Made it to LA

Driving thru Cali.

Our yummy DQ ice cream cones that we got in Arizona.

Jennica holding up our cute key @ Southwest Inn in Sedona.

Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona.

This was our hotel, The View,  in Monument Valley. Such an amazing experience! I highly recommend it! Amazing view of the sunset, the stars, and sunrise. 

The view from our balcony @ Monument Valley.

Well, I've been in Cali for three days now. Well, this is the third day. It's strange. Very, very different than what I'm used to, that's for sure. Jennica and I got into town late Monday night. I think we got to the apartment around 9pm. Driving into the LA area was kind of nerve wracking. There were @ least 5 lanes of traffic on each side of the road. Thank goodness I had a GPS! But it was still kind of confusing @ times. But we made it here without any major problems! We only got lost a couple times. haha.

Diego was here to let us in and I have to say that it was really weird to see him when we hadn't seen each other in 3 months. It was kind of awkward @ first, almost like a first date or something. haha. We took all our things upstairs and honestly, I had a good cry in the bathroom after I saw the apartment. It was a disaster! And it's so small ( 500 sq. feet maybe?) But worst of all it was soooo hot and stuffy! There is no AC and although there is a really nice breeze off of the Pacific, we unfortunately do not get any of it in this apartment. We don't even have a balcony. The view from our windows is the depressing parking lot---blacktop, brick walls, and a barbed wire fence. haha. A big change from the openness of Indiana. You really can't even see the stars at night because of the city lights. Sucks. The entire complex is gated and you need a key or a clicker to access it. So it's safe @ least, but it's very prison-esque. The building is also veeery old and looks pretty run down in spots. But then there are spots where it looks ok. The one thing that I do like about it is that it is open. Like the lobby is inside, but as you walk through the building it's an open concept. You are basically outside. So that's kind of cool. But yeah, it was quite a disaster when we walked in. I felt very overwhelmed and depressed.

Crazy-eyed Diego in the elevator.

City lights from the top floor of the apartment building.

So after we unloaded our things, Diego drove us around town. We grabbed something to eat and took it to this park near the water. It was dark so we couldn't really see much, but we could hear the water and see the boat lights. There was also this really nice sounding fog horn that kept sounding. Diego had bought a huge blow up mattress for Jennica to use while she's here. So if anyone wants to visit, we have a very nice bed for you to sleep on! ;) It's really comfortable, which is surprising!

On Tuesday, I was in a pretty bad mood. I think I had a few different crying spells. haha. :P And was just overall depressed. Jennica and I spent the day arranging the living room and I think it's going to look nice this way! The cable guys came to install the cable/internet so we know have access to the outside world! yay! Diego gave me a clicker for the gate and keys for the building so I didn't feel as trapped. haha. Jennica and I went to Target in the evening and stocked up on supplies. Spent waaaaaay too much money,but got a lot of essentials. I guess we were out too late because Diego got a little upset with us, but hey, we didn't know. Jennica had asked him if it would be safe to go out, and he led us to believe that it would be. But that was a misunderstanding. Anyways, yeah, San Pedro is not as ghetto as like south central, but it's definitely not the safest area. There aren't exactly bars on the windows, but a lot of places look run down and kind of ghetto. Of course, there are some nicer looking areas too, so I dunno. It's definitely not what I had expected, that's for sure.

Trying to arrange the living room and unpack. What a mess! And there's Diego's stupid exercise equipment in the midst of everything. What a pain!  But he refuses to move it. :sigh:

Outside near the elevators.

Street in front of the building.

A street corner in San Pedro.

Shopping @ Target.

On Wednesday, I woke up in a waaay better mood. I had the phrase "happiness is a choice" running through my head and I was able to have a cheerful and optimistic outlook. The kitchen is still crappy and run down, but overall the apartment is looking much better. It's starting to take on a cozy feel. I spent most of Wednesday doing laundry. Unfortunately, we don't have a washer in our apartment :( so I'm forced to use the laundry facilities downstairs. At least there is on site laundry I guess. I had never really used a laundry mat or anything, except this one time when I went there with Diego. I'm used to just throwing in a load of laundry and then doing other things. I now understand the concept of laundry day. I think I did @ least 12 loads of laundry. I had to lug basket after basket up and down the stairs. (The laundry room is on the first floor, we're on the second floor.) I had all five washers going @ once. i would leave and then have to go back down and throw everything in the dryer. Throw more things in the washer. Then dryer. Then washer. Augh! It was a whole day process! And I spent a fortune in quarters! It's $1.00 per load for the washer and .75 for the dryer. Highway robbery! What a pain!

Doing laundry. Fun, fun. 

The living room is looking better but there is still waaaay too much junk in here.

Cleaning the kitchen cupboards. Oh, how I hate those cupboards.

Relaxing after an exhausting day.

We also washed out all the cupboards. This place has an old, musty smell. The kitchen cabinets are disgusting! They look like they were hand built and they're yellowish looking. The insides are dirty looking and gross me out! We bought some liner to put in them, but even then I don't know that I want to put my dishes in there! Yuck! Maybe I can convince Diego to convince his boss lady that we need new cupboards! And that might not be too difficult since I think she is a cougar. haha. She and Diego went driving in her convertible today. Supposedly for work, but ha :P I think she's after a younger man. haha I haven't even met her yet. I'm sure she's nice enough. Diego loved her fancy convertible and is now trying to convince me to turn my car ,into a convertible. lol

Anyways, yesterday was Diego's Mom's birthday so we went over to her house for cake. It was my first time seeing everyone in like 3 years. Jessie made sopa's which were tasty! And then everyone was having a meeting about camping. They're going camping this weekend in Seqouia. I don't think Diego's going, but I told him that he should. Ah well. Anyways, it's a lot different than what I am used too. Everyone is very loud and outgoing. It's kind of overwhelming. Way too many people.  But everyone was friendly enough.

Gift for Diego's mom. His fam likes to grill out so I got them a silverware holder, this nice container for chips and salsa, and a pitcher.

Diego and I getting ready to head over to his parent's house.

Jessie is a little camera shy. haha HE made some delicious sopas for us.

Hanging out in the kitchen waiting for cake. From L to R: Diego, Alma (fam friend), Sylvia (Joel's gf), Crystal (Chicho's gf), Alicia (Larry's gf), Chicho, Gil (Joel's best friend).

Diego's Mom and her cousin. They share the same birthday.

Food fight!

That's larry in the blue, Diego's Dad, and his mom.

Diego hooking up the wireless router in our newly arranged room (Thanks Jennica!)

Augh! Diego is driving me insane today! He's such a junker! He collects odds and ends that are basically crap and wants to take up our precious 500 Sq. feet with all this stuff. Well, so far it's this stupid old blanket and this gigantic piece of exercise equipment that is taking up a large space in the living room. And he's just being obstinate. He refuses to move them. I think he's just trying to annoy me.

Anyways, I suppose I should get busy. It's nearly 2:00 and I haven't accomplished much. I slept in really late, which I hadn't planned on, but i was soooo tired.

I'll leave you with a couple more pics of Jennica and me from Arizona.

We're almost there!

Well, we should get to LA sometime this evening. Craziness! I can't believe we're almost there....I'm definitely sick of driving. I'm beginning to feel homesick, but it's beginning to sink in that oh, I won't be home in Indiana for at least another 8 months. :(  I'm also excited to finally get to LA!

Our room @ Southwest Inn.

 So we spent the night in Sedona @ the Southwest Inn. We had actually stayed @ this same hotel 7 yrs ago when we came through here with Mom and Dad. It's kind of like deja vu. I remember a lot of things about it. Weird. We had originally booked a room @ the Sky Ranch Lodge, which is this old lodge up in the mountains. They have a GREAT view, especially during sunset, but it's extremely outdated! Like a time warp back to the 50's. Think Dirty Dancing--the whole lodge concept and there you have it. The outside was pretty, but as soon as we walked into the room we wanted to walk right back out. I don't think they've changed the bedspread since the 50's. It looked dirty and the room had this smell. I guess because it was an older building? It was messing with my allergies and plugging my head up. So we called and asked if we could get our money back. They said yes and we started looking for a different place.

Sky Ranch Lodge. This picture doesn't show the true experience. It was horrible! It smelled and was old!

Sitting in the car, trying to decide what to do. 

We actually sat in their parking lot for about an hour using their free wifi. haha. We couldn't decide what to do. If we should just get a different room here in Sedona, or travel on. At this point we were just ready to leave. The ride into town was not that enjoyable. It was beautiful for sure! But it was curvy...lots of crazy twists and turns up and down the mountains. I was the one driving and I was so dizzy when we stopped. lol. So yeah, we were just kind of ready to be rid of Sedona. But we went ahead and booked this room and it's actually pretty nice! We got a free breakfast, the room is nice! My car is safe, thank goodness!

Scenic route to Sedona. Not my cup of tea. It was pretty, but way too curvy.

Yesterday, we had another incident with my car. I'm really confused as to what's going on. I don't know if someone tried to break into my car a third time? I'll explain. So yesterday we had a relaxing morning @ the View hotel in Monument Valley. Got up and watched the sunset. It was beautiful!  We left the valley around 11:30 or so. Stopped in Kayenta to gas up the car. We parked in the front and Jennica ran in to the store. I gassed the car up and then ran in for about 5  min. When I came back out, I noticed that both windows and the sunroof were down AGAIN. We know that we did NOT put the windows down. And it's too much of a coincidence to hit both buttons for the windows AND the button for the sunroof which is literally on the ceiling. We checked everything before we walked in and they were all closed. I had the doors locked. Unless their is some sort of magical button that opens all three @ once, then it would appear that someone tried to break in to the car once again. It's really weird. And it had me totally creeped out. I was paranoid about staying @ a hotel and having my car out in the parking lot unattended. Thankfully, it made it through the night though. :) And we will get to LA tonight. We've already decided that someone stays with the car @ all times during stops. Sad, but I really don't want someone getting in there. It's not that I have a lot of valuable things in there. But we do have our laptops, journals, some important papers/documents, etc. And I can't carry them all around with me everywhere. i would be lugging a huge suticase around. haha. We've covered everything up with a sheet and have made sure that anything valuable is out of sight.

Anyways, we pretty much just drove all day yesterday. As I mentioned, we had an enjoyable morning in Monument Valley and then drove to Sedona. We were going to stop @ the Grand Canyone, but decided against it. We've both been there before and we didn't have enough time to actually enjoy the stop. It was $25 per car and it just didnt' seem worth the money. We were hoping to do something in Sedona, but by the time we found a different room we were tired and just wanted to relax. Plus, it was storming so there wasn't going to be a pretty sunset or anything. We might go see Chapel of the Holy Cross before we leave town this morning. But I'm not sure  yet.

 Well, that's it for now. Sorry I don't have any pictures to share. We didn't really take a whole lot yesterday. Oh, I did upload some pictures to my last entry. We FINALLY have phone reception! We haven't really had any the past 2 or 3 days. So that's nice. Well, next time I write I will probably be in LA. Happy Monday everyone!

Road Trip to Cali: Days 4 & 5

It's hard to believe that this is Day 5 of our trip already. It's flown by way too quickly. :(  But we're having lots of fun, making great memories, and taking lots of great photos! lol We'll be in Cali in two days. Scary. It will definitely be a gigantic change, especially since driving through all this barren land. lol. Here's a quick review of the past two days:

Day 4 of Road Trip:

Friday, July 22, 2011

• Slept in @ Dreamcatcher Inn. A wonderful B&B! Loved Prudy and her adorable dog Jake. We missed the communal breakfast, but Prudy sent us some delicious cinnamon crumble cakes and strawberry smoothies. Bought the cutest little ornament and also a card with a photo of Jake!  

• Went to Taos Pueblo. It wasn't quite what I had expected, but it was soooo interesting! Went on a brief walking and tour and then browsed the village and shops. Everyone was very friendly and met a lot of interesting people. Bought this amazing piece of pottery, a sage prayer bundle, some homemade cookies and bread, and this littl clay bowl. We probably spent a good 2-2.5 hours here. 
• Then we went to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge which is located a bit northwest of town. It was so amazing, but extremely scary at the same time! We walked out to the middle of the bridge and there was a little viewing deck. It was soooo windy! I swear the wind could knock you over. I'm not a fan of heights and it was definitely scary!

• Last stop of the night was Mesa Verde in Colorado. It was about a 4.5-5 hr. drive from Taos and involved a lot of mountains. Thankfully, Jennica was driving this time around! I didn't realize how HIGH up Mesa Verde was. We got to the entrance around 8:30ish probably and it was a looong drive to the lodge which involved lots of curvy roads along the edge of the mountains. We just kept going higher and higher and higher. It was terrifying. Well, at least to me. I'm sooo glad that i wasn't driving because I probably would have passed out! and I'm not joking. lol. We reached the lodge after dark-- at about 9:15 and we were sooo happy to get there. haha. It's not fun driving around mountain edges at night. It was as if we were on top of the world! I think the elevation was 8500 above sea level. We had no phone reception and the phone @ the hotel was out. There was limited wifi and we were able to get online, thank goodness! haha. I don't like being completely disconnected from civilization. :P There was a great view of the stars that high up! lol. We had a few problems getting into our room. At first we couldn't get the keys to work (they were old locks) but thankfully a kind stranger helped us out. And then we locked ourselves out (the doors locked when closed, which we didn't realize). Another fellow traveler offered to climb onto the balcony and open the door, but we were able to have someone from the front desk come and unlock it for us. We decided not to eat at the restaurant because it was extremely overpriced, so we bought some food from the gift shop. However, it was soggy and not good at all, so we went to bed on empty stomachs. haha. 
• Overall, it was a good day! My favorite part was definitely the Taos Pueblo! it was a lot of fun!

Right now we are at The View, a wonderful hotel in Monument Valley. It has an amazing view! We just happened to get a room here! We had been trying and trying to get one for days, but to no avail. We randomly checked online last night to see if there were any reservations and there was an open room! I can't tell you how excited we were about that! And thank goodness we could book it online because we had absolutely no phone access. haha.

Road Trip to Cali Day 5:

Saturday, July 23, 2011

It definitely does not seem like Saturday! The days have become a blur.

• We left Mesa Verde around 11ish. We didn't go see any of the cliff dwellings. It kind of sucks since we were so close, but I think we were just ready to leave. lol. Mesa Verde is a nice place, but I'm just not a fan of heights and was really dreading that drive down. Also, we were on kind of a tight timeline. We wanted to get to Four Corners and then to Monument Valley to go on an evening tour. 
• We stopped in Cortez, Colorado to eat some lunch. Ended up eating at Pizza Hut, then continued our drive to Four Corners.
• Four Corners is definitely a tourist trap. They've updated it quite a bit since the last time I was there (7 yrs. ago). We took our pictures on the circle and then wandered around the different shops. Jennica found the "death beads" that she was looking for, we each bought a handmade magnet, and we got snow cones. Then we continued on to Monument Valley.

• This is my third time visiting Monument Valley, but it was the first time that I had entered from the north end. We drove through an extremely deserted stretch of land in Utah and it was like we were the only ones alive in the world. haha. Well, not quite, we saw a few cars and a bunch of animals. There were a bunch of range crossing signs and we saw horses, cows, and sheep just walking down the middle of the highway. It was crazy! haha but very cool! The view coming into Monument Valley was amazing! 

• The View is a really nice hotel, although it's a bit overpriced. However, the view is worth it! It's an AMAZING view of the valley which is accessible from each hotel room. We just chillaxed on the balcony for a bit enjoying the view. Then we went and picked up some sandwiches from the hotel restaurant and brought them back to our room. We ate dinner on the balcony while watching the sunset. Priceless! It was beautiful! Unfortunately, we missed the evening tour, but had an awesome view from our room. We've talked about going on a tour in the morning, but we'll see what happens. I definitely am hoping to get up early enough to enjoy the valley during breakfast. They have tables set up so that you can eat outside. It's just so beautiful here! One of my very favorite places in the world! So far anyways. haha. And everyone else must think so too because there are tons of people that are visiting! And I've noticed that a large majority of them are international tourists. Jennica and I have been sitting here in the lobby (the only place to access the wifi) and I've been people watching as I'm online. Everyone is speaking a ton of different languages. I've heard some French, some German, some chinese. Just a variety of people from all over the world! It's so much fun to just sit and observe other people and learn about other cultures and ways of life. 

Well, I have a bunch of photos to upload, but the wifi is not that great and won't let me upload them. Maybe next time! Sorry! I have a bunch of them that I'll try to upload in the next few days.

Well, I think we're going to head back to the room and get some rest. Have a long couple days ahead of us. Night everyone! :)

Road Trip to Cali: Day 3

So yesterday was Day 3 of our Road Trip, but I didn't have time to write a post about it. So here we go...

On Wednesday night we got into Amarillo REALLy late. So we were exhausted! We stayed @ the Big Texan Motel which is next to the Big Texan Restaurant. I would def. recommend the restaurant, but not the hotel. The outside was nice, but the inside was not so great. It seemed dingy and dirty. Not worth the $80. Anyways, so on Thursday we slept in and didn't leave the hotel until 11:30ish. We hung out @ the Restaurant for a couple hours taking pictures and eating lunch. It was a really cool place! The outside was decked out in cheesy Texan decor and the inside was all western! There was a guy that went around playing the guitar and singing to the guests. When he came to our table, we requested some Johnny Cash!

The food was pretty decent. Meat is their specialty, but their side dishes were not that impressive.

The restaurant actually has a food challenge. If you can eat a 72 oz. steak, plus side dishes, then you get your meal free. They have a big table set up in the front of the room with timers and everything. There was a challenger while we were there. I'm not sure if he finished or not. He had about 13 min. left when we were leaving. The restaurant has been featured on Man vs. Food on the Food Network.  I actually remember watching that episode! So that was pretty cool!

After that, we headed to Cadillac Ranch, which was a  little west of town.  It was such an odd sight! It was actually located right along the highway, so we drove right past it on our way to the exit. Such a weird sight seeing all those cars sticking up out of the ground in the middle of a field! haha There were a lot of ppl there! We hung out there for probably an hour or so. We just walked around taking pictures and then we spray painted some of the cars. (No, we're not vandals haha It's part of the cadillac Ranch experience) It was a lot of fun! We wrote a couple different messages: Cali or Bust, D&K, Hi Mom and Dad and Snick!, Kylee and Jennica Road Trip 2011. I'm sure they were covered up in no time because almost everyone that stops there decorates a car....or so it seems. We met a guy from West Lafayette! We pulled up to the site around the same time and he offered to take our picture. Then when we were back @ the car he walked up and said he had noticed my purdue sticker. Was I from Lafayette? So we chitchatted for a bit. He's driving out to Cali also! It's so cool to run into people with Indiana connections!

After Cadillac Ranch, we headed to Taos, New Mexico. It was a looong drive! Well, not THAT long I guess. About 4.5 hrs. maybe, but we were literally driving up the edges of mountains. I was driving and I hate heights! I had quite a bit of anxiety! haha But it was totally worth it! We saw some AMAZING views! We would climb up these gigantic mountains and then go into these gorgeous valleys which were totally removed from civilization. At one point, it was raining lightly. The strangest rain I have ever seen. There were giant rain drops that we so far apart and they made this loud plopping noise. The sky looked dark and stormy and then the sun would break from behind the clouds. We even saw a rainbow! It was absolutely amazing! Gorgeous! It was definitely a stressful drive though. There were the heights of course and then we were raising the sun. We wanted to get to Taos before dark because driving up those mountains would be dangerous @ night.

Anyways, we got to Taos @ sunset. Then there was the whole escapade with the guy trying to steal my car TWICE! The police came but he had disappeared. So we went ahead and left that hotel and went to a Bed & Breakfast called the Dreamcatcher. It was a CUTE little place! The innkeeper, named Prudy, was so very nice and she had the cutest little dog names Jake. He was absolutely adorable! I love B&Bs!!!!! :) We had to separate rooms that were adjoined by a bathroom. It was a cute place!!!

Well, that's all for now. More tomorrow! Night everyone! :)