The Grand Canyon

Since MC and I are history majors and not geography majors we decided that since we were in California already we should go see the Grand Canyon.

Now in theory this was a great plan. Right up until we realized it was 8 hours away. Not to worry. We already rented a car and had a plan. We were doing it.

So we left LA about 6pm, with a stop at Chick-Fil-A, and made the journey to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon.

We decided to stay in Flagstaff. And by stay in Flagstaff I mean we arrived at 3am and left at noon.

But let's reverse this party train.

LA traffic is horrendous. Insane. We drove along in our sweet rental, facetimed MC's parents (she facetimed, I drove), listened to some jams and then stopped somewhere in the middle of California for some road trip essentials.

I wrote a post a while back about road tripping. This one and this one. MC was a part of one of those.

We got some cold weather clothes, because hello northern Arizona is not warm, snacks, and the most important piece of the puzzle -- an auxiliary cord --.

Now that we had snacks, jams, and a long sleeve shirt we were ready to drive in the rain, wind, and dark to go see "that giant hole in the ground" as both our dads said.

We rolled into our lovely hotel at 3am and asked for late check out. The guy so kindly let us check out at noon. K. Thanks for nothing....

We were up and at 'em at the rousing hour of noon (okay fine you caught me I was up about 6 but I knew MC would murder me if I woke her up) and set out to see the Grand Canyon.

After what felt like eons of driving we finally found it. Or we thought we found it. We found a parking lot. Much confusion and map consulting later we established we were in the correct place and got on a bus to see the foggy views.

 Oh my word, the Grand Canyon is spectacular. Absolutely breathtaking. The fog would clear and we would be left with these beautiful views of the canyon. Complete with rainbows.

One of the bus drivers told us a secret and that was we could take our car to go see the other side of the canyon. We could be on our own time and stop when we felt it was necessary. That is the way to go folks. The way to go.

MC and I traipsed, cartwheeled, and jumped fences all around the canyon trying to see the most that we could see. Taking it all in one day is tough to do, but it was definitely worth it to take a detour and see the canyon. If I were to go again I would book a room to stay there and be able to see the sunrise and set over the canyon.

We did get some killer sunsets on the way back to California. Yes on our way back to California. Gina so graciously offered us a place to stay for the night while we tried to figure out what our next step was going to be.

Turns out sitting in the outdoor mall in LA leads one to Hawaii. I think it was a solid choice on our part. Not a bad consolation prize for not getting to Australia.

MC and I made a pact to really figure out how to get to Australia and plan it out. Sealed our promise with a cheers with our free beers while on our flight to Honolulu.

San Diego

about that public transportation to find that train station...

it's not an easy task to navigate the city of LA on their version of MARTA.

but we made it to the train station alive. barely.

we witnessed two women have a physical brawl as we were getting off at the train station.

and then while waiting for our delayed train...i witnessed two more women (elderly women...) fighting in the bathroom.

LA you need to calm down. just woosahh.

but we finally boarded the train on the way to San Diego to see my friend Jenna. she was kind enough to let us crash at her place in Ocean Beach even though she and her boyfriend both had to be up super early, and we were getting in super late.

i owe her big time. like big time.

after a fairly uneventful train ride full of playing go fish, we took uber to Jenna's and crashed. and i mean crashed.

the next morning we woke up (i woke up because i am that obnoxious person up at some stupid hour) and went out in search of real food.

Jenna recommended Shade's and it did not disappoint. finally full of food (and maybe a mimosa) we trudged back to her apartment to get ready for the day.

one of MC and I's mutual friends from college also lives in SD and told us to come out to day drink with him.

being good southern girls that we are, we jumped in another uber and motored on over to the PB Shore Club. things progressed quickly as the beers are large and cold and the view is killer.

vaughn showed us a good time. to say the least....

his friends live in really terrible places with no view.

gina met up with us in SD and we went out in search of Jenna and her friends to see where the night took us.

just being our usual weird selves and eating the greatest ice cream ever. (sorry jenna that i got no pictures with you! epic fail on my part).

the night started so promising with ice cream and then whiskey got involved and things got silly fast. we drank like we were in college, danced like we were in college, and passed out like we are old. but we had an awesome time and made so many fun memories that we laughed about the next day while trying to pretend we weren't hungover.

we did stay in a baller hotel though.

MC went to breakfast with her family and Gina and I set out on what I like to call the shaky Sunday beach bike ride. we rented beach cruisers at the hotel and tried not die while remembering how to ride a bike. in traffic.

after that death defying exeperience we set out for lunch and ate at the University of San Diego campus. I clearly picked the wrong place to go to school.

once back in LA we hit up the Santa Monica Boardwalk to ride the ferris wheel. I love ferris wheels, so to say i was stoked is an understatement.

we wrapped up the night at a wine bar and a sketchy AirBnB rental. definitely worth it for how racists the iPhone is.

stay weird LA

MC and I are history majors and we thought that making the most of our California adventure meant going to the Price is Right.

Oh wait that has nothing to do with history. we decided to prove why we weren't geography majors and head to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon....

California...knows how to party...

when one of your best friends calls you and asks if you want to go to australia what is the logical answer?

yes. the answer is always yes. logical or illogical the answer is always yes.

the answer is always yes for me because i can't resist the opportunity to travel and or be peter pan for just a little bit longer.

because said best friend has her own best friend that offers you a buddy pass you for sure say yes.

when flying on delta there is only one way to get to australia. that is via LAX.

also when your best friend lives in boston you are forced to wait in the LAX airport for like a gazillion hours for them to get there. (that's an exaggeration on so many levels, but i did wait for her to get to LA for like 4 hours).

the other thing about flying delta is that there is one flight a day to australia. at 1030pm.

when you fly on a buddy pass you are at the mercy of the other passengers to not show up for their flight. needless to say our day one wait did not end in boarding a plane and heading to australia. which was not the end of the world.

we stayed at a stellar airport hotel and then played tourist the next day waiting to get to australia.

we took one of those bus tours of LA. and let me tell you. we learned so many facts about LA. the majority of which i think are probably ::definitely:: false. but it was a fun day and we saw a lot and now have a ton of inside jokes...

walking to breakfast. ya know next to the airport...

the canals we drove over in an E350 church van. :breaking the law, breaking the law:

venice beach.

hellllllllooo lover.

i have an amazing knack for finding the nearest ocean

chinese theatre

see that white blob back there on the mountain? yea that says HOLLYWOOD

now we were not lucky enough to make the flight the next day either. so we made the best of a bad situation and decided to meet up with one of MC's friends (have her play hookie on a friday) and then take the train down to San Diego to see one of my best friends ever.

i must say LA has some killer sunsets.

El Salvador

A day late. A dollar short. (ohk. ohk. 3 months and too many dollars to count short)

Here we go....

Guatemala has some beautiful beaches but I decided to travel a bit further south and see what El Salvador is all about.

I am hear to tell you it was one of the most amazing places I have ever been.

I went to Tunco beach and it did not disappoint.

The journey from Antigua to Tunco took bloody forever, involved walking across a border, and playing chicken with semis, but once you get to the winding road that overlooks the ocean, you quickly forget about all that.

First mission in El Salvador - food.

After getting in the van at 8am and not arriving until almost 3pm I was bordering on murder hungry.

I made some friends on the bus and we set out for the beach and beers.

This is what we were greeted with.

And the view from the restaurant.

One of the greatest parts about being in El Salvador was that the US dollar is the currency they use. No need to convert anything. But the real greatest part is that everything there costs under $10.

The night got super blurry quickly as beer started flowing, drinking games began, and flip cup started. I will say that I play a mean flip cup and I managed to win single handedly. ::golf clap::

Sunday morning started bright and early with a smoothie (necessary - I don't know who I think I am fooling when I play flip cup, I KNOW it always ends in a hangover) and a breakfast burrito. Nothing like juevos y aguacate to soothe all those ails.

And then the rest of the day was spent at the beach. Frolicking in the ocean, running into rocks in the ocean, and generally being a dirtbag beachbum.

My. Perfect. Day.

It was the best way to spend my last weekend in Guatemala.

Bottom line: get your butt to El Salvador.

On the drive back, I saw a couple driving a BMW motorcycle and all I could think was that it would be amazing to get a bike in Guatemala and just drive south. How cool would that be?