Spring Break: Week 3 (& then Some)

Ok, so I promised the last three days of spring break would be posted soon, so here they are:

Monday the 19th: Never went to bed Sunday night and spent about 2 hours booking ferries and buses to get home. At 5:15 am we shipped out of the hostel to catch our first bus. We were at the airport for an additional three hours before the bus actually came. Then the 51 hour trip began. We got on the bus and proceeded to ride it through part of Spain, along the southern and eastern borders of France and ended up on a ferry to England at some hour of the morning (or night?) when it was still dark. I can't even remember what time this was at, it's all kind of blurred together in a haze....

Tuesday: Aforementioned ferry ride, drive UP England from Southamton to Leeds and get there early afternoon. Upon arrival we hung out in the airport for a few hours, got interviewed by a paper and radio station, and then made our way to the Leeds bus station. We then got on another bus at 6:15 and were on it for the remainder of the evening.

Wednesday: At 2 am we hopped on a ferry and finally made it to Dublin. We then caught the 7:15 bus to Galway and got back around 11:30 am. Whew. 17 days after leaving, I can finally sleep in a room with just me and take a shower in my own bathroom :)

So now that that's done, moving on! Today was a lovely SUMMERY day, complete with freshly cut grass, sunshine, IT WAS WARM, and there was a delightful little breeze. Can't ask for much more, I'd say :) Which is what brings me to my next point: Why summer is awesome.

Let's start with a general background, shall we??? Growing up my summers consisted of taking care of the flower and vegetable gardens (and thus was born my love of all things green and living), jumping on the trampoline, sleeping on the trampoline, eating boxes and boxes of Otter Pops, painting (barns, fences, the house once, etc. etc.), and hanging out in Utah with the cousins for weeks, if not months, at a time. Jolly good! So those were the wonderful warm months until my sophomore year of high school. For the next three summers I ended up working as an office gopher. Not bad considering what most high school jobs are like--this one was mostly just a lot of office work. As a bonus, my mom worked there (meaning that if I got bored I could go bother her and she would try to teach me AutoCAD, which I found out I DO NOT have the patience to learn). The last summer I worked in the office (after my senior year), I also had a part time job mowing lawns. I worked with a 79 year old man that had a mouth like a sailor and it was a terrifically fun job :)

After I started college, I decided that I liked being outside for these 3 glorious months and consequently got a job working for my neighbor doing farm and ranch work. LOVED. THIS. JOB. I got to be outside ALL day, drive big machinery (and learn how to fix it. amazing!), and come home every night covered in tractor grease and hay and completely exhausted :) That particular summer was odd in the fact that while the days were nice and sunny and rather warm, it rained A LOT in the evenings. Also that summer, the little bro was working in the mountains for 10 day stretches at a time so he was never home, leaving me alone with the parentals. What was I to do? Get home around 7 every night, take a shower, eat dinner, go out and sit on the porch on a rocking chair and practice my guitar or read. I saw some good sunsets that way, also. For example:


Now we get to the other things that I like about summer now that y'all know the major ways in which they have been spent. Here are the things I like:
-The smell of warm asphalt
-Snow Cones in Choteau...and the ice cream parlor
-Warm nights
-Running around in the dark on warm nights
-Hiking Palisade Falls on warm nights (my favorite time of the day during summer is night, can you tell?)
-The 4th of July!!! (and going to the Evenson family reunion every year :D)
-Barbecues on the porch
-Music on Main
-Riding bikes
-Floating the river
-Playing with Squirt on the front lawn
-Saturday adventures

Hmm...I think I have comprehensively covered just about every aspect of summer imaginable. I am quite excited that it has finally decided to arrive and I can once again whip out the Birkenstocks and/or flip-flops and give the feet an old breather from the sneakers :)

This is where I leave you, but not before the music recommendation of the day, three actually. Song: "You've Got the Love" by Florence + the Machine. Re-discovery: "Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane. Artist: Imogen Heap. Amazing. Over and out.