Old Kenyon, We Are Like Kokosing

Well, back to the old grind. Also, back to where I left off. Even though I'm not traveling this year, I suppose I'll keep everyone updated anyway. Hopefully I will be traveling again before too long, though it won't be until next summer at the earliest.

I had some good times in DC. I did a lot of touristy stuff. The metro is fantastic-it's so convenient and pretty cheap. I went to Arlington, the monuments, a bunch of the Smithsonian museums, the Library of Congress (so cool!), etc. My favorite exhibit was a Jim Henson exhibit at the Smithsonian's International Gallery. Even though I waited for half an hour for it to open and I was the only adult there not attached to a child, it was amazing-they had puppets like Kermit, Ralph and some from Fraggle Rock and a lot of really cool displays. If anyone is in DC sometime in the near future, see if it's still around-it's definitely worth a look, even if you only moderately liked Jim Henson.

I stayed in Washington, working until August 1st. Overall, the internship was not always the most interesting work (especially filing), but I really liked the people I was working with. Everyone in the Compensation and Benefits Unit (my unit) were fantastic and I loved getting to know some of the interns. I made some good friends from Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic that I hope to keep in touch with. I said goodbye to everyone and took my one and only taxi ride in DC to the train station and then took a train to Maryland. Uncle Bill picked me up and drove to Albany, where he was going to visit with Aunt Nita's family and where my family would meet me to pick me up for our family vacation.

My family picked me up and we were off for one day in Vermont. I fulfilled two life goals/dreams, the first of which consisted visiting the Trapp Family Lodge (as in von Trapp family-'Sound of Music), somewhere I have wanted to go since watching 'The Sound of Music' and reading Maria's book. We ate lunch there at the Autrian Tea Room and wandered around a little bit. Then, we went to see Ben and Jerry's factory, somewhere I hadn't been since I was three-years-old or so. All I remember from the first trip was getting a pink t-shirt with cows on it that I used to wear all the time. This time, I took a factory tour with Amy and Laurie and taste-tested some excellent (as always) ice cream. I still maintain that Ben and Jerry's is the best ice cream in the world (that I have tasted so far at least).

The next day, we headed off to New Hampshire for a few days of taking in the views and hiking. It rained a bit and was kind of foggy, but it was beautiful. We drove up Mount Washington, the highest peak in the Northeast, which was cool even though it was really foggy on top-you couldn't see anything. We also saw a moose cross the road, something I had been looking forward to.

Then we headed off to Maine where we spent most of the vacation. Maine-namely Acadia National Park-remains my favorite place in the U.S. It was as beautiful as always and though there were tons of people as usual and the weather wasn't always great (lots of rain), it was still so nice to get away. We hiked, we ate lots of great food, we visited all of the sites in the park, we shopped at my favorite used bookstore. Overall, it was a great trip and was a nice change of pace after nine weeks in Washington, DC.

After ten wonderful days, we had to leave so dad could get back to his job taking care of screaming babies and crying children and so Laurie could start her week of fun at band camp. The drive home took two days and for me, it was great finally going home, even though the stay would be short yet again. I think overall, I've only been home for six weeks out of the past year which is a little crazy. But I spent almost eight months of the past year out of the country, so that largely explains why. Anyway, most of my time at home was spent getting ready to go back to Kenyon and face my senior year.

And that brings me to where I am now. I have work to do and while I have enjoyed procrastinating to write this, I have at least two meetings and a class tomorrow, all of which I need to prepare for, so I will leave it here for now and continue on some other day. Chao Chao and siiba bulungi!