The Final Leg...AY

There is nothing quite like the sunshine of Los Angeles ~ granted it’s expensive sunshine ~ but wonderful nonetheless. We had just a few short days here…enough for Jen to go shopping and for us to recover before the casual 16-hour straight shot to Portland on Monday morning. The time here is always too short...and as we packed the car for our 5am departure…Gus looked about as unimpressed as a dog can at the prospect of climbing into a car once more. The final leg of our trip was smooth and we arrived in Portland to collect the keys to Jen’s new place and with 24 hours to prepare for the Herrera invasion of Portland.  Of course there is no better way to help someone move into their new place than to get a stomach bug and end up in a cold sweat and a fetal position on the floor….but that’s just the sort of dedicated partner that I am. With Jen moved in to a great new place, we spent the week with the family who had arrived from Los Angeles to celebrate the wedding of Lucas and Kirsten.

We knew the day was coming, but after an incredible summer traveling together, including 25 states and two Canadian provinces in three weeks, we chose to live in denial of the fact I would return to the east coast to start my residency training. With a final weekend together we decided to climb back in the car and head towards America’s New Zealand…Canada (minus the sheep and Velcro gloves...). It was an incredible weekend ~ we ventured through Vancouver for a day or two…taking in the beaches, the parks, fish and chips and Chinese gardens, before it was off to a friend’s cabin by the lake a few hours east. Here, despite neither of us being seaworthy, managed to take a small boat out on the lake – and return to shore without any major events. Then we swam and looked around some national parks nearby before heading back to the US.

Now with Jen all set for another year in Portland, I will climb on a plane back to the east coast to start the final leg of the academic adventure they call graduate school. 

Pics: Jen’s new digs, an unimpressed Gus, Vancouver, Chinese Garden, Vegemite icecream and the lake.

Grand Views

Although I had visited before, the views that the Grand Canyon provides can take your breath away, regardless of how often you have been fortunate to visit. We took in the sun setting and then rising over the majestic canyon, which no photo can do justice to, before packing up and moving on again. The next day took us to Phoenix and then onto our final stop before Los Angeles ~ a place that no road trip is complete without paying homage to…Los Vegas. With friends arriving in Vegas to help celebrate in style we finished our trip across the country in style. After a quick stop in LA it will be onto Portland for Jen to start school and to allow our poor car to rest after our cross-country (x2) summer adventure.

Pictured: The Canyon in all its glory.

Southern Trippin

From Canada it was on the road again south to Kentucky and some friends in Louisville, where we indulged in some excellent food and drink before making our way to Tennessee. We moved through Nashville and onto Memphis where we attempted to check off all the necessities ~ a catfish sandwich from the famous Marlowes, the blues clubs and of course, the 70’s ‘splendor’ of Elvis’s Graceland. Managing the humidity of the south we now turned west towards Oklahoma and onto Santa Fe and New Mexico. Santa Fe was a welcome surprise ~ the dry heat replaced the humidity and this relaxed city provided the ideal location to explore some of the natural wonders nearby. The caves of an ancient Indian tribe carved into the wall of canyon, an immense crater provided and the birthplace of the atomic bomb provided plenty to do for the day before returning to town to explore the city center and eat our body weight in Mexican food. Then it was on the road again to Arizona and the very aptly named Grand Canyon.

Pictured: Lynns, Graceland, the caves and the crater, and Gus indicating that he too might be over the drive at this point.

Falling into Canada

Our three-week trip this summer would take us through 23 states and one Canadian province…with our first stop being Ontario to see Niagara Falls. We spent the evening with a friend just across the border and then with Gus in tow we headed to the falls. As most know, there is both an American and a Canadian side of the falls…with the Canadian side generally considered to be more superior. This rare Canadian win over the US (granted with a little help from nature) was not lost on the crowd of school children…who took great pride in regularly stating that ‘their side was better than the American side’. The falls were amazing and well worth the detour, but then we were back in the car and heading south through New York State to our next stop in Kentucky. Jen provided considerable entertainment at border control, becoming extremely nervous under the ‘interrogating’ questioning of the guard. When asked how we knew each other (i.e. wanting to know if we were a couple, friends etc.) Jen nervously launched into the story of how we met at UCLA…the fact I was an exchange student…the guard did his best to maintain a level of professionalism as he stopped her mid-sentence to clarify. Needless to say, Jen is no longer considering a career as an international spy.

Pictured: The Falls and Gus helping with the drive.

Moving...Slowly....Very Slowly.

So we as we arrived in South Bend we considered the extensive list of loose ends to tie up in the coming five days before we departed in a moving truck for New Haven and Connecticut. Moving is a horrendous task, and we now fully appreciate exactly why movers can charge whatever prices they like. As we moved through the list we made the most of seeing some friends for the last time for awhile, sharing good food and some drinks and contemplating how quickly the past four years has gone in many ways.

As the moving day neared it was time to pick up the truck and begin to pack our lives into the 12 by 10 foot space sitting on four wheels. In the midst of 95 degree weather and high humidity we began to load everything in such a way that a 15 hour journey would not shift it at all….this of course would have been easier with ropes for instance…or boxes….or really any actual packing material. Drenched in sweat the truck began to fill, the illusion of being a minimalist quickly disappearing (it’s all Jen’s stuff of course). With a final wave we were off though – having successfully loaded our lives and the dog into a truck and off on the road for the 16 hour drive to New Haven.

With wonderful irony it was 95 degrees and just as humid in New Haven as began to madly unload the truck into the my third floor apartment, with the added thrill of impending thunderstorms coming in the afternoon. As the apartment began to fill, with Gus tied to the truck greeting passers by, and Jen and I quickly nearing a level of dehydration that would require medical attention – we finally reached the end…carrying the final piece of furniture into the foyer as the heavens opened.

With two days to spend in New Haven we made our way around the Yale campus, marveling at the myriad of ways in which a person can appear pretentious, and then out to dinner with some friends to sample the famous/infamous mashed potato pizza (actually damn good). Then we locked the apartment, threw Gus in the back of the car and set our sights on Canada and Niagara Falls…on the road again for the next few weeks as we make our way back across the country.

Pictured: Minimilist eh?, Gus continues his travels, Gus after a long day of moving, my new home for the coming year, and my new home for the coming year.