July 4th

A good place to begin, Independence Day. Today, and for the last few days, my father and I have begun packing and planning out a rough outline of our five-week adventure in China. We plan on flying into Hong Kong in the early minutes of July 11th, to be exact, 12:05. We will spend a few days on the island to rest up and enjoy some of the best sites, beaches, and youth hostels that Hong Kong has to offer, you know, the usual touristy stuff. Our curiosity will soon take us north onto the mainland and finally, up to Amdo, in Qinghai. Today is the day we begin to transform ourselves into travel-mode, a mode of independence. My mother and sister are also preparing themselves for a nest half full and their own days of independence and vacation from 'the boys'. Today, my father got us French-roast coffee (a dire necessity) and I helped him put some finishing touches on stuff around the house. We are considering selling our Vermont cottage to move to a smaller more efficient home not far away. My sister and mother are also doing a lot around the house to get it ready to sell and will continue after we leave. I will keep this blog updated more consistently when we are in China, as best as I can at least. It's getting late and I want to finish this post before 12:05, July 5th. So I'll keep it short. I just wanted to give a little introduction to our journey before any pictures, videos, or other info was posted. I will write again a week from today. Thank you and have a happy 4th of July.