Vacation Part Two, Utah

This is a continuation of yesterday's post about my vacation in the US.

So Utah was an interesting place to be after such a long time. I visited last year, before leaving for Korea, and coming back was almost like coming home. The first day, however, I experienced one of the most frustrating thing I think I've ever been through.

We were staying at my Aunt's house, in one valley, and I wanted to spend time with my friends in another valley, which meant I would have to have transportation. So, I went to the nearest Enterprise Rent-A-Car that morning. To my surprise, they didn't have any cars available until the next day, after the times I needed it. So I walked back to my Aunt's in the heat (it was gross) and talked with my Dad about it. We made a reservation for a car at the airport, then Dad and Mom drove and dropped me off there.

So I started going through the process of getting this car, when the woman at the counter discovered that I had a debit card, not a credit card. She then proceeded to tell me that because I was under 25 and didn't have a credit card, she couldn't rent me the car. I was dumbstruck, because I have been renting cars with a debit card since I was 22 (with my military ID), without any problem. I thanked her for her time and walked around to another rental desk. The next two rentals didn't have cars available at all, because apparently weekdays are busy for rents. I never would have guessed. One place had an SUV, but that required I actually be 25, with or without my military ID. I went to every single desk, and was stunned at how rude some of the places were when they told me they had no cars.

Finally, I found a place that had a car and was willing to run my debit card. I stood at the desk for a good fifteen minutes while the woman went through the process of getting everything set up, and she was super nice, and the two women working at that desk tried to set me up with the other guy getting a car. Then, alas, the woman ran a credit check (apparently required with a debit card) and since I have zero credit because I don't do things to get credit, then it was declined. Le sigh. At this point I had been trying to get a car for an hour.

The woman at this last desk must have felt bad, because she called another, off-site company that would take my debit card without a credit check, and I got picked up by one of their drivers and taken to their office. I then proceeded to spend way too much on a way old car with mileage limitations (which I didn't know was still a thing). But I had a car! I could drive places! I could be an adult!

That evening I drove down to the other valley to visit my high school best friend, Cheez. She's an awesome person, and I had such a good time seeing her again. I only get to see her about once a year now, and it's more than a little sad, because I would love to spend more time with her. She's like my little sister.

The next morning I drove back down to the valley to meet up with my other best friend, Balgram. I've known her for more than ten years now (hard to believe it's been that long) and if I'm being honest with myself, she's the starting point for everything great in my life. It was through her I discovered Japanese stuff, and it was through Japanese stuff that I found K-Pop, so when I talk about K-Pop too much, just blame here. (Love you!) I wish we could spend more time together. She's like my big sister. (I see a pattern here...)

That afternoon my new Marine brother, PWT, said his goodbyes and left for Idaho to pick up his truck before heading back to California for more training. After saying goodbye, I went and returned the rental car (I will never ever buy a Grand Prix. I did not like that car.)

That same day was my youngest brother, DHT's birthday. He turned 16 (!) and to celebrate we went and saw X-Men: Days of Future Past as a family. It was a great movie, and immediately after watching it I wanted to see it again. That's always a good sign.

We were going to leave the next day, but instead we decided to stay one more day to rest up before the main road trip started. It was a nice relaxing day, hanging out with my Aunt and Mom, just us girls. We went to a big outdoor mall in downtown Salt Lake City, I spent too much on a phone case for my US phone, then we went and visited an elderly relative and a cousin living nearby. It was great to see them, and it was great to just be together, and do things together. I miss doing things with people...

Then, we packed everything back up, including all the stuff the family had left in Utah before going to California, and we were off on our Magical Family Roadtrip Adventure. Which will be another post.

Thanks for reading!

Vacation, Part One - Seattle, California

So you might have noticed, I've been a little absent on here. This is mainly because I was on vacation and had an annoying lack of internet access. But I'm back now, and I think it's about time I spill all my exploits from vacation. This is going to be cut up into several parts, because it was a long vacation and a lot of things happened.

My leave started May 26th, but because of paperwork issues (and I thought of this in advance) I didn't leave until the 27th (Tuesday). So I just had an extra day off, which I used to pack and relax. Then, Tuesday morning I ran around at a frantic pace calmly getting a bunch of things done that had to be finished before I could leave. Breakfast with a good friend was had, shots in the arm were received, and paperwork was printed off (I had to have approved Leave paperwork before I could leave the country.)

I eventually got a later start leaving base than I liked. But after a bus ride, then a subway ride, and an express train ride (that was super comfortable, quiet, empty, and wonderful) I made it to the airport with time to spare. Then there was a 10 hour flight from Seoul to San Francisco. I unfortunately didn't have a window seat. I normally try to get window seats, because I like being able to look out the window and I would much rather only be sitting by one stranger, rather than between two. But, alas, I was in the middle, between an older Korean woman (who smelled) and a young Korean man (who was adorable, and really tall, and a bit forgetful when we went through security to get to connecting flights.)

After that flight it was just a quick hop from San Fran to Seattle, and then I got a nice rental car before driving to my nice hotel. I felt yucky from all the travel, I was tired from all the lack of sleep, (I normally stay up 24h to eliminate jetlag)  but I was super excited to be back in the States, and particularly in Seattle, which I'd never really been in before. So I showered, then drove around in Seattle for a while, just taking in the sights and reveling in all the English I could see. It was great.

I then passed out early, and woke up early, but felt too lazy to get out of bed so I watched Law & Order SVU for a few hours until I had to get ready for the day, pack up, and check out. Then I drove around Seattle again, because my next flight wasn't until late. I saw the Space Needle, almost drove into the bay, parked the car and wandered around on foot a little bit, stopped at a Barnes and Noble to pick up a few books (it's an addiction. I can't go anywhere without picking up a few books at a bookstore) and even drove through Chinatown and little.

After dropping off my rental car I got on the plane to San Diego, my last flight for a few weeks. It was another quick flight, and I had a window seat, and I read practically the whole way there. Then, my family picked me up from the airport in their packed-to-the-gills SUV and we drove to Grandpa's house. It was late, but everyone was excited to see me, I was excited to see them, and it felt great to be back with my family after so long.

We arrived at Grandpa's house, everyone helped unload the car, and there was another great reunion before I passed out in bed, well past my bedtime.

In the morning we all got up early and went back to the airport to pick up my second brother, JET, who was flying in from Nebraska, then we drove to MCRD San Diego for Family Day. I got to watch my first brother, PWT, run in Marine green, then got to see him in uniform before finally reuniting after four long years. It had been a very long time, and I was so super excited to finally get to be with him in person again.

We spent most of the day with him on base there with him, talking and listening to his stories of Marine Boot, and meeting his fellow recruits and his DIs and just having a good time. Then, too soon, it was time to return him to his barracks, and we went back to Grandpa's house.

Because there was an extra person I got kicked off the bed and onto the living room couch, but I didn't mind. That's where I had stayed when I was 11 and staying with my grandparents for a month, and it was so refreshingly cool in the living room that I got some of the best sleep I've had in a long time. My dorm room is almost constantly too hot to sleep properly, and so sleeping somewhere it's cool is amazing.

The next day we went back to MCRD for the official graduation day, and it was such a wonderful ceremony, albeit kind of long in the hot sun, and then PWT was done and he was ours again. We got his stuff and left MCRD to go have lunch at a really nice Mexican restaurant near the Mormon Battalion Museum, then we got family pictures taken (by my first cousin Jessie) before going through the Museum. After that, we rushed back to the airport to drop JET off, because he had to get back to Nebraska for work, then we went to Grandpa's house from there we just spent the rest of the weekend catching up and being together and doing fun things in San Diego.

Two important things (in my opinion) happened while we were in San Diego. Because we always do touristy things as a family, we went first to Cabrillo to see the lighthouse (again.) While there a scene popped into my head. I took a lot of pictures and video of Cabrillo, thinking about this scene that took over my brain, and later I started writing it because dang it, it was a good scene. Then, the next day we went to Balboa park, and while wandering around there we stopped at the Botanical Garden, and another scene appeared, related to the first one, and when we got back home I wrote that one too. And with these two scenes, and a character that had been in my mind for a couple weeks without a story, I began putting together a story.

We also went to the beach and rode a roller coaster, and did shopping, and went to church, and other fun things, but after that, my all-consuming everything was this story, nicknamed SD Story because I had no other name for it.

Finally, we packed everything back up and left San Diego, traveling up to Utah. It was a long drive, I got some writing and reading done, and we arrived really late before staying at my Aunt's house. And that is for another post.

Thanks for reading!