HOME!
We're HOME! Finally! Now, to write some stuff.
Day One: DEPARTURE
We set off shortly after my dad got home from work, at around 6-7-ish, and started driving east. There was a lot of traffic, and as soon as it would clear up, my dad would say "It's all clear from here!" but then we'd run into more traffic. XD We reached the Palm Springs area, and saw huge Native American casinos and gigantic awesome windmills. I was listening to my .hack//SIGN OST 1 when we went through that area, and something about listening to The World and watching the lights on the windmills flash in the dark along with the rhythm of the song was unearthly. We hit a long stretch of desert, and everybody fell asleep except for my dad (he was driving) and me (I wanted to make sure we got there safely, and I was carsick). Right before we crossed the border into Arizona, my mom woke up, and when we passed the "Welcome to Arizona" sign, she opened the window and let out a whoop. X| She can be weird sometimes... I saw a very unsettling sign: State Prison - DO NOT PICK UP HITCHIKERS. o_0;; After that, it was mostly pitch-black desert, although with the scant moonlight I could see faint outlines of mountains. As we neared Phoenix, I talked to my dad and we noted the miles left on the signs. Everyone was so relieved when we finally pulled into the hotel parking lot, at 1:30 in the morning. My dad said I helped him by keeping him awake in the last part of the drive. We put our stuff in our room and went to bed.
Day Two: PHOENIX
My dad had a list of apartments he wanted to check out, so we crisscrossed Phoenix's suburbs in search of them. All of the apartment complexes looked the same, and the ladies who worked there looked the same too. O_o;; We all agreed it was a little weird--I think they're androids. =b We had lunch at the local mall, which has two video game stores but no anime store (but I did get some awesome teriyaki beef... XE). The suburbs of Phoenix are basically shopping centers and houses. It's a little scary, like Stevenson Ranch times ten. We did get to see the Mesa Temple, though, and it was AWESOME. I think I had a dream about it once, too. My dad got frustrated because my mom wasn't doing a good job with reading the map and we couldn't find a place to eat dinner. We finally decided on this one steak place, but it took us FOREVER to get in, and when they showed us to our table, it still had food on and under it, so my dad got really angry and we just walked out. We ended up eating at an Italian place, but Andrea got a bad feeling, and when she gets a bad feeling, it means something bad is going to happen. I was really, really scared and we all left, but Andrea said her bad feeling was just because she was upset that Dad was upset. I tried to go to sleep that night, but everybody was snoring.
Day Three: FLAGSTAFF?!
After my mom and dad talked about it, my dad decided that he wanted to prolong our trip an extra day and take us to the Grand Canyon, with a side trip through the Petrified Forest. Furthermore, he wanted me to be the navigator, which was cool because I would get the front seat and I wouldn't be as carsick! On the drive north, we saw some awesome mountains and a bunch of saguaro cacti. We passed through this town called Globe that had OLD buildings (like from the late 1800's), and a high school that was all in one building! o_O We even got to go through Snowflake, and we got to see the temple there! It was so awesome, two temples in one trip! My dad said we probably didn't have enough time to see the Petrified Forest, and I wanted to see the Meteor Crater (which was on the way to Flagstaff), so we decided to see the crater instead. On the way there, Dad told me about when my grandpa drove his family to Texas when my dad was little. He said it was the coolest road trip of his life, and he wants to drive to Texas to see our relatives this summer. We got to the Meteor Crater half an hour before it closed. It was AWESOME. And BIG. They had a six-foot cardboard cut-out of an astronaut at the bottom to show how big it was, and without a telescope you can barely see it. And it was quiet there, too. My mom liked it. As we neared Flagstaff, we started to notice snow on the ground. IN Flagstaff, it had snowed the day before (I think) and there was piles of snow all over the place, except for on the roads. We didn't have enough time to visit the Grand Canyon, though. ._. Oh well, maybe another trip. When we got settled in our hotel room, my dad decided to take us out for dinner again to a steak place in the same chain as the one in Phoenix, and it was great. Our table was clean that time, too.
Day Four: HOME
We woke up at 7 and got out of Flagstaff, but not after we stuffed ourselves at the hotel's continental breakfast. It was sad to see the snow go away after a few miles, but I'm glad it was there for us to play with. Then, we entered desert country. Long stretches of road, vast landscapes, middle-of-nowhere gas stations thirty miles apart... There were these signs for "Route 66," too. I don't get what all the hype is about it. It's just a ROAD. Although, it does pass through St. Louis, which is near where Frankie-kun lives...I miss him... *sniffle* Anyway, we finally got home after hours upon hours of driving, which leads me to where I am now: sitting at my laptop, trying to avoid schoolwork. =b Yeah, I gotta go do it now. I'll probably update more tomorrow or something.
Before I go, I read the new issue of Neopets Magazine at the mall in Phoenix, and I learned some stuff about the characters of the new Maraquan plot.
**SPOILERS** (highlight to read)
The heroes of the plot are a Maraquan Aisha named Isca who has precognitive dreams, and her friend Garin, a Yellow Usul pirate. There's also a Lupe pirate who's the bad guy, and a sinister-looking Maraquan Aisha.
/**SPOILERS**
Hehe. Oh yeah, I looked in my atlas, and Sherman Oaks is at roughly the same latitude as Osaka, Japan. o_O It's sort of weird...I get this good feeling when I'm in Sherman Oaks, and it reminds me of a Japanese city...
Anyway...I guess I should finish unpacking and do my schoolwork now. Ja ne~.
Day One: DEPARTURE
We set off shortly after my dad got home from work, at around 6-7-ish, and started driving east. There was a lot of traffic, and as soon as it would clear up, my dad would say "It's all clear from here!" but then we'd run into more traffic. XD We reached the Palm Springs area, and saw huge Native American casinos and gigantic awesome windmills. I was listening to my .hack//SIGN OST 1 when we went through that area, and something about listening to The World and watching the lights on the windmills flash in the dark along with the rhythm of the song was unearthly. We hit a long stretch of desert, and everybody fell asleep except for my dad (he was driving) and me (I wanted to make sure we got there safely, and I was carsick). Right before we crossed the border into Arizona, my mom woke up, and when we passed the "Welcome to Arizona" sign, she opened the window and let out a whoop. X| She can be weird sometimes... I saw a very unsettling sign: State Prison - DO NOT PICK UP HITCHIKERS. o_0;; After that, it was mostly pitch-black desert, although with the scant moonlight I could see faint outlines of mountains. As we neared Phoenix, I talked to my dad and we noted the miles left on the signs. Everyone was so relieved when we finally pulled into the hotel parking lot, at 1:30 in the morning. My dad said I helped him by keeping him awake in the last part of the drive. We put our stuff in our room and went to bed.
Day Two: PHOENIX
My dad had a list of apartments he wanted to check out, so we crisscrossed Phoenix's suburbs in search of them. All of the apartment complexes looked the same, and the ladies who worked there looked the same too. O_o;; We all agreed it was a little weird--I think they're androids. =b We had lunch at the local mall, which has two video game stores but no anime store (but I did get some awesome teriyaki beef... XE). The suburbs of Phoenix are basically shopping centers and houses. It's a little scary, like Stevenson Ranch times ten. We did get to see the Mesa Temple, though, and it was AWESOME. I think I had a dream about it once, too. My dad got frustrated because my mom wasn't doing a good job with reading the map and we couldn't find a place to eat dinner. We finally decided on this one steak place, but it took us FOREVER to get in, and when they showed us to our table, it still had food on and under it, so my dad got really angry and we just walked out. We ended up eating at an Italian place, but Andrea got a bad feeling, and when she gets a bad feeling, it means something bad is going to happen. I was really, really scared and we all left, but Andrea said her bad feeling was just because she was upset that Dad was upset. I tried to go to sleep that night, but everybody was snoring.
Day Three: FLAGSTAFF?!
After my mom and dad talked about it, my dad decided that he wanted to prolong our trip an extra day and take us to the Grand Canyon, with a side trip through the Petrified Forest. Furthermore, he wanted me to be the navigator, which was cool because I would get the front seat and I wouldn't be as carsick! On the drive north, we saw some awesome mountains and a bunch of saguaro cacti. We passed through this town called Globe that had OLD buildings (like from the late 1800's), and a high school that was all in one building! o_O We even got to go through Snowflake, and we got to see the temple there! It was so awesome, two temples in one trip! My dad said we probably didn't have enough time to see the Petrified Forest, and I wanted to see the Meteor Crater (which was on the way to Flagstaff), so we decided to see the crater instead. On the way there, Dad told me about when my grandpa drove his family to Texas when my dad was little. He said it was the coolest road trip of his life, and he wants to drive to Texas to see our relatives this summer. We got to the Meteor Crater half an hour before it closed. It was AWESOME. And BIG. They had a six-foot cardboard cut-out of an astronaut at the bottom to show how big it was, and without a telescope you can barely see it. And it was quiet there, too. My mom liked it. As we neared Flagstaff, we started to notice snow on the ground. IN Flagstaff, it had snowed the day before (I think) and there was piles of snow all over the place, except for on the roads. We didn't have enough time to visit the Grand Canyon, though. ._. Oh well, maybe another trip. When we got settled in our hotel room, my dad decided to take us out for dinner again to a steak place in the same chain as the one in Phoenix, and it was great. Our table was clean that time, too.
Day Four: HOME
We woke up at 7 and got out of Flagstaff, but not after we stuffed ourselves at the hotel's continental breakfast. It was sad to see the snow go away after a few miles, but I'm glad it was there for us to play with. Then, we entered desert country. Long stretches of road, vast landscapes, middle-of-nowhere gas stations thirty miles apart... There were these signs for "Route 66," too. I don't get what all the hype is about it. It's just a ROAD. Although, it does pass through St. Louis, which is near where Frankie-kun lives...I miss him... *sniffle* Anyway, we finally got home after hours upon hours of driving, which leads me to where I am now: sitting at my laptop, trying to avoid schoolwork. =b Yeah, I gotta go do it now. I'll probably update more tomorrow or something.
Before I go, I read the new issue of Neopets Magazine at the mall in Phoenix, and I learned some stuff about the characters of the new Maraquan plot.
**SPOILERS** (highlight to read)
The heroes of the plot are a Maraquan Aisha named Isca who has precognitive dreams, and her friend Garin, a Yellow Usul pirate. There's also a Lupe pirate who's the bad guy, and a sinister-looking Maraquan Aisha.
/**SPOILERS**
Hehe. Oh yeah, I looked in my atlas, and Sherman Oaks is at roughly the same latitude as Osaka, Japan. o_O It's sort of weird...I get this good feeling when I'm in Sherman Oaks, and it reminds me of a Japanese city...
Anyway...I guess I should finish unpacking and do my schoolwork now. Ja ne~.