Home?

I survived the 101 from Nor Cal to WA....
I've been home about 5 days now.
 Just my family alone could use up all my waking hours here, then add in my boyfriend and my friends and it's a wonder I get any sleep at all.
Coming home is always so strange. It feels so familiar, and yet foreign at the same time. 
I'm not sure why that is, if it's more to do with how home is evolving, how I am evolving or perhaps a combination of both. I miss being here, and I miss everyone here, and I definitely don't want to stay away, but it seems like home has become less welcoming. Not any of the people, of course, my friends and family always welcome me with open arms, but it feels as though home, the cities themselves are less welcoming of me upon each return.
Maybe it's not actually the cities' resentment I'm feeling, but my own.
I'm usually not home long enough for it to affect me too much, but since this is a longer trip, it's allowing me to feel more since I am usually able to keep it at bay.

I love home, I'm just starting to wonder if home doesn't love me anymore? It could also have much to do with the pain I leave here, and ignore and fool myself into thinking has disappeared, only to have it reappear the second I cross state lines.
I learned the hard way when I moved to Hawaii, that the negative doesn't go away just because you mask it with sunshine and 3,000 miles of ocean. It waits for you to return.
California certainly doesn't feel like home, but now, neither does home.

"August Adventure"

I can't seem to keep up lately.
I've got ONE WEEK left and I will have completed my 1st of 3 quarters at the clinic.
My job at the coffee shop has me working a lot more lately, and mornings too so that means the alarm clock goes off at 4:30am.
I am exhausted.
I cannot wait for next week though. After I see my clients one last time (before a 2 and a half week break) and I work 3 morning shifts in a row, my boyfriend is flying down from Portland on Wednesday and we are going to begin what I've declared to be our "August Adventure".
 This consists of a trip to The Mystery Spot!

 
I've seen bumper stickers for this everywhere and I finally decided to look it up online. After looking it up, I decided that it is definitely a place my boyfriend and I have to visit. I will have to post pictures after our trip because I know it'll be a blast.
After that, we're jumpin in my car (my poor, old Jetta) and hittin the open road!
Destination:

The Redwoods! The Avenue of the Giants to be more specific. We're camping there Thursday evening. Neither of us have been there (to our recollection) and I can't even remember the last time I went camping, so it should definitely be entertaining.
Then on Friday, we'll continue north and eventually reach our destination of Portland, OR! Where I will get to have approximately 2 weeks off of school and clinic responsibilities. This will constitute as my "summer break" but I plan to make the most of it and enjoy what little time off I have.

Because then, when I return Fall quarter starts. A full course load, working AND the clinic will prove to possibly be the breaking of my sanity. I've asked for fewer days at work, and hopefully I  can manage the schedule I've made for myself.

But until then...I've got a whole lot to look forward to and be excited about, so I'll go ahead and just worry about getting through this next week, and leave the rest for September.