CA to NY

True to form...

2009-11-12T08:17:00.000-08:00

I said I was going to write more often - even created a separate page! - and then completely neglected all of it for a few months... so very me.

It is true that there wasn't much to write about for a while. For a couple of months there we were both working so much we really didn't do anything else. However, it is now quite overdue. So:

The jobs are going well. Colin is much happier at Del Posto with a new move to garde mange. (That is pantry: appetizers, salads, etc.) He is working directly with Chef Ladner to revamp and improve that station. He now enjoys more of a creative allowance and the freedom to trouble-shoot as well as the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from Chef Ladner, which was one of the original reasons that he wanted to work at Del Posto.

My job is fine... really nothing to report.

More newsworthy is that I'm playing a gig with a girl in NYC next month! Elise Evans is a friend of a friend of mine (Jennifer Appelquist) and she got us in touch. Elise is playing show at Fat Baby and hired me to write and perform some violin pieces to her music. She does sort of loungey, Mazzy Star with more blues kind of stuff. (You can check it out at www.myspace.com/eliseevans.) Fat Baby is on Rivington at Essex on the lower east side: www.fatbabynyc.com. So my first professional music work in New York!

I also continue to write and play my own stuff on my own...

And lastly, I'm putting the old acting resume back in order so that it's ready for submission. (Apparently, there are a lot of people out there that don't know I do this? That is bad on my part.) Anyway, here is one of the new headshots:

Between working on a few projects when I'm not working at the bar and Colin working insane hours as well, I'm sure you can imagine our level of free time. When we do have a day off we usually try for a combination of resting and enjoying the city. Recently, we have been exploring the NYC BBQ scene. (Believe it or not, it is alive and well.) We had lunch at Blue Smoke two weeks ago followed by lunch at Daisy May's last week. They were both really enjoyable. Completely different joints; as indicated by the names, Blue Smoke is sleek, fancy barbecue (but still BBQ) and Daisy May's is down home and delicious. Blue Smoke has a fantastic bourbon and beer selection and Daisy May's serves sweet tea in a quart mason jar. So good. Next up: Dinosaur Barbecue.

There are a couple of other restaurants and bars worth mention but now I'm thinking I'll put out a food and drink issue soon - that way it's all in one place in the event that anyone would ever want to reference it. Also, I'm getting hungry so I can't write any more about restaurants. : )

The WWW

2009-08-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

As of this morning, I have access to the internet in the comfort of my own home. Ahhhh... It's amazing how inconvenient it is to not have it. I'd imagine I'll be posting a little more often now that I don't have to make a special coffee shop trip to do it, so keep your eyes peeled if you're interested.
As of right this second though, I have to go run some errands before I head to the 5Nap.

A run

2009-07-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

Went for a run in the park yesterday... At first I was a little put off by all of the people in the way - not that I expect to have Central Park to myself, but these people seem to have absolutely NO conscious thought that they are sharing the walkways with other people. Amazing meandering lack of awareness... BUT, instead of being annoyed, I turned my run into a Filter-fueled, stroller- and rambler-dodging mission: see your best path of approach many paces ahead but be alert to the unplanned trajectories of the mob before you; react with swiftness and agility. Past the teenagers awkwardly making out on their date to the park that they know is supposed to be romantic; through the sea of mostly-European boys that tirelessly try to coerce people into taking "beautiful bicycle tour of the park"; around the out-of-towners gingerly navigating tiny puddles in the broken pavement - whoa kid, stay with your mom; past the old sax player stationed by the tunnel (he is always there), his music jumping into my ears, momentarily disoriented when it finds itself in the company of the alt-rock-techno beats of Filter; through the tunnel and up around the sunbathers and then down East Dr, avoiding the horse-drawn carriages and bike buggies; back around the pond and up up up to Central Park South (E 59th) where there are waaaay to many people and art stands and vendors and photo ops and horses to dodge so before before I get stuck in Grand Army Plaza I cross the street and run in between the the street and the scaffolding, avoiding all of the people dragging their bags into the Ritz... It was so much fun my run seemed 10 minutes long (it was close to 30.) It's all in your head...

Mostly work...

2009-07-08T11:38:00.001-07:00

So...
The jobs are still going well. Colin's situation is frustrating at times due to bullying and immaturity prevalent among the people in his position and below... Mark and his chefs de cuisine/managing chefs are all pretty cool and at least reasonable, but a lot of the less experienced people there feel a need to assert their "superiority" and do so by picking on Colin and, occasionally, each other. He is so good-natured and unshakeable so he is dealing with it really well, but in a way I think it makes them more inclined to pick on him because it annoys them that he doesn't sweat. What's nice is that his bosses like him, but more importantly they know that he's talented and capable.

My job is fine. It pays well (in tips, not the $4/hr I make on my New York tipped employee wage!) and it keeps me busy while I am there. The people are cool to work with, although the management is less than experienced. (We don't have champagne stoppers? The speed rail behind the bar changes every day depending on who is working? You have no idea where our meat comes from?!) Actually, the lack of ingredient knowledge is not specific to this restaurant - most places in New York do not really put emphasis on it. Even Del Posto! Us San Francisco slow food farmer's market kids were a little amazed...

We love our apartment. We are in the last stages of making the living room live up to it's name and then we can actually relax when we have time! I will post pictures when it is all done.
Wow, I actually have to run to work right now but I will update again soon!

In this same interlude it doth befall that I... present a wall

2009-06-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the suspense!
I had a second interview (same place) on Saturday and was almost immediately hired! I am not only relieved to have the hunt come to a close, but I am also happy with where it ended - I think 5 Napkin has exactly what I was hoping to find: great hours, good money, food and drink I can stand behind and a pretty cool staff. The bar closes with the kitchen at midnight so I won't be stuck with a 4am NY closing time. The food is actually really good and we have a bunch of great beers as well as specialty cocktails and shakes. The product combined with its proximity to the theater district/times square area keep the place packed, so the money is well worth my time. (Hard work, but I definitely prefer that over standing around. Plus I get to play with a blow torch and use all of my mad drink-making skills.) I haven't had much time to get to know people but in my 3 days so far I have picked up the feeling that the people who are good at their jobs, whether I would care to spend time with them or not, outnumber the duds. I mean, they're no Acme staff, but they're alright. ; )

The house is slowly on its way to becoming a really nice space. The shelf install was going great until I found a peculiar problem with one wall on which I would very much like to have a somewhat key shelf: one part of the wall is hollow at a depth of about half an inch, a problem I ran into on a previous wall but one easily remedied by hollow wall screw anchors. However, the other part of the wall, precisely where I wanted to screw in the opposite elbow bracket, seems to have concrete at the same depth at which the other side is hollow. Peculiar, yes and also very frustrating. BOTH of the stud-finders I have used are completely wacked, beeping at random and giving consistently contradictory reads on the wall. It leaves me a pickle: do I give up and just hang some pictures there, after I patch the two large holes? Or do I drill until I find 2 proper holes, knowing that the wall needs to be patched anyway? The latter seems a bit crazy, but then again, so is the wall.

At least we have the important stuff in place: the kitchen is in cooking order, the bedroom is cozy and free of clutter and my music area is all set up in a comfortable corner section of the living room.

Wings and things

2009-06-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

This isn't really going to be about wings. They're on topic only because I just ate some really delicious ones from around the corner, (yessss!) which is good because I had been jonesing for them for a while now. So yea, there's an Atomic Wings inside a bar not a block from our apartment. Other really-close-by perks: a laundromat less than a block away; a couple of laid-back bars (mostly Irish ones); 2 home improvement stores (BB&B and Home Depot - made the last few days a lot easier; a little health food store; the ING cafe I mentioned - $2 Peets coffee!; really great subway access; Central Park... There's more I'm sure - keep you posted. Oh, and then there's the Bloomingdale's, H&M and Betsy Johnson stores that are within 1 block... I just would like to point out that not only have I not purchased any clothing, I haven't even entered any of the stores. But oh man... Weird how it really makes the girl come out in a girl.

In other news, we finally got our stuff from the moving company. Sheesh. Those people were really the most difficult logistical part of this whole endeavor, which is saying quite a bit. But we have it and now it is just a matter of figuring out what to do with it. We are working with fewer square feet than our last place so for the past few days we've been brainstorming space-efficient solutions. Looks like it is going to involve a lot of wall-mounting shelves and nifty storage boxes. (Funny, all of those little annoying space-saver containers and genius kitchen solutions that I have always overlooked are probably going to come in handy!) Yep, I made my first Brooklyn Ikea run today.

And this is what is happening while all of this is happening:
Colin went back to work today after a long 4-day weekend. Del Posto was closed because it was bought-out by a movie shoot with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Curious, indeed. He's doing really well there and is past the point of wondering if they are wondering if they want someone else. I can't wait to see and eat the food there. He left some menu descriptions (written for new waitstaff, etc.) around the house and they are incredible. But yea, Del Posto's not really in the old budget at the moment. I should probably stick to the wings...

Meanwhile, my job-hunt is still very much active. I had an interview today at place in Midtown West called 5 Napkin Burger. Maybe not immediately implied by its name, it is an upscale, busy American restaurant and bar. It seems like a cool place and the people I saw working there seemed happy and relaxed. The manager was a pleasant guy. He wanted to know if I was ok with being behind a bar that's 4 deep. Then we talked about Acme for a minute - yea, I'm into a slammed bar. Anyway, he called me a few hours later to schedule a 2nd interview for tomorrow. We'll see how it goes...

Another update

2009-06-06T14:13:00.001-07:00

Not too much new but I just wanted to keep you up to date on it anyway...

But first, a brief quiz:

To your knowledge, it would be impossible for one to operate a motor vehicle without:

a) a motor
b) an alternator
c) a horn
d) fuel

Have your answer?... In a recent observational study conducted by yours truly it was found that 90% of New Yorkers and invariably 100% of New York cab drivers would answer (c). (I think the average educated driver would answer (a) as there are ways of operating if lacking other items.)
Seriously though, I've never heard people honk so much in my LIFE. Cab drivers will honk at a car 1/2 a block in front them just to get a head start on being pissed off. I am not making this up - it is all conclusive evidence from the above-mentioned study.

In other news, Colin is happy at his new job. It is challenging and educational in all of the ways he wanted it to be and he he really enjoys working for and with Mark Ladner. Mark is a mellow guy with a wealth of expertise and a passion for what he does and he's not really into being a celebrity chef. It is a huge staff (35-40 people in the kitchen per shift!) but Colin is getting to know most of the crew and is slowly becoming more than "the new guy." Some of the stories he tells me are so intense though! These guys are not messing around and they aren't really big on compliments, not that Colin is looking for them. They basically had him work with another guy for a few nights and then put him on the station by himself on Friday night. One of his bosses said "You can either do it or you can do it and it will either be really ugly or you'll come out ok." Kind of dramatic, but they are serious. Obviously, he came out ok.

Right now I am sitting in an ING Cafe right now - I don't know if these exist on the west coast - taking advantage of the free internet. (If you buy something, in my case a $1 iced tea, they give you a card for 45 minutes of internet.) The whole place is orange, to coincide with their brand image. I am enjoying this huge, futuristic cushy orange pod chair. I came here to send more resumes off on Craigslist and then had some extra time to journal.

Ooh. I'm out of battery!
P.S. First official celebrity sighting: I passed Ivanka Trump at E. 59th and 5th Ave yesterday. She's awesome.

The Digs

2009-06-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the new place! It is still relatively empty as our box won't arrive for a while. (I think I mentioned that before.) Pretty sweet camping for now though! (As I write this I am kneeling by the window in the bare living room to borrow the internet from the antique shop downstairs. There are Chinese food leftovers in the kitchen. So classic it is cheesy.)
Ahem. Anyway...

When you first walk in our door the living room is down the hall to your left:
The windows there look out on E. 59th. We can slide open the window and screen on the left and hang out on the big fire escape. I prefer the term balcony.

Turn around and leave the living room. This is the hallway:
The first two doors on your right are closets, the main entrance is the third door, and straight ahead is the bedroom. Before we get there though, the bathroom is immediately to your left:
...and the kitchen next on the left:
...and then the bedroom.
The bedroom is small, but not as small as this picture makes it look!

That's it! We feel really comfortable here - not like we are living in a weird house belonging to someone else - and it'll be even better when we actually get moved in and situated.

I hope you all have enjoyed the virtual tour. Thanks for choosing Notablog.

New Address

2009-06-01T16:55:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me that some of you might want our new address. It is:

226 E. 59th St. Apt. 2FE
New York, NY 10022

I wonder how many people are actually still reading... Hm.

More photos

2009-05-31T22:44:00.000-07:00

If the journal is leaving you hankering for more photos, you can now view many more on my facebook page. I will be adding more - we have many - but right now I am going to sleep. For those of you who don't have facebook, just use a stalker page or a friends page. This was the easiest means to get pictures where you could see them. You can find my page by plugging this email address in to the facebook search: chaelita84@yahoo.com

That's enough social networking for now.
Don't worry - I do not tweet.
Never going to happen.

Big Weekend

2009-05-31T15:57:00.000-07:00

The big weekend started on Friday. We went back to NY in the morning to sign papers for our apartment. So we officially have an apartment! We will get the keys tomorrow and camp there until our box arrives with all of our stuff, probably around the 9th. We're very excited.
Colin had also set up a meetings with at Del Posto and Union Square Cafe. Right after we signed the lease headed down to Del Posto. I waited on a bench in the sun on the bank of the Hudson while Colin met with Mark. Twenty minutes later, he walked out with a job! What a great moment! He is going to be the new Chef de Partie, specializing in fish. He will be working dinner shifts full time, starting this Tuesday. He is so excited and I am so happy for him. Seeing his talent and hard work taking him where he wants to be is so gratifying. We stopped into Union Square next and Colin told the chef there, Carmen Quagliata, that he had just taken the job at Del Posto. After this year of talking, he and Carmen have become friends and will keep in touch and go to the markets together sometimes. It all ended so nicely!
So, an apartment and a job! 2 down, 1 to go. (Job for me.)
Saturday morning we drove up to Essex for Brian and Karen's wedding (Colin's older brother.) It was a gorgeous day and a beautiful wedding. The wedding party had taken over an entire old school hotel and we partied into the night. To top it all off, Colin got to go to a Phish show at Fenway tonight and see a bunch of his old friends.

The Job Market

2009-05-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

May 28th:
We are signing the lease on the place from the previous post tomorrow! It was a bit of work and driving today to get all of the funds together in the proper form (certified checks) but we did it all today and we are now ready to finalize it tomorrow!
Colin has been talking, emailing and meeting with a few chefs in NY for the past 6 months or so, establishing relationships and laying the groundwork for cooking in NYC. In March he met face to face with them again and did a stage at Del Posto with Mark Ladner. (A stage is basically an audition at a restaurant; you come in and work for a day and see how you all like it.) Today he sent out another email letting them know that he is finally established in NY and would like to speak with them again about employment. Almost immediately, he got a response from Ladner at Del Posto, Colin's first choice of restaurant's to work with. Ladner wants to meet with him tomorrow (Friday,) and asked when Colin will be available for hire! Tomorrow after signing our lease, Colin will meet with Mark Ladner and discuss working with him at Del Posto. It's so great to see all of his hard work and skill bring responses. We'll let keep you posted. (I would just like to point out that I exercised GREAT self control in not utilizing a bad pun right here.)
Anyway...
I have also been sending out resume packages to places that are posted on Craigslist. As a small side note, I would like to point out that I really should have had a recent set of headshots taken by Trevor in SF because 90% of prospective employers request them. Agh. I'll figure it out tomorrow. That being said, I have high hopes for something to open up. (And... I am going to try to look really hot in the next few days and have Colin take a photo that could at least pass for a bartending application headshot.) Of course, I will keep you up to date on my job prospects as well - whether depressing or positive. Just for fun, I will leave you with a stellar example of the employment listings I have come across. Skeptics beware, I did not make this up - the posting ID is included:

bartenders/barmaids wanted (East Village)

Reply to:job-hvd3k-1194110822@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}
Date: 2009-05-28, 8:49PM EDT

holding interviews for bartenders...experienced professional bartedners only..mixolgy skills a must.

flair skills a big extra..male and female wanted..please bring resume w/ attached photo. (wothout photos will forget you in pile of reumes)
we have collected a group of talented mixologists and flair(bottle flipping) crew.. we are in need to fill more shifts.

new bar under renovation
must be 21 and over please.

evolution
68 2nd avenue
corner of 4th street
f train 2nd ave stop
ask for randy or eric

holding interviews mon-fri 3pm-5pm ONLY!!!!!

Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
Please, no phone calls about this job!
Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

PostingID: 1194110822

An Update

2009-05-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on the newest:

We looked at this apartment on Tuesday. (The two lower left two windows belong to it.) It is a really cute place on E. 59th St., between 2nd and 3rd Aves. The price is unbelievable and it has everything we were looking for. (I'll go into details after we get some pictures of the inside - we were too busy looking to take pictures.) We will be signing papers this Friday! Really exciting.

Now that we have a legit address, the next step is to secure jobs...

We made it!

2009-05-24T06:09:00.000-07:00

May 25th:
Every time I write the date at the top of a post I actually have to check which day it is. We left Chicago the afternoon of the 23rd and blazed through Ohio and Pennsylvania. During this drive the car began to show its first signs of stress: the tire developed a slow leak. Dang it! Luckily, it was such a gradual leak that we were able to stop every few hours to top it off with air. It held all the way to CT. (Tomorrow will take it to get fixed.)

The “Welcome to New York” sign greeted us at 5:30am on the 24th. We were on our way to Connecticut, but 84 runs through NY first. Dusk was introducing the sunrise by 5:00am, gilding the mountainside trees along our drive with gray-gold light. It was an exquisite drive. We had been on the road since Chicago at 12pm and being welcomed by misty green forests rolling out in front of us gave us the energy we needed to complete the last 30 minutes of the drive.

Since we arrived in CT we have been resting and spending time with Colin's family. Hopefully we will go into NY on Wednesday and sign papers on our prospective apartment. I'll let you know how it goes. On that note, for continuity's sake, I will keep this journal alive through our search for apartments and jobs, at least up until we get settled.

Route: Hwy 94 - I 80 - I-81 - I-84
Major Stops: Clarion OH; Woodbury, CT

P.S. I update the St. Louis & Chicago posts to include routes.

Chicago

2009-05-24T05:34:00.000-07:00

May 21st:
We arrived in the early evening and went straight to Giordano's for deep dish pizza. So delicious... We wandered around the Rush St. area for a while until we heard some great music coming from a bar and went in for a drink. It was called The Joynt and we found out it has a lot of Chicago history in it. And as it turned out, the band was Shirley King's band (BB King's daughter.) They were so good we ended up dancing there the rest of the night.

Route: I-55

May 22nd:
We pretty much celebrated my birthday the whole day. (A little spoiled, I know.) We had lunch at The Palms and then I went and got a pedicure. We relaxed in the afternoon and headed to Vinci for dinner. Vinci was a treat; a casual Italian restaurant with great food, good prices and very unique interior design - an improbable blend of classy Italian renaissance and checkered Italian diner. Our after-dinner entertainment was a show at Second City, the comedy company that has seen the early careers of so many legendary comics. Needless to say, it was hilarious and a really great way to end the day of celebration.

May 23rd:
We left Chicago this morning and are going straight on through to Connecticut. It’s a long haul but we decided it’d be better than having to set up a tent somewhere in the dark.

St. Louis

2009-05-20T09:08:00.001-07:00

May 20th:
Yesterday we started the northward stretch. We left New Orleans a bit later than planned. I blame it on the Insectarium - they run entrance at that place like Fort Knox. We also missed the world famous chicken at Willie Mae's Scotch House by 30 minutes. Bummer. We were finally on the road by about 3:30pm with a really long stretch ahead of us. The campground at Trail of Tears National Park was originally our destination but we found out en route that the grounds close at 9pm and there was no way we were making it in time. All of the other campgrounds on our route, aside from some KOA's along the interstate, had a similar closing time. Something about setting up camp at a KOA right on the road at 2am just didn't sit well with us. (Probably had something to do with the Guadalupe experience...)

So we went for it. Even though we've had quite a few big driving days - anywhere from 8 to 15 hours - we had not done an all night drive yet so it was due. We made it to just outside of St. Louis by about 3:30am and figured we could find a super cheap motel but all of them were upwards of $65. (!) We ended up parking behind a Motel 8 next to a huge truck stop and sleeping in the car. Check off the obligatory sleep in the car.

A few hours slept, we headed into downtown St. Louis and convinced the hotel we were staying with that night to check us in at 7:30am instead of 3pm. Sweet! Showered, dealt with NY apartment stuff, and finally had a nice lunch at Morgan's, a local microbrewery.

Route: I-10 - I-55

The weather in St. Louis was so beautiful; a mellow mid-70’s with a calm breeze, brilliant blue sky, verdant trees, the intense gleam of the stainless steel of the Gateway Arch and the muddy brown thick ribbon of the Ole Miss. I’m not mocking the river. It is a magnificent and tranquil presence as it strongly and gently drives mud and debris down through the country.

The Arch is pretty neat to look at. It seemed a little incongruous to me at first but it is massive and graceful and it becomes familiar rather quickly. We decided to take the tram to the top of its 635 feet. We climbed into a tiny metal pod with 2 women and their little kids. The pod bore a strong resemblance to one of those emergency jettison pods that equip Stars Wars ships. Tiny.
We exited the pod at the top and were we pressed up against the crowd and the tiny little windows looking out over St. Louis on one side and Illinois on the other. It was worth going up there.

That night we got tickets to the Cardinals/Cubs game. (Colin is a Cards fan.) We had a great time and the Cards won! Mmmm, nachos and Bud.

May 21:
Onward to Chicago! It is only about a 5 hour drive...

The Big Easy

2009-05-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

We are now in New Orleans. Crazy place! We got in late last night and strolled Bourbon St. for a while, taking in the show and watching out for puke in the street... yea... Now off to a full day of visiting spots recommended by our good friends - from the Audubon Insectarium to killer bloody marys and biegnets.

I-10

3:50 am, May 19th:

Against all personal beliefs, advice and good sense, I am eating tenders from a 24 hour market on a corner near our hotel. WOW. How badly I regret this is not even a question now - it can and will only be determined in the morning. Or, it's 4. When I wake up I guess.

Keep you posted. Unless it's too graphic.

Austin to the 504

2009-05-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

May 16th:
Took it easy the first part of the day in Austin and took advantage of the first showers, internet and comfy places to relax that we had had access to in days. (You may have noticed that all of the entries were posted on the 15th.) We headed out in the early evening and had some grubbing barbeque at Lambert’s and strolled through downtown as the sun set over Austin. We made our way to La Zona Rosa where my friends Aaron Cuadra and Jennifer Appelquist were playing music with some of their friends in Aaron’s “Circle of Songs” night. (Aaron was the musician I was playing shows with in San Francisco/Sacramento/Chico last fall.) It was fun to see a bit of the local music scene and more fun when Aaron had me sing on a couple of songs with him.

For the sake of our drive to New Orleans the next day, Colin and I chose not to close the bar down. We took a nice long stroll back to our room, sampling a couple of tacos on the way. (We had to compare the ones we had the night before with another option. For those of you who are curious, we preferred the Casa Del Fuego truck to the Taqueria Star truck.)

May 17th:
We happened upon a not-too-crowded brunch spot to fuel up in before getting on the road. As we were enjoying our meal there suddenly formed a petty decent waiting line. Come to find out we ate at what the locals voted the Best Brunch in Austin. We have a knack for that I guess…

And we were off to NOLA!

Hwy 71 – I-10

P.S. It occurred to me after the May 16th post that it would be probably be more interesting and possibly helpful if I gave the names of the places at which we enjoyed eating. For those of you who may care, I went back and added the names in to the last few posts and will from here on out try to remember to include them. That being said, I am not going to turn this into any sort of amateur restaurant critic bl**g, so don’t worry.

To the half way point

2009-05-16T14:33:00.000-07:00

May 15th:
We woke up in safety and headed straight to the Carlsbad Caverns. What an incredible place! We took about 2 hours walking through the caves and checking out all of the geological masterpieces. It’s amazing how a hole in the ground made of minerals and water can have such a living breathing presence.

Back on the road through Texas we drove through a beautiful thunder storm, huge bolts of lightening striking on the plateaus around us. We arrived in Austin about midnight, dirty, tired, and proud of ourselves. We got the last room available at the Austin Motel, had a cheers to hitting the half way mark and hit up a taco stand (Casa Del Fuego).

Route: Hwy 62/180 – Hwy 285 – I-10 – Hwy 290 – I35
Major Points: Carlsbad Caverns, Austin

The Grand Canyon

2009-05-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

Still May 13th:
It is a relatively short stretch between Vegas and the Grand Canyon. We happened to leave Vegas just in perfect time to arrive at the Grand Canyon 20 minutes before sunset! In retrospect, there was a small tragedy that made this possible: we somehow missed the last In n’ Out opportunity, a stop we had been set on making from the beginning of our trip since there are no more past Arizona. Alas, we missed the exit in Tucson and there was not another exit until it clearly made no sense to turn around. There was a spontaneous moment of silence in the car. Until next time…

But the sunset at the Grand Canyon was a fair trade. It is such an astounding place – more magnificent than I could’ve imagined. After the sun went down we had to work on setting up camp. We were lucky again to get to the general store right before it closed to get some camp food and then triple lucky when we got the last campsite available! We set up camp, made mac n’ cheese and enjoyed the little fire we made. Camping is so much fun!

Route: Hwy 93 – I-40 – Hwy 64
Major points: Las Vegas, Grand Canyon

May 14th:
We broke camp and took our time leaving the Grand Canyon area, stopping a few more times just to look at it again. It made the long stretch ahead a little longer but again, so worth it. The extra treat was that our route (next stop Carlsbad Caverns) took us through the Painted Desert.

Intermission… 15 hours of driving…

During that time we realized that there is no camping in the Carlsbad area. To keep on schedule we needed to camp near there – really near there. We found a spot in the Guadalupe Mountains, just on the boarder of Texas and New Mexico, on the Texas side. We arrived at 3am. It was a pretty creepy spot; a self check-in campground so there were no on duty rangers and it was out in the middle of nowhere yet really accessible by car. We didn’t really have another option so we set up the tent and crawled in. We lay awaked awhile while strange noises played with our heads and ghosts rattled the tent.

Route: Hwy 64 – Hwy 89 – I-17 – I -40 – Hwy 62/180
Major points: Painted Desert, Tucson, El Paso, Guadalupe Mountains

Vegas baby

2009-05-16T11:05:00.001-07:00

The good ol' Farmer's Market

Welcome to the online journal documentary of our cross-country journey! (This is not a bl**.) There will be pictures, words and, for those of you that are following along on a map, I will list our traveled highways and major US cities/destinations at the end of each entry.

It has been a few days since we left but we’ve been so busy I haven’t had a second to write! I will catch up…

May 10th:
We left from the shire (my mom’s in Nevada City) Monday morning and were officially on the road in the early afternoon. Our plan was to go through Reno and then take 395 through Death Valley, all the way to Vegas. After Reno, however, we took a… very scenic route around Lake Tahoe and then had to make a new route. We eventually got to 95 and took that alllll the way through the beautiful desolate deserts of Nevada and arrived in Las Vegas around 2am.

Vegas is like nothing else I’ve ever seen! I thought I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to see but it dwarfed the picture in my head in every way. Driving in on the The Strip is astounding enough but especially after one has been driving for hours through the dark desert with the only big bright light coming from the almost-full moon rising over a modest plateau. Suddenly I felt like Alice after the “Drink Me” bottle. Colin has been before but I think he got a kick out of hearing me say “wow” so many times.

We stayed at the MGM Grand (screaming online deal) and the next day enjoyed the pool and the constant bombardment of hustlers. That night we met up with Colin’s good friend Ted and hung out local style at a great Tapas place, Firefly. Later Colin and I set out on foot and explored the entire strip (including Greg Stone’s suggested “Walk of Fame.”) Our last night in Vegas was very appropriate to the occasion.

May 13th:
On our way out on Wednesday we stopped in to what is considered by many to be the best Thai food outside of Thailand – a totally unassuming spot in a sweltering strip mall on Sahara Ave, called Lotus of Siam. The food was really excellent and somehow also really inexpensive and the hundreds of photos of celebrity clientele made up the perfect décor.

And then onward to Arizona...

Route: Hwy 49 - Hwy 20 - I 80 - Hwy 395 - um, detour... - back on Hwy 95
Major places: Reno, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas