Ending an Absence

Hey everyone, I know that I do not blog anymore, and when I do it is just pointless crappy poetry. Well, I have been inspired by my friend Lenny to make this blog more than a crappy literary outlet. So I will start with a direct theft of content from Lenny and blog about my spring break.

"Globe Trotter" is not a word that should ever be used to describe me. I have been to Hawaii twice in my life and besides that, I have not traveled farther East than Arizona. I really have never been out of this country, I went to Vancouver, BC once when I was 8, and I do not even own a passport.
Despite my lack of travel experience, I have always wanted to travel around the United States and eventually travel internationally. A lot of people did a lot of their traveling as a child, either going on family vacations or tagging along to an interesting place for a business trip with a parent. I never had that opportunity, my father works for the State of Oregon and all his business trips consisted of going to Medford or Pendleton (both of which I accompanied him once as a child) and my mother does not have a job that requires travel. Now comes the second part of this equation to the problem of my lack of travel: Sports! Spring Break and even more so, Summer Break are the quintessential times for kids and families to take a vacation and explore other parts of this country. Well I never really had this opportunity. Before High School I played Basketball, Baseball, and even played soccer until 5th grade; both sports created scheduling conflicts with favorble travel dates. Basketball was played extensiveley during Christmas Break and even led to some fun vacations, such as a trip to Sunriver that included the porn incident and an unforgettable trip to Seaside which led to feces in the sauna coals,a closed pool, and a pissed off Shilo Inn Manager. To be honest, basketball was not the bain to my globe trotting existence, that burden is placed squarley on the shoulder of America's Past Time. Baseball is my favorite sports and was the sport I was best at. My dad has been my Coach from Tee Ball to 8th Grade, excluding 4th Grade. We both took baseball very seriously and even if we wanted to take a vacation and I could miss a game or two, he could not because he was the head coach. Spring Break was full of fun tournaments in Bend or Salem and Summer was full of games, All-Stars, and League/State Playoffs. I never had the opportunity to explore anywhere besides the beautiful state of Oregon and at times, Southwest Wahington, and thie severely hampered any chances I had to see the rest of the Great United States.

This is all prior to High School, once High School Started, I began to play Football as well. Football bridged the gap that extended to end of Baseball (Early-Mid August) to the Start of School in September. We had football camp that then ceded into Daily Doubles, and any chance of a summer vacation, even in those late months of August, vanished when I decided to tak on the gridiron. All of the previous problems that limited my travel pre- high school were magnified once in high school. Baseball became even more important as I was soon seeking to have a baseball career beyond high school, Basketball was soon replaced with hitting lessons throughout the winter to improve my game by the time summer fever hit.

That was the story for the first 18 years of my life and of the 3, maybe 2, people who read this know, I am now 23. They shoul be asking, "Why couldn't you of traveled anywhere in the last 5 years?". The answer is realationships. I am not just talking about romantic endeavors, but also freindships. True, I did have a girlfriend for the first 3 years of college, and I did not want to study abroad because of this, but actually that relationship led to many travels that I would of not takin otherwise. I got to visit Spokane on numerous occasions and spend many nights in Sunriver, both places that I would have never of gotten to enjoy in a non-sports driven setting. Also, I wanted to be around to see my friends during summer break. My best friends all did not go to U of O with me, even though I made some of my best friends at school too, but the summer and spring provided opportunities to see them and I did not want to let that pass. These friendships led to many trips as well. My best friend Jeff and his family has done a wonderful job of treating me like a third son and has taken me to so many places. I have been to Scottsdale and Vegas with them and every year, we make a trip to Reno to see a car show. Matt and his family has taken me to Hawaii twice and My roomates and I went to Vegas last spring break. So basically, the reasons that I have not traveled a lot are the exact same reasons why I have traveled at all. Kind of Ironic isn't it?

Now anyone reading may be wondering why this long winded history of vacations is even blog worthy, even on a blog as crappy as mine, but it is because I am currently making this post in beautiful Reading, Pennsylvania! I have finally headed east for a week and I will give everyone my review and experiences of this Oregon homebody when I return!