5.5 hours and 265 miles later, and I made it to Henderson NV to visit Aunt Margie and Uncle Fred! The drive was less than glamorous as majority of the drive was through the desert. Although some of the giant rock formations were cool, it's definitely not the 101 with the Pacific Ocean and vineyards. I expected the weather to be 100 plus degrees driving through beautiful San Bernadino, Barstow, the Mojavi, and Nevada (sarcastic tone included), but thankfully this bizarre cold front and tropical rain storm was headed inland and it actually rained for some of the drive. It was humid and overcast, but I'll gladly take that over dry desert.
The drive was a little rough due to car "troubles". The temperature gauge for the engine keeps jumping up into the HOT zone. To the point where I think the engine is going to overheat = engine explosion = stranded Kaleena. We thought we had taken care of this issue on Friday when we got the car tuned up, but apparently not. Tomorrow morning we'll be dropping the car by the mechanics to see what the deal is.
Margie and I went out to Sammy's Wood Fire Pizza for dinner. Delicious. A lot like CPK, but with a fancier not so broad menu. We ordered Greek salad, a sun dried tomato pizza, and angel hair shrimp pasta. Needless to say I'm still full.
It's been a great first day of my trip! After the car thing in the morning tomorrow I'll be a regular Vegas tourist! Obviously I'll be visiting the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef in honor of shark week.
Aloha
PS: pics to follow tomorrow. Jaws Comes Home is on
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
Back to SoCal
Greetings from SoCal!
I can't believe that my trek is already underway! 6 weeks went by unbelievably fast, but I am more than a little excited to start this trip. I'm super tired from the last few days, but I want to get this up before I forget/become too lazy.
Wednesday was long and stressful, but well worth it. After working all day, I got to run home to try and power move all of my remaining belongings to several different locations. After breaking a sweat, it was a quick shower then off to dinner with some of my favorite people. Thanks to all those that did make it out! "Sushi, Sake Bombs, and Shenanigans" was certainly a great success seeing as several of us had hangovers today. I must say, there really wasn't a better way to leave SLO then to have an all out dance party at The Library.
So because I was one of those that had a hangover this morning, I managed to miss lunch with Aunt Carol in LA. We did get together for dinner with Dad at Wahoo's though! Lucky for me Dad is the ultimate outdoors man and he had almost everything I needed for my camping trip. This includes: cooking utensils, knives, rescue whistles, first aide gear, and a whole bunch of un-used fishing gear. Anything he didn't have we found at good ol' REI, which seemed to have a 20% increase in pricing in comparison to other sporting stores. Typical LA.
Finally, I made it to Orange County! Mom and the dogs were SUPER excited to see me :) Always nice to feel loved when you get home. After 5 hours of driving, +200 miles, and unloading/organizing some gear, I'm finally ready for bed. Tomorrow includes getting the car tuned up for the drive and random errands to continue the prep work.
Aloha!
~Kaleena
I can't believe that my trek is already underway! 6 weeks went by unbelievably fast, but I am more than a little excited to start this trip. I'm super tired from the last few days, but I want to get this up before I forget/become too lazy.
Wednesday was long and stressful, but well worth it. After working all day, I got to run home to try and power move all of my remaining belongings to several different locations. After breaking a sweat, it was a quick shower then off to dinner with some of my favorite people. Thanks to all those that did make it out! "Sushi, Sake Bombs, and Shenanigans" was certainly a great success seeing as several of us had hangovers today. I must say, there really wasn't a better way to leave SLO then to have an all out dance party at The Library.
So because I was one of those that had a hangover this morning, I managed to miss lunch with Aunt Carol in LA. We did get together for dinner with Dad at Wahoo's though! Lucky for me Dad is the ultimate outdoors man and he had almost everything I needed for my camping trip. This includes: cooking utensils, knives, rescue whistles, first aide gear, and a whole bunch of un-used fishing gear. Anything he didn't have we found at good ol' REI, which seemed to have a 20% increase in pricing in comparison to other sporting stores. Typical LA.
Finally, I made it to Orange County! Mom and the dogs were SUPER excited to see me :) Always nice to feel loved when you get home. After 5 hours of driving, +200 miles, and unloading/organizing some gear, I'm finally ready for bed. Tomorrow includes getting the car tuned up for the drive and random errands to continue the prep work.
Aloha!
~Kaleena
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
SLO-ya later!
Aloha Family and Friends!
Yesterday and today have been bitter-sweet. While I am so excited to start my trek out to Denver, it's sad to say goodbye to all the things and people that have been with me the last 5 years. SLO has been so freaking good to me, it's just hard to say goodbye- even if it's temporary. Living in this house for 3 years means that I have crap EVERYWHERE. I'm so thankful that Mark and Joanne graciously gave up their Sunday to drive down and help me pack up the house. Joanne, was Mrs. Prepared with boxes, labels (with ~kaleena~ on them) for the boxes, labels for different piles of boxes, packing tape, and she of course brought her handiest tool: Mr. "Yes'm". Needless to say I would be useless without their help!
Today consisted of working at Zoo Camp and moving into my friend Becky's house (soccer alumni). She has kindly allowed me to pack all of my belongings into her garage while I'm gone. I had the Xterra packed to the brim and moved majority of my things. All that is really left are some clothes and my furniture. That I'll leave for tomorrow. I've, surprisingly, managed to put most of my ducks in a row. For once in my life I'm not procrastinating and I got all the important things taken care of! It's still shocking that I graduated from college without missing turning in a paper/project.
Since I got most of the hard stuff done, tomorrow I'll be trying to surf for the last time for 3.5 months :( I will certainly miss the smell of the Pacific.The beach has always felt like home, and I've never been more than 20 minutes from the sand, so Denver will certainly be a challenge. The rest of the day will include tying up some loose ends and moving out of the house completely. Wednesday I have work 8:30am-3pm then the Goodbye/Happy Birthday Whitney dinner with all of our friends at 7pm. Should be a blast! Of course we're headed to SUMO for sushi, sake bombs, and shenanigans.
Thursday: Goodbye San Luis Obispo. Drive to LA for lunch with Aunt Carol, then dinner and REI with Dad.
Until next time, Kompai!
Yesterday and today have been bitter-sweet. While I am so excited to start my trek out to Denver, it's sad to say goodbye to all the things and people that have been with me the last 5 years. SLO has been so freaking good to me, it's just hard to say goodbye- even if it's temporary. Living in this house for 3 years means that I have crap EVERYWHERE. I'm so thankful that Mark and Joanne graciously gave up their Sunday to drive down and help me pack up the house. Joanne, was Mrs. Prepared with boxes, labels (with ~kaleena~ on them) for the boxes, labels for different piles of boxes, packing tape, and she of course brought her handiest tool: Mr. "Yes'm". Needless to say I would be useless without their help!
Today consisted of working at Zoo Camp and moving into my friend Becky's house (soccer alumni). She has kindly allowed me to pack all of my belongings into her garage while I'm gone. I had the Xterra packed to the brim and moved majority of my things. All that is really left are some clothes and my furniture. That I'll leave for tomorrow. I've, surprisingly, managed to put most of my ducks in a row. For once in my life I'm not procrastinating and I got all the important things taken care of! It's still shocking that I graduated from college without missing turning in a paper/project.
Since I got most of the hard stuff done, tomorrow I'll be trying to surf for the last time for 3.5 months :( I will certainly miss the smell of the Pacific.The beach has always felt like home, and I've never been more than 20 minutes from the sand, so Denver will certainly be a challenge. The rest of the day will include tying up some loose ends and moving out of the house completely. Wednesday I have work 8:30am-3pm then the Goodbye/Happy Birthday Whitney dinner with all of our friends at 7pm. Should be a blast! Of course we're headed to SUMO for sushi, sake bombs, and shenanigans.
Thursday: Goodbye San Luis Obispo. Drive to LA for lunch with Aunt Carol, then dinner and REI with Dad.
Until next time, Kompai!
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