Farlozn

I've neglected to write for 3 months? Wow. That's a long time. I've had a few adventures since then. I live in a new state. I have a new job. I'm now a man. One of those is a fib.

So we're here, settled into Houston and in love with the fact that it's not Miami. The apartment is lovely and the extra bedroom and bathroom are waiting with baited breath for visitors.

So, for those of you who are interested, here's what I did on my summer vacation:

1. Left on July 4th at 10pm instead of July 5th at 5am to avoid being kept up all night by street fireworks.

2. Camped in TH. Stone Memorial St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, FL, as suggested by National Geographic. Very out of the way but insanely beautiful and worth the trip.

3. Slept at a Holiday Inn in Baton Rouge, LA. Kicked ourselves all night for not going the extra miles to New Orleans instead. On the bright side, I found a 100% gluten-free restaurant. On the not so bright side, M got food poisoning at said gluten-free restaurant.

4. Spent 4 days in Houston with K&D and their cute babies. Had a job interview, got an apartment, had lots of fun.

5. Went to Hope, AR. Got to stand on a rug that was the exact replica (only smaller) of the rug that was in the oval office when Clinton was in office, in the house that was next to the house where Bill was born. So authentic.

6. Went to Little Rock, AR. Stayed with some awesome couchsurfer hosts, went to a potluck, fell in love with a 130# Great Dane.

7. Camped and fished in Petite Jean State Park, AR. Sweated. Saw a stick bug that was the size of my hand.

8. Went to Eureka Springs, known as Arkansas' San Francisco. As M says, it is the love child of San Francisco and a Faulkner novel. As I say, it is pretty spectacular.

9. Went to Manhattan, KS. Hung out with the lovely A&B. Pet some cows. Ate some cows. Saw ditch weed growing wild. Visited KSU where every entrance has a sign posted informing you that firearms are not allowed in the school.

10. Went to St. Louis, MO. Visited our old neighborhood and realized how totally cool it is there. Then M reminded me that I had said that about every place we had been since leaving Miami.

11. Went to Chicago. Hung with J&M, ate some awesome food, vegged out on the couch and watched 40 episodes of Weeds, or just about.

12. Went to Urbana, IL. Hung with B&L and their tiny, charming dog. Ate some good food and lollygaged around town. That's right, I said lollygaged.

13. We were headed to Kentucky but thinking about going to NY. We stopped into a gas station in Indianapolis, directly across the street from the Indy 500. Some old lady selling souvenirs asked us where we were headed. We said "Kentucky or New York". Old lady says "I've been to Kentucky, go to New York", so we did.

14. Went to Rockland County, NY. Saw all the family and hiked Harriman State Park. Sweated, but not as much as in #7.

15. Driving through Pennsylvania on our way to Virginia, a truck in front of us blew a tire and knocked something off the bottom of our car. We got off the highway and realized we were surrounded by car dealerships. Everything except Honda (our car). We went to the Jeep dealership and some beautiful man fixed it for free.

16. Went to Charlottesville, VA and had lots of fun (can you tell I'm getting tired here).

17. Drove the Blue Ridge Parkway. Camped in Boone, NC. Drove the parkway to Ashville, NC. Visited a very pregnant J and A in Charlotte, NC. J gave birth the next day, after we left!

18. Went to Disney World. In August. It sucked. But I got to play miniature golf at Pirate's Cove, which did not suck, cause it was nighttime, and only 90 degrees.

19. Went back to Miami. The air conditioner was broken. The apartment was infested with roaches, but luckily they were all dead. We slept at friend's houses and packed during early morning to avoid heat stroke. Then we got the fuck out of Miami, and there was much rejoicing (yay).

20. Went to New Orleans, finally. It was hot, but lovely.

21. Got to Houston. Spent one night there.

22. Flew to California. Spent some time with M's family.

23. Got back to Houston a week later.

24. Flew to Chicago for J&M's wedding. Got to see B&L again.

25. Got back to Houston. No more traveling.

What did you do on your summer vacation?

(So much cooler than Miami)