So much has happened since I last wrote. I have driven across the 'lower left' hand side of the states, seen some amazing things and for the last few days, been extraordinarily busy helping my brother and his roomate set up their new place.
Germain, my brother, left this morning (tuesday the 27th) to head up to Napa Valley with his girlfriend Jayne- to further celebrate his 30th Birthday (which was last friday, the 23rd). They have some fun plans ahead of them, a ton of wineries, a hot air balloon ride, and some nice hotels in between. I was in no rush to head out so I stayed behind. I took today to send in my papers for my cobra health insurance and handle a few odds and ends that needed to be taken care of (laundry, cleaning, organizing, reviewing the ol' bank acccount, etc)
Life is good. Better than good, actually. I am on an extended vacation that changes every few days with new scenery, people, couches, floors, motels, and even lifestyles. LA has been fun, but I would never want to live here- it takes 40 minutes to drive 5 miles, and despite all the beautiful geography here, the population has polluted this area to the point that you can SEE the smog and taste the exhausts of all the cars when you walk around... not exactly my scene- though I dont mind visiting and will surely do quite a bit more of that while im out here so I can see my brother more often.
Now on to the details/ schedule. Seattle is just around the corner- only a few more stops before my blog becomes more focused on my life in Seattle. It looks like Joe wont be able to make it for any of the journey, so I will have traveled over 4,000 miles across and around the country solo... having most of it behind me already, I can say without a doubt that this is an experience that any adventurous soul should do for themselves. It really is liberating.
Ill leave LA on thursday heading north. By friday I need to drop my car off in San Fran, meet Charlie Knuth at his place, then head up to tahoe for a fun filled weekend of snowboarding, relaxing in a hot tub, and im sure a fair amount of partying. Next week I'll explore San Fran on my own, and from there Ill head north through wine country and Oregon before landing in Seattle in early May... Those plans will evolve as I get to that point, but for now Im not sure where ill stop or what ill do north of San Fran... stay tuned.
here are some pics from the last week...
Albuquerque, NM
The VW in front of my motel in Albuquerque... great place to stay if you are ever passing through.
Hitting the road from NM, on historic Route 66... If you have ever seen "Cars" the pixar film, it is so true- there are SO many cool old gas stations and hotels that clearly thrived at one point, but due to the highway, they are all abandoned now... very spooky.
No idea what was going on here... who has a life size fake horse?
Arizona (crazy weather capital of my trip)
Here is one of those little abandoned motels... sad looking little place.
These next three images show a location on the interstate, in eastern arizona, where the highway was literally CLOSED due to wind and sand storms- there were a ton of accidents and they told me that my choices were to either wait out the storm for 5-6 hours, or take a mountain pass down to phoenix... so I took the mountain pass.
This next picture is just open road at the start of the mountain pass...
The weather was incredible- dark dark grey sky's mixed with sun in random spots... and as I got into the mountains the climate and topography completely changed and it went from 85 degrees to 32 degrees and SNOW!
This was the name of the park I drove through over the mountain pass- Coconino National Forest...
Mountain Pass pics- snow storm
Heading down out of the mountains
Coming back into the desert.
And finally- arriving in
Scottsdale, AZ where we went out to some fun bars for the night. I had a blast seeing both Lauren (dark hair on my left) who is a good friend from high school and meeting her roomate who used my wireless remote to shoot this picture from my tripod- you can see it in her hand- I know- I'm a dork, but how else are you going to get a picture when there is no 4th person??
Leaving AZ and heading to Laguna Beach, CA...
Lots of Wind Farms along the way- very cool to see how things change as you drive west...
Last of the sky pictures for the day before arriving in
Aliso Viejo, CA- Laguna Beach, CA... Ashley was SO excited to see me she jumped up with joy!!
Ash, Jeff, and Me- they took me out to an incredible dinner in Laguna beach... what a crazy place Laguna is. People bring their dogs into super fancy restaurants and beers cost 12 dollars... This is the town where "the hills" takes place... I know some of my followers are probably jealous of the time I spent there, but it is so far from my scene it's scary... though I will say, it is a beautiful place! Thanks again Ash and Jeff!
And finally- I arrived in
Los Angeles, CA... the ride from Laguna to LA wasnt all that pretty so Im not posting any of those pics- just pics of what ive been up to since I arrived here in LA.
These four are miscellaneous pictures from Germain's new neighborhood- Hollywood.
Germains collectors edition, Star Wars Adidas sneaks... (he's so LA)
I know that guy!
And on to the Angels vs. Yankees game that we attended for G's big day (celebrated for the most part on the 24th, even though his 30th bday was on the 23rd)
Thanks to my good friend Gina, we had two AMAZING seats two rows behind the yankee dugout- and since I brought my 70-200mm zoom lens, we got some great shots.
Germain and his girlfriend Jayne- HAPPY 30th BRO!!!
from left- Germains friend Meredith, Jon (G's roomate), and his friend Trev and his wife
The group of us.
Gina and Me, another friend from highschool. Thanks again for the tickets Gina!!
and on to the apartment project... since I have been here I have done about 20 improvement type things in this apartment... (but considering I didnt get G anything for his 30th, im hoping my time in helping him set up and layout the place will count for something!)
Jon and I laid out the shelves for their DVD's... Im very happy with how they turned out.
Look at this happy guy! I love building stuff.
Germain and Jayne watched from the sidelines and got the DVD's prepped for set up on the new shelves
Since this pic we have actually put up a few posters above the shelves
Jon bought G a new bed for his bday- so I built that too (with help from Jayne, G, and Jon)
And finally, G, last night, settling into the new bed.
Thanks for reading! Next post will be leaving LA, San Fran, etc...
