Just pulled into Zion National Park here in Utah. It’s been an exhausting couple of days of driving and eating junk food. We finally made it and, man, this fresh air is a rejuvenating change from the fumes on I-15. Last night we rested in the noisy parking lot of the most glamorous Wal-Mart in the country, Wal-Mart: Las Vegas. Tonight we’re sleeping under the stars — that is, we will be when we get back to the campground. There’s no wifi there, so we’re crouching in the car in the parking lot of a hotel with password-free wireless internet, trying not to call attention to ourselves due to the glow of our computer screens. Read the rest of this entry »
Wherever we stay the night in the T@B, camping enthusiasts of all shapes, sizes, and dispositions approach us to talk about life on the road. For them, watching the aqua blue teardrop trailer glide into a dusty campground is on level with seeing a sultry supermodel strut down the aisle of the Home Depot, pushing a wheelbarrow filled with power tools, two-by-fours, lollipops, and coconut oil. California, in particular, is home to especially contented campers. “We’ve been California residents all our lives, RVing for 25 years around the state, and we still haven’t seen all there is to see just in California!” said Russ, a laid-back RVer we met in Yosemite. It’s rare to come across a single state that has enough diverse terrain to put it on par with a whole country or even a continent. California is the place that’s got it all: Rugged shores, sandy beaches, mountains, deserts, prairies, metropolises, small towns, farms, lakes — almost everything you can imagine is here. That explains why we’ve been California-ing for over a month now, despite the fact that we’re only allotted three and a half months to see the entire country. We will be pulling out of here soon, though. Either tonight or tomorrow morning we’ll say goodbye to our current location of San Diego and haul our butts to Utah. By December 21, we’ll be in Florida — back on the East Coast — then back to New Jersey on Christmas Eve.
California, you’ve been good to us. Hey, why don’t you come to New Jersey with us? Bring the Pacific Ocean, everybody’s invited!
To give you a taste of California’s varying terrains, take a look at these gooey morsels.
Over the summer I shot some video around Montclair for Baristanet, threw it together and came back with a kind of crappy video that had a totally different idea when it first began. I was not happy about uploading it because I thought I could do better, but I figured, whatever, no one will even notice. My mom emailed me a few days later with “I went on Baristanet to check out the comments and I came across the Montclair video - I was watching it and thinking how really f***ing cool it was. Then I went to see who did the video and it was you - okay, so I cried - what do you expect?” But I swear, my mom cries about everything. My brother Steven and I always tease her about this.
Yesterday my mom emailed me my “birthday card” (follows below) - okay, so I cried -what do you expect?:
She gives me makeup tips…
She gives me makeup tips so I don’t look like Dee Snyder (insert picture here). At the age of 3 she told me I looked beautiful – I replied, “I think I will keep you.” In high school during bowling practice the coach once admonished her for cursing. She told the coach, “Yeah, my mother said she doesn’t know where the **ck I get that from.”
Yesterday Mark and I spent the day in San Diego celebrating my birthday. And by spent the day in San Diego, I mean we lazed around all morning and then fell back to sleep until 12pm (ooooh birthday, you are too good to me!) When we woke up, we took some time looking for a place to dock the T@B while we explore San Diego - which then turned into an hour and a half annoyance when I found out even though the campground reviews online said $25 a night, they were all $45+ a night. I promised myself I wouldn’t call my dad to get him to hook us up with a free Holiday Inn room anymore, but it was my birthday, and my dad is always happy to share his abundance of Holiday Inn points on my birthday. So right now I’m in a luxurious bed with luxurious pillows and blankets and woo hoo! I can jump on the bed if I want! It’s so great and we have a shower A SHOWER I LOVE SHOWERS! We love the T@B, but after living in it for three months, I REALLY love hotel rooms - which I’ve seen only a handful of times on this journey.
Oh right, I forgot the part about San Diego - after I showered, we didn’t leave the hotel room until 2:30pm. Sure the day can go until 10pm or longer, but seriously, once it gets dark the day is OVER for me. It’s some kind of annoying psychology that I have in my brain that tells me there is NO WAY I can enjoy the day when there is no sun. This is not always true, but when you’re in San Diego and you want to spend the whole day in 90º weather on your birthday and it doesn’t happen, disappointment sets in. But we made the best of it - we went to a dog BEACH (not park), Mister met a very good looking chihuahua named Meeko (sp?) who liked Mister more than Mister liked him. Mister was a bad boy most of the time and kept running away to go meet/hump other dogs. Then we drove around for an hour and a half looking for something to do and found not much at all. We spent WAY TOO MUCH MONEY on an absolutely delicious Italian dinner, which I am afraid I will have to do every year on my birthday thanks to the Italian (really Italian, we were on Florence) dinner Kaity Creasy treated me to last year in celebration of my birthday. Then it was back to the hotel room where Mark gave me a superb massage until I passed out.
I still have no idea what San Diego is like. We have a set schedule for the rest of our road trip (I know, BOOOO! But we have so much to see in less than a month!) and so I think we might not actually get to see much of San Diego until next time. 23 was an excellent year in my life, 24 should be pretty good too.
Also, Kate (Ms. Dawes) sent us this video from the Wanderkids. Thank you Wanderkids!!!
Just two things really quick:
1. We were interviewed by Venus Zine and the article is now up on their website. You can read it by clicking HERE.
2. We’re going to be bringing you a video tour of the T@B and wanted to know if you had any questions so we can answer them ON CAMERA. If so, email us, or leave a comment here with your question(s).
Often times in life, a person is presented with a choice. Last Friday, a conundrum for the ages fell into my lap: Do I choose to be trampled by a crowd of rampaging lunatics, or do I face the possibility of getting mauled by a bear on top of a mountain? Without hesitation, I squealed “I want to see a bear!!” That’s the option that landed me, along with Katie, in Yosemite National Park, thus allowing us to spend ‘Black Friday’ far away from a shopping mall.
This morning, on nytimes.com, I saw a link to an article which is being updated all day today, as the journalist liveblogs Thanksgiving. I thought liveblogging was corny before (mostly because I am picky about which internet/blogging trends I fall for), but now liveblogging has gone too far. To out corny them (because that’s what we’re about here at Wanderful, corny), I’m going to take it one step further and liveblog MY THANKSGIVING! But not like that, no - see, I always wanted to keep a list of all the things I am thankful for on Thanksgiving, but I usually forget or fall asleep for most of the afternoon. This year, whenever something comes to mind that I am thankful for, I’m going to liveblog it right here on Wanderful. Perhaps this isn’t really liveblogging - I think liveblogging is supposed to have something to do with following your own or someone else’s actions for a day. I don’t care, I’m liveblogging my thoughts, that’s what I’m liveblogging. Here we go: I am thankful for… 9:13PM
Wine.
Here at the Wanderful headquarters (currently located on the outskirts of Yosemite National Park in California) Katie, Mister, and I are getting ready for Thanksgiving, just like you. We bought supplies at three grocery stores today, tidied up the T@B to make room for a bountiful feast, and let the sensations of autumn finally take their toll as today’s more leisurely schedule allowed time to breath it all in. Tomorrow is the big day. We’ll be cooking here at home, just like you, though without an oven and with no turkeys or sides of ham involved. To save room on the double-burner tomorrow, I’ve got some potatoes on the boil this very moment. There’s a lot to do before sitting down to a great meal tomorrow, but the aromas and the frequent nibbling during preparation will bring some luxury to the effort. Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinners, America. I know I have a great deal to reflect upon in gratitude this year.
These trees are HUGE, it’s absolutely wild. I gave one a hug today and they were SOFT CAN YOU BELIEVE IT SOFT!? Okay guys goodnight, I have to go to sleep early because I’ve learned if I don’t get at least 9 hours of sleep I won’t wake up until we’ve missed half the day. The first rule of road trip is you can’t sleep past 7am. Sleep until 9am and you’re screwed.
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