White Water Rafting the Wenatchee

My friend Dharani and I headed to eastern Washington the weekend after I graduated with my Masters for a white water rafting adventure on the Wenatchee River.  We spent the night at my aunt’s house in Leavenworth and woke up early the next morning to head to Cashmere, where our adventure began.  We poured ourselves into our uber attractive wetsuits and took some pictures while we waited to board the yellow school bus that took us to our launch spot.

I think we were both nervous since the river was higher than normal for the time of the year and there had been reports of some tragedies on the river in weekends past.  After a quick safety training, we took to the rapids of the river and I snapped some pictures with my new waterproof camera when I wasn’t busy paddling as if my life depended on it.

Of course the pictures they took captured the intensity of the day much better:

I look forward to my next white water rafting experience since the trip was so much fun and definitely gave me an awesome adrenaline rush!  Since then, I have been getting lots of tips for good places to go to and can’t wait for next summer.  Of course before our adventure was over, though, Dharani and I stopped at the adorable Anjou Bakery for an afternoon snack.

Atlanta!

I arrived in HOTlanta ready to visit my friend Christopher in a lovely suburb of the city.  I had a great first day rocking out to some Nicki Minaj and walking around a lovely park while catching up.

Over the weekend, we had fun exploring the offerings of downtown Atlanta and had a fun night out with Tia, my old roommate from Memphis. 

In the morning, we headed over to Mary Mac's Tea Room, one of the only existing tea rooms left in Atlanta and a place that many famous personalities and political figures have eaten at over the years.  They had the most amazing southtern home cooking and more sides than anyone could ever dream of!  I even bought a recipe book since I hope to bring the amazing home-cooked food they have to the Pacific Northwest.

Christopher and I were supposed to spend another night downtown, but with an expected snowstorm decided to head back to the suburbs for the night.  The next morning, we awoke to almost a foot of snow...something that only happens once a decade or so in Atlanta.  After watching a cooking show, we were inspired to venture through the snow to a neighborhood grocery store and buy all the ingredients we needed to make our very own homemade pizza (and might have made snow angels as well).

After my flight was delayed a day and then I missed my rescheduled flight due to a jackknifed semi on the freeway, I finally made it on the plane back to Seattle.  It was a great trip indeed!

Los Angeles!

When I opened up the e-mail informing all new interns of the location for training, I could not have been happier to see that we were assigned to go to Los Angeles instead of San Jose.  Don’t get me wrong.  San Jose is interesting with all the technology firms and other companies headquartered there, but Los Angeles offers a much more interesting nightlife and culture. 

During our first couple days, we didn’t have much time to go exploring, but did get a chance to have a social at the Santa Monica pier where I swear we saw someone that looked like Jesus on the boardwalk (no shoes, long hair and white robe included) and had a chance to ride some of the rides. 

We even got a chance to see the Staples Center all set up for one of the Twilight movie premiers. 

The real fun was on the weekend, though.  Rather than fly back to Seattle on Friday and back to LA on Sunday, I stayed in the area for a mini vacation and some great sightseeing.  I got an amazing five-star hotel through Priceline which was on the same street as some of the well-known production companies such as MGM and Fox and within walking distance of Rodeo Drive.  Did you know that if you want to use the signature "Beverly Hills" sign in a movie or something, you have to pay tons of money because apparently it is copyrighted?  Who knew?!  I sure did feel like a bit of a princess being able to spend time in such a nice place!  One of my friends even told me that the hotel was featured on America’s Next Best Model!

I bought a 2-day pass on a double-decker bus tour which had a departure from Rodeo Drive and other popular places all over the city.  Within one day I was able to see the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (or LACMA), the tar pits, Melrose Avenue (where I got the most fabulously sequined dress), the Los Angeles Market and finished my night at one of the largest outdoor malls in the LA area.  It just happened to be conveniently located right next to my hotel! J

Even though it was $25 each way to get a taxi from my hotel to the Getty Center, it was well worth the fare.  It was amazing to walk around the grounds and view the amazing architecture, gardens, sculptures and artwork that cover the walls of the many buildings.  I even took a garden tour and learned all about how the gardens were created to not only appeal to visitors visually through interacting with the designs in the buildings, but also audibly because of the different sounds that the leaves of the trees made when they moved with the wind.

Before meeting back up with the other interns, I found time to walk around the Fashion District and even buy some great silk fabric that I want to make into a dress!

During our next week of training, we found the most amazing rooftop lounge which I would highly recommend for anyone traveling to LA.  The Standard was a great place to unwind from a long day of learning all about how to audit (and apparently a place frequented by one of Kanye's ex-girlfriends)!