H O L L Y W O O D

"OMG! THERE IT IS! IT'S RIGHT THERE! OMG! IT'S THE WHITE LETTERS! ON THE HILL! THE WHITE LETTERS ARE ON THE HILL! AHHHH!"



Now, I, Keturah, never expected such an outburst from Kend....ok, from myself. But it was totally crazy to be casually driving in California and have a noncholant glance to the right reveal a movie shot blatantly invading your eyeballs, virgin to the actual reality of TV! You guys - there is really a hill with big white letters on it that says HOLLYWOOD! Wow - hahaha....did we mention that melodrama is sort of our thing?

Roll your own eyeballs, but you would react the same way, like when I slowed at a stoplight behind a big shiny black star-carrying-like vehicle with a license plate reading: B PITT. You too would drive over 80mph in a 65 zone through six lanes of traffic during rush hour trying to peek into the window. Too bad the stupid GPS forced us to exit exactly as we approached the passenger side, but we rest assured that the spiky dark haired silhouette in the driver's seat belonged to the man, himself. You can rest assured too.

we made It To CALIFO R N I A ! ! !

We are here! "....purple mountains majesty....from sea to shining sea!" It was a seriously amazing drive into California, through mountains mountains mountains with the Pacific Ocean challenging the height of the horizon in the distance. Our Super-Awesome-All-The-Way-To-California-Car made it! "America! America! God shed His grace on thee..."

Our first stop was the San Diego Zoo....of course :). Not really much to say about this, hmn...so here are some pictures:

After San Diego, we drove to Los Angeles. Our first night in LA, we looked for a nice safe community and parked at its playground. We proceeded to corrupt it as we walked up the hills smoking rather effective cigars and drinking whiskey of equal caliber out of Keturah's hip flask. Oh yeah. We enjoyed an incredible view of the city. A local walked by and pointed out Hollywood, Lincoln Heights, LAX, the Pacific Ocean, Orange County, etc...he said that night was the best view he had ever had of the city. How lucky are we? The explosive orange suset confirmed that.

Of course, being the responsible girls we are, we don't have any picture of that..... However, here are some pictures of a different sunset in CA...

What day is today?.....?.....?

So, we here are. Twelve hours ago, we entered Panera Bread. What's up?

We are hear to right about The Essential Element. Welcome. We haven't showered in a week. We slept for eleven hours last night in our car. Our foreheads feel feverish. We gained five pounds each (thanks Bed, Bath and Beyond for the scale) and the ongoing conversation antagonizes us with WHY? HOW? GOD? What the heck are we eating??? Could it be our never-ending gaseous stomachs? Could it be all the peanut butter, granola and bananas? Maybe the 33 cent avacado? Or does that fact that ten leg lifts make our abs sore for three days clue us in? Regardkess we have decided that today marks the day: The Crazies are on the Loose. PARENTS: KEEP YOUR CHILDREN INSIDE!!! And if you happen to see two girls on the news, dancing down the middle of the intersate or jumping hedges across parking lots to get to ROSS: Dress for Less, do not be alarmed. It is only us. Just keep the windows rolled up and your dumpsters locked.

Oh yes, so, The Eseential Element: that which is required to initiate us into the clan of true Road Trippers: it is: SMELL, GREASE, ITCH.....the motto is: Smell like you've never lived and live like you've never smelled. It has almost killed us, but we wills urvive with the best of them!

THat makes no sense.

Sorry about the spellihng and this post in general. It has been a day.

It's been a day.

Signing off,
Danydlion, and Caulgerhflower

P.S. - Panera Bread offers free samples of anything if you can't decide. Finally, a victory for teh bad decision makers out there! Oh, and the lemons are free. And so is the skim milk if you can sneak it into your mug from home when no one is looking. ........yeah.

P.P.S>: In case you were judging from your comfy couches and clean underwear, we deserve this breakdown. It's been tow months! Congrats us!
Ok, for real now.....we gotta go. We gotta somethin....

ARIZONA!

After driving miles and miles through the desertland of Texas we finally began to sigh in relief as we approached some greeeeennn... even if it was in the form of larger-than-life cacti!

WELCOME TO ARIZONA! Where the mountains are all-encompassing, the water is scarce, and the cacti are bigger than the men who shop at the Big 'N' Tall! We drove into the beautiful city of Tuscon where we stayed with Kendra's second cousin one removed (?? still not sure about this??). What a wonderful, understanding woman. Our faces took on a glazed expression as we walked in the door and looked at the couches, the walls, the vast expanse of carpet and then *holding our breathe* the bed. Now call us overdramatic if you want, but had you been sleeping in an Impreza for more than two weeks straight save one night in a campsite bathroom, you just might feel as though you were hallucinating as well. Jennifer gave us the place to ourselves that night, letting us melt into her couches and eat anything we wanted out of real dishes from her kitchen. *sigh* glorious. Thank you, Jennifer. :)

The next morning we went for a hike through Ventana canyon, a mile drive from the apartment. This somewhat vigorous 5 mile hike was exactly what we wanted/needed, complete with wandering minds, burning buns, and a captivating view. The less-than-24-hours in Tuscon were, simply put, refreshing... a great segway into the next few days of civilization in Tempe, just outside Phoenix, where we headed next to spend a few days with Kendra's Aunt Gail..

We were treated to our first Thai experience (delicious!), toured 6 grocery stores, an IKEA (if you've never been, GO!), made 13 more pounds of granola and 4 batches of whole wheat biscotti, treked to a hole in a rock, became one with an Italian leather couch for an UPlifting movie experience (watch UP, watch UP!), bathed 6 teensy kittens, and exchanged story after story of funny life experiences. The best:

The $300 Cat Fart.

You win, Aunt Gail, you win. :) Thanks for being so good to us! The oranges and grapefruits seem to be never-ending.. an excellent source of on-the-road strength :)