Day 5 - Family Visits (Cypress, CA)

Gavin woke up with a new friend.

Gavin and the neighbor's cat.

Mom, my aunt and my cousin came to town. Mom flew in from NC while DeeDee and Jake drove down from Santa Maria to pick her up from LAX. After swimming in the pool, we all pretty much immediately got to drinking.

Salty dog.

Mom was excited that it was my first summer as a legal drinker, so she made a point to get pictures of me in the act.

Me obviously going crazy with the alcohol.

Jake, mom and I took a trip up to a store called Bevmo which is this ridiculous alcohol emporium that we probably need in NC instead of ABC stores.

That's my name.

Grandma made a delicious Italian dinner while we all chatted, and later s'mores were made in her new fire pit. I sat out on the front porch and tried to catch up with this blogging thing while enjoying a glass of wine. I was later taken to the park by Jodie and Bryan's friend RJ, but I was a bit too tipsy to play any basketball. I mostly just watched cute Asian kids be cute.

Family time.

Poolside fire.

I passed out from a food coma/headache too soon to play Shanghai Rummy. Whoops.

Things are comfy here.

-Marie

Day 4 - Cypress, CA

WE'RE. HERE.

Grandma's house in Cypress is my happy place. I would probably never choose to live in Southern California but this place is one of my favorite to visit. There's a pool, the neighborhood is adorable, the couches are comfy, the food is delicious, the air is cool, the weather is warm and rain is uncommon. Not to mention I'm constantly surrounded by family that I hardly ever get to see, AND IT'S 15 MINUTES DOWN THE ROAD FROM DISNEYLAND. a;kd poiu

We slept for a considerable amount of time sleeping and enjoying life outside of the car before taking a short swim. We later walked to get some cheap Chinese/Subway dinner down the street.

Church across the street that reminds me of Chicago architecture.

My cousin riding his longboard.

Outdoor Chinese.

Gavin got a fortune cookie that told him he would find contempt by summer's end. SO SOON.

Even the parking lots look like a tropical vacation.

I slept on the couch for a second night in a row while Gavin chose to sleep on an air mattress outside.

Grr.

I've been reluctant to spend time with my Grandmother's dog, Lex, since his saliva tends to turn his body red and he's nearly 14 years old. But I try to remember that this may be the last summer I ever see him, and maybe he *is* sorta cute.

He also blends in with the carpet.

To be continued.

-Marie

Day 3 - Grand Canyon to Los Angeles

The drive to Los Angeles/Cypress was a pretty lazy one. We left the Grand Canyon around 3PM mentally exhausted and physically sunburnt, scheduled to arrive around midnight. Jodie took over driving for a few cities, then Gavin, then I.

We began to see signs for a place called Roadkill Cafe on Route 66. It was somewhere in western Arizona, and to Gavin's delight, had a penny press machine.

Motel in front of cafe.

"You kill it, we grill it."

An ongoing theme.

The menu was pretty snarky but the waitress was more like buzzkill. Everyone waited for their food while I took some pictures outside.

Stretch of Route 66 in front of Road Kill Cafe.

We left in time to see the sun set over Kingman, Arizona - right near the border of California.

Day drawing to a close.

Sunset near Kingman, Arizona.

California was too dark and sleepy to photograph. BUT, we did get in around midnight and were able to enjoy some olympics and conversation. We all passed out on the couches immediately afterwards. Part 1 of the trip had come to a close.

-Marie

Day 3 - Grand Canyon (GC National Park, AZ)

How can I describe the Grand Canyon...

Shit was bananas.

It never lets me down. You sit in a hot car and pay another 25 dollars for parking at a national park. You know you've seen rock formations on the drive there, you've just driven through terrain with mountains in every direction. But it will never fail to blow your mind, every time you visit.

Can you find the Colorado River?

It's as if you were looking at a desert landscape, but someone scooped out massive chunks of ground and sculpted it. A drained ocean trench. And every now and then you can get a small peak of the Colorado river at the bottom from different angles, and you just want to applaud it.

Pretty dangerous viewpoint.

At times we felt like the only tourists that weren't international. Everywhere there were families shouting in foreign language. It was as if we were in the perfect advertisement for America - walking through the melting pot in the most gorgeous scene America has to offer.

Asian kid shouting "hello!" into the canyon.

Tourist sitting.

We picked a comfortable spot and stayed for nearly an hour, just soaking it all in.

18 pictures sewn together in Photoshop, feat. Jodie and the Grand Canyon.

Jodie and the scene.

Lewis ponders.

Layers and layers and layers and

Pictures could never do it justice.

yes.

Just a small part of it.

We walked maybe a mile(?) away from the car, simultaneously canyon- and people-watching. Sometimes air tours would interrupt the view and a helicopter would crawl across the landscape like a bug.

Jodie and Gavin.

Enjoying sun.

Southern darlin'.

Even the trees were nothing like what we have in NC.

Pretty uninviting.

We stopped inside a viewing area positioned over the canyon. It was wedge-shaped with one long window facing the canyon. Walking through the room was surreal - the scene in the window looked as if it were just a lit picture but moved as you did. It was enough to make you dizzy.

Viewing area.

Tourist at the window.

There was a gift shop inside and a few museum-like diagrams.

Gurando Kyanion

Gavin decided to buy one of these in German. The pictures inside go beyond anything posted here - they honestly make you want to spend a week scavenging the area. I mean sandy caves on the shore of the Colorado, alien-like birds that hang out below and every color of rock imaginable.

Rock layers.

SURPRISE CANYON.

We saw a few little guys like these on the way back to the car -

hello welcome to my canyon~

I even took home some organic souvenirs.

Colors of the Grand Canyon.

Diem Carpe'd.

-Marie

Day 3 - Wigwams, Jackrabbit (Holbrook, AZ)

Yep, we stayed in a Wigwam.

Our cozy hotel room of Wigwam 16.

Like so many other things on our trip, you may have seen this referenced in Cars. When researching what stops to make, this was a major landmark that had gotten almost all positive reviews. The rooms were cozy and retro, the woman running the place was more than helpful and the atmosphere summed up Arizona pretty well. It's historic, nostalgic and quirky.

180 degree view. Our Wigwam is the furthest to the right.

They even parked vintage cars outside of each of the wigwams to keep the feel!

Oh yes please.

Apparently two women had overheard us talking at the Mexican restaurant the night before about our hotel arrangements and got a bit curious. We saw them checking the place out from the parking lot and let them see how the room looked from the inside.

We aimed for waking around 6AM, but with all the exhaustion of driving we stayed another two hours. We took turns showering in the comically small showers before we headed out to the Grand Canyon. One stop was planned on the way - The Jackrabbit Trading Post about 11 miles west of Holbrook, AZ. My research told me of an iconic sign -

Found it.

Unfortunately (and predictably) it was closed at the time. That didn't stop us from taking a few pictures outside.

I may have photoshopped this a bit.

All of our poses on the Jackrabbit jackrabbit.

Me outside of the main door.

It was about 1 1/2 hours to the Grand Canyon from there, considering traffic.

Me driving in Flagstaff, AZ. Love this town.

TO BE CONTINUED.

-Marie