Right now, we're at our hotel in Santa Fe, NM, and we can't wait to wake up and get some southwestern food. Here's what's been going on:
A mesa!!
We've been seeing a lot of controlled burns along the way, but this one was pretty big!
The following pictures are the Grand Canyon. It was really pretty, and yet somehow underwhelming in my opinion. I think Laura liked it a little more than I did. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely cool and I'm glad we went there (it would have been a real shame to have missed it on a trans-continental road trip), but I think I just knew what we would see and I guess I wasn't blown away. Oh well!
GRAND
CANYON
Laura and me.
Laura was really afraid I'd push her off.
In my defense, my mom told me, "The Grand Canyon is a really good place if you want to get rid of someone."
Thanks, mom!
Actually, Laura's just afraid of heights. I'd never push her off.
TAKING PICTURES
Laura kept begging me not to get close to the edge. My philosophy is that even if the cliff were twenty feet high, I could still be horribly disfigured, so what's 7000ft?
The night before the Grand Canyon trip:
Laura and I were inexplicably excited to go to the Olive Garden when we got to Flagstaff. Couldn't tell you why. I think we might have been craving the extra calories since we've been a little under-eating.I got some good lemon cake to go. However, they didn't include utensils. So I went caveman.
MEXICO?
We were really close to Mexico. REALLY CLOSE. We had to go through a border security checkpoint. We could have easily smuggled a small Mexican child under our bags.
Before Flagstaff: San Diego
This is an important picture. I'm packing up my things.
This guy is awesome. His name is Alex and he is the Grand Shah of hosts. Laura knew him from high school and he just happens to be living in San Diego, while working for the orchestra there. I'm really happy to have met him, and visiting with him will definitely remain a highlight of our trip, in my eyes.
I'm sure Laura was happy to see him, too.
He's eating seaweed salad.
Here, I'm bored while Laura is forcing me to walk around Balboa Park.
Still bored.
These gargoyles are not scary.
"Jump like the fountain!"
In the rose garden.
Laura loves flowers.
good picture.
This is a Queensland Bottle Tree.
CACTUS
CACTI.
THERE IS LITERALLY NOTHING INTERESTING HERE!
in the Spanish Village. (still in Balboa Park)
uh huh
This place is great!
Out to dinner with Mary Beth, at a Mexican restaurant, which was tasty. Mary Beth was also an amazing host. If only it had been warmer, we definitely would have taken advantage of her apartment building pool! Mary Beth was thoroughly supportive of our transient aspirations. I love her for it. When I met Mary Beth, I still had my stache. She was a little creeped out, but still accepted me for who I was at the time. So thank you, MB!
At the beach.
Oh, there's a military air field at the end of the beach.
Coronado jump.
Baywatch.
This is more like a bounce.
I don't remember what this picture is about.
We drove along Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) for like an hour, before we decided it was taking too long. But it was pretty. And also it made us a little nauseous.
And finally, we get back to when we left California. We were sad to leave, and as always, Elizabeth's whole life fell to pieces after we left.
*note: this is the last picture in existence of my man-stache. so enjoy.
Sorry all these things are in reverse order... We're too lazy to fix it.
