About 12 hours from now I’m going to be headed back east to Kentucky. I’m not a nervous flyer but I know as soon as I get to Sea-Tac I’ll be anxious for the flight to be over with. My flight is around midnight, with a layover in Houston around 5AM, and I should be arriving in Louisville around 10:45AM assuming there are no delays. Hopefully I can sleep through most of the flight. I have my iPhone filled with several tv shows and new music to listen to. I’ll have that if nothing else.

I’ve really enjoyed the time that I’ve spent with my brother, I haven’t been able to spend this much time with him since I was a kid. I’m really surprised we haven’t got into more arguments than we did given the fact we’re getting into arguments when he comes to KY for a few days. When I say “we” it’s mostly “me” starting the arguments. That’s what happens when you have similar personalities, confined spaces, and love one another.

There’s definitely things I won’t miss like waking up to horns honking outside of my bedroom window at 4 freakin’ AM, gun shots, the traffic, etc. I’m looking forward to getting home to see the family, friends this weekend, classes starting in two weeks, and what ever else happens.

Looking back this trip has flown by, but while it was happening it seemed to go by so slowly. There’s only been one time that I started looking at flights home earlier but after a day or two I decided I would “tough it out”. All in all I’m glad I got to experience this for the summer. Would I do it again? Hmm, I don’t know. Like I’ve mentioned before this trip has definitely opened my eyes to things I forget I liked about living at home. That’s a good thing . . .

So Goodbye Seattle, it’s been real!

On Friday I will have been in Seattle a whole week. The days I’ve been here have flown by, probably because my friends and I have filled it with lots of sightseeing. My first two nights I was here I found myself quite overwhelmed by being in a new place, and I’ll be honest at times I wanted my Mom. Back home I’m used to the comforts of a lot of space from other people, so it felt odd being surrounded by people. It still feels odd but I seem to be coping a lot better. My friends are heading back home tomorrow and it’s inevitable that I’ll probably freak out again. Heh-heh.

Speaking of freaking out, Tuesday was our first time using public transportation by ourselves and it was a complete disaster. It took a good portion of the day switching from bus to bus to get to the Space Needle. Finally we got there and I don’t think any of really got to enjoy it from all of the walking we did during the day – trying to get there. Today was a lot better. My friends stayed at a hotel last night and are doing so tonight. I met them down at their hotel today and made it there without any trouble. Go me! I feel a bit more confident using public transportation because of the problems we had on Tuesday; I guess it was a blessing in disguise.

Here are just a few photos I’ve taken of Seattle so far . . . I’ve still got lots and lots of editing to do and hopefully I’ll get around to it eventually. I’m feeling very inspired being in Seattle right now.

If you’ve been reading my blog you’ll know that I’m embarking on a cross-country road trip in fourteen days! It’s hard to believe how fast time has flown by since the entry in which I initially mentioned going to Seattle. I’m excited about this, but I wish I had more time to get some extra cash, and had some time to rest before leaving as I’m leaving right after the semester is up.

I’ve been downloading all sorts of new music to have for the trip. I’ve been burned out on my current music selection for a while so the new music is welcomed. I got a few recommendations from friends for road trip music, and if you have some to add please do. Today I downloaded Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog OST (saw this recently and loved it), The Dandy Warhols (Odditorium Or Warlords Of Mars and Welcome To The Monkey House), and Tinted Windows – Taylor Hanson’s side project. I’m really interested to hear the Tinted Windows album, it’s Taylor Hanson (from my favorite band of all time Hanson, obviously), James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins), Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick), and Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne and Ivy). It’s got a lot of good reviews, but my opinion will be biased either way.

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Trip Itinerary
Day 1 (Sunday, May 17th)
- Leaving early morning, stopping in St. Louis for lunch near the Gateway Arch.
- Drive through the night to South Dakota. We’re half way there!

Day 2
- Arrive at Mt. Rushmore in Keystone, SD to sightsee.
- Travel a couple more hours to Wyoming to Devil’s Tower. Should I see the Steven Spielberg film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” before going? Apparently it was filmed there many years ago.
- Drive a few more hours to Red Lodge, Montana and stay the night in a hotel. Are we going to wake up the next morning? Heh-heh.

Day 3
- That morning (late morning, I hope) begin the Beartooth Scenic Byway. I think this will be my favorite part, from the pictures I’ve seen the views are incredible. My friends will probably hate me by the end of the drive because I’ll be stopping too many times to take photos. ;-P
- Find a hotel and relax. Those were the plans, but we found out on Friday that the Beartooth Scenic Bypass is only open seasonly – Memorial Day weekend to early September. I was a bit disappointed in that, but there are several bypasses in Seattle and Oregon that I can do on my own time. Plans for the extra day we’ll have are still up in the air.

Day 4
- Day at Yellowstone National Park.
- Get mauled by a bear. :(
- Recover and depending on how we feel we will either drive the 11 hours to Seattle, or we will stay at the hotel again and leave the following morning.

Day 5 (Friday, May 22nd)
- Arrive in Seattle after 2,600+ miles of driving (!!)

Today Lauren, Leigh Ann, and I went to the local AAA office to get them to map out our trip, aka TripTik. In hindsight we could have done this ourselves, because the lady who “helped” us just highlighted on maps what interstates we’d be taking. We thought she might give us hints of landmarks along the way that might be worth checking out. We ended up leaving with several AAA books of states we’ll be traveling through, along with a few maps and the TripTik. I took the Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming travel book to look over. So far we’ve decided to stop at Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone National Park along the way. I doubt we’re going to have a great deal of time for anything else if we want to make it there within 5 days unless we make really good timing and drive through the night a couple of times.

While we were at lunch today we were thinking it would be fun to record the road trip but none of us have video cameras. I thought it would be nice to find someone who already has a video camera and knows how to use it to come with us, and of course pay their own way, too. I don’t guess anyone would be interested in that, would they? Ha-ha! Also at lunch Leigh Ann thought we should all buy cowboy hats for when we go through Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. I bought the one above, they had more feminine hats, but I knew this one I could pass on to my Dad after using.

I promise to update more often once school is over with . . . only about 5 weeks left and I’ll be done . . . well until August! ;-) Hope you’re doing well!

This photo pretty much sums it up… While my brother Roy was home at Christmas he proposed the idea of coming there (Seattle) for the summer. I told him I’d think about it even though I kind of knew what my answer would be. Earlier this week I finally made the decision to do it.

Now is a good of time as any to do something like this – I don’t have anyone or anything holding me back other than my fear of making changes in my life. I weighed the pros and cons, and the only cons I could come up with was missing out on a class this summer and finding a job. Finding a job was and still is the big issue I’m concerned about. My brother assures me that I shouldn’t have a problem, he’s probably right . . . at least I hope he’s right! heh. There are a lot of pros going to Seattle such as: meeting new people, escaping the summer humidity, sightseeing – I’ve already started a list ;-), and most importantly being away from rural Kentucky.

The tentative plan is to leave the second week of May and come back the first week of August – that’s if I want to come back! (heh!) My brother is probably moving to his friends place in the next two months. I’ve seen photos and it’s a really nice place, but the only downside is it’s in the ghetto. I asked if Seattle had a high crime rate, he said no, but the crime that does occur usually happens in that neighborhood. LoL. He says it’s odd because a block away is a nice Jewish neighborhood, and you’re only a few blocks away from parks and the Puget Sound(!)

I’m going to take my brother’s advice and drive there so I can get around on my own. I’ve always wanted to take a road trip across part of America anyway, not to mention documenting the entire way. It looks like I will be going through South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, so that should make for nice photos. I even have two girlfriends who said they’d be interested in joining me. I really hope gas isn’t back up to $4/gallon come May. I imagine it’s probably going to take about a week to get there from looking at the route Google Maps gave me. I suppose it would be smart to invest in a GPS. If you have a recommendation for an inexpensive TomTom or Garmin please pass it my way.