Family Fun

Got home this morning from a fun weekend with my family.  We met in Nashville and then drove over to Asheville, NC, for a fun couple days of hiking and sightseeing.  It was an old-fashioned family vacation!  It was also the first time I'd seen my brother in more than a year.  I hope I don't always have to wait that long to see him, though I am glad he is enjoying his time in grad school at the University of Washington.

The End of Summer

I started my 3rd year of grad school this week.  Added to the stress of classes this fall is the pressure of finishing my Master's thesis.  So far things are going well, and hopefully it will continue that way.

It was awesome to have a 10-day get-away vacation right before I had to get back to the grind.  My brother and I drove to Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier National Parks.  It was AMAZING!!  I'd never been to the states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, much less those three parks.  We camped and hiked in some absolutely beautiful country.  Here are a few of the hundreds of pictures we took:

Moonrise at Jenny Lake campground, Grand Teton Nat'l Park

Old Faithful

New Jersey

I love it when I can combine a work trip with some fun.  Especially when that fun involves seeing one of my best friends from college!  Last weekend I went to New Jersey and spent two days on vacation and two days seeing families.  I got to sail on and swim in the Delaware River a few miles from where George Washington crossed it, despite an adventure involving a rope wrapped around the boat's propeller just before low tide.  The next day, my friend showed me Princeton University, including historic Nassau Hall as well as some of the buildings filmed in Transformers 2 and the opening scenes of House.  Later, my colleague and I got to enjoy the Jersey beach and swim in the Atlantic Ocean.  The water was chilly but totally worth it!  Both of our family visits went well, so I deemed the extended weekend a success!!

On the Delaware River

Our view of the Atlantic Ocean at lunch

Now, I've gotta get all the presenters lined up for this fall's Proseminar and make a dent in writing my master's thesis before I go on my next adventure!

Vacation? What is that, again?

Yes, that's right.  I get to take a "real" vacation for the first time in about 6 years!!  I know that as a GRA I'm supposed to be working all the time, and that is definitely what I've been doing for the last two years.  The difference is that I also worked all the time during my undergrad years, which meant I never got a "let's go somewhere for fun" vacation.  Sure, I've been home and seen my family several times since I moved away from home, but none of those trips were a true vacation.  I haven't been to the beach in years, and I've never had a wintertime skiing vacation, nor a cruise, nor any of those things.  That all changes in 2 weeks!!