Reflecting on 2011
2011 was a great year for me personally – certainly the best in a while. A couple of weeks ago I took a few minutes over coffee to think about some of the things that made the year special:
- At work, I left McKinsey in July after four incredibly rewarding years. I took with me a whole new skill set in problem solving and project management, a disturbing familiarity with powerpoint, a pile of frequent flyer miles, and dozens of friends I hope to stay in touch with for the rest of my life. In August I started a new job in Dallas and continue to feel incredibly fortunate with respect to the quality of the new organization.
- With respect to the travel bug, I logged my craziest work travel stretch ever with 50 nights in hotels in the first 2 months of 2011 and a new personal record for costliest airplane ticket (about $13,000 for weeklong trip from Houston-UAE-London-Dallas). This year I saw three new countries (Sweden, Russia, Chile) and revisited a bunch of fun foreign cities (Paris, London, Buenos Aires, Dubai). However the travel highlights for the year were all US national parks (see below).
- For food and drink: Beyond the simple resolutions I laid out last year, I started 2011 with the goal of indulging a bit more. To that end I had an informal goal to experience some Micheline starred restaurants whenever I left the great state of Texas. I may have overshot, ending up with several 1, 2, and 3 star experiences through the course of the year. July brought probably my best meal ever – a birthday dinner with friends at the French Laundry in California.
- For friendship – when I decided to leave McKinsey I drew heavily on my network of friends and family. They’ve been incredibly generous to me and the best part of picking a job with a more sane schedule is spending more time with them.
And finally, I had a mini happiness-project looking back at photos from the best days of the year:
Feb 24: The morning after a last minute trip to Dubai – checking out the resurgent construction of residential highrises in the Dubai marina on a cool day in March. The best part of the day is getting up early (thanks jetlag!) for fresh fruit on the patio of the club lounge on the 8th floor looking out over the palm island and persian gulf.
April 30th: Started by grabbing a campsite in Zion National Park, driving through the cliffs of Virgin Utah at sunrise, and up to Kolob Terrace Road – still snowed in during May (~8.000 ft). Made more memorable by sliding around a blind corner on black ice only to find a stranded tourist who’d buried his car in a snowbank…after 90 minutes of chipping away ice under his tires with a ridiculous boning knife we were rescued by a helpful local in time for me to head back to the airport in St. George to pick up Dave.
May 2nd – amazing sunrise as we walked up over the rim of Bryce Canyon to see thousands of hoodoos. But the day’s young…
Pretty much every day of this road trip was amazing. This day started with walking over the rim of Bryce Canyon at sunrise, going into the hinterland to hike slot canyons, having an amazing burger at Burr Trail Grill in Boulder, UT, and finishing with a sunset transit of Capitol Reef National Park.
May 4th: The second best sunrise of this particular road trip…
June 22: Crossing the Andes in winter – starting with a drive up the Mendoza river past Aconcagua park; clearing customs around 10,000ft; and ending at…
The W Santiago with an amazing balcony view of El Golf (foreground) and the Andes (hazy at left). I had a great time in Santiago – fantastic food and under-appreciated relative to Buenos Aires.
July 7th in Alaska. breakfast burritos on a water taxi in Kenai Fjords National Park followed by taking sea kayaks around the fjords and watching icebergs calve into frigid water. At the end of the day we camped on a beach, ate fajitas, and watched the sunset over the Aialik glacier/bay.
July 17th: A couple of shots from the best food day ever (four michelin stars!). Breakfast at a cafe in Napa, a spontaneous lunch at Bouchon in Napa, a lot of walking on a sunny northern California day to recover from lunch, a quick stop at the CIA, and dinner with friends at the French Laundry. Absolutely amazing.
July 31st: An awesome summer weekend with friends in Grand Rapids for burgers + boating + picking up another fun car.
Labor day weekend: Tailgating + LSU game at Jerry World.
November 24th (Thanksgiving): Sunset on the Moskva river at the beginning of the Russian winter…later I met up with Kipp for thanskgiving dinner (lamb burger!) and cocktails at a skylounge over Moscow.
Christmas in Florida with family including my newest nephew. I picked up a sunburn playing tennis on Christmas eve!
All in all, a pretty amazing year. By design, 2012 won’t have anywhere near as much travel, but I am hitting at least LA (Jan), Vegas (Superbowl), perhaps Yosemite or a park to be determined (May) and the grand canyon (hiking trip near the end of the year). Should be fun!