The 2009 National Ataxia Foundation meeting in Seattle was much the same, content-wise, as years past.  It was my 4th year going to the conference and the trend continued: I went to less actual conference stuff and spent more time socializing.  That’s fine with me; that’s really what it’s about for most of us young ataxians anyway.  I didn’t even present this year (clearly their programming has gone downhill!).

Kyle, fresh off Ride Ataxia 3, and me.  Kyle had a banana in his pocket.  For real.

Besides hanging with new and old ataxia friends, the highlight of my trip was my day out in Seattle.  It was wonderful to get out of the hotel, see the city, spend some time alone (and with PPKers!), and eat real food (I subsisted on Taco Bell and Clif Bars most of the weekend).

The White Lightning pizza at Pizza Pi- that’s white garlic sauce, artichokes, grilled onions, mushrooms, potatoes, and Teese vegan cheese.  I finished it off, plus a vanilla float.

Julie and I outside:

Weird graffiti on the chalkboard walls of the bathroom at Sureshot, where I enjoyed a soy chai and a donut.

I also thrift-shopped, used-bookstore shopped at Twice Sold Tales where there was an awesome cat, and got to see a lot of the city from the bus (I like to think of it as a 50 cent sightseeing tour, as opposed to the $20 one some of my friends went on).

As much as I loved spending the weekend with friends, I found that I really enjoyed traveling alone (even just around a new city for a day).  It’s inspired me to travel alone some more.  No big plans yet, but who knows?

More pictures here.  Next year’s meeting destination: Chicago!