We finally made it to England! Our flights and train rides were long and uncomfortable, but so worth it. We arrived last night at about 5:30pm England time (so about 9:30am California time). Tiana and Eric were waiting for us and we were so ready to be there. After arriving, we got a second wind and ended up staying awake until about 11:30pm.

Today, Tiana made us a traditional English breakfast: egg on toast, sausage, bacon, and baked beans and tea. Then we walked into Beeston and visited all the charity shops. We ended up having a burger and pint for dinner at The Last Post. We swung by the local grocery store and bought what we needed to make Zuppa Toscanna soup for dinner tomorrow night before walking home. We are having a great time and cant wait to see more. I’ll be posting again soon. Cheers.

Eric and Tiana in front of their house. I love their blue front door.

This is Andy, their cat.

Living room

Kitchen

Backyard. It just snowed recently, so everything’s still wet.

This is the street that Tiana and Eric live on.

Beeston

Way back in high school, I wanted to be a photojournalist when I grew up. I had acquired a copy of LIFE magazine as a Freshman, featuring famous war photographers such as Robert Capa and Margaret Bourke-White and was convinced that’s what I wanted to do. Not sure what was going through my head at the time. Now, I have no desire to document war, and in fact, it’s the farthest thing from a desirable career choice.

I saved up and purchased my first camera, a manual 52mm Nikon FM10, from an older friend of mine who was already into photography. I used it through high school and into college now and then, but gradually, it lost it’s charm and it has sat in my closet since then.

All this to say, I pulled it out and used it on a camping trip Steve and I went on last weekend. The pictures turned out great! I don’t think I’ll be taking it to war anytime soon, but from now on I’m sure I’ll get some good use out of it.

Welcome to Portland. Home of good beer, community and, of course, the Steens. I don’t think I realized how much I really missed Eric and Stephanie until we headed for home this morning. Our visit was so much fun! They have a great apartment that’s close to a bunch of great pubs, old theatres and little shops. Stephanie has a great job as a Marketing and Communications Coordinator and Eric has been diving head-first into his art. It was awesome to see Steve and Eric reminisce about old times. They are still so similar in a lot of ways. This road trip has been the highlight of my year. I’ve discovered that I thrive off of seeing new things; I suck at throwing a frisby; I feel extra small standing next to the ocean; I am beginning to appreciate a good IPA; and visiting old friends is what life should be made of. We’re home now, planning our next trip…

Fun at The Red Light (vintage second-hand clothing)… AWESOME STUFF!

Eric’s coaster collection.

We headed out from Johnny and Alyssa’s house on Wednesday morning and spent the day away. We headed up the coast to Patrick’s Point. This is a place that holds a lot of memories for me… family camping trips, school field trips and such. We hiked up Wedding Rock and then checked out the Yurok Village of Sumeg, a group of houses that are buried in the ground, then hung out on Agate Beach for a while. It was a beautiful day. Stevie and I stopped at Crescent City for the night and we are heading now to Portland to visit Eric and Stephanie.

A cliff on Wedding Rock.

Yurok Village of Sumeg

Agate Beach

Working from the road, well, from Agate Beach.

A herd of elk that we saw from the road.

Yesterday, we drove up highway 101 to Arcata. The trees and mountains are beautiful! It’s hard not to take it all for granted. I’m trying to soak in everything. A bit of the way was smokey because of the fires in Mendocino County, but we soon past that and the drive was great. We stopped off by the road to check out an old road that headed up the side of the mountain. It was kinda creepy… like Blair Witch creepy, so we just took some pictures then headed back to the car.

We’ve been having a great time with Johnny and Alyssa. The weather has been beautiful and today we went to the river to take a dip and enjoy the wildlife. The water was freezing. Alyssa spotted a bald eagle. It was great. Tonight we did some hiking in Trinidad had dinner at a great restaurant in Arcata. Our plan is to just wing it for the next couple of nights while heading to Portland. I love road trips.