Los Angeles, CA

The final destination! So sad! We definately don't want this trip to be over it was too much fun.

Los Angeles was a really short trip for Sara, far too short so she'll just have to come back very soon. As soon as we got into the city we drove straight to The Culver Studios lot where Gale's sister Heather and stepmom Janne are working on a very cool play called Winter.

After watching the quick and entertaining play (about one hour, Heather called it a play for guys ha!) we walked around the lot a little bit and took pictures. Then we drove to Gale's dad Jack's beachhouse which is very beautiful. He took us out to dinner and it was delicious. Then it was time for bed. I know, one night in LA and we go to bed. Lame!

The next morning Gale and I woke up bright and early and walked down to Venice Beach which was awesome! The boardwalk area has pretty much the biggest collection of weirdos I've ever seen in such a concentrated space. I was happy to add to the freak show. Muscle Beach is a trip!

Jack and Janne took us out to a really nice breakfast right on the beach and then all of a sudden, just like that, it was time for Sara to get on a plane to head back to New York City.

:( big time.

Stopover - Joshua Tree

At this point we're on the tail end of our trip as we make our way to Los Angeles. It's a little sad that the fun is winding down. But before we visited with Gale's family we made one last stop for adventure.

Joshua Tree National Park is very cool! It's another park that you can drive through and stop along the way to take pictures. Joshua Trees are awesome! They look like Dr. Seuss trees. Apparently like snowflakes or fingerprints no two Joshua Trees are exactly the same. There were also beautiful rock formations.

Hot Shots!

So, as you've seen we got some great pictures on our vacation. From the sites of DC to the streets of New Orleans and the Grand Canyon & Sedona (even though no picture does them justice) we did a fine job. Not to mention the food!

But some of our photographic endeavors didn't turn out so well, and we thought we'd share a small smattering of the hilarity that ensues when trying to take a picture while driving, listening to an audio tour or using a new camera.

Pictures from the car seemed like such a good idea...

Carlsbad Caverns & the magnificent audio tour device.

Pants!

At least I know the timer setting works...now if only I could do it when I actually wanted to!

Sigh. Another finger shot.

Random Thoughts - Food Edition Part 2

FOOD!

Albuquerque had some delicious food. For breakfast we ate at Frontier. Amazing cinnamon rolls ("Frontier Cakes") the size of a baby's head:

Our new BFF in Albuquerque, Marcus, fed us well. Below are Gale's delicious tacos with blue corn enchiladas and more queso dip (the official dip of the 2008 Sara/Gale Roadtrip) in the background.

Then he gave us this awesome squash stuff. I questioned it at first, I mean squash that's a vegetable right? I don't know if I feel the need to eat vegetables on this trip, it was surprisingly tasty.

THEN he gave us sopapillas which are these little doughy pillows of delish. And we drizzled those bad boys with honey. That is a total win!

Finally the moon and stars aligned and the time was right for a Waffle House. Apparently it wasn't right when we passed thousands of them on the previous days of our adventure. We searched high and low and found the last one in Albuquerque. I say the last one because we didn't encounter anymore after that. How sad!



In Flagstaff we recommend Granny's Closet. Normally we wouldn't recommend poking into your Grandmother's closet, but this Granny has cheap wings and good bbq and tons of TV's showing both baseball and the Olympics.

Stopover - Meteor Crater

Our last stop before Flagstaff was to see a really big Meteor Crater. Pretty self-explanatory, but it was big and cool.



We walked around the rim a little bit and learned that a small plane crashed in there once and we also learned that astronauts trained in there to get used to the craters on the moon. Since they don't let you go in the crater, they set up a backdrop in the museum you can take pictures in front of. Look through your Christmas cards, some of you may have a picture of a family walking along the bottom of a giant crater. Don't believe them it's not real!

Stopover - A Corner

Time to discuss our second (of three) stopovers on our way to Flagstaff. After the Petrified Forest we went to Winslow, Arizona. Of course the specific location was a corner in Winslow, not just any corner but THE corner mentioned in the famous Eagle's song, "Take it Easy." We took a page from Sara's Aunt Renee's book and found the corner on Route 66. It wasn't hard to find since it's very clearly marked with a mural and statue and Eagles' songs ringing out onto the intersection.



We thought, "this is cheesy," but it was actually fun to take pictures on that corner. Sara actually danced on the corner in Winslow, AR no standing for her and they didn't run her out of town or anything. We heard a few rumors that there were other corners competing to be the actual corner mentioned in the song. We did not see those rival corners.

Flagstaff

In Arizona we decided to stay in Flagstaff because it's close to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. It's an ok town, nice little restaurant called Granny's (good wings, lots of TV screens), amazing pancakes at the Galaxy Diner and a Dairy Queen (yes!). We didn't spend much time in the town itself because we were here to see the surrounding nature.

First stop, the Grand Canyon and it certainly is...grand. There is a reason the entrance fee ticket is good for seven days. You could spend 7 days here and barely get through any of it. There is hiking and mules and helicopter rides and a million ways to explore this place. How about the people that just kinda want to see it, but not be entrenched in it? It took us a little time to figure out our approach. We drove and parked along the South Rim and hiked about a mile in the area along the canyon. It was spectacular and to be quite honest a little overwhelming in its magnificence. It looked like a picture or the backdrop to a really strange glamour shot.

Some dark clouds started to pass through and although it didn't rain we weren't taking any chances. It's a good thing our guts told us it was time to go considering the horrible flooding that occured the next day and the 250+ people that needed to be evacuated and the 11 missing tourists they just found. Wow, that would've sucked!

The Grand Canyon will be one of the places on this trip I vow to return to another time.

Since we had time some time we decided to take everyone's advice and go to Sedona. The drive into Sedona was breathtaking! You drive down this winding mountain to get into the town and it was unbelievable. I know I keep using these extreme adjectives to describe things like the Painted Desert or the Grand Canyon or Sedona, but there are so few words. You really have to see it to believe it. Sedona has it all; foresty wildnerness, red rock, grand buttes, towers and carved out sandstone. The town is really cute too. They have cute souvenir shops and restaurants and spas. Apparently there was a discovery of "energy vortexes" in the rocks here so in addition to being pretty, it has a big new-age population. We don't necessarily buy into all that stuff, we're not even sure what it means exactly, but Sara's sinuses had never been clearer.

We drove around and checked out this really cool chapel that was built right into the Red Rock and looked like a part of the mountain. We weren't sure our little "escalante" (which Sara has also called an "excalibur" and an "escada" again, no idea why) would make it back up the big mountain, but it did wonderfully.

Back into Flagstaff, Dairy Queen awaits!

Stopover - Painted Desert/Petrified Forest

On our way from Albuquerque to Flagstaff we made three stops, the first being to the Petrified Forest National Park. The park consists of a 28 mile drive with pull-offs along the way where you can stop and take pictures.

The first 6 miles of the drive was through the Painted Desert. It was just pure stunning landscape full of a million colors which change as the sun hits it at different angles and as shadows cross from the clouds. It was beautiful!



Then we traveled a few more miles down the road and arrived at a section that was similar to the painted desert only the colors were much darker and more gray. Scattered among the dark dunes were petrified wood fragments. We're talking 225 million year old fossilized wood that pre-dates dinosaurs so it's kinda neat.

Random Thoughts - Hair

We've posted a pic of the extremely rare dread rat tail. I also captured a not so rare mullet in the Carlsbad, New Mexico Chili's parking lot.


Hot!

Stopovers - Santa Fe

We got so much done our first afternoon in Albuquerque, we decided to spend half a day checking out Santa Fe.

After getting lost walking around (reading maps are not Sara's strong suit) we found the plaza and dodged a few rain drops by ducking in and out of the stores and galleries. It seems like a very cool artist town with beautiful adobe architecture. After doing some shopping (been doing a lot of that on this trip) back on the highway to drive back to Albuquerque (I know I've typed that word a lot, but it's still a really hard word to remember how to spell correctly).

No picture we've taken so far can do New Mexico justice, but we've tried anyway.


Tomorrow we travel to Arizona with stops in between!

Albuquerque, NM

We wasted no time after arriving in Albuquerque. As soon as we checked into our hotel we were on the move to see some things. Our first activity was a visit to the National Atomic Museum which chronicled the invention and dropping of the atomic bomb and also highlights the good things nuclear power is used for today. It was a very neat museum, with some cool exhibits, but I have to admit it was a little over my head with the physics stuff.

We still had some time to kill before we were hungry again so we went to the Rattlesnake Museum with great trepidation on Sara's part. Note to Max, Jeremy and Liv: Yup your cousin Sara saw live rattlesnakes! They were all behind glass and I was totally afraid of them. They moved and watched us and freaked Sara out, but she earned herself a certificate of bravery from the museum.

Afterwards, another snow cone. The official snack of the Sara/Gale 2008 Roadtrip. Then a little exploring of some of the shops in the Old Town section of Albuquerque. Time to eat!

We stopped into the Church Street Cafe for some New Mexican cuisine and it was delicious! We befriended our server Marcus who gave us free food (we'll be adding that to a Random Thoughts Food Edition post soon) and invited us to see his punk band's first performance that night. So after dinner and relaxation in the hotel we made our way to Atomic Cantina to watch Marcus' band and we had an amazing time. Marcus rocks in many ways! Bandmate Landon not exactly rocking the shiny purse though.


Our second day in Albuquerque was spent checking out another one of our nation's historic monuments, the Petroglyph National monument. At this site there are three relatively quick and easy trails where you can see tons of rock etchings dating way back. It was really cool. Also a little yuck when you see this amazing rock etching right next to an "Irene <3 Chavez" graffitti. I mean seriously?


We relaxed back at the hotel and then walked around the main streets of Albuquerque some more. It's a quiet town during the weekdays, but it definately has a great energy about it. We're digging Albuqueque for sure!

Stopovers - Roswell, NM

This trip is not all about going from city to city. We do make the occasional stop along the way.

One of our stops was on the way from Carlsbad to Albuquerque. We decided to grab breakfast in Roswell, New Mexico. Made famous by shows like The X-Files and some rancher dude who found a UFO on his property.

We didn't plan on stopping here long, but the UFO museum and research center was calling our name.


I just think it's awesome that a tiny New Mexican town built a huge tourist industry on an alien sighting. Even the lamposts were alien heads. We played right into their touristy hands, they probably saw us coming from miles away. Fun town!

Carlsbad, New Mexico

We've now traveled from Texas (it's a big state, thought we'd never reach the border) to beautiful New Mexico. Our first stop was Carlsbad, a quiet town with some awesome nature.

Upon arriving we checked out the town a bit and found this really small beach. Sort of Carlsbad's version of the Riverwalk. They had sand, lifeguards, boats and kids having fun. We decided that we needed some relaxation time there later on.


Before we left New York we looked into drive-in movie theaters along our route since Sara had never been to one. It seemed like a popular thing to do in quiet Carlsbad so we watched "Stepbrothers" at the Fiesta Drive-in and it was very funny. Although a rainstorm threatened in the distance (it's pretty flat land so you can see rain storms from miles away) it was a beautiful night.

The next day was time for some of that nature exploring. We went to Carlsbad Caverns. We were a little nervous about the hike because it kept being described as strenuous, but we were taking pictures and taking our time so it was just fine. We descended into the cave about 800 ft. and it was SPECTACULAR! Stalagtites and stalagmites and pools of water so clear it looked like glass. Beautiful! Our pictures didn't come out great because it's a cave and it's dark, you know how it goes, but I encourage anyone who gets the chance to visit. It's awesome! With the help of our audio tour we even learned a few things. For example there is bacteria that live in the cavern that eats rocks and is now being learned also eats cancer cells. Also, country music legend Randy Travis did the opening for the audio tour so Sara's Dad might be happy to know that he's getting work. The best part about the Carlsbad Caverns is that you hike down 800 ft, but they have elevators to take you back up.


BTW, Carlsbad the town is essentially closed for business on Sunday's. Not a lot of anything open. Lame!

After spending most of the day in the cave, we decided to relax on that beach we found yesterday. Fabulous stuff! Then we watched the Olympics, that Phelps kid is something else eh?

San Antonio, TX

First and foremost, all of tonight's posts come courtesy of a wonderful computer in the lobby of Hotel Blue in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Not only does this place have fresh baked cookies in the lobby and Tempurpedic matresses, but I don't have to leave to update the blog at some mangy internet cafe. Hotel Blue is good stuff!

Anyway, let me take you way back a few days to our days in San Antonio, Texas. It probably should've disturbed us that no one at our hotel knew anywhere to get breakfast or even how to get to the Alamo. How do you not know that, you're a hotel in San Antonio! *rolleyes*


The thing about San Antonio that everyone should know if you're going to visit there is that you will end up paying between $6-10 for parking everywhere (and there is no re-entry). If we had this knowledge before we started the day, we would've planned things very differently. Or at least tried to figure out the public transportation system.

Was it the2manadvantage or Ozzy Osbourne who pee'd on the Alamo? I dunno, but after visiting we had similar thoughts. We were prepared to be underwhelmed so to speak. We knew it was the church and like a wall or something still around. But we were still disappointed. I'm not sure if it was all the unruly children running around (note to kids, historical sights are great to visit with your family, you can learn something, see really cool things like knives and guns and stuff and have a great time too! But you really need to listen to your parents always, otherwise it won't be so much fun for you or anyone else), or the heat or maybe we were just crankypants that particular day, but it wasn't so awesome. The fact that the powers that be (Daughters of Texas or whoever that runs the Alamo now) decided to build a giant gift shop to look like all the other real true Alamo structures to the point where Gale took about 35 pictures of it like it was something historic was annoying (and kinda funny). The fact that almost everything I learned as a kid about the battle of the Alamo was pretty much myth was annoying. So we were annoyed. However, we did enjoy the "Alamo Superfan" who worked in the cathedral and wore a flashy red vest and while we stood in a line from hell to see two rooms of random stuff, encouraged us with great fervor to stand around a scale model "and surround the fort like the troops did." He was a bright spot, so was seeing Davey Crockett's vest and the famous Bowie knife. That stuff was neat so I'll give the Alamo props for that.


Afterwards we drove outside of the downtown area (keep in mind that whole parking thing again) to visit two of four Spanish missions. We saw the San Jose and Concepcion ones and they were beautiful and very well restored. In fact they are still used and functioning as places to worship to this day. It was funny to find a coke machine in one of the rooms in San Jose. Wha?



We were pretty hot and tired and still a little annoyed at this point so we stopped to eat at the Buckhorn Saloon which claims to be the oldest saloon or something. It's certainly the trip's best tourist traps. hee hee! It had lots of dead animals on the walls and some odd museum. We skipped the museum because we had already seen a two-headed calf in Austin.

After lunch we parked somewhere else to go shopping at Market Square which had lots of cool handmade Mexican crafts and touristy souvenirs and more snow cones. I've eaten more snow cones on this trip than I have in my entire life.

After the market we went in search of parking yet again to check out the Riverwalk. I have to say, the Riverwalk is a super cute "river" (I put that in quotes because I believe it's a diverted canal or something man made, but whatever, I dunno, river works for me) that runs through town with paths along either side and cafes and restaurants and shopping up and down it. It's definately a tourist trap and is full of mall stores and a Hooters and what have you, but it's a cute tourist trap. There are even boat rides that go up and down the river.

So, to sum up San Antonio was not really our cup of tea. We might just be negative nancy's, but we were left kind of eh on this city.

Quickfire

Public Bathrooms *shakes head*

:(

Austin, TX

Picture of the Capitol in Austin!

On the way from New Orleans we took a small (1 1/2 hour) detour to visit the San Francisco Plantation. It was an interesting journey into a totally different time & lifestyle. Our guide gave us some good information on how people really lived in those big houses with the help of slaves.

Our first night in Austin we wanted to party, and we recommend anyone doing any road trip (or any trip really) should go to places they normally wouldn't go to. You'll get a sense of the city and meet some interesting locals along the way. There's a reason they call Austin the weirdest city in the south.

First night there we went to a place called the Broken Spoke - a true, Texas honkey-tonk. Dale Watson played traditional country music while couples two-stepped around the dance floor. With sawdust on the floor & people wearing Levi's & boots, it was an experience.



Sara made friends with a free-spirited, boot-wearing, dancing gal. She was a regular who had 10 men - her "guys" - who she would randomly pick out and dance with. Sara told her that Gale would like to dance, and she had Marty come over and take Gale for a spin. To get a mental image of Marty, start with a middle-aged man in a t-shirt, jeans (duh), boots and a trucker hat to top it all off. Then throw in a full beard & mustache. There you go. He was super nice and despite the flip-flops Gale was wearing, actually got her to spin & two-step like a pro.

Next day - HAPPY BIRTHDAY SMOM!

We started the day with delicioso breakfast taco's (more like a burrito). Then we walked along S. Congress for some shopping. Austin may be known as weird & for its great music scene, but it should also be known for it's cute & quirky shopping. Our first stop was Allen Boots - and let me tell you those boots were fantastic! Expect lots of Austin gifts!

For lunch we met Catherine, a friend of Gale's dad, at Magnolia Cafe. She was great, and picked a great place for lunch. One of the greatest parts of this trip is meeting people and seeing the cities through the eyes of locals. Learning their favorite spots & places to avoid has been enlightening. Catherine was a ton of fun & energy. If anyone knows where her laptop is, please comment on this blog.

After lunch we did more shopping and then headed into town to visit the Museum of the Weird. One of the last dime-store sideshows, it was a tiny hallway of freakish things - a 2-headed chicken, fijian mermaid and the sort.

Next was Barton Springs, which consists a public pool and a cold, rivery, springy, lakey thing. Everyone goes to cool off in the summer & we waded in the river for a couple of hours to relax.

Finally, we ate dinner at Shady Grove, a fun place with an airstream trailer & live music on Thursdays.

After all that adventure we got back on the road and flew down to San Antonio (only about an hours drive), found our hotel & chilled out. More on San Antonio next time!

QuickFire - Mystical Stuff

So, while waiting for our ghost tour Sara went into Marie Laveau's and had a tarot/palm reading done. She's going to live to be 102 and, according to the mystical lady, needs to complement her style with a bit more chunky jewelry. But, she has a good energy about her, so I guess it all balances out in the end.

New Orleans

Where'd we leave you? As a recap, our first night in New Orleans we did a short walking tour of the French Quarter, listened to some blues at CoCo Club and missed our haunted tour due to a downpour.

The next morning we walked to Cafe du Monde for the delicous beignets. Hoping to take the ferry at Canal St. over to Algiers to visit Mardi Gras world (that's where they make the floats and masks and put everything together for Mardi Gras celebrations), we walked down to the port but were sad to discover that there had been an oil spill on the Mississippi River. Yes, it's true. The ferry and all other boats couldn't run while the coast guard cleaned up the mess. If you peered into the river you could see the oil. It was so sad, and everything down there was upset.

Instead, we walked along the river and back to Jackson Square to explore the Presbytere, which is an excellent Mardi Gras museum. It gave a great overview of what is actually an amazing tradition, not just a week of drunken debauchery.

At this point Sara's cousin, Vikki, made it in into the city and we met in the Square. Pat O'Briens wasn't serving food until 5 pm, so Vikki took us to get that delicious muffuletta sandwich. We were both a bit skeptical at first, but man that is a good sandwich!

Then we walked to the French Market (an open air flea market), tasted some pralines and did some shopping.

Next stop - the Charles St. streetcar, which follows the path of the Mardi Gras parades and goes by the beautiful antebellum homes around town. The highlight? The lovely Belfort home of Real World fame.

Back in the French Quarter we went to see the Voodoo Museum, and the dude taking our money had a snake wrapped around him...creepy. He's a practioner of Voodoo, and the museum was light on knowledge and heavy on altars, prayers & wishes. Still, an interesting glimpse into what is apparently a banned religion in New Orleans. Who knew?

We finally got to eat at Pat O'Briens - Sara had the hurricane described it as "goooood" (that's 5 o's). It was great to see Vikki (& kidnap her for the day). What a fun way to see the city.

To end the night we did a ghost tour. It was based on a lot of history and we learned a lot about how New Orleans was formed. Lots of murder & mayhem. Appropriate for New Orleans! We didn't capture any ghosts on film, however, we did capture some weird hairdo from the past that came to haunt us. I mean really, a dred as a rat-tail!? Sigh.

Onward to Austin!