1 Year

ONE year ago today I arrived in Auckland, New Zealand around five in the morning, pretty wide-eyed and with expectations out of this world. It's close to impossible to compare my experience in NZ with my expectations going in, but if I did I would have to say they were well exceeded. My time living in and exploring that country set 2008 off to be a good year for me...

Five and a half months in breathtaking New Zealand. A little over a week in Australia. Come home to a week with family at Lawrence Welk in Escondido. Houseboating at Lake Mead. Camping at San Onofre. A weekend fishing trip up in Mammoth. A month in Alaska. A weekend spent in Sequoia and Yosemite. Finished off by celebrating the New Year in Mammoth. These travels were nice, but they were only a means to the more important stuff. I had the opportunity to meet different, exciting, unique people and lifestyles and cultures from all over the world, experience the trying fluxuation and growing of friendships and relationships already in place, enjoy countless real conversations about new ideas and thoughts and what it means to think differently than we're accustomed or supposed to, and give up on a few those ideas that didn't seem to be of such importance anymore. All good things.

Last February on the Routeburn Track