The End

This is the end of a beautiful friendship.

I'm sorry I didn't blog much toward the end. I got some serious tunnel vision right around 1/2 way through the trip. I did update the final tally. It came out to:

ZERO cigarettes (congratulations poodle!!!)
897 fast food meals (this number is purely an estimate)
+/- 3 fights (none of which involved physical violence)
+/- 11,000 miles

oh yeah, and we were around 40% over budget (and I learned in my project management class that is just about normal)

About the fast food: It was maybe not a totally realistic idea for me to give up something that is kind of an addiction (fast food) on a road trip where it's usually the cheapest and easiest food option, and I'm forced to pass hundreds of stores (In and Out! Sonic!!!) while looking sideways at a dryersheet flavored egg salad sandwich. Well, I didn't gain too much more weight, I guess I just need to actually do something about it now that I'm making all these other changes in my life.

Anyway, poodle and I were very lucky to have made this trip together. We couldn't have done it with the financial support of someone to whom I am married. I shall not name names. :)

Poodle and I got to learn a lot about each other, face a few challenges, but overall we had a wonderful time, and I think it was a trip we'll both remember for years to come. I will post a link to the photos as soon as I get them uploaded somewhere, but for now, I shall bid you adieu.

Feel free to follow my personal journey on my personal blog if you are so inclined. If you want to follow poodle's journey, you'll have to convince her to start a blog of her own. I haven't been able to convince her yet.

warm regards
-wm

From the redwood forests...

To the gulfstream waters?

This is a photo of the tree we drove through today. Its pretty awesome.

We are camping at the koa in crescent city, ca and our site is the
prettiest single tent site of the whole trip. Our site is in the
forest in a stand of redwoods. It feels really secluded, even though I
can hear people talking about their grandma fifteen feet away from me.

We almost went to a drive-in movie, but the place looked like a horror
movie set, so poodle activated the "abort mission switch" and we
settled for a mediocre seafood dinner with an amazing view. Tomorrow
we are off to portland, where we will visit the smallest state park,
an amazing bookstore, a waterfall, and the house and lagoon from the
goonies before heading up to forks, wa to reenact scenes from our
favorite books.

Viva los angeles

After two lovely days in las vegas where we were spoiled by our Aunt
Marietta with home cooking (including my personal favorite--pecan pie)
separate bedrooms with separate baths, a pool party with most of our
cousins (including our 7 second cousins) and a visit with our other
cousins' newborn, we hit the road again.

We had a great time in vegas, but we are both desperate to make it to
Seattle on schedule, so we left for l.a. this morning.

When we arrived, of course we decided to see a movie, so we went to
the FABULOUS arclight in hollywood, where we saw brideshead revisited.

Laura joked about it being where the famous people go to see movies,
and apparently she was correct. Of only five people in the theater
(including the two of us) one person was famous. That's 20%! According
to our research, a whopping 20% of the people at the arclight are
famous.

So I got to see a famous person. They even held the door open for me,
and then fell asleep about half an hour into the movie and snored like
crazy-- "just like regular people."

At the end of the film, poodle said "what was up with the snoring guy,
I wanted to kill him." To which I replied, "oh, you mean Eric Idle
from monty python?"

"no way."

"yep."

"dang, I didnt even recognize him"

"I noticed"

"still want to kill him though"

"yeah"

I love Hollywood.

-wm

Sent from my iPhone

New state(s) yell(s)

Here is a picture of poodle at the four corners monument. Standing in
four states at once... An existential crisis.

72 oz. to glory

Here is a picture of someone at the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo,
TX trying the 72 oz. steak challenge.

That's 4 1/2 lbs. of steak, 3 fried shrimp, a salad, baked potato, and
a roll in under an hour. If you can do it, you get your meal for free,
and you get your name on the wall.

Quite a lofty endeavor. Unfortunately poodle and I didnt feel up to
the challenge, but we enjoyed sirloin and prime rib in the kitschy
setting. We are really enjoying route 66, and taking our time getting
across the Texas panhandle. Tonight, we will meet up with our aunt and
uncle in Albuquerque, for what I'm sure will be another outstanding
meal.

Cadiz, KY

Here's a picture of our cousin Joe and great aunt Lucy taken at joes
beautiful home in Kentucky. We had a lovely meal prepared by Lee, and
are enjoying catching up with our family.

We spent the last two days reliving our childhood in lake lure, north
carolina. While there, we rented movies (unfortunately no "teen wolf")
swam in the indoor pool (all by ourselves) and did a drive-by of our
grandparents former home--where a great many of our favorite childhood
memories occurred. All in all, those two days were the most nostalgic
for us, and it made me desperate to buy a home there to host family
get-togethers. Tomorrow lee has promised us a home cooked breakfast,
and then we are off to Memphis where we will visit elvis. (his home
anyway.)

Busch Gardens -- Williamsburg, VA

Here is a picture of "England" at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg. We had
a great time there. Our favorite ride was "the big bad wolf"
rollercoaster. We paid extra money for a pass to buypass the queue for
the most popular rides-- it was totally worth it. Thanks to moms
boyfriend, Richard, for the free passes, which also got us some
excellent discounts inside the park.

The rest of our trip here (Charlottesville) has included pub trivia
with dan (who just submitted his dissertation-- congratulaions, Dr.
Kent) and lots of the video game "rock band."

Obviously I never finished catching you all up on NYC and D.C. But I
hope to do that when I can sit down at an actual computer. :) Patience
is a virtue, friends.

Tomorrow (well, today actually) we leave for lake lure, nc where we
will attempt to relive our childhood by playing air hockey and eating
snow cones.

Washington D.C.

Folk art made of found objects/scrap (mainly aluminum foil) at
smithsonian museum of american art.