Day 4...
So
Day 4 was the the day we awoke from our first slumber in the Caliber. Having stopped just outside Tucumcari, NM, we slept at a rest stop there and woke up early to get a fast start. Aside from the excellent name, Tucumcari was a rather lifeless town surrounded by gorgeous scenery. After leaving there, we headed westward towards Albuquerque, NM.
Downtown Albuquerque was a cool place that was more populated than St. Louis or OK City, but it still lacked the hustle and bustle of a major city during lunch hour. We walked into a public library to ask someone for advice on where to get some good Mexican food for lunch and the librarian pointed us in the direction of the Galleria, an underground mall nearby. Inside, we found La Esquina and plopped down to eat. We shared a lunch special that had a blue corn enchilada and a taco and on our empty little stomachs it. was. DELICIOUS.
After the lunch and our subsequent walk around downtown Albuquerque to walk off the food coma, we headed out to make one more stop in New Mexico at the Rio Grande Nature Center. This was a wonderfully peaceful and relaxing stroll through some of the native plant and animal species. With hardly anyone there and a clear sky above us, the walk through the Nature Center gave us yet another respot from the daily driving routine. Not only did we see Roadrunners, but we also caught shots of Hummingbirds in flight and were able to snap some superbly posed portraits on a nearby bridge.
With the serenity of nature filling us to the brim, we continued onward to the New Mexico/Arizona border. The scenery in New Mexico was the best of any place thusfar on the trip and we took hundreds of photos to prove it. However, when we started seeing billboards for Arizona that said they had the most breathtaking scenery in the region, I had to see it for myself to believe it. Better than New Mexico? I don't know. I remember Arizona from when I was a kid and couldn't remember being awed by the surroundings like I was in NM. But, I was ready nonetheless. Unfortunately, it was getting late and Vick and I were running on fumes (much like our car) so we stoped at a rest stop just past the NM/AZ border. I had to work off a little extra energy before getting to sleep, so I tried to snap a photo of the canopy of stars and then we settled into bed (or should I say driver's seat) before beginning the second to last leg of our trip.
I'M OFF!
Now Playing: Explosions in the Sky - "Time Stops"
Day 3... Seriously this time...
Sorry about that little lie I told - then again, I did give you a disclaimer. I think I'll stick to updating one day at a time. That being said, here is what happened on Day 3...
DAY 3Upon waking on a gorgeous (albeit sweltering) day in Tulsa, OK, Vick and I decided to go for a dip in the motel pool and have an all around leisurely morning. Since that kind of killed breakfast, we had a somewhat early lunch at a local Sonic Burger which was fairly reminiscent of Superdawg back home in that they brought the food to your car. It was... satiating. From there, it was westward ho towards Oklahoma City!
First off, we drove through Bricktown which was quaint in that it reminded me a little of Uptown, Park Ridge. A few clubs, a lot of eateries and local businesses. It was nice. Past that, we headed into downtown, OK City. It was another quiet, clean city that seemed to be in a little bit better shape than St. Louis. It was balls hot so the few miles we walked seemed like more but we were able to make stops in a couple places like a nature conservatory and the OK City Memorial. Walking towards the memorial from the south was quite a sight. There are two monoliths that act as the entrance on the north and south sides which represent the minutes before and after the 9:02 a.m. bombing. It was a beautiful memorial that was kept very clean and quiet.
After leaving OK City, we headed further west into Texas. The pan handle of TX is quite the drive that takes you through plenty of rolling hills and plains and even some oil fields and alternative energy fields filled with wind turbines that made me feel like Don Quixote. We stopped at a little Mom & Pop diner in Groom, TX just east of Amarillo to have some authentic chicken fried steak and potatoes. Mmmmm...
The photo opportunities on the landscape grew and grew with each passing westward mile. The landscape became more and more foreign as we went. From Amarillo, we crossed the Texas/New Mexico border and rested in Tucumcari, NM. On
DAY 4 I will talk to you more about the GORGEOUS New Mexican landscapes, but for now, good day. I am going to get some noodles with Vick and my Uncle Phil in Phoenix.
Now Playing: EBN - "Numb (EBN Remix)"
Days 2 - 5...
Okay, all. Massive post belongs here after many failed phone-in attempts at updating. I don't really have the energy to do this, so the 'belongs here' portion of that last phrase REALLY comes into play here.
DAY 2Began in Champaign at my bro's place before booking it on over to Blaszczyk's house for breakfast. You know this. Well, from there, we went to St. Louis, the first major city along our Route 66 path. Again, this was what we thought was a major city, but ended up being somewhat of a ghost town. It was nearly deserted. We started at the St. Louis Arch. A fine sight from the ground, let alone atop the arch! It was incredible. The view, even in the limited visibility, was spectacular.
From there, we decided to hit up Busch Stadium and check out the awesome view from outside the center field wall. Again, in the 3 block or so walk over there, we encountered maybe 3 people. The city was eerily quiet. From there, hunger began to set in. So, naturally, we looked for a place that sold St. Louis ribs a la Wildfire in Chicago... No dice... For a couple miles that is. We walked across downtown St. Louis and found NOT ONE OPEN EATERY. They were either shut down or only open at ridiculous hours like 10 am to 2 pm. We finally got to Calico's Grill and sat ourselves. There was no one in there! Not even a waitress could be found! Finally, one came to us and we asked her why no one was around and she made it seem as though it was perfectly normal...
Can you say 'Twilight Zone'?
That pretty much concluded our stay in St. Louis. Our next stop was Tulsa, OK. Since we were running behind just a bit, we decided to skip the tour of Tulsa and just stop to sleep at a Motel 6 or something. We showered and hit the sack. Little did we know, it would be the last shower until almost Friday...
Okay, so remember how I said this may not be the 'catch-up' post I was hoping for? Yeah. It's 1:45 am in AZ and I'm still on Chicago time. Goodnight all and we'll chat tomorrow.
Now Playing: E Vax - "Tide Pool"
Day 1...
So here we are at the beginning of Day 2 at the
Blaszczyk household in Springfield, IL. Day 1 began with us saying our final farewells to our families and heading out on our way to L.A. First stop:
Champaign, IL to chill with brother Stan. We got some excellent pizza from
Papa Del's and watched "Life Aquatic." We went to bed and had an early rise planned to get to Springfield for
Blaszczyk's breakfast at 7 a.m.
We planned out our route day by day with goals in mind rather than destinations. Going from Springfield, we're going to St. Louis, Tulsa, Oklahoma City,
Albuquerque, the Grand Canyon, Phoenix, Joshua Tree National Forest and ending in Glendale on
Friday night with an apartment showing on
Saturday afternoon.
Doesn't seem as epic now that we're on our way, but I'm hoping it becomes more and more epic with every stop we make.
Stay cool.
Now Playing: Blaszczyk's Golf Reality Show - "Big Break"
The Family Party...
The family party celebrating our move to L.A. was this past Sunday and afterward there was one word on my mind: 'Overwhelmed.' Not by the planning or any feelings of regret or even the fact that I am REALLY going to miss a true Chicago hot dog for a while (can you tell I just had my last one today for lunch from Superdawg?). The trip itself hasn't really gotten to me. What was 'overwhelming' was the continued generosity and support my siblings and I have gotten from both sides of my extended family.
When I heard that we were, in fact, going to have a party to send me off in style, I was happy to find out that I would most likely get a chance to see my family one more time. Growing up in a close-knit family is something that I wish everyone could have the benefit of but knowing that it is actually a rare occurrence makes me feel that much more lucky. This understanding is one the many reasons my ultimate goal is to make it back to Chicago to settle down after acquiring as much knowledge and experience as I can. Hopefully, I can earn my living in a few different places before being able to come back home to stay. Before setting off this weekend, I just wanted to make sure that everyone knew not only how much I appreciate their support, but also how happy I was to be able to see much of them one more time.
Thanks again, everyone!
Now Playing: Frank Black - "Speedy Marie"
First Steps...
It's been over a year, but I think it's time to update my Travel Blog. I will be moving, with my girlfriend
Vicky, to Los Angeles in June. The first hurdle (after working up the courage to actually decide on the move) was to acquire means of transportation. Not only for the trip there, but for when we are living in L.A. We had made it clear to ourselves that we were going to use this opportunity to see much of the States, so we decided to drive out to L.A. This meant that my little Celica-That-Could had to be replaced. Driving to work in that tiny car was not terribly comfortable so a trek across country would not be advisable in a 16 year old car. We needed a new one...
So, after a rigorous search through the many dealerships in the area (a very LARGE area, I might add), we decided on... A 2005 TOYOTA MATRIX!... But it was
just a bit out of our price range so we had to continue searching. With our dream car, a Matrix, in mind, we looked for a more affordable but not older option. Sufficed to say, cars are expensive and finding what you
really want is difficult. An online search brought us to a car that was in a similar class as the Matrix, the Dodge Caliber. It replaced the Neon as Dodge's young-person economy car but still had that Dodge 'I WANT MORE POWER AND FLASH' spirit to it so we checked some out. Well, despite my inherent trepidation over buying a domestic car, we were able to negotiate a good deal and drove off on January 23rd 2009 in our 2007 DODGE CALIBER.
Pretty swanky, eh? I've enjoyed it thus far and the first test we gave it was this past weekend on a drive up to Delevan, WI for a weekend getaway. It passed. Vicky and I bought our first car together and we are about to take a trip together to find a suitable first place to live together in L.A. It will all be a huge shift in our lives and I think we will both learn a great deal from our experience. So, this was it. The first hurdle in our move to L.A.: Buying a car.
Talk at you soon...
Now Playing: Illyah Kuryahkin - "Vaval"Labels: Dodge Caliber, L.A., move, trek, trip
Day 4...
Our last full day in New Orleans began with a recommended eatery called Petunia's. They are famous for their red bean omelet. Being a three egg omelet including a Cajun sausage and cheddar cheese, I'm surprised they are not more famous for their heart attacks. Nonetheless, it was an unbelievably delicious plate of food. Good hash browns, too!
After breakfast, we hopped a bus and headed sort of south and west to an area called the Magazine District or as all the signs indicated, Uptown. It was a quaint little area filled with Starbucks and antique stores and the like. Basically, this was a place my mother would have enjoyed. Like A LOT.
After this excursion out of our known realm, we headed back to the hotel to rest our still-full stomachs and to plan out the rest of our final night. We decided on going back through Bourbon Street one last time en route to our dinner destination: The Gumbo Shop. Supposed 'best Gumbo in New Orleans' was not a fake title according to Matt. Having recently had some Gumbo, I ordered a blackened chicken po' boy and that did not disappoint. (BTW - Look into getting some Abita Ale when I get home.)
At this point, we have consumed a hand grenade and a beer each and we wanted more. We both got refills of our novelty drinks and headed back past Esplinade towards Frenchman street. We stopped back into the spotted cat for another drink and to sit and enjoy a lively jazz band called Skip Robinson and the New Orleans Quartet. They had a great on stage personality and fun sound. Good time.
On the way back to the hotel, my enjoyable buzz was killed by the fact that it was monsooning outisde and my cheap convenient store umbrella was destroyed somewhere near Chartes and St. Louis ave. Despite being drenched, I got into my hotel room and began to pack for our trip home the next day having completed yet another eventful day in the Big Easy.
Now Playing: Cocteau Twins - "Cicely"
Day 3...
Day three. My calves are like bricks of pain at this point. Walking everywhere on concrete has its pitfalls as my legs can attest to. Oh well. Today was a relatively relaxed day. After our wonderful continental breakfast, we headed out to the Cafe Beignet on Royal St. to meet up with a Cemetery tour group. We walked about a mile towards Rampart Ave. through the French Quarter and into the St. Louis Cemetery #1. It is the oldest cemetery in all of Louisiana. Really interesting history and culture over there. All the graves must be made above ground because of the fact that New Orleans is built on swamp land and graves 6 feet under would eventually act like an air bubble and pop back up again. Creepy. The film 'Easy Rider' was actually shot in this cemetery as well. Seeing the statue that Peter Fonda was cradled in during a very famous scene was quite intriguing as well.
After walking back, we got some gumbo and Beignets at the Cafe Beignet on Burbon St. Delicious. Unbearably hot, but delicious. We puttered around our hotel for a while before heading out for dinner again. Bourbon Street was more lively than ever, being a Friday night and all. Going right past the tourist madness, we went to the Port of Call on Espliande Ave. for some burgers and Monsoons. Messiest. Burgers. Ever. However, again delicious.
After consuming dinner, we headed further out of the French Quarter to a place called The Spotted Cat, a little hole in the wall club that had a live band Matt had been told about called the New Orleans Jazz Vipers. They played an array of familiar jazz tunes with a decidedly upbeat way about them. We watched them play, a hippie dance and our drinks empty. It was a good time. The place had a very familiar atmosphere to some of the places I frequent down town in Chicago and in Wicker Park.
Unfortunately, because of my legs, I headed home early and left Matt behind to meet up with a friend of the guy who recommended the band to us. Needing to rest my legs, I plopped into bed around 1 a.m. or so and fell asleep. 'Nother good day.
Now Playing: Bob Dylan - "Like a Rolling Stone"
