Bryce Thornton

We just spent 24 hours in Pittsburgh and thought it was a decent city. The purpose of the trip was to see a concert in Millvale on Friday night. Traffic was HORRIBLE in Ohio on our way there and we almost missed the concert. Once the traffic cleared we didn’t have any trouble getting there.

We stayed at a hotel by the universities. This area was nice and busy. School was in, people were all around and it was a beautiful day. We walked around Pitt’s campus and just briefly saw a bit of Carnegie Mellon. The “Cathedral of Learning” was a very impressive building. It looked like it was straight out of a superhero movie. It could have easily been a fictional building in Gotham City.

My one main complaint was the construction around the city. There were multiple occasions when we had to alter our directions because roads were closed. Good thing we had my iPhone to help find alternate routes! I know it’s probably not always like that, but it really did make it tough to get around.

We just got back a few days ago and I already miss it. That may have something to do with the fact that it’s snowing here and was pretty much perfect down there. The weather, the vegetation, the fruit, the wildlife… it was all great.

We stopped and hiked through the Redwoods for a few hours during our trip up the coast. It was a fun time. Surprisingly, we didn’t run into too many people on the trail, so it was a nice quite afternoon.

I’ve driven from Santa Cruz to Vancouver on the PCH. It’s a great trip. My suggestion, take your time and don’t have too strict of a schedule. We enjoyed the fact that we could stop anywhere we wanted without having to make sure we were going to make it somewhere else on time.

I’m headed to Seattle for the first time in late June. My girlfriend and I are flying into San Fran and driving up the coast over the course of a week. Can’t wait.

I just (5 minutes ago) ordered two ticket to go to Buenos Aires in December with my girlfriend. I’ve never been outside of North America before, so I’m super anxious to see what the rest of the world is like. I’m fortunate that my girlfriend knows Spanish, because I don’t know jack squat. She’s going to try to teach me some basics in the next two months, a regular old crash course in Español.

We’ll be staying at a vacation apartment owned by a close friend of the family. This is great because it cuts down the cost of the trip and we’ll actually be able to see what it’s like to live there.

Two more months…

San Diego was really a great place to visit. We stayed in Ocean Beach, which is just north of downtown. The “OB” was a very laid back, stoner type town. If you don’t own a restaurant or a surf shop, then you probably work at one. People there reminded me of The Dude from “The Big Lebowski”. Just takin’ it easy, nowhere in particular to go.

We spent an entire day at Dusty Rhodes park in Ocean beach. Our host had organized a game of “Sloshball” in celebration of our visit. I had never heard of the game, but was all for it when I heard that it involved mandatory drinking and a keg at second base. It was a cross between kickball, dodgeball and cricket. Pretty fun day, besides the fact that my roomate severely sprained his ankle while chasing down a foul ball. He had to hobble around for the rest of the trip.

We also visited Coronado Island. The view from our hotel room that overlooked the ocean was really, really amazing. It would be great place for a wedding, or in our case, to celebrate a friend’s engagement.

On our last day in San Diego we went to Petco Park to check out a Padres game. The park is really nice and located smack in the middle of downtown. The Padres lost, but the weather was great and I enjoyed a few beers at the game. There’s nothing like drinking and eating crap at a ballpark. It just seems right, ya know?

The only downfall of the trip, besides my roomate’s busted ankle, was that we couldn’t really get into the ocean. Apparently, it had rained right before we got there and this led to some very polluted water. It’s a shame, because I’ve never been in the Pacific. I went in ankle deep just to say I did it. A friend of mine who lives out there went surfing in similar water a couple years ago. He got some kind of virus that he now has to take a daily pill for. Balls! That sucks.

I would highly recommend San Diego. The temperature was perfect and the landscape was beautiful. I hope to make it back there one day.

I’ll finally be able to visit Portland thanks to the Open Source Convention in August. Can’t wait.