California (and Baja California) livin’

After a couple weeks of being all over the place, I’m now firmly back on the West Coast, once again splitting time between the San Diego area and Baja. In addition to writing, highlights of recent days have included sea-kayaing in the Pacific, watching a couple Padres games from the third-base line, and twisting my right knee while plummeting off a surfboard in Mexico. I’ve also been enjoying the company of a surprisingly large circle of San Diego friends (including travel-writing chums Jim Benning and Jen Leo) — most of whom I originally met in places like Egypt, Thailand, and Brazil.

I also recently had a nice (if rushed) trip to New York, where — in addition to hanging with friends, watching some standup comedy, and visiting Long Island — I hung out with a number of travel writing folks, including Ayun Halliday, David Farley, Stephanie Elizondo Griest (whose first book Around the Bloc just got a rave review in the New York Times), and Tony Perrottet. Tony’s newest book, The Naked Olympics, is due out any day now.

Odds are June will be slightly less eventful and social than May, since I have lots of writing to catch up on!