the SF/Bay Area recap

by the numbers...

• 5360: approximate number of miles flown, round-trip.
• 11: hours spent flying.
• 56: hours spent in the Bay Area.
• 90: minutes spent in San Francisco. (yes, minutes.)
  
• 12: miles run with fellow LUNA teammates.
• 2: ice baths, after runs.
  
• 8-10: inches of snow Boston got while i was gone.
  
• 5-ish: times i kicked myself for not applying to grad schools in CA...
• 0: times i thought of work, decisions, or anything remotely stressful.

the Bay Area is absolutely stunning! things i expected: warm weather, beautiful hills, good times. things i did not expect: breathtaking running routes, early-morning and after-sunset romantic fogs, and more green than i've seen in a very long time...


besides the near-perfection that is the Bay Area, the flight just getting there was incredible. it was super-early, so i passed out for the majority of the first 2 hours. when i awoke, i looked out the window to see where we were...and found myself staring down at Lake Michigan and the miniature-model skyline of Chicago, the Sears Tower just a speck on the horizon. later i got to take in the Rockies and the Grand Canyon from 35,000 feet. and it was all so beautiful, so humbling, so freeing. seeing places i know decently well (Chicago), as well as places of great wonder i've visited only once (the Grand Canyon) from an entirely new perspective left me a speechless and giddy girl, flashing grins out from the side of an aircraft to the world below.



i felt very small. i felt pretty freaking insignificant. it felt refreshingly good.

i've seen a lot of the US, 47 states to be exact (anyone want to road trip to Idaho, Utah, or Delaware??). but something about flying the width of the country for 6 hours, and getting to see some pretty stellar sights along the way, gave me a surge of pride and respect and thankfulness for this country that i've been missing for too long. in the midst of the city i had forgotten how diverse and captivating our land really is.

i also forgot just how much my love to travel and explore new places and meet new people is, well, me. and that left me even more excited for a couple weeks in June in which i will do a lot of those three things. yay.