I'm Baaaaaaaack!

Vacation kicks ass, but its nice to be home.

Lets see if I can bulletpoint the whole trip for you:

Tennessee & Bonnaroo:

Awesome. The Smokey Mountains are as beautiful as Dolly makes 'em out to be. When the dawnbreak cracked through the fog, and as the treeline seemed smaller, my breath was yanked from my chest in disbelief at the beauty. I saw the "smoke" for which this amazing piece of earth was named. Amazeballs.

Little Rock: Lame-o. I got to see some junior-senator-somethingerother campaign speech down on the waterfront. Unlike getting to see the Tennessee mountain's namesake at full majesty, if this is what the good people of Little Rock think grandstanding is supposed to look like, well, they're certainly mistaken. More like sham-standing. Har Har.

Shawnee: Awful. Went to a diner and wasn't approached until heterosexual best friend Chris joined me. "Tolerance" in action. They "tolerated" me sitting there, without service. Hate reaches far. Also: their Super 8 made me want to die inside. I'd have rather stayed in a tent (I tried!)

Oklahoma City: Gettin' better. Sometimes I love the ridiculousness of these United States. Shawnee may have left me feeling terrible, Oklahoma perked me right back up. Why? They had a Pepsi billboard that read "Howdy." A few bus stops down 14th Street in DC we have one that reads "Yo!" As y'all know, I sure do love me a colloquialism! OK City was definitely A-Okay.

Amarillo: Cute little town, with some great food. I may have finished a delicious Dos Equis Michelada and a savory-spicy Shrimp Enchilada. And by "may", I mean I did. And, fine, it wasn't one michelada and enchilada, it was two. Yum!

Albuquerque: Neat as all get out. We saw a snippet of a ghost tour, had some delicious locally roasted coffee, and hunted for an armadillo.

Vegas: Heart! Heart Heart! Chris and I successfully snuck into the Flamingo's pool and had a margarita in the sun.

Finally, LA and Santa Monica: Great! I did tons of yoga with Bryan Kest and his teachers, as well as with Vinnie Marino at Yoga Works. A class every day, as well as a few runs to Marina Del Rey via Venice Beach, as well as a couple down to the Santa Monica pier. I only went out on the pier once, towards the end of my trip, but at least I saw it a few times. I was far more interested in the other side of the town, clearly. It was a little tourist-trappy for my liking down on the pier, but they had a New York Trapeze School and deligthful margartias, so it most def gets a passing score.

The air quality and the fact that you have to drive everywhere? Not so much. Give me DC any day. But, thats all Santa Monica stuff. I also did two evening in West Hollywood (aptly nicknamed WeHo), enjoying the city in the company of an old friend and making some new ones, as well.

One of those new friends managed to get us into a taping of the Price is Right, and I managed to make it onto the stage (but only maybe onto the show). In what was, without question the most surreal portion of my trip, I taught Drew a few Down Dogs. This is no easy title to earn, considering I had run ins with teletubbies at one point (seriously).

And now I'm home. And feeling feeling a little rusty. The jetlagged whooped my tail somethin' fierce.

Unlike Regis & Kelly, getting up bright and early is freakin' hard for me. I've been trying to learn to wake up at 7 or 8 am for the past three months or so, and vay-kay thew that right out the darn window. I'd gotten pretty good at it there for a minute, but throw in some cocktails and a three hour time difference, and I had (until today) only managed to get up by 10. I woke up at 10 yesterday, and was in bed by 11. Did I mention I only taught on class and napped for most of the afternoon?

Today I think I've gotten it mostly beat. I was up at 5:30 am for a nice six miler, and taught my class over at the SEC at 7:30 sharp. I missed my students! I also managed to get a lift in. What does all this mean? Back to the routine and maintenance that is required for Mid City Mike the person, Mid City Mike the blog, and his company, Mid City Yoga. Lets get sexy and successful together, shall we?