June 6, 2013

Well, I must say I have had enough of the desert. I miss the cool beaches of the California Coast. The day started unintentionally early. Though we were awake since 6:00 some how it took us four hours to leave the hotel. We were on the road at ten. Tess had spent the morning sniffing around tumbleweeds and chasing geckos. Oh what a life! Our venture into the desert was filled with wide open spaces and tiny dirt tornados. We stopped at a local gas station to grab some food as, to my surprise, McDonalds is not everywhere, at least not in the desert. If you have ever spent long hours in the desert, you know that you go just a little bit insane for a few hours until you make it back to civilization. On one of our longer stretches threw the desert I, being the wonderful singer that I am, sang 99 Bottle of Beer on the Wall. It took me forty-five minutes to sing the entire thing and I am shocked that my mom did not just pull over and push me out of the car by the fifty-fifth beer. To my surprise towards the end she also went a little insane and started to sing along with me.

In the desert you seem to run across weird things. Such as we were driving along and one the side of the road on the other side of a fence was a single llama. He was facing away from the road and he had this look on his face like:

“Well, Carl you did it again, you lost the herd.”

One of the cooler things we did, was we went to the four corners. I had never been to Utah so I stood in the corner of Utah!

Chilling back at the hotel with my little buddy!

June 5, 2013

The trip begins! At 10:00 this morning when I returned home from my graduation breakfast, I dawned on me that we were not ready. I had not fully packed my bag, the car was not loaded, and the dog who was supposed to come with us was giving us the evil eye because she knew that suitcases meant people leaving. (little did she know that we had spent several days packing for her and forgetting to back for ourselves) At 12:00 sharp (one hour behind schedule) we departed San Diego and headed off on our big adventure. Five minutes into the drive Tess (our dog)  was already sound asleep, I not far behind her. If you have never driven about an hour away from the beachy southern California coast, let me give you a visual of what is out there: NOTHING. It is a hot, flat, dry, hot, dirty, hot wasteland. Did I mention it is hot? The temperature rose to a balmy 111 degrees. About two and a half hours into the drive, (we would have stopped at two hours, but we had to keep going because every time we wanted to stop, we were gently reminded that we were in the middle of nowhere.) we stopped and I dined on Panda Express and my mom had In and Out. We ate outside with Tess while she chugged down a bottle of water. We then spent the next four hours in the car together. I would like to take a moment to applaud my mom. She sat in the car for four hours with me of all people…and Tess.

The conversation gets pretty dull when your in the middle of nowhere. I decided that it was time to play some “fun car games” the only one I was ever good at was I Spy. For the next hour my mom sat patiently in the car playing I Spy with me. Let me explain a normal conversation between two people playing I Spy in the middle of the Arizona desert:

Me: “I Spy something white.”

Mom: “That truck”

Me: “No”

Mom: “That sign”

Me: “yep, your turn”

Mom: “I spy something brown”

Me: “That bush, dirt, tree, tumbleweed, that bush, a tree, dirt, a tumbleweed”

Mom: “Emily you can’t say more then one thing thats cheating”

Me: “You can’t at I Spy”

Mom: “Well it doesn’t matter none of those were correct.”

Me: “Mom only so many things are in the desert and I just named all of them.”

Mom: “It was a shrub.”

Me: “Mom a shrub and a bush are the same.”

Mom: “No they are not”

Me: “Yes they are”

Once again I would like to applaud my mother for putting up with all of this. Not only did she put up with this, but she put up with Tess having to go to the bathroom almost every hour. Us pulling up on the side of a highway because she is whining, me getting out and walking her so she can use the restroom., but no false alarm she just wants to sniff around. We get back in the car and repeat. Though we did this trip last year, I am very excited for this years trip as we are also driving back cross-country, too. We arrived at our hotel in Phoenix in time for dinner and to go swimming. It was a great day and I am excited to continue on the hot, dry adventure tomorrow!

Good night to all,

Emily Vertel

I woke up to a beautiful day in Memphis, Tennessee. The sun was shining and the birds were chirping. We got on the road quickly. The first placed we stopped was Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. It was an amazing tour.

I got to stand on the same spot Elvis Presley stood when he recorded his very first record. I also got to use the same microphone that Elvis used when he recorded songs. It was pretty cool. It was neat to hear the history of how he came to Sun Studios and how he became a hit. If you are ever in Memphis, Tennessee, I recommend going to Sun Studios!

After Sun Studios we rode over to a place called Marlows Ribs. We discovered Marlows Ribs because it was on Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives which airs on the Food Network. We ordered the sampler platter which had: Fried Pickles, Fried Chicken, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Fried Corn Fritters. I will say that the Corn Fritters and the Fried Pickles were my favorite.

We also got a Half-Rack-o-Ribs which were AMAZING. Sorry dad, but you have been beaten when it comes to ribs. With the ribs came the Mac n’ Cheese. Now, this baked Mac n’ Cheese was heavenly. We left Marlows Ribs and got on the road.

We were on the road for about five hours with out stopping. Yet, we had to stop for a bit to get more gas.

• When you stop to get gas, you go and use the restroom in a Cracker Barrel.
• When you go to use the restroom in a Cracker Barrel, you shop in their store.
• When you look around in their store, you buy junk. Not just junk, but junk that you could live with out. Thus the word “Junk”.
• When you do leave the Cracker Barrel your mother must stop and stretch in the parking lot.
• When your mother stops to stretch in the parking lot, you ride your rip-stick.
• When you ride your rip-stick you learn a new trick.
• When you learn a new rip-stick trick, you soon learn that you have not been driving for 45 minutes.

So, you get on the road.

It soon became late at night and mom and I were delirious. I saw a sign that said, “Hong Kong Buffet”. So for the next few hours mom and I said, “Hong Kong Buffet” in weird voices. We were very tired when we finally arrived at our hotel. It was 9:30 when we arrived.

We had not eaten since Marlows, so we decided to go have dinner at Red Lobster. We arrived at Red Lobster at 11:00 at night. We had an amazing dinner then returned to the hotel at midnight. Tomorrow we plan on leaving early so that we can get to my Gramps and Nana’s at a decent time. I know that I will be having meatballs for dinner! (Meatballs=a very long story)

I will say that this being one of the last post about our Cross-Country trip, I am happy because I know that when this adventure ends a new one will open.

Through this long journey cross our grand country I have really learned the true meaning of the saying, “It is not the destination but the journey”. Even though this may seem like the end, it is only the beginning of a truly amazing summer!

From,

Emily