Summer time is a great opportunity to enjoy (or renew) old friendships in new places. One of the best parts of summer is the assumption that it's a good time to go on vacation and to travel and go on little mini-adventures, even if it's only for a 3 day weekend, and sometimes when you're lucky you can spin an entire week off for a 4th of July vacation.

My way of beating the summertime blues is to travel to visit some of my best friends in their neck of the woods. This year, hopefully it's Iver. Iver's one of my best pals, and along with JT we had a couple of great years having fun and causing harmless trouble and mischief during graduate school in Fairbanks, Alaska. Iver's from North Dakota, way on the West end near the Montana border, and that's where he's planning to be this summer.

So what could possibly be better than visiting an old friend in his neck of the woods? I've never been to North Dakota, so it's travel and adventure just seeing someplace new, and then I'll have the best type of guide to see everything there is to do locally.

Could be camping across the border in Montana, fishing for Walleye on the lakes, or messing around with black power, matches, and long discarded appliances...whatever the actual week holds, the best part is catching up with the type of friends who remain best buddies for a life time. Especially when you've only been able to hang out in person one night over the past three years and change.

There's nothing that beats summer travel, especially when it's visiting an old friend in their "neck of the woods." You get to spend a holiday with people you know and love, get some adventure traveling to new places and seeing everything they have to offer, and get a relaxing break from all the things that remind you of the stresses of everyday life.