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!
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