4588 miles later...

Here I am, back in Vail, and I've pretty much adjusted back to mountain time. The week and half hiatus was great though.

Justin and I left here last Wednesday and drove through the night to arrive mid-afternoon at Penn St that Thursday. We stayed until Sunday, and I managed to squeeze in a Banquet, drink my share of cafe teas and yeungling, see tons of friends, visit the duty room of course, get drunk at the Skellar and see Katsu, and do a power hour or two. All-in-all, a very good time. (I think I've finally sobered up from the whole ordeal)

From there, it was Jersey where we made it all the way to the shore. We went to Cape May, climbed the damn 14 story lighthouse, and made our way to Ocean City and got our fudge. Toured Philly a bit where I finally saw the Liberty Bell. Oh, and I had my cheesesteak.

Then to Connecticut to see Justin's grandparents (in the words of Katie... aaaawkward). Though it was amusing to hear of some of the stories. From Connecticut, it was to Quakertown, PA, to see Dad. My tire exploded along the way in some backroad where there was blasting in a construction zone.

Once in PA, the car was dropped off for inspection, the sole purpose of this trip to begin with. It took an extra day due to the tire fiasco, so Justin and I called out of our shifts for work on Saturday. Not exactly a huge disappointment. We left for Colorado on Friday afternoon and didn't get to Denver until 9:30pm mountain time. That's about a 31 hour drive right there. We stopped several times, once for both of us to sleep 3 hours at a rest stop in Iowa, and a bunch of times in Nebraska because it's so goddamn big. I did, however, finally get my picture taken with the Gateway to the West. Pretty much the highlight of the entire drive. Before we reached Denver, we were able to witness the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. Or at least it vies very closely with the ones on Lake Michigan.

So now I'm back and have learned that my best friends in Vail are moving back to Missouri in a couple weeks, my general manager no longer works at the Brewery, and I can see grass for the first time since October in front of my house. Not real life-altering changes, but dammit, no one was supposed to do anything until I got back.

I'll be back in the Jersey/PA area for a few days around the weekend of the 22nd. I fly out of Denver next Wednesday for my great-grandmom's surprise 90th birthday party. (Thank god for good genes) After that, when will I return? Maybe when I get kicked out of my current living situation? Who knows. But I'm thinking July.


On a depressing note, Vail closes in one week and 5 days.