Made it to LA!

Alright everyone, I know it’s been a while. We have a lot to catch up on since the last post. But that just makes it more exciting to read, right?

We left Austin around noon on Friday. Michael (or MZ as he calls himself) showed us around his work because we had to go there to return his apartment key. He works with computers and web applications, which sounds boring to me, but his workplace seems to be really cool. His desk has all kinds of posters and fun games and his break room was full of snacks and things. We thanked him for putting us up and everything and then we were on our way to New Mexico!

We decided a good stopping point in the middle of Austin and Phoenix were the Carlsbad Caverns. It is a national park in Southern New Mexico. The caverns are something like 700 feet underground and are quite extensive. We saw lots of stalactites and stalagmites; take a look at those pictures! It was pretty cold too, a nice break from the heat of the desert. After the ranger told us all of the benefits, we decided to buy the National Park Annual Pass so that we can get into all of the other ones we want to go to.

When we were done with the caverns (it took about an hour and a half to get through the whole path) we had our lunch. It was a delicious combination of Spaghettios and Tuna fish. Yum! And we were off.

The drive was pretty uneventful. Most of it was the desert. The biggest cities were El Paso and Tucson. It worried us a little, as we were driving through the endless stretches of desert, that we couldn’t always find a gas station, but we didn’t break down or anything. We called my Aunt Margie and Uncle Harvey to let them know we were going to be there. They told us it would take much longer than it took so we surprised them when we got there early. It was all good though. They fed us and told us all about their journeys. They are really well traveled! They told us we absolutely have to go to Sedona and that Mesa Verde would be a great place to stop on the way to Colorado. It was really cool to see their home in Arizona; I don’t think any of my immediate family has been out there.

The next morning we woke up and were fed a huuuuuge breakfast! They just kept on feeding and feeding us all the delicious foods you could imagine! It was quite the switch from Tuna and Spaghettios. After breakfast Harvey let us ride around the neighborhood in his golf cart. We wandered around the neighborhood and took pictures of the gigantic cacti in peoples’ yards. So big! Then we returned and were sent on our way to meet Jacqueline’s friend Sarah for a hike up a mountain.

Sarah is really cool, and her boyfriend Neil and she showed us around Scottsdale when we met up with them. It is a cute little burb of Phoenix with restaurants and shops. Then we headed to Camelback Mountain. When my aunt and uncle told us we would see a mountain that looked like a camel, we were skeptical. We looked around and kept on being like, “does that look like a camel? No… does that one? No…” But then we saw it and we were like, “OMG CAMEL!” It has a head like a camel and two humps, one bigger and one smaller. It was a great hike. The climb was challenging, but not impossible, making it super fun. But we couldn’t make it to the top though because it was just so hot! Jacqueline’s face looked like a tomato it was so flushed. So we headed back down.

After the climb we went to an adorable, Panera-esque sandwich place. It was scrumptious! And then we went to another adorable frozen yogurt place. Awesome! Then we said goodbye to Sarah and Neil and headed out for Los Angeles!!!!!!

It didn’t take us long to get here, like 6 hours. We got a bit mixed up because Google maps is a dick. But we called Jacqueline’s friends and got some directions and luckily we had a map of downtown Los Angeles. So that’s where we are now! We didn’t have time to do much last night because it was, like, eleven o’clock on a Sunday. And now were eating breakfast and preparing for a fun-filled day! We’ll keep ya’ll posted. And don't forget to check the facebook group for those pictures!