(WARNING: this blog post may be too long)
So, as you may know, for the past five days I have been traveling in a car from Louisiana to California with my younger sister. We decided to make a two day car ride into a five day road trip and I am incredibly glad that we did. With little help (except for you Fred, thanks), because both of us are a little too independent, we mapped out our route with random pit stops on the way. Nearly 3 days before we left, we booked our hotels and made last minute changes to the route, leading us to L.A. and changed our path from the middle of CA to the Pacific Coast Highway. We filled an ice chest with sandwich things, fresh fruit, and vegetables that may have already been in my fridge for a whole week, but, hey, we could not waste them. We threw everything we owned in suitcases on Thursday, and woke up at 5 a.m. on Friday to figure out a way to organize our bags in my small Mazda. We were on the road by exactly 6:09 a.m. that same morning (aren’t you proud mom?). Since you know the extent of our “preparation”, here is the story about our five day adventure of independence and unpredictability.
Day 1:
Oh the good ole famous Texas drive. Day one we traveled to Lubbock, TX where we stayed with some sweet friends of my stepdad. Before we made it, we stopped on Elm Street in Dallas, TX. We parked our car near the Sixth Floor hotel, the one where Lee Harvey Oswald was staying when he (possibly) shot and killed JFK. We searched in circles and finally found the exact spot marked with an x where he died. I am not much of a history buff, but it is the coolest thing when history becomes reality because you are standing right in front of it. Our next pit stop was a little bit of a disappointment. Then again, we weren’t expecting much anyway from a “space alien grave”. We read some legend online about a space alien crash in Aurora, TX and the alien was “said” to be buried in the cemetery. However, when we arrived, we never found the grave and eventually read that they had taken it away. (This is yet another story of why the internet doesn’t always lead you to where you need to be). A few hours later, we made our last stop to a sculpture of a huge buffalo skull and took typical white girl pictures jumping off of it and “laughing while looking away”. yep. That’s about all we did there.
When you drive through nothing but dead grass and huge windmills all day, you are required to create your own fun.
Day 2:
Honestly, as I am writing this my brain is tired, so the details may be a little fuzzy, but here is the best I can say about day two. We traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico for our first and very adventurous stop. We stopped at Sandia Peak, a tramway ride and stop at 10,000 miles in the air. Holy crap, we felt like we were in a plane. We rode the tramway (more like a mini subway train from New York) up to the mountain and eavesdropped in so many conversations. We walked the mountain, sat on rocks eating sandwiches, and took countless pictures over looking all of Albuquerque. Instead of visiting old town, we followed signs to a small trail and ice cave. This was an on the whim decision of walking on lava rocks in hope to see something elaborate, but instead we came upon a small hole in the rocks with a frozen lake (basically). Totally a waste of $12, but at least it gave our legs a break from the car ride. Later that day, we made our way to Winslow, AZ for the night and of course we had to make a tribute to the Eagles as we “stood on the corner of Winslow, AZ”. Quite honestly, I have barely even listened to the song and mainly did this for everyone else who knows the Eagles more than I do.
While the little town of Winslow looked quaint and cute from afar, it was possibly one of the sketchiest towns I have been in, and that is saying a lot considering I live in Prineville, LA. After two men asked us for money, even our credit card, we made a quick sonic stop (we wanted some real food compared to sandwiches) and went back to the hotel. We sat on the bed as we ate saying “mom would be freaking out right now,” and fell asleep shortly after.
Day 3:
Today was my favorite out of all of them. We only had two stops, but they were absolutely grand. We drove to Sedona, AZ, possibly another one of my favorite towns, and hiked 2 miles up a mountain to stand on “the Devil’s Bridge.” Despite the name, it was quite heavenly. Here, I learned that all travelers are your friends and hiking brings everyone together. As you search the internet, you may see countless people jumping, standing, and sitting on this famous rock formation, but what you don’t see is line of people waiting their turn to take their own picture and the group of people across just staring at you. It was quite the system actually and many conversations were made because of it. Our second stop was the infamous Grand Canyon! We had no idea what we were doing as we drove through the entrance and sort of wandered around until we saw signs that looked interesting. We proceeded on the route of the “desert view,” a drive overlooking the grand canyon with multiple points to stop and look. We climbed some rocks (more than erin wanted and less than I wanted), made some crazy travelers, and sat over edges as our hearts beat faster than ever. It is truly a breathtaking site. One guy even challenged me to lay down with my head facing the canyon, slightly dangling over the rock, and looking at the canyon from an upside down perspective. I, of course, challenged him to do it first and then I would after him. He did, so I followed. I even challenged my sister to do the same thing (I’m building her adventure side and she did great!). I truly could have stayed in that position forever, just watching the clouds glide over the canyon as their shadows chased shortly after.
Getting out of the canyon was trickier than getting in. We probably circled the park nearly five times before we made it out and sounded like two old ladies bickering over where to go. We ended up in Kingman, AZ for the night.
Day 4:
Until this morning, the trip had been stress free and we were embracing independence. But, all of that changed when we realized we locked our keys in the trunk of my car. You would think I have an extra key, well I do not. You would think there would be an emergency lever for the trunk in the car, well there was not. And, you would think we would be able to go from behind and get the keys out of the trunk from the inside of the car, well we could not do that either. We were literally stuck in Arizona and began to feel the downfall of embracing adulthood. Gary, the locksmith, offered no help at all until the third call when I told him there was no other option. Before he arrived, erin and I decided to try and hassle this thing on our own even more. She found a wire coat hanger and I fed it through the crack of the trunk. I finally pulled the keys to the surface, but it would not fit through the crack. (Here’s the hard part), with the coat hanger and a crack nearly 1/4 of an inch wide, I flipped the key over and applied pressure with the point of the hanger to the “hold” button for the trunk. Minutes later, the trunk finally popped open, and SECONDS later the locksmith pulled up. Yes, he still required his $60 and was quite annoyed since the beginning. With a two hour delay, we finally left Arizona!
Now, L.A! We drove to Los Angeles with absolutely NO expectations. In fact, I felt silly when I figured out L.A. was a county rather than a city. I was not expecting it to be as big as it is. The traffic was horrific, but we made it through and I was forced to adapt to a 6 lane highway VERY quickly. We met up with my sweet friend Olivia Holt in Calabassas, CA at the cutest restaurant and caught up with her over guacamole dip and veggie flatbreads. Afterwards, Erin and I had no clue what we were going to next, the day was full of surprises. We checked out Malibu Cafe, basically an L.A. version of the Hangout in Alabama. It was pretty rad with its giant chess game and Jenga, but Erin and I just found ourselves aimlessly walking around. So, after the wasted $8 valet parking, we decided to drive an hour out of the way to Santa Monica Beach (I have ALWAYS wanted to go there). It was truly amazing at sunset, but we were shoulder to shoulder with crowds almost the whole time (we forget about memorial day rush). We stood on the beach as the sun hid behind the mountains and obviously took some pics with the ferris wheel and pier in the background. Little did we know it would be freezing, so our visit only last about an hour and a half.
Day 5:
WE FINALLY ARRIVED in Monterey, CA, ANOTHER one of my favorite cities ( I know, I have too many). We made a visit with my family to the local farmers market and ate the best strawberries of our lives, played with huge birds, and almost got stuck in the Bernie Sanders crowd right before his speech (my sisters and I were curious and a little disappointed that we didn’t get to go listen, but let’s face it, all we wanted to do was people watch). We topped the night off with a hearty chicken salad supper and a night full of High School Musical sing-a-longs.
Now that the aimless adventure is over (for now), it’s time for me to settle down and embrace my home for the next two months. LET’S GO.
Follow my blog for more adventure stories, and the cool things God will do here this summer!
- Hannah
