California and the drive home

First off, never drive from Flagstaff to San Diego. Its a longer drive than I thought and there aren't many places to stop along the way. If I had known that, I probably would have eaten something at that dairy queen in the middle of nowhere.

I got to San Diego in the end of a holiday weekend, so most of the other tourists and vacationers were checking out. The first night I wasn't sure what to do. I was a block away from the gas lamp quarter, but I was really tired from driving all day, so I decided to stay at the hotel bar. When I got there, it was early and there were already a few couples sitting for a drink. Unfortunately, everyone who was sitting at the bar was waiting for a table at the nearby and were gone in a few minutes and I was sitting at the bar alone (as an aside, I may have set a record for most time spent alone at a bar on this trip). The bartender seemed to be happy about it though. I think he said something along the lines of 'If you're here alone, we can have this bar packed in an hour, no problem.' He was right, because before long there was a random dude drinking beer and this group of 5 vacationers from LA. I don't remember any of their names at this point - which sounds bad, but they only told me once and I forgot in 5 minutes, really it's not bad at all. Plus, they were drinking tequila and probably don't remember my name either. After they had several tequila shots and tequila and sprite mixes they decided that they were going to the gas lamp quarter and that I was required to attend. We went to 3 or 4 bars, but pretty much everything was closing early. We had plenty to drink and the LA kids were going home in the morning, so we called it a night.

I was up surprisingly early the next day (plus a 3 hour time difference), so I headed over to Pacific Beach. (...And now for my favorite part of California...) My room mate told me that I was going to love San Diego and probably want to move there. At first, I thought she was wrong (I loved it there, but maybe not enough to move) but that was before I got to the beach and saw the fire department running PT drills on the beach. Still, I probably won't move there, but yeah, I wouldn't mind watching that every day.

I spent a few hours on the beach before my skin started to burn and I decided to go for a walk (keep in mind that I, like everyone else, was walking around in my bikini and a pair of shorts). I was checking out the local stores and trying to decide what to have for dinner (which ended up being the firehouse restaurant, shocking yes, I know). I guess I wandered too far from the beach, because I ended up in an area where it was apparently not appropriate to walk around in your bikini anymore - of course, I didn't know it until some little girl said 'Daddy, why is her naked?' I (not realizing that I was the her that she was referring to) looked around for some naked girl running around, only to learn (by the irritated look on the girl's father's face) that I was still in my bikini and everyone else was fully clothed. oops. So I grabbed my shirt and headed back to the beach for dinner.

The next day, I was back in my car on the way to Tucson. I was supposed to meet up with my cousin that night, but he was late coming back from a funeral in CA so I had dinner at the hotel bar (alone, again). For some reason, the bartender had tennis or something on at the bar, and MLB on in the restaurant, so I kept turning around to watch baseball... I guess the guy sitting near the TV that I was watching thought I was watching him. He approached me (covered in dirt) and explained that he was an electrician working on a very dangerous job inside of a nearby mine, but that he was very skilled in laying pipe and asked if I wanted to meet him at a nearby La Quinta Inn. I think I turned about 10 different shades of red before politely refusing his offer and returning to my hotel room.

I spent some time with my cousin in the morning and had a kick ass burrito, then got in the car to start the drive home. I was headed to Pecos, TX for the night, then I got lost in El Paso, then I got pulled over just out side of El Paso. I was written a warning, and later found out that they can't give tickets to out of state drivers. I guess it was my lucky day.

After that, the remaining drive was incident free. I spend two more nights on the road (Dallas, TX and Nashville, TN) and I made it home in the evening on 6/5.

My journey is complete and the photos have been uploaded - They took forever to upload, so everyone better check them out.

UPDATE! - Arizona is still my favorite state

I guess I haven't posted in a few days... Sorry about that - here's an update. From Santa Fe, NM I went on to Flagstaff, AZ. I stayed in Flag for a few days so I could go to some parks nearby - actually, I wanted to camp in the Grand Canyon, but due to the holiday all the campsites were full (with the exception of one that required a horse - yeah, REQUIRED.) ... Just another reason why having a holiday in the middle of vacation was unfortunate (even more to come regarding the poorly placed holiday).

Between Santa Fe and Flag, I stopped at Petrified Forest / Painted Desert National Park (see photos!) The park is pretty nice, a detour that is definitely worth the entry fee and extra time in the car. Mom wanted me to take some of the wood, which I was planning on doing, until I figured out that it was illegal - anyways if everyone took a piece home there wouldn't be any left (so I got some at the gift shop 3/$5 is better than jail and/or a $350 fee).

I checked into the hotel on Route 66 in Flagstaff - which seemed like a good idea, except that it was the WORST hotel that I've stayed in the entire time. Seriously, I wanted to shower - after showering. On top of that, it was Route 66 and it was Memorial Day weekend, which apparently means that Harleys will be going both directions at all hours of the night. I have since decided that I only like Harleys during the daylight.

Flag Day 1:

The next day I drove to Monument Valley, UT which is definitely one of my favorite places that I've been so far. It is not a national park, because it is on Navajo land, but it is treated the same as a national park by the US and by the Navajo (and we don't have to worry about disrespecting their lands or their culture at all, because they make the rules and they run the show). I really wanted to do a horseback tour of the park, but they were all sold out, so I took a Jeep tour. I still want to do the horseback tour next time, but the Jeep tour was really cool. In a Jeep, they can take you farther into the restricted areas in less time (so you get to see more cool stuff). On top of that, they only take 3 or 4 people at a time, so you get a more private and custom tour. I went with these two German guys (who have probably seen more of the US than I have). They were interesting, one spoke English better than the other, but they were both cool. The tour guide was a Navajo named Nathan. He lives in Utah and can't imagine living anywhere else. I can understand that, Monument Valley was amazing. Nathan showed us the vegetation (yes, there's vegetation), buttes, petroglyphs and arches then sang some Navajo songs. Towards the middle/end of the tour the wind was really strong and our group got stuck in a sand storm. The storm didn't last long, but it did cover us all in red dirt. I don't think I would like that every day, but I do think that at least once a week it would be nice it would be nice to be covered head to toe in red dirt.

Flag day 2: The Grand Canyon

Next time, I won't go to the Grand Canyon alone - it is something I would have had more fun exploring in a large group. (No Mom, not Girl Scout style). I got tons of pictures (which I'll upload someday, but apparently not today, because it is taking FOREVER to upload the MV UT pics), a couple of t-shirts and most importantly a snickers ice cream bar. I only went to the south rim and stayed on the main roads (mostly), but the canyon was pretty amazing... Actually, it didn't look real - it looked like one of those old movies where the actors are walking down a path in front of a painting that is supposed to be the landscape behind them (I think The Sound of Music and Gone with the Wind have scenes like that, but I could be wrong). It was surprisingly cold in the park, in the 60's for most of the day. Nobody was dressed appropriately (except one couple, but the were strange and I'm guessing they probably dressed like that all the time - You know what I mean, with handkerchiefs tied around their necks and the most comfortable looking socks/sandals combination that you've ever seen). Aside from the odd couple and their standard tourist attire, everyone was dressed for heat and was disappointed. The thermostat only hit 70 as I was leaving the park. I was okay with the cool weather though, I think I was just happy that my ice cream didn't melt.

That's all for tonight - Time to sleep.