The Two Week Vacation

The second part of my summer started in the last week of June. It's what I really considered my vacation since I got to travel. I spent a week in San Diego (my home town) and then about 4 or 5 days in New York. The first part of the vacation in San Diego was really nice. Danielle's grandparents rent out a beach cottage on Pacific Beach every summer. It's a nice beach cottage, and we get to hang out with her grandparents, sister and cousins if we want, or we go out and do our own thing. It's like a real vacation. The first few days, we went boogie boarding. It was actually my first time in the ocean since I got stung by a sting-ray last year. Danielle had such a nice time in the ocean. I lived in California my whole life and I never went in the ocean half as much as I have since I started dating Danielle. I'm really glad she likes doing outdoor activities. Also while we were there we got to see a handful of friends. I saw my friend Cory who used to be a customer of mine while I worked at the worst Starbucks in the country. I also got to see my friend Cameron who has been my friend since high school, along with his wife Alanna and new baby, Nolan. I love that family. Nolan is the cutest kid, Cameron is such a good friend and Alanna is such a sweet person who has really been helping Danielle on her road to becoming a vegan. While we saw them, they made us a vegan meal and it really showed Danielle that you can have really good vegan food. Then on a different day, we went to SeaWorld with them. It was so much fun. Alanna was an employee there before Nolan came into their life. She worked with the birds. So while we were there, she was able to get us to a backstage part and me, Danielle and her sister got to pet penguins and a baby penguin! It was so neat! Penguins are actually my favorite animal, so getting to touch one was a really neat experience. After the week at the beach cottages, we drove back to Arizona for like 2 days and then we went to New York.
      Danielle and I went to New York with my dad for a wedding. The wedding was for a friend of my dad's daughter. It was definitely an interesting wedding. It was an Indian wedding. The groom rode in on a horse, much of it took place on the ground, and we had to take off our shoes and have our heads covered. The wedding was at Cornell University in a chapel called Sage Chapel. Cornell and the town of Ithaca was such a neat place. It was so green. Living in Arizona, I definitely miss the green. It was definitely a college town, but still a fun place to explore.
       After exploring the town of Ithaca, we went to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. That was mostly for me and my dad. Sadly, Danielle isn't a baseball fan, so she got nothing out of that experience. However my dad and I really liked it. I found baseball plaques for all my favorite Hall of Famers like Tony Gwynn and Rickey Henderson. There were so many artifacts, jerseys, stats, World Series rings, and just so much stuff to see in there. It was really neat to see. When I have a kid, I'd like to take them there. Possibly with my dad too so it could be a generational thing. And if you've never been to Cooperstown, it's such a cool little town. There's nothing like it near where I lived in San Diego or where I live in Arizona. I really liked the small towns in upstate New York. The buildings were built before California was even a state. We even found cemeteries while we were there. One of the cemeteries had people buried there who fought in the Revolutionary War!
      Then we went to New York City via Amtrak. It was a smooth ride and really nice to catch up on sleep during the ride. When we got there, we only had one day to hang out in the city. My dad needed to rest so he spent the majority of the day in the hotel room. Danielle and I wanted to explore. We went to Central Park and we had sketches drawn of us. The artist was really good. I really love Central Park. It's so green and peaceful, right in the middle of the city. I wish that all big cities had something similar to that. We walked on 5th Ave. and checked out FAO Schwartz and the Disney Store and I bought a new hat in Times Square. While we were on 5th Avenue, Danielle and I ran into Snoop Dogg! Yes, a few weeks before he turned into Snoop Lion. Super cool.
        By far, the best part of the trip was seeing The Book Of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is a broadway musical from the creators of South Park. Of course they would include vulgarity in their show, but they also had some of the best writing, music, and characters in the show. I can't give away anything, but it's a story of 2 Mormon missionaries who get sent to Uganda and what they deal with there, both in real life, and internally. As long as you can put up with some swearing and a little blasphemy, I truly recommend this show. I've seen MANY musicals, but this one has definitely become my favorite! The cast of the show really draws you into the characters and make you feel like you're really on a journey of new experiences while traveling to Africa with them.
      I guess that's it for now. I have been lucky enough to travel with my very limited income. If you ever get oppurtunities to go somewhere else other than your regular everyday life, do it. It is really good for the soul and gives you ambition to actually do something with your life. It's certainly one of my favorite reasons for traveling. Just to get away from real life.
-HBK