We had so much fun the last time, we're going west again! Our once-in-a-lifetime roadtrip is now apparently a twice-in-a-lifetime trip (at least). Dan has a conference in LA in the beginning of November, and I have a conference in Phoenix in the middle of November, and driving the little Golf has a much smaller carbon footprint than flying, so - roadtrip!
AND a couple of weeks before, we get to go to our beloved NOLA for a few days - a friend's brother is getting married and Dan and Bill are providing the music.
more updates to follow. here we go again!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
There...and now back again, part one of a few.
So we're home now. Two weeks, nine states, six cupcakes, five campgrounds, uncounted cups of coffee, and one breakdown later, we're home. Photos to follow, with more at our Flickr site, but a quick recap since the last post.
We left LA Monday morning, heading east on I-10 to see the dinosaurs in Cabazon. The dinos, which were in the movie Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, are enormous. There's a T-Rex and what I think is an Apatasaur, but it's been a while since Paleo 101. They're part of a small truckstop complex, but were recently sold and are now a creationist museum...so they're God-fearing dinosaurs, which raises all kinds of interesting paleological, biological, and spiritual questions. Whatever the dinosaurs' beliefs, they make amazing pie. We ate in the truckstop cafe next to the dinos, and had fantastic six-inch tall homemade slabs of cream of coconut and cream of banana. That was followed by an excursion to the Salton Sea.
The Salton Sea is an ecological disaster and a nature preserve, an abandoned resort area and a hotspot for photographers. It's one of the strangest and most beautiful places I've ever been to. Also, according to Dan, one of the smelliest. I was getting over a cold and was fortunately too congested to smell the combination of hypersaline water, dead and dying fish, and baking beaches. It's now a bird sanctuary, and we must have seen 1000's of pelicans, kestrels, gulls, herons, cranes...other than that, it was almost totally silent. Photos to follow - words can't really do justice to the strangeness and isolation of the place. Suffice to say, we both want to go back, but maybe stay more downwind next time.
After tooling around the Salton Sea and environs for a while, listening to Calexico or just to nothing, we left the sun behind and followed our GPS back to the interstate and headed east with the intention of making Arizona that night, and finding a decent campground. Somewhere in the Mojave, something in my car's turbo system went boom, but we didn't realize it until we stopped for supplies in a tiny town on the border of California and Arizona, and then tried to get going again. Turns out, even a tiny car with a diesel engine won't go very far without its turbo. We limped a couple of miles down I-10 until we got to a KOA campground, within sight of Arizona. Literally. The Colorado River was the eastern border of both the state of California and the campground. The next morning and into afternoon, after consulting with our mechanic back home, Dan wrestled with hoses and zip ties and tools in the very tight engine compartment, and finally found the right combination of four-letter words and zip ties to get us back on the road. The people at the KOA were very nice about lending us tools and letting us stay past check-out time without extra charges, and we motored on to Phoenix, to a mechanic our mechanic had recommended.
Of all the places we touched down in, Phoenix was the hottest. We got there late afternoon, and it was 97 roasting degrees. The mechanics at the shop lifted the hood, and said the repair job was the best side-of-the-road job they'd ever seen, and as good as anything they could do in their shop with their lifts and power tools. They praised Dan's McGyver-like abilities to fix cars at campsites with nothing more than a hammer, screwdriver, and a couple of wrenches, noted that zip ties were used to fix cars at race tracks all the time, and said he could finish the job no problem once we got home and ordered the part. Dan was very pleased with himself, as well he should be, but after that ordeal, I doubt he'll be lifting the hood to do much more than add windshield washer fluid. He may be handy, but he's not a gearhead by choice.
After leaving Phoenix with our car, now pronounced healthy and fit to go the next 1800 miles, we headed north and up into Flagstaff. Between the sun going down, and climbing nearly 7000' into the mountains, the temperature dropped almost 60 degrees. We actually had to bundle up to set up our tent, but because of dry conditions and the fire risk, we didn't set a campfire. The campsite was great, an old one right on Rt 66 just outside of Flagstaff, and completely surrounded by pine trees. And all the way up, we saw Saguaro cacti! Hundreds of them, standing silently by the road with their arms raised. Pretty amazing. Neither one of us had ever seen Saguaros before.
So that was the first couple of days out of LA. Wednesday on, it was less eventful, but still great. More to follow in the next installment! And photos!
We left LA Monday morning, heading east on I-10 to see the dinosaurs in Cabazon. The dinos, which were in the movie Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, are enormous. There's a T-Rex and what I think is an Apatasaur, but it's been a while since Paleo 101. They're part of a small truckstop complex, but were recently sold and are now a creationist museum...so they're God-fearing dinosaurs, which raises all kinds of interesting paleological, biological, and spiritual questions. Whatever the dinosaurs' beliefs, they make amazing pie. We ate in the truckstop cafe next to the dinos, and had fantastic six-inch tall homemade slabs of cream of coconut and cream of banana. That was followed by an excursion to the Salton Sea.
The Salton Sea is an ecological disaster and a nature preserve, an abandoned resort area and a hotspot for photographers. It's one of the strangest and most beautiful places I've ever been to. Also, according to Dan, one of the smelliest. I was getting over a cold and was fortunately too congested to smell the combination of hypersaline water, dead and dying fish, and baking beaches. It's now a bird sanctuary, and we must have seen 1000's of pelicans, kestrels, gulls, herons, cranes...other than that, it was almost totally silent. Photos to follow - words can't really do justice to the strangeness and isolation of the place. Suffice to say, we both want to go back, but maybe stay more downwind next time.
After tooling around the Salton Sea and environs for a while, listening to Calexico or just to nothing, we left the sun behind and followed our GPS back to the interstate and headed east with the intention of making Arizona that night, and finding a decent campground. Somewhere in the Mojave, something in my car's turbo system went boom, but we didn't realize it until we stopped for supplies in a tiny town on the border of California and Arizona, and then tried to get going again. Turns out, even a tiny car with a diesel engine won't go very far without its turbo. We limped a couple of miles down I-10 until we got to a KOA campground, within sight of Arizona. Literally. The Colorado River was the eastern border of both the state of California and the campground. The next morning and into afternoon, after consulting with our mechanic back home, Dan wrestled with hoses and zip ties and tools in the very tight engine compartment, and finally found the right combination of four-letter words and zip ties to get us back on the road. The people at the KOA were very nice about lending us tools and letting us stay past check-out time without extra charges, and we motored on to Phoenix, to a mechanic our mechanic had recommended.
Of all the places we touched down in, Phoenix was the hottest. We got there late afternoon, and it was 97 roasting degrees. The mechanics at the shop lifted the hood, and said the repair job was the best side-of-the-road job they'd ever seen, and as good as anything they could do in their shop with their lifts and power tools. They praised Dan's McGyver-like abilities to fix cars at campsites with nothing more than a hammer, screwdriver, and a couple of wrenches, noted that zip ties were used to fix cars at race tracks all the time, and said he could finish the job no problem once we got home and ordered the part. Dan was very pleased with himself, as well he should be, but after that ordeal, I doubt he'll be lifting the hood to do much more than add windshield washer fluid. He may be handy, but he's not a gearhead by choice.
After leaving Phoenix with our car, now pronounced healthy and fit to go the next 1800 miles, we headed north and up into Flagstaff. Between the sun going down, and climbing nearly 7000' into the mountains, the temperature dropped almost 60 degrees. We actually had to bundle up to set up our tent, but because of dry conditions and the fire risk, we didn't set a campfire. The campsite was great, an old one right on Rt 66 just outside of Flagstaff, and completely surrounded by pine trees. And all the way up, we saw Saguaro cacti! Hundreds of them, standing silently by the road with their arms raised. Pretty amazing. Neither one of us had ever seen Saguaros before.
So that was the first couple of days out of LA. Wednesday on, it was less eventful, but still great. More to follow in the next installment! And photos!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Here's our potential route home; we're leaving sunny Hermosa Beach Monday morning. Highlights for the route home include Tucumcari, NM, which has amazing '30's through '60's architecture and neon; Cadillac Ranch, outside Amarillo; and Shamrock, TX which is the town the movie Cars used for inspiration. Also, a stop in Memphis for some of the best BBQ in the country. Not sure which BBQ joint yet, but almost any place in Memphis will have the best BBQ in the country.
View Larger Map
And today we had cupcakes, and they were very good. More photos to follow.
View Larger Map
Saturday, October 25, 2008
More photos!
Gorgeous day here in LA, of course. Hot, but not too hot, very blue sky, a bit of wind off the ocean...perfect day for running! So while everyone else hung out at their house, I went for what turned out to be a six-mile run/walk, down a nice greenway from Hermosa Beach to Manhattan Beach, to Peet's Coffee for iced green tea and some coffee for our friends, then back along the Strand, next to the beach. After walking for about 6.5 hours last night at Knott's Scary Farm, we were pretty wiped out, so we mostly just hung out today. Had excellent Thai for dinner, with Pinkberry yogurt for dessert. The one in Hermosa Beach just opened last night, and I can see why it's so popular. Good stuff, really tastes like frozen yogurt and not ice cream. Dan got his eyebrows threaded, which was kind of traumatic, but looks very nice. Actually, his eyebrows don't look much different.
Knott's was lots of fun - we went on a huge rollercoaster, the Ghost Rider, and I actually really enjoyed it, went on a couple of other rides, including a log flume that was pretty soothing except when it wasn't, and went through 13 different haunted houses/mazes, each with a different theme. In between all of the rides and mazes, costumed characters, mostly variations on zombie clowns, walked around and jumped out at people. Fog machines pumped out fog, and the whole thing was lots of fun, and very crowded after about 9 pm or so.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Photos!
As promised last night (earlier this morning?), here are a few photos. The first is of the two of us in New Mexico, on I40 at a cheesy tourist stop.
The second is huevos rancheros, one of the best breakfasts ever, at the Rt. 66 Diner in Santa Rosa, NM. It had hash browns, refried beans, a corn tortilla, red chile sauce, cheese, fried eggs, and lettuce. Heaven on a plate, especially on a cold foggy morning. The last photo is our first campsite in Missouri, west of St. Louis. It was pretty foggy and cold that morning, too.
We're here!
Just a quick update, because it's nearly 3 am/6 am depending on which time zone you follow. We're in Hermosa Beach, at our friends' house, after a marathon session of driving. Our itinerary looked like this:
Sunday - Hobart, Indiana to approximately Sullivan, Missouri, pulled in to campsite around midnight.
Monday - Sullivan, MO to Branson, MO where we met Dan's parents for dinner. Followed by a scenic route through the Ozarks back to I-40. Realizing we wanted to get to LA by Wednesday evening, and had a lot of mileage to cover, and were still essentially in the Midwest, we decided to drive through the night and into the next day. Also, Dan discovered Braum's Ice Cream. States covered on Monday: Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
Tuesday - New Mexico and Arizona, as far as Winslow, where we found a nice state park to camp. It got quite cold at night, and the sky was so clear we could easily see the Milky Way. Also, we had s'mores made with dark chocolate.
Wednesday - Arizona and California. We crossed the Mojave Desert. Very windy, and mountainous. And now we're in LA. Photos etc to follow tomorrow.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
On the Road...almost...well, out of Indiana, anyway. For now.
So the trip has nearly begun. We're one state away, in Illinois - Lincoln Park, Chicago, specifically. Dan is playing two gigs with Duke Tumatoe at Kingston Mines, and another at an orchard in Northern Indiana (keeps pulling us back!) and then, finally, then we'll get to leave. It's Saturday night, so Dan's playing gig #2 of 3 a couple of blocks away while I take advantage of the hotel's free WiFi. This is an interesting neighborhood. DePaul University is here, so there's lots of students strolling around with cups of coffee or smoothies, listening to their own private soundtracks, and lots of shops to cater to them.
It's nice to wander around in an urban neighborhood, and just people-watch and see the sheer variety of everything. Indy's come pretty far in the last few years, but it still doesn't have much in the way of truly dense neighborhoods. Blocks, yes, but not really whole neighborhoods yet. Dan and I wandered in and out of record stores, vintage stores, bookstores...ate lunch at a fantastic place called The Counter. Build-your-own burgers, sweet potato fries, and Fat Tire Amber Ale. Yum! Dinner (or breakfast? It was 2 am) last night was at a place called the Smoke Shack, a few doors down from the club. Best BBQ I've had outside Memphis, and mac-and-cheese almost as good as my dad's, which is saying something because my dad is the mac-and-cheese master. So, the record for finding good restaurants is 2 for 2. That's a good start. And tomorrow, the vacation really begins - after Dan's gig. So, about 3 pm. Not sure how far we'll get, doubt we'll get past Missouri, but we'll be moving!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)