The Last Leg

September 25, 2011

Lucy and I woke up, went downstairs for breakfast, packed our things, then loaded up the car for the last leg of our journey.  We popped my new Book on CD into the player and headed for the Interstate once again.  We actually headed East on I-40 toward Meteor Crater.  We had intended to stop and see Meteor Crater the same day we went to the Petrified Forest but it had already closed.  It felt sort of wrong to drive east on this trip to the west, but we decided we really should go see the crater, even if we had to go backwards a bit.

We arrived at Meteor Crater, parked and went to buy our tickets.  It cost us $15.00 each.  As we were walking up the stairs behind the ticket booth, we passed a couple walking down the stairs.  I overheard the man mutter "I can't believe it was fifteen bucks for THAT!"  Lucy and I laughed.  The guy was sort of right...I mean it's fifteen bucks to look at a big hole in the ground, and then leave.  Fortunately for Lucy and I, when we walked into the Visitor's Center they were just getting ready to start a one-hour tour along the rim of the crater.  I said "We're going on that.  Maybe then I'll feel like I got my money's worth."  Lucy agreed.

The crater was, in fact, pretty cool.  I mean you look at it, and it really is just a huge hole in the ground and since there are literally NO other land formations nearby, it is a little difficult to decide whether or not you should be impressed.  Maybe it seems big, but is it?  How can you tell when there aren't even any trees around to compare it to?  That's why you need a tour guide to tell you how many Boeing 777 airplanes or Washington Monuments would fit into Meteor Crater.  Then your mind has something to compare it to and you realize yes, you should be impressed.

Lucy and I enjoyed our tour of Meteor Crater.  When the tour concluded, we got back in my car and headed HOME.  I thought it was a really beautiful drive through western Arizona.  There were lots of hills and Ponderosa pines everywhere.  Lucy and I were thoroughly enjoying our book on CD as well.  I mentioned in my last post that I got Unbroken:  A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption.  I'd been excited to read the book even before its release date.  I actually went to a Barnes & Noble to buy it the week it was released but it had already sold out.  I was super happy to finally have a copy and I was also super happy that I had managed to rope Lucy into listening to the book with me.  I told her if she found it insanely boring, we could turn it off and listen to music instead but fortunately Lucy found the book as fascinating as I did.  It's actually an amazing story.  It's the story of Louis Zamperini.  He was an Olympic runner and competed in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.  The book is mostly about his experiences during WWII.  He was a bombardier on a plane that went down over the Pacific Ocean.  He drifted in a raft at sea for 47 days.  There were times when sharks actually jumped out of the water, to try and bite him and drag him overboard.  I'm not even making that up.  It actually happened.  Just when the raft finally came in sight of land, Louis and his fellow survivor were intercepted by a Japanese ship.  They spent the rest of the war in Japanese prison camps enduring the worst things you can imagine - and yet Louis survived it all.  It is really an incredible story.  We loved it.  So much.

Anyway, we drove all day long.  There was one point where traffic came to a dead stop on the interstate.  It wasn't stop-and-go, it was just stopped.  A freeway party ensued.

We didn't know what had happened or how long we would be stopped, but I wasn't too worried about it.  It was pretty hot out, but there was a nice breeze.  Plus I had a whole bunch of candy and water bottles stashed in the trunk of the car for just this sort of situation!  Lucy kept asking if she could "Go see what was happening."  She was just sure that if she walked to "that hill up there" in the distance, she would be able to see what was going on.  I said "No, stay here."  She tried to tell me she wouldn't be gone very long but I said "No, because if traffic starts moving and you're not here, I'm leaving you."  Kidding, Lucy.  I would never leave you behind.  :)  Traffic did start moving just a few minutes after that.  And there were a few cars in front of us all in a dither because they couldn't find their passengers who had "gone to see what was happening."  Lucy and I just went around them and headed on our way.  Turns out the whole jam had been cause by a trailer with a blown-out tire miles and miles ahead of us.

Eventually we crossed the borderline into California and spent the next while driving through completely desolate desert.  Then all of a sudden there were these steep hills.  And I mean STEEP.  Thank goodness there was an extra lane on each side of the interstate at that point because the trucks were absolutely crawling up those hills.  After what felt like forever, we reached a pitstop in the middle of nowhere.  We decided to fill the car up with gas, hit the restrooms and grab some food.  However, we noticed that gasoline was like 50 cents more than it should be per gallon.  I said "I'm not paying that.  I've still got a quarter of a tank.  We'll just fill up at the next place."  We headed inside the station though to use the restrooms.  I had to wait in line for a solid ten minutes.  I'm not exaggerating.  I was feeling slightly disgruntled, but then, as I was leaving the bathroom I saw that the line had almost quadrupled in length.  So then I felt sort of lucky.  I sat down at a table with Lucy and she said she had ordered food for us already and that the girl at the register had been very, very mean to her simply because Lucy asked if they had corndogs.  What a terrible place.  Astronomical gas prices, a bathroom line longer than some theme park lines, a cashier that bites peoples heads off...not our best stop.

Back on the road we started running into more and more and more traffic.  There were a lot of weekend boaters heading back home.  Plus, we were re-entering civilization.  The roads were packed, and people were driving like crazy.  Someone had even dropped a large wooden pallet on the freeway!  Fortunately I was able to see it in enough time to change lanes without causing problems - a few other people were forced into swerving at the last second.  There was lots of honking and tire screeching going on.

Just when the traffic got really bad and the driving got really hectic, we reached the point in the Louis Zamperini book where sharks start attacking him.  I can't remember whether I started to hyperventilate or if I stopped breathing, but Lucy quietly asked, "Should I turn the book off far now?"  I was like, "No!  Leave it on!  It's so scary, but soooooo good!"  It really is the most incredible book.  So intense. Also, sharks are evil, evil creatures.  I'm tired of all this "Oh sharks don't mean to hurt humans, they probably just thought that person was a seal."  Whatever.  They're diabolical.  Sharks will hunt you down and kill you knowing full well you are absolutely NOT a seal.  And they won't even feel bad about it!  Just look into a shark's eyes - no remorse there.  Well, except this guy - he looks like he might feel a little bit bad about murdering you.

 

At long last, Lucy and I entered the Rancho Santa Margarita city limits.  After nine days, driving across the United States of America, we coasted to a stop in our very own driveway.  Well, almost.  That is, we would have if Dad hadn't parked both the van and his car crooked in the driveway!  Lucy and I had to park across the street.  We unpacked the car and carried all of our bags inside the house.  We then spent a solid hour telling Mom and Dad stories and showing off our new refrigerator magnets.  We gave them their presents (Dishtowels! Sounds lame, I know, but they were really cute dishtowels) and then we unpacked.  Thus ended a very epic adventure indeed.

The Grand Canyon

September 24, 2011

We went to The Grand Canyon today!!!  I must say, I was VERY excited to finally go see it.  I had been wanting to go see The Grand Canyon for years and years.  In fact, I had even placed "See the Grand Canyon" on my very lengthy list of long-term goals.  It was just above "See an active volcano" and "Write a book."  I try to keep things listed in order of achieve-ability.

Anyway, our guide, Kevin arrived at our hotel to pick us up bright and early.  Lucy and I claimed the back bench in the van for ourselves.

Lucy's excited! 

I'm SUPER excited! 

Then we headed out to pick up the other people who were going on the tour with us.  In our group we ended up with a darling young Italian couple visiting America for the first time, a really friendly couple from Minnesota and couple from Wisconsin that Lucy and I privately referred to as "The Debbie Downer Couple."  They were actually a rather amusing addition to our trip.  Everything that the woman said (and she said a LOT of things) really could have been followed by a "Waa, waaaaaaaa" - it was all so negative and depressing.  Fortunately, her penchant for finding something negative to say about EVERYTHING was so impressive that it actually ended up being sort of hilarious instead of depressing.

On the drive from Flagstaff out to the Grand Canyon, our tour group stopped at a gift shop for a short break.  The gift shop had one of the coolest bathrooms I have ever seen.  The door handles were guns!  I was too embarrassed to take a picture of a bathroom door, so I talked Lucy into doing it instead.  The shop also had lots of trinkets for excited tourists to buy.  I purchased a few postcards and a magnet.  Lucy purchased a jackalope, or as I like to call it, an angry bunny.  See for yourself.

Cool bathroom door.

A jackalope! 

 They really do look angry, don't they?

Lucy and her very own angry bunny. 

At last we reached The Grand Canyon itself.  I will not attempt to describe how completely awesome it is to see.  I will simply post all of our best pictures here.  But please keep in mind that pictures, even though they are worth at least 1,000 words each, still cannot do justice to The Grand Canyon.  It's THAT cool.

We spent pretty much all day at The Grand Canyon, driving from lookout point to lookout point, wandering on some of the nearby trails.  We also had lunch with our tour group.  That was actually quite fun.  The couple from Minnesota started talking with Lucy and I about our cross-country drive.  They asked if we were related.  We said yes, we're sisters.  They asked if we were twins.  I said no, we are seven years apart.  The husband said "Wow...one of you is REMARKABLY well-preserved!"  Thank you, sir.  I use formaldehyde.  The four of us then started talking to the Italian couple.  For their very first trip to America they had chosen to visit Arizona and California.  They were seeing the Grand Canyon (obviously), and the next day they were going to see Monument Valley.  I was a little jealous.  I wanted to see Monument Valley too.  But I figured Lucy would kill me if I made her take another detour on our trip.  I'll get there someday.  Anyway, the Italian couple said that they were going to San Francisco for the last few days of their trip.  I'm quite fond of San Francisco, and the couple from Minnesota had also been to San Francisco.  We mentioned several highlights that the Italian couple might want to see:  Golden Gate Bridge, Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, Ghirardelli Square etc.  The Italian man said they were looking forward to seeing...well, he didn't know the word in English, but in Italian it was something like "lion sea."  The first thing that popped into my head was this:

I was about to say..."No man, I think that's in Singapore"  when, after muttering "Lion sea, lion sea, hmmmm, lion...sea..." the man from Minnesota suddenly says "SEA LION!"  Everyone at the table, even the Italian couple, was like "Ohhhhhh, yes, THAT'S it.  Sea Lion!  Of course!"  And then I thought about my 7th grade Spanish classes and felt kind of dumb for not figuring out the whole noun/adjective swap sooner.  But seriously, the image of the Merlion in my head really threw me off.

Eventually, our day at The Grand Canyon came to a close.  We all piled back into the van.  Lucy and I got the back bench again.  (Yes!)  We arrived in Flagstaff again at about dusk.  Lucy and I decided to get in my car and go to Barnes & Noble.  Listening to my cds and Lucy's ipod for hours and hours and hours over the past several days has been fun and all, but I decided maybe we should finish up our trip with a book on tape.  Excuse me, cd.  Book on CD.  And I knew the EXACT book I wanted too.  I bought Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption.

New Mexico & Arizona

September 23, 2011

After a very nice breakfast at the Quality Inn in Tucumcari, New Mexico, Lucy and I hit the road again.  It was so bright and sunny driving through New Mexico.  The only downside to the nice warm sunshine streaming through the windshield was that, even after a really good night's sleep, I had the overwhelming urge to take a cat nap.  It got even worse when Lucy zonked out in the passenger's seat.  I was just a little bit jealous that she got to take a nap.  But because I am SUCH a nice sister, I didn't wake her up.

We drove and drove and drove all the way through New Mexico and, personally, I found the desert scenery pretty cool.  It was just such a cool contrast to the scenery we were seeing only a few days before in states like North Carolina and Tennessee.  The United States really does have an impressive variety of ecosystems.

Eventually we crossed into the state of Arizona and stopped at the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Park.  It was REALLY cool.  There are so many amazing things to see!  The craziest thing is that, from the I-40, you can't see ANY of it.  You could just drive right by and never know that any of that cool stuff is there.  Lucy and I had lots of fun driving from lookout point to lookout point taking hundreds and hundreds of pictures.  I will present a small sampling of those pictures to you now.

There were a surprising number of enormous and super creepy ravens in the park.  Some of them would just site and stare at you as you walked by.  It was like being in a Hitchcock movie. 

You may not be able to see it, but just behind that pile of rocks is an extremely long train.  It literally stretches from one side of the picture to the other.  We saw a ton of trains in New Mexico and Arizona.  We were a little sad that Dad wasn't there to see the trains.  We know how excited he gets about his trains.

All of those pebble-looking things all over the ground are in fact large chunks of petrified wood. 

And here he is.  My faithful steed.  "James" has also enjoyed this epic journey across the United States.

We left the park just as the sun was setting.  Back on the I-40 West, we headed for Flagstaff, Arizona.  We kept seeing deer crossing signs which made me a little wary.  I told Lucy to keep a sharp eye and scream if she saw anything.  Fortunately, we did not hit any deer on our way to Flagstaff.  

When we arrived at our destination we checked into a Days Inn near the interstate.  During the check-in process, I noticed a brochure for Grand Canyon tours and it got me thinking.  Now, I had sort of considered going to the Grand Canyon on our trip, but it was a tad out of the way (about an hour north of Flagstaff) and, after our rough patch in Arkansas, Lucy and I had just been in "Let's get home" mode. So I had scrapped the idea of a Grand Canyon detour.  But that brochure had a really cool picture of the Grand Canyon and I thought, "How can I just pass this by?"  So I booked two tickets for a tour the following day.  I got back out to the car and told Lucy.  She seemed slightly disgruntled that we weren't going to be home tomorrow like we had planned - but she agreed to humor me and go on the tour.

We took all our bags to the room and then walked to a nearby Arby's for dinner.  We split the Chicken Bacon and Swiss sandwich combo - because that's what sisters are for.  Sharing.