Old Western Towns - from Tucson to El Paso

Day 3: Monday, 23 May 2011
We slept a second night at Ashley and Trevor's. I had the guest bedroom, while Ueli slept on the couch again. Since it was a work day, our hosts had to work, so we left the house with them.

I had arranged to meet with two friends in Tucson whom had couchsurfed with me in LA. We met for breakfast, in a strip-mall diner in north Tucson. Everyone in the restaurant there was at least twice my age and twice my weight. It was sort of depressing to see. But it was great to catch up with some familiar faces, the first "reunion" of this trip!
After using some wifi and stocking up on some snacks, we hit the road, passing by what was likely the last In-N-Out Burger that I'd see. Instead of sticking to the 10 freeway, we detoured a bit to see the historic western towns of Tombstone and Bisbee. Tombstone is really an old western town, most widely known for the gunfight at the OK Corral.

There are about 6 blocks of persevered "old town" saloons and whatnot, and there are actors dressed as cowboys walking around everywhere, trying to sell you tickets to the next "gun fight" show or historic mine tour. In the whole town, there were about 75 tourists, and just as many cowboys.

Zombies in the Desert!

Day 2: Sunday, 22 May 2011
Tucson is Arizona's second city, if you will, often overshadowed by the much larger Phoenix. However, unlike Phoenix, Tucson seems to retain a good deal of its history and has a fledgling artist/alternative community, fostered in no small part by the presence of the University of Arizona right in the center of town.

The day started with breakfast at our hosts' place, homemade breakfast burritos. Ashley and Trevor had tickets to a playoff softball game at the U of A, so as they left for that, Ueli and I headed out to explore the city ourselves. It was hot, as one might expect from the Sonora desert in late May. We drove into downtown Tucson, dropped off some postcards at the first mailbox we could find, and then drove toward the Presidio, a historic part of town that seemed worthwhile to visit. But again, it was completely deserted. There was no one else walking around.

There were a few people hanging around like hobos in the plaza near city hall. We walked around, saw some government buildings and then discovered the original pueblo settlement built by the Spanish in 1775 or whatever. The general history of Tucson is almost the same as the history of any city in California: It was settled by the Spanish, who tried to convert the natives to Christianity, then it became part of Mexico during their independence, and a couple decades later was made part of the U.S., and the city really began to grow after the railroad came into town in the late 1800s.

First Day of the Big Trip

Day 1.

It's Sunday, the 22nd of May, 2011. In the "news," if you will, yesterday was supposed to be the day of the rapture, judgment day, the end of the world. Personally, it was the end of the world in a sense - the end of a stage of my life in LA. It was also the beginning of my big journey this summer.

Let me rewind and give some background: I'll be starting grad school in London in September. Instead of simply traveling to London directly from LA, I'll be traveling the whole summer. First, I'm driving across the US to Miami, and then driving to New York, then taking a bus to Boston. From there I'll fly to Iceland, where I'll spend a week, and then onward to England, and around Europe for a couple months before finally returning to London. I only have vague ideas of where I'll be and what I'll do, but things have already been falling into place and I feel like I'm making a good start.

The day started early, and I had been up late trying to pack smartly (which was especially difficult, since I didn't know where I'd end up on this trip). After some goodbyes, I drove to West LA to pick up my travelmate Ueli and to say goodbye to my flatmate. And so the journey began: Our first stop, Santa Monica Beach, where I waded into the ocean and filled an empty water bottle with seawater. The idea was to take this water with me and pour it into the Atlantic Ocean.

Bay Area Weekend 2011

Last weekend I drove to the Bay Area with some friends. Here's everything we did, condensed into a neat little video:

The Final Days in the US

I'm about to embark on my big summer travel adventure. I've been planning this for months--no, for years--and it's finally coming true! I'm a bit nervous, but only because there are still many things to plan (couchsurfing requests to write, flights to book, train schedules to research, guidebooks to buy, and clothes to pack). Because I just left my job two weeks ago, the immediacy of this decision has really begun to hit me. I'm feeling more attached to LA and California than I have ever felt before. It would be much easier to leave if I hated my life here. But I don't. The fact that it has been sunny and hot for the last 10 days (I can't remember how long it's been since I've seen a cloud here!) hasn't helped either.

But the road beckons! Here's my itinerary as it looks now:

21 May - Leave LA
21-22 May - Tucson, AZ
23-24 May - El Paso, TX
25-27 May - San Antonio and Austin, TX
28-29 May - Houston, TX
30-31 May - New Orleans, LA
1 June  - Mobile, AL / Florida Panhandle
2 June - Orlando or Tampa Florida
3-5 June - Miami, FL
6 June - Florida coast
7-9 June - GA, SC, NC
10-13 June - VA, DC, Philadelphia, PA
14-15 June - New York, NY
16-18 June - Boston, MA
--
18-26 June - Iceland
--
26 June - 5 July - Manchester, Liverpool, northern England
5-12 July - Finland
13-21 July - Sweden
22-25 July - Denmark
26-31 July - Hamburg
1-6 August - Berlin
10-15 August - Budapest (Sziget Festival!)

--
Then, I'm not sure - Croatia? Slovenia? Austria/Switzerland? Italy/France? Poland? Luxembourg?
--
mid-September - London

Tijuana Again

For an American (or basically for anyone who looks non-Mexican), walking around central Tijuana makes you feel like a piece of candy left on the ground next to an anthill. All around you, the ravenous storeowners and restaurant staff emerge and stick to you. Shaking one off just allows two more to pounce. Your constant reactions of "no, gracias" become automatic. It's only a 15 minute walk from the U.S., but you really feel like you're in a different world.

Independence.

Leslie and I began our final day in Philadelphia with front row seats to an episode of "Cooking with Laura" - we were treated to the famous Laura sandwich for breakfast. Eggs, basil, chicken sausage, lettuce tomato, carglic, conion, cilantro and homemade aioli on a toasted English muffin, and somehow I also managed to eat my leftover pumpkin cupcake - needless to say we were stuffed and spoiled as we packed up our bags.

Soon we said our good-byes and were on the train, cruising smoothly into central Philadelphia. The whirring of the train past the transitioning urban landscape made me wish that I could ride trains more often. We headed straight for the Independence Visitors Center to get our free tickets to tour Independence Hall.

A Full Day in Philly

When traveling, it is completely natural to compare each new place you visit to places more familiar to you. This comparison of what's different in each culture is exactly where the beauty of travel lies - in learning how and why things are done a different way, you can't help also thinking how and why things are done the way there are at home. In thinking about the very things you have taken for granted, your mind is broadened and you grow as a person. And even in Philadelphia, the birthplace of the United States, I was able to learn a bit more about myself not just as an American, but as a Californian.

It was Sunday morning and my second day in Philadelphia. Alisa, Leslie, and I walked to the train station and caught the train into the city. The train was about 15 minutes late, but we were able to pass our time by playing more 20 questions, which we continued playing on the train (we couldn't guess "avocado" but a nearby passenger chimed in to get it!). Laura joined us on the train.

My transportation for the day was covered by the "Independence Pass" - a one-day ticket that provides unlimited transportation on trains, buses, and the subway in Philadelphia. For $11 it was a no-brainer (our one-way tickets on the train would be $7 each).

GUEST ENTRY! Arriving in Philadelphia, from Leslie's Perspective

What follows is a guest entry written by the amazing Leslie!

I took the Megabus from DC to Philly, although I ended up on a later bus than Jason because people in DC know how to take advantage of a three-day weekend - hence the 10:15 bus was full. After a three-hour bus ride (which arrived early) I found myself sitting in the Philly Amtrak station waiting for Alisa, JT and his friend Vy to arrive. I read people's blogs on my smartphone and "checked in" (receiving the "Pennsylvania" badge). JT and Vy arrived (searching for me in the station like Waldo), and soon after Alisa arrived in her car to pick us up.

Upon arrival, JT presented Alisa with the coveted treasure box of Porto's pastries [which you HAVE to try if you are ever around LA], and Alisa just about died from the excitement right there in the taxi/pick-up area.

From DC to Philly Cheesesteak Heaven

I woke up on Leslie's couch at 8am. I had a bus to catch at 10:15am. As I had some cereal and packed my bags, I watched some CNN (the TV stations here seem to emphasize national news more than entertainment) - the program was debating Marijuana legalization; specifically, Prop 19. Yet another example showing that wherever I go, I can't escape California.

I said bye-for-now to Leslie (she's going to Philly too, but on the next bus), and I walked to the bus stop in the same parking lot as yesterday's food truck festival. The city was much quieter this Saturday morning. People queued and boarded the bus. Our bus driver was an entertaingly loud and friendly black woman named Carolyn. She prodded us passengers to say "good morning" like we meant it! (Unfortunately all these east coast people were more interested in getting to their destination than talking.) Carolyn then proudly proclaimed without any hint of timidness, "I HAVE MENOPAUSE."

Okay, now she got my attention. "This means that the temperature in the bus can either be TOO HOT or TOO COLD. Feel free to come up here and tap my shoulder or slap me in the face so that I'll adjust the a/c."

I was happy to finally encounter someone with a shred of genuine personality.

As the bus left DC, I began texting my friends in Philadelphia to see whether they'd meet me there or wait until Leslie arrived. After a few minutes, I looked up from my phone and saw that we were already driving through the forest (aka suburban Maryland). The rest of the ride went by smoothly.

• I kept my ipod on as the scenery flew by. As I tried to take a picture of the scenery, I had a difficult time juggling my camera, phone, and ipod; I wish there was some gadget that combined all three into one! IF ONLY!
• The bus passed through a tunnel underneath Baltimore harbor, and suddenly the freeway signs read "95 North - New York" ... but what about Philadelphia? Isn't that the next city?
• The bus stopped in a suburb north of Baltimore to pick up more passengers. I noticed that the bus driver announced the stop as "Murryland" - is that how the locals pronounce it?
• Every car on the freeway is from a different state - Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, New York, DC.
• I noticed the couple in front of me, about college-age, were playing a luge/bobsled game on their iPhone.
• Traffic is bad. Especially with all these toll plazas every few miles. The worst backup was trying to cross into Delaware.
• I just crossed from The South into The North. Interesting.

Before I knew it, the bus had whizzed through the industrial areas south of Philadelphia and I arrived in the city of brotherly love.

Bringing Some California Cool to DC's Bureaucracy

Many people just stared at me, confused...

It was my second day in Washington DC, and Leslie and I walked to the Curbside Cook Off in a big parking lot near Chinatown. We had learned our lesson from the previous day's lunchtime rush, and we arrived there just after 11 AM. Nevertheless, the queues at each of the trucks ran almost across the entire lot, with at least 50 people waiting for each truck.

We chose the Sâuçá truck, serving "globally inspired food." Each dish on their menu represented a different region of the world. I went for an Italian sausage wrap while Leslie got an Indian butter wrap. The food was delicious, but not completely filling for $8. The owner was really nice, though, going out and passing out samples of their lemonade to all those waiting in the warm sun. I also got him, and several other people in line, to give me high-fives. Only about 1 hour in, and I was at over 60 high-fives. OH YEAH.

The next stop: Ford's Theatre. Most famously known as the place where President Lincoln was shot, the theater is still a functioning one, and in fact my visit just happened to coincide with a rehearsal of that evening's show, so I was not allowed in. (Yet another building in DC with restricted access! Lighten up people - it's not like I'm climbing in your windows and snatching your people up.) Across the street, the Petersen Boarding house, where Lincoln actually died, was closed for renovations. So Leslie and I had to be content with browsing the exhibit of Lincoln's life and presidency. At least the entry was free.