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10 for Summer '07: #5 Las Vegas

Photo by Flickr user tricky

Yep, Las Vegas. Some people hate it - I love it. It doesn't hurt that I like to gamble. Get me a seat in a sports book and I'm a happy camper. And, counterintuitively, I think the best time of year to go to Las Vegas is during the summer. Yes, it's 115 degrees outside - but who goes to Vegas to spend time outside, anyway?

The first time I went to Vegas was in high school, when we used to go to run cross country meets at UNLV. It sounds like a recipe for disaster - a bunch of high school kids in Las Vegas, and yep, it pretty much was. But it instilled in me a sense of fun and nostalgia for the place. No matter what age or stage I'm in, I've always had a great time.

10 for Summer '07: #6 Washington D.C.

Photo by Flickr user Foto Blitz Color


I think one of the very few times I've cried in public was the first time I saw the Lincoln Memorial - it was 1995, and I was in Washington D.C. for a long vacation. For my last quarter of college and the summer after, I lived in D.C. for two back-to-back newspaper internships. It was, by far, my favorite part of college. You can't really beat going to White House press conferences when you're 21.

I've been back once since then, for my friend Laura's wedding. It still amazes me how impressive and formal the city is - despite all the increasing moronic business that goes on there, it looks like the place where the richest country in the history of the world should be run from. (In the NW section, at least - the tourist/flashy part, as opposed to the place where D.C. residents actually live.) It gives you faith that things, ultimately, will be on the right path - and more and more, I'd like to have that kind of faith again.

10 for Summer '07: San Francisco

Photo by Flickr user borenan.

Los Angeles has a weird relationship with San Francisco - I believe it's summed up best by a dismissive comment an Angeleno friend got from someone when he was last up there: "Oh, you're from L.A.? People in San Francisco read." Niiiice. If you read so much, why are you so willing to broadcast your ignorance?

San Francisco is compact and cute and scenic - none of which L.A. happens to be. It's also expensive, and crowded, and the traffic is just as bad down here - which, I think, makes it a worse place to live...but a lovely place to visit. One of the first non-family visiting, non-work related vacations I took with my parents was to San Francisco. I had just bought a Polaroid camera and was way, way too excited to use it. I still have the photo album...and my favorite photo is still the one I took of the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge taken from a bay tour boat we were on. Yes, Golden Gate photos are a dime a dozen, but how many people have one of the underside.

Immediately after college, a wave of my friends moved to the Bay Area, so I was up there at least several times a year. In the intervening years, however, the vast majority have moved away - because of the cost, the impossible housing situation, and the traffic. I haven't been in probably three years, and I'd like to go back. Maybe, you know, buy some (more) books.

10 for Summer '07: #8 Park City, Utah

Photo by Flickr user ekillian.

So the photo above is the Park City I visited - no, not black and white, silly - snowy, brittle, cold. I was there covering the Sundance Film Festival for work in 2006, during which time the average temperature was 18 degrees. Yeah, shows how much my blood has thinned since Chicago, when 18 degree weather would have been cause for a lighter jacket.

In any case, the town is incredibly beautiful, and continues my possibly odd desire to see ski towns in summer. Mammoth? I've been there countless times to snowboard, but never when it wasn't under 15 feet of snow. I feel the same way about Park City, with it's charming downtown. I'd also like to see it away from the madness of Sundance, with its full shuttle buses and triple-parked limos on tiny, winding streets.