home again, home again, part 1

those of you who are also facebook friends know that the last two months have been a non-stop tour de america. it's been an exhausting time filled with security lines, room service, lack of sleep, missing my dog, experiencing new places, and being pushed to my limits. i simply don't have the energy or the time to offer a detailed recap of each adventure, so for the most part, the travel log will have to be primarily photographic in nature. however, i'll attempt to hit a few highlights.

boston -

the public gardens and a ride on the infamous swan boats.

a stop at fenway's 'big green monster', although getting inside to watch a game wasn't worth the $80 for cheap seats to me!

enjoying a cold lemonade at the original cheers, or rather, the bull & finch pub, whose exterior served as the inspiration for the original cheers.

a walk along the freedom trail, including bunker hill and the uss constitution

a meal with a co-worker in her stomping grounds - the highlight of which was the bodega. the bodega appears to be the diviest corner store on the planet, complete with sun-bleached kitty litter in the storefront window. the trick is that when approaching the snapple machine in the back corner of the store, the machine slides open to reveal cherry cabinets lining the walls, filled with hard to come by urban street wear and kicks (kicks = the urban slang term for sneakers, and yes, i am totally that hip)

a rainy adventure through faneuil hall and to the granary burial ground, wherin lies paul revere, john hancock, samuel adams, and benjamin franklin's parents.

the pics can all be found here.

from boston, it was straight on to new york for a couple of days -

it was a quick work trip, for which, i opted to stay with deb after she persuaded me that it would be the only possibility of actually seeing eachother. she was right as our only real time together was a post-midnight ice cream binge and life catch-up.

then it was off to new orleans -

june/july in new orleans is a pretty miserable idea, but we were determined to make the best of it. and as luck would have it, steph was in town attending the conference i was working, and amber lives just over the border in mississippi.

first up was a vampire tour for steph, amber, melissa and i. it was so hot (at 9pm!) that about an hour in, i lost all my ability to focus on the stories and just tried to focus on not passing out. i think the others fared a little better, but we were all pretty uncomfortable.

melissa and i also took the opportunity to ride the famous st. charles streetcar and ooohed and aaahed at the homes in the garden district.

the rest of my co-workers arrived and after the first conference day we hit bourbon street for a little karaoke. actually, this is my first time ever karaoking in public, and while we were pretty terrible, it was also pretty fun.

the highlight of this trip though, had been planned and reserved almost two months prior, and melissa, jessica and i were excited to go on an airboat swamp tour.

we closed out new orleans by watching a concert by the conference entertainment, sheryl crow

the rest of the pics are here, and yes, i did actually hold an alligator.

after new orleans, i got to be home for a couple of days to enjoy the 4th of july -

i love the 4th in hb and this year was a very different experience. i drove my bike to my old house, parked, and rode down to the beach to meet some friends at the rv they had parked i the beach lot. it was a perfect 'home base' for the day.

we enjoyed the parade and all the people watching on a stereotypically beautiful huntington day.

in the late afternoon, i headed home to get cleaned up before meeting up with the d family for fireworks. i decided to take cordy along and we all had a great time.

the rest of the pics can be found here.

...more in part 2...