San Diego Wedding, Amand and Colm

My long time high school and college friend, Amanda Gaeto, finally tied the knot with her Irish bred lover Colm Kenny. An occasion of this magnitude brought all my close friends to San Diego to celebrate the wedding and to have a few wild and crazy nights of partying. Amanda had her wedding at the prestigious Thursday club in Point Loma. The following photos provide a better description of the wedding than me writing a wordy description.

Colm and Amanda

Santa Cruz gang together again

I got myself a pretty nice suit

The fun began before the wedding

G pa's 80th B-day and in Love - Colorado Springs

Not very many people live to see 80 years and definitely not many people turn 80 years old on August 8, 2008 (8/8/08). For this special occasion the Helmer family met up in Colorado Springs at the Broadmor five star resort to celebrate Grandpa's 80th birthday in the likes of movie stars and dignified professionals. My Grandpa's fiance and recently reunited high school sweetheart, Virginia and her family also united with the Helmer's for one wild weekend.



This was my first trip where I got the chance to explore the front range of the Rockies.



The Helmer Family and Virginia

The Broadmor is what I would expect life to be like if I was a millionaire. It was tough adjusting to the level of service provided by the resort. After a life of being dependent on yourself, it was strange to have one of the resorts employees at your beck and call every hour of the day/night. In my opinion, a five star resort is a lazy man's resort. I will admit that it was fun to pretend that we were rock stars, at least for a few days.



Fine dining and beautiful atmospheres were the norm. Grandpa and Virginia also had a great time. Together they are like two teenagers falling in love for the first time. It is really cute in a strange sort of way.

Rachel and I also had fun indulging in some of the fine qualities of life.



At the Garden of the Gods out side of Manitou, Colorado, I got to play on some red rocks.

Not much to say about these photos

San Elejo with the Kids

Now that my buddy Joe is back in town with his kids, I've had more opportunities to play the domestic role of Crazy Uncle Chris. Today we took the kids down to San Elejo where Robin and her family had a beach campsite for the week. Joe's kids ran amok and I borough my camera along to document.

Pilgrimage to Washington DC

All good things must come to an end and so must my California road trip, but for good reasons. All my hours in coffee shops job hunting is starting to pay off. I came back to San Diego for two interviews with local consulting firms. At home I got the chance to hang out with Joe Brennan and his family who also coincidentally moved back to San Diego this month. While hanging at the Brennan compound Dan mentioned that he was flying a cessna 210 across country to Washington DC. Still jobless and homeless I found no reason not to tag along. Anyways, I have yet to make my American pilgrimage to our nation's capital.

It took us 15 hours to fly from San Diego to DC. Small aircrafts travel at much slower speeds and at much lower altitudes than typical commercial flights. It also has considerably more turbulence, especially when you are dodging afternoon thunderstorms. But it is one of the best ways to experience the dynamic terrain of the country. Dan and I did the flight in two legs, stopping for one night in the heart land of America, Bryersburg, Tennessee.

I was very easily entertained during my five day trip to DC. I staid most of the time with Casey Brennan and also a night with my fellow Bren grad and close friend Anne Middleton. Casey has been in the area the last four years is pretty well established. Whether BBQing, drinking beer from his kegorator, playing water polo, blue berry picking, or having crazy nights on the town, Casey was always up for the next adventure.

While in DC I also got the chance to play the tourist. I hit up more Smithsonian's than I can count an saw the usual mega structures. I have to say that I visiting the capital made me proud to be an American.

Washington Monument

White House

Capital Building

Jobless and Homeless

What is the best thing to do when you don't have a job and don't have a place to live? Go on a California road trip! I am fortunate to live in such a beautiful state and have a wonderful network of friends that actually want me to come visit.

My first stop was in Santa Barbara where a contingency of my Bren friends were still bumming around town. The week was full of biking, hiking, surfing, job hunting, and capped off with a Goleta dive bar pub crawl on bikes.

We took over Costello's house for a BBQ. What is not shown is how close the Goleta fire burned to his house.

I met up with Claire in Santa Cruz. It has been almost two years since my last trip to Santa Cruz. I finally got to show Claire a bit of what my college experience was like.

My old house at 311 Assembly Way

Tree Nine still stands as a testament of Santa Cruz's hippiness

Hell Hole, and it is as dark and ominous as its name.

I drove north of Santa Cruz and camped for the night just south of Pigeon Point. I initially tried to stay at the hostel on the point but not surprisingly all the rooms were taken. I pulled my truck off highway 1 to the edge of the bluffs and had a very cold night. I yet again was able to put mexican blanket to use.

Pigeon Point lighthouse. This is the view from my camp spot.

The farthest north I got on my mini California vacation tour was San Francisco/Berkeley area. I got to hang with Ashley and experience a little bit of her bay area summer.

Vagabundos de Baja

After finishing my exhaustive graduate school career I took a well needed break and met up with my good friend Chris for a two week adventure of fishing and remote beach camping in vast desert of Baja California. Below I have posted some pictures that share only part of our Vagabundos de Baja experience. If I get ambitious in the coming weeks I might add a few stories to this blog. A long story short, we explored a lot of secluded beaches, slept under the stars, ate fresh fish tacos every night, and always had a bottle of tequila on hand.

Me enjoying a cold beer in the 95 degree heat

Chris Craven my traveling companion

Fishing from the beach at Las Aranas de la Ventana

Another Gulf of California sunset over the mountains

We caught our own dinner every night

Fish on!

Jack Crevalle

Craven's Rooster Fish

Mine was bigger

Assortment of snappers and a grouper

The fire was for ambiance because even at night temperature was hot

The rocks at Punta Macudo were an assortment of greens, reds, pink, and white

Rocks can also be nice to sit on

Halibut at the Wall

Don't you wish you were here