Little Sage...

I know you've probably already read about Sage's little visit the other day, but I couldn't resist putting up another picture of her. She just looks so darned cute.


She's so adorable. Even when she's been mischievous and snacked on something she shouldn't have! :)

I'm a klutz, Part 3: My wine glasses could *maybe* survive in an earthquake!

I've been a bit worried/skeptical about whether my wine glasses could survive in an earthquake here in SF. Check it out:


However, today, thanks to my usual klutziness, I found out that they could maybe survive an earthquake! I was breaking down boxes in the kitchen and was carrying them out to the garage. Well, next thing I know, I can't move the box forward and then... lots of clinking, wine rack no longer touching down on all fours. I immediately flailed, managed to drop the box, and grabbed the wine rack to set it down then grabbed the glasses to prevent them from falling. The sake bottle did tip over but luckily, no damage! So yay, some serious potential cleanup was averted!

I found the camera!!!

I know, I've been bad, no photos added into the blog makes it not so much fun, hunh? Well, I could hardly be blamed as I haven't been able to find my camera as it was under piles of random stuff loaded onto my bed, waiting for me to find somewhere to store it. But last night, success! It emerged...

So, I've added some photos into previous blogs - check it out!

Checkin' out my new neighborhood

I decided to take a break from unpacking and check out my neighborhood, the Inner Sunset. It was a bit cloudy out, but not too cold and not rainy. I decided to first go to the public library and get a card and then I would be off to Andronico's which has been described to me as "awesome" and then also as "pricey".

The library is about 5 blocks away and is tinier than what I am used to (not surprising given SF real estate) which means I will more likely be a requester and not a browser. I like browsing the library, but only when they have lots of options, which I got in Pittsburgh as well as in Montgomery County, Maryland. Oh well. At least it looks as though I will be able to easily request stuff.

I started heading back to Andronico's (only a few blocks away from me!) and happened to see a great little sausage shop called Underdog. I couldn't resist and quickly crossed the street to check it out. They have all sorts of sausage, chicken, pork, beef, as well as their vegetarian (Soy and eggs) and vegan (soy and gluten) sausages. I was sad to see that I couldn't partake of any of the veggie options, which sounded really good, but would kill me. Their meat sausages, thankfully, looked as or more delicious. I almost bought two, the italian and andouille, but realised they only take cash and I literally had an EMPTY wallet. Oh well, I guess I will be going back there in the future.

Andronico's... Yes, it is like Whole Paycheck. But I like it better in some ways. I guess I like that it isn't a national chain. Don't get me wrong, I like me my Whole Foods and definitely shop there, but there is something about smaller operations.

I will have to get used to the alcohol sold in the grocery store as well as the cheaper prices. It's amazing how much Pennsylvania taxes its residents on alcohol. And now, in Pennsylvania, there is even a 10% drink tax! I left just in time! (Well, it isn't like I drank/drink a ton, but if I go out for a drink with friends, that 10% extra on tax is painful!) So yay to more accessible alcohol! Wait... that didn't come out quite right. :D You know what I mean.

Transitioning from Pittsburgh...

So I had to do a couple of important things today, light getting myself a CA drivers license and getting a local 415 number for my cell. It was strange, slowly but surely removing all the Pittsburgh things from my life. Actually, it was kinda sad!

In any case, I had to actually take a driver's license exam to get a CA license. That was weird. My sister and aunt warned me that it wasn't going to be easy, so I did study a bit last night, trying to memorize ditances and speed limits. When it came time to take the exam, I started and immediately exclaimed to my aunt, "This is easy!" And then I read the second question and immediately followed with, "This ISN'T so easy." But it was ok, I only had 3 questions I wasn't sure about and turns out I only missed one of those 3! Not too shabby for someone who won't even be driving much in SF. :)

And you know what I would kill for right now? Either Thai Cuisine or Piccolo Forno. I already miss their yummy food!

No new pic - sorry!

And why? Because my camera is buried somewhere under the mound of clothes and miscellaneous items that I need to try and find a place for by tonight so that I can sleep on my bed! (There really is a lot of crap.)

Poll #3: And the answer is...

You may be surprised:

Going with movers:

moving company $3300 (to $3600)
ticket to SF $280
---------------------
total $3580 (to $3880)


Doing the move ourselves:

Truck Rental $1027.19
Gas $1445.11
Food and Misc (i.e. parking) $265.77
Hotels $473.59
Fun Stuff $80.24
-----------------------------------------
Total $3291.90

Experience of driving cross country with my sister in a Penske truck - Priceless

(And yes, I did use a Mastercard for most of the trip. And got several phones calls from them making sure my card wasn't stolen. :) I'm not complaining. I'd rather they check.)

Surprised? I have to admit, I was a little, I thought we'd break even at best. So woohoo!

-------------
Question:
So, the question of the week: Did I save, break even, or spend more money than if I had hired movers?

Saved. Right decision!
Broke even. But it was fun to drive, right?
Spent more. Oops. Should've gone with the movers!

Unpacking...

Yes, no real new blog - my life is all about unpacking. I dropped off our little Penske truck yesterday (picture to follow tomorrow!). It was so sad to see him (I've decided that our Penske truck was male) go. The guy working there had one thing to say, "Man, you put some miles on this truck!" Yes, sir, we did.

In fact, we put 3792 miles on it. Not bad for 5.25 days of traveling, hmm?

Here's the pic of our faithful little big truck being turned in, as promised:

My faithful and very comfortable red couch also has a new owner - he went to my sister! It looks quite nice in her house and apparently Sage thought so too because she quickly jumped up to test it out before being shoo-ed off. :)

Poll #2: And the answer is...

10 pm! We actually arrived right around 9:45 pm to be exact. Not too shabby, hunh?

Moving into my new SF crib

We started bright and early this AM, driving the Penske into SF. The weather was nice and here is the view we had driving in:




It was just me, my sister, and my aunt moving my stuff into the apartment today. It was surprisingly easier than our loading of the belongings into the truck, thank goodness.

Check it out:



So phew, just about all the boxes and furniture are unloaded (some stuff to my sister's place). Now I just have to unpack everything and see if it fits! And don't think that this blog is over - there is lots of mis-adventures still waiting to happen!

Welcome to Sunny? California

We’re here! But, not so sunny. In fact, here’s the weather upon arrival:

I heart Garmin

I need to mention a couple of things about our trip. We used several methods of navigation including AAA maps, triptik, tour books, and Garmin, my sister’s GPS navigation system.

Garmin has been a great asset on this trip. Not only did she get the route (mostly) the way we wanted them, but when we were a bit our of our way, she was able to navigate us safely. Further, when we didn’t happen to know where an attraction, or restaurant, or hotel was, Garmin was on it.

Thank goodness for Garmin. (Garmin, not Charmin!)

I heart Fernley, NV

What happens in Fernley, stays in Fernley.

Setting records at Bonneville Speedway

So on our way out of Salt Lake City is the Great Salt Lake Desert which was part of the extinct Lake Bonneville, which existed centuries ago and spanned Utah, Nevada, and Idaho. Now, in addition to that desert, it is also home to the Bonneville Salt Flats, famous for many land-speed records to have been made and even today, cars are tested on these flats for speed. We had to check out the area, right? It was right on our way!

We first stopped at a rest area and rode around on the Salt Flats there.




But then, we actually went to the Bonneville Salt Flat Speedway area and decided to try out our speed skills on our cruiser! Check it out:




We were definitely a hit with the many other tourists who were there in their Jeeps, 4x4s, sedans, and motorcycles. Not often you see bicyclists. But when we were leaving, we saw two more roadies biking in! Impressive!

Salt Lake City

We got in pretty late last night to Provo and had a distance to go today to get into the SF area. So today, we felt that we should see the Mormon Tabernacle and the Mormon Temple, even if via a Penske truck tour.

The city was relatively dead at 8 am on a Sunday morning. Which was good for us, because then we got to see the sights by truck pretty well. (Remember, pics taken in truck!) In addition to the above, we also got to see the Eagle Gate and the State Capitol Building. Then off we went on our merry way!

Mormon Temple



Mormon Tabernacle



Eagle Gate



State Capitol

QOTD - Sunday

“Ok. So you’re driving next, right?”

“It sure looks like a gully washer.”
- In regards to the ominous clouds and obvious thunderstorm approaching.

Sunday - Utah, Nevada, California

Utah


What we wished we had seen if we had more time:
Actual tour of the Mormon Tabernacle and Capitol Building

Nevada


What we wished we had seen if we had more time:
Ghost Town

California will come later!

Visitor Request

I like to encourage comments to the blog (easy to do, please leave any comments as you like!). And I really do read them! And to prove that, let me share this with all of you.

Hookahman suggested "CA or bust" on the truck. Amazingly, our little big Penske truck was pretty darn clean most of the trip. But eventually nature stepped in and:

“Flying Birdkiller”

Eek. This could be my Indian name/alias. After noting several near misses in the past couple of days with birds flying near our truck, the horrific event happened today. As I drove along the highway, I saw a bird and then BAM!

*shudder*

I don’t think he/she could have survived that impact at >65 mph. RIP.

Zion National Park

This was my sister’s and my favorite National Park. Not only beautiful, you are able to get so close up to everything, that you just feel like you are a part of the park. We had to drive through here to get to the next highway, not a bad place to have to drive through! And this also required us to go through 2 tunnels, the second of which we had to have the Ranger stop traffic on the other side of the tunnel so that we could fit through. Heehee. Also see if you can spot the Penske truck in one of the photos! :D

Such beautiful stuff!!!

The Grand Canyon

First of all, getting up early and getting to Grand Canyon early was very very key… Less crowds, less craziness. When we got there, the weather was colder and a bit hazy in the canyons. But it cleared up and was quite beautiful. Unfortunately, some portions of the Canyon were closed due to reconstruction of some roads. But we still managed to see some great stuff.

Check it out:



And my fave of the day, the Hopi Point, on the South Rim




And the Watchtower, my sister’s fave, located on the East Rim




Some pics from the Navajo Indian Reservation side:


The Grand Canyon is truly a marvel.

QOTD - Saturday

“There’s a few more around.”

- from the puzzled tourist who was wondering why I was climbing up a hill of cacti and desert plants and to whom my sister explained, “She saw a cactus.”

Here’s the picture I was after during this conversation.

Saturday - Arizona and Utah

Arizona


What we wished we had seen if we had more time:
Sedona
Meteor Crater
Sunset Crater Volcano National Park
Lake Havasu and Havasu Falls
More of the Grand Canyon


Utah


What we wished we had seen if we had more time:
(farther away) Arches National Park
Bryce Canyon

Petrified Forest National Forest and the Painted Desert

What a great deal. For $80, you can get an annual pass that allows entrance to any of the National Parks. By the end of this 5 day trip, we'll have pretty much made back the money!

We had our first national park stop at the Petrified Forest National Park which also happens to encompass parts of the painted desert. It was a great trip and totally worth checking out. It's sad that people in the past plundered these petrified trees. The historic Route 66 ued to pass through here and it is commemorated in the Park.

Painted Desert



Tepees




Route 66




Petrified Wood

Spaghetti Incident

Hahaha… Not like the music album, but we had our own incident for dinner.

We couldn’t really find a good place to eat so we decided on the Macaroni Grill. I don’t know if you are familiar with the restaurant, but they have singing waiters and waitresses. When we walked in, there was a woman singing very loudly in an operatic voice. I have to admit, not my favorite. But kudos to her for the voice and her singing at the restaurant.

Our server, Steve, came and got our order, 2 salads and then we decided to split a spaghetti and meatballs – not hard to screw up, right? Well, I obviously wouldn’t be blogging about it if dinner went well. I’ll digress a bit and mention that our server, had a wonderful singing voice. Very Frank Sinatra-esque.

We received our salads, both ok and not great. Then, before we had really even touched our salads, our spaghetti came. We both nibbled on it a bit, then looked at each other and both said that our pasta AND meatballs were luke-warm to frankly cold. We both couldn’t stomach too much of it, but we also didn’t want our waiter to bother getting us a new serving – we were tired and didn’t want it that badly.

We tried to tell our waiter about the cold pasta a couple of times, but he was busy and kinda flew by us. When we were waiting to flag him down, we looked a couple tables down to this little girl with spaghetti and meatballs, and hers was piping hot – so much so that we could see the steam coming off of it from 2 tables down!

We finally let out waiter know and the management was cool enough to take it off our check but also to come over and apologize and to be really sweet about trying to make it up to us. So although it may not have been the best experience food-wise, the service was excellent – and we tipped accordingly.

Stores we’ll miss

As we’ve moved on from state to state, there are a couple of gas stations that we’ve taken for granted a bit. They have cheaper gas (usually) and better coffee. We commemorate them here:

Love’s – our personal fave
Pilot
The Flying J

My idiosyncrasies - I’m a klutz – Part II and I’m absent-minded

Friday:
Coffee Spill
Salad dressing spill

I forgot my pajamas at the hotel in Texas. Oops.

Update to those darned PJs – talked to the people at the hotel a couple of times, and eventually, they found them! They’re mailing them back to me soon! Yay!

5 stars to Fairfield Inn in Amarillo Texas

Unfulfilled childhood dreams

My sister has had an unfulfilled childhood dream – to light up a roman candle and see it go! You know, one of those fireworks that back in the 70’s and 80’s we used to hold onto with a small plastic handle and watch the fireworks zoom off!

As we drove through New Mexico (and Texas and other states for that matter), fireworks were prominently marketed by billboard. We happened to stop by a store, and what do you know? They sell fireworks! We looked for the roman candles, because, come on, this trip is about doing fun stuff, including fulfilling childhood dreams.

They sold them! But these were different from the roman candles of the past. These, instead of the user being able to hold on to the candle while it set off, are now designed so that you insert the candle into the dirt, so that the user is NOT handling the fireworks. We can only assume that too many people were injured in the course of using the roman candles back in the day. Or maybe it was just that the potential lawsuit was too high.

In any case, she decided against the roman candles, because it just wouldn’t be the same. And we had to wonder – we did so many things back when we were kids that are now considered to be dangerous – and we survived! So what’s changed?

Who knows what a sopapilla is?

We stopped in Albuquerque for lunch, at the Original Garcia’s Kitchen, not to be mistaken for the other original Garcia’s Kitchens located throughout Albuquerque, and, as it happens to turn out, Flagstaff, NM. This place was described by the AAA tourbook as “Green chile and carne adovado addictions have been born at Garcia’s Kitchen.” Again, how do you pass up trying a place like that?


We barreled into the parking lot just after the lunch rush hour and parked ourselves into a booth in the back. The server was friendly and efficient and not afraid to offer her true opinion when asked. My sister got the tamales and I got blue corn enchiladas with the green chile sauce on top. And to get perspective, I got one each of the chicken, beef, and carne adovado. When she asked us what we wanted, tortilla or sopapilla, my sister hesitated for a second and chose the tortilla. I chose the sopapilla.

When our waitress left, I turned to my sister and asked what a sopapilla was. My sister then started to laugh and admitted she didn’t know either. I guess we were in for a surprise!

The food was ok. I don’t think an addiction was born in either my sister or me. The carne adovado was definitely the best of the three. But more importantly, what is a sopapilla? It is a slightly sweet fried bread. Tasty. I migh have an unhealthy addiction to these!

QOTD – Friday

“Hunh. Petrified wood looks like wood.”

- Name has been withheld to protect the ignorant

Friday - Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona

Panhandle of Texas


What we wished we had seen if we had more time:
Elkins Ranch Breakfast


New Mexico


What we wished we had seen if we had more time:

Ghost Town
Petroglyph National Monument
Turquoise Trail
Ice cave of Bandera Volcano
Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway


Arizona


See Saturday's entry please!

The Weather in Flagstaff

The pictures say it all...
When we drove in last night:


And this morning:


Needless to say, NOT sunny and hot, rather freezing and snowing (did you see the snow on the ground in the bottom photo?). Imagine me wearing a sun dress and fip-flops in 25 degree weather. Brrr...

Please check back later!

Sorry guys, no time to post all our adventures from yesterday... check back tomorrow for the updates!

We're deliquents...

We went to Cadillac Ranch on our way out of Amarillo. This philanthropist of arts owns the ranch and set up these Cadillacs, half buried in the dirt. You can go up to it and see it.


My sister and I knew it was a commissioned work of art, so when we saw people with bottles of spray paint and defacing the cars, we were none too pleased. Especially since we had seen a sign in front of the grounds stating that graffiti of State of Texas property was a no-no. But then the mother of the family happily tagging the artwork came over and offered us some spray paint. We inquired about the legality of this but she assured us that not only is it legal, but they encourage contributions!

Well, of course we had to contribute!


Go Steelers!!!

I wonder how long that will last in Texas??

Poll: And the answer is...

C! Just over 300 bucks. Look for a new poll tomorrow about the total cost for gas on the trip so far. Congrats to the 2 of you who guessed correctly! And you other 3 - you were pretty darned close!

You can't escape American Idol

Even though we have been out of touch with the world of American Idol due to this trip, we can't escape!!! Check out what we saw on our drive today...