Driving Backroads with 2 Cakes and an Ovenmitt

It's so....grand....

2008-05-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

That Grand Canyon...wooo...

And we're off to the last state before our final destination.... California here we come!

Did some camping and hanging out on the beach, where the water was numbing, painfully cold...sad...then started the drive up thru Santa Barbara and up route 1. All the way thru Big Sur and Monterrey.

First little detour, Elephant Seals! The beach was covered with them... when we pulled off, the little squirrel in the picture immediately jumped up into the grill of the car. Why? you might ask... Let's recap... Jack Rabbits.. they are everywhere. Freaky looking creatures..in that cute hoppy kind of way.. well, they aren't that smart.. for some reason, on the drive to Havasupai, the bunnies on that road must have been having a bad day, because one proceeded to throw itself in front of the car, rabbit suicide at its peak. There was simply nothing I could do except laugh and be sad at the same time. Liz insisted I was a horrible person for killing the bunny with the car, and I kept explaining that it just came out of nowhere and there was nothing I could do! Whatever...silly bunny... I do feel bad. ANYHOW...next day, Liz's turn to drive out of Havasupai... oh look! ahhhhh suicide bunny again! Once again it thru itself at the car, and died. Not our fault once again... I proceeded to laugh hysterically at this odd turn of events, while she felt sad for quite a while. Anyhow, Mr. Squirrel found a lot of bunny meat in the grill of the car, and refused to get out until I turned the car on to scare it. Hahahhaha.

After that stop we continued on towards Big Sur....interesting little community.

Little book stores, big trees, great pizza, creepy dancing, amazing tree houses.

Yes, the white mountains meet Zion and it is called Yosemite.

After Yosemite we headed to San Francisco and then drove up the coast, thru the redwoods, into Redding to see Mike and Tracey and then on to BEND... final destination...

That was all a month ago...yes late post. Been rocking it in Bend...maybe sooner then later we will post a Bend blog. Yes, after two weeks I knew..that I could live out of my car and roadtrip forever.

ARIZONA WINS (Las Vegas does not)...

2008-05-15T13:36:00.001-07:00

...at containing by far the most beautiful thing seen thus far. However first a stop in Vegas to seem my very hospitable family.

As is our style, dogs...wherever we stay...Tyese LOVED (to squeeze) Bugsy.

Lastly there shall be a little album of Havasu falls. The night before we slept in our sleeping bags in the parking lot on top of a butte (the best sleep I have had all trip)..among many other hikers doing the same. Since we are competitive we managed to get out and down the canyon before anyone else (Tyese and I high five-ing now in remembered success). The hike down was ugly, ugly, ugly, well desert anyway. Then out of no where! Oasis.

The hike out was long and hot and far. This turned out to be about a 30 mile day. Then more driving to the Cali coast where we are now. Finally now that this is done.....we are going to the beach. Catch up later in San Fran if all goes well.

Our Apologies...

2008-05-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

..for not posting more. I hope you have all hung in there and not stopped checking. Utah was impossible with cell service or Internet access or even camping sights (Below is Tyese sitting in a bathroom trying to post). Southern Utah is full of nothing in that completely charming way that we can't shake. People now irritate us...large crowds irritate us......back to posting from Utah...and its beauty...

Bryce: Finally a long hiking day. Tyese loved the easy breezy 15 miles to get our car sitting butts a moving. (Yes, for anyone that wondering my cookie habit is continuing strong.)

The chipmunks as seen above were exceedingly friendly...why I am not pictured is because I literally ran away as they (yes about 5 of them) tried to pounce on my cliff bar.

Zion: Huge and as described to me, "The place kinda engulfs you almost like a fish." I was not let down. It is big and right in your face. One of the favorites so far. When you look down or look up it gives you that dizzy feeling. Who is up for coming back? Doing canyoneering with me and the narrows??? (I guess whoever is still watching our blog...hahha...)

Our picture do not do it justice.

Waves: The waves are an interesting story. Contrary to our prior belief we thought we could just role into town and hike it like any other national park...but it isn't a national park, it is a land conservation area.

Turns out...you either reserve 4 to 5 months in advance or win a lottery. Tyese being the hero she is, assumed we would win the lottery. Morning arrives and we drive out to the sight of the drawing. Literally NO ONE was on the road leading to this place (confidently in my head I think, "HA we are the only ones, this is in a bag....). Out of NO WHERE the parking lot is packed and crawling with people in fancy shpancy hiking gear (similar to Tyese's recently purchased $9 sleeping bag). So we fill out the little form...get assigned #42 and wait for the lottery to begin. I immediately decide that we are not going to win so start browsing the brochures to see what else there is to do in town...Tyese announcing to our 72 competitors that WE ARE GOING TO WIN. I try and shush her but before I can....number....42 is drawn....so pretty, exclusive, waves here we come. Yes we are WINNERS not just at lottery's but at life.

Laugh now?.....

Tyese is my favorite.

After this hiking into the back country...our way out was more difficult then anticipated. Everything in the desert looks the same. We got lost and got a healthy respect for the desert and how confusing it can be. A few hours later we made it back to the car with the much missed ac. Now the drive to Las Vegas...woot! city here we come.

In Search Of Beautiful Things......

2008-05-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

...and Utah's got it. Arches, Mesa Verde, Four Corners, Lake Powell, Bryce, ZION, and the Wave. 6 days later at present we are in Vegas. Talk about change.

My sunburned face from Denver skiing drove us to Moab Utah. A place were every other building is an outdoor gear store, an outdoor guide, or a cafe. What more can you want? A lack of chains and wallmarts...sigh...yes semi authentic places still exist. This blog is gonna be short and sweet. Full of pictures because we don't have time....Vegas is full of wonderful things: free tire checks, walmarts, my extended family, and cheep shows.

Arches: It's an arch....typical...

Mesa Verde: Palace is pictures on the left, me in balcony room on the right, the older most hilarious guide climbing toward balcony house, and on bottom right balcony house from a distance. There are maybe 12 different cliff dwellings in this area.

Four Corners: Don't waste your time, you pay $3 to go into a sandy, horribly hot, flat little area where the four states meet, no cell phone service, and the snow cones just aren't that good.

Lake Powell: By far the most romantic (which did no good because I was with Tyese) and beautiful camping spot we have had all trip. We took a ferry in the morning across the lake and kayaked all afternoon.

Official: Kayaking is boring unless the water is moving speedily

More on the next blog on Utah...just wanna make sure this gets up..it has been complicated getting our blogs up....

You're Not For Sale

2008-05-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

....so don't worry about getting pretty to go out on the town. Don't worry Olesya, I won't.

From the Sand Dunes we headed to Denver, after passing through Colorado Springs and making a quick drive-by of Garden of the Gods, and trying to find some good bouldering only to hang on rocks that didn't quite support(coughfattylizcough) Anyhow, we kept driving to Denver. Saw the city, and ate some awesome hummus/falafel at Jerusalem with our lovely Russian host: Olesya.

After too much Russian chocolate tasting (found about 1 in 8 that I thoroughly enjoy), big full bellies, postcard writing (Mary give me your home address so I can send you some), and a great plan! Glenwood Hot springs with that sweet monkey of a drive! We were off. Sadly by the time we got to Glenwood it was packed and of course, Utah beckoned.

It was a classic drive, one with that detour called: Goodness, I am so weak and can never say no to: Ski mountain! Still open! Oh, the snow was beautiful, heavy, sticky, perfect for snowman making...not so much for boarding. Sadly our GORGEOUS boards had been shipped west ahead of us...so we rented...they sucked...

Double panted, tshirt wearing, goggle-less, sock wearing on hands as make-shift mittens, I had a BaaaRIliant IDEA! Tele-skiing...I know I know...."Lock your heal and ski for real" One little 2 hour excursion was not going to taint my alpine love.....

Notice my lovely form...lunge-ing like a champ...wasn't until hour 2 that a fellow skier told me to drop my butt over my heal. Tyese is modeling the classic pose of....spinning around backwards from turning too deep and belly flopping forward. In her words: "ouchy". That does not even begin to explain how sore I (and we) were from two hours of this. Kudos to my bros for doing this all day. (P.S.- You're right, this is extremely fun. I actually had sunburn smile lines.)

Made a rockin soup, cocoa and cookie dinner at the lodge....and then the driving began again.

Seeing the Wind

2008-05-02T21:27:00.001-07:00

I am not particularly sure how to describe this place. The pictures fall drastically short of the true experience. All I can say is...go there...go there next week..go there next month...or at least go there before you kick the bucket because....this place doesn't really belong...this place may have as well been dreamt up.

As you look at these pictures keep this in mind: Giant mountains are formed by the whole plate tectonic situation...causing the rise of these mountains. Years and years, and YEARS of water erosion...the water that drains into the pictured river....leaves sand and silt (believe it or not of varying colors- green, purple, red, blue) from these very mountains in the river basin. Then strong winds lift and produce these sand dunes. In essence the sand dunes are the dandruff, the dead skin, of the mountains...and the wind shapes and creates these sand dune creatures. The wind expresses itself in sand...IN SAND! Who knew sand could be beautiful and who knew it could be shaped so differently, and who knew it could sit in miles and miles below snow capped mountains. Similar to Carlsbad caverns, all shocking beauty takes thousands of years to perfect.

Going to this place allows you to overturn the stereotype that wind and rain are not powerful tremendous forces. With one 360 degree turn you can see a true natural cycle at its finest. Go there...go there to realize how unique this world is.

And!! More driving....Garden of the Gods...Colorado Springs...some bad but oh-so-good Pizza Hut..to only roll into Denver....

...and we hate New Mexico

2008-05-02T15:47:00.000-07:00

Texas, the gateway to New Mexico, was interesting in its new landscape. New Mexico was the same thing but with heat, oh no it wasn't heat it was sweat, or wait nope its my shorts sticking to my butt, or is it just constant dehydration...we hate New Mexico....

Maybe we just hated New Mexico because we left from Texas in the morning, stopped at two national parks, one awkward horrible dinner in Sante Fe at goodness forbid: Dennys (WHYY!!!), and ended in Colorado where the wind almost took my car away.

First stop in New Mexico: Carlsbad Caverns. Who would ever guess that under the ugly shrubs and desert are these amazing caves. An entire city could fit into the big room of the cave. We saw tons of awesome formations, and learned about guano - a.k.a bat poop, which in spots can be upwards of 40 feet deep and used to be mined as fertilizer (hotstuff, you're amazing too)...imagine accidentally falling into the middle of it and having to swim out..

As much as I wanted to touch/climb all these amazing formations, and crawl all over the massive 300,000 ton boulder that fell from the ceiling thousands of years ago (sort of reminds me of a 400 lb, southern speaking, pretty girl, clinging for dear life to some really high monkey bars and finally just letting go) and explore all the cracks and crevices that the walkway did not take you to. I held myself back...If I were to touch the rocks I would leave oil waterproofing them. This means that with each water droplet that makes it through the desert floor flowing down the stalagmite to leave a particle (making the stalagmite grow)..would just fall right off. In essence, you would kill the formation.

We were also told that the Indians did not venture into this lovely cave system. I, however, find this hard to believe. A big hole, right by where I lived, that no one knew where it went, is enough of a tease so that just one adventurous person would break down and go inside.

After we left the damp coolness of the caves we were back in the heat of the desert...gahh...make it end... on to White Sands of New Mexico...

The little Subaru thought it was home and in snow, but nope, just really really really really white sand... actually pretty incredible. Especially when the wind blows and you get covered in sand from head to toe, pretty sure by the end of it, I couldn't see for a few hours due to sand in my eyes, and every time I scratched my head it started "snowing". But nonetheless, a beautiful sight in the middle of an ugly town in New Mexico... (Hotstuff isn't ugly like towns in New Mexico) I am actually led to believe that we were not in New Mexico at all... Ohh and then we saw this scary two headed creature... Still not quite sure what it is or where it came from...It almost attacked Bethy, but I came to her rescue and pushed the two headed monster out of the way, it vanished so quickly in fear that all we got a picture of was its shadow.

Time to drive some more.... onward to Colorado.

...and So I Love Texas

2008-05-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

Dread surrounded having to travel through Texas only to find that big stomping state thankfully wouldn't let us leave. Our accommodations in Austin were to say the least: comfortable, with a build in movie theatre room, themed bedrooms, and hosts that refused to let us experience the feeling of hunger for even a moment (yes they fed us amazing things like avocados...home-made sauces...interesting cookies...), and not a second of boredom (the wife does stain glass and the husband is a professor, both having traveled the world collecting amazing art...and giving us invitations to come join them in Singapore--they will be there 'till December).

The Chinese Room Painting from Hong Kong

Topaz and me Stain Glass in Progress

Oh and not to be forgotten. I had the privilege of befriending Topaz the great Dane who decided his favorite spot to sit in the house was me. A night full of Indian food (that we would proceed to let sit in our car for the next 3 days and continually eat) and a morning full of life advice from the Williams (hosts of ours in Austin) we finally started driving further west. Destination: New Mexico. On the way undoubtedly would be detours.

These are pictures of our travels to Fort Stockton Texas (a place everyone should bother to stop). Anyhoo...in picture one: the smashing girl in the background is none other then me and the man in the foreground yup you got it...Davy Crockett...a worthwhile reroute to see this memorial. Next I purchase a much needed cowboy hat that Tyese is presently modeling (imagine it on a less tan, grown out mullet, small headed girl...dashing). Texas is environmentally friendly! Wind farms! exotic creatures! pyramids! The last picture is: postcards being mailed in action.

Fort Stockton on arrival seemed to a be a two street, desert, scrub brush, tumbleweed (contrary to my prior knowledge they really exist), hot, flat, cow growing, town. WRONG! Well, I mean right...but the list continues. We happened to stay that night (under severe pressure from the hosts) on a ranch with some real live cowboys. The kind of cowboys that wear the boots until they are worn out, the hats (yeah I didn't bring out my cheep knockoff), breed cutting horses (didn't know what that was until recent), break horses, and round up cattle. The kind of people who have a charming southern drawl that sticks to anyone staying with them (my apologies to anyone we talked to while in Texas, accents are awesome).

Turns out Mr. Turman is a professional trapper for the state. He deals with population and disease control of the animals in his region of Texas. That means he has to sometimes go out and kill coyotes, bob cats, deer, etc. When he does this the babies are left. So, him and his wife end up raising them. The expected result is always the same: once the animals get large the desire to hunt and to breed gets strong enough that they leave home. (Still, imagine raising such animals!!) Funny thing is they seem to be a safe haven for a lot of animals including guineas and lamas (one of my favorite).

Of course as with everywhere we have stayed they had dogs...lots of them. The one pictured is "tidbit" my favorite because she obsessively licked everything. Lastly just as we were about to leave I got Mr. Turman talking about the land within Big Bend. As Tyese has learned I am huge nerd and soak up any information about the geology of the things we see. He explained that the area used to be one giant seabed. He promptly showed us a rock, and on close inspection you can see it is entirely made of shells, and clams, and other sea material. You know what that means...with a little drilling you start pulling up oil and natural gas.

This all proceeded, a jalapeno egg and potatoe breakfast, promises of safe traveling, and agreements to keep in touch. Finally New Mexico.

Opening the gate to the ranch The Turman's

Avocado's in Austin

2008-04-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

Got to Austin, TX sunday morning... did a little salsa dancing sunday night with lots of friends we met, went to some parks in the city, bouldered, fell down a waterfall and made my elbow swell hahaha.... had some great Indian food, found Littlefoots long lost relative, saw millions of bats and met some amazing people...once again a city trapped us here for longer than expected...

Headed to Carlsbad, New Mexico... lots of driving ahead!

Cats are like Chips...

2008-04-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

You can't have just one....

Tyese recommended a quick stop in Pensacola Fl...never swam in the gulf of mexico before. I was city logged and needed some outside time. I guess Montgomery and Rosa Parks will have to
wait till the next time I am in Alabama....

After swimming in the ocean in April, falling asleep on the beach (always a good idea when your body hasn't seen the sun in at least 6 months), and slacklining we are off...again..for New Orleans.

It was strange to travel through so many states in one day, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and finally Lousiana.

Louisiana night 1: Bourbon street for 20 minutes. Making a new friend Tameka (via a friend of a friend of a friend) and staying in her mansion. After an oatmeal breakfast we were directed to the French quarter where we could get real "New Orlean's" food. Both agreed contrary to the pictures below: New Oreleans food isn't within our taste pallet.
A FRANTIC drive to our 12 o'clock swamp tour...thankfully no tickets and little rain....

Time to leave New Orleans and drive to Lafayette for the next adventure - The International Festival. On the way we opened another surprise from Mary......another amazingly exciting fun toy..... markers...to draw on the windows!

Going to the food festival was like going home for me....tons of girls in flowy skirts, unusual music, unusual smells, practical shoes, hippy earthy arts and crafts....It was a knockoff of Vermont (please excuse the bias)....

Next stop: Austin, Texas ... more on that soon

Oh Mylanta we're in Atlanta

2008-04-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Zorbing and hello Georgia. We drove to Atlanta complete with a stop to see some amazing rock fields, rare wonders of the world... only in southern tennesee can you see these.

Onward to Georgia! We follow the voice in the little box to Nicoles house... yes, we are completely mindless as to directions these days, and if we miss a road - turn around I think not! The little voice says "re-calculating re-calculating" and we do as we're told, hahahaha... We go stay with Nicole and she feeds us amazing lasagna (which I had been craving, how did she know?!) bread and salad. Not that we weren't thoroughly enjoying our nuts and fruit. We were later forced to sing karaoke as a payment, man we are so good at that. Java the doggy just loved us..

----The Quest for Jerry----

The next day we traveled to Jonesboro to see Rechard. Aquarium here we come! (Time to get our friend....) So many creatures! Balooga whales, sea horses, sea dragons, otters, penguins..., whale sharks, jellyfish, you name it and we saw it. The penguins seemed to take quite a liking to us, but its not like that suprises anyone.... We finally found Jerry and well, the rest is history, he is our friend who likes to road trip with us and steal our phones and make calls to people (be aware that if any one of you receives a random phone call with a lot of squawking, it probably means Jerry has stolen one of our phones again, we try to keep them away from him but as soon as we get out of the car he takes them, his favorite person to call right now is Ryan.... and he also drinks all our water, psh, what's up with that, keeps saying he's hot or something. I say get in the cooler Jerry! but he insists on sitting in front of the air conditioner vent squawking that he needs more...

After some big ol' burritos, a little bit of slacklining (of course) we are bringing slacklining to every city we stop in.., a stop to see cousin Kathy, some amazing ice cream that tasted just like banana's, a little lifting with Rechard (yeah we benched like 250 - it was an okay day), a little sleep and a quick suprise as we left....pictures shall explain it all, hahahahhaa... then we headed for none other than...New Orleans what? Nah, we made a pitstop in Sunny Florida, for a day at the beach....more on that to come...

whattt whattttt our car looks funny...oh yeah...seran wrap, hahahahahhahaha good one buddy....... he just didn't want us to leave....

2 days or 2 weeks???

2008-04-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

And so it begins......ONWARD out of PA or maybe....just out of BEAVERTOWN.....grammy Wagner played with my heart....being dressed and pretty (wig and nylons included)...for adventure....pap wouldn't let her leave on the premise of smooches being to rockin'. So, we had to embark on our lonesome toward D.C....stocked well with money and kitkats from grammy (sure to send Girwawa in a sugar craving and coma for the next few days ...sustained by ashtyne's cookies...It appears the cookies are gone and Thursday will be detox. Thursday is going to be fun.)

Second stop: D.C.-Holocaust museum and monuments. I cried and Tyese is an insensitive hooch, she laughed at me. Pictures explain the rest.

Why? Why is the Washington Monument so funny?

After taking these oh-so-tasteful and original pictures we decided that food was making the "crazies" take hold. Back to the car we go?? No no! D.C. likes to play unannounced scavenger hunts. They hide your car and you get to guess where it is. It was extremely fun, minus the $100 new membership fee to the club "S.O.F.D.R.T.Y.G.Y.C.T" (a.k.a- So On the First Day of Road Trip You Get Your Car Towed). No worries it was worth the fun. After all that walking, we did a little cool down and soon-to-sit-in-a-car-for-7-hours pregame slacklining with an old time friender...Peter...Peter #1-get out of the district of d.c. and #2-get your fun loving self to the

country.

Handful of Pistachios, 2 oranges, goldfish, 6 calls from friends finding out where we were, balloon animal perfecting (Mary I owe you my life this has been one of my favorite parts of the trip), a state crossing, 3 giant cross sightings, endless dinner theatre avoidance, and 7 hours later....destination arrival complete: Pigeon Forge Tennessee, home to the only Zorbing in the country.

Oh yes, Tennessee welcomed us with big, happy, squishy, clear, amazing, joyful, desired, expensive, ecstatic, wet, round, ZORBBBBBBBBSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

The journey continued to Atlanta...will post more on Atlanta Later..2 days in, so much has happened, feels like 2 weeks. This is going to be an interesting trip. (Yes, zorbing was hysterical and fun and mostly hysterical.)

Haven't Left Yet

2008-04-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

Just a little one-two heads up...we haven't left yet. If you were one of the "lucky" to make it to this lovely site...you are in the right place. We kick off the trek that includes lots of adventure, lots of sleeping, lots of avoiding junk food except on lovely Fridays (yes I am kicking my cookie habbit), and a lovely additional car buddy a.k.a a penguin, on the 22nd. We should be posting by the 25th or so.