Francie, my best friend from high school, and her older sister, Carley (side note: Carley drove me home from Washington DC one time when I got stuck in New York over Christmas break. She then became my bestie after we talked for nine hours about end of the world movies, Quizno's, and never having driven on ice before) The three of us had been "planning" this trip for months but by the time we left on August 1, the plan turned into more of "guidelines" that we followed. Francie and I hadn't been home in about a month and Carley was getting ready to start med school. I have to say, the coolest thing when driving out of Charleston, I said outloud, "We actually did it. We're actually DOING this." After all the stuff I had done so far and the junk I had to get through to leave again, there had been a building glob in the pit of my stomach dreading that it wouldn't happen. That my summer wouldn't happen....but it did! Not that New York and Costa Rica weren't some of the coolest experiences (I think my friends are getting tired of me talking about them) but going on this roadtrip put the cherry ontop. It was like a cherry with whipped cream and dinosaur sprinkles but without making you feel sick....just pure...awesomeness.
There were so many stories, days of driving, new friends and spontaneity jam packed into two weeks that my brain is still trying to gobble it all up. (Side note:the nasty glare is still on my camera at this leg of the summer so unfortunately, some of the photos have that gross blob on them!)
So get ready, be prepared...here is our adventure.
The trip began with Carley and Francie and my mom arguing about the amount of toilet paper that is necessary for this type of journey. All were wrong. I think about eight squares were used to mop up some spilled water in the backseat. And then of course, after turning onto the Highway, we immediately had to turn around to retrieve my flash (which was, I might point out, never used during the two weeks). But I guess all adventures begin with a false start.
Now the other thing to note was the wonderful gal that brought us to Utah and back. Old Blue. Old Blue is the Buick who used to belong to Francie and Carley's grandmother. It also was a free pass to drive as slow as you wanted without getting mad at. Nobody gets mad at little old ladies.
The first stop was to Trusville, Alabama, right outside of Birmingham. Throughout the trip, we stayed with all four of Francie and Carley's cousins who are siblings. This family was seriously cool. Not just saying it... but some genuinely neat people.
We then traveled to New Orleans, Louisianna and stayed for two hot, sweaty, more-humid-than-Charleston-has-ever-been days. I only took around twenty photos in New Orleans and I think they all were taken within 10.76 seconds. You can even tell in this photo, the amount of moisture that remained stuck to my lens despite my efforts at using my sweaty shirt to clean it. New Orleans was so much like Charleston, it was historic and artsy but pretty smelly and the heat makes me satisfied with my one visit. We were treated to lunch by our new frind, Tricia. Ask us about Tricia. She loves us and wants to know if we are reading The Hunger Games. This is the point where inside jokes are introduced and will never be explained.
From New Orleans, we decided last minute to stop by my friend Sophie's house in St. Francisville, Louisianna, right outside Baton Rouge. Sophie lives on a beautiful plot of land with a horse and an old house made from a barn.
Since were were only in most towns for less than 24 hours, each place we stopped was filled with always DOING something and exploring the new foreign land. Sophie took us into town and we explored some creepy graves at her church and then rebelliously climbed up to the top.
Now for anyone who knows me, I'm terrified of heights and my body starts to shake when I think I might die. So I gave myself a pat on the back after this one. And after standing on Francie's shoulders, of course.
Sophie then took us to this old, dilapidated church that she is determined to get married in. And man, do I agree. I would almost want to take it from her but I have a feeling thats one of those things like how you don't name your kid after your best friend's kid. Hm.
Eating honeysuckles on the way back
Sophie's family then treated us to a southern meal and her father prayed that we would meet nice husbands and make lots of babies.
So wonderful.
From Louisianna came Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas. We stayed with my friend Emily the first night and went line dancing at Billy Bob's-the largest HonkeyTonk in the world. How do you even spell that? And of course, we completely stuck out and looked like tards wearing sandles, not plaid, and chacos. But its always fun to act completely ridiculous and then never see the bystanders ever again. We left Carley in the car around 2 in the morning and ate honeybutterchickenbiscuits-which MUST be said in one quick, rapid movement.
The second night, we stayed with Carley's friend Jordan who took us to the Rodeo. We stopped along the way at these cool Cadillacs stuck in the ground (at the recommendation of my dad. Thanks dad!) and spray painted 'old blue' and 'roline' and the such on the caked-up cars.
Santa Fe was the next destination where we stayed the night before heading off to Sedona, Arizona. Here's a pretty little church on the side of the road.
Sedona, Arizona was the cutest little place you've ever seen. I'm totally retiring there. We rushed around the entire little town trying to find "the spot" according to Carley which was where to watch sunset. After driving on unpaved roads, wading through little streams, we ended up where we started and got to watch the humongous rocks turn bright orange. I especially love this photo only because the lady who took it said, "One...Two...Three...Sex!" Sex is the new cheese.
We then ate at an alien themed restaurant where Carley freaked out and THERE WAS A PACMAN GAME AS A TABLE.
From Sedona, we drove to Scottsdale, Arizona to stay with my aunt, uncle and cousin who was visiting. I had never been to their house before and the separate guest house, stone shower and lockdown system to keep light out was so cool. Check out my aunt's blog if you have the time. She's battling a gross brain tumor and has some pretty freakin cool examples of God still being alive and working. She also had a conversation with us before leaving about eating organic and watching what you put in/around your body. Thanks to you, I all of my meats (if I eat any) and dairy products are organic. Thanks Aunt Lara! She also sent us off with a 'weary but loved' bag of goodies from Trader Joes, which is non-existant in Charleston).Carley also was a tard the morning we were to leave and got lost going running and made some new friends in the construction area. Thanks for helping our friend out, Bob.
The pinnacle of our trip is now here. The Grand Canyon. We camped for the two nights and for those two days, we got to explore so much. Its so true that words don't describe the magnificent nature of this natural wonder. We met some Italians, watched the sunrise, hiked the Canyon and biked the rim. Carley and Francie...thanks for dragging me along. Especially for the points where I followed you onto very narrow cliffs where I could have fallen to my gruesome death. And at nights, we cooked veggie burgers and corn and read the first two books of The Hunger Games, the most addicting books ever. And then we burned our maps for fuel for the fire. Of course.
This is the very small cliff I followed Francie and Carley down on. Note the difference from where I was taking the photo on normal, flat land and how small the people become after climbing and maneuvering our way down to the little cliff. It was terrifying.
We decided to NOT mail a check to the Holiday Inn Express and continued onto Antelope Canyon in Page, Arizona at the recommendation of my aunt. After renting a broken tripod, I still got some incredible photos. The sand, water and wind created such perfect caves (NOT due to the help of the tour guide) they almost looked like Disney exhibits.
The next day consisted of me sleeping an extraordinary amount and driving through scenic Arizona and Utah. Carley freaked out during a hailstorm, but don't worry...we survived.
Durango, Colorado was the next stop. We stayed with another cousin, Rob and ate homemade zucchini bread and french pressed coffee. Along with his dog, we spent the next day hiking in the mountains and got caught in another hail storm at the exact moment I was panicking and thought I was going to die by sliding down the mountain. But once again...I didn't die, so it was all okay.
Note: this day was also the glorious day also known as FRANCIE'S BIRTHDAY. We're so glad she was born and that we could celebrate with her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I never use a forrest of exclamation points, so this shows how big of a deal she is)
From Colorado, the goal was to get to the last two cousins in Knoxville, Tennessee in time to go whitewater rafting. We drove for some long days and read and slept a lot. Although they weren't on this leg of the trip, this seems the time to share some random driving photos of where we stopped. I'll let you figure these out for yourselves, explanations would only be trivial.
Whitewater rafting was so neat. We got to jump off rocks and be swept into the current and laugh at the tour groups screaming, crying (seriously) and falling out of their rafts.
We stayed with the last Anderson cousin of the four, Julie. Julie and her husband Todd live on a plot of land with their two kids and many, many farm animals. We learned about milking goats, sheep, and all their chickens. We were luckily serenaded by Todd on the fiddle, Julie on the guitar and two year old Harlan on the violin. The next morning, we ate an organic breakfast of sprouted wheat cinnamon buns and made our own calzones with homemade mozerella cheese from the present of their goats. Priceless.
I'm not going to even sum up these three trips because it won't do them justice.
Seriously. Best. Summer. Ever.
