How plate tectonics messes with my summer plans

So I've been thinking about what I'm going to be doing over the summer. I could do a show, or I could just start working full time, but what I really want to do is travel. I want to go to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland to see "Hamlet" or maybe to Mexico for a few weeks or so. But what I really want to do is go on a serious trip like Japan or Italy or France. The problem, of course, lies in the distance. Asia and Europe are so very far away from Sacramento. This raises the problems of travel time and travel cost. It would take hours to fly to Europe and Asia and the travel alone would cost almost as much as I make in a year. It is for this reason that the concept of plate tectonics is so appealing to me. The idea that, at one time, the earth was one large continent is a very convenient idea for tired travelers who don't feel like throwing down several thousand dollars for a two week trip. Plate tectonics is the idea that some 255 million years ago, all of the continents of the earth were one large continent called "Pangea", which means "All Earth." Then, over time, the continents spread out across the earth due to sea floor spreading. Sea floor spreading is the creation of new crust when older sea floor is pushed under newer, less dense continental crust. Continental spreading also occurs due to plate subduction, where crust is pushed down into the earth, melts, and creates trenches.

My point is, if continental spread hadn't happened, if all of the continents of the world were still one large continent, I wouldn't be as torn about travel as I am today. If Europe and Asia and the United States were still the same continent, travel wouldn't be as big of a problem. Granted, Japan and Italy and France would not exactly be a hop, skip, and a jump away, but all I would be stressing about would be gas money. I could theoretically drive to Europe! And that's intense.

Geographic knowledge makes me feel superior

My parents are redoing the counters in their kitchen. They used to be some kind of laminated wood or something and they were getting worn down and full of cuts from wayward knives. Since they've been watching a lot of HGTV and lusting after the counters tops on "House Hunters," they've decided that the best course of action is to get granite counter tops. The upside of this, other than no longer having to stare at the cheap looking dark green counters that used to be in the kitchen, is that I got to feel really smart and exceedingly superior when I told them that granite was a "felsic rock." A felsic rock is a sub-category of Igneous rock. Felsic refers to the composition of an Igneous rock. A felsic rock is less dense than it's counterpart, mafic. It is also colored more lightly, has a higher viscosity, and is found in the continental crust, whereas a mafic rock is found in the oceanic crust. I was also obliged to tell them that granite is an "intrusive" rock as well. An intrusive rock is a subset of Igneous rock that tells us that the rock was formed within the earth's crust and it was cooled below the surface of the earth. An intrusive rock is formed from Magma, which is Lava that has not yet reached the earth's surface, and it has a rougher texture and larger crystals. If you look at granite in a counter top, although by the time it's there it's smooth and shiny, there are large spots of different colored crystals. These large crystals are a defining characteristic of intrusive rocks. Extrusive rocks, which are rocks that are formed and cooled on top of the surface of the earth, are formed from Lava, which is Magma that has reached the earth's surface. Extrusive rocks cool faster since they're cooling above the earth's surface and therefore have a finer texture and smaller crystals.

Granite is an extrusive, felsic, Igneous rock. I feel smart just typing it out...