Final thoughts - 4/8

So I know that this has been a long time in coming, I should have done this last week...I said I would. Oh well, if nothing else, i've gotten some pretty vital perspective (and sleep finally) in the interim so I'll try to talk about what I've experienced and learned in as eloquent a way as possible...I warn you though, rambling is forthcoming.

Things Chris has learned about the US, in no particular order:

• I don't think that people have anywhere near enough appreciation for this country. I didn't. Now before you stamp me as a Toby Keith listening, million bumpersticker having, Bush fanatic, hear me out. I don't mean that we don't have enough appreciation for the current administration or that everything here is perfect. Far from it, but our country itself...the land, the people...are so varied and amazing. Within weeks, or even days sometimes, I'd go from one 'culture' to another 'culture' entirely. All too often, we assume that everything to 'see' is in Europe or some other exotic location. I certainly love Europe and the places around the world that I've been, but I'd argue that there is nothing on this earth quite like Yellowstone or Zion. Even from city to city, go to New Orleans and then Memphis, tell me they don't seem like different countries even though we think of them both as the 'south.'

In a lot of the most spectacular places, it seemed that I'd only run across foreigners or retired folks. I know that at Bryce Canyon, I was the only American under 50 there. That's an amazing shame, because when I'm 50 I don't know that I'd have the stamina to go and 'do,' I was usually the only guy on a lot of the trails. I hope that maybe, a couple of people who've read this might have gotten the itch to see a little more before it's too late to really go hoofin it. As I look back, I feel amazingly fortunate to have seen what I've seen and done all I've done. I'm certainly not 'finished' seeing this country, but I've started. It's just a shame that so often people my age almost look down on seeing America, that a trip is only impressive if it goes out of the country. We have a great backyard, and more people should think about seeing it since the rest of the world, it seems, wants to see it more than we do.

• For all we talk about overcrowding, this country is mostly empty. I've always grown up in the mid-atlantic/upper south - east coast and I guess I couldn't imagine how desolate a place could be until now. Even what we consider the 'country' is always within a few miles of civilization. Everywhere in Virginia is at least near some place that has a name, and a gas station. We don't really know 'country.' That was something that I had to get used to for a lot of this trip and the 'culture' is really different. From D.C. until I left Minneapolis, things were fairly normal as far as population. Most every exit had a few restaurants, motels...I never really had to 'plan' things. When I left MN for South Dakota though, especially through Wyoming, Montana and the Southwest, there are places where people just aren't. I don't mean, that there aren't many, I mean aren't...at all. There were quite a few times that I'd go 50 miles without seeing so much as a mailbox. At times, it was a little creepy and I had to learn to plan my meals, motels and gas stops around it. At other times though, it felt really neat...it made you feel really small, almost like my problems just aren't that big of a deal. When you see no one for miles, you realize that for all the crap that we've done to this planet...it'll be here a long time after we're gone.

I guess the most desolate I saw the whole time, was my drive from Big Bend to Fort Stockton. That was a 2.5 hour drive, and I didn't drive that long because I wanted to get further toward San Antonio...I didn't have a choice. Other than for one gas station, there was NOTHING for those hours. I stopped a few times and saw more stars that I could have imagined before, and yeah...I felt small. Citydwellers, like me before this trip, have a tendency to think of the US in terms of metropolises but the deserted areas are every bit as much America as Times Square or the Mall and if you've never really experienced 'the middle of nowhere' you need to, so that you can understand the balance of this country.

• At once this trip has made me realize that the US is both bigger than I thought and yet smaller too. I know that doesn't make sense, it doesn't to me completely either, but I'll try to explain. I didn't know that I'd actually succeed in this when I set out honestly. Part of me thought that it was such a long distance to the West Coast, that it couldn't be possible to drive all that way. But it was, and each place along the way had its own flavor. Just like putting a puzzle together, i fit each piece where it went and eventually i reached the other side. When we fly, we miss the whole middle so it just seems like a sea of nothingness, but it's definitely not. So in that way, it almost seems smaller. I can rattle off each of the states going west, their roads, their people, the cities you come to, the parks. It feels manageable, and makes sense now, where it was all a jumble before.

On the other hand, knowing how many varied parts there are, makes it seem astounding that it all fits in this one country. The fact that you can have the 'wild west' of South Dakota and Montana, in the same country as the downhome south of Tennessee seems impossible, because they're so different. There is just so much to see and its all so unique, there's more to see than I could have imagined when I left. I'm sure this seems like nonsense, but yeah, its bigger and smaller than I thought at once.

• People are more adaptable than I could have imagined. This country has some of the most difficult terrain and climates in the world. Yet, people have learned to live most everywhere, and they don't even seem to notice. I guess you get used to whatever you live with, but as a kid from a temperate place, its hard to fathom. I mean, in Minneapolis where it gets below freezing constantly people just learn to live indoors for a lot of the year in ways i wouldn't have ever thought of. They seem to thrive on the cold almost. On the other hand, in the desert of Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and New Mexico, they learn to live in the shade for much of the year and deal with so little water. Yet, again, they seem to thrive on it. I guess its the pioneer spirit? I don't know, but its pretty interesting to see how the land shapes the culture of a place

A few things I've learned about myself, again, in no particular order:

• I'm capable of a hell of a lot more than I ever thought possible, especially when I'm not worried about being embarrassed. There were challenges that I'd have never seen coming, things that honestly would have made me never start had I known that I'd face them. I mean, I've gotten lost driving through open desert without even a road in the middle of nowhere during a hailstorm, I injured my foot pretty badly and still walked miles through a hell of a lotta pain, I've hiked miles just to find my way back to a trail that was lost...just a million little things that came up. The funny thing though, was that in a lot of ways, I was only able to succeed because a) I didn't have a choice. and b) I wasn't worried about looking stupid. I realized on this trip how competent I am at adapting and how I can fix most any problem. Fear of embarassment keeps me from some things at home, and I think I'm pretty much over it. I stop myself from taking some risks because I think of how it would look to others, but I realized that I don't have to care and that I have a lot more fun when I just go and do and not worry about what the other people around are doing. I made more friends and had better conversations from singing karaoke in a new place, or being the first guy dancing like an idiot than I ever would have by sitting in the back.

I'm pretty proud of what I can do and I realized that a lot of the embarassment is in my head. People don't look at you nearly as much as you think they do, ever. I guess, to wrap up this point, I learned a really valuable lesson, even though it seems simple: I'm smart enough and capable enough that I can handle most anything and I'm not going to let embarassment stop me from doing what I want to do because I have nothing to be embarassed about; anyone who'd judge me negatively is probably not putting themselves out there anyway, and them, well, I don't care what they think honestly.

• I have a lot more control over my mood than I thought. That's not to say that I don't get a little droopy too but happiness, or at least the road to it, is something you choose. There were dozens of times where things didn't go exactly as I'd hoped or planned, sometimes they were my fault, sometimes not. Throughout though, I learned to control what I could. I knew that this was an amazing experience and if there was a time when I wasn't enjoying something, I'd make sure to sit back and say 'why?' That was the great part about going alone, if there was something that I wasn't enjoying, I went. Just that simple. I know that not everyone has control over everything in their lives, I've certainly haven't been in control of all of my situation for a few months what with the job change and all. That being said, I've really learned that I (and I think most people) have much more control than we think. Changing something that doesn't work for us, is really pretty easy. It's just a question of finding the right direction towards something better and enjoying what IS good. A lot of times, there were episodes that might not have been 'fun' in the normal sense, but there was generally something good in it. That might just be a funny story, or a chance to laugh at myself, but that's pretty good too sometimes.

• Not taking yourself seriously allows for a lot more experiences in life. Seeing the awesomeness of nature helps with that, because honestly, we don't amount to so much in the grand scheme of the universe...it's good to remember.

• Although I still think of myself as a people person...I'm great alone. I'm a complete thought. That might sound like gibberish, but hear me out. The thing that I was most concerned about when I left, was that I wasn't going to have someone else there to validate everything I did. I thought I'd go stir crazy without having someone there all the time. I certainly don't want to live alone, and I definitely missed a lot of people but I really like having some time and memories to myself. Surprisingly enough, I'm pretty interesting to talk to, and I'll own up to talking to myself a lot. I'm doing it right now. This trip gave me a chance to really be alone with myself and it was great, I got to hone my thoughts and opinions, get rid of some 'unknown unknowns' so to speak. People watching is actually a lot of fun, and you can't do it with others around. As long as I have my music, I'm set. Now had there not been a set ending to the trip, I probably would have felt lonely. As it was though, I really feel like I know myself a lot better than most anybody possibly could know themselves and I actually like myself. Sounds corny I know, but theres a lot to be said for a self-check from time to time.

• I have a lot of people who care about me, and a great family, both blood related and not. There wasn't a single day that I didn't talk to someone somewhere who wanted to know where I was or what I was doing. One thing about this trip, I did feel like a scout...I can't wait to bring people back to some of these places. It might sound silly, but the fact that so many people read this, just astounded me. I honestly expected my folks to read this, and thats about it. Turns out that lots of people were right there with me, shocked me. I can't say how much it made me smile to know that people actually were interested in this cockamamie idea and were rooting for me too.

That being said, I have to say thanks to my folks. You guys have no idea how much help they were along the way, with recommendations, advice and just as sounding boards. They were more excited know that I was seeing these things than to see them themselves. It was a great part of my day to check in and hear my mom or dad's voice, you just about hear their eyes light up, especially as I reached the west. But to everybody who went along with me, I never felt really alone, thanks guys.

• Finally, I think I learned that sometimes you just have to take life by the neck and get what you want. Before I left, I did feel a little stuck in time (Slaughterhouse 5 reference, read it on the way). I wanted to start this marvelous career, it just seemed to take forever for everything to be in order and the house was kinda tense. Some things can't really be controlled. I guess in college and before, I was never stuck, always working towards something. But yeah, I was kinda stuck before i headed out. Now I start this career that I couldn't be more proud about (especially now), I have a lot better situation at home, I have all of these amazing experiences and I realize...I can fix most anything that I put my mind to. Not that I'll always be right, but I don't want to get stuck again. Life's way too short to not do what you need to do, this trip was something that I had to do and I'll never regret it. If you feel stuck, if you're life isn't what you want it to be, FIX IT. Don't live for someone else or for what you think you should be for other people, its your life and honestly worrying about what everyone else thinks and wants, is like a job. If people really care about you, then they'll want you to be happy however that means, and I have a lot of people who care about me. Who'd a thunk??

Best Cities: (this is hard)

• San Francisco
• San Antonio
• Chicago
• Memphis
• Nashville
• Vegas

Least Favorite cities (still glad to see them though):

• Houston
• Minneapolis

Moments that are burned in memory: (the most vivid, too many to mention)

• seeing wild herds of elk and bison in Yellowstone
• watching sunset over Yosemite Valley on my own cliff
• PUTTING MY FEET IN THE PACIFIC (Ocean Beach, CA)
• getting dressy for a night out in Las Vegas
• Dangling my feet over the Grand Canyon
• Hiking to my own pool in Zion
• watching a thunderstorm over Monument Valley
• Spelunking into the darkness in Carlsbad
• sitting on my own hill for the sunset in Big Bend
• drinking and dancing in the street in New Orleans
• listening to the reincarnation of Aretha in Memphis
• seeing Jake Owen by accident in Nashville

Final Mileage:

10,531.6

Thanks guys. This has been the best thing I've ever done, and now, I feel like I'm really at exactly where I want to be.

Day 30 & 31 - Nashville, TN - Gatlinburg, TN - Richmond, VA

So the trip has basically ended, it's sunday night and I'm back home. Sorry about not being able to post everybody, my last hotel in Gatlinburg didn't have working internet it seemed and when I went home to see the folks I really didn't have time. My new job starts tomorrow morning and I'm really excited to be getting on with a real career that I never dreamed I'd have. It's sounds amazingly corny, I know, but after seeing so much of this country you can't imagine how proud I am to be working for it. I'm sure that my greenness (greeness?) will fade soon but for right now I'm grinning ear to ear. I'll save a lot of the final wrapping up thoughts for a post tomorrow, just an overall lessons etc. kinda thing, so I'll keep this post to the last couple of days of my trip.

So pretty early I left Nashville, no hangover or anything, I didn't drink that much at the music places even though the beer was a buck. Sometimes if you're having a great time just listening, you don't want anything to dull it, so a buck or not, I only had a couple. Anyway, I knew that I'd have enough time during the day to basically do one Nashville thing really well. I had thought about going to the Country Music Hall of Fame or something like that, but what I ended up choosing was the Jack Daniels Factory which is about an hour southeast. Lynchburg, TN has pretty much nothing else, but it's a big draw - somewhere around 200,000 people take the tour each year. It was a really neat thing to see, apparently JD is the number one whiskey in the world and all of it is made in that 20 acre complex. They took us through the whole process from making the charcoal that its filtered through, distillation, maturation, even bottling. The whole thing took about two hours and you really did get a good appreciation for what goes into making the stuff. Here's an interesting little tidbit too, so a lot of the flavor of JD comes from the barrels and the reason that the wood gives off so much flavor is that they're only used once. One barrel is made for one batch and thats it. Because of that JD is the country's largest barrel maker; about 90% of the barrels you see cut in half and sold at Wal-Mart as planters are JD barrels, as are the barrels that a lot of wineries use and so on. They also showed us the natural spring that the whole plant is built around, its the source of all of the water thats used to make the 140 proof stuff at the end of the distillation process 80 proof. In some ways though, the best part came at the end of the tour, JD ice cream. As bizarre and gross as that may sound, let me assure you, seriously this is the best ice cream I've ever had. Holy crap, you have to taste it some day. If I was a little more of a redneck, I'd have gotten the t-shirts and all...but with the new job I'd rather not advertise myself as an alkie.

Anyway, after that, it was back on the road heading east to the smokies. As a lot of you know, this is about my favorite place on earth. Now I've seen a lot of amazing places in the last month and I want to thank those of you who've been keeping up with me, it's been great to know that I wasn't only writing to myself. That being said, nothing has lessened my love for the Smokies. They're not anywhere near as awe-inspiring as some of the huge Rocky mountains but they're so alive. Everywhere, even at this time of year was green with flowers and streams all over. It's so different than the West that you just cant compare them fairly. I got there fairly late, about 8:30 and had ribs at Calhouns, which has the best ribs in the country I can safely say (ask Alex, he knows). After that, it was off to bed, I knew I'd need to wake up early since I wanted to spend a little time in the park and make it to Richmond before too late.

The next morning, I got up about 8am and headed straight for the park. I knew I was pressed for time, so this visit was just enough to get a sample and head out. Mingus Mill is the hike that I chose, an old time grist mill from the 1880's with a stream that you can walk along for most of a mile. This was about the perfect time of year too, the wildflowers were out in force which meant that the Monarchs were too. Something about the whole area just seems magical to me, which is why I keep taking friends down there. I'll actually be back for Memorial day weekend with my folks, which was another reason that I wasn't but so broken up to leave quickly. I'd be back soon and my mountains would still be there.

Six hours, thats about what it is back to Richmond or D.C. since it's pretty much equidistant. I knew that I wanted to see my folks before I started the big job, they've been a big help throughout the whole trip, especially out West. I got a big welcome of course, and for the first time I was able to go through all my photos (about 900) and do an hour narrative through the whole trip. I won't bore you all with that unless you want me to, but as I was talking through it I really realized how much of an amazing, life changing ride this has been; I do feel like a different person. But I'll save that for tomorrow.

Day 29 - Memphis, TN - Nashville, TN

Let me just say, I love the south. Not that every place doesn't have its own problems, but everything seems so laidback here. Maybe its the southern twang or the fact that everyone is wearing either flip flops or cowboy boots, it's just a really nice vibe.

Pretty early I woke up and got out of the hotel because I wasn't quite done with Memphis yet. I had to go to Graceland. Even though I'm not the biggest Elvis fan, some of his stuff is pretty good, it's as much a part of America as anything on the mall. It was actually pretty fun, its not that big of a house actually. But as much as anything else, it's a museum to 70's style. The jungle room especially is pretty awesome, green shag carpet, faux fur sofas, fake jungle plants and a waterfall wall. After going through the tour and hearing about his life and all he did, his grave was actually pretty moving. Even though he isn't exactly my favorite singer, he certainly changed the world so you have to show your respect.

After Graceland it was on to Nashville. So I'm actually a fairly big country music fan...but my hatred of Toby Keith sometimes overshadows that. I dunno, something about him just annoys the living crap and since it seems that he's all you hear on the radio, I end up not listening to much country. That being said, I was really excited to reach 'music row' otherwise known as lower Broadway. I really just expected to see a few guys playing and have a beer or two. Turns out it was the night of the monthly listener appreciation concert at the Hard Rock. The whole restaurant had maybe 150 people in it as Jake Owen gave an acoustic concert. For those of you who haven't heard of him (I hadn't.) he's actually pretty famous, his CD is on the billboard top 100 right now already gold. He was just awesome, I watched the whole thing and bought the CD the second they offered it. It's great too when you see an artist who is obviously so happy to be where he is, he stayed to give an autograph to everyone and take pictures. So he has a new fan. After that, I headed across the street and watched these amazing guys play old time bluegrass for two hours. These guys were great too, and all of it was free! (well except for the $1 PBR's)

I got back to the hotel fairly late but I feel pretty confident that I got a great slice of Music City. Now it's on to the mountains and eventually home.

Day 28 - New Orleans, LA - Memphis, TN

So apparently motel 6 of downtown Memphis has been having wireless internet issues, hence me not being able to post yesterday. I had thought about doing it last night right when I got to Nashville, but honestly it was about 6 and I was already burning daylight in a really great place. So I'm going to attempt to post now for both days, becuase holy crap a lot has happened and New Orleans is a long way back (more than 600 miles actually).

After waking up at 10 after the night on Bourbon street (I think thats pretty respectable.) I headed out to go around the French quarter a little bit before heading to Tennessee. When I was touring the city during the day, I did see more of the damage than I had before. Even though for the most part the 'city' wasn't affected as much, if you look a little closer you can pretty quickly see signs of what happened. Randomly I'd notice that every few buildings still had boarded up windows or was abandoned. There are still ravaged homes that obviously just haven't been reclaimed even in the quarter. I struck up a conversation with a local, as I usually try to do and we got to talking about the hurricane. He made a really good point, he was saying that people in New Orleans (at least him) generally disliked the question of whether or not some places would be 'rebuilt.' Something I hadn't really thought of because you always hear of the rebuilding effort, but whats the point of rebuilding a house for someone who doesn't plan on coming back? Most of the affected areas that are still streets of rubble were populated by the lowest economic brackets. Those people, generally have nothing in New Orleans to go back to and many have restarted in Houston or wherever they happened to end up. New Orleans is almost like a kid wearing his dad's shirt, there's way too much city for the amount of people still here. Now that's not to say that there aren't FEMA trailer parks in a lot of places, but 'rebuilding' will only happen at the rate that people come back and therefore give a reason to build at all.

Anyway, after getting my HRC pin I headed on to Memphis. It took most of the afternoon, they're about 350 miles apart. I got there about 7pm, a nice Motel 6 about 15 minutes walk from the entertainment district. This is another place that's just about too much fun. The more southern/western cities I go to, the more I realize how much of an anomaly Houston is. Beale street is almost as hopping as Bourbon street. Tons of bars and restaurants, all with open doors and live music spilling out onto the street. It just so happened too that Wednesday night is Beale Street Bike Night, which meant that at least 1000 motorcycles were parked along the road. I'm not generally a bike head but some of these were pretty awesome customs and Harleys. Anyway, after walking around a while, I settled in the Rum Boogie Cafe and had about the best ribs of my life. The music was great too, this woman on stage was channeling Aretha it seemed. I was there until almost 1am before she was done. I don't know how her voice held out but I could have watched her for hours. Free shows, yee haa.

So thats Wednesday, time to keep heading home, towards Nashville.

Day 27 - Houston, TX - New Orleans, LA

So Houston is definitely an island of boring among a sea of awesome I think. Two hundred miles west, San Antonio and Cowboy Culture, two hundred fifty miles east New Orleans and a constant party. I guess Houston is where everyone goes to work and then goes other places for excitement. Houston is also a place of transition I guess, I mean I know that in San Antonio I was in the 'West' and once you hit the Louisiana border you're definitely in the 'South.' The feeling is entirely different, yet Houston seemed like neither.

Anyway, so this morning I got a little bit of a late start but that was fine, I wasn't really planning on doing anything else in Houston just heading out to New Orleans. It took me almost an hour to get out of the Houston suburbs, even without traffic. A little bit after noon, I reached the Louisiana border. Within ten minutes I saw a sign for 'Crocodile Charlies' a cajun restaurant with a lunch buffet. Now let me say, I'm not generally a fan of buffets but in the case of a type of food that I'm not real familiar with, its great to be able to try so many different things. Holy crap in a bag it was about the best food I'd ever had. Not only that, but I was assured that I had entered the south because my waitress Candice, referred to me as "shug," and "sweetheart." Southern twang like whoa and a pat on the back before I left. Crocodile nuggets, boiled crawfish, jambalaya, gumbo...I really need to learn how to cook this stuff.

The drive was actually pretty cool. I was going on I-10 over the Atchafalaya Basin. I'd never heard of it before about two months ago when there was reference to it in the book World War Z (great book btw). For about thirty miles, the freeway is three stories over rivers and swamps. It's like a neverending bridge but you'd better hope you have gas because obviously there's nowhere to stop. Eventually I reached the outskirts of New Orleans. I'd expected decimation, but instead I just saw a lot of new construction. There were a few boarded up windows still but nothing too bad. It wasn't until I got off of the interstate, about 3 miles from the hotel that I really saw the affected areas. Whole streets where not a single house looked sturdy. Rubble in the streets, every window boarded up. I don't think I was actually driving through the 9th ward but still, it didn't look a lot different than it did a couple of years ago. It was a little eerie too, driving on the I-10 over the city, if you remember thats where thousands of refugees were stuck for days. It was funny though, I'll bet that if you took the right way into the city from the airport, you could probably completely forget that anything ever happened here.

The French quarter was just as vibrant and fun as it ever was, well I assume anyway. Granted it was a Tuesday but still that place was hopping. The whole area is really beautiful in an old ragged way. That might not make much sense, but its the opposite of so many 'clean' places that seem sanitary and dead. This place was kinda dirty, I'll be honest, but it was so alive and had so much character to it. The buildings were covered in wrought iron railings and balconies. Bourbon street is just one ongoing party. No place charges covers and almost all of them have live music. You can just walk from club to bar to club, holding your drink, listening to music and having a good time. I never felt uncomfortable or like I was in a dangerous area, there were certainly enough cops in case anything got too out of hand. I think I was out until about 2am, mostly watching these guys who were putting on a jazz show in 'The Blue Bayou." I had just an awesome time, and I'm very glad that I know my limit very well. Not only is it cheaper to only have three, but watching some of the people at the end of the night, you could almost feel their hangovers in the morning. No thank you.

So tomorrow I'll be doing a few things around here and ending up in Memphis, TN. It's a good thing that I'll have a gym where I'll be working...I don't know how much more Southern food my 32" jeans can take.

Day 26 - San Antonio, TX - Houston, TX

It's amazing how different two cities can be that are so close together. I've had an amazing time in pretty much every place that I've been to, including here of course. Sometimes its because of the activity, and sometimes it's just that I've been able to fill in a puzzle piece of this country. It can be really interesting seeing how the culture of a place can be defined by when it sprung up, its geography or its population. San Antonio is about as vibrant of a place as you can possibly find. Everywhere is the smell of enchiladas and churros and people are constantly out enjoying their city. I spent the morning actually going around 'El Mercado,' a big open flea market selling just about everything. It was a ton of fun, getting to bargain with the vendors and getting a few pretty cool things. Of course, I had lunch before I left, Fajitas. It's a good thing that Gene isn't here, if you're not a Mexican food fanatic, you're kinda SOL. Lucky for me, I can have it pretty much every meal and be as happy as can be.

After lunch, I headed on to Houston. To give you and idea of geography, San Antonio is a little bit south of the very center of Texas, Houston is about 200 miles ESE. It's not quite on the water, that's Galveston, but it's pretty close. It's our nations fourth largest city, after Chicago, DC is fifth I believe. Of course that's depending on how you measure population, the 'city of Houston' is kind of like the 'city of Los Angeles' in that it's larger than some states and therefore it's a little unfair to compare it to the 'city of Washington, D.C.' since D.C. is a very small area. Anyway, either way, big city. Certainly the biggest single city in Texas. It shows, Houston kinda starts about 40 miles out. It just keeps going and going. I'm actually staying near 'Reliant Stadium' in a real nice hotel that Priceline got for me. So last night I went out and took their little light rail (there's only one line) downtown. So I'm certainly glad I came but I'm glad that I didn't plan on but so much time here. As it is, I think about one night is good enough. This city is just big, it kinda seems lifeless. Maybe that's in comparison to San Antonio. But walking around downtown there were huge skyscrapers but hardly any people. All of the restaurants and shops were chains and I even looked online at nightspots and they're all in outlying suburbs and randomly assorted. There's no streets like 18th in Adam's Morgan or Market Street in San Francisco, apparently part of that also has to do with a little anomaly in Houston law in that there are no zoning laws. So things get built where they're found necssary. So there's no natural reason for similar businesses to group. Anyway walking around downtown was pretty fun, huge building, and bizarre architecture. I couldn't get a good picture of it before it got too dark, but theres actually a skyscraper with a Mayan temple on top??? Not just looks like one, but is a replica of one...quois? Anyway, I had dinner at the Hard Rock because nothing else really stood out as a 'Houston experience.' I forget that that place actually has really great food. Same everywhere, but really great honestly. I got back to the room about 11 and went to bed.

Now its off to New Orleans or whatever is left of it.

Day 25 - Fort Stockton, TX - San Antonio, TX

o you're probably noticing that this is somewhat late, sorry about that. Unfortunately the hotel last night kinda lied. I can't complain too much since I was staying in more or less downtown San Antonio for $35, but they had said that there was 'high speed internet in the room.' What this actually meant was that there was a computer in my room connected to the internet but SO OLD (seriously like, when I was in middle school kinda old) that it was pretty much impossible to use and since the internet was connected to its IP, no dice. So here I am, about 4pm just checked into my hotel in Houston and I'll post about yesterday and leave my thoughts so far today for the next post.

Anyhow, other than for internet issues, San Antonio has to be one of the coolest cities in the US. I've been finding that each city has a character of its own, San Antonio is just a fun, laidback place. It's big enough that there is a decent sized downtown with lots of restaurants and shops yet not so big as to make driving and negotiating the city stressful. For those of you who haven't been here, the cruz of downtown is known as the riverwalk. Basically, its a canal that runs through downtown from the main artery of the San Antonio river. The sides of the canal are kept like a botanical garden: flowers, trees, sidewalks and waterfalls. In certain areas of the riverwalk (it's about 3 miles all told) there are dozens of restaurants, bars and shops. It's a really neat setting for dinner or drinks and just a fun place to walk around in general. I'm fully aware that I'm here at the best possible time, it apparently gets pretty hot here, but still in the evenings of summer its can't be too bad. The other great things about San Antonio are that it's cheap, and the food is amazing (and cheap, woot).

So you've probably read that I've been eating at a lot of 24 hour diners. Nothing against them, but after a while the food leaves something to be desired. I haven't had a really great meal since Vegas, not that anything was bad just not memorable...fuel so to speak. Well, San Antonio more than made up for it. First, early in the afternoon I sampled a Texas institution, Blue Bell ice cream. Seriously, this is the best stuff ever created by man...especially Birthday Cake ice cream. It's probably a good thing for my waistline that I don't actually live here. So after walking around the riverwalk for a few hours and taking a fun little riverboat tour, I went to the oldest restaurant on the riverwalk, Casa Rio. This place was built in 1946 and still owned by the same family, the guy on the boat told me that it was the best deal in the area. Holy crap he wasn't kidding. Seven dollars bought two enchiladas, a tamale, rice, beans, a beef taco, and half of a plate of cheese nachos. I could eat maybe half of it. Four dollars went to a fifteen ounce Cuervo margarita. Seriously, not only was there a ton of it but it was about the best Mexican I'd ever had. There were actually mariachi's walking around the restuarant too so I got the whole Tex-Mex experience. Pretty great for $13 after tip. I had to laugh though, this riverwalk happens to be what Richmond's canalwalk is based on. You know that ditch on the edge of downtown?? Yeah, that. See San Antonio not only has a very different culture, but also the city got businesses to agree to build before they made the canal as pretty as it is. So instead of just dumping millions into a ditch, they knew that there would be some reason for people to go there. Good job San Antonio, why you so stupid Richmond??

Anyway, on to Houston and eventually the Big Easy.

Day 24 - Roswell, NM - Carlsbad - Big Bend - Fort Stockton, TX

It's funny how plans change and in a lot of ways I am really glad that I'm on this trip alone, just because I can decide to just turn the car wherever I want to go and jet. Most of the time I have a skeleton idea of what to do and a few backup plans but that's about it and sometimes it's come back to bite me but most of the time it makes the trip more memorable. Anyway, today was one of those days where plans changed for the better in a way that I certainly wasn't expecting...

Anyhow, I actually got out of the hotel pretty darned early about 8am. The reason being that one of the tours that I had wanted to take of the caverns was on at 10 and 1, and I knew that the only way I'd get to take it was if someone cancelled so I wanted to be there for either one. Why was the tour such a big deal? Well Carlbad has a few regular walking tours but also they have a 'caving' tour where you actually strap on pads, a lighted helmet and gloves and follow the ranger throuw newly discovered areas while crawling on your belly, climbing etc. Luckily I got there just in time for the 10am tour and someone had cancelled, really lucky apparently because these tours generally are booked months in advance. So I strapped up (they didn't let us have cameras, it would have been crushed anyway) and the five of us headed through 3 hours of chasms and narrow passageways. It was really neat to be able to see what only a very few have ever been able to see. I'm not about to be a lone caver however, it was great with a guide but I think you've got to be crazy to just head into an unknown passage and hope for the best. Honestly, you could so easily fall and get knocked out and never be found. After the tour I actually did the main areas of the cavern and let me tell you, this place is awesome. Luray is cool and all, but Carlsbad is on a completely different scale. The 'big room' can fit the Astrodome inside it. It was made entirely different too, actually forming when underground gas deposits (including hydrogen sulfide) met with water and created sulfuric acid which ate away at the limestone to make the caverns. It actually took me until 2pm to finish touring all of the caverns but I still was out of there a lot earlier than I would have thought. I had figured that if I was lucky then I'd be on the 1pm tour and not get out until almost 5. So I had a lot of extra daylight and I wasn't ready to head to San Antonio quite yet. There was another National Park about 40 miles away called "Guadalupe Mountains" so I headed that way. Unfortunately when I got there I realized that this park was only 20+ mile hikes and roads that are only 4wd accessible, no dice. What to do??

Well I fired up the GPS and found that I was only about 200 miles from Big Bend National Park. For those of you who've never heard of it, it's basically the Western dip of the Rio Grande in Texas. I hadn't planned on going there because I thought it was too far and had I been at the Caverns until 5 it would have been. So I pointed the car and got on the road, luckily Texas speed limits are generally 75 so I was there with about 2.5 hours of daylight left. Big Bend is a lush desert if such a thing can be imagined, with these huge rock mountains in the background. I had just enough time to go on the scenic drive and see the most spectacular sunset of my life. I was able to get up on a rock hill as the sun went down over the mountains. Totally worth the drive and more.

Unfortunately, Big Bend is smack dab in the middle of assbackwardsville. The only motels were crazy expensive and kinda shabby. I had told myself that I would find a place in time to finally have a decent dinner that wasn't a 24 hour diner. Oh well, maybe San Antonio. I finally was able to stop in Fort Stockton, which was about 1.5 hour away. Best laid plans...but it was certainly worth it. Now on to San Antonio.

Day 23 - Moab, UT - Monument Valley - Roswell

Today was definitely unexpected, at times a little scary but pretty memorable overall. One of the reasons that I went on this trip mostly alone was that I was fully aware that some things were going to happen that I didn't exactly plan on. When these things happen, I can generally stay pretty calm and take them as they come since its only me being affected. I've certainly had quite a few of these little unexpected episodes since leaving D.C. and they make for great stories.

Anyway, we'll get to that in a minute. So this morning I got out pretty early and headed back to Arches, since it was honestly too late to see much last night. Arches is less well known than some of the other parks in the Southwest but honestly it has some of the most unusual sights of anywhere I've been. As the name implies, there are more than 2000 natural stone arches within the park, some keyhole small and some are massive. I went to a couple, but the more bizarre is called Landscape Arch. From base to base the span is actually 300 feet even though at some points the actual beam(?) is only about 6 feet thick. Apparently in 1990 a 180 ton slab of rock fell the few hundred feet to the ground, hence not being able to walk underneath it anymore. However, I was able to walk right up to it and honestly I think I stared at it for about 20 minutes. I mean, it just doesn't make sense...300 feet across, tons upon tons of stone, just almost floating there...just bizarre.

So after a couple of hikes I headed south to Monument Valley. Most of you have probably heard of it before, or certainly seen the area in movies. It's pretty iconic for Westerns and its really beautiful. Although they call it a 'valley,' its more of a flat plain with these huge red buttes that seem to just rise a thousand feet high from nothing. As you drive into the area too, you pass another iconic movie landscape, highway 191 about 13 miles north of the valley is where Forrest stopped running. It was pretty neat actually, because when you drive to the spot you know it automatically. I recognized it the second I crested over the hill. I had wanted it to be sunny and bright, but the weather wasn't exactly cooperating. It had been raining on and off, and that continued in the park. At first I was a little disappointed knowing that my pictures wouldn't quite come out as well as I'd hoped but as I was at one of the lookouts, the rainstorm changed to a thunderstorm. A desert thunderstorm in Monument Valley, thats something pretty unexpected and pretty awesome in reality. When you experience a thunderstorm on a desert plain, it looks entirely different because you can see so much further. Hence I'd see four or five bolts every few seconds and some might have been 50 miles away. Although the photos might not be quite what they could be, I felt pretty lucky to experience such a rare event.

So on to the really unexpected episode... I pointed the car to the next destination Carlsbad Caverns, NM. Thats not real close, about 550 miles. I knew that I wouldn't quite reach the whole way tonight but I figured that I'd get close. I had to drive through the Navajo reservation which is actually really large, it takes up a good 100 miles by 100 miles. Thing is, the road system there leaves something to be desired, but the GPS doesn't really know that. Well it was directing me and told me to drive from highway 59 to 591. Now 591 isn't paved, but it was really wide and seemed fine. I figured that it was probably just going to be for a minute or two so I turned. Well pretty quickly the road became more or less nothing, as in it became nothing more than a couple of tire tracks. I followed as per the GPS waiting to get back to a main road and then the sky opened up and it started hailing like crazy. So there I was no civilization in sight, driving on what could have been a ditch honestly with no cell phone reception. Not the brightest of moments. The GPS lost me and so I had to try to find my way back to an actual road. I'm pretty sure that I was actually driving on a riverbed for a few minutes and I almost got stuck a few times. Finally I found my way back to the unpaved but large road and just followed that until it got to something paved. Apparently I didn't do too bad because it actually had me saving time from when I turned off the road before. Alls well that ends well, but it could have been REALLY bad.

So here I am in Roswell, NM finally, about 100 miles from Carlsbad so I'll be getting up pretty early to see the Caverns then on to Texas!

Day 22 - Panguitch, UT - Bryce Canyon - Capitol Reef - Arches - Moab, UT

I'm sure that to someone who's never been to this part of the country before it must seem like I'm spending an awful long time in Utah. I honestly didn't expect to stay here anywhere near as long either when I set out from Virginia. It's funny that when we think of the natural beauty of the Southwest, we generally think of Arizona, New Mexico but certainly not Utah. Before I left, I had planned to spend a day skiing here, but that was about it. I honestly thought that Utah was skiing and Mormons, and yes, it does have both of those things. However, this state has some of the most spectacular scenery that you could ever imagine. Some of these places I'd heard of before, like Zion and Bryce Canyon but I didn't really know what they were or even necessarily that they were in this state. I could probably spend another two weeks just in Southern Utah and still not see anywhere near all there is to see. So I guess I should just put up the pictures and move on...

After heading out this morning from dowtown Panguitch, I started down the road to Bryce Canyon National Park. Bryce is another place that's really hard to fathom until you actually go there. It's basically a road that goes along a ridge overlooking a wall of eroded stone. The erosion however, has created these towers called 'hoodoos,' which apparently is an Indian word. These hoodoos can be more than a thousand feet tall and there are literally thousands of them along the 20 miles of the park. It was pretty awesome to see and really improbable, i can't think of a better word... When you stand at the top of these vistas looking over the rock formations, they just don't make much sense. You stand there amazed at how impressive they are but then when you look closer its impossible not to wonder how on earth this landscape was randomly created, why these towers don't just fall or erode further into simple rubble. The park took about two hours all told and afterwards I was on to park number 2 of the day.

Capitol Reef is much less well known than Bryce or Zion, partially because it is a lot smaller. Unlike those two, with large visitor centers and strict admission fees, Capitol Reef was more or less a scenic drive with a small shop attached. That's not to say that it wasn't worth it, quite the opposite. In some ways it was so memorable because it felt like I was the only person who was lucky enough to see it. The park is basically a slot canyon with red rock walls on either side that made unusual formations. The colors here were almost too bright to believe, when I say red, I don't mean red-'ish,' I mean red that's brighter than any brick house you'd ever see. Against the crystal clear blue sky, it made some of the most dramatic scenery I'd ever seen. In addition, there were Indian petroglyphs and raging waterfalls all right next to the main road through the park. It only took about 1.5 hrs to go through the park and after that I was headed on to the final park of the day, Arches.

Luckily, my folks had been to this area before because they were able to tell me how to take the scenic route (more scenic, that is) to Arches through the small town of Cisco. It didn't seem real great when I first turned off onto highway 128. Cisco is nothing but a lot of old jalopies on cement blocks and an abandoned gas station. So I wasn't expecting too much. Within about twenty minutes of the fifty mile drive to the park however, the road started to parallel the Colorado River. The area became a state park as I drove and the crap town of Cisco was a distant memory. The landscape was red rocks on either side, the river in the middle, and snow capped mountains in the far distance. It almost didn't seem real honestly, i mean you really could just point the camera anywhere and it would turn out pretty damned good. The drive in and of itself was as awesome as any park and so it took a little longer than I had originally intended to get to Arches.

When I did arrive, it was getting close to dusk. So I was able to enjoy a good sunset among the rock formations but I'm planning to see most of it tomorrow morning. There was a pretty interesting ranger talk at 8:30, about the nocturnal animals in the area, which meant that I didn't get to Moab (the closest town) until almost 9:30. See herein lies the problem, I forget that EVERY RESTAURANT except for Denny's on earth has to close at 10. It's pretty obnoxious honestly, because I've had more dinners at Denny's than anywhere else on the trip. Not that the food is horrible, but it leaves a little to be desired. Honestly, theyre always busy at 11pm, don't other restaurants notice this?!? I can't be the only person who's ever realized that there is money in keeping your kitchen open an hour later...oh well, there's certainly worse problems to have.

Anyhow, the plan for tomorrow is to see Arches, Monument Valley and end up somewhere in New Mexico...hopefully that happens, we'll see.

Day 21 - Williams, AZ - Grand Canyon - Zion National Park - Panguitch, UT

If you get a chance in the next day or two, try to googlemap Panguitch. You'll find that it is in NOWHERE, heheh, seriously this is the largest 'city' within a hundred miles of here and there isn't a single actual fast food joint in the whole town. It is Mayberry it seems, but its pretty interesting. It's hard to fathom that people live their whole lives in such a small place but as I've seen time and time again over the last few weeks, people seem to adapt to wherever they are. Today was pretty awesome all things considered, and I've got WAY too many photos but oh well. That's the great thing about digipics, I can just dump them on the laptop and I'll clean them up when I get home.

So the day actually, for once, started off pretty early. Last night was great, I had an awesome time in Vegas, but after two late nights, it was great to just watch American Idol and go to bed by 11:30. This morning, I was out of the room no later than 9 this morning and heading to the Grand Canyon. Since I got there kinda late last night, I didn't get to see but so much of the park. Hence me getting out early, and through the Southern entrance. GCNP is a little unusual as far as parks go in that there isn't but so many trails per se, its mainly a 40 mile drive along the southern rim of the Canyon. Its actually only about 10 miles across at the middle but to get from the south entrance to the north entrance takes about 5 hours and 180 miles. I just took the southern rim road and it really is as impressive as you could imagine. Its funny because we think that Arizona is all desert, but the area around the canyon is actually a fir forest and it was kinda chilly up there this morning. I made sure to get a ton of pictures at the different overlooks and of course, I had to be a little bit of a daredevil in that I handed my camera to an older couple (already zoomed in) to take my photo as I climbed out to the edge and scooted out so that I could dangle my feet. (3000 foot sheer drop there btw)

After the Canyon, I headed North toward more uncharted territory: Zion national park. I'm sure a lot of you haven't ever heard of Zion which is really too bad. I can't say that I'd really heard of it much before my folks went there a few months ago, but they couldn't stop talking about the whole area and so I had to see it. To be honest, Yellowstone had amazing wildlife and natural phenomena, Yosemite had monoliths and countless waterfalls, Tetons were awe inspiring...but for sheer beauty, Zion wins. I spent most all of the day hiking around the park and seeing everything I could. Its entirely different than anything I'd ever seen before. It's basically an extremely narrow valley with sheer flaming red rock cliffs on either side. These cliffs are generally between 2500 and 3000 feet above the valley floor. Yet, there are rivers and plantlife everywhere. Honestly, words can't express how beautiful this place is. You know, sometimes when you go to a place, you realize as youre there that its becoming a part of you. Thats been a few places on this trip, but certainly Zion. I could have spent days just staring at the cliffs...honestly. The pictures, which I have a ton mind you, will serve to give people a vague idea but you can't really understand the scale and color of this place until you are standing in it. So I ask any of you, if you EVER get the chance to come here, don't hesitate. It's actually only 140 miles from Vegas, but its worlds away. Eventually, it started to get dark which meant that I had to go.

So tomorrow, the plan is to go through the other parks of Southern Utah before my great swing south and eventually home. Bryce Canyon National Park is the first on the list and that's why I'm in Panguitch, it's about 10 miles from the park and cheap as hell, woot!

Day 20 - Las Vegas, NV - Williams, AZ

So today started out a little later than I wanted it to again ::sigh:: oh well. I actually didn't wake up early because I didn't get my wake up call...no free internet and faulty wake up calls...hrmm. I had to make two quick pitstops and get some lunch before I could leave Vegas (and probably civilization for a few days).

First, a favor for my dad, the Harley Store. Afterwards, of course, the Hard Rock Cafe. I got my pin; I'm thinking that I'm going to have to get a new board when I get home. I was running out of space as it was but now I've already got Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Los Angeles and now Las Vegas. The last thing before I was officially "Leaving Las Vegas" was to go to the shrine of indulgence, the world buffet at the Rio. It's generally considered to be the best buffet in the country and I'd have to agree. I'm not generally a buffet person but this place was nuts. Seriously 400+ different things, sushi, oysters, prime rib, crab legs and more desserts than you can imagine. I left completely stuffed and my dinner has been a diet coke and a slim jim, still full.

Anyway, I headed out afterwards for the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, there was a roadblock after the Hoover dam which actually added about an hour to the trip. Because of that I didn't actually get to the Canyon until close to sunset. It was still pretty amazing though, and I can't wait to take the scenic park road tomorrow. It should be a pretty full day, I'm planning to spend an hour or two going around the Grand Canyon and then its off to Zion National Park in Southern Utah. Apparently its even less populated there than in South Dakota so hopefully I won't be sleeping in the car. We'll see!

Day 19 - Las Vegas, NV

Sorry about the absence of a post yesterday night, right now its actually the end of day 20 but I'm going to attempt to post for yesterday and today this evening. A lot of pretty great adventures have happened in the last two days, but I ran into the first instance of not having internet in my hotel last night. I WAS staying at the Tropicana but they wouldn't let me stay in cool room for the second night for the same price. Honestly, it was real nice but not quite 80 dollars nice. Hence, I crossed the street to Excalibur for the cheap. Great place but they get you in the door for cheap and then want $22 bucks to access the net. I figured that my demanding audience could deal with a day without news, I'm sure you were all waiting with baited breath.

Anyway, I got started on Monday a little later than I had originally intended. Even though the two casinos were only across the street from each other, these places are so big that you can spend half an hour walking from one to the other. By the time that I was re-checked into Excalibur, it was actually 11 but that was okay, one of the important things about Vegas is that honestly most people are still recovering from the night before until about 5pm. Vegas really is hard to fathom until you actually come here. It has changed a lot since I was here about 8 years ago. Back then, it was still sort of a family place and it wasn't very expensive. It was kind of like a much bigger version of Reno, mostly parents and kids and then retirees it seemed. Nowadays its really an adult playground. I don't just mean adult as in sex, I mean adult as in the best of the best of everything. It seems that the standard day for a Vegas vacationer is to gamble, shop, tan, or sightsee during the day and then at some point in the late afternoon go back to the room, get fancy and go see a show (of which there are hundreds it seems) and then eat at one of the five star restaurants (of which there are also hundreds it seems). Although I'm not exactly one to spend fifty dollars on an entree, certainly not when I'm trying to keep costs down, I think its a good thing for Vegas. It makes a lot more sense than trying to find some line between fun for adults and being kid friendly.

So I spent most of the day, checking out the various casino resorts. Each one has its own flavor and amazing things to see. I have to be honest though, you guys may have heard about the newest casino called 'Wynn,' it cost more than 3.5 Billion to make...I'm not real sure why. I mean its really really opulent and pretty. Compared to some of the others though that cost less than half that...Iunno, its certainly not the most remarkable out there. It was pretty amazing to see some of these places though and go shopping through stores like Versace and Prada. Not that i'd EVER buy a 5,000 blazer, but it's fun to look and be shocked.

The highlight of the day though, was actually something that I'd completely forgotten about. If you guys ever see it come on TV again, you should watch the international bartending championships. Bartenders from all over the world come to Vegas once a year for this tournament wherein they have to make varied drinks and show their 'flair,' which means throwing bottles in crazy ways and whatnot. Well, I'd seen it a few months before and totally forgot that the previous champion was tending right at the Flamingo. The 'bar' was actually outside on the strip and you could see the crowd around this guy. His name is 'Flippy' and he's somewhat of a local celebrity. With good reason too, he was amazing to watch. I got my own drink from him, of course, and he was throwing bottles everywhich way but always he was in control. I tipped him five bucks (I mean he's the world champion.) and he stuck it right to his head, he was pretty sweaty I figure. So thats my five bucks you see there.

My splurge for the day was going to see Lewis Black at the MGM that night. He was absolutely side splittingly funny although the guy who opened for him was just godawful. He actually had about five minutes of material about going on the Temple tour in Salt Lake and he was dead on. I ended up having a pretty late dinner and watching a band at the Excalibur Lounge until about 1:30. Pretty great day all told, I'll miss Vegas but hopefully I'll be back before too long. Maybe October??

Day 18 - Los Angeles, CA - Las Vegas, NV

Okay, so Las Vegas is just way too much fun, and way too big to possibly fathom until you actually get here. It really just seems like a fantasyland and once I leave it will be hard to imagine that it just keeps going all the time this way.

After getting out from Kevin's a little late due to sleepyness and I headed over to the Walk of Fame in downtown Hollywood. So that's where all the tourists were, I hadn't been seeing but so many it seemed. This place though was chock a block with families. I think the average weight on the walk of fame is probably about 40 pounds higher than the rest of LA, that's a big cultural difference I've noticed. I guess its the whole obsession with youth and beauty here, but I've seen hardly any fat people and its just kinda weird. It took me a while to notice but there is definitely a marked difference. Anyway, the walk of fame was a lot of fun; apparently me and Samuel L Jackson have similar shoe sizes.

I headed from there out to Las Vegas, its only about a 4 hour drive so not too bad. I got to the Tropicana at about 7pm and checked in. Great room, amazing view 22nd floor overlooking the strip. I wasn't about to just sit on my laurels though. I headed out to see some of the casinos lickety split. It's been a long time since I've been here and it really has changed. The newer casinos are certainly themed but its different than before. There isn't any more family focus, you really see hardly any kids here. Even gambling is downplayed somewhat, its more of just a big adult playground. Chic bars, gourmet restaurants, hundreds of shows, just everything intended to give people a good time...for a price of course. Some of these casinos are just so massive it's hard to fathom honestly. I mean, the Wynn cost 3.5 Billion to make, yes, with a B. I had a quick dinner of eight dollar steak at the Riviera and I had intended to go to a nightclub. Funny thing how plans change, I ended up sitting down at the Paris at a piano bar. Now this was not just some crooner playing standards, this was a dueling piano bar. These two guys would take requests and play on the fly...they were amazing. They knew everything that was thrown at them and we're not talking about just piano songs. Ever heard a piano player do 'gin and juice'? How about 'Dueling banjos'? When I requested 'Calling Baton Rouge' by Garth Brooks, they seriously owned the song. It was just awesome and the hundred or so people there were getting into it as much as the players were. They actually got a request for 'don't fear the reaper' and apparently that was fairly common. Out came the cowbell and they got a volunteer from the audience. I'm not sure if she got the 'more cowbell' reference but it was just a ton of fun. I actually ended up watching them from 11 til 1 and then headed back for some much needed rest.

So tomorrow, I'm out to see Vegas. We'll see where I end up and what I end up doing, plans have a way of changing.

Day 17 - Los Angeles

Actually, to be honest I've been really surprised with LA. Kevin said the other night that you can come here and get a different impression of it every time, and that seems strikingly true. I'd been here with my parents way back almost ten years ago, so I didn't remember but so much and of course it was from a completely tourist point of view. I understand it a lot better now I think and even though it's not my very favorite city in the world, its pretty great and I've had a really good time.

So to start off with today, I woke up fairly early because Kevin was up at 8am to get his oil changed. For someone who seemed so tired the night before he was about as chipper as could be, somewhat of a surprise I'd say. As I showered he made eggs, the first real non-hotel breakfast I'd had since....well....months anyway. He had a doctor's appointment until the late afternoon so I headed out for Venice Beach. It was a little cloudy, but not too bad and being a Saturday it was totally packed. VB is definitely an experience, it seems that pretty much every level of society goes there from your botoxed, chihuahua carrying, Vuitton wearing, facelifted one time trophy wives to your garden variety screaming homeless crazyperson. All along the street were t-shirt vendors and hotdog stands, with street performers playing across from them. Some of these guys were amazingly good and a semi-free show can't be beat. I ended up spending about 45 minutes watching these guys do this amazing (and funny) breakdance routine right on the concrete. This one guy even slid forward on his head...ouch...seemed like magic. After walking around for a bit, I got some lunch at Elvira's Carribbean Shack, which is about what it sounds but those Jerk chicken enchiladas were amazing. I actually kept walking all the way to the famous Santa Monica pier and went around their amusement park for a bit.

By the time I was almost back to the car, Kevin called and told me that he was with some co-workers to buy a suit at the Beverly Center and to meet him there so we could go from there. Thanks to the GPS, I made a quick journey of it and met him. He was still in the middle of getting suited up (apparently its a tradition for the boss to buy the younger folks one) and so I decided to walk around the mall and he'd just call me when he was done.

So the Beverly Center is like a mall version of Rodeo drive. Not that all of the stores are that pricey, but there are ones like Dior, Gucci etc. I tell you what, I love people watching with the ipod headphones on. They just assume you can't hear anything and so you can go incognito. I actually stood about five feet from a woman (probably about 55 but with so much plastic surgery it was impossible to tell, think joan rivers type of stretched face...::shivers::) who actually bought a $3000 purse. Yes, three zeros. Thats more than both of my first cars, I seriously was in shock...i mean, it wasn't even a big purse. I wanted to smack her and say something akin to 'you know that you can buy the same one in Chinatown for $20 right?' Honestly too, with her looks...I don't think a cheap purse will fix the problem. I'm sure it was obvious to the salespeople that I wasn't going to buy anything but again the ipod makes it a little less awkward since they have an excuse to not talk to me.

After walking around for about 1.5 hrs I was really starting to worry about Kevin...and then I got a call from a weird number I'd never seen before. It was him and apparently his phone got jacked. He'd had to call a couple of mutual friends to figure out how to get me. From experience, It sucks...you're contact list is the worst part of losing the phone. Who remembers actual numbers anymore?? After getting everything shut off, we headed back to his place to meet a couple of friends for dinner.

This restaurant was amazing, Argentinian food. Basically that translates into meat meat and more meat. The three of us split on entree and a 'dinner for two'. How two people could eat this thing, I'll never know. Two steaks, a half chicken, salad, sweetbreads (which is a weird name for grilled cow neckpieces) and three sausages. The total bill with drinks was only about $55 which astonished me. The only other expense was the $3 valet. I had to laugh though...I'm sure a lot of you have seen 'clueless.' At one point, the main character is getting yelled at by her father for not knowing how to parallel park and she says "But Daddy, honestly, everywhere you go had valet!" Sounds like a joke right? WRONG! Everybody drives here and most places really do have valet, even malls. Cultural difference I guess.

After dinner, we all headed out to a nightclub called the Abbey. It was a great time, really neat place. It looked like an old Spanish mission with vaulted ceilings and rough walls. Most of it was actually open to the outside so it wasn't anywhere near as claustrophobic as they can sometimes be. We weren't out too lat but had a blast all the same.

Tomorrow, Sunday, I'll be doing a couple more touristy things here in LA before finally heading to VEGAS!

Day 16 - San Francisco - Los Angeles

It's funny, it doesn't seem to us east coasters that these two cities should be so far from each other. You look at a map of the US and it almost seems that they blend into each other. True, there are numerous little towns and not so little towns (like Fresno, Bakersfield etc.) inbetween so that you are never completely in the middle of nowhere, but its a lot of ground to cover. From my hotel to Kevin's house was about 410 miles, which to put that in perspective is about from Chapel Hill to NYC. I, however, being the guy that I am was not about to just drive the easy way. I actually took the Pacific Coast Highway. If you know anything about CA, then you'll know that this is actually one of the most celebrated scenic drives in the US. The road actually hugs the coast, i mean is within sight of the water, for almost all of the western seaboard.

The beginning drive was really beautiful, not too windy though. So I made pretty quick work of that, I was in Monterey by about 12:30. Monterey is a really pretty little town on the water that has two things going for it, tourist wise. 1) the aquarium, 2) the Steinbeck novel. Most everything in town is referencing one or the other. I stopped mainly because it was a good spot for lunch and it was on the way anyhow. I had some fish and chips at this little mom and pop shack right on the ocean, not a bad way to spend $7.

After that, it was back on the road, going through places like Carmel, Big Sur and Pebble beach. Eventually it started to get a little dark, so the last 100 miles was spent on the interstate, oh well. When I finally reached Kevin's i got freshened up and we headed out to this nightclub near him called RAGE. I've never seen a more packed place in my life and bass like crazy. It was a fun night which ended up at Cantor's, a famous Jewish restaurant/deli in Hollywood. We were both pretty beat but it was a blast from beginning to end.

Anyhow, I'm about to head out for the day. I plan on seeing all of LA that I can see, Hollywood, Santa Monica yada yada. We'll see what happens, plans always have a way of changing.

Day 15 - San Francisco, CA

Okay, so San Francisco wins as far as cities I'd move to if D.C. ceased to exist. This place is really vibrant and fun, and greener than any other big city I've seen other than for home. I wouldn't say it's 'clean' per se, just like I wouldn't call Chicago clean either, but it feels lived in without feeling dirty...there's probably a better way to say that but its late. I think today, I saw about as much as you possibly could and the blisters prove it. I don't regret a thing though, today was one of the best days of the trip so far. It might not be quite as awe-inspiring as the national parks, but I did get to see how so many different people live in such a short time period.

Anyway, the day started with me going on a VERY long walking tour. Thanks go out to Frommer's for having a good map and itinerary setup for seeing San Francisco's different neighborhoods. Within about four hours, I walked through Haight, Castro, Mission (the latin area), Japantown, Little Italy and Nob Hill. It was pretty amazing how honestly, one block would be the difference between two completely separate groups and the division was noticable right away. The second that I crossed into Mission, everything went to Spanish so I took the opportunity and had some of the best Chimichangas I've ever had. It was a really great morning, I feel like I understand this place a lot better than most tourists who never leave the beaten path.

After lunch, I headed to the SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art). It was a little smaller than the New York version, but overall it was a really great collection. I got to see the picture you see here, which happens to be the first painting that people generally consider 'modern art.' It's called "Woman with a Hat" by Henri Matisse. It wasn't all great though, their traveling exhibition was on this guy called Brice Marden. Look him up and you'll find that he makes gray canvases....thats it.....different colors of gray.....with names like 'Nebraska' which apparently is lighter gray than "to Martha." I like modern art, but jeez, 50 painting of gray...thats a little emperor's new clothes for me....

Anyway, after that I headed over to Chinatown. I had eaten a late dinner there yesterday but most everything was closed so I had wanted to see it alive. Too bad I don't need a lot of kitschy crap...cuz whoo-wee they had it by the bucketfuls. I had to laugh to, because half of it was kimonos and 'ninja swords,' totally different country guys. I'm sure theyre well aware but I guess it sells. The shining part of Chinatown, and the day really, was going to the "China Tea Shop." They had a sign outside saying "free tea tasting" and I mean, its free, why not?!? So I walked in, and this really funny guy named "John" (I'm sure thats his American name.) spent the next hour telling me about the different kinds of tea and how to brew it and what they did etc... I, who was not a huge tea drinker, had about seven different kinds. Some of them were great too, so I ended up getting a little bit of 'Golden Oolong' and 'Ginseng white blend.' Half of the fun was hearing his corny jokes which I'm sure every tourist for the last year has heard. Either way, the walls were covered in pictures of him and his customers from around the world. When he found out that I was from D.C., he made sure to get a polaroid of us, and I snapped a digital pic. He shook his photo and stuck it right on the wall with a big "Chris, DC" sharpied on it.

By the end of that I was getting pretty hungry for dinner and I just happened to pass a restaurant that I'd seen on the food network. The Stinking Rose, had about the best lasagna I've ever had. All of their food has tons of garlic, its their thing. Hence the name. So my serving alone apparently had eight cloves. It was really great though, my breath didn't matter but so much. I wasn't quite adventurous enough to try the garlic ice cream though, yes it did exist.

So anyhow, tomorrow I'll be heading down the Pacific Coast Hwy to LA for a couple days and after that, the great journey back East.