Boston Bound
The time has almost come for Dylan and I to fly to Boston! It seems like this mini-vacation really crept up on me. We came up with the idea back in November when Prop 8 unfortunately passed here in California, and we wanted to take our tourist dollars to the two states that actually allow same-gender marriage - Massachusetts and Connecticut. Back then, March seemed so far off, but here we are already!
I had put off making many of the arrangement, including booking the flights, because I wasn't completely sure we were going. But one day while cruising Facebook I saw an ad for cheap flights on Virgin America and I just had to do it. Dylan had just flown Virgin up to Seattle and couldn't say enough great things about the flight, so I wanted to try it for myself.
We chose the dates to sort of coincide with my friend Courtney's spring break. She works at Boston University. I haven't seen Courtney for many, many years, but in March of 2000, she, my brother and I, went on Spring Break together. We loaded in my new hand-me-down Chrysler Cirrus and headed south after I got off work at Centennial Lanes Bowling Center. I don't remember much about the drive other than it was dark, we listened to Aqua's "Aquarius", and we started to worry that we would run out of gas somewhere in southern Kansas where we could see no city lights anywhere on the horizon. Luckily we made it to the Oklahoma border and a town which I can't believe I've forgotten the name of - I tried looking it up on a map to retrace our steps but apparently time has erased the memory. Luckily, I know for a fact that I wrote about the trip in my diary since I kept a journal of every day of the year 2000. Anyway we didn't have much of a plan for the trip, other than a vague notion that we would be "camping out" and possibly heading to Padre Island. Those were good times. After we got back from our Spring Break adventure, there was about 2 months left of college and after graduation is when Brandon and I moved out to Los Angeles, Memorial Day weekend of the year 2000. I probably only have seen Courtney twice since then, both on trips back to Kansas shortly thereafter before she moved to Boston.
Coincidentally, another good friend of mine from way back then also ended up in Boston. Bethany moved to Hays when I was a sophomore and replaced me as first chair Oboe in band, which I was not happy about! But despite our competition, we ended up becoming very good friends and she lived about three houses down the street from me so we were also neighbors. It's also been a very long time since I've seen her, as she left Hays to go to college in Nebraska after she graduated high school and I think I only saw her once since then, back before I moved to LA. We found each other on Facebook and have stayed in touch but I'm really looking forward to catching up with her in person.
So, in addition to visiting the states that support marriage equality (and NO, Dylan and I are definitely NOT eloping!) I am so excited to see my old friends. I'm also a very firm believer in the mental health benefits of getting away from one's normal comfort zone and expanding one's horizons. The USA is a huge country but I intend to see as much of it as I can in my lifetime, as well as the rest of the world. As I child, my family travelled a good amount for vacations, but it was always out west. Later, I finally crossed the Mississippi and made may way to Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta, and then years later, to New York City. So there is still a lot that I have yet to see in the eastern half of the country.
In a few days, I'll be saying Bon Voyage so send me your best wishes! In other great news, my parents got a new Highlander Hybrid, and I am the lucky recipient of their old Toyota Avalon. Now I just have to find a way to get it from Kansas City to LA!
I had put off making many of the arrangement, including booking the flights, because I wasn't completely sure we were going. But one day while cruising Facebook I saw an ad for cheap flights on Virgin America and I just had to do it. Dylan had just flown Virgin up to Seattle and couldn't say enough great things about the flight, so I wanted to try it for myself.
We chose the dates to sort of coincide with my friend Courtney's spring break. She works at Boston University. I haven't seen Courtney for many, many years, but in March of 2000, she, my brother and I, went on Spring Break together. We loaded in my new hand-me-down Chrysler Cirrus and headed south after I got off work at Centennial Lanes Bowling Center. I don't remember much about the drive other than it was dark, we listened to Aqua's "Aquarius", and we started to worry that we would run out of gas somewhere in southern Kansas where we could see no city lights anywhere on the horizon. Luckily we made it to the Oklahoma border and a town which I can't believe I've forgotten the name of - I tried looking it up on a map to retrace our steps but apparently time has erased the memory. Luckily, I know for a fact that I wrote about the trip in my diary since I kept a journal of every day of the year 2000. Anyway we didn't have much of a plan for the trip, other than a vague notion that we would be "camping out" and possibly heading to Padre Island. Those were good times. After we got back from our Spring Break adventure, there was about 2 months left of college and after graduation is when Brandon and I moved out to Los Angeles, Memorial Day weekend of the year 2000. I probably only have seen Courtney twice since then, both on trips back to Kansas shortly thereafter before she moved to Boston.
Coincidentally, another good friend of mine from way back then also ended up in Boston. Bethany moved to Hays when I was a sophomore and replaced me as first chair Oboe in band, which I was not happy about! But despite our competition, we ended up becoming very good friends and she lived about three houses down the street from me so we were also neighbors. It's also been a very long time since I've seen her, as she left Hays to go to college in Nebraska after she graduated high school and I think I only saw her once since then, back before I moved to LA. We found each other on Facebook and have stayed in touch but I'm really looking forward to catching up with her in person.
So, in addition to visiting the states that support marriage equality (and NO, Dylan and I are definitely NOT eloping!) I am so excited to see my old friends. I'm also a very firm believer in the mental health benefits of getting away from one's normal comfort zone and expanding one's horizons. The USA is a huge country but I intend to see as much of it as I can in my lifetime, as well as the rest of the world. As I child, my family travelled a good amount for vacations, but it was always out west. Later, I finally crossed the Mississippi and made may way to Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta, and then years later, to New York City. So there is still a lot that I have yet to see in the eastern half of the country.
In a few days, I'll be saying Bon Voyage so send me your best wishes! In other great news, my parents got a new Highlander Hybrid, and I am the lucky recipient of their old Toyota Avalon. Now I just have to find a way to get it from Kansas City to LA!
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