JetBlue All-You-Can-Jet Weekend #2: Boston, Buffalo/Niagara Falls, New Orleans

Fireworks over Niagara Falls, last Friday.
Hey everyone!

It has been a while since I have heard a peep from any of my former students! I hope you are doing well and staying busy with the new year. I know that I definitely am. Everything is moving so fast! I have to get to bed pretty early tonight because I have a very long Thursday tomorrow (capped off by the Portland to New York red-eye, again), however, I wanted to be sure to post a few pictures of my last weekend. Here you go, with limited commentary:

BOSTON:


This is Paul Revere's house - the oldest still standing in Boston!


Old North Church, where Paul Revere had his men hang lanterns in the steeple - "One if by land and two if by sea!"


The Boston State House, or perhaps more famously, where the Boston Massacre happened!


Boston Harbor, where the Boston Tea Party took place!


This is me and my old college roommate Max, who lives 30 minutes away from Boston and was my tour guide for the day.

BUFFALO/NIAGARA FALLS:


The American side of Niagara Falls.


In front of the falls.


Checking out the falls from the Canadian side of the border, on a huge tower.


The Canadian falls.


Pretty dang impressive, right? :-)


NEW ORLEANS:


This was literally outside my window as we parked at the gate. I felt welcomed.


The New Orleans skyline, with the Superdome on the right. Thousands of people took refuge there during Hurricane Katrina.


Bourbon Street, in the French Quarter. What an experience!


New Orleans gumbo! It was really good!


My friend Erin and I. Erin lives in New Orleans with her husband Josh and generously hosted me for the day!
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That's about it folks! Tomorrow night I am off to the Caribbean! The destination is Saint Maarten, which is half French and half Dutch (The Netherlands). It has some the best plane spotting opportunities in the world. Also, I'm looking forward to kicking back on a sandy beach for once.

Keep checking back for the pictures! I miss all of you! Please keep working hard! :-)

JetBlue All-You-Can-Jet Weekend #1: New York City, Ducks Game, Long Beach

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!

I have a job! And, I'm flying all over the place!

The best tuna melt I have ever had, and some delicious watermelon. Photo by Ryan Bowen.
Dear students,

Wow, that came together fast. As you may know by looking at my last post, I was up in Washington with Ryan for a while, until August 12th, when I drove back to Portland (because my birthday was August 13th). Now, once I got home, I saw this deal that JetBlue Airways is offering:

http://www.jetblue.com/deals/all-you-can-jet/?intcmp=HPHero1Eng_All-You-Can-JetPass

Basically, for $600, you can fly to anywhere they fly, and unlimited amount of times between September 8th and October 8th. You don't even have to pay taxes in the United States (though you do if you choose to fly internationally). 56 destinations, including many places that I would LOVE to go. Also, I know all of you know how much I love flying. So I figured that would be the perfect graduation/birthday present from my parents. I was jumping up and down excited, and still can't really believe it! Can you imagine all the possibilities? Here's everywhere that JetBlue flies (from Portland, they have non-stops to Long Beach, CA and New York City):

http://www.jetblue.com/wherewejet/

I am currently trying to get other people to come with me too. I talked with Ryan, who might be able to, but understandably has some finance issues with it. I also met with Mrs. DeFrance for lunch on Friday (so good to see her!), who was beyond excited about it as well - though I haven't heard back from her yet. Finally, one of my old college roommates, Steven, is pretty much committed to coming. He has family in Bogota, Columbia, who we could stay with. Isn't that just amazing?

Anyway, that is cool. However, this is cooler: on my birthday (the day after we bought the JetBlue pass), my friend Alexis from Lewis and Clark called me because she really wanted me to apply for a job that she was doing. Do any of you remember Mrs. Woicke, who came to supervise me? Basically, she is helping run this really awesome after-school program called Step Up for some Portland Public High Schools. Here's some more information:

http://www.openmeadow.org/open/meadow/schools/C11/

The job is part time, from 1:45 to 5:30, Monday through Thursday. I had an interview today with one of the guys that runs it, and he hired me on the spot! Woo hoo! I will be working with Alexis at Marshall High School this next year - I have other Lewis and Clark friends that are working at other high schools too!

Basically, I will be an after school mentor/tutor for at-risk youth. I'll have 10 students total - 5 on Monday/Wednesday, and 5 on Tuesday/Thursday. I'm still not sure about the specifics, but I think I will be basically teaching and helping them with whatever they are given in their classes at Marshall. I'll also be meeting with their parents frequently and making sure they know what is going on - since the population is about 65% white and 35% latino, it should be a good opportunity for me to brush up on my Spanish!

So, put the two together, and that means that from Sept. 8 to Oct. 8, I will be working part time during the week (getting to sleep in, woo hoo!) and then flying off to all sorts of exotic destinations on the weekend. Could it get any better?

I've already booked the first trip: I will be flying out to New York City on a red eye after work on Thursday, getting in at 6:30 AM on September 11. I'm hoping to go to Ground Zero and take in all of the rememberances and then jet back to Portland later that night - because I really cannot miss the opening Oregon Duck home football game of the season on Saturday 9/12 vs. Purdue - if any of you are going, let me know! :-)

The next day, Sunday, I'm thinking about using the pass to fly down to Long Beach, CA for the day and then come back. Oh wow. This is going to be SO awesome!

Anyway, where do you think I should go? Take a look at the route map and suggest places! For right now, I am thinking that 2 of the other 3 weekends will be Bogota (with Steve) and Cancun, Mexico, where I can go check out the Mayan pyramids of Chichen Itza and Coba.

Seriously, it all came together that fast! It really was an incredible birthday and last few days. I am so excited for school!

Finally, here are some aforementioned photos of what I have been up to lately:


Cliff face off of Cape Kiwanda

Check out what the wind and waves did to this rock over time!


Standing on Canadian ground, at the Peace Arch, where Interstate 5 meets the border.


Gorgeous sunset over Birch Bay, Washington. Ryan's parents get this view every night!

Ryan playing pool in Bellingham, Washington. He beat me, two games to one.

LOVE this picture. It is of an alley in Bellingham. The light was just incredible.

The view of beautiful downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. As seen from Stanley Park, to the north of the city.


Ryan and I went to a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, Vancouver BC. This was his fortune...

... and this was mine. I love it - it is on the inside of my wallet to remind me, haha.

Finally, here's me looking out over the bay towards Canada. Taken by Ryan. Good times. It has been a fantastic summer. Looking forward to getting back to work!
There you have it! Please let me know what you all are up to, and where I should fly to! Have a great day! :-)

Trip Report: Wimbledon, July 2007

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, with the Westminster Bridge in the foreground, over the River Thames. I took this picture on July 8th, 2007.
Hello former students!

Because it is about 95 degrees out and there is nothing to do except stay inside at this point, I figured I would give you all a timely reflection on my trip to the Wimbledon tennis tournament in 2007. I went by myself on the first weekend of my study abroad term in England, and it ended up being absolutely incredible! Since the Wimbledon is heading in to the last weekend of the tournament, here is a look at the last weekend of the tournament two years ago!


Of course, to get anywhere as a traveler in London, you have to take the Underground subway system! It is really easy to get around, once you get the hang of it. I was lucky in the 2007 trip, because I had already been to England 3 times previously, and knew all about it.


Of course, because Wimbledon is the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world (and one of four "Grand Slams"), it was really expensive just to get in! This is my ticket - £14 was about $28 in 2007, though now it is a bit less. This was just to get access to the grounds - it did not allow me to go to any of the big matches, because they were all extra (and sold out)!


On this particular day, the last Saturday of the tournament, American Venus Williams was playing Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli for the women's singles championship. Here is the famous lawn where people can watch the tournament on the big screen - remind you, everyone here had to pay just to get in!


Because I almost immediately realized that I would not get to watch much actual tennis (and I didn't feel like sitting and watching a TV when I was about 200 feet away from the actual match), I started roaming around! I was SO EXCITED when I saw this! As some of you may know from the NBC commercials for "Breakfast at Wimbledon" which will air this weekend (you can hear the theme music, which I love to hum here), strawberries and cream are a huge tradition at Wimbledon, and I didn't care if it cost $4, I was going to get some!


Tell me that your mouth isn't watering! So good! This was possibly my favorite moment of the day - I can say I've had strawberries and cream at Wimbledon! Cool article about the tradition of them here: NYTimes.com - Where the Strawberries Are a Smash.


After the delicious strawberries and cream, I wondered if there was any possible way that I could check out what was happening at Centre Court, where Venus Williams was dominating and about to win another championship. I just walked up to it, and underneath were the ballboys and ballgirls, waiting to go on the court when the match was over! You can watch the end of the match and some of the presentations afterward here. See if you can find me (I have no idea if I am even visible, but I doubt it)!


Once the match was over, people started going down the stairs and out of the stadium, so I took the opportunity to go UP the stairs, and PRESTO, here I was at Centre Court, the most famous place in tennis, about to watch Venus Williams get her trophy! The two hats in the foreground are the two guards who were protecting the stairs, but they didn't seem to care that I was standing right behind them, snapping away!


My camera at the time was super small and had a pretty grainy zoom, but still, you can see Venus Williams on the right there, holding her plate!


Another grainy picture - this one is of Venus's Mother and Serena Williams, her hugely successful younger sister!


Seriously, isn't this incredible! I mean, look at that sky! Perfect day, at the most sacred place in all of tennis! So sweet!


After finding my way out (the guards eventually turned around and told me to move, haha), I came back to the center of the All England Lawn and Tennis Club, to figure out what to do next.


I eventually made it over to sit down and watch a match that I WAS allowed to be at, a random boys doubles event. They were crazy good though - I think they were only 16 or 17 too!


At some point in the day, I also went and bought these - the money went to charity. For about $6, I got these MATCH USED balls! I have no idea who played with them, because they were randomly put in the cans, but I don't really care! I like to think that Roger Federer was swinging them around the day before. Needless to say, I still have them, and no, I have never actually played with them!


Needless to say, it was a pretty amazing day! So amazing, that this guy was camping out overnight for tickets to the Men's Final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (Federer won that year, but Nadal won last year). I love this picture! That guy is the man!

Overall, it was an absolutely incredible experience! I actually never played tennis in high school, but as everyone knows, I am a huge sports fan so I have always followed it. I took up playing tennis much more in college, and now it is probably my second favorite sport, next to basketball. Anyway, thanks for allowing me this trip down memory lane! Be sure to watch the finals of Wimbledon, tomorrow and Sunday! Venus Williams is back the women's final, playing against her sister, Serena! Also, in the men's final on Sunday, Roger Federer is going for his record breaking 15th Grand Slam, which would beat Pete Sampras. American Andy Roddick is going to try to give him a good match I am sure.

Start times are 6 AM PST on NBC for both matches, with the Williams sisters playing tomorrow (on the 4th), and Federer v. Roddick on Sunday. If you don't feel like getting up that early, there is a good chance they will still be going when it reaches the time Period 1 at Westview starts, 7:45 AM. Do yourself a favor and take in some excellent tennis!

Hope all is well - have a an amazing holiday weekend! Enjoy the fireworks!