Day 1 - Sunday
Left San Antonio early, on the road by 8:30 with my friend from NJ, Bilal, in the passenger seat. We hit our first tumble weed a few hours later. I10 passes through a whole lot of nothing for many, many miles, with the exception of the occasional roadkill and multiple for-real oil wells, which I'd never seen in person before. I think the tumble weed still won as the highlight of that portion of the trip.
Arrived in New Mexico. The southern part of the state was somewhat dreary. We made only short stops so that we could get to Bilal's uncles house in time for dinner.
Artesia, New Mexico
It was dark by the time we got to Alamogordo. Our chosen route took us through Lincoln National Park, and even in the dark and the dust we were completely floored by the view from the middle of the hills. (How does one distinguish a really big hill from a mountain?).
Bilal's family moved to Alamogordo just a few months ago. His uncle, a doctor, is a total character. He kept me in stitches while his wife doted on us, a total sweetheart. The kids (10ish and 13ish) were impressively well-behaved and friendly. They treated us to dinner at Chilli's and then all hung out and chatted about movies and whatnot. I turned in 11ish, exhausted.
Day 2 - Monday
We had to go back to see Lincoln Nat'l Forest in the day light - and were stunned to realize that we were already surrounded by picturesque hills as soon as we stepped foot outside. The Park was fantastic. Had a quick lunch and said goodbye to Bil's fam.
Headed West towards White Sands National Park, just a few miles outside of town. It's crazy to see two drastically different and equally breathtaking parts of the country in the same morning, just 20 or so miles apart.
Sand-not snow!
The "sand" is actually gypsum
It was cold. But we couldn't stop taking pictures so suffered through putting the window down at 75 mph to get a clearer shot. The drive West in New Mexico continued to be fantastically scenic, the clouds blanketing the hills and the pink-purple sunset.
We arrived in Arizona after dark, and the drive got really boring again, just dark nothingness on either side. I tried not to back seat drive when Bilal was at the wheel. We searched for a hostel in our destination, Tucson, and found a nice quiet, clean spot called the Roadrunner with very friendly people - I only had to share a room with one girl so I was alright with it. Felt more like a commune than a hostel with an older crowd having conversations about new agey stuff or other places they've lived or been.
We hit the town, starting at Grill, part diner and part bar/venue. I was freezing, had soup and an excellent Arizona amber beer. A group called Soundtrkrs from Portland played electronic music behind a screen showing b&w news and film clips. I'm sure it was really deep but I didn't have the attention span for it. We then went to 80's dance party night at Club Congress, attached to a hotel. It was surprisingly crowded for a Monday night. We turned in after that.
Day 3 - Tuesday
The next morning we had waffles and cold ass showers courtesy of the hostel. I chatted with my roommate, a chick who moved here a few months ago to escape LA ironically. Bilal is making friends (they're talking about hip hop and/or racism now?) and I am going to put lotion on my hands for the hundredth time, as it's so dry... we stopped into a coffee shop, explored downtown for a few minutes and got on the road towards Phoenix.
Tucson
Phoenix visit was brief - just ate lunch in Irish pub, and talked to my agency rep about a job in Oxnard, CA. Continued on to Flagstaff. We instantly liked it there- SO cute. I got a private room at the Grand Canyon International hostel, which made me happy, and we signed up for a guided canyon tour. That night went to Criollo Latin Kitchen mulled wine, chatted with staff there, I had the most delicious red potato soup ever and then we shot pool and listened to jazz at Mia's.
Day 4 - Wednesday. Woke up in Flagstaff and joined group for guided tour. There were 5 of us plus the guide - a hippie chic from Australia, old English guy who was more in shape than all of us combined, a quiet American with a fancy camera, and a really cool guide (Greg?). I was in awe of the canyon, shocked by how little fencing there is to prevent people from plummeting and inspired to hike more. Loved the hike even though it was snowy on some of the paths and thus slippery!! Other people stood way too close to the edge in my opinion but we all survived.
Grand Canyon
Hike
Bilal with hippie
That evening, Bilal and i were set on trying Brix, the "spendy" sister restaurant of the mulled wine place supposedly rated "15th in Arizona." It was a fantastic meal and very good time. Stopped back into Mia's which was having open mic night, chatted to a couple locals then headed in. I stayed up a while looking for a place to live in Oxnard.
Day 5 Thursday
Sad to say goodbye to Flagstaff - Bilal is thinking of moving there. Thai for lunch and much discussion of where to go for the night. In the end Vegas was the choice made. The drive there was gorgeous and we stopped for a quick photo-opp at Hoover Dam.
We stayed in the Luxor, a typically huge hotel on the Vegas strip. We were starving so went to one of the buffets - terrible food, save for the hummus. Had one over-priced drink and walked around inside the hotel casino area for a few minutes. We totally pooped out and went back to the room; Bil was snoring by 11:00. We are such wild party animals.
View of Vegas/sphinx ass from our hotel room.
Day 6 - Friday
Headed towards California. Made it to Santa Barbara to stay with our friend Jillian by early evening. Santa Barbara is just about 40 minutes from where I'll be moving. We went out locally Friday and drove up to wine country Saturday.
On Sunday I made my last official drive of the roadtrip down the 101 to my final destination of Oxnard, CA. Overall a good time, and I'm very glad I had company along the way.
Oxnard Shores
Pacific Ocean
Oxnard Beach Park
Christmas in Southern California - the reindeer are made of palm tree bark!
