OK you've been warned. I’m actually writing this note (after a considerable absence from this blog) on the plane to Atlanta, where I will begin my internship tomorrow morning. The last several weeks have been rather hectic, however, and I wanted to take some time to recap before digging into the details of our upcoming adventure.
Fortunately, we found a Wharton MBA student to sublet our apartment in Los Angeles for the summer. She is very nice and reminds both of us of Melinda in some respects. We couldn’t have been happier with the arrangement except for one small detail – her internship with Hulu started on June 1, and my classes at UCLA finished June 4. We ended up spending our last 1.5 weeks in LA staying with our wonderful friend Priya in her amazing Santa Monica apartment overlooking the ocean. During our ‘homeless’ stint in Santa Monica, we discovered several of the amazing restaurants along Main Street, including Le Grande Orange, the Urth Café, and Shoups (I recommend the Vinnie Breakfast Sandwich, named after Priya’s boyfriend Vinny).
After a wonderful stay in Santa Monica and a few stressful last days at school, we packed every cubic inch of our car and headed out. As we prepared to leave, we saw that the van from the A-Team movie was parked across the street. Little things like that kill me about LA.
After taking my pic with the van, we set off for Vegas, where we met up with some friends celebrating Randy Loerke’s final days of bachelordom. A few laughs and lost dollars on the roulette table later, we carried on to Flagstaff. The road from Vegas to Flagstaff took us over Hoover Dam, and we stopped to take a look at the remarkable engineering feat. Melinda had never seen the dam before and was thoroughly impressed. I look forward to visiting in the future when we can spend more time and take some dam pictures. That’s right, I really am Clark Griswold.
The smell of the pine forest in Flagstaff made me even more excited to travel on our way to New Mexico where we would spend the next few days at the cabin. First, however, was a trip to the Frontier, our favorite restaurant in Albuquerque, where we met Uncle Bart and my cousin CJ for some green chile. Over lunch, we bored CJ and Melinda with what I found to be an interesting discussion about Bart selling the Kinney Agency the week before. It sounded like a very good situation for Bart and the company as a whole – as Bart said, “Grandpa Kinney would have been proud.” The Kinney Agency plays an incredibly important part of my life story. In many ways, I think that Grandpa’s work founding the agency inspired my interest in the business world. Although it is sad to see the Agency itself change hands, I am very proud of the efforts of my Grandpa and Uncle Bart to build such a tremendous company that has meant so much to our family.
The cabin was the next stop after the Frontier, and we spent two great days there. Despite the unseasonably warm temperatures, we had a great time in our favorite place on earth. A dinner with our friends Carol and Annelle King was particularly entertaining. The Kings were nice enough to introduce us to Coconut Bliss ice cream which we absolutely loved. It is a non-dairy, organic, fair trade, yada yada ice cream made from coconut milk. We thought it was delicious, but I wouldn’t rank it above the delicious sopapillas at Rivera’s in Pecos.
Following our stay at the cabin, we set off across the plains for Wichita. Ever since I started working, I have had fewer and fewer opportunities to make the drive from KS to the cabin. Every time, I find that I truly miss the wide open spaces of northeast New Mexico and southwest Kansas. Perhaps its because the drive is associated with being with the cabin, but for some reason, I love that drive every time I have the opportunity to take it. On the way home, we stopped for an hour to talk with my Grandpa Norton and his wife Barbara. We’re pretty sure they think we’re crazy for embarking on all of these adventures and most days I think they’re right.
At 10:15, we rolled into Wichita where we spent the next several days resting, seeing family and friends, and packing our bags. Time for another adventure.
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