Chi/LA/New Zealand xmas

I left off August 2018

SO

End of November / early December

Chicago and Los Angeles for Peru film screenings
The highlight was a free upgrade to my rental car in LA to a convertible. My "making it" in life arbitrary requirement has been checked off. 

December - Christmas in New Zealand

2 nights camping along the beach on the Abel Tasman costal track before family time. Who knew NZ was so tropical and paradise like?! I think NZ may have it all.

It certainly had the amazing fresh plumbs at our hiking exit and wine.

April 2017 - end of August 2018 - 3 countries, 14 states?

I left off in April 2017 (at Australia / NZ). It's now end of August 2018
(this excludes CT, other Philly trips, NYC, upstate NY, VT and probably that place I'm forgetting)

end of April 2017 - Belgium!
Beer road trip.
MAP

June 2017 - Philly & Maine weekends

August 2017 - Ashland, OR again

October 2017 - Los Angeles
K&R Wedding party #3 Indian style

December 2017 - Boston
Directing job!

January 2018 - STL
High school friend hangout

end January 2018 - Minneapolis, MN
Job - coinciding with the Super Bowl there

February 2018 - Bahamas!
Random last minute job

April 2018 - buy house
Indiana (job)
Outer Banks OBX (vacay)
Toronto! (job)

June 2018 - Rochester, MN
with road trip back to VT

August 2018 - San Jose & Ashland, OR (#4!)

Jan, March, April - Iceland, Australia, New Zealand

End of January 
Went to Iceland for a long weekend. Flights were cheap. Why not :)

Map of Adventures
Day 1 
Day 2 









No northern lights, but saw an Arctic fox! 3 days is totally worth it there, as long as you're willing to not sleep. Winter may be dark, but it just means 3hrs of sunrise and sunsets for a weird glow-y light. Lots of driving and water falls, plus music, snowy hike, hot springs, and tomato greenhouse feast.

End of March / April 
New Zealand for 2 1/2 weeks with 1 day layover in Sydney on each way.

• Queenstown beauty lake. 
• Wanaka wedding wine spectacular. Plus day hike to glacier. 
• 2 day overnight hike in Fiordlands National Park Routeburn Track. Lots of ups and downs, glaciers views, beach trees, blue drinkable water, boulder fields, and then mossy green magical wonderland. 
• Wine tours 
• Mystery boulders and coastal seals & yellow eyed penguins 
• Weird "Steampunk capitol of the world" Oamaru with blue pengiun colony. 

Aug - Scotland / Oregon then into Sept VT etc

Since those two locations make sense together, I took what felt like my first real adult vacation. 2 1/2 weeks. 1 1/2 weeks in Scotland - land of whiskey, castles, and amazing cloud mountains.

With an overnight in Boston, then 1 week in Oregon for endless amazing food and brain stimulating varieties of spectacular plays.

A quick weekend in Philly happened in Sept for a fancy wedding. 

I won't try to keep track of my Vermont travels, although they seem worthy as some little camping adventures have taken place all over the state during Aug / Sept.  

May / June - STL, Jersey, Idaho, West Cost, Seattle x2

Trying to keep up. NYC / Vermont in between these.

St. Louis for high school wedding. 3 down, 3 to go. At the magical City Museum!

Then work -  Seattle, West Coast. Got 2 days off and saw a college friend and an LA friend. Two very different times in my life, but they've carried through seamlessly. LA friend I also call my snail mail friend,  as we seem to communicate via snail mail than any other way. Gotta hold on to a good old postcard and penned letter!









Then Jersey for an epic Indian wedding. Stepped into a Bollywood movie!





Then back to Seattle...but via Idaho. Road trip with the crew from Idaho to Seattle was STUNNING! Puffy cloud skies for days and then dramatic mountains and mist.

Now staying NYC / Vermont put until early August.

end April / begin May - Philly / Montreal

For some reason I've never thought of Philly as a city that I should pay attention to. But it sure is a city! Quite the variety. And history is cool. Thought of the Benjamin Franklin biography I read a lot.

Montreal for a quick circus weekend and then a stop on the Vermont water for some mead on the way back.

Feb / March Dominica - Island Jungle

A weird "adventure" for sure. 6 weeks. No sleep.

We started in the South in Roseau and then spent 2 weeks in the North in Portsmouth. That hotel happened to not have water every other night. Really great when you've completely filled every hotel in the area with crew and we all come "home" at the same time after running around in the jungle for 12 hours. Moving back South for the last 2 weeks felt like coming home. Better Sunsets there anyway.

Beautiful island regardless, and some pretty awesome trees.
 

Real adventure was a hike to boiling lake. Literally boiling. Hike was a jungle stair master to rocky mars landscape to bubbling, hot, stinking, lake.