Raleigh, NC

After 23 hrs of driving in 48 hrs, Matt and I arrived back in the land of the 60 degree winter. We drove through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and part of North Carolina to get there. and we only got lost once! As a whole, the drive was pretty bleak, but once we got into Kentucky and West Virginia, it was lovely. Despite it being the Christmas traveling season, we saw hardly another car on the road for most of the Kentucky portion. And I-46 East between Huntington and Charleston, W.Va goes through the mountains and is just gorgeous. We drove through at dusk and it made me really want to stop at WinterPlace Resort and go night-skiing. I would have taken pictures but a) I was driving and b) I thought my camera was broken. Luckily, I'm just inept with cameras and it is NOT broken! We got to my parents' house at 10:30 on Thursday night and everyone was waiting up for us, which made for a very nice homecoming. Now I'm just relaxing like a college student on break (miss those days!) and looking forward to Christmas with the family. Thanks again to the awesome Minnesotans who gave up sleeping in on Weds morning to see me and Matt off (especially Hannah)...miss you guys already!

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

My time in Rochester is almost over, and against all odds, I'm very sad tonight. I had my last day at work on Wednesday, and saw some lovely co-workers for the last time. Tonight we had some friends over for a little get together and I spent most of my time pretending that it wasn't the last time I would see them. Ugh, tears. I am such a softie. Yes, I spent quite a bit of my time in Rochester complaining about what the town lacked, but I'm starting to see that I'll miss it a lot! I will especially miss my little Minnesota family - the friends and co-workers who kept me sane even in -20 degree weather. What am I going to do when I can't complain about doctors, c diff, and bed alarms every day?? I can't wait to download some pictures from Hannah (my roommate) and post them on here so everyone can see how attractive our purple scrubs are!

So. The furniture is sold, the clothes are packed, the job is over, and I think it's time for me to get out of Dodge. Peace out, Rochester, I don't think I gave you enough appreciation while I lived here!

The Apostle Islands, Bayfield, Wisconsin

It's now September, and in Minnesota that means we have, at best, another month before permafrost shows up and the polar bears emerge from hibernation. So we (me, and my former roommates Amy and Sarah) decided to take a road trip to celebrate the end of summer. Amy did a little research and decided on the Apostle Islands, a vacation spot in northern Wisconin on Lake Superior. I was thrilled because I had never been "up nort" (as they say) before and who knew that Wisconsin had islands?

So we packed our bags and headed out for a weekend on the lake. It was a five hour drive from home to Bayfield and after we passed Duluth, MN, we got into some gorgeous rural scenery along Lake Superior. I was driving so I didn't get any photos but trust me. We checked out Bayfield for a few hours before deciding to take a cruise on the lake at sunset. It's a cute resort town, lots of art galleries, coffee shops, and restaurants. I even found one Buddhist themed store that had Vegetarian Times (magazine about veggie issues with recipes even carnivores love)! After that it was on to our cruise. And yes, I will use the word cruise even though our boat was far less swanky than anything that implies. It was three hours of sailing around Lake Superior at sunset, checking out the many small Apostle Islands, sea caves, and light houses. I love anything to do with water and boats so I was in heaven.

Top to bottom: Sarah and Amy, the harbor, sea caves, sunset, and the lighthouse on Raspberry Island. The sea caves were by far the coolest thing we saw. They're carved into the base of the islands by the pounding water and on calm days you can kayak or canoe through them. On windy days it's a little trickier because you run the risk of flipping your kayak in the choppy water. Since we're not expert kayakers, nor did we have the bucks to spend on someone guiding us through the caves, we decided just to see them from the boat.

on 8/23/07......

I bought a ticket for my first international flight. a one-way direct flight from Los Angeles, USA to Melbourne, Australia, leaving in January of 2008. let the adventure begin!

getting pumped

whenever i read the comments in the "inspiration" section of BootsNAll I feel like I need to be traveling RIGHT NOW! it's just that moving and inspiring. i spent all day today researching the new zealand part of my trip and I will probably spend most of tomorrow doing the same thing.

Yahoo News is reading my mind!

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-19743364

this is basically the condensed message in the book that inspired me to take time off to travel: "Vagabonding: A Guide to the Art of Long-Term Travel" by Rolf Potts. It's a fantastic book. Whenever I debate buying something that I don't really need, I think of this book and realize that, yeah, I would rather spend this money on hiking in New Zealand or taking a train through Thailand than on a new pair of jeans.

Speaking of hiking in New Zealand, I just found this very enticing travel company. Just looking at the pictures makes me want to leave right now!

The only traveling I've done recently is to Lanesboro, MN. But that's okay, because it's the most adorable small town ever. I missed their "Prairie Home Companion" rhubarb festival there by one weekend! I don't really like rhubarb, but I do like Garrison Keillor. Anyway, my friends and I biked 25 miles along the Root River Bike Trail and ate some amazing vegetarian pesto pizza. I wanted to stop at Whalan, MN's "World Famous" Pie Shoppe, but I settled for ice cream instead. A good weekend!

Minnesota, USA

where the hell is Kate?! well, right now she is still in Minnesota, riding her bike to work, caring for sick people, picking fights with first year residents, dreaming about beaches, and planning to spend the next year traveling overseas. I started this blog to keep family and friends up to date on my travels, which unfortunately won't start until January 2008. In the meantime, I'll probably be hashing out my triumphs and trials of planning this trip. I'll try to break up that monotony by posting cool pictures of life here in Minnesota....yeah, I laughed at that sentence too. On to more interesting things!

THE GIRL
22 years old and never been out of the US before, how sad. I was tired of dreaming about how awesome it would be if i could just quit my job and travel for awhile, and decided to stop whining and do it! I'm excited to break out of the comfortable little bubble I've always lived in, and see how the rest of the world lives. Of course, you don't have to leave the US to do this, but I've had an itch to travel and lose myself and be completely disoriented in foreign lands since I was a teenager. Which is a good thing, since I'll probably end up being completely disoriented 90% of the time I'm traveling.

THE PLAN
1.Fly from LA to Melbourne, Australia to visit my old college roomie Jacinta and perhaps drag her along with me?
2.Sydney, Australia
3. travel up Australia's Gold Coast, possibly to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef
4. Auckland, New Zealand and Tongariro National Park - volcanoes!
5. NZ's South Island has Te Wahipounamu National Park and amazing hiking trails. They go from subtropical rainforest climates to glaciers. Plus, Queenstown has bungee jumping.
6. Fly to Bangkok, Thailand and try not to be completely overwhelmed! Attempt to use the Thai railway system and go from the beaches in the south to the northern hill country.
7. Cross the border from Thailand to Laos in the north.
8. Take a boat down the through the heart of darkness (aka, the Mekong Delta) in Laos and visit Vientianne, the capital, and Luang Prabang.
9. Cross into Vietnam (I've saved my most anticipated part of the trip for last!) and travel along the coast, from Ho Chi Minh City to Ha Noi in the North. Kayak through Ha Long Bay and eat lots of street food while I'm at it.
10. Make my way back towards the Western Hemisphere, either via Morocco, Sardinia, or Greece.

And that's the plan so far. I know it seems like a lot, but I like to think that my stubborness, ingenuity, and generally laid back attitude will help. I'll keep you posted on what happens next!