans never really materialized until a week before I left, and I didn't have my travel date for moving from OAK to PDX set until I had already arrived in Oakland.

I spent a lot of time by myself (especially in Oakland/San Francisco) and that was a beautiful thing. There's an art to getting lost--lost in a city, lost in thought. I mastered that art and made some wonderful life revelations in my time spent alone with a cup of coffee, camera and notebook.

Portland brought its own joys, one of which being Rhea, my mentor. Seeing her may have been one of the single best events of this year, partially because I realized what I want to report on, as a journalist.

Which brings me to where I am today.

I've got a lot of adventures under my belt for 2014, but I have an even bigger adventure ahead.

For one, I'm graduating from Arizona State in May (gasp, how did that happen), so I'm going to have to find a job, and it will hopefully look like an immigration reporting/photojournalism job and not a coffee job (although I'd really love to do that for a while.)

For twosies, I got into a fairly competitive border reporting class and will be traveling to Nicaragua in March 2015 to report on immigration between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The two countries have a similar immigration disposition to Mexico and the United States.

I first learned about this class nearly two years ago (and even blogged about it) as a means for Cronkite students to get experience reporting about border-related issues in other countries, and I nearly can't believe I'm getting to join it this year.

Huzzah!

Fall Break in Portland

That title is misleading. It was mostly Fall Break in the car, and a day and a half in Oregon.

It's been hard to write about this. I did, after all, move my best friend to a city that is roughly 1,300 miles away. Round trip, this adventure was 2651.1 miles of driving.

brother sister

I went up to Portland with three of my best friends and returned with two. Nobody died, it was just a moving trip. We took two cars and a bike and a lot of stuff and drove up in two days, stayed in Portland for a day and a half, and then took a day and a half to drive back with infinitely less stuff, and one less car and one less person.


The drive itself was far more enjoyable than I would have imagined. We were impatient to get to Portland, but we were able to stay with my friend Shane (who I met at Eva's wedding in August) in Redding, and meet his sister and friends. It was awesome because I don't really know him all that well, but he and his friends got along really well with me and my friends. We drank beer and talked about backpacking and got coffee and oatmeal for breakfast the next morning.

The short time I spent in Portland was categorized by coffee (duh) beer (also duh) and old, lovely friends. It felt like a giant reunion. It was the first stretch of time I had spent with Ben and Raquel and Brenna together, plus Liz and Cassie and Sydney who all moved to Portland earlier this year.

We just spent life together, and it was so so sweet to see everyone like the good ol' days.

family dinner

Then we just left Brenna there (she's doing well--we talk frequently) and headed back to Phoenix. The route we took was very desolate--through the top corner of California and south through Nevada. The sound of my car's tires on the barren road was the perfect soundtrack for our somber drive back.

And I also got to witness a bear run across the road in front of me.

And Ben got a speeding ticket.

And we explored some beautiful, lonely places like Bordertown, CA and Lunning, NV.

 

Cali: Take 2

I can hardly believe it was only two nights ago when I was loading Jess and Dave's bags into the back of my car for my second weekend in California. I can confidently say, though, that it will be the first and last time I ever do an overnight road trip. Leaving Phoenix at midnight was brutal, but it was what we needed to do to make it in time. Not only did we make it in time, but we also made great time, and got to see a nice sunrise when we arrived at Jess' dad's house in California.

The mountain behind the house gave us a great viewing spot.

After our sunrise hike, we headed out to Venice Beach where I completely zonked out on a beach towel for an hour or so (I only slept an hour and a half on the car ride) and only got lightly sunburned. I think Dave used the term "splotchy." By the time I woke up, everyone else was disenchanted with the beach (which is a sentiment I completely do not understand) and wanted to sleep. All I wanted was coffee.

The crew.

Everyone was a good sport when we piled back into the car and I drove to Intelligentsia on Abbott Kinney. Intelligentisa is the first third wave coffee shop I ever learned about, so it was really nice to pay a visit and drink a cold brew.

Once we got home, we all rested, ate lunch, watched a movie and then headed out for second lunch. Because apparently we're a bunch of Hobbits who like to eat multiple meals.

Jess stayed home but we (it was her sister Sarah's birthday weekend, too, and her friends spent the whole time hanging out with us as well) drove into downtown Los Angeles to eat at Syrup, a coffee/breakfast cafe.

I was really hoping it was an old school soda fountain, but I was completely and pleasantly surprised when I saw it was a coffee shop similar to Samba Latte and Caffe Medici, narrow with multiple stories. I had a crepe that rivaled Jobot's, and we all played Jenga and enjoyed the air conditioning.

Bendix building. I have no clue what it is.

With time to kill and food to walk off, we jaunted down to the fashion district on a hunt for gym shorts and a suit for Dave. All we really found were overpriced USB drives and gangsta' basketball shorts. And a lot of fabric. And a lot of crowds. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but the old buildings, populated alleyways and general skyscrapers pleased my eye.

Once we returned home, I did homework and napped a sweet, sweet nap, bringing the total amount of time I slept up to approximately four hours.

Our evening was spent preparing to see Rocky Horror Picture Show for Sarah's sweet 16th. The show started at midnight (a short 24 hours after we first left Phoenix) and the movie didn't actually start until 1 am, leaving us leaving the theater at 2:45 am.

I fell asleep as soon as I got home (and washed the red lipstick off my face--apparently it's normal to draw on people who are seeing the show for the first time) and then woke up at 10 am this morning, a short hour before we planned on leaving to return to Phoenix.

Oh, right. The other point of this trip was to move Jess home to Phoenix. It took a grand total of twenty minutes to load all her stuff in my car, and she did most if it while I was still asleep this morning.

Los Angeles, I love you so.

And so, we left after a fun/amazing/crammed/spectacular weekend in Los Angeles, and returned to Phoenix with a rat, a bike and a few boxes of other things Jess owns. And a lot of stinking great photos on my phone.

I honestly feel like I've done more living in the past 48 hours than I did from Monday through Friday, which makes me wonder how much living I'll be doing in Portland over fall break. Now, excuse me as I go take my laundry out of the dryer and finish packing. I leave again in three days.

Cali: Take 1

I'm back from the first of two back-to-back weekends in California. I've been back since Sunday, and I'm heading out late tomorrow night for my next adventure.

Last weekend I went to Santa Clarita or Valencia or somewhere in that region for free with my friend Mitch, because he's a great person and knows I love travel.

He also knows I'm a dependable person who enjoys offering a helping hand, which is what I did. This was a volunteering trip, although it didn't feel like much work to me!

My weekend was spent brushing elbows with influential TV set designers and movie producers and head animators and all sorts of people I'd probably never meet otherwise.

Me+my camera+ocean

I helped out with the grunt work associated with a Disney art and wine auction, where the proceeds will go to scholarships for CalARTS students. Let me just say, it was a blast, but it felt SO weird being surrounded by so many "influential" people.

I'm really comfortable bumming around in my Birkenstocks, and while I enjoyed getting super dressy and seeing a Salvador Dali print, I was much more comfortable when I got to go to the beach the next day with Mitch and his family.

Who, by the way, are incredibly nice people. I love his parents. They're so witty. And generous.

So, yeah. That was weekend one. Art+famous people+beach. Now, weekend two!

(Amanda LaCasse/DD)

Check out this piece I wrote about how Phoenix is (and will somehow always be) my home.

Wedding Bells, PA

I'm back from a gorgeous wedding in Pennsylvania (and I've been back for a while.)

Eva and Mama Wilson

Pennsylvania was full of beautiful surprises. It was nice to see my friend Eva, the bride, as it had been two full years since the last time I saw her. Her wedding was put together largely by her mother, whose organizational skills are envied by moi. (Seriously, she did SUCH a good job organizing everyone and planning out meals and who was staying where. Mad props to her.)

The wedding was great, of course. I was a bridesmaid, and didn't hate it. I actually really loved it, and not just because I was escorted down the aisle by two men in uniform (although that wasn't too shabby.)

Sheer joy.

In fact, this was the fifth wedding I attended this summer, and I can confidently say I don't hate weddings anymore. I guess I've been bitten by a love bug or something.

Very little occurred in Pennsylvania that wasn't associated with the wedding. We all (bridal and grooms party, family, extended family, out of town friends) spent a lot of time together, which brought me back to my roots. I rediscovered how much I love eating food with other people, and bonding that way.

Of course, there were a few other shenanigans.

DSLR selfies are the best selfies.

Namely, a really kickass wedding after party, including all the groomsmen (most of whom were British) singing Mumford and Sons on karaoke, a few of us playing pool, and the obligatory DSLR selfie.

All fun and games and relationshippy things aside, this trip was just glorious because I made friends.

Heidi (pictured next to me) is one of Eva's oldest friends, and I'd heard a lot about her, and it was so great to finally meet her. I can see how she and Eva have been friends for so long--she and I are a lot alike.

I also met a traveling buddy as I got in line to print my boarding pass at the airport. He saw my ASU sweatshirt and said "Oh, you're heading to Arizona?" and BAM I had a traveling buddy to sit with on the plane and eat dinner with during our two hour layover in Chicago between Philadelphia and Phoenix (for him, Tucson.)

It always makes me happy to meet fellow travelers on the road. (Or in the air.)

At the beginning of the summer, I was hesitant to take this trip, but in hindsight, I am so glad I did. This has been a summer filled with travel, and I couldn't imagine a better way to end my summer (but not ending my travel.)

Until next time, friends.

I'm going to LA twice within the next six weeks, and Oregon once.

I'm always going places.

Washington, DC // Reflection Pool

This is the part where I got smart, and realized I could draft posts on the airplane.

DC's Metro make my heart soar.

So as I type this, I am flying somewhere over mid America.

I like the way that sounds.

And typing on my iPod touch (this technology is almost four years old) makes me feel particularly poetic, because this is where I write stuff sometimes.

Nonetheless, I digress.

I'm flying home from Washington DC. I haven't been on an airplane since the day before yesterday, and my next airplane ride is a whopping 10 days away.

DC was good. As with any two-day conference, there is a lot to process and digest, but I feel it moreso after a conference with USAS. At least I have a good concept of where USAS-ASU will be directing attention this year. Also, there was a gorgeous party last night, and I exercised my right as a 21-year-old and purchased a box of wine (not Franzia--who do you think I am?) and enjoyed drinking that out of Starbucks cups on the roof of an old townhouse in downtown DC while talking about Zines with my friend Alyssa.

I'm really digging all this travel, but I kinda miss my cat, who I've actually only had for a week anyway. Her name is Hayduke, after the Edward Abbey character.

But, again, I like this solo travel because it gives me time I stop, think, write, listen and contemplate.

home. Phoenix. love.

I've stopped a lot and double checked directions. Paid more attention to my surroundings (and not just to stay safe--to be in the moment, in the space I'm in). I've thought a lot about minimalism, gypsy living, just how long I can go without a shower. I've written a little bit about flying and landing. (I realized this flight I am now on is my tenth flight this year. Tenth. That means I (or others who have graciously assisted me) have spent at least WELL more than 1k to spend at LEAST 24 hours midair in this beautiful metal contraption that never stops astounding me.) I've listened to other people, their stories. Accepted them where they are at (just like I do for cities). I've also listened to a lot of new music, courtesy of Zia, Stinkweeds, an friends. Architecture in Helsinki (not Helinski, as I spent most of my life pronouncing it), and have been jamming out to Bon Iver's new track (no shock, there) as well as Anberlin's final album. As for contemplation, I've been thinking about everything. I remember praying in June/July while I was in Oakland or Portland, and asking God for energy and endurance, particularly for this upcoming school year. And I think I've got it! I'm so ready to do border reporting. I think it's really what I want to do in the long run. I mean, it's got me fired up like nothing else. Think back to that Cuba post.

And I'm pretty confident everything else will just fall into place sooner or later. I'll get a job after graduation. It'll all be fine.

And if there's one thing I've learned this summer, it's that I will always be up for traveling. After a summer of unemployment and a lot of travel, I know a lack of money will basically never stop me from adventuring.

That being said, bring on the $200 bridesmaid dress and trip to Pennsylvania!

Edit: written on 8/10