around the town.. country

crazy cloud formations in oklahoma, a surprisingly green state for the most part.

the guys.

for the record, new mexico is beautiful.

this is our beach. seriously though. no one else at all.
and the biggest waves you have ever seen.
awesome stop.


tim and james taking the plunge. this is in yosemite park.

me and buddy timmy.

loose silt on the ocean floor...

... constantly upturned by a new presence or movement in the water. this has been my brain.

my thoughts are finally settling a little (i think). taking a road-trip has a distinct way of muddling every thought you attempt aside from the happenings of that very trip. i do not have many experiences with road-trips, but i did just return from one, so i feel qualified to generalize about such adventures. you are so caught up in what is happening, day after day cool experiences or beautiful scenery, that somehow you are not thinking as you normally do, but rather with a perspective custom-fit for this trip. changing locations every couple days or sometimes more frequently, it becomes so difficult to be realistic. so you resort to the wide-eyed, knowing that you are small in the scheme of such a huge landscape. this applies both to specific sights and also to a drive from coast to coast and the massive acreage in between, each inch possessing its own quality that separates it from the next.

furthermore, the trip was fun. i thought this one very often. one amazing thing after another, a blessing received from a host, an incredible sunset, a providential move of God.. day after day.

it is hard to be specific when it was 17 days of stuff. the sort of trip where the things that happened come out over time, but not told in succession. it is just too daunting a task. if i were to give that one thing that felt the best, the moment or series of moments equalling an experience... i have to say it was getting to surf 4th street beach in Del Mar (S.D.) at sunset one night. it was the kind of feeling you never plan to forget. you cannot. it is too brilliant. the red orb of the sun dropping off the face of the earth, working magic with the water stretching before you, after you have just come in from the best surf-session of your life, and it doesn't even matter that you are not good at surfing. it takes nothing from the feeling of standing there, shivering, but so warm despite it all. you never want it to end, but you know it will very soon, and you will be left to look back on the memory. but you are okay with that. I am okay with that, because it retains it vividness, as all special memories do.

i guess this is a taste of the journey, a journey with so many tastes that it is hard to avoid the conjoining of all of them together, where none of them retain their individual flavor. let's hope this is not imminent!

i took over 1000 pictures i think, so i will put some on the blog soon, and many many more on flickr. look for them.

and then there was the beach.

what better way is there to spend a weekend than to go to the beach? very few, friends. the fullest time spent, energy exerted, and sun rays soaked in. very cool. of course, it wears you out more than a weekend maybe should, but it sure is worth that sacrifice. the scenario for me was as follows: hang out with drew for an hour friday dinnertime. good way to start. then continue on to charleston that night and stay at KOA in a tent, accompanied by james and tim. get up at 8 and get to dunkin donuts before getting out for some morning surfing. once at the shore, it's on. surf, eat, play bocce, and maybe a little sunburn, but only a little.

we surfed sunday as well, and left the beach in the late afternoon. and it was a sweet trip, great to be with a couple guys, just able to have fun away from the hometown, you know? of course we were three of the four who will traverse the country en route to california next week, so that will be plenty of time for such fun and distance. that will get interesting, you can be sure.

until then, i am home working some more, just to get my fill before some big time off.

my sunday with a big red ball

sunday afternoon is the time. the time that passes slowly, allowing plans or no plans. that makes it a unique time, and i love it. for me, this sunday was freedom. get home from church, take a long nap, eat sunday dinner, take another nap (cant you tell saturday night was 4 hours of sleep?), and now be awake enough to live and breathe.



i decided to have a little photo shoot. by myself. this called for the timer on my camera, so that was just the thing i'd do. it was the big red ball shoot, and it was a smashing success. i guess you could say i am a bit of a dork for doing this, but i had fun with it nevertheless. you say whatever you'd like.
sunday is also a day that i have a chance to call people that i have not been able to at all during the week, so i got to do that as well. and run. i always do that, kind of because i have to, but it can feel good sometimes too. oh well, all of this was my sunday; it was a good sabbath, gracias a Dios.




















That's right: spread the love.. do it!

michael and me

michael kendall came to asheville this weekend, and he stayed with me. and it was good.

saturday, in the late afternoon, we made our way up to the blue ridge parkway, and 18 miles later we happened upon craggy gardens. no actually, we planned to end up there, no coincidence. when we arrived, we decided on finding somewhere off the beaten path if we could. the beaten path is never too cool if others are treading it all the while. so we set foot on rock and slope and such, searching for the winning spot, and constantly coming up short. nevertheless, we had the clock on our side, since the sun is out until 9pm or so these days, so we kept our heads about us and kept pushing onward. sure sounds epic, but it was not. it was just a relaxing day on the beautiful parkway.

we found it. our spot. and it is our spot. about 25 feet above the road, but only 15 feet off it. pretty close, but tucked beyond bushes and on a rock, it was a great find. this was our place to chill, and we chilled. yes. quality rommate time is never taken for granted. not by this guy!

if you'd care to see some some photos, more than what you see here, flickr is always the place to be! be there!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7432704@N02/

The Lake

This is the Lake Lure to which i referred. This last one looks kind of like "Survivor" or something.

the week-end off

i had the weekend off, meaning it was imperative that i go somewhere... no not really, but i wanted to do it. and i did it. i left for a couple days. first i went to graduation on friday night and it was over 2 hours long! do i need to say more? but i did see many peoples that i have not seen in quite awhile, and that was good i think.
anyway, me and about 15 guys went to lake lure, a lake an hour or more away. the purpose was for a bachelor's party for a friend of mine, and it was a really fun time of chilling on the dock and swimming and such. really peaceful and relaxing. and a good way to spend that week-end off :)

maybe the roommate will stay with me this weekend. if he knows what's good for him...