My first trip of the school year!

In the middle of September I left Seattle to visit friends and family back east. First I spent two weeks in Boston with my grandmother and Aunt. Boston, Massachusetts was awesome! I was there for two weeks and I absolutely LOVED it. My grandmother and my aunt live here and this year I've been able to spend lots of time this fall there. But no matter how much time I've been able to spend so far, it doesn't feel like enough time. Boston highlights? Mima (that's what I call my grandmother) showed me how to make chopped liver; my Aunt Lorraine has been making me laugh harder than she did when I was a kid.... And MAN, Aunt Lorraine is FUNNY. Also, I've gotten to run a several times along the Charles River and today I went to the oldest library in the country-- the Central Branch of the Boston Public Library. Wow! It was really amazing to be in a place with so much history. It reminded me of being in an old church-- paintings and sculptures were everywhere.

At the end of September, I took a bus from Boston to Northampton, Massachusetts and spent the weekend with my friend Sarah. She and I had a ton of fun biking one day all over town on a perfect New England day. On October 2^nd I got on a plane to come visit my parents here in Silver Spring, Maryland where I grew up. Silver Spring is a town close to Washington D.C., and it’s quite easy for me to travel into town by metro. I’ve gotten to have lunch with my Dad who works right downtown—pretty close to some fantastic museums. I’m going to a wedding this weekend in Maryland and I’ll be back in Seattle on October 16^th.

Last weekend I borrowed I drove my Mom’s car (Thanks Mom!) to Yellow Springs, Ohio to spend time with my teaching mentor, Pam. She was one of my teachers when I was in college and she is a really wonderful friend now. Pam and I took a long walk in the thousand-acre nature preserve called Glen Helen. It’s so gorgeous there. We also went for a bike ride and spent hours yaking on her lovely back porch.

Check out the pics!