All Setlled In

I drove 4,000 miles to go to Ikea? This thought went through my mind as I picked up the various sundries necessary for the 9 weeks that I will be out here.

That story aside, I've settled into the new apartment and starting to love LA.

Work at the MPA remains enjoyable and looks to be very fulfilling. I also found a gym adjacent to the office.

So with all of this, combined with a reasonably short commute, life is pretty darn good.

The City of Angels

We made it!! 4,000 miles and we finally made it. The first leg of the adventure is now complete.

It was a bit of a culture shock to be surrounded by people again (keep in mind few people live in the parts of the coutry that we just drove through), but we managed to adjust pretty quickly.

Since Brian and Jeannie's flight departed early on Monday, we needed to take every advantage of the time in LA we could, it also gave me an opportunity to get all the tourism out of my system.

We took Mulholland Drive over the mountain. This windy road reminded me of a video game with its hairpin turns, and bikers flying past my car and took us to Malibu. After dipping our feet in the Pacific, we turned to an overly crowded Santa Monica Pier.

From here we stopped at Rodeo Dr, Beverly Hills and a very overrated Hollywood Blvd.

Following our lightning fast tour of LA, we met up with a high-school friend who took us to a great Cuban restaurant. With food in our stomachs and our driving behind us, we settled in for the night and went to sleep.

Utah Is Huge!!

We returned to Arches for the most magnificent of all the arches, the "Delicate Arch." The hike out to it was relatively arduous. However, we saw lots of parents carrying their young children, which made us realize that if they could do it, so could we. Thank goodness we did because we saw a sight that rivaled pretty much any other of the entire trip.

We then left Arches for Canyon Land. Essentially this is a National Park atop a plateau granting the observer a great view of the areas below. Exciting and picturesque this vantage point allowed us to see for dozens of miles.

Leaving Moab behind we hit the road and arrived at a hotel in Cedar City, UT. We stopped at Costa Vesa, a burrito joint that attempts to rival Chipotle (dont worry Chipotle, you still have my heart). I did, however, appreciate the use of the phrase "Big Kahuna Burrito" reminding me of the "Big Kahuna Burgers" of Pulp Fiction.

After staying up till 11pm to watch the "Victory" ep of Entourage, I'm off to bed and getting ready for Vegas Baby!!

Arches Rocks (no pun intended)

After a short drive (today it was only 5 hours) we arrived at Arches National Park.

We grabbed an awesome lunch at this little joint and explored the town a little. It reminded me of Sedona except more EXTREME. Moab (the city next to Arches) is apparently one of the extreme sports capitals of the US.

As we drove through the park we saw some truly amazing sights. We then stopped and walked for several miles. Climbing rocks, leaping across chasms, and getting into the Moab extreme spirit ourselves.


This truly exhausting experience left us craving some food and a shower. At dinner we learned the secrets of Utah crazy laws:

1. No beer with more than 3% Alcohol.
2. No on under 21 can even talk to you about alcohol.
3. Wine is un-altered (not sure why wine is left restricted and beer is not. perhaps beer is more plebeian).
4. You must order food with any alcohol.

So now we get some rest and prepare for a breakfast that Brian has been talking up for over a week.

Driving with Added Mormon Action

Once again today was pretty much reserved for driving.

We saw Old Faithful, which to its credit, was pretty freaking cool to see: totally worth the 15min we waited for its erruption.

Following the explosion we took a drive through the Tetons (picture really impressive snow capped mountain ranges like in Lord of the Rings) finding that part of the drive incredibly picturesque.

Driving past Salt Lake City we saw the lake, and the church, however, we only saw this at 80mph, so not exactly the best views of either, ultimately stopping in Provo, UT.

Tomorrow we hit up Arches National Park, a personal highlight of mine.

Snow, In May?

When packing for the west coast, I thought to myself, "what do I need for the summer?" Pants...check, suit...check, swinmtrunks...check. Apparently I forgot one of the most necessary articles of clothing for a summer in LA, an Alaskan certified winter parka.

We awoke this morning to the sight of snow. Thats right flakes of white gold falling from the sky. However, while gold makes you rich, snow makes you ridiculously cold. All day, throughout our trek in Yellowstone National Park it snowed.

Unwilling to let this dramatic weather affect our plans, we plowed forth (see how I used a pun there). Most of the day involved the visitation of various "hot springs." Apparently, Yellowstone is one giant volcano. As such, many of the vents on the mountain heat the earth to over 170degrees creating flowing rivers of sulfuric acid.

For those of you who dont recognize the name "sulfuric acid" its the stuff that you smell when eggs go bad. This led me to believe that Yellowstone must be the smelliest national park in the land.

Once we overcame the noxious odors spweing forth onto this park, we decided that we should get some food to eat (I'm not entirely sure why bad smells and food go together, but they do.

Following lunch (which included an amazing chicken-rice soup that managed to increase our body temperatures to only 10 degrees below normal), we proceeded to see every other hot spring and geiser in the park.

After leaving the park, we stopped off for some really good micro-brewed beer and BBQ. Fun Fact: People in Montana seems to love Tabbouleh (this was the side dish at dinner, and I still can't explain why Tabbouleh of all foods).

Another great day came to a close, and now time to rest up for the next part of our great adventure.

A Little Bit Country

Well I managed to extract a little bit more from Deadwood this morning, probably all that Deadwood has to offer. This entailed walking the entire length of the city (its only 1.5 miles long, so this only took about 45min) stopping in each casino to ascertain who had the greatest breakfast prospects. We ultimately reconciled upon an all-you can eat breakfast buffet.

Following breakfast, we visited the location where Wild Bill was shot, we packed up and said goodbye to Mr. Bullock, Charlie Utter, and the rest of Deadwood.

Hitting the road it took an hour to get to Devil’s Mountain. A sight more impressive than Mt. Rushmore, this tower to the sky showed me a naturally created sight on par with the Grand Canyon (well the Grand Canyon rocked a bit more, but this is a close second). Walking around the base stirred a desire to attempt to scale this great obelisk, but then reality reminded me that I get winded after rock climbing for only 20min let alone the several hours required to attack this tower.

Leaving Devils Tower, a five hour drive to Cody, WI, led us through a 6,000ft altitude change in each direction. Arriving in Cody, we checked into the Cowboy Village. While most hotels provide residents with either two twin beds, or one queen bed, this hotel came equipped with two KING size beds and an LCD tv.

Following check in, a craving for BBQ took over our consciousness. Led by a desire to fulfill these urges, we came upon a Ribs restaurant in Cody. This experience provided us with some of, if not the best ribs of our life.

Now, sitting in our room, and having missed my episode of Heroes, I’m going to go to bed. Tomorrow is Yellowstone, and hopefully, it does not snow (and yes I meant snow).