In front of the New York Stock Exchange last Friday, on 9/11. Ryan Bowen took this picture - I love it! It has been a crazy last week, let me tell you! :-)Hello former students,Quickly, I wanted to update you on how the trip out to New York last weekend went! I had a fantastic first week of school, and now that we are able to get down to business when it comes to the tutoring after school, I am starting to get the hang of my new job at Marshall.That being said, it is pretty awesome to know that I am flying off all over the place on the weekends! Here's some pictures and captions from last weekend, when I flew out of Portland on Thursday night, got into New York on Friday, spent Friday night in Washington DC's airport, went to Long Beach on Saturday morning, then up to Portland to drive to the Ducks game in the afternoon. Whew! Then on Sunday after the game (and about three hours of sleep), I woke up at 4:45 AM and caught a MAX train by the convention center, to fly down to Long Beach, stay there for about 4 hours, and then fly to San Jose, California then back to Long Beach, then back to Portland.Here are some pictures!
JetBlue's Terminal 5 at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. Incredible. They just opened this up last year, and you can tell.
Ryan and his girlfriend Naj, who I got to meet for the first time!
A flag for the rescuers at 9/11/2001, exactly eight years earlier.
This is pretty much all you can see of the actual Ground Zero. It is fenced off all over the place. It is strange that there is still nothing there and even stranger to be there on 9/11, knowing that exactly eight years earlier, almost 4,000 people died at this very place.
The New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street. Where the entire U.S. economy runs through, essentially.
A statue of George Washington, outside Federal Hall, where he became the first President of the United States.
Ryan grabbing the famous bull by the horns.
Times Square. I had never been here before - there was so many ads it was ridiculous! What is the point? How could you pay attention to just one?
We stopped to eat at a place right next to Times Square. It was packed! You can see why though - the New York pizza could not be beat!
After saying goodbye to Ryan and catching a flight to Washington DC's Dulles International, I tried to settle in for the night. It was completely empty, except for the random cleaning people that decided it was a great idea to come right next to me with a vacuum as I was trying to sleep, haha. I ended up getting about four hours on the floor. It was great. :-)
I caught that flight to Long Beach in the morning, then went up to Portland so my mom and I could drive down to Eugene for the Ducks game that night. They won, and I was able to get Clarke a ticket as well! Fun times, but I was SO tired! The rain in the second half helped wake me up, but I slept the whole way back to Portland.
This was the next day (Sunday), outside the Long Beach Airport in California. Many fond memories of this place!
Once I got off the plane in Long Beach on Sunday, I took out my handheld GPS navigator (that I usually use in my car) and searched for the nearest Mexican place, because there is nothing like an authentic LA burrito. This was it! Baja Sonora, about a mile away from the airport. The biggest burrito I have ever had in my life. Delicious!
Finally, this is the proof that I was actually once in San Jose International Airport. I landed, was on the ground for about 45 minutes while the plane was refueled, then took off back to Long Beach on the same exact plane.Anyway, it was a great, but totally insane weekend! As always, you can follow along with my flights at my FlightMemory page.
The Great Circle Mapper for all the flights I will take on the JetBlue pass - 27 in all. See the page
here.
This next weekend (starting tonight) consists of the following: flight out to New York at 10:20 PM from PDX. Arrive at 6:30 AM, then take a flight at 7:45 AM to Boston, where I will spend about five hours with one of my college roommates Max. From there, I will fly to Buffalo, New York, where I have relatives - my Uncle Sam, Aunt Diana and cousins. My Uncle is a teacher too, but he also works part time as a tour guide at Niagara Falls, so he says he can get me a tour for free. Cap off that night with fireworks over the Falls, then wake up early to be at the airport for a 5:30 AM flight to New York. That gets in around 7:17 AM, and my next fight to New Orleans is at 7:40 AM, making it by far the shortest connection I have during this entire month. I will have to sprint to the gate to make it! :-) In New Orleans, I have a good friend who was part of the London Study Abroad program I did at Western Oregon. I'll spend 24 hours there, then go back to Portland, via New York. Total for the weekend: seven flights, 8,155 miles.I hope all of you are well! Keep working hard in school and let me know if I can ever help you out! :-)All the best!
