California Dreaming

After leaving Las Vegas Haley and I prepared ourselves for the 9 hour journey to San Francisco California.  This was it.  We had started out leaving Connecticut at 3am  August 4, 2008.  After about a week traveling across the Southern route, stopping here and there to see friends, family and amazing sites, we were about to reach our destination point.

We had been driving for so long, 4,234 miles actually with many non-stop days to make it our check-points.  We had deleted many of our pictures by accident, lost a camera, had a camera die, spilt all kinds of things in my new car, went down one way streets going the opposite way many times, ran a few red lights in the middle of no-where, followed trains that never seemed to end, saw and met people from all over the United States, witnessed rain storms miles away in the desert, saw the vast open sky early morning, high noon, sun-set and a night time.  With too many cups of coffee, bad salads, awful radio stations, awesome radio stations, and ipod or two, we were finally coming to the end of our trip.

The desert was hot and dry and so bright.  The road from southern Nevada to California is long, boring and full of vast nothingness.  I was afraid we were going to run out of gas in the middle of the desert so once we got below half a tank, we tried to fill up in some random small dust bowl town.  One time, Haley had to go to the bathroom really bad so we pulled off at the only stop we could find.  Thank god I didn't need gas because since this was the only station within like 100 miles, they charged 6$ for unleaded gas and only had 1 bathroom.  For some reason, it was full of people, so we found an abandon house and went to bathroom there.

As we waited for hours trying to get past the California check point (for agricultural products and stuff) we were anticipating the "Welcome to California" sign.  We had taken pictures of every state welcome sign on our journey and this was going to be our last.  After passing through the border, after taking 2 hours, which added another 2 hours onto our journey, we picked the fastest route to San Fran.

We ended up going through huge mountains, then vast deserts, fields full of giant fans for wind energy and then over huge mountains.  The roads narrowed and the temperature finally cooled a bit.  We switched turns driving because once it became dark, I was the one who usually drove.  Haley can't see well at night.  Neither can I but I can see a little  better. As she napped, I kept looking at the GPS to see how far away we were from San Fran.  Only an hour, then 47 minutes, then 32 minutes, then 12 minutes.  I woke Haley up as we went over a huge bridge crossing the lower part of the San Francisco Bay.  The fog was coming in so it was hard to see much past the bridge.  Once we were over the bridge, it was about 5 minutes before we were going to arrive at Joe's brothers house.  He lived in a very nice community, tucked away in the forest of Eucalyptus and California pine trees.  As we made it to the end of his driveway, all Haley and I could think was how happy we were to be out of the car. But we also realized that this was the end of our journey across the United States and she would be leaving me in about a week.

We looked up and saw Joe standing there with a huge smile on his face.  He came over and said "welcome to California, how was the drive?"  Joe is full of sarcasm and it was a relief.  He helped us inside and Haley and I cleaned up and passed out.  In the morning, we went out to see San Francisco and all of her glory.

Nevada, the Hoover Dam and Sin Cty

By the time Haley and I had made it to the California/Nevada border, it was starting to get dark and we were really anticipating our arrival at Las Vegas.  My friend Matt was coming out from California to meet us and show us around since he had been there before.

When we actually arrived at the border, there was a check point.  This was because we were about to go across the Hoover Dam!  This thing was huge!  You climb up these little roads, almost all the way to top, and it takes about 30 minutes or so to go through the whole thing.  The Dam is massive and there are so many lights and loud sounds coming from it.  It was kind of surreal to actually see it face to face.

Once we got past the dam, we were headed for Las Vegas!  People are not lying when they say that the city is really in the middle of the desert.  There is nothing for miles and miles and then you can see a glow from afar.  You pass large hotels that have flashy signs and promise the best entertainment ever to try and distract you from the real Vegas.  

Just as we entered the main highway to get to Las Vegas, we saw all of these lights in the valley that was part of Las Vegas.  Literally, its a huge bright city that never sleeps and the only way to see Las Vegas is at night time to see all of the amazing lights compete against each other. 

We started to make our way into the city and the big hotels had magnificent displays in front of their hotels.  The themes were crazy!  The giant pyramid with lights going up the side, Caesars Palace, the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay and so many others.  Once we were able to find a hotel after being told that our reservation wasn't good because they were over-booked we met up with Matt and decided to go out into the city.  You can go out and have fun not being 21 in Las Vegas but just be careful.  The streets were littered with drunks, groups of friends, tourists, police, homeless, dancers everything and anything you could think of, it was there.  Clubs outside had the best looking girls dancing on tables and in cages.  It was so surreal.  You won't believe it until you see it.

It was so hot at night though!  It was 85 degrees and people thought it was cool outside.  I don't like the heat much and I was so hot the entire time.  It was so much worse in the day time.  It was about 110 degrees, no wind, no clouds, just sun smashing down onto the sinful city.  The day time, things look so different.  It's still busy, nearly impossible to drive and move on the strip, but it's not as grand as it is at night.  There are not pretty lights and it just seems as if people hide inside until it is ready to play again.  

It was awesome to see but I wouldn't want to be living near there or in Las Vegas.  I don't know how people do that. It's a whole different world out there.  After Matt said good bye and drove off Haley and I started the long haul to San Francisco, where we would be staying for about a week with my good friend Joe.

When we left, it was about 110.  As we made our way through the desert to California, it was about 120.

Indian Territory and the Grand Canyon

Since Haley and I were little, we always had this perception that the desert was like what we saw in our favorite cartoon, the Rug Rats.  We were little then and didn't really we were ever going to see the desert or the Grand Canyon, this was really exciting for us.

We stopped and got coffee and water for the long journey, and filled up the car.  Luckily we met some really nice people traveling the United States as well and they checked all of my fluids in my car to make sure we were all set to go.  As we were leaving, we noticed a homeless person asking for food or money.  Haley and I have always been taught to help others no matter what.  We stopped and gave the man some money and the look on his face was priceless.  Tears filled his eyes and he told us thank you as many times as he could before the light turned green and told us that god has blessed us for caring so much about other people.  That meant a lot to my sister and me because we really just want to help other people and our mother and father taught us that from a very young age.  Next time you see someone who needs help, take the time to help them, even if it is brief, they will appreciate it.

After traveling across many Indian reservations, we finally made it to Arizona and were ahead of schedule for the Grand Canyon.  We were ahead because our mother had called us and told us not to stop at the Indian reservations.  She said it wasn't safe, and just to make our mother happy and not freak her out, we didn't stop and just kept going to the Grand Canyon.

On our way there, we looked out into the vast land and saw all of these huge thunder storms and rain pouring miles away.  It looked so close, as if you could get out of your car and stand under a rain cloud.  But the desert is deceiving and those storms are actually miles away.    We finally started to enter an area with trees!!  Haley and I had been missing trees and were finally happy to see some type of normal vegetation.  We saw a sign for the Grand Canyon, 50 miles away!  

We got onto the road that long and almost all up hill but you could see so far into the distance.  We were going to get there in time for the sun to start setting as we were so happy!  As we kept driving we tried to see of we could spot the canyon and we couldn't.  Were people lying to us?  Was this really not that big?  Where is it?  How much longer?  the anticipation was killing us.

We pull up to the ranger station to get into the canyon and we pay the $25 fee to get into the national park.  Word to the wise, you can get a pass for all the national forests in the US for $80, but a since we didn't think we were going to go to that many, we got the $25 pass.  That pass is good for 7 days for any park in the US as well.  As we drove into the dense forest, we spotted an elk or something, Haley would know, just chilling near a camp sight and chewing on some trees.  He was so big and beautiful but you could tell he was still really young.  He didn't seem to mind at all that people were going up to him and checking him out.

We decided to park along the road and see if we could find the Grand Canyon.  We got our cameras and phones and decided to go through the woods.  Soon enough Haley and I both saw the tree line drop off and the most spectacular image we had ever seen in our lives.  No matter how I describe this, you will never know what it looks like, how beautiful, and massive this place is unless you go there yourself.  If there is any spot in the United States that you should see, it's the Grand Canyon!

The Canyon was so vast and huge!  I had never seen anything that amazing before in my own country!  As much as I loved the Swiss Alps, this was by far my favorite site because it was in the United States.  There were vast canyons and large rivers looked like little streams because we were so high up.  The clouds were beginning to role in and sun beams were shinning through the patches in the clouds down onto the top of the Canyon.  We didn't have much time but we wandered around the south side of the Canyon for about an hour.  There were so many different people form around the world checking out this amazing place.  We noticed that there was a huge rain storm off in the distance and decided to take our last photos and keep moving on.  These really nice French tourist took our photos and just as we made it back to our car, it began to rain.

The whole way back it was pouring and there were such huge flashes of lightening, it was kind of scary.  But soon enough we made our way out of the thick forests' of Arizona and were on our way to Las Vegas Nevada to see what all the fuss was about.

The long haul out of Texas

After checking out Dallas Stadium and getting some cowboys gear, Haley and I prepared for the long journey across the Texan desert to get to New Mexico.

It was close to 100 degrees outside of the car and nothing was around but desert and sand and small little dead bushes... tumbelweeds.  Haley and I couldn't find anything but country to listen to, and I am not that fond of country but we dealt with it.  There was really nothing to do.  We managed to find a stop to take some pictures and stretch our legs.  We hadn't been driving long and we still not even half way out of Texas.

We found a sign that said "watch for Rattle Snakes", that was rather amusing.  You don't see that in the North.

It started to get dark and we passed those signs you see in cartoons that say stop and see the GIANT ANT FARM!  DINOSAUR PARK!!!! THOUSAND YEAR OLD REMAINS!!  It was amusing because we'd be driving for like several hours looking at nothing and then all of sudden hundreds of signs would pop up and say the most random things.  

The sun had set, and we had seen one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world.  A true Texan sunset :).... it was awesome!  The colors mixed so well and it looked as if someone had taken water colors and just washed the sky with whatever they wanted.

The stars started to cover the dark velvet sky and Haley and I had finally made it to New Mexico.  We hadn't stopped much and we were getting fairly tired.  Our mother had set us up with one of her friends daughters to stay the night, but Haley and I really didn't feel like doing that.  We made our way about 2, maybe hours into New Mexico and decided to stop for the night.  Tomorrow we would travel across several Indian Reservations and would finally see the Grand Canyon!!

Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and TEXAS

August 7-8

We left Georgia around 8 in the morning... we really didn't know how long it was going to take us to get to Texas, but we really didn't care.  We knew it was going to be a long journey but we were together away from everything else and just enjoying each others company.  Even though I had driven the whole 15 hours to South Carolina, and the 3 or so hours to Georgia, Haley insisted that I drive out of Georgia... I was ok with it, but I was getting tired of driving and it wasn't even day four of our trip.

We drove out of Georgia pretty quick and landed smack down in the middle of Alabama.  The south is so different from the north.  No matter what anyone says, the north and south are completely different from each other.  The food, cost of living, cheap gas, the people, the attitudes.  Haley and I were mesmerized by our new surroundings.  Also, the culture was so different too.  The people actually wanted to know how you were doing when they asked "how are you?".  They showed a different type of American spirit.  It was the spirit of the old south and even though years had passed since the great American Civil War, these people wore their southern honor on their faces.  Signs for pro life littered the empty, vast highways, and voting for the conservative congressman or conservative President was the only way to preserve the south and the REAL AMERICA.  I'm tell you, it was completely mind blowing for me and my sister.

Mississippi and Louisiana were so different from Alabama and Georgia too.  You could still feel the essence of the old Creole families still locked in the small towns and cities.  Moreover, Haley and I couldn't help but notice there were still different attitudes towards blacks and other ethnicities.  That was something that Haley and I were defiantly not used to.

After many hours driving (Haley and I both lost track) we had landed our selves in Texas and were only so many miles away from Dallas, the city of my dreams.  I love the Dallas Cowboys and for as long as I can remember, I have wanted to go there and see the stadium where the Cowboys had played.

Thanks to Jack (Garmin GPS)  we drove around for an extra 10 minutes trying to find a hotel that had been replaced with something else.  We were both sick of driving so we decided we didn't care where we were staying as long as it was safe.  The Courtyard Marriot looked promising, and at 930pm, we checked in, relaxed for a few and then went out to try to find dinner.  Haley took me to Mexican and since I don't fair well with Mexican food, I was kind of sick after we ate.

We went back to the hotel, showered and prepared our selves for Dallas Stadium, and New Mexico.

Georgia

After spending two days in South Carolina, and having never dealt with the southern humidity and sun, Haley and I had to move on.  Today, we were not going for 15 hours but only about 3 1/2 to Alpharetta, Georgia to our cousins house. (My cousins are in their 60s.....)

Until this day, Haley and i had ever met these cousins.  We had heard a lot about them and when I graduated College, they sent me a gift which was very thoughtful.  As Haley and I make our way into Alpharetta, we notice that this town was starting to become a huge town.  There was construction and remodeling  all over.  We both look at the gps to see how much longer we have, only 10 minutes left.... where are we?  We enter a "community" and it looks like something out of the Stepford Wives.  We turn onto Cutty Sark Way (..... just a weird name for a street) and there is the house of our cousins... it's pretty huge and awesome.

We get out and go to the door, and there is cousin Diane.  It was her birthday and had turned 61, but didn't look a day over 50.  She looks us down and then she has us sit down and calls over her 2 best friends.  They come over and just start telling us about their lives and what we should expect from men and that whatever you do: don't get fat, don't listen or try to talk to men about emotions and keep your friends and family close. (Not bad information to keep in mind).

So we hang out in the pool, take a nap, get to know our two older cousins and in the morning, we woke up and started our journey to Texas.

only 15 hours until South Carolinia

I recently was accepted to Monterey Institute for International Studies in Monterey, California.  Up until that point, I had never been farther then Chicago... this was going to be interesting.  At first, I thought I was going to fly there, but I opted to take the longer route and drive from the east coast to the west coast with my sister and as much of my stuff that my chevy aveo (not the hatchback) allowed me to stuff in there.  

Where was I going to stay?  How long would it take me?  I didn't care.  I usually just do things on a whim and hope for the best.  So I left at 3am on August 4th to South Carolina where I would stay with my horcrux, Lindy Bunch.

I drove the whole way, with my sister right beside me.  We beat all the tough traffic spots and saw major cities and areas of the US where no one would dare to put up a house and live.

Finally after 15 hours with 3 stops we made it to South Carolina where I was united with my bestest Lindy!

Lindy was determined to show me the dirrty south and all of its glory:

Smoking inside, faster food, beer beer and more beer, southern belles, chicken fried chicken, Zaxbys and most importantly, cheaper prices.

If you want things to be cheap and im talking gas is only 3.20$ go live down south.

My pics will be posted sometime, somewhere, if you want to see them, contact via email and ill give you the link to my facebook.