Wednesday morning (this would be the 29th), we packed up and went to the Co-op for breakfast...our last bit-o-time with Sara... said our goodbyes and hit the road for Katy/Houston. Anjali Aunty was at work when we arrived, but she had cooked a really nice meal for us (so yummy!) and then we went to see at least a couple of the Houston sights in the few hours we had there. Our first stop was the Mahatma Gandhi district where we checked out all the Indian stores and enjoyed a Maaza each. Then we found a couple book stores, and somehow ended up near Rice University, but we made it out of that side of town before there was TOO much traffic... :D
We had a really nice evening with Anjali Aunty and her son. After another super yummy dinner, we looked through a bunch of old family photos because Aparna wanted to collect some old memories along our way, and there were some precious pics of her as a baby! :)
Thursday was a really long day because we had to drive from Houston to Branson, MO, meaning we took on most of the height of Texas and the ENTIRE length of Arkansas...whose current governor, I couldn't help but notice looks a lot like Bill Clinton....I don't get it... But the state itself is really pretty! It's super green and the Ozarks are gorgeous. And apparently, Arkansas has the only diamond mine that the public can visit, dig, and keep whatever diamonds they find! But since we had so far to go that day, we didn't really have time to stop, so I'll be going back some day to entertain that adventure as well.
We finally hit Branson after 9:00pm, checked into our Worldmark room, and I cooked rice and watched fireflies while Aparna went for a swim in what she claims was a very bug-ridden pool. In the morning, we really didn't linger for any longer than it took to gawk at all the confederate flag merchandise in the store fronts and research our next stop (a KOA campsite in Omaha) (which was really just supposed to be a convenient stopping point to get to the Badlands the next day...not because of anything IN Omaha). So we were on our way shortly. :D
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
The In-Betweens
So in real time, we are already back in Oregon for the 3rd day, but can we all just agree to pretend that I didn't let this go quite so long unattended? K. Thx. :D
Our very last morning in Dallas, we packed up and hit Fort Worth again on our way to Austin. Robbye agreed to meet up with us for breakfast since they were officially back from vacation, and we had both been bummed about missing each other beforehand. She took us for breakfast tacos (which I think is a very Texas thing...), and we had a nice visit regaling both our trips and recent adventures. But we never had quite enough time anywhere, so we soon parted ways, filled up the tank, and headed south!
I think we rolled into Austin about early afternoon and headed straight to Sara's place. (Sara and I met in Costa Rica last summer on our study abroad, so this was an awesome reunion!) She met us and helped us unpack for our glorious 2-day stay in her cute casa. By that time we were pretty hungry AND tired, so we walked down to the Co-op for lunch and shortly back to her house to just chill inside while in the heat of the day.
Towards dusk, Sara took us to the UT-Austin campus and gave us a really great tour of the different old buildings and stuff. I was really happy to get to see it all, but I didn't have the guts to tell her how tired my feet really were, so sadly, I think that distracted me from taking it all in. We did get to see a big fancy library (apparently there are several different libraries scattered across campus), the union, the shops on Guadalupe, a statue of Barbara Jordan (who was really awesome...you should check!) and...the gloriously large and beautiful chemistry building (!) even though we only saw it from the outside.
We headed to dinner and a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse where we saw "Bridesmaids" (the funniest movie I've seen in a looong time), snacked on pizza, and guzzled down water (hydration was VERY key in Texas). It was such a nice night, and seriously...that movie...! But we got back to Sara's eventually, arranged ourselves for sleep, and sleep we did! So much so that when Sara came in to wake us for a morning walk we had agreed to, she decided that if we were THAT passed out, it was worth it to let us just rest. :)
By the time we did get up and moving, we decided to head to the Whole Foods megastore/headquarters for brunch. That place was super huge, complete with chocolate displays (including a chocolate handlebar mustache on a stick!) and like 6+ food counters. It took us a long time to pick out what we were going to have, but once we did, we took it to the roof-top patio and ate in the quickly-evaporating shade. Once we ate our fill and reloaded our water bottles with ice, we were off to Barton Springs!
It took me awhile to get my head around Barton Springs because it reminded me of a cross between a community pool with the steps, diving board, and lifeguards and popular swim spot on the Molalla River with the slippery rock bottom and the plethora of aquatic plant life (and supposedly fish as well). But it was a chill (crowded!) place with plenty of opportunity to people-watch. :D Sara and I went for a dip while Aparna went to meet to guys with bongo drums sitting on the ledge above the spring. She was up there my herself by the time we got out, so I went over and pretended that I could keep up with her beats for a while. It was fun though...definitely a unique experience.
Our next adventure was a grand search for food carts! Our timing wasn't great, so of the few we found first, only a couple were already open for the night. But we settled on tacos, and the place had a big hula hoop/sign out front that said "Hula for 5 mins and win a prize"...so we did! Unfortunately, the guy working the stand had no idea where the sign came from or what the prize was supposed to be, so I convinced him to give me a free glass-bottle coke with my food. Aparna followed suit, so we celebrated our winnings over fried avocado tacos!
We then drove up to South Congress to what I imagine is Austin's food cart central, caught sight of Leslie on the way, and ended up walking down to the Congress Bridge to watch Austin's bats...home to the world's largest urban bat colony...as they took off down the river for a night of hunting. Before that, I had no real concept of how many 1.5 million bats IS, but I can now say that I have at least some better idea. :D It was really cool to see them flow out from under the bridge as the sun set over the city, and they just kept coming and coming!!
After, Sara took us on a sweet downtown driving tour (she is the BEST tour guide!), and we met up with my old roommate, Ish, (and his adorable lady friend) at Austin Java for a nice catch-up chat and tea til about mid-night. ...It was so good to see him agian!...
Ok. More to come later :D
lovelovelove!
-Alia
Our very last morning in Dallas, we packed up and hit Fort Worth again on our way to Austin. Robbye agreed to meet up with us for breakfast since they were officially back from vacation, and we had both been bummed about missing each other beforehand. She took us for breakfast tacos (which I think is a very Texas thing...), and we had a nice visit regaling both our trips and recent adventures. But we never had quite enough time anywhere, so we soon parted ways, filled up the tank, and headed south!
I think we rolled into Austin about early afternoon and headed straight to Sara's place. (Sara and I met in Costa Rica last summer on our study abroad, so this was an awesome reunion!) She met us and helped us unpack for our glorious 2-day stay in her cute casa. By that time we were pretty hungry AND tired, so we walked down to the Co-op for lunch and shortly back to her house to just chill inside while in the heat of the day.
Towards dusk, Sara took us to the UT-Austin campus and gave us a really great tour of the different old buildings and stuff. I was really happy to get to see it all, but I didn't have the guts to tell her how tired my feet really were, so sadly, I think that distracted me from taking it all in. We did get to see a big fancy library (apparently there are several different libraries scattered across campus), the union, the shops on Guadalupe, a statue of Barbara Jordan (who was really awesome...you should check!) and...the gloriously large and beautiful chemistry building (!) even though we only saw it from the outside.
We headed to dinner and a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse where we saw "Bridesmaids" (the funniest movie I've seen in a looong time), snacked on pizza, and guzzled down water (hydration was VERY key in Texas). It was such a nice night, and seriously...that movie...! But we got back to Sara's eventually, arranged ourselves for sleep, and sleep we did! So much so that when Sara came in to wake us for a morning walk we had agreed to, she decided that if we were THAT passed out, it was worth it to let us just rest. :)
By the time we did get up and moving, we decided to head to the Whole Foods megastore/headquarters for brunch. That place was super huge, complete with chocolate displays (including a chocolate handlebar mustache on a stick!) and like 6+ food counters. It took us a long time to pick out what we were going to have, but once we did, we took it to the roof-top patio and ate in the quickly-evaporating shade. Once we ate our fill and reloaded our water bottles with ice, we were off to Barton Springs!
It took me awhile to get my head around Barton Springs because it reminded me of a cross between a community pool with the steps, diving board, and lifeguards and popular swim spot on the Molalla River with the slippery rock bottom and the plethora of aquatic plant life (and supposedly fish as well). But it was a chill (crowded!) place with plenty of opportunity to people-watch. :D Sara and I went for a dip while Aparna went to meet to guys with bongo drums sitting on the ledge above the spring. She was up there my herself by the time we got out, so I went over and pretended that I could keep up with her beats for a while. It was fun though...definitely a unique experience.
Our next adventure was a grand search for food carts! Our timing wasn't great, so of the few we found first, only a couple were already open for the night. But we settled on tacos, and the place had a big hula hoop/sign out front that said "Hula for 5 mins and win a prize"...so we did! Unfortunately, the guy working the stand had no idea where the sign came from or what the prize was supposed to be, so I convinced him to give me a free glass-bottle coke with my food. Aparna followed suit, so we celebrated our winnings over fried avocado tacos!
We then drove up to South Congress to what I imagine is Austin's food cart central, caught sight of Leslie on the way, and ended up walking down to the Congress Bridge to watch Austin's bats...home to the world's largest urban bat colony...as they took off down the river for a night of hunting. Before that, I had no real concept of how many 1.5 million bats IS, but I can now say that I have at least some better idea. :D It was really cool to see them flow out from under the bridge as the sun set over the city, and they just kept coming and coming!!
After, Sara took us on a sweet downtown driving tour (she is the BEST tour guide!), and we met up with my old roommate, Ish, (and his adorable lady friend) at Austin Java for a nice catch-up chat and tea til about mid-night. ...It was so good to see him agian!...
Ok. More to come later :D
lovelovelove!
-Alia
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Happy Birthday, USofA!
gOSH! So many good things have been happening! I know I still need to fill in the details between Austin and KC, but for now, I just want to talk about now. :D
We are currently in Denver for the second night, actually staying at separate friends' houses tonight, but Aparna and I both got to watch the awesome fireworks show in Civic Center Park downtown...along with hundreds of thousands of others so we didn't actually see each other...that was held tonight in celebration of Independence Eve. It was a cool event in the middle of downtown in the park between the State Capitol building and the City and County building (which face each other). There was a big stage set up and the Denver Symphony played great patriotic music for about an hour before the fireworks show. I especially appreciated it since tomorrow we'll be spending most of the day in the car, and typically the 4th is my favorite holiday (as it should be growing up in Molalla!) and I've been bummed about driving for most of it. But we are hoping to also catch some SLC fireworks tomorrow as well, so we'll see how that goes.
Khara, an SDO alum/sister of mine, is living in Denver now, so we met up earlier after Kelly W. gave us a great driving tour of the city earlier. Oh! and we also had an amazing brunch of roasted parsnips/asparagus with fried eggs and hashbrowns. Yum! But Khara took me downtown on the light rail to the 16th st walking mall. My favorite part is all the public pianos they have available on the center walk...though not super in-tune, they are all painted very nicely, so I snapped some photos of some of my favs. :) I was going to play a song after the show, but they were all occupied by the time we were walking through. Next time, Denver!
We walked all the way down to the art museum, and saw some really cool sculptures. Ok, there are a TON of sculptures in this city which gives it a very unique flavor, I think. The best ones, though, were the broom/dustpan, the horse on a red chair, and the cows (which I rode, even though I probably wasn't supposed to) ;) Then we hiked back through the SUPER windy streets, and Khara treated me to dinner at the Yardhouse (named for the yard-tall beer glasses they traditionally served in, even though nowadays, you can only get up to a half-yard). They also have the (supposed) world's largest selection of draft beer, so I tried a white ale that was indeed pretty tasty. Then concert, then looong rides on the light rail back "home".
Yesterday was another 3-state day as we drove from Kansas City, MO, through the ENTIRE state of Kansas (and through a crazy thunder/lightning storm that I was convinced was going to turn into a tornado, pick us up, and carry us away!) ...I've seriously never seen THAT much lightning in one storm...and into Colorado which mostly looked like Kansas until we got close enough to Denver to watch the sun set behind the Rockies. :D But yeah, we basically drove directly into that storm, though it proved to be good photo opp. And after all was said and done, we landed at Kelly's super cute apartment, ate some yummy "Kelly food" (as Aparna calls it) and slept REALLY well. We didn't get out of bed til about 10:00 (a first for this trip?) but it was so nice. I like that Colorado isn't super hot all day AND night.
Alright, it's time for a blessed shower and a snuggle-in. LOVElovelove!
-Alia
We are currently in Denver for the second night, actually staying at separate friends' houses tonight, but Aparna and I both got to watch the awesome fireworks show in Civic Center Park downtown...along with hundreds of thousands of others so we didn't actually see each other...that was held tonight in celebration of Independence Eve. It was a cool event in the middle of downtown in the park between the State Capitol building and the City and County building (which face each other). There was a big stage set up and the Denver Symphony played great patriotic music for about an hour before the fireworks show. I especially appreciated it since tomorrow we'll be spending most of the day in the car, and typically the 4th is my favorite holiday (as it should be growing up in Molalla!) and I've been bummed about driving for most of it. But we are hoping to also catch some SLC fireworks tomorrow as well, so we'll see how that goes.
Khara, an SDO alum/sister of mine, is living in Denver now, so we met up earlier after Kelly W. gave us a great driving tour of the city earlier. Oh! and we also had an amazing brunch of roasted parsnips/asparagus with fried eggs and hashbrowns. Yum! But Khara took me downtown on the light rail to the 16th st walking mall. My favorite part is all the public pianos they have available on the center walk...though not super in-tune, they are all painted very nicely, so I snapped some photos of some of my favs. :) I was going to play a song after the show, but they were all occupied by the time we were walking through. Next time, Denver!
We walked all the way down to the art museum, and saw some really cool sculptures. Ok, there are a TON of sculptures in this city which gives it a very unique flavor, I think. The best ones, though, were the broom/dustpan, the horse on a red chair, and the cows (which I rode, even though I probably wasn't supposed to) ;) Then we hiked back through the SUPER windy streets, and Khara treated me to dinner at the Yardhouse (named for the yard-tall beer glasses they traditionally served in, even though nowadays, you can only get up to a half-yard). They also have the (supposed) world's largest selection of draft beer, so I tried a white ale that was indeed pretty tasty. Then concert, then looong rides on the light rail back "home".
Yesterday was another 3-state day as we drove from Kansas City, MO, through the ENTIRE state of Kansas (and through a crazy thunder/lightning storm that I was convinced was going to turn into a tornado, pick us up, and carry us away!) ...I've seriously never seen THAT much lightning in one storm...and into Colorado which mostly looked like Kansas until we got close enough to Denver to watch the sun set behind the Rockies. :D But yeah, we basically drove directly into that storm, though it proved to be good photo opp. And after all was said and done, we landed at Kelly's super cute apartment, ate some yummy "Kelly food" (as Aparna calls it) and slept REALLY well. We didn't get out of bed til about 10:00 (a first for this trip?) but it was so nice. I like that Colorado isn't super hot all day AND night.
Alright, it's time for a blessed shower and a snuggle-in. LOVElovelove!
-Alia
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Catching up (Pt 2)
(back to the Petrified Forest!)
The first part of the park is more so vistas of the painted desert, so we parked at all the stops to get photos and see the desert from the bluff. It was so windy up there! Then we looped down to the "forest" part and saw the old petroglyphs they call the Newspaper Rock as well as the agate bridge (a petrified tree trunk that the soil had eroded under til it formed a bridge), the jasper forest (which sadly has been stripped of parts of the stone trees over the years, but most heavily after the railroad was built nearby), the crystal forest...(we walked the path/loop that winded through the petrified logs, and some of them were still intact in long pieces), and finally we went to see the giant logs.
I was so amazed at the formations. The placards talked about how the tress were alive some 250 MILLION years ago, but the way the minerals were taken up to crystallize the trunks still discriminated the tissue types and, other than being a bit more colorful than wood (and sometimes just a bit more sparkly) a lot of times, the bark pieces look like bark, and the exposed wood looks like old exposed wood! It was astounding! ...A perfect stop for two rock-hounds like ourselves, indeed. ;)
So all in all, it took us a few hours to get through the park and see everything. We actually stayed past closed, and then realized that since we were still in Arizona, we would still lose an hour getting to Albuquerque and that we were even later than we thought to get to the Schneiders'. But...sometimes all you can do is keep driving, so that's what we did. :) I think we finally rolled into their place around 11:30 New Mexico time. But Deborah wasn't deterred at all from giving us the grand tour of their GORGEOUS house (it was even adobe style on the outside!!) and feeding us some delicious enchiladas.
I was sad that we didn't get to stay there any longer than overnight, but Albuquerque will just have to go on the list of places I need to go back to and explore a bit better.
That day was a really long day of driving because from Albuquerque we headed to Fort Worth, TX without stopping much, but with an honorary stop in Fort Sumner, NM at the Billy the Kid Museum (which was $5, so we didn't go through it). But we did stop shortly after entering Texas at a nice little taqueria for some yummy food and then continued through the long drag that is west Texas... the flattest place I have eveeeeer seen. We saw our first oil well. And then saw dozens and dozens more. And Aparna explained to me the horrors of natural gas extraction from the earth's crust when we saw some of those contraptions as well. All in all, I was getting kind of sad about Texas. At least the closer we got to central, the more trees we started seeing, so that was nice. We also were able to pick up a desi radio station closer to Dallas. :)
We were pretty tired when we got to Fort Worth, but we found the Teague house without much trouble, and Cameron showed us around the place before we took over free-reign. I couldn't believe how perfect and beautiful everything was! And it was so home-y with all the family pictures around... it was nice to feel close to family. Basically it was an eat and sleep night, but it was cozy.
We met up with Aparna's family friends from Utah in Dallas the next day, including going to the museum that chronicled JFK's death (housed in the building that the shooter sniped him from). I got to see my friend Chelsea, too, since she is in the city for the summer doing some cool cancer research, so we hung around downtown for a bit and (happily!) ran into a very random Pride rally in front of the old red courthouse smack in the downtown. It was so nice to see that side of Dallas, especially because I really did not expect to see such a thing in Texas at all!
The next morning, Aparna and I discovered the AMAZINGGGGGGG Dallas Farmers Market. It was basically two huge outdoor buildings and the sides were completely lined with produce vendors...who gave out SAMPLES! ...I ate the best tomato and onion of my LIFE! So yummy. Lunch was at Jack's Chill Grill, which unfortunately for all the chicas in Dallas was closing that day, but we still very much enjoyed the atmosphere...and the FOOD! The girlies know how to make a kickin' mac n' cheese!... We went to dinner that night at Anjali Aunty's family house, so that was another delicious Indian food night (we got a lot of those this trip!!) and then we sat up late talking into the wee hours.
I think that's good for now. More to come later, but I might take a catch-up hiatus in order to tell y'all about KANSAS CITY!
lovelovelove,
Alia
The first part of the park is more so vistas of the painted desert, so we parked at all the stops to get photos and see the desert from the bluff. It was so windy up there! Then we looped down to the "forest" part and saw the old petroglyphs they call the Newspaper Rock as well as the agate bridge (a petrified tree trunk that the soil had eroded under til it formed a bridge), the jasper forest (which sadly has been stripped of parts of the stone trees over the years, but most heavily after the railroad was built nearby), the crystal forest...(we walked the path/loop that winded through the petrified logs, and some of them were still intact in long pieces), and finally we went to see the giant logs.
I was so amazed at the formations. The placards talked about how the tress were alive some 250 MILLION years ago, but the way the minerals were taken up to crystallize the trunks still discriminated the tissue types and, other than being a bit more colorful than wood (and sometimes just a bit more sparkly) a lot of times, the bark pieces look like bark, and the exposed wood looks like old exposed wood! It was astounding! ...A perfect stop for two rock-hounds like ourselves, indeed. ;)
So all in all, it took us a few hours to get through the park and see everything. We actually stayed past closed, and then realized that since we were still in Arizona, we would still lose an hour getting to Albuquerque and that we were even later than we thought to get to the Schneiders'. But...sometimes all you can do is keep driving, so that's what we did. :) I think we finally rolled into their place around 11:30 New Mexico time. But Deborah wasn't deterred at all from giving us the grand tour of their GORGEOUS house (it was even adobe style on the outside!!) and feeding us some delicious enchiladas.
I was sad that we didn't get to stay there any longer than overnight, but Albuquerque will just have to go on the list of places I need to go back to and explore a bit better.
That day was a really long day of driving because from Albuquerque we headed to Fort Worth, TX without stopping much, but with an honorary stop in Fort Sumner, NM at the Billy the Kid Museum (which was $5, so we didn't go through it). But we did stop shortly after entering Texas at a nice little taqueria for some yummy food and then continued through the long drag that is west Texas... the flattest place I have eveeeeer seen. We saw our first oil well. And then saw dozens and dozens more. And Aparna explained to me the horrors of natural gas extraction from the earth's crust when we saw some of those contraptions as well. All in all, I was getting kind of sad about Texas. At least the closer we got to central, the more trees we started seeing, so that was nice. We also were able to pick up a desi radio station closer to Dallas. :)
We were pretty tired when we got to Fort Worth, but we found the Teague house without much trouble, and Cameron showed us around the place before we took over free-reign. I couldn't believe how perfect and beautiful everything was! And it was so home-y with all the family pictures around... it was nice to feel close to family. Basically it was an eat and sleep night, but it was cozy.
We met up with Aparna's family friends from Utah in Dallas the next day, including going to the museum that chronicled JFK's death (housed in the building that the shooter sniped him from). I got to see my friend Chelsea, too, since she is in the city for the summer doing some cool cancer research, so we hung around downtown for a bit and (happily!) ran into a very random Pride rally in front of the old red courthouse smack in the downtown. It was so nice to see that side of Dallas, especially because I really did not expect to see such a thing in Texas at all!
The next morning, Aparna and I discovered the AMAZINGGGGGGG Dallas Farmers Market. It was basically two huge outdoor buildings and the sides were completely lined with produce vendors...who gave out SAMPLES! ...I ate the best tomato and onion of my LIFE! So yummy. Lunch was at Jack's Chill Grill, which unfortunately for all the chicas in Dallas was closing that day, but we still very much enjoyed the atmosphere...and the FOOD! The girlies know how to make a kickin' mac n' cheese!... We went to dinner that night at Anjali Aunty's family house, so that was another delicious Indian food night (we got a lot of those this trip!!) and then we sat up late talking into the wee hours.
I think that's good for now. More to come later, but I might take a catch-up hiatus in order to tell y'all about KANSAS CITY!
lovelovelove,
Alia
Monday, June 27, 2011
SO many adventures! So little time to blog them all! (part 1)
Oof! So many things to catch up on! Which is something that I think becomes more difficult when the days kind of lose meaning, and I've lost track of time...
We caught up with our lovely friend, Miranda, in Phoenix after going to a delicious South Indian lunch with Aparna's uncle and little cousin. It was so good to see Miranda again...like soul sisters reuniting. Even though the car's thermostat read up to 112 F that day, we braved the heat and, with the help of local second-hand shop owner, randomly found the way to an old-timey ice cream joint called Mary...something... Anyway, it was the first ice cream place that I've ever seen have a sit-down menu full of sundaes and specials. All of us got double scoop waffle bowls of yumminess... Very filling! And the place itself was pretty cute. It looked like it had the same decor as when it opened in the 1950s, so we had fun with that.
My uncle John took everyone (the two of us and my cousins) out to dinner that night, so I filled up on yummy ceviche on top of my mountain of ice cream. It was kind of an epic dinner in that I heard a lot of family stories I hadn't gotten to hear before, but it was really nice to get the chance to visit with them all.
We left for Chandler to go to Aparna's uncle's house (which was maybe 45 mins away...? Everything is so far apart there!) where Chachi was waiting to fill us up again with a whole Indian dinner. It was the most food I've eaten in a day...maybe ever...but it was so good, and I literally couldn't refuse an extra spoonful because it was basically already in my bowl. :) Gosh though, we had some of the most delicious Indian food from Chachi's hands, and she was so sweet about answering all my foodie questions, so I definitely have some cooking homework to do when I get back home! Oh, and they had the coolest garden. Seriously they had like ten pomegranate trees, a bunch of citrus and tons of vegetables! So cool.
We hit the road out of Phoenix on Thursday morning and followed a good chunk of Route 66 to the Petrified Forest. We did have to take a pretty major detour because the big fire that was (is?) raging in Arizona jumped the highway we were set to go on just before we hit the junction. So we took a nice detour through Snowflake, AZ which is I think the most beautiful country I've seen so far...the whole Apache/Hopi reservation country in general, including up to what is National Park land that we were on. There's just something about the combination bleached white grasses with the big blue sky and the green scrub. It took my breath away, my thoughts, my emotions...everything.
So by the time we go to the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert, we assumed it would take maybe an hour or less to see it all and be back on the road. Wrong!
(K. More to come!) Lovelovelove.
-Alia
We caught up with our lovely friend, Miranda, in Phoenix after going to a delicious South Indian lunch with Aparna's uncle and little cousin. It was so good to see Miranda again...like soul sisters reuniting. Even though the car's thermostat read up to 112 F that day, we braved the heat and, with the help of local second-hand shop owner, randomly found the way to an old-timey ice cream joint called Mary...something... Anyway, it was the first ice cream place that I've ever seen have a sit-down menu full of sundaes and specials. All of us got double scoop waffle bowls of yumminess... Very filling! And the place itself was pretty cute. It looked like it had the same decor as when it opened in the 1950s, so we had fun with that.
My uncle John took everyone (the two of us and my cousins) out to dinner that night, so I filled up on yummy ceviche on top of my mountain of ice cream. It was kind of an epic dinner in that I heard a lot of family stories I hadn't gotten to hear before, but it was really nice to get the chance to visit with them all.
We left for Chandler to go to Aparna's uncle's house (which was maybe 45 mins away...? Everything is so far apart there!) where Chachi was waiting to fill us up again with a whole Indian dinner. It was the most food I've eaten in a day...maybe ever...but it was so good, and I literally couldn't refuse an extra spoonful because it was basically already in my bowl. :) Gosh though, we had some of the most delicious Indian food from Chachi's hands, and she was so sweet about answering all my foodie questions, so I definitely have some cooking homework to do when I get back home! Oh, and they had the coolest garden. Seriously they had like ten pomegranate trees, a bunch of citrus and tons of vegetables! So cool.
We hit the road out of Phoenix on Thursday morning and followed a good chunk of Route 66 to the Petrified Forest. We did have to take a pretty major detour because the big fire that was (is?) raging in Arizona jumped the highway we were set to go on just before we hit the junction. So we took a nice detour through Snowflake, AZ which is I think the most beautiful country I've seen so far...the whole Apache/Hopi reservation country in general, including up to what is National Park land that we were on. There's just something about the combination bleached white grasses with the big blue sky and the green scrub. It took my breath away, my thoughts, my emotions...everything.
So by the time we go to the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert, we assumed it would take maybe an hour or less to see it all and be back on the road. Wrong!
(K. More to come!) Lovelovelove.
-Alia
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Seeing the sights
What a treat to wake up in sunny sunny Phoenix and have a bowl of frosted flakes on the patio! I'm staring at my uncle's orange tree and thinking I might go pick one for the road today... :)
Arizona has been so nice, and the landscape is surprisingly so varied here. First off, the Grand Canyon was SOOO EPIC! And so HUGE! We stayed at the North Rim, and pulled in pretty late on Saturday night (and thus had to pitch our tent and cook our Maggi noodles/nutrella in the dark). (Oh, definite props to Aparna's Jet Boil and the invention of the headlamp!) But we decided to hang out at the Canyon all day Sunday, too, and we were able to finaggle a campsite for the second night, too, even though we had only reserved the first night in advance. So we got to drive up to about 5 different lookouts over the north rim, after we explored the cliffs close to camp, and the sights were breathtaking.
We had a fun time looking at all the rocks because they all sparkle and have little geodes all over. We even found some fossils of sea shells and different things up on one of the really high ledges of the rim...which I totally didn't expect, but it was just crazy to think about the transformation of the earth since those organisms lived...and to know that we were touching them however many millions of years later. My favorite fossil was this tiny perfect star that could have only been a few mm across, but it just stuck out of the sandstone as though someone had poured the stone, set it in there, and let it dry.
We drove/hiked up to the highest point on the canyon which was about 8800 ft in elevation, and ate cheese-its with sriracha sauce while admiring the view of the river and just the canyon itself. Aparna taught me a lot about the Colorado River and the impacts of it's development in just the last few generations. It's a pretty sad history.
We got to watch the sunset back at camp, but it got pretty cold pretty quickly, and that put a damper on the whole rest of the night. The highlight was driving out to the cliff and looking at the stars for a few mins. before the moon lit everything up and washed out the sky a bit. But we got to drive back to our site with the heat on full blast. :D
We pretty much packed up and hit the road for Phoenix yesterday morn. We chose the scenic route home and got to drive past the Vermillion Cliffs. There is a site up there, I think its on the Res, but I'm not sure, where these massive boulders have fallen from the cliffs, and the sandstone has eroded around them but not underneath a lot of them, so they sit on pedestals, basically. At some point, someone built dwellings around/between the boulders, and it was really cool to see the construction of the stone walls, the wooden outhouse, and just the nooks and shady places that would have provided shelter from the sun. They definitely did for us!
We also crossed the Navajo Bridge shortly thereafter, and walked out on it to see the Colorado. It was amazingly green, and the flow really was a slow crawl. It was interesting to see, but I reserve my opinions on whether I think it is pretty because I have no idea how it looked before all the development on the river changed all the hydrology to what it is today.
Driving through the reservation was also very humbling. I felt very unworthy, very over-privileged to be able to just drive through in the air-conditioned car, to know that I do not have to live every day in the heat as they do. I don't think I have processed the experience enough to be able to articulate what it was.
We did stop in Flagstaff for tacos and gas at Tacos los Altos. Then we drove into Phoenix through the beautiful Sedona, and Aparna dropped me off at my uncle's house. It's been good to see the fam again!
I guess that's all for now... Lovelovelove!
-Alia
Arizona has been so nice, and the landscape is surprisingly so varied here. First off, the Grand Canyon was SOOO EPIC! And so HUGE! We stayed at the North Rim, and pulled in pretty late on Saturday night (and thus had to pitch our tent and cook our Maggi noodles/nutrella in the dark). (Oh, definite props to Aparna's Jet Boil and the invention of the headlamp!) But we decided to hang out at the Canyon all day Sunday, too, and we were able to finaggle a campsite for the second night, too, even though we had only reserved the first night in advance. So we got to drive up to about 5 different lookouts over the north rim, after we explored the cliffs close to camp, and the sights were breathtaking.
We had a fun time looking at all the rocks because they all sparkle and have little geodes all over. We even found some fossils of sea shells and different things up on one of the really high ledges of the rim...which I totally didn't expect, but it was just crazy to think about the transformation of the earth since those organisms lived...and to know that we were touching them however many millions of years later. My favorite fossil was this tiny perfect star that could have only been a few mm across, but it just stuck out of the sandstone as though someone had poured the stone, set it in there, and let it dry.
We drove/hiked up to the highest point on the canyon which was about 8800 ft in elevation, and ate cheese-its with sriracha sauce while admiring the view of the river and just the canyon itself. Aparna taught me a lot about the Colorado River and the impacts of it's development in just the last few generations. It's a pretty sad history.
We got to watch the sunset back at camp, but it got pretty cold pretty quickly, and that put a damper on the whole rest of the night. The highlight was driving out to the cliff and looking at the stars for a few mins. before the moon lit everything up and washed out the sky a bit. But we got to drive back to our site with the heat on full blast. :D
We pretty much packed up and hit the road for Phoenix yesterday morn. We chose the scenic route home and got to drive past the Vermillion Cliffs. There is a site up there, I think its on the Res, but I'm not sure, where these massive boulders have fallen from the cliffs, and the sandstone has eroded around them but not underneath a lot of them, so they sit on pedestals, basically. At some point, someone built dwellings around/between the boulders, and it was really cool to see the construction of the stone walls, the wooden outhouse, and just the nooks and shady places that would have provided shelter from the sun. They definitely did for us!
We also crossed the Navajo Bridge shortly thereafter, and walked out on it to see the Colorado. It was amazingly green, and the flow really was a slow crawl. It was interesting to see, but I reserve my opinions on whether I think it is pretty because I have no idea how it looked before all the development on the river changed all the hydrology to what it is today.
Driving through the reservation was also very humbling. I felt very unworthy, very over-privileged to be able to just drive through in the air-conditioned car, to know that I do not have to live every day in the heat as they do. I don't think I have processed the experience enough to be able to articulate what it was.
We did stop in Flagstaff for tacos and gas at Tacos los Altos. Then we drove into Phoenix through the beautiful Sedona, and Aparna dropped me off at my uncle's house. It's been good to see the fam again!
I guess that's all for now... Lovelovelove!
-Alia
Friday, June 17, 2011
Now it gets serious! :D
Wow! The last couple days have really flown by. I feel like I haven't been able to process much or reflect on the the trip so far. I've totally just been enjoying the ride and taking it all in. In large part, I still can't believe this is even happening, and I get to do this amazing trip with an amazing friend! But I best get some of it down so I can keep the sights and smells all fresh for years to come. :)
Reno has been very hospitable this last day+, and it was really good to see my good friend Rob again after so long. He took me downtown to the Nugget for an Awful Awful burger (a true Reno treat, and something I admit to having been craving for a while now) and then we went on a nice night walk in the arboretum. I didn't get to see many trees, but the company and catching up was completely satisfying!
This morning I was able to snag some internet...I'm still waiting to see if the extension on my Political Identities Project is going to pan out...and then Rob and I went for sandwiches. We met up with a couple of his friends that I had met last year when I came down, so that was nice to visit with them as we waltzed around (a big box store I don't care to mention right now).
I was able to convince Rob that since tomorrow we have to start driving so early tomorrow (we hit the road at 5:30 am), he needed to mix us some driving music, which he kindly obliged. I can't wait to pop that in ... in just a few hours now, and head on down the road. I did catch some of the set as he was spinning/recording, and I'm really happy that I get to keep that cd as a souvenir FOREVER! Wahoo!
I met back up with Aparna at the Salgo's (also Reno-ans) and we had a quick adventure to Arby's for jamoca shakes (super yummy!) and took food back to the Salgo's back patio for a big family dinner. It's been very nice to pause here and rest up, get reorganized a bit, and get pumped for a loooooong day of driving tomorrow.
I do also have to give a fair mention to our experience in the redwoods yesterday, too, while I'm on here. It was truly amazing to be among the giants....basically the largest living organisms on earth. Aparna and I took a really nice walk, heard some creaking trees, admired the way the wind in the tree tops sounds like a nearby river flowing, and took some nice pictures we hope to have up in a little while. We even caught the beginning of a group guided "tour" of the grove and learned all about the redwoods, and how they reproduce by growing offshoots. My favorite facts were about the way the redwood bark heals old burn scars by growing over the wounds and shielding the wood from further burns.
Then as we walked back to the car, I noticed a large group of trees all together (so it was actually all one tree with many stems) and wanted to go check it out. It truly felt like a very holy and healing place. There was evidence of a large amount of damage from long ago, and they way the bark flowed in and around the inner space of the many stems was so beautiful, I wanted to climb inside. I resisted, but I feel like if I ever do need a place of really great healing, I can go back to that...tree temple... I think that's the best way to describe it.
Ok. Sleep Time! G'night y'all!
LoveLoveLove,
Alia
Reno has been very hospitable this last day+, and it was really good to see my good friend Rob again after so long. He took me downtown to the Nugget for an Awful Awful burger (a true Reno treat, and something I admit to having been craving for a while now) and then we went on a nice night walk in the arboretum. I didn't get to see many trees, but the company and catching up was completely satisfying!
This morning I was able to snag some internet...I'm still waiting to see if the extension on my Political Identities Project is going to pan out...and then Rob and I went for sandwiches. We met up with a couple of his friends that I had met last year when I came down, so that was nice to visit with them as we waltzed around (a big box store I don't care to mention right now).
I was able to convince Rob that since tomorrow we have to start driving so early tomorrow (we hit the road at 5:30 am), he needed to mix us some driving music, which he kindly obliged. I can't wait to pop that in ... in just a few hours now, and head on down the road. I did catch some of the set as he was spinning/recording, and I'm really happy that I get to keep that cd as a souvenir FOREVER! Wahoo!
I met back up with Aparna at the Salgo's (also Reno-ans) and we had a quick adventure to Arby's for jamoca shakes (super yummy!) and took food back to the Salgo's back patio for a big family dinner. It's been very nice to pause here and rest up, get reorganized a bit, and get pumped for a loooooong day of driving tomorrow.
I do also have to give a fair mention to our experience in the redwoods yesterday, too, while I'm on here. It was truly amazing to be among the giants....basically the largest living organisms on earth. Aparna and I took a really nice walk, heard some creaking trees, admired the way the wind in the tree tops sounds like a nearby river flowing, and took some nice pictures we hope to have up in a little while. We even caught the beginning of a group guided "tour" of the grove and learned all about the redwoods, and how they reproduce by growing offshoots. My favorite facts were about the way the redwood bark heals old burn scars by growing over the wounds and shielding the wood from further burns.
Then as we walked back to the car, I noticed a large group of trees all together (so it was actually all one tree with many stems) and wanted to go check it out. It truly felt like a very holy and healing place. There was evidence of a large amount of damage from long ago, and they way the bark flowed in and around the inner space of the many stems was so beautiful, I wanted to climb inside. I resisted, but I feel like if I ever do need a place of really great healing, I can go back to that...tree temple... I think that's the best way to describe it.
Ok. Sleep Time! G'night y'all!
LoveLoveLove,
Alia
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Off to good start!
Good morning! We've officially started our journey and have made it successfully to Crescent City. We ended up booking a motel since we were going to be rolling in pretty late and didn't think it'd be fun to pitch a tent in the dark. Apparently, if you're booking on the same day that you're staying, you get really sweet cheap deals! The drive was pretty windy and we did a good job splitting up the time on the wheel. We stopped in Albany to get dinner and say our last goodbye to our lovely friend there =). We even have a pretty awesome crew joining us on the dashboard-we'll upload a pictures soon, promise! We're gonna go tromp around the Redwood Forest now and then continue on our adventures.
Much love!
Aparna
p.s. we totes get free breakfast at this motel. woo hooooo for free food ;)
Much love!
Aparna
p.s. we totes get free breakfast at this motel. woo hooooo for free food ;)
Friday, June 10, 2011
A repurposed Road Trip...my mission!
I realize I kind of left of the other part of the week's roller coaster. Sorry, folks!
Allow me to contextualize for a sec. All term, I have been working (yes for pay) on the Political Identities Project with the ASOSU Student Advocate, Christian Matheis (whom I will forever be a better person for knowing). The premise of the project is getting recorded statements of student's political identities, the development of such, what significant events in their lives have shaped their personalities and the way they see the world, etc. etc. It's been really cool to hear all these narratives and find out about other peoples' passions and drives, their central influences.
The catch was that I only had one term to try to produce 10-15 segments and turn them into podcasts on the University iTunes and YouTube channels. Unfortunately, time has not worked in my favor, and I have some stuff I would love a bit more time to wrap up.
So I presented the idea to Christian that I could incorporate the project into the trip and interview people in cities all over along the way. I think it would be an amazing opportunity to engage in conversation, help to create a national dialogue about issues we all face as a collective people, and get to know how people tick in other regions. Anyway, so far Christian seems to like the idea, and we've involved Kryn Freehling-Burton (my beloved first ever women's studies professor) as someone to take over the role of liason to the U (as Christian is off to bigger and better things soon)...and something tells me this just MIGHT work out.
At least I really hope that it does. When Aparna and I initiated this whole road trip idea, I was really excited about modeling it after Roadtrip Nation where students road trip around the country to interview people in fields/jobs they find interesting and may potentially want to pursue. I like that idea so much, and getting to produce the P.I.P. along the way would be really fulfilling in that I would have an excuse to talk to people in completely different geographical and social locations from myself.
So now, I'm waiting to hear about funding. Someone's gotta pay the bills, ya know? So I'll let y'all know when/what I find out about that. Feel free to help me hope on it in the meantime!
lovelovelove!
-Alia
Allow me to contextualize for a sec. All term, I have been working (yes for pay) on the Political Identities Project with the ASOSU Student Advocate, Christian Matheis (whom I will forever be a better person for knowing). The premise of the project is getting recorded statements of student's political identities, the development of such, what significant events in their lives have shaped their personalities and the way they see the world, etc. etc. It's been really cool to hear all these narratives and find out about other peoples' passions and drives, their central influences.
The catch was that I only had one term to try to produce 10-15 segments and turn them into podcasts on the University iTunes and YouTube channels. Unfortunately, time has not worked in my favor, and I have some stuff I would love a bit more time to wrap up.
So I presented the idea to Christian that I could incorporate the project into the trip and interview people in cities all over along the way. I think it would be an amazing opportunity to engage in conversation, help to create a national dialogue about issues we all face as a collective people, and get to know how people tick in other regions. Anyway, so far Christian seems to like the idea, and we've involved Kryn Freehling-Burton (my beloved first ever women's studies professor) as someone to take over the role of liason to the U (as Christian is off to bigger and better things soon)...and something tells me this just MIGHT work out.
At least I really hope that it does. When Aparna and I initiated this whole road trip idea, I was really excited about modeling it after Roadtrip Nation where students road trip around the country to interview people in fields/jobs they find interesting and may potentially want to pursue. I like that idea so much, and getting to produce the P.I.P. along the way would be really fulfilling in that I would have an excuse to talk to people in completely different geographical and social locations from myself.
So now, I'm waiting to hear about funding. Someone's gotta pay the bills, ya know? So I'll let y'all know when/what I find out about that. Feel free to help me hope on it in the meantime!
lovelovelove!
-Alia
Thursday, June 9, 2011
1! week and Counting
I can't believe we are only ONE WEEK away from leaving! The past seven days have been a complete roller coaster (partly the reason I haven't posted in so long...) but we are finally back on track, getting things set and even expanding some possibilities that not only offer some financial backing for the trip, but could really enrich the experience on the road.
Intrigued yet? ;)
So the main thing that made the last week SO tumultuous was actually really great news, but pretty much could have completely wiped out any chances of us actually doing this. We will be adjusting our plan to some degree, changing the route a little bit and all, but I am really still happy with the opportunity to go, and now we get to spend a bit more time in a lot of the locations since we cut out some driving.
I am sad that neither of us will get to see our sisters this time...AND that having red velvet cake in Georgia will have to wait for the NEXT trip. ;) But, frankly, nothing can stop my stoke at this point!
I definitely got a lurch realizing I actually DID only have a week to pack up my entire Corvallis life AND get organized for the trip! We had a minor debacle with getting a campsite at the Grand Canyon. I ended up reserving the 18th/19th on the North rim like we wanted...but I realized that it was for the 18th/19th of August, not June, only after I confirmed it. So I lost $10 there on cancellation fee... But we were able to get one night still at the South rim, and I guess we just have an extra day to spend in Tempe with Miranda (call me back, homegirl!!)
The new route is going to be as follows:
Redwoods
Ashland (or Humboldt)
Reno
Las Vegas
Grand Canyon
Phoenix
Chaco Canyon
Albuquerque
Fort Worth/Dallas
Austin
Houston
Dallas
the Ozarks
Chicago
Milwaulkee
Minneapolis
Badlands Natl. Park
Denver
Salt Lake City
Yellowstone
Kenniwick
PORTLAND!
...I feel like we have so much left to do to get ready!! But I think at some point, I just have to let variables be variables and just take things as they come. And it will be amazing no matter what. :)
YiPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
lovelovelove,
Alia
Intrigued yet? ;)
So the main thing that made the last week SO tumultuous was actually really great news, but pretty much could have completely wiped out any chances of us actually doing this. We will be adjusting our plan to some degree, changing the route a little bit and all, but I am really still happy with the opportunity to go, and now we get to spend a bit more time in a lot of the locations since we cut out some driving.
I am sad that neither of us will get to see our sisters this time...AND that having red velvet cake in Georgia will have to wait for the NEXT trip. ;) But, frankly, nothing can stop my stoke at this point!
I definitely got a lurch realizing I actually DID only have a week to pack up my entire Corvallis life AND get organized for the trip! We had a minor debacle with getting a campsite at the Grand Canyon. I ended up reserving the 18th/19th on the North rim like we wanted...but I realized that it was for the 18th/19th of August, not June, only after I confirmed it. So I lost $10 there on cancellation fee... But we were able to get one night still at the South rim, and I guess we just have an extra day to spend in Tempe with Miranda (call me back, homegirl!!)
The new route is going to be as follows:
Redwoods
Ashland (or Humboldt)
Reno
Las Vegas
Grand Canyon
Phoenix
Chaco Canyon
Albuquerque
Fort Worth/Dallas
Austin
Houston
Dallas
the Ozarks
Chicago
Milwaulkee
Minneapolis
Badlands Natl. Park
Denver
Salt Lake City
Yellowstone
Kenniwick
PORTLAND!
...I feel like we have so much left to do to get ready!! But I think at some point, I just have to let variables be variables and just take things as they come. And it will be amazing no matter what. :)
YiPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
lovelovelove,
Alia
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
One step closer!
WE GOT OUR TRIPTIK TODAY! ...Actually, Aparna got it in the mail yesterday when she got home from her adventure in Bend for the long holiday weekend. It was really great, because I got to meet up with her at the Les Schwab Amphitheater (only a few minutes from my brother's new place in Bend!) and we sat in line for a full 2 hours before the gates opened to make sure we got right up front for the Rodrigo y Gabriela concert they played on Sunday. While it's true that RyG were openers for the Decemberists, we were really super there just for the chance to see them and possibly get a picture with them, too.
Well, I must say that the set they played was RIDICULOUSYSTUPENDOUSLYFANTASTICALLY face-melting. :) And that Gabriela is for sure una diosa. I think it's pretty awesome that, throughout, even Rodrigo gave it up to her to steal the show, which she did unassumingly, my heart included. He even smiled at Aparna when he noticed her sign that said "R+G, Can I get a picture with u after?" that she had scribbled on two pages of my trip-planning journal.
After our faces were thoroughly melted and they were exiting the stage, we booked it to the side gate to see if we could catch a glipse of them and possibly get them to take a photo with us. Alas, even though the gate guy was very friendly, we pretty much were just at a (very cold) loss. We did get one guy to point out which vehicle was theirs for the night, and even the sound guy obliged us by going back on stage to grab Aparna a souvenir setlist (she is the mega-fan, afterall).
Then, just as we were about to give up all hope (since the sound guy told us they were already gone and on their way to the hotel), Aparna spotted R by the big white GMC we had been watching like hawks. Naturally, we started screaming our guts out to him to come over for one picture PLEAAAAAASE and POR FAVORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Much to OUR surprise, it worked! The GMC pulled up to the gate, and one of the roadies asked the gate guy, "Can we let these two ladies in for a moment?" I was so shocked, I forgot to remember everything that happened, but I definitely remember getting a fist bump from R and a big hug from G (whom I actually told I thought was una diosa!) and we posed for a couple of snaps. Aparna was also pretty stoked on the fact that G hugged her TWICE. Soo Epic!
We were pretty much just reeling from the unbelievableness of what we had actually just pulled off and swapped "Oh my GOSH"es for like an hour. That's also about the time that we decided we have pretty much nothing to worry about on our road trip because, apparently, we can make anything happen!! ;)
But yeah. I got the text from Aparna yesterday that the TripTik had come and that she was graciously waiting til I got back from Bend/Prineville with the fam to open it. (a TripTik is the special custom trip planner book that AAA made for us after we mapped out the route with Kelly the travel agent.) It is really cool cos we have turn-by-turn maps and directions for the whole 94XX miles of the route. Tomorrow we will get down to business with it and try to plan out each day of the trek. WaHOOO!
Well, I must say that the set they played was RIDICULOUSYSTUPENDOUSLYFANTASTICALLY face-melting. :) And that Gabriela is for sure una diosa. I think it's pretty awesome that, throughout, even Rodrigo gave it up to her to steal the show, which she did unassumingly, my heart included. He even smiled at Aparna when he noticed her sign that said "R+G, Can I get a picture with u after?" that she had scribbled on two pages of my trip-planning journal.
After our faces were thoroughly melted and they were exiting the stage, we booked it to the side gate to see if we could catch a glipse of them and possibly get them to take a photo with us. Alas, even though the gate guy was very friendly, we pretty much were just at a (very cold) loss. We did get one guy to point out which vehicle was theirs for the night, and even the sound guy obliged us by going back on stage to grab Aparna a souvenir setlist (she is the mega-fan, afterall).
Then, just as we were about to give up all hope (since the sound guy told us they were already gone and on their way to the hotel), Aparna spotted R by the big white GMC we had been watching like hawks. Naturally, we started screaming our guts out to him to come over for one picture PLEAAAAAASE and POR FAVORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Much to OUR surprise, it worked! The GMC pulled up to the gate, and one of the roadies asked the gate guy, "Can we let these two ladies in for a moment?" I was so shocked, I forgot to remember everything that happened, but I definitely remember getting a fist bump from R and a big hug from G (whom I actually told I thought was una diosa!) and we posed for a couple of snaps. Aparna was also pretty stoked on the fact that G hugged her TWICE. Soo Epic!
We were pretty much just reeling from the unbelievableness of what we had actually just pulled off and swapped "Oh my GOSH"es for like an hour. That's also about the time that we decided we have pretty much nothing to worry about on our road trip because, apparently, we can make anything happen!! ;)
But yeah. I got the text from Aparna yesterday that the TripTik had come and that she was graciously waiting til I got back from Bend/Prineville with the fam to open it. (a TripTik is the special custom trip planner book that AAA made for us after we mapped out the route with Kelly the travel agent.) It is really cool cos we have turn-by-turn maps and directions for the whole 94XX miles of the route. Tomorrow we will get down to business with it and try to plan out each day of the trek. WaHOOO!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
And so it begins...
I felt like celebrating our first mega step forward in the roadtrip planning process (visiting AAA today with Aparna to map out the route and order our custom TripTic guide book) with the very first blog post! Yay! Or rather, it was really quite about time that I got this up and running now that we are roughly 3.5 weeks out. No worries--I'm not starting the countdown quite yet.
Basically, we'll use this blog (aparnaandaliatakeatrip.blogspot.com if you want to search it at any time) to keep any and all friends, family, and conscientious observers informed of how the planning process is going. And when we finally do hit the road, you can read about our adventures along the way!
If you haven't been in my proximity enough over the last several months of brainstorming this epic adventure to have already heard, allow me to catch you up. Way back during fall term, Aparna and I were each discussing our dreams of one day roadtripping around the U.S. and...it just kinda happened! She said 'Let's do it' and I said 'Really?!'
We decided to head out after graduation for a summer adventure that would take us in a giant loop around the States. We brainstormed all the cities in which we knew people or had possible connections to crashable couches...I think seeing the extensiveness of that list alone made me realize this was actually a feasible making-of-a-dream! And I was so excited I broke the news to my family at Thanksgiving dinner! (I figured 6 months out was maybe enough time for my mom to get used to the idea...possibly even enough for her to be excited FOR me, too.) ;) And I've been saving my pennies ever since!
So we have set out our route to head south from Tigard to...
Ashland
the Redwoods
Reno
Las Vegas
the Grand Canyon
Flagstaff
the Petrified Forest
Chaco Canyon
Albuquerque
Dallas/Fort Worth
Austin
Houston
New Orleans
Jacksonville
Orlando
Raleigh
DC (Hopefully in time to celebrate the nation's b-day!)
Amish country (at the LOVELY prompting of Gramma Betty <3 )
Niagra Falls
Toronto
Chicago
Milwaulkee
Minneapolis
St. Cloud
the Badlands/Mt. Rushmore
Denver
Salt Lake City
Yellowstone
Tri-Cities
...and on toward home down the Gorge...all in 4 weeks...in a rental car.
I sincerely hope that y'all are as excited for us as we are. Please do leave us comments and suggestions (and love and support) now and throughout the trip because half the fun (at least) about all this is that we get to see some far-off faces and get to know your distant corners of the country!
lovelovelove,
Alia
Basically, we'll use this blog (aparnaandaliatakeatrip.blogspot.com if you want to search it at any time) to keep any and all friends, family, and conscientious observers informed of how the planning process is going. And when we finally do hit the road, you can read about our adventures along the way!
If you haven't been in my proximity enough over the last several months of brainstorming this epic adventure to have already heard, allow me to catch you up. Way back during fall term, Aparna and I were each discussing our dreams of one day roadtripping around the U.S. and...it just kinda happened! She said 'Let's do it' and I said 'Really?!'
We decided to head out after graduation for a summer adventure that would take us in a giant loop around the States. We brainstormed all the cities in which we knew people or had possible connections to crashable couches...I think seeing the extensiveness of that list alone made me realize this was actually a feasible making-of-a-dream! And I was so excited I broke the news to my family at Thanksgiving dinner! (I figured 6 months out was maybe enough time for my mom to get used to the idea...possibly even enough for her to be excited FOR me, too.) ;) And I've been saving my pennies ever since!
So we have set out our route to head south from Tigard to...
Ashland
the Redwoods
Reno
Las Vegas
the Grand Canyon
Flagstaff
the Petrified Forest
Chaco Canyon
Albuquerque
Dallas/Fort Worth
Austin
Houston
New Orleans
Jacksonville
Orlando
Raleigh
DC (Hopefully in time to celebrate the nation's b-day!)
Amish country (at the LOVELY prompting of Gramma Betty <3 )
Niagra Falls
Toronto
Chicago
Milwaulkee
Minneapolis
St. Cloud
the Badlands/Mt. Rushmore
Denver
Salt Lake City
Yellowstone
Tri-Cities
...and on toward home down the Gorge...all in 4 weeks...in a rental car.
I sincerely hope that y'all are as excited for us as we are. Please do leave us comments and suggestions (and love and support) now and throughout the trip because half the fun (at least) about all this is that we get to see some far-off faces and get to know your distant corners of the country!
lovelovelove,
Alia
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