beaches, bonfires, family

 My last and final post of my little month away series shall be about my five days in Southern California spent with my beautifully amazing family. It was such a joy to relax and spend endless amounts of time on the beach and of course my family. The five days passed quicker than I ever thought they would, but nonetheless, it was so worth it to go visit. As I said, I spent most of the time on the beach, whether it was taking a run with my cousins (and up a terribly hefty amount of stairs), having a bonfire with marshmallows obviously, playing in the very very frigid Pacific, or napping--of course. I loved every minute spent with my family that I unfortunately don't see enough. We packed up one day and walked around Venice Beach, something we might as well call a tradition now since every time we visit our family, we manage to find a way to make it to Venice. The diverse group of people walking around Venice makes it beyond wonderful for people watching--I could seriously do it all day. The family also visited Laguna, Dana Point, and Doheny beaches during our stay. Each night, I savored some more delicious and surprisingly still healthy meals and ugh I really shouldn't rave about the food I had anymore than I already have... On our final evening, we watched thee most stunning sunset: the perfect ending to my month away. 

 

 

 

SEA/TAC--->LAX

 We spent our last day in Seattle by going to the market, had a delicious lunch with the whole family, strolled around Pike's Market and the waterfront. It was sad leaving the city I essentially lived in for three weeks, but again every adventure eventually comes to an end and another one begins. On from Seattle, we went to San Clemente, California to visit más familia--my dad's twin sister and her family. Our flight was delayed from 6:40 to close to 8:30, we still have a stopover in Vegas, and FINALLY made it to LAX nearing 1am, still having to drive an hour (ending up being close to hour and a half due to the 405 being close--at 2am?!) down to San Clemente. Whew, travels.

 ^^woah there, wrinkled skirt..I guess that's what I get for living out of a suitcase for four weeks...

family time in the washington wilderness

My parents and brother came up to visit and see my performances in Seattle my final weekend and after the performances were all done and finished Saturday, Sunday we went for some good 'ole hiking in the mountains. We were originally going to hike down to this giant waterfall (hiding in the background of the photo above) but we found out that those hiking trails don't open until late September. However, that didn't stop us from finding another brilliant place to hike! We made our way to a ski resort (obviously no skiing there at this time of year) called Alpental. We managed to hike seven miles which wasn't entirely horrid until we hit the switchbacks and got to this incredible viewing point of Snow Lake, which was absolutely gorgeous. After being in the city for three full weeks and seeing everything urban, it was so nice to get away from all of the rush and explore the outdoors. Everywhere I turned around out there made me feel like I was in a scene of The Sound of Music. The day couldn't have been more beautiful either; the weather was stunning. It was just lovely getting exercise, fresh air, and much needed family time on this wonderfully scenic hike. 

I also discovered how much of a camera ham my brother is....

backstage shenanigans, saying goodbye

Needless to say my three weeks spent dancing, exploring, learning, and meeting all kinds of amazing people was simply incredible. I clearly don't even know where to begin other than to just rave about my experiences--which I won't drag on about. I guess all I can say is I learned new ways of creating, new choreography, new techniques, and had some awesome discussions about innovating new work. I met some really fabulous people that will forever be fellow collaborators and friends and being at this workshop made me realize how much of the world is at our hands as this generation of dancers. I'm truly grateful to have had this experience. Now...enjoy the rest of my photos from our backstage shenanigans (a lot of solid nap time) and final show after party at Velocity.