Given the welcome screening I had received in Japan, I was expecting a long wait and a moderate amount of questioning when I returned to the States. Instead… nothing. No questions from immigration and I walked right through customs without so much as eye contact from a security official. I was pleasantly surprised by all of this, of course, with the emphasis on “surprised”. After a five-day beach trip to Cabo two years ago, all my bags were turned inside out and scrutinized. After nine months in Southeast Asia? Nothing. Meh, move along sir.
California
My flight back to the States was actually to L.A. because it was far cheaper than flying to San Francisco from Tokyo. This worked out nicely since I have college buddies in Santa Monica and Ventura and I ended up staying with them for about a week. Fun times during the week were delightfully laid-back, which was much needed after the finale in Tokyo. While staying in Ventura, Pete and I went middle-school-summer style one day by playing basketball from the early evening until it was too dark to see. (Then we went grown-up style by hitting the bars afterwards.) It was really nice to see the California coastline again.
Coincidentally, another good friend from college was in town that same weekend for a wedding, so we had an awesome mini-reunion with lots of late nights and laughs. We even went out Friday night for Japanese food, karaoke, and sake; the throwback to the previous week and the excellent company made me very happy.
After a fun and quasi-productive week in L.A. (I finally got a worthwhile phone and a U.S. phone number), I took the train up to SF, mainly to pay a visit to my storage unit, but also to reunite with lots of bay area friends. After nine months abroad, a trip to my storage unit was in order to drop off (mostly paper) souvenirs I was tired of carrying around, swap out some clothes, and pack a “wedding kit” so I have some nice clothes for three weddings this summer.
New Orleans
After a couple days in SF, it was off to New Orleans for my cousin’s wedding and a reunion with my family and a good portion of my extended family. New Orleans, as usual, was a blast – with perfect weather! – and the wedding was gorgeous. A lasting memory for me is the sight of string lights crisscrossing the terrace of a beautiful old mansion as a brass band played on and my cousin was a happy dancing fool.
Tampa
The day after the wedding, I hopped on a plane to Tampa to visit my grandparents, who I hadn’t seen in about a decade. Months prior, I had realized that New Orleans was as geographically close to Tampa as I would ever realistically get, so I emailed my grandmother and told her I would be visiting after the wedding. As luck/fate/misfortune/whatever would have it, my grandfather, who has battled many varieties of cancer for many years, took a sudden turn for the worse a few days before the wedding. (Sidebar: in keeping with my apparent tradition of literature-matching-life, I had just started reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, a memoir that starts with the author losing both parents to cancer.)
When I reached Tampa a bit after midnight Monday morning, he was on his deathbed; the next day, in the company of close family, he passed peacefully. That night, we all hoisted martinis (his favorite drink) in his honor and told stories at my grandmother’s place.
A few weeks later, my mother and her sisters flew down to visit my grandmother and came back with many old photos, including a few of him and me when I was very young.
Rest in peace, Grandpop.
Washington, DC
I flew back to Philly the next day and stayed a couple nights with my brother’s family before taking the train to D.C.; my dear friend Becca was visiting her brother for Memorial Day and staying for almost a week, so I decided to join the fun and have a 5-day weekend down there as well. Despite living so close for so many years, I had never done any sight-seeing in D.C. before and it was great to finally see all the buildings, monuments, memorials, the mall, and a museum or two. I very highly recommend the Newseum, not least of which because they have an Anchorman exhibit.
Delaware
After a very fun extended weekend with lots of beautiful weather, BBQ, and all-around Murrikana, I took the train back to Delaware and settled down for some quiet suburban life with my brother and his family. For the last few weeks, I’ve been spending time with them, catching up on photo editing and blogging, trying to organize my travel plans this summer, watching the World Cup, and running some errands now that I’m finally back in the States. I also finally met my nephew Quinn and these days I’m watching him learn to walk and try to make words. Now that he’s almost 14 months, he’s pretty adorable and a lot of fun to be around. After helping my brother put together a Little Tikes truck for him, we hit the backyard for a test drive and a photo session.
FINALLY, I am caught up to present on my blogging, which has been stressing me out a bit recently. I’m still working on more concrete details, but here are my tentative plans for the rest of the summer:
- June: Delaware, Philly, New York, Boston
- July: San Francisco
- August: Pacific Northwest by train (Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Glacier National)
- September: Minnesota and Asheville (for weddings) with a stopover in Chicago
My plans after the summer are still very nebulous at the moment, but I have some ideas. If you are reading this and live in one of the places mentioned and I haven’t talked to you yet, please message me!