The Neighborhood

Hi Everyone! Its been pretty insane (literally im going insane) since school started.. so I haven't posted until now. I've been wanting to show you all around the neighborhood, so here it is!! Monterey Market is amazing! The best market around and its only 20 steps from my house! Bill, the owner is friends with all the local farmers he buys from. He loves to keep the produce cheap and its always such good quality. Today I bought cilantro, 2 avacados, 2 huge beautiful mangos, cucumber, 3 limes, 2 pink lady apples, red onion, yellow onion, a bunch of green onions, 2 jalapenos, and jamaican jerk seasoning... GUESS HOW MUCH!!!! ($9.60) Isnt that wonderful?! There is a cluster of speciality stores right across the street, all family owned. There is a good meat place, where all of the meat comes from organically raised, grass fed, free range animals near by! There is a fish market and a really good pizza place. Also the coffee, cheese, chocolate, tea place is amazing!!! Rounding up the bunch is a Chinese food place, liquor store, and a bakery! All yummy yummy! Now across from there is a wonderful cafe that have the best mochas EVER! (when the lady makes it.. the guy's isnt as good, but still good). There are lots of places to sit and relax under the shade of trees. I am quite lucky in my surroundings!!

Settling In

Two weeks until school starts!! I have been spending a lot of quality time with my Aunt Melissa and Cousin Kyla.. and it has been wonderful. However this strange time hovering between my old life in Philadelphia and this new one in Berkeley (with plenty of time to relax and explore) will soon end once school kicks in. For now Im enjoying myself as much as I can (although that is really hard with out Curtis here too). Melissa and Kyla helped me paint my room. I did half turquoise and half sandstone to remind me of the day we found Lake Powell on the road trip. Mr. Big (the kitty) has been a welcome addition to mine and Hiedi's apartment. He has seen several tenants come and go- its really his house, we're just visiting. After checking in with school one day last week we decided to see the Chihuly exhibit at de Young. It was incredible. In the last section there was a crazy glass forest that you could walk around.. I had the sudden urge to run and tackle one of the big glass towers and smash it all to pieces. ha, i controlled myself. Last weekend was Kyla's 16th birthday! Melissa and I spent all day cooking to create a yummy tapas dinner for us, Eric, and Kyla's friend Josie. Now that was luxurious! I loved shopping at Monterey Market and picking the tasty ingredients the day before and then spending all day in the kitchen talking and cooking. I also made the birthday cake- light and slightly crumbly chocolate cake, with white chocolate mouse filling, and whipped cream with raspberries and strawberries on top! Yummy Yummy! Next weekend is the friends party and we are all going camping!

The Pacific

Ahhhh, we have landed. After Las Vegas we drove straight for the coast and jumped in the Pacific! A perfect ending to an incredible trip! We found a small beach town south of LA, Redondo Beach, and relaxed before our last drive up the coast to Berkeley. Saturday morning we bee-lined it for Berkeley and was welcomed by Melissa and her bunnies. Now it is time for real life again.. We are off to pick out paint colors for my new apartment! Coming soon.. post-trip interview by Johnny Mathis!

City of Sin

It was a bit abrupt going from Zion NP to Las Vegas, talk about extremes... but we found the cheapest hotel on the "strip" and it turned out to be a great room! By far the most expensive place we visited.. we needed see it and run before all our money was gone. We had sushi and then went to a Pussycat Dolls show, very entertaining, and then danced the night away. The next day we went to the Palms Hotel and saw The Dark Knight... best Batman movie ever!! It kept us from spending money for 3 whole hours!! The next day we ate crappy $11 pancakes and got the hell out of that town!

Crusing Arizona, Glen Canyon, and Zion NP

The original plan did not include Arizona, instead we were planning on camping in Mesa Verde. Once we got comfortable reading the map and judging distance we realized mesa verde would be way too far for the rest of our plans. So instead we ended up in Flagstaff Arizona! Cool train town on the way to the Grand Canyon. The sky and sunset on our way through AZ was the most beautiful thing we've seen so far! 360 degree view of miles around us; We could see many storm systems passing though, rainbows, and beautiful cloud formations. The sky never looked so big! Flagstaff was a cute little college town with friendly people, good local beers, and a yummy dinner. After Flagstaff we made our way to Zion National Park. On our way we found Glen Canyon, and in it Lake Powell. Hoping to catch a good photo opp we turned off on to a rocky road near the edge of the canyon. We decided to continue through the road to see where it would lead us. We found the highlight of our trip. A gorgeous sandstone landscape with multiple shades of reds, creams, and sea greens, accompanied by a glacier fed turquoise lake! So we got on our suits, climbed down, and jumped in! We found a perfect nook, enough for two, right on the edge of the sandstone. It was a relaxing break in our driving for the day! Next stop, Zion! Zion was more unbelieveable sights! Every turn was another jaw dropping rock formation with a beautiful sky to match. We were the most lucky campers and got the very last site in the park! Another beautiful night under the stars, and this time jiffy pop!!

Guadalupe Mountian National Park

July, 21

After spanning the entire state of Texas, which is alot harder then it sounds, we reached the Guadalupe Mountians! This has to be the most beautiful camping area we've reached so far on this epic journey. The campsites were pretty packed with hikers and rock climbers hoping to ascend one of the most beautiful mountians in N. America, El Capitian. The night was nothing but relaxing, apart from the bugs that were insitant on creating a home in Lauren and my ears. But we got some great pictures and enjoyed our surroundings. Next we move on to Zion NP. Untill then ciao..

Katy, TX

July 19, 2008

A nice stop to relax with family. We stayed 2 nights in Katy visiting my Dad, Cris and the boys, Peter and James. We had a good time catching up and recharging our batteries for the rest of the trip ahead. Dad took us to the Mega outdoors store Bass. Curtis could have stayed for days! We all went for mini golf after dinner and the ladies crushed the boys!! What else did you expect? The next morning we got up early and said our goodbye’s. Bye Cris! Sorry we missed you! It was so great to see you again!

New Orleans

July17 2008

Nuvi was right… 14 hours! Those last 4 hours were really tough. I just had to keep positive in order to stay awake. Brittany and Chuck, thank you for the playlists! We wouldn’t have made it with out good music to sing to. So at 4:30 AM we dragged ourselves into New Orleans. Curtis swears he heard footsteps above us, but there wasn’t a floor above us. The ghosts of New Orleans! The next morning the neighborhood looked much different! Colorful and bright, balconies filled with plants and flowers, and everyone you passed said ‘mornin’. We went exploring the French Quarter all day. We learned that woodoo and witch craft was a major tradition here and a police officer warned us about seeing a few ghosts. We found a cigar shop that hand rolled the cigars right in front of you! We found Tujague's and made friends with a couple of locals. Curtis ordered a sazerak, a classic New Orleans drink, and Lea the bartender suggested I have a Pimm’s Cup. They were both very tasty! Jim, a man who lives near by told us a few stories about the neighborhood. When William arrived, another local, Lea had his beer poured in his own special mug, waiting for him for when he walked in. He had a big white scraggly beard, hunter green wool socks pulled up to his calves with pink converse sneakers. He is a master wood worker who has lived in New Orleans for a very long time. We continued on and found an oyster spot. There was a nice man who shucked all the oysters up front so you could watch. We ordered a dozen with some french fries and it hit the spot. Later that night we went to Couchon , recommended by Jude. It was outside the French Quarter so we were able to see a little more of the city. We ordered a few small plates and shared. The alligator was pretty tough and tasteless, but everything else was delicious! Thanks for dinner! The next morning we got up for the New Orleans classic, beignets and coffee and then hit the road... Next stop Texas!

Shenandoah VA

July 16, 2008

We woke-up early, made the last rounds of the house, and kissed the kittys. We stopped at Cyber with Mom to fuel our bodies for the first leg of our trip. Instead of fueling, Curtis ralphed in the bathroom and we had to leave a little early. We said good bye to Mom and made a few stops before leaving Philly. At 11:30am we were on our way!! We pasted though Deleware, a little bit of Maryland, and into Virgina. It only took about 4 hours to cruse yea into Shenandoah National Park. Once in the park we meandered down the Skyline Drive stopping at beautiful outlooks to view the Valley below. Our camp site was on Loft Moutain; in black bear country, but we mostly saw bunnies. There were yummy raspberry bushes all around us so Curtis picked some for dessert. We spent a beautiful night under the stars. The next morning we went for a small hike to Dolyes River Falls before getting back on the road.
We are on the road now and just passed into Tennessee! This is our first long haul; Nuvi says it will take 14 hours! New Orleans here we come!

Getting Ready and Goodbyes

July 14, 2008

We took a mini trip to Katonah NY before embarking on the BIG trip to collect camping supplies. Curtis snagged a special bottle of wine; Thanks Jeff and Jude! After we spent a relaxing night in the country we headed into NYC and said goodbye to New York friends. Mom sponaniously got tickets for us to see Pilbouslos!! An amazing show for our annual peformance night out. The next day we headed back to Philly to continue packing and finish our trip preparations. Friday I needed one more day out with my girls: Brittany, Lauren, and Kathy. We all met at the beach and the waves huge! We played in the water, talked, and sun tanned. It was really hard to say good bye, but I know I will see them again soon!! Saturday was more packing and then to a Pink Hair Affair show which Laura entered some of us in. You girls were so much fun to watch!! Then we went back to Christine’s house to celebrate two birthdays, Ashley and Christines! (It was also Kalieghs birthday!) Curtis came after work and we said our good byes to our Philly friends. Sunday was packing and cleaning all day! We were not ready, so we pushed back leaving a day. I got to go to one last PHA meeting (for now!!). Monday Mom came to the rescue and helped us finish up. Master packer, Curtis, got EVERYTHING in the car! I didn’t think it would be possible! After all that hard work, Mom had a yummy dinner waiting. Shrimp and Scallops with lime/rosemary butter, wild rice, and a spinach salad. Liz and Eric came over to say goodbye. They are moving a block away the day I leave.. figures.. But now they will be close when I visit! Chuck, Dave, Noah, and Blake also came for one last night of ping pong before the trip. After saying goodbye, we nuzzeled into bed knowing that the next day we would wake and embark on a journey of epic proportions!!

The Route

There has been lots of research regarding our route across country. We have spent many nights deciding which would be the coolest way to see the U.S. We knew we wanted to take the southern route and originally we thought we would hug the coast the entire way, but with some research we found some interesting National Parks along the way.

So here's the route:

We start in Philadelphia and make our way S. west through the Shenandoh Valley and into the Great Smokey Mountians where we will probably spend two nights camping out.

From there we will make our way into New Orleans and spend two nights in a cool little Hotel off Bourbon St.

From New Orleans we will make our way west into Katie, Texas where will we spend a night or two with Laurens father.

After Texas it's a little up in the air, but we will travel north west into Mesa Verda National Park in Colorado, where we plan to stay a night and check out the cool archeological sites.

Then we travel due west into Zion National Park in Utah. We have read many good things about this park so we are very excited.

From Zion NP we go into Las Vegas where we plan to spend two nights.

From Las Vegas we plan to head to Los Angeles, and then up the coast to San Fransisco.

Many things will change!

The next post will include pictues of our last few days packing everything into a car. If you know any cool sites that we should see along this route please don't hesitate to add on with ideas.

For Now Ciao...

The Begining!!

Right now I sit in a small office plugging away at a touch screen controlling the live feed of multiple horse racing. Mind numbing work! But creating this blog is allowing me time to think of future plans to cross the country by motor vehicle. Lauren and I have never traveled cross country by car before, and we are very excited to see every mile of the trip.

As we stand now, we are still in planing stages of a route. We have a couple of cities that are must sees, but how and when we get there is a whole different story. A few of our friends are making the same journey this summer and they are blogging their stories as well. Hopefully we can get some insight of the best places to be during this epic journey.

Lauren is beginning to think about what she is going to bring to her new home in San Fransisco. Everything must fit in the car, which definitely is going to be a problem. Within the next week she will be starting to organize her life into a compact and movable entity, and I'm sure she's not looking forward to that.

The next post will probably have definitive plans and maybe even secured camping grounds...so till next time.