Next Time I am Bringing a BLANKET

Location: Gillette, WY

Okay, I am way to tired for complete sentences so here is a rundown of the last two days which was really just one long one.  

Monday

-We left the Days Inn in Cameron Park early 

-We found this hotel in the last town on the NV border that we should have stayed at instead of the place we did.  It was like $30 for a night and it was at some awful hotel/casino type place.  Oh well we wouldn't have the cougar story to tell if we did that (another time). ]

-Drove by the Great Salt Lake

-Went into Salt Lake City for lunch where we ate at a cafe inside some sort of huge office building.  Probably the leading candidate for weirdest place we have been.  

-Briefly walked around SLC where they have these ridiculous orange flags on either side of the street that you need to hold as you cross.  

-Saw The Tabernacle, the Delta Center, and not one minority.  

-Made a mental note never to return to Salt Lake City.

-Drove all the way from SLC to West Yellowstone, MT, a small touristy town that is located directly outside of the West entrance of Yellowstone national Park.  

-Tried to camp inside the park....all campsites full.  

-Tried to find a reasonably priced hotel that was not fully booked in town.  We did this by briskly walking up and down the town blocks, pointing and yelling "vacancy" at places that looked promising.  No luck.  

-Decided it would be a good idea to drive about a mile outside the town to a camping sight.  We reserved our spot for only $14

-Quickly got some pizza back in the town.  Canadian Bacon.....where? 

-Went back to the campsite where we managed to set up the tents and get a fire going without any casualties.  We should have known everything was going far to well at this point.  

-Put out the fire and tried to go to sleep around twelve.  It still didn't feel all that cold.  

-By 3:30 we are all out of the tents and in the car.  Montana nights are rather frigid apparently. 

- Slept in the car for about four hours.  

Tuesday

-We broke down the tents, jumped some creepy guys truck and left the camp sight forever.  

-Stopped at a breakfast place back in town.  Best cup of coffee of my life.  

-After breakfast we went into Yellowstone Park which was yet another amazing place.  Between the buffalo, the geysers and the snow covered mountains it was definitely as poetically great as I hoped for.  Obviously, you could spend weeks discovering everything the Park has to offer but I was really happy with everything we got to see while we were there. 

-Leaving Yellowstone, we began the painfully long trip through Wyoming and South Dakota.  We stopped at this town called Shell along the way which only had a population of fifty people. 

- We drove through the Black Hills mountains which were breathtaking.  

-Stopped for dinner in a town called Sheridan at a Perkins which featured arguably the worst service of the trip and also a clown inexplicably named Willy Wonka Jr. hanging out in the waiting area.  Before I left, I went into the bathroom only to find the giant clown standing in one of the stalls.  Seeing the hat above the door and the giant shoes underneath it was one of the funniest things I have seen this whole trip.  Yeah, I know, it's really not very funny.  

-Ran out of the Perkins and started driving towards Mt. Rushmore.  

-We tried to book this hotel room in a town close to the landmark and the guy basically told us to stay somewhere else closer to where we were.  

- Ended up at a Days Inn in Gillette about an hour and a half from Mt. Rushmore.  

So that was the last two days.  It's funny because I'm pretty sure this is going to be the longest blog I have written even though the whole point of those little dash things was to keep it short.  Oh well, I hope it makes some semblance of sense.  Tomorrow we see Mt. Rushmore and then spend the rest of the day going through South Dakota and hopefully into Nebraska and Missouri.  Once we hit Sioux Falls we should be okay but the 300+ miles between Mt. Rushmore and there might be the most difficult of the trip.   One way or another, I'm sure it will be funny.  

Bed. 

reNO

Location: Elko, NV

After an awesome day in San Francisco we started the long road back East today.  

Since my last post we got the hell out of the Vagabond Inn Saturday morning and went to see the Golden Gate Bridge.  Even in the California haze it was a pretty amazing sight.  Just another one of those things that I have seen so many times on TV or whatever and finally got to see for real.  

After that we went to ATT Park and managed to get three tickets to the Giants/A's game for $34. More on that in a minute.  From there we met up with Matt's friend Pascal and got food and walked/trollyed around the city.  San Francisco is a city built on top of another city and as a result the hills in the town are absolutely brutal to walk up.  I don't know how people do that everyday.  Other than that though, there is nothing bad I can say about SF.  It was just an awesome city that I need to get back to immediately.  Along with San Antonio and New Orleans it was definitely my favorite city on the trip and it is probably my favorite out of the three as well.

That night me, TJ & Dan hit the ball game.  Our seats we're literally as far away from the field as possible but it was still a lot of fun.  Not caring about the game at all, it was actually really great being able to see the field and the surrounding city from that high up.  The breeze from the bay though made it quite cold up there.  

We drove for a few hours after the game and stayed at another Motel 6 in Cameron Park, CA.  It had no Internet but the toilet worked so that was nice.  

This morning we drove to Tahoe and took and saw the gigantic lake before going to my leading candidate for worst city in America...Reno, NV.   There is no way to even put it words how grimy the city is.  I did leave the city up $4 which was an improvement from that other NV gambling city.  If I didn't totally space out on and hit with a twenty when I was playing blackjack I probably would have had a little more then that to but what can you do.  

From Reno we wanted to get towards Salt Lake City and ended up here in Elko, NV.  The hotel we're in tonight is actually pretty nice especially for us.  Internet, toilet and EIGHT pillows.   Yeah, I know.  

Tomorrow we got to Salt Lake City early and then get as close as possible to Yellowstone.  It's hard to believe we are more then halfway done with this trip already.   

Reno vs. Birmingham for worst city of the trip.

That's right, today we left California for the trip back home. We stopped by Lake Tahoe, the last stop in CA before we crossed back into Nevada. Unfortunately the first and really the only stop in Nevada on the way back was Reno. It's sleezy old Vegas mixed with a lack of people and just nothing worth doing at all. At least Birmingham looked like it might have stuff to do if there were people around.

Anyway, California was beautiful and San Francisco was easily my favorite city so far. It lived up to being the city where I wanted to end the westbound trip. In less than two weeks I'll be living in Washington D.C. and that's weird to think about. I'm going to try and put those thoughts off a little more though because we still have about a week left of this trip. Tomorrow it's off to Salt Lake City and than moving on toward Yellowstone.

Here I Dreamt....

Location: San Jose, CA 

"We are vagabonds, we travel without seat belts on to live this close to death."  

We are in some kind of place right now in San Jose.  Hotel is called the Vagabond Inn.  I'll just leave it at that.  

I am exhausted and sick so this is going to be mad quick tonight.  

We got up early this morning and went down to Manhattan Beach for a few hours.  It wasn't a very nice day in the LA area but we decided to swim in the Pacific Ocean anyway.   No question it was worth it.  

We left L.A. for San Francisco at about 1:00 and spent the rest of the day driving.  We were hoping to spend some time on the Pacific Coast Highway but what everybody fails to tell you is that it is the most roundabout way possible to get from Los Angeles to 'Frisco.  The traffic was killer in the Santa Barbara area so we ended up bypassing the PCH almost entirely and still only made it to San Jose (about 60 miles outside of SF) at midnight.  We did end up randomly stopping at this restaurant called "Nugget" in Summerland, CA.  It was actually pretty good but this place was located in the middle of the classic upper class California beach town.  Really odd.  

Tomorrow we are spending most of the day in SF before trying to get as close to Reno as we can after the Giants game.   Yup .   

The Ocean

Well, last night at about 1:30 a.m. pacific time we arrived at our hotel in Hermosa Beach.  We couldn't actually see the ocean then, but when the sun rose this morning it was clear.  We had just driven across the country in nine days.  We have seen so much in that time it was hard to believe that it had happened already.  In two days we went from the mountains near the Grand Canyon to Vegas to the beach outside of L.A.  This being the end of the first half of the trip, we still have alot to do, but it's been an experience already for sure.

I'm looking forward to seeing San Francisco and getting up to Yellowstone in a few days.  I just hope that we won't have to rush home because we spent so much time on the way here.  Either way I regret nothing and am just happy to have this opportunity before beginning another long stretch of school in a few short weeks.

The Wild, Wild West

Location: Hermosa Beach, CA 

No Internet for the last couple nights but I just posted some stuff that I wrote if you want to check it out.  

Today was our day in Hollywood, CA.  We woke up early and got breakfast with Matt's uncle right on Hermosa Beach before taking the train into Hollywood.  It's weird because Hollywood is the place that I really wanted to see on this trip and we still have quite a ways to go.  It's like it's over even though it's not.   Speaking of which, I have no idea how I going to handle being in one place when this trip is over.  Luckily, I still have another 10 or so days before I have to worry about it.  

So we got off the subway in LA on Hollywood Blvd.  and walked around.  I know the Hollywood walk of fame is more or less a joke at this point but it was still kind of surreal to see them in person.   We drove to the West Coast....how crazy is that.  

We strolled down the boulevard for a while and then hopped back on the subway to Universal City where we went into the Universal Studios outside lobby type thing with all the trendy shops and what not.  We talked to some slam ball player (think NBA Jam....only real) and then found out it cost $65 to get into the park and promptly left.  

Then awesomness happened.  We went back to the Blvd. and the Kodak Theater where the American Film Institute was holding their lifetime tribute to Warren Beatty.  So we spent the next two hours standing by the red carpet and got to see some pretty awesome stars including Jane Fonda, Chevy Chase, Faye Dunaway, Eva Marie Saint, Eve Mendes, Hugh Hefner, Robert Downy friggen Jr., MC Hammer (for real), Tony Shaloub, Angela Lansbery and of course Beatty and his wife Annette Benning.   It was pretty sweet.  

After that fun, I had some of the worst pizza I have ever had in my life for dinner and then walked down to Sunset Blvd. just to be able to say I was there.  At this point, it was time to escape from LA so we got back on the train and took the hour ride back to the beach.  Needless to say,  there were a lot of unhappy Lakers fans on that train tonight.  

Tomorrow we are getting up early and hitting the beach for a while before driving the Pacific Coast Highway up to San Fransisco.   Seeing LA today was so awesome and it's the latest place on the list of places I have to get back to.   I have said this a thousand times in here already but man this trip has been amazing. 

Back log

Location: Las Vegas, NV

Looking out at a hotel window at the MGM grand is not something I thought I was going to get to do on this trip.   Yet here I am at the Excalibur Hotel & Casino on the Vegas strip and we payed less then we did last night.  

We have no internet agian (I’m not paying for it) so this is going to be quick tonight and hopefully posted tomorrow but who knows.  We saw the Grand Canyon today which was the latest in a line of incredible things that I can’t put into words.  The wind at the North Rim of the canyon was something like 45mph which made it a very interesting standing on the top of the rocks with no visible end to a potential fall but all in all it was an incredible experience.  I also got a pretty sweet bracelet from this Navjo women on the way up to the canyon which was pretty cool.     

After the long drive to the canyon we turned our attention towards Las Vegas.  We ended up getting stuck driving through another national park on the way towards Vegas but we got out of having to pay for it which would have been a total buzzkill.  At about 9:45 we got our first glimpse of the Las Vegas skyline which was absolutely incredible from the highway.  

We got to the Excalibur  Hotel shortly after and checked in before gambling a little at MGM and getting some food back here.  The waiter was from Cumberland, RI which was pretty cool.    

Tomorrow we get to do probably the least driving of the trip as we are going to hang out in Vegas for most of the day and then try and getple hours closer to LA tomorrow night.  

Just a random thought before I finish here, it is mind boggling to me that it is almost six o’clock on the East Coast.  This journey man it has just been amazing.  

Day 9:

Locaton: Hermosa Beach, CA

I can see the Pacific Ocean. 

Day 10

Location: Hermosa Beach, CA

“There is no where to go but everywhere”

Seeing the Pacific Ocean from the window here at the Hermosa Hotel outside L.A. is the culmination of this trip in a lot of ways.  We are only at the halfway mark but this was the dream we set to accomplish.  To see the vastness of the other side.