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!