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I'm now going to San Diego for work instead of San Jose. Normally, that would be a blessing, but it seems that the month of May in San Diego is notoriously cloudy. Everybody here calls it "May Gray.&qout; So much for the "70 and sunny" I was promised!

Just prior to coming out to San Diego, I spent a weekend in Napa with some people from work. We had quite the group; we ended up with 16 people on the first day. We started the day at Chateau Montelena to taste their award-winning Chardonnay. I ended up buying one of their Zinfandels. We then moved on to Sterling, where we had a tram ride and a self-guided tour, and I purchased a Sangiovese. We then went to V. Sattui for lunch, followed by a final tasting at Gustavo Thrace in downtown Napa. Finally, we went to Rutherford Grill for dinner. The following day, four of us continued on to Sonoma. The first tasting room, Tin Barn, was actually in a warehouse. All of their wines were amazing, and I had a difficult time deciding what to purchase, but I eventually bought a Zinfandel and a Pinot Noir. We then went to the Mayo Reserve Room, where I found two more I liked: another Zinfandel and a Port. We then had some local pizza for lunch, and headed for the airport.

This last weekend, I went to Portland. I had never been there before, and I decided I wanted to go. Apparently, it's usually grey and drizzly this time of year, but I lucked out, as it was sunny the whole weekend. I spent Saturday hitting up the sights in the city, from the rose garden to the Japanese garden, to going up Mt. Tabor. I finished the evening by taking sunset photos of the city from across the river. The following day, I drove to Mt. Hood, and then made my way back to Portland along the Columbia River, stopping to see some of the area's beautiful waterfalls. I then made my way to the airport.

I'm now getting ready for my next trip, two weeks in Vietnam!

Over the past few weeks, I have been across all four time zones of the continental United States, and then some. I took a trip to the Bahamas to attend the wedding of a good high school friend, which took place on Great Guana Key. The small island has a mere 200 inhabitants, and everybody gets around via golf carts. It took me three planes and a ferry to get there, but the long trip was worth it.

Just last week, I visited my college roommate, who is now living in the Seattle area, working for Microsoft. He was an awesome host, showing me some of the best photo spots around Seattle. I really couldn't have asked for anything more. We also went out to the Bloedel Reserve, where I got even more photos. I'm now anxiously awaiting our future trip to Victoria.

My dad decided he needed to get away, and I think he chose the farthest place away that speaks English. He was there for a month, and he told me that I was welcome to join him. After a great deal of debate, I decided to go for a week, and just visit the south island. The last time I went, it was winter in the southern hemisphere; this time, it was summer, and the weather was beautiful. I was able to show my dad some of the spots I had visited last time, and we also got to see some new things as well. Though I drove by Mount Cook the last time, there were too many clouds to even see the mountain. This time, not only did we see it, but we hiked almost up to the base of the mountain. The Southern Alps are one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world, and Mount Cook is the crown jewel. It was well worth the drive from Wanaka. We stayed in Wanaka for two nights; the rest of our nights were in Queenstown. We visited some of the nearby Central Otago wineries, went up the gondola to the top of the mountain that overlooks the city, and even took some day trips to Milford and Doubtful Sounds.

Really, my only complaint is the ridiculous amount of time it takes to get there and back. Eight days was just long enough to justify the trip. To make matters worse, the wonderful United States, in all its wisdom, is now requiring complete searches and pat-downs of everybody entering the country, before they even board the plane. This meant that, in coming back home, I got to go through security three times, get two pat-downs, and have my carryon bag searched. What fun.