Joshua tree house, day 2

Somehow, day two of our weekend in the tree house was able to top the first night. Another day where the weather was beautiful and our temporary little home in the woods was exactly what we were hoping for, and more: it was bright and cheery, and the river was alive right outside the front door. We were living up in the trees, where the sun reflected rippled patterns from the water on the ceiling next to the skylight above our bed, and we could watch the moon from a warm outdoor bath filled with bubbles as the night slid carefully behind a sunset that used every shade the sky can hold. (Honestly, check out the last few pictures.) The weekend was, simply put, everything.

When we woke up, we took advantage of the awesome outdoor hot tub to warm up for the day. I ate cake as Peter drank his tea and read, and the sun started to shift solidly to morning between the branches. Later in the day, we went kayaking and broke through the bit of ice that had gathered farther down the river along the banks, and then we found a long cable swing that went out over the water. That was a lot of fun -- when you got high up enough, you'd swing so far over the river that you could see all the way down until it bent away in either direction. And then, because it was now our new favorite way to start and end the day, at sunset we got back into the hot tub (after Peter decided to take a quick dip into the very cold river) and watched the bluest sky catch fire with pinks and golds as the thinnest moon took the place of the sun. The pictures don't do the sunset justice, but it's close enough to still make me desperately, desperately miss it. Oh man, and it's only Wednesday.

Revisit Day 1.

Joshua tree house, day 1

This past weekend was the best weekend of my life, to date. Peter and I had the opportunity to stay in a beautiful -- which isn't nearly a big enough word -- tree house next to a river in Bridgeport, Virginia. It's called the Joshua Tree House and this place had to have been built with magic. The tree house was so warm and cozy, with the most amazing woodwork (mahogany!), an outdoor tub (SO WARM!), a fireplace (EVEN WARMER!!), a skylight above the bed in the loft (STARS!!!!), and a deck that practically hung right over the water (!!!!!!!!!!) which must've been the river whitenoise machine companies go to when they want to record babbling riverbeds because damn that sound was peaceful (PEACEFUL!!!!!!!).

Somehow, we also lucked out and had a very warm weekend for the middle of January -- it was in the 50's, almost 60 degrees, which meant we also got to go kayaking. So yes, it was nice, and we had a lot of fun. I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from our weekend, because now I'm plugged back into the real world, the government is shutdown, it's a Monday and I woke up to a parking ticket on my car. But at least I can look at these pictures and remember how nice the past three days were. I'll share pictures from day 2 soon.

By the way, if you're ever interested in a good AirBNB, might I recommend the coolest treehouse ever?

Check out day 2.

San Diego, Part 3

Sunday morning in San Diego was filled with museums, if you cannot tell. In addition to touring the Maritime Museum, we got to go explore the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier. The aircraft carrier was so incredibly interesting to tour -- and attempt not to get lost in. This thing was HUGE! We spent a few hours longer than we expected there (so long, in fact, we returned to a parking ticket).

The best part of the USS Midway was the wonderfully knowledgeable staff, most of whom had previously served on the carrier. In fact, a few of the people touring in front of us were telling stories of their own from when they served on the Midway -- apparently, one guy said, after a few weeks in the bunks, even if you were an officer and were bunked in the slightly roomier quarters, you wanted to get out because it smelled so much like sweat. At least the had racks (bunks) with a little more space to stretch. It was also interesting to see the links of the chain to the anchor. Each link weighed 140 pounds.

This was my favorite of the two museums we saw, not only due to its sheer size. My grandfather was a test pilot in the Navy when he was my age, and while this carrier was a little different than the destroyer he was stationed on, it gave me an interesting look at what he was doing. I thought about him a lot as we went through the kitchen, seeing their corn chipped beef ("Shit on a Shingle," as I always knew it and was also told by one of the former Navy museum volunteers it was called). We got to talk to an amazing volunteer in the office of the XO (Executive Officer). Our guided audio tour was telling us that if you got in trouble and were sent to the XO's office, you were in deep. I asked the volunteer if he had served on the Midway, and if he had ever gotten in trouble in this office and he laughed and told us a story where he thought he had gotten called in to be reprimanded but instead received a promotion.

Up on the flight deck, besides getting to look at, and even go walk through if you wanted, helos and planes, you could also see the coast of Coronado. It was warm, sunny, windy and perfectly San Diego. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to live on a ship like the Midway. It was amazing. And, in the bay below us as we stood on the flight deck, a handful of jet skis were flying back and forth, giving us an idea of how to spend the rest of the day.

(See Part 1, Part 2)

San Diego, Part 2

More photos from San Diego! These were taken at the first museums we went to on San Diego Bay Sunday morning: the Maritime Museum. The Maritime Museum had a lot of history about sailors and sailing -- everything from an American submarine, to sailing ships, and a Russian submarine from the Cold War. The subs were my favorite to explore. The American submarine was primarily used for research but had participated in some recent and still-not-declassified operations. The periscope was operational, and it was interesting to look out of it and figure out how the mirrors that made it up worked. The sleeping bunks, for the record, were the comfiest cots we had tested (out of three: the American Sub, the Russian Sub, and the USS Midway, which will be talked about more tomorrow).

The Russian submarine, besides having the history of what happened on the vessel (an action -- or inaction -- by a crew member that prevented a nuclear strike and possibly saved the world by the sailor keeping a level head), also had a simulation through speakers. The disembodied voice of the Russian Captain was yelling orders at me as lights flickered and the sound of distant bombs shook the vessel. Get to the aft of the ship! (Part 1, Part 3)

San Diego, Part 1

September 15th, Peter and I flew out of BWI at 7AM to go and have a surprise (for him) weekend in San Diego. I've never been to California before -- actually, I've never been off the East Coast before -- so I was incredibly excited. We were able to fit so many fun things into just four days out there. We went to La Jolla Cove, surfing in Mission Beach, a Brewery Tour, a couple museums, jet skiing in San Diego Bay, exploring Coronado, and I even got to shoot a SCAR at a gun range. I never thought I'd get to see the Pacific Ocean, and I feel like I got to check off a pretty big, pretty awesome item off my bucket list. I loved every minute of San Diego. Here are some of the pictures from the trip. More will follow soon! (Part 2, Part 3)