| Home again |
[Jul. 5th, 2006|07:49 pm] |
Well the BFRTE is over.
Sigh.
In total we went 11166 miles. Impressive. Yesterday we went to Brian's family's farm and cabins in Carthage, ME. It was a lot of fun, his family is delightful and very sweet. We played with the dogs, ate food, and just had a generally good time. We slept in one of the many cabins they have on the property. Today we got up and drove down to York Beach to go to my family's (well, my extended family's) candy shop/restaurant The Goldenrod to get yummy candy, and then we headed on down New England back to home.
That's all I can think of right now. It's weird being home again with people who aren't Rei, Kim, and Bri. It's weird that we don't have to get up to drive, or at least to plan the next segment. We've missed you guys, but this trip was incredible. I mean we drove across the entire country and back. Pictures will probably follow soon.
But the sad part. I came home to a happy family and a lonely kitty. While I was gone, my cat Cleo died. She was so fat and so pathetic, but I loved her to death cause she was my cat. Sky is a sad, lone cat now, and Cleo is burried out in the backyard. Goodbye adorably fat and lovingly pathetic kitty. I miss you.
And now, back to the old journal. Goodbye BFRTE. It was rediculous, and always the best fucking road trip ever. |
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| Just a quick Hi |
[Jul. 2nd, 2006|03:24 pm] |
Hey Guys we're in Maine if you didn't already know. It doesn't matter cause I'm on top. hehehe. well everything is going fine and I plan to write an essay on how awsome the BFRTE was when I get home. The humidity is just to much so I am going to get an anchor for the floating trampoline and listen to loons cause they rock. I love you guys and can't wait to see everyone when I get back. see you all sooon.
~zero |
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| Back again |
[Jul. 2nd, 2006|02:30 pm] |
Day 32
Belgrade Lakes, Maine
Ok. So it's been a loooooong time since an update, so let's see where we were. From Deadwood, we made a trip that shall never be forgotten to Ann Arbor. It was I think about 22 hours through all of South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsen, Illinois, Indiana, and finally into Michigan. We got in at 7 am, and I somehow decided that being very sick was the best solution to everything, so I got very sick. I tried to go out with everyone and Rei's mom (whose rented house was HUGE and amazing) later in the afternoon, but I felt dizzy and gross, so I ended up going back to the house and passing out like hell everywhere. I felt better the next day, which is good.
The next day! We went back into Ann Arbor to this incredible deli that is actually the same place that Zak brings Matt special cheese from. We wandered around the town and sat in a Borders for a long time reading and buying books. Kim, Bri, and I went to U Michigan to find the English department so I could see about their grad program. Unfortunately, no one was there when we finally found it, but I decided that I want to go there so very very much oh my god so much ding. Now I just have to get in. Um. Delicious Chinese dinner and then movies before bed and that's all. I was still a little sick, but doing better, so that's good.
Yesterday we got up nice and early and headed out to the road again. We passed right by Oberlin area and I got to hop up and down and see rt 58 and Blue Sky and my Panera (we stopped for soup there) and Trader Joe's and more. It made me miss Oberlin quite a bit, but I'll be back to visit soon enough. We went through PA, NY (with a diner stop on rt 7), VT, NH, and finally into Maine and Kim's cabin at some rediculous time like 4 am.
That's it I think. Today is a lazy da of reading, making baked ziti, and lying around in general. Tomorrow we are having our final BFRTE dinner at this adorable little restaurant, and then we're heading up a tiny bit to see Brian's family for the 4th. Then it's home home home and Italy for me. Rei and Kim and Brian will probably tell you more (and remember things I forgot) sometime soon.
Goodness. We've actually done it. Drove across the whole country and back. Oh yes, we rule. |
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| by popular demand |
[Jun. 24th, 2006|11:48 pm] |
So Kim and Bex updated you pretty well on the last few days, so I thought I'd present some long demanded pictures.
( pictures! image heavy! duh! )
And there you have it. Of course, we took way more pictures, but they are for somebody else to post. Maybe one day we will even post pictures past Colorado. |
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| san francisco cocksucka |
[Jun. 24th, 2006|07:50 pm] |
let's see.
i am terrified of climbing, falling, falling while climbing, and climbing falls.
so today i climbed up a cherry tree and picked like 3 pounds of cherries while about 20 feet off the ground, clad in a bathing suit top and shorts.
no shoes! my feet hate me. but my stomach doesn't, for lo, it is full of fresh cherry goodness. i heart cherries so much it might be a thing that i cannot adequately describe in any sort of typeface.
but yeah, apparently when fruit is involved, my phobias take a backseat. boise is a shockingly neat town. today we perused one of the funnest (shut up) farmers' markets that i've ever been to, and i found some ice wine for my dad, which will remain a surprise for him because he has no idea how to use the internets. also all that stuff that becca said about car issues and thunking and stuff - that happened, but now it's fixed, and hopefully it will REMAIN fixed until we get back home. which is in like a week. that makes me sad.
san fran was a boatload of fun, just like we all thought it would be, and the redwood forests were huge beyond all reason. i mean, i was expecting big trees, but there was this stump at our campsite into which you could have comfortably moved a family of four. with cats. i mean, you would think that the phrase 'omigod that is an enormous tree' would get old after a while, but we all kept saying it, and it kept being true, so.
today brian dropped his bottle of teriyaki sauce on the parking lot at radio shack. feel bad for him and leave him love, because he felt really dumb. we salvaged some. it's really good teriyaki sauce. he is not dumb, he probably just should have kept his bag zipped. silly brian.
overall, there has been so much stuff that we've seen on this trip that when i try to explain it, my typing fingers go all funny and stupid-like. which isn't that different from the norm, but it's all the more poignant when you're trying to describe something which, on a scale from one to awesome, is super-great. yellowstone tomorrow. haven't been there in ten years. am v. excited. brian is determined to find us a campsite off the beaten path, and i have a shiny new gb card for my camera, so yea, there will be goodness. like there has been.
also, a special note for danno - we're staying in the bullock hotel. THE BULLOCK HOTEL. eeeeeeeeeeee! swejin! shut up wu. cocksucka!
*cough* okey dokey i'm done. woot bfrte! |
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| Another tale of the road |
[Jun. 24th, 2006|06:45 pm] |
Day 23
Boise, ID
So let's see where we were. We left San Francisco on Thursday and drove up the coast on rt 1 for a while. It was beautiful, but we really weren't able to go very fast as it's coastal rocky driving, so we decided to take a shortcut to the 101, which would probably be a bit faster. A while later, our shortcut spit us back out onto rt 1. We kept going, and then took yet another shortcut. This time, it spit us into Boonesville, or something like that, and we actually did get to the 101, but only after a solemn promise that the shortcut shall not be named again. Which I am apparently breaking right now. Oh nos. 101 was also quite pretty, and we played around with some insane Jetta Man, video taping him and junk. We drove through Humbolt and cowered in the car hoping that the hippies would not accost us with requests to buy hemp. Necklaces. Wink. Wink. We found the campsite Jim told us about, but it was full, so our adventuring spirit took us further down the road to another site. We drove through the Redwood National Forest for a while which had some of the biggest and most beautiful trees you will ever see. Our campsite was nestled way back in the forest and each spot had huge stumps and trees surrounding it so you felt all tucked away in a corner of the trees. It was cold, but we slept pretty well.
Yesterday we got up and headed off to Idaho. The redwoods continued to be amazing, and we found Buffalo and Elk jerky on the border of California and Oregon. Yum. We stopped for lunch at Crater National Park just cause it was there. We weren't actually expecting too much, just a neat lake, but there were banks of snow, pointy mountains, and the clearest water I've ever seen in the lake. It was like a perfect mirror. We ate on a lookout point, playing with some chipmunks who wanted our peanuts, and then continued on through Oregon. The town of Bend was like some insane vortex of No Signs To The Road You Want, but we got through it, and as soon as we'd passed the point of any civilization anywhere, we heard an all together too familiar *thunk thunk* from the back tire. We pulled over and lo and behold, two of our lug nuts had completely snapped off. The other three were loose. So we jacked up the car, tightened it as best we could, and kept going. We rechecked every time we stopped for gas and were able to get in to Boise at 11ish.
So far today has been much more relaxing than the past few. We slept well, got the car fixed (hopefully for the last time), and went swimming in this adorable little pond with my aunt Shelley and the dog Katie. Katie is absolutely the most rediculous dog, but so sweet and loving and (for all of us going through such pet withdrawl that chipmunks are becoming adequate substitutes) we just had a blast throwing her ball in the water and watching her swim.
Now we're showering, taking some reading breaks, picking fresh cherries from the cherry tree and generally taking it nice and easy. We're going to downtown Boise for a good dinner, and then will probably sit in the hot tub and schmooze till it's bedtime. Tomorrow is Yellowstone, and then Tuesday we'll be in the best historic hotel in Deadwood. And then back to the east we go.
That's all from me for now. I am sure Rei and Kim (and maybe even Brian) will be back here soon with more. |
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| he said this is a mecca |
[Jun. 22nd, 2006|11:30 am] |
Day 21
San Francisco, CA
Much to the surprise of everyone in the world, I'm sure, I love this city. Yesterday we drove up Hwy 1 (for the most part, barring detour near the end) into San Francisco. We checked into our motel and then went out to do fun things. We headed over to Castro St. First we went and found the Pirate store - 826 Valencia, which, if I understand correctly, was a children's writing center first, and the proceeds from the store benefit the writing program. Also, apparently, some stuff you can't buy - you have to barter for it. Also, they have cool fish.
Then it was back to Castro St, which we reached by climbing this ridiculous hill. I mean, I knew San Francisco was hilly and all, but not THIS hilly. This was seriously just walking up a 45 degree angle. But we felt hardcore after we did it. Anyway, walked down Castro St back to the car while sight seeing and shopping. Castro St. is pretty amazing. There were so many places that I would have loved to visit, but we just didn't have the time. Also, Kaitlyn, we found the bookstore you were talking about. What a great fucking bookstore. I didn't buy anything because there were so many things I wanted to buy I couldn't decided. Definitely a place that's on high priority to come back to.
After Castro we had to find the restaurant we had reservations at. This was a fun game because apparently Irving St. does not exist sometimes. But it all worked out okay because we got there right on time and had a really really good sushi dinner. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it right now.
Back to the motel. We were only going to rest for a few hours before checking out the nightlife, but that plan failed due to lack of will to stop watching Ghost Hunters. Also there were shady people in the motel parking lot with a huge pile of random stuff, a rotweiller, and a red SUV. SO WEIRD. And yet, so fascinating.
Anyway, today we're driving up to the Redwood Forest, then over to Boise, and then Yellowstone. It's the long haul back to the east. |
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| The Land of the Huge Hills |
[Jun. 21st, 2006|11:29 pm] |
Day 20
San Francisco
So today was fun. I woke up groggy and my face looks a little weirdly colorful cause of the swelling. It hurts too, cause my skin got all over stretched and bruised, but I am alive and well, so good on me. Plus I have to take gallons of Benadryl which means lala land and no driving for a few days. I feel bad for skimping on the driving part, but I guess it's much better than me driving off a cliff cause of the crazy drugs.
Anyway. We drove up route 1 to San Francisco (with a tiny detour where there was road closing) and got to our hotel where the guy was kind of mean, but our room is nice and big and cozy. After checking in and looking things up, we went to the pirate store run by Dave Eggars. It was amazing. There were treasure chests, t-shirts, flags, and tons of weird little old pirate nick nacks. Then we headed out to Castro st, the gay district, after an uphill battle that we triumphed pretty well over. It was awesome with flags, adorable stores, and tons of color. After shopping around, we headed out to find out dinner restaurant. We went to this classy little sushi place called Koo, and we had the most amazing meal. Tons of hand rolls and sushi and miso and lots of yummy saki and dessert. It was perfect, especially cause we're in San Francisco whose job it is to have amazing sushi.
Now we're taking a post dinner rest in order to get ready to go out and see the famous San Francisco night life. Wheeeee!! |
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| AK! |
[Jun. 21st, 2006|12:39 am] |
Day 19
Santa Cruz
So I have a fatal allergy, apparently. I think it's ibuprofen, but I'm gonna have to get an allergy test done to see. As far as today went, Rei said it all. We've been chilling in Santa Cruz and having fun.
And now, this part.
We got back from downtown Santa Cruz and I started feeling weird. I had taken some Naproxen (super strong cramp painkillers) with lunch and I guess that's what this whole thing is from. Anyway, my eyes started feeling ichy and my nose was runny and stuffed and my lips were tingly, so I figured it was pollen. But then my face started swelling. I mean serious swelling, like Aunt Marge in the third Harry Potter. I was completely unrecognizable. It just got worse and worse and finally when my tounge started swelling, I had to go to Urgent Care. Well, we got there and I almost passed out and couldn't do anything, so they immediately got every doctor there and gave them to me. I got about fifteen different shots of steroids, adrenaline, benadryl, and a bunch of other shit. Then they hooked me up to an IV and a heart moniter and stuck things and point stuff in everywhere and left me for a few hours. Every ten or fifteen minutes they'd come back to make sure I wasn't worse. There was an awesome guy getting stitches in his foot next to me, and we chatted about Deadwood (town and the BFRTE plans to visit it), lots of movies ("X-men 3 SUCKED!" "Yeah, I've heard..."), and how he jumped off a cliff into a deep pool but caught his foot on a rock. Ow. Anyway, I sat around till 7:30 (from around 4 or so) and they finally decided I was doing ok enough to be released (the doctor said he was very pleased that I didn't die, which is a nice thing to hear from a doctor), so we got my perscriptions from Walgreen and came home.
We had Chinese for dinner and now we're back, ready to pass out. I need to take my Benadryl and birth control. No puffy babies for me, thank you. Off to San Fran tomorrow. Woot pirate store and gay men!!
Good on me. I am the first BFRTE member to get hospitalized! |
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| give peace a dance |
[Jun. 20th, 2006|07:11 pm] |
Day 19
Santa Cruz, CA
Today is a chill day for the BFRTE. Yesterday we did Big Sur and surrounding areas. We drove down Hwy 1 until we got to Limekiln State Park which was gorgeous and wonderful, with a really awesome waterfall. When Attie told us about it she said that if fairies lived in the US, they lived in Limekiln, and after seeing it, I would have to agree. We drove back up to Lobos point where we spent some time climbing over rocks and watching seals and sea lions. V. Fun. We went out to dinner at a place right on the water with Andria and Jim, then came home to watch March of the Penguins. I love that movie, but I lasted maybe 20 minutes before I was out like a light. Travelling cross country is kind of exhausting :-\ Who knew.
Like I said, today's been chill. We slept late, then headed to downtown Santa Cruz to hang out. Went to Urban Outfitters, had lunch. Went to get an oil change for the car and realized my tires were all cut up :(. But they're getting fixed, so. We came back to go to a Farmer's Market, but Bex had an allergic reaction to something, and due to the severe face swelling, we decided not to go. Andria took her to Urgent Care, so hopefully, when she gets back she will be much better. *crosses fingers* Assuming everyone is healthy tonight, we're gonna go to the boardwalk. Sounds like fun. |
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[Jun. 20th, 2006|11:35 am] |
MEEP.
i never get to this thing because those other two that actually know how to type get to it before me.
pretty much ditto on stuff they've said except from the slightly skewed viewpoint of someone who's been to most of these places before - and is ver' happy that a lot of it seemed as special to them as it has become to me.
AND HAHA I ENSCONCED IN THEM THE MYSTERY OF CISCO, UTAH FOREVER *EVIL LAUGH*
*cough* anyway. i guess now we're going to grab our butts and run like hell across the rest of the country. no yosemite. BOO. but that's okay, i have the rest of my life and that means extra time in yellowstone, which is fine by me. santa cruz/big sur/this state has been amazing beyond all reason so far, especially limekiln state park, which is the most ethereal place i've ever been in my entire life ever. thanks attie. :)
also big ups to bex's aunt for having an awesome house in downtown santa cruz, complete with an outdoor shower that made me so happy and clean last night.
i dunno what else to say at the moment, i think my bathing suit is calling me from the bathroom and telling me to go put it on. done. |
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| California California |
[Jun. 19th, 2006|07:05 pm] |
Day 18
Santa Cruz, CA
I heart Santa Cruz. So much. Last night we walked to the beach and then had a barbeque with fresh veggies and lots of silliness. Today we went to Big Sur. The drive was beautiful and we hiked around this spot with a HUGE waterfall and lots of wet hiking boots. After taking pics and eating lunch on rocks, we went to the beach and screamed our faces off at how cold the water was. Then we hopped back in the car and headed to another point where we saw these adorable seals, sea lions (who also screamed their faces off, but for other reasons), otters, and pelicans. Now we're getting ready to head out to a yummy sea food dinner on the water with Andria and Jim (aunt and boyfriend).
Um, that's all. HA! |
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| that's how logic works, kim. |
[Jun. 18th, 2006|11:07 pm] |
Okay, I haven't updated for a while, but I have been writing entries, so this goes backwards a bit. Bear with me.
( Moab, UT )
( Flagstaff, Arizona )
( Santa Cruz, CA )
So there you go. Updates should be more regular from now on.
And Happy Father's Day to my dad and any other dads who are reading this.
Laters. |
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| California here we come |
[Jun. 17th, 2006|08:25 pm] |
Day 16
Pasadena, CA
We're off in sunny California now staying with Ollie for a night before heading out to SANTA CRUZ YAY! I am so excited beyond all words to get back to Santa Cruz because, besides being the best temperature ever, it's such a fun town.
So we were in Vegas. ("Wow, did you win anything?") No. We did not win. But we were not disappointed because we weren't really expecting to win anything. We played in the Luxor a bit, but eventually wandered somehow into the Excalibur, the casino next to ours. We decided that Trogdor clearly was from that casino, so we played there for a bit. We got to play craps (yay) and Kim played this great slot machine that had lobsters. We got (obviously) super drunk off gin and tonics (WOO FREE DRINKS) and watched this crazy guy try to talk to a British couple and then promptly got lost trying to get back to our hotel/casino despite the fact that the Luxor is the casino with the official Giant Beacon of Light that Can Be Seen From Space. Unfortunately, we were not in space and had a giant shiny castle in our way, but we somehow made it back and fell into the room bursting with silliness to tell Rei, who had stayed in the room instead of playing downstairs in the casinos with us.
Anyway, after that crazyness, we drove to Pasadena and now are sitting around being content in CA. Ollie and Rei went to get groceries, and we're gonna have dinner and then drinks. Briefly interrupted by my appointment to get a brand new (it better be new this time fuckers) iPod from the Pasadena Apple store. Pray for me. |
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| Viva Las Vegas...Again!! |
[Jun. 16th, 2006|09:10 pm] |
| [ | locale |
| | Vegas | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  excited | ] |
Day 15
Las Vegas, NV
Vegas is like one long bright shiny thing. It's clearly insane. We're staying at the Luxor which is the giant pyramid and sphinx. It's nuts. We don't have an elevator, we have an inclinator. I am so excited to get all dolled up and play some craps and get loaded. Woooo Vegas!
So let's see. Breck was the last real update. From there we went to Moab, a giant dessert made out of red. Red rocks, red arches, red sand, and all that. We set up camp at this climbers only campground which = free. Good on us We spent a full day there bouldering at Big Bend, driving through Arches National Park, and generally hanging around a desert being hot and sticky and no showery. There was rediculous wind that night too.
Wednesday we got up early, had an awesome breakfast at this place in Moab the town, and headed out to the Grand Canyon. When we got there (after the Brian wallet incident), Kim took us to this one spot that's kind of secret and only people who know things (ie Kim) knew where it was. We hiked a mile out, all with our eyes averted so that when Kim told us to look up, our first sight of the Grand Canyon was incredible. We all shrieked and went nuts and climbed way out on the edge (cause there weren't guardrails there) and took tons of pictures, all which ended up looking like people in front of a backdrop of the Grand Canyon. It's too big to look like it's real. We set up camp and made quesadillas and mac and cheese, and fell asleep well and happily.
Thursday we did some bus tours that took us all over the Canyon and we ate lunch out on this lovely point. My ankle was really hurting cause of some silly mosquito bite, so Kim looked at it and promptly told me that no, that isn't a mosquito or fly bite, it's a spider bite. It got a lot worse and I had to wrap it, but fortunately it's not bad now, so I guess I won't die. Anyway, we headed out around 3 to Flagstaff. I officially love that town. We had a great little room in a hostel, a delicious Thai dinner with Kim's friend Adie, and Kim and I found the best wedding present for Becca and Dave (you get a sweet present when we get back!!) and split it. And by split it I mean I paid for it and then Kim bought me an awesome dress at this neato hippie store. Brian got his wallet back, and we fell asleep happy and showered.
This morning we got up, looked around and headed out for Vegas! We drove around the Hoover Dam and took video and pictures, and got into Vegas at 2. So that's where we are now.
We'll probably update pictures soon, we promise really, but in the meantime, we're gonna find food and then get pretty and gamble our little brains out. But hopefully not too much money... |
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| Dub side of the moon |
[Jun. 16th, 2006|06:54 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
HI There!!
VivA Las Vegas. Ok so Sisco, UT what a place. nothing like it. Castle valley was unreal. Cliffs on each side at least 100 feet tall or much more. the climers campsite was awsome too. They left me alone for an hour and a half out in the desert and it was lovely. I made a big fire pit and and a good juniper burn. Next day we climbed on big boulders and went to arches national park. way cool.
so somehow my wallet liked monument Valley. Actually I had dropkicked it out of the car by trying o record a sand storm. Luckily a family from coloroda had stopped at the same stop. only three hours after us. He was very niced and called my phone and my house and the president, and in the end he left it at the hotel in the grand canyon. now were in vegas . yeah pppoooollll! |
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[Jun. 12th, 2006|04:24 pm] |
ACK. so, pictures are taking forever to upload.
...and by that, i mean we have to wait until vegas. stupid internets. we hates them.
not really.
will update more later. in the meantime, the link in bex's entry is correct, but WAIT UNTIL FRIDAY. AND NO COMPLAINING.
love, us. |
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| Colorado has snow but it is still a nice sunny 70ish outside. |
[Jun. 12th, 2006|03:11 pm] |
Aaaah. Lovely. We're sitting outside basking in the glow of delicious lunch crepes and stealing internet from Starbucks. As promised, here are some pics. Finally! They are at this address via Kim's wonderful paid account:
HERE OMIGOD GO.
And now, a quick update. So we drove from Santa Fe to Breckenridge yesterday. We wandered around Santa Fe in the morning buying things from Indians and taking tons of adobe pictures. We had this delicious breakfast at a little coffee shop in downtown. That town is amazing and everyone should visit it at some point. Really. We left arounf 1:30 and drove up the mountains and through little passes and pretty things till we got in at around 8ish. After putting on sweatshirts (OMG it's June wtf!!11one) we went to a great dinner at this place Kim used to work (or something?) and then went to the campsite after Jared almost got crazy arrested cause he was leading us to the site on his dirt bike with no plates and lots of weed. Fortunately, cops here apparently don't care, so he was fine, and our campsite was great. The cold meant two sleeping bags plus sweatshirts and pants, but now it's beautiful. We drove around mountains and etc etc, Kim will tell you more cause she knows everything about here. I will just say it was pretty and go look at pics.
The end. Now on to Moab, a desert in Utah for those of you without an atlas. |
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[Jun. 11th, 2006|10:30 am] |
Day 10
Santa Fe, NM
(8:32am MST)
I wasn't going to update, since Kim and Bex already have, but then I realized I probably wasn't going to get a chance to do it for a while. We'll be going very internet lite for the next week as we go around the four corners states, and the only definite next point of internet is in Vegas. So don't be alarmed if we don't update for a while - we're off having fun and looking at beautiful scenery. And we'll have lots to write about when we find the internets again.
Anyway. Driving across West Texas was not as boring as previously feared. Just west of Austin on 290 are all these cool looking ranches. Then, just before we got on the interstate there was the random and really cool town of Fredericksburg, as Bex has already told you. Possibly the best breakfast I've had in my life. Ever. And one of the coolest things about it was that it was all German influence, except everything also had jalepenos in it.
Driving west on the interstate, though it did start to get tiring after a while was actually pretty interesting. First of all, the speed limit is 80, so it was perfectly alright to go 90 and try and get across as fast a possible. Second of all, you just watched the scenery change slowly into desert and it was pretty amazing. In the middle we hit up the only gas for miles, and THAT was pretty scary. In the way that the one gas station was literally the only thing visible for miles, a hot wind blew dust in your face constantly, and everyone who worked there looked at you like you were from outer space. We left THERE quick as we could. Danno was nice enough to make us a CD that we weren't allowed to open until West Texas, so we drove across the desert listening to the soundtrack to Dead Man, and that was absolutely perfect. Towards the end of our interstate drive we started seeing all these dust devils off in the distance. I've never seen a dust devil in my life, and all of the sudden there were fifteen off in the distance, on either side of the car. Big ones too. Very cool.
We got off the interstate to head north to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in a little town called Van Horn. It was something like 30 miles from Mexico, but it might as well have been Mexico. We pulled over to take pictures of an old burnt out building, and everyone in town thought we were crazy. The road we took north was seriously probably the most interesting road we've taken on this trip so far. Small two lane road, kinda twisty, and the desert came right up to it. The only signs of civilization are ranch gates every once in a while, and some distant ranch buildings. We were driving past the Sierra Diablos - which are gorgeous - when we had the Pilot Car adventure. Pretty soon after that we started seeing the Guapalupe Mountains off in the distance. And Wow. I mean, wow. Eventually we pulled over to take pictures and we just hung out in the middle of the road because we were the only people on it. We were the only people for miles, and it was just an awesome feeling.
Then it was up into the National Park - I'm going to try and get Kim and Bex to post some pictures before we leave here. It was really beautiful.
We had a little confusion yesterday morning about time. See, you pass into Mountain Time almost right as you enter the park, so we spent the time really close to the line. Apparently too close for our cell phones, because they didn't get the message. We woke up when we thought it was 7, but it was actually 6, and we spent about 2 hours having no idea what time it was. But we figured it out and drove up into Carlsbad to check out the caves. Well, Bex, Kim, and Brian checked out the caves, I checked out the restaurant and my book. Still, just the drive to the visitor's center was really neat.
We stopped in Roswell for lunch and to check out the UFO museum. This was so fun I can't even begin to say. Also, all the street lamps in Roswell have little alien eyes painted on them. We spent a few hours driving north through almost nothing. This was one of the most boring parts of the trip. I got excited when road curved. But then we got into Santa Fe and found Leisa's house with no trouble. I haven't seen Leisa in over a year, and it was really really good to see her. We all showered (thank god) and went out to dinner at a restaurant nearby. The restaurant ... well ... the food was good. ANYWAY.
Today we're sleeping in (I am, in fact, currently the only one awake), then walking around Santa Fe for a while, then it's up to Breck for the next part of our trip.
Laters |
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| gack |
[Jun. 11th, 2006|02:18 am] |
| [ | locale |
| | santa fe, nm | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  rushed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | i have no idea...? | ] |
so, we are currently in santa fe.
this town has the instantaneous appeal the likes of which i have not encountered since flagstaff, which is...a thing. the nostalgia, it hits me.
we do not have enough time.
it seemed, when we planned this whole thing, that clearly a week to wander the four corners would be enough, but it's not going to be enough. a night here (we need three), a night in breckenridge (we need two), two perhaps in moab (ok i s'pose), and one in the grand canyon (ARGH we need a month at least). perhaps one in flagstaff. all so that we can get to vegas on time? i dunno. i mean, i'm all for gambling and all that, a swanky small dress and the stares of people i don't know, but...ergh. one night in the grand motherfucking canyon? help. everyone's looking to me for guidance, looking, looking, and i'm a little anxious about the whole thing.
ERP.
in other news, rach's cousin lisa has managed to pull off the lifestyle that i have always truncated because i am a coward - working and travelling, going absolutely everywhere with just, literally, the junk in the trunk. i can't believe i just said that. at any rate, being back in the southwest, for me, stirs up something very deep and almost painful in its pleasure - i've missed it this past year (almost two now - ack), and i can never manage the flood of emotion that hits me when i think about this place, let alone when i RETURN here.
OH MELODRAMA. in other news, some bald chick tried to get me and bri to go to a rave tonight. ha! also the server at dinner lost rach's credit card. not so ha. but we'll get it back. yes.
maybe...one of these days i'll have more time. |
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bfrte
indescribable
in heaven
satisfied
blah
yay!
rejuvenated
sleepy
content
groggy
hopeful