Los Dogers!

Last Thursday Scott and I went to a Dodger game. It was my first adventure to Dodger stadium and it was fun. Apparently this stadium is the oldest stadium now that all other cities have built new ones so that was kind of cool! The people of LA love the Dodgers especially the Hispanics of the city. With a vast majority of fans who speak Spanish the Dodgers have been nicknamed Los Dogers. I love it as I'm a Spanglish speaker. Ha!

I don't know if the Dodgers won or not because we left early but we had a good time.

To appease LG and Turtle....I didn't cheer or purchase a big foam finger!

Troop Beverly Hills

This past weekend Scott and I along with Scott's old roommate David and his wife Shannon went on a fabulous trip to Sequoia National Park to go camping. I'm not one to camp on a regular basis or at all, but I have camped before so I definitely went into the weekend with an open mind and lots of wine! :)

We arrived on Friday night and immediately set up camp and opened the double bottle of wine. Once we finished that bottle the boxed wine was opened. We end up hanging out with the couple camping next to us and keeping other people around us up til 1am. Oops! It was a good time though.

Well those same people we kept up the night before woke us up the next morning bright and early. I guess that's karma for you. We get up eat breakfast and decide which trail to attack in the morning. Scott, Shannon and I tackle the 1.6 mile trek up to a waterfall. Sadly David didn't come because dogs were not allowed on the trails. Why would you allow dogs in the park if they couldn't go on the trails. We thought it was ridiculous.



My hiking outfit. :)

So about half way up to the waterfall the rubber on the bottom of my hiking boots started falling apart. Now a little background. I have had those shoes since 8th grade. They got me through high school and college so I was in a bit off shock that this was actually happening. So Scott rips the bottom of the shoes off so I can still walk. Thank god there was still some rubber there so I could still make the hike. 

So we make it back down the hill to the campsite and set out for an afternoon of sightseeing. Sequoia National Park is know for it's big ass Sequoia trees. It is also home to the biggest tree in the world. I'm going to tell the story of the afternoon with pics.

This is the Car Tunnel. We did drive the car through but this pic is way more fun!



This pic was taken halfway up Moro Rock.

This is at the top of the rock. There is one small railing between me and the edge of the rock, scary!

Moro Rock from the road. It is seriously high up there



Scott at the waterfall. At this point in the season there was only a trickle of water. We have to come back in April/May to see lots of water.



Saturday night we listened to the Auburn game on David's XM radio from his car. It was very 1950s listening to a game and not watching but we won! War Damn Eagle! We continued to drink our boxed wine and had a great time around the fire.

Sunday morning we packed up and headed out. I rode back to LA with David and Shannon because Scott had to go to Stockton, CA for the first few days of the week.

Well I think the camping weekend was a success and I think we will go on another trip soon!

Day 3 and 4

Well I'm finally getting to the last 2 days of our trip. It's only taken me 2 plus weeks to get this done. Blame Scott I had a hard time getting the pics from him as all of them were on his camera. Ok here we go....

After a crazy night with the Dorman's we headed out to Phoenix to stay with my cousin that night. There were 2 ways to get to Phoenix one was going north then south to see White Sands the other was south to see the Carlsbad caverns. We decided to go see White Sands National Park. The terrain was anything but ordinary. It started out with complete desert area to a lush valley. Below is a picture from the lush valley.

To get to White Sands we had go up and over a mountain on back roads. On top of the mountain we came across a town called Cloudcroft which looks like a town straight out of a European ski town. It was so cute. Scott and I would love to go back during the winter to see the snow.



Going down the mountain on the way to White Sands. Its the white in the background. This picture doesn't begin to describe how beautiful it was.



Finally made it!



It was so bright we could not take our sunglasses off at all. Probably wasn't a good idea to wear long sleeves that day.



After White Sands we headed to Las Cruces to eat lunch then get on an actual highway for the rest of the trip. New Mexico was by far our favorite state. There is so much to explore. You could spend weeks and weeks seeing all the there is to see.

We finally make it to Phoenix around 7 to find my cousin was having a Fantasy Football picks party that night complete with a keg. We walked into a total frat party and were totally exhausted. Needless to say we didn't get a lot of sleep that night but it was good to see Jay.

The next morning we were up early and ready to get to LA! The last day was filled with a lot of the same scenery as days before, deserts!

YAY! We finally made it to California!

On the way to LA you go through Palm Springs. I don't think my car has ever had a degree temp that high.

We finally made it to LA!! Yay!!



I think this was a great way to end the trip.


Well I hope you enjoyed reading about the highlights of our trip. Overall we had a lot of fun, but I don't think I want to sit in a car for 4 days ever again!

A little bit of this and that

Well its our second week here in sunny California and so far I like it. One reason could be I can go to the beach at 2 in the afternoon while everyone else is in the office. Hopefully soon I will have a job and won't be able to do that anymore but I'm enjoying it while I can.

Yesterday I went to the DMV to get a California drivers license and to register my car. To obtain a Cali drivers license you have to take the written test. You are supposed to study for something like that but I took a couple of the sample tests online and expected it to be very similar to that. Boy was I wrong....that test was semi hard. Did you know that in this state you can't smoke in the car with children 18 or younger?? Well that was one of the questions I got wrong. BUT I passed the test by the skin of my teeth. Thank goodness! I did not want to go back there!

Oh and yesterday while trying to find my car insurance card I noticed that in fact I didn't have it in my car  and have been driving all over without it. I don't recommend driving cross-country unless you have it! Thank goodness we didn't get pull over.

This weekend we are going camping in the Sequoia National Forest with some of Scott's friends. Scott was told to bring some food just in case we didn't catch anything to eat. I told him we are DEFINITELY bringing food for all meals! I'm not one to eat off the land. Of course Scott rolled his eyes. He'll get over it. I will let everyone know how this weekend goes! ;)

I hope all is well on the East Coast!

J

On the road day one and two

Our first day started at 6am so we could make it to Dallas that night. The first day was the worst day for me. It was very sad to leave my family and friends. As my emotions were running high I'm sure Scott was thinking "Is this going to last all four days in the car?" Well it didn't by the time we reached Louisiana I was kind of back to my old self.

I was exposed to a lot of new things on the road that day: the mighty Mississippi, crop dusters (the job not the bodily function), I had brisket in Dallas and did you know that most of the Texas roads are known as FM roads which means Farm to Market. Had no idea that even existed! Now everyone who reads this will know too!

Below is us entering the great state of Texas.

Once we finally got to Dallas we met up with Rhodes for some Texas barbecue. We went to a place called Hard Eights. Scott worked in Dallas last year for a few weeks and fell in love with this place so we had to make a trip. I had brisket for the first time there. It was really good. All this food talk is making me hungry!

It was great to see Rhodes. I promise you he gets taller every time I see him!

Well the next day we got up and did it all again. Our plans for day two involved seeing The Dorman's whom I love.

Just to let all ya'll know...there ain't shit in West Texas. I'm not kidding, there is nothing! Well except for turbines. They are everywhere and they are HUGE!

We finally got a reprieve from the heinousness that is West Texas as we made it to New Mexico.

Southern New Mexico is much like Texas but better because the Dorman's live there. The city they live in is quite interesting. Carlsbad is like living in Spain. There are siestas, not kidding. Here's what happened, LHD told us to get to Carlsbad around lunch so we could go to her favorite lunch spot. We'll we didn't get up as early has we wanted to so that put us behind by an hour. Now in a "normal" city most restaurants are open from 11ish in the morning to 10ish at night knowing that after lunch and before dinner would be a little slow. Not Carlsbad they think well no one will want food between 2 and 5 so we will close to take a nap. (not sure if they actually nap but they aren't working and could have made good money from us as we were hungry!!!) So we arrive at 2:15 with no where to eat that was authentic to Carlsbad. Well we ended up at Chili's. We drove 2 days to eat at Chili's! Ha! But the most important thing is we go to see our friends.

That night LHD made dinner and enthusiastically showed me how to make it so that I am more domestically desirable. Her and I drank 2 bottles of wine while the boys finished a bottle of Sweet Tea Vodka we brought them. It was a late night than another early morning.

Days three and four to come...

J

LA

I know I was supposed to update along the road but each day was more draining than the last and we don't have internet at the house we are staying at so Shannon has graciously let me borrow her computer so I can look for jobs and update this thing without having to go to Starbucks.

We have found a place to live!! Yay!!! It is in Redondo Beach, .1 miles from the beach and cheap rent. We made our first trip to the beach from our place yesterday and it was amazing. It was the first day the sun was out at the beach. weird, right? Well the beaches in the South Bay are weird. There is intense fog in the morning which usually burns off by 1pm but ever since arriving in LA that has not happened except for yesterday. It was a great day!

I will post our days on the road very soon!

Today is filled with finding a job, getting things set up for the apartment and finding a job!

I miss everyone in Atlanta!!!!

J