far and away
It's odd, being underfoot at a friend's place. There's something I love about it - getting to see the flow of someone's daily life - but I'm definitely someone who worries about interrupting habits and preferred timetables, so I always feel a little nervous when I come to visit someone and it's not for some big event (like a wedding, etc.) that shakes up everyone's schedule. Luckily, my friend is a teacher and gets the summer off, so I'm only disrupting summer-break schedules, instead of normal-work schedules.
I told my friend when we set out dates for my visit that I wasn't worried about planning a ton of stuff to do while I'm here. I've visited before (though it's been a minute), so I've seen a lot of the "main stuff" - and they have a baby that needs to be considered when planning outings and events. I figured plans that work for everyone would kind of fall into place and I certainly didn't want her to feel like she had to make massive changes to her schedule to accommodate me when I'm more than happy to just hang out at her house and catch up.
Since she lives a bit of a trek from me, we don't get to see one another in person often. Last time she was in my town, I only saw her for only a few hours and she hadn't been able to bring the baby along (it had been for a work trip). I wanted to come meet him before time flies and he's suddenly, like, five or something. It happens so fast!
I'm a little worried I'm stressing them out by not giving them concrete things I want to do, but honestly, I really just wanted to go see the coffee shop I spent most of my time in while I was up here for work (I got to do that yesterday! It looks exactly the same, despite 7+ years!) and maybe go on a small hike or something. (I'm heading out for that in about twenty minutes!).
The weather is a little chillier than I anticipated, but I think it will be a welcome change compared to how hellishly hot it's been at home. You couldn't pay me to go hiking in my state right now. I would make it half a mile and then lay down under a shady tree until the sun set.
I'm a few hours offset from my usual time zone, but luckily any jetlag has yet to crash into me. I think it's more likely it will get me on the return home, but I suppose I'll have to wait and see. I feel like time changes on trips are overpowered by my sense of excitement and/or anxiety, but once I get back to stasis, all of the time-fuckery has a chance to catch up to me. And catch up, it certainly does.
We woke up around 7 / 8 AM the day after I arrived (the baby wakes up pretty early), drank some coffee, ate some breakfast, and went on a long walk around the neighborhood. Yesterday we went to a bookshop and coffee shop, then came back and read in the sunshine for an hour and played board games - Flamecraft and Explorers. I'm really loving the very relaxed pace of this adventure. Sometimes it's nice just to have a very chill hangout with people you've missed, and there's a nostalgia to this adventure because it reminds me of when this friend & I were roommates, as well as of my time spent up here for work on the train line.
I'll try to snap some nice photos of the waterfall at the end of this hike!
Good luck out there,
Eve