I'm Alive.

If your wondering, or maybe your not, how my moving/road tripping went, well... I am alive! The drive from South Texas to Salt Lake City is loooong. So very long.

Imagine this: You driving a little over 24 hours in a two seater truck with two other people that are male and both over six feet tall. So cramped.

I was really worried that the trip was going to be terrible, but I surprisingly had a really good time. There wasn't a dull moment. I took a bunch of pictures on the road, and have a few stories to tell but I'll save them for later. You see, I haven't full recovered from my travels and lack of sleep, and I haven't really had the chance to relax just yet. But I am enjoying Utah, seeing my Utah friends, and the cooler weather. It will be back to normal soon. I promise!

Carli

Road Trip: Route 66 in black and white.

This was probably one of my favorite moments of our entire trip. The route 66 diner has been a family favorite for, well, before I was born! Every year when we go to Albuquerque for the balloon fiesta we stop by the Route 66 diner and relive the 50's. My mom and I always get a pumpkin pie milkshake then dream about it for the rest of the year. Since we were planning on stopping in Albuquerque for the night, we thought it would be fun to make a stop at the diner for dinner. Who ever thought of doing that (my dad) is genius.

Because I am not a very good photographer and that the place was crawling with red neon, my pictures didn't turn out as planned... so they are in black & white to hide the crazy lighting. But I kind of like them that way. I think they look like they came from an old roll of film. It's kinda like I was actually there in the 50's!

 Ok I lied... There is one in color.

 Chicken pot pie heaven.

 Story: I ordered the Pumpkin Pie shake but they were out of season and I was sad. I usually am in Albuquerque in October, hence pumpkin pie shakes... I ended up ordering an Elvis shake which consists of peanut butter and bananas. Heaven. My dad thought that it was gross (without trying it). Has the man never had a peanut butter and banana sandwich?! Does he even live on planet earth?! 

So if you ever find yourself in the vicinity of Albuquerque, New Mexico it would definitely be worth your time to go to the Route 66 Diner (on historic Route 66) and then go to Old Town. 

I was really sad when we left the next morning because I have so many memories there.

Carli

16 Hours

Today Kait and I drove for 16 hours…. Crazy. I think I may have been hallucinating there towards the end. It was dark. I was terrified of hitting deer, and was mentally preparing myself to slam the gas instead of the break in the event that I do come in contact with a deer. I’ve been told it prevents the deer from going through your windshield.

I actually had a pretty good time today because I was talking with Kait. We covered pretty much every subject imaginable. Ok maybe not ever subject… But a very wide range. I also enjoyed the scenery. I have a hard time sleeping on road trips because I don’t want to miss anything. I want to see and experience it all. I love how as you drive the scenery changes. I always feel connected with nature. I love those back roads that curve with the terrain instead of the mega highways that just cut straight through it. It’s fun to imagine yourself out in the wild doing extraordinary things. I have talked about this in a previous blog post. If you want to refer to it click HERE! I am very passionate about road tripping. I love it. Some people just don’t understand…

Looking forward to being in Texas!

Carli

Packing.

I am leaving for Texas early tomorrow morning! I am so very excited. I do not really look forward to spending 24 hours in the car… but I do look forward to spending that 24 hours with my best buddy Kaitlyn. I have loved having her in town, and staying in the basement with us.

On wednesday Kait and I went to Liberty Park and caught up. It was such a beautiful day. We sat in the shade next to the pond, snacked on some chips, and talked. Great day. I have missed being able to do things like that with her.

I can’t wait to see my family and to spend long days on the beach basking in the Texas sunshine. I just need to get away from the unfamiliar, and spend a little bit of time in the familiar. Get away from the stress of being on your own.

Here are some things I have missed about Texas:

My family. And my cat.

The beach.

The sunshine.

The openness of the horizon.

The way you can see the bend of the earth when you look out into the ocean.

The salty air.

The Texas flags. This reminds me that I don’t even know what the Uath state flag looks like. I’ll look it up.

Bourdens chocolate milk. Unfortunatly they don’t have it here.

It’s only been four months… but it feels like an eternity.

Carli

Memorial Weekend.

Here are several photographs to illustrate our Memorial day weekend adventures. We did tons of sight seeing, and I took tons of pictures. I turned into my father who I always laughed at for pulling over all the time to take pictures, and getting excited about junk (that term is literal) and taking pictures of it. I basically had my camera around my neck all weekend.

We headed up to Moroni and stayed with Ben’s family, did a little rock band (well tried to…), then a little geo-cashing, and then took some extremely long scenic routes through the mountains driving on tiny switchback roads only to find out that we could not go any farther because the snow had not melted off the road yet. But it was all worth it. Standing on a mountain and looking out over the valley to the neighboring mountains could never get old to me. There is just so much to see. I have fallen in love with the mountains. Sorry Corpus… your beaches cannot beat the views I was blessed to see this weekend. 

I absolutely love traveling. Getting to experience new things. It is not just the place your going, but the road traveled as well. I hardly ever get bored riding in the car. You are probably wondering how…

Here are a few suggestions to keeping your car ride interesting.

1. Listen to your favorite jams. Today mine included Rooney, and Vampire Weekend. I just needed something that would keep me and Courtney (the driver) awake. 

2. Playing car games such as the license plate game, or Would You Rather.

3. Stopping often. If you see a place that catches your eye, don’t just drive on by it. Stop and see what it is. If it is not that cool then just get back in the car and keep going, but if it is cool stay a while and explore. Some of the most amazing things are in between you and your destination.

4. My personal favorite (don’t judge). I like to look out the window at the scenery passing by and imagine myself out there doing extraordinary things. While driving through these wide valleys I imagined myself as a cowgirl being chased by bandits. I sat backwards on my horse, dogged bullets, and sent some flying. Once the gun smoke cleared I discovered that I had came out victorious over all 88 of them bandits. I then stopped at the nearest saloon, walked in through the swinging doors, and ordered me a Sasperilla. Calamity Carli was my name. 

If that is too extreme as a pass time for you then you might as well be bored. 

Don’t get so caught up in moving from point A to point B that you don’t see what your passing by. Sometimes what you overlook could be much better then you destination.

Thats all for now,

   Calamity Carli.