How quickly summer ends...

 After what only seems like a few weeks, summer seems to be coming towards an unwelcome conclusion.  The weather is still quite warm and sunny, but you can just sense that sooner than later that will come to a halt.  Late Summer/Early Fall in New England is quite often seen as the nicest time of year, but sadly enough I will have to miss most of it do to my extensive International travel that I will be involved in (not that I'm complaining about that).  It has been quite a while since I have written on here and a lot has happened in that time.

Most notably the triumphant victory of Spain in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.  Spain has been the team closest to my heart ever since I visited the country in high school.  The love they have for soccer is not unique to their country, but it seemed they had claimed every prize soccer had to offer with one glaring exception.  No longer does the escudo on the Spanish red jersey sit without being adorned by a golden star.  It was also quite a site for the outcome of the matches to be decided by a cephalopod named Paul or Pulpo Paul.  He had a perfect record during this years tournament in matches involving Germany and the final match with Spain and Holland.  The tournament also saw too early of an exit from the USA, but they did show promise that this can be improved upon in the future.  Watching their 2nd round game with my countryman in Burlington, VT.  I noticed how much we far we have come as a fan base in support of our national team.  It is almost impossible to believe that we have to wait another 4 years until we can enjoy a spectacle of that size.  I guess I'll have to just settle for the European Championship in 2012!

I have also gotten a chance to do some traveling around Vermont, upstate New York, the Muskokas, ATL, and Tennessee this summer.  Burlington was the first stop of the summer and one I had really be excited to check out since I'd moved up here.  It is a really up and coming city with some great food, beer, and of course ice cream.  After Burlington, we headed over to Lake Placid.  As it is the home of the miracle on ice, I had to stop at Herb Brooks Arena.  Went up to Canada to celebrate the Birthday with friends at a cottage.  Visited the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, TN and finally spent some time with the family in ATL.  I know that was a very quick rundown of my summer vacation, but I could go on for pages with all the details and I don't have that sort of time right now.   

This summer was one of the fastest ones I've experienced, hopefully the rest of the year doesn't go by as fast.  I only have a few weeks before I head back out of the country, time to enjoy the last moments of summer I have left.