Lonesome on the road

 So here I am, sitting in my hotel in Ashland, Oregon, waiting for the first play of my trip to begin a bit later. I started thinking about the things I'd like to share about my summer adventures, but because so much of my vacations have been solo, this seemed like a mostly satisfying compromise. 

Two years ago, I took a couple short trips - one to Santa Cruz with one of my best friends; and one to the Midwest to see a power metal festival and catch some Twins games on their home field. At least for the first one I had some company. Amanda took me to see Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time (I didn't particularly love it) at a midnight showing full of super fans; we browsed a local bookshop where I encountered the first book in Becky Chambers' awesome sci-fi series; and we went down to the beach and chilled. 

On my trip to the Midwest, I started in Minnesota. I'd never been, despite my grandparents being born there. I had tickets for 3 games against the Tigers, plus a VIP tour. Target Field is a great ballpark, but I'm not going to wax poetic about baseball. At this point, you know I love it and you humor me. I had a great time, though I will never skip a chance to remark on how the swag bag I got from the tour was entirely made up of extra stock of previous giveaway promo items. It was really a grab bag of "shit we gave away to the first 5,000 people 2 years ago." Then I headed to Madison, Wisconsin for Mad with Power fest, a self-stylized metal and arcade festival put on by a local band, Lords of the Trident. Some of my favorite bands were playing that year, so off I went. It was my first multi-day musical festival, but lucky for me it was indoors and niche enough that it wasn't super crowded. 

Last summer, of course, was my ballpark road trip. Though I was alone, that was probably my favorite vacation. Lots of quiet drives, interspersed with being surrounded by 30,000 baseball fans. I traveled through 9 states over 13 days and put 4k miles on my car. I saw 6 Major League games and 1 Minor League game, in Albuquerque. I tend to be the type who wants to watch the game, so I didn't explore the parks as much as I could have. Coors Field notably has a festive atmosphere, but I don't drink much anymore and, being alone, didn't have the gumption to go socialize with strangers. The cities were generally great, but I carve out particular distinction for Denver and Albuquerque; Denver has a great downtown area and New Mexico is frankly beautiful. I'd like to visit both again. 

One thing I noticed about that trip was that at the end of two weeks, I was refreshed and restored and ready to get back to work. Lately I've struggled to stay motivated at work, so I am hoping that my current two weeks off will once again help improve my mood in that regard. 

This current trip started in Lake Tahoe, so that's where I'll start the writeup - next time. Stay cool, stay hydrated!