What follows is our travel diary that we e-mailed out to a bunch of people. We're posting it for posterity's sake:
March 1, 2000
It's our first day on the road. The roads were clear and the weather has been beautiful.
The trip was pretty leisurely. We stopped at Harris Ranch for
lunch (New York steak of course). That was the first touristy thing
we did. After a few more hours of driving, we stopped by the Borax
Mining Site in the middle of the Mojave. We learned that Borax is
used for everything short of Viagra, and we got to see a HUGE open pit
mine. It
was a pretty cool sight.
Barstow isn't nearly as bad as we had thought. They've got great outlet shopping at least. The place we're staying at is right on "historic route 66," so I keep finding myself whistling that damn song! Anyway, we're both tired so we're going to sleep.
Until tomorrow.
March 2, 2000
We got up really early today and were on the road by 7AM. It was
a bunch of desert scenery again - which lost its novelty after a few hours.
We eventually ended up in high enough elevation that there was
still snow on much of the ground in Arizona.
We did a "drive-by" tour of the Grand Canyon, which was just absolutely magnificent! It truly lived up to its reputation. But, because of our schedule, we ducked back into our car after about 10 minutes and headed back out. We originally planned to stay in Flagstaff, but changed our minds this morning when we saw that Sedona was only about 30 mins. south.
So that's where we're writing from: Sedona. It is truly beautiful.
I know some of you have been here, and it lives up to those descriptions.
The rocks are magnificently red and are nicely contrasted against the
blue sky.
Tomorrow's another early day - our goal is to see the meteor crater and to stay in Santa Fe.
Bye for now.
March 3, 2000
Yesterday was quite a journey. We saw sunrise in Sedona, plus
quite a bit of snow on the ground as we drove towards Flagstaff.
Flagstaff was surprisingly small-ish by the way. We had breakfast
at Coco's in
Flagstaff, since nothing was open in Sedona before 7AM.
Our first stop was the Meteor Crater about 40 miles out. It felt like we were transported back into the "space-age" sixties. The whole place is made to look like it's run by the Park Service. The main building, which was made to look like a government building, was a pretty massive brick affair. All the folks working there had these uniforms that made them look like Park Rangers. But of course, in reality, all it was was a huge, kitschy roadside attraction. Fine by us! The crater was massive - about a mile across. It was a huge hole in the desert - not much more to describe than that.
Our next stop was at the Painted Desert National Park. More beautiful desert shapes in different hues.
The drive through New Mexico was absolutely gorgeous. The cliffs along the interstate were of that reddish rock that's so prevalent here. There were also some boring desert parts.
Although we only drove through Albuquerque, we were both surprised by its size. It was pretty sprawled out - kind of like San Jose. Between Albuquerque and Santa Fe are about 3 or 4 Indian Reservations. We didn't stop at any of them since by this time we just wanted to get to Santa Fe.
And here we are. The middle of town is terrific. Tons of
art galleries, museums and restaurants. The chile on our food last
night nearly burned our lips off! Gooooood... We're going to
see a few more
sights this morning, then we'll be in Amarillo by this evening.
Bye for now.
March 4, 2000
The day started out in beautiful Santa Fe. We checked out the
cathedral, a chapel with some sort of miracle staircase, walked around
and headed out for Amarillo. We checked out some of the artwork in
Santa Fe in the art galleries and artisan shops - we saw a small sculpture
in one that cost $1800! But they were having a "50% sale" - what
a bargain! We got a similar one from the 5 & Dime 3 blocks down
for $1780 less.
The drive to Amarillo was, in a word, dull. The highlight of the drive from Santa Fe to Amarillo was the Cadillac Ranch right outside of Amarillo. The "Ranch" is comprised of six vintage Cadillacs sticking tail-end out of the ground. Very cool.
We're staying at a Days Inn here in Amarillo. The AAA guidebook didn't really have too many interesting things for Amarillo - oh well. We need to rest anyway. Everyone wears Wrangler jeans and half the vehicles on the road are pickup trucks.
Tomorrow, we'll be heading out to Oklahoma City (OK!) and probably do nothing.
Thanks to all of you who have written us back - we really treasure the e-mail treats we get.
Much love.
Pictures!
Here are a few snapshots of our trip thus far:
Grand Canyon
Sedona
Cadillac Ranch
March 5, 2000
Howdy Everyone!
We made it to good ole Oklahoma City. We got an early start this morning--a hot breakfast at the motel and then a friendly mass at nearby St. Mary's Church. The priest was Irish--good sense of humor! Who do you think was most upset about the prodigal son returning home after blowing his inheritance?? Not the brother. It was the fatted calf! It was a good sermon, really.
We passed through Elk City, OK, advertised as the hometown of Susan Powell (Miss America 1981)...woohoo!
We had an uneventful drive into Oklahoma, except for seeing the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere off the I-40. We spotted it at least 3-4 miles away! Of course we listened to the soundtrack of the musical to help keep us entertained. Actually, I slept most of the 4 hours (poor Martin).
We had a chance to go by the site of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building where they are erecting a beautiful memorial. It was very solemn and somber but also reverent and hopeful.
Did you know that...
Oklahoma is the only state without a dome on its capitol building?
Oklahoma is the only state with a working oil field under its capitol
building?
We did get out to see the capitol building. It was very impressive, what you'd expect a capitol to look like, except without the dome.
We finally found time to relax at a café to fill out postcards and just rest. It was quite enjoyable. At dinner our waitress tried to hitch a ride with us when she found out we were from California. Apparently, she's anxious to be anywhere but in Oklahoma, says there's nothing here to do. It's definitely not California.
Tomorrow we'll be in Little Rock looking for interns. Doesn't sound like there's much to do there either so we'll have more time to write postcards and ponder our future in Mumbai.
March 6, 2000
Another day, another 350 miles...or something like that.
Oklahoma (where the wind comes sweeping down the plain) is where we
started our day. We had time to go to the National Cowboy Hall of
Fame in Oklahoma City. It was actually a very nice museum.
Their collection of Western art was impressive, with a couple of Bierstadts
and a number of Remingtons on display. Plus they had a Western
Town mockup, plus a number of displays on cowboy life - clothing, saddles
- all sorts of stuff. Including the largest barbed wire collection
in America - go figure.
Here's Sonia in front of one of the enormous sculptures in the museum.
This one is made from one piece of marble and weighs 8 tons!
Then it was just a straight shot to here - Little Rock, Arkansas.
We only had time to drive by a few sights. The Governor's Mansion
was very beautiful, and this one below is the Old State House - which is
where ol' Bill announced his candidacy and all that. That's Sonia
in the center:
Arkansas - at least through Interstate 40 - is quite beautiful and wooded. We passed by quite a few lakes as well. It's definitely getting more humid - especially compared to Arizona and New Mexico.
Here are a few more pictures we thought y'all might enjoy:
This is what we typically unload from our car every night - our computer,
luggage, important papers, Sonia's body pillow - it's quite a load,
especially since we only stay one night!
This here is the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere. Only
in the South:
This is a typical gas stop - this was somewhere between Texas and
Oklahoma. I loved the dog just sleeping there in the foreground.
That's it for now. We'll be in Memphis tomorrow!
Thanks to all of you who write us back. It's a real treat to read
your letters when we log on in the evening. It also lets us know
if the emails get through!
March 8, 2000
Yesterday we came here to Nashville via Memphis, where we spent much of our day.
Our first stop was, of course, Graceland. The place is like a
miniature theme park. We opted to go for the "Platinum tour" which
took us into the mansion, his car collection, his airplanes and some other
memorabilia museum. As you can imagine, we learned a lot about "the
king of rock n' roll." The mansion was the best part. It was
decorated in the worst extremes of the 70's - green shag carpet on the
ceiling and walls, a "jungle room" complete with flowing water and heavy
doses of veneer, an entertainment room with a bright yellow and navy blue
color scheme - it goes on and on. There was a trophy room with all
his gifts, plaques, costumes displayed. There was even one from the
Philippines (The Bolos of Moro Land - a miniature sampling of moro bolos).
His plane - the "Lisa Marie" - was actually pretty cool. Two beds,
formal dining table, three tv's - way decadent.
The Graceland parking sign (they didn't allow video cameras on the
tour):
We were extremely disappointed that the National Civil Rights Museum
was closed. We were looking forward to seeing that. We were
able to drive down Beale Street. Very colorful, and probably a lot
of fun at night - I'm sure my Mom would love it.
Beale Street:
The other wild thing we saw in Memphis was the "Pyramid." It's an arena
built like a huge pyramid. As a matter of fact, it's the third largest
in the world! It was pretty weird to see it in Memphis, Tennessee
of all places.
(That's our car in the foreground):
We drove around downtown Nashville when we pulled in last night. We'll be doing some sightseeing and then, spend the night in Knoxville.
March 9, 2000
This may come as a relief to those of you who have politely endured
our mass emails detailing our trip. Well, the short version is that
WE'RE HERE!! Yup - we're in Washington, D.C.!! Actually, we're
in Arlington, although we're literally a 5 minute drive from the White
House. Haven't had a chance to say hi to Bill yet - I need to get
this email out first.
Our last email was from Nashville. We spent the evening there
and toured the city during the day. Downtown Nashville was actually
very nice - we were surprised at how pretty it was. Our first stop
was The Parthenon. Yes - as in the Greek Parthenon. Nashville
has the only full scale replica of the Parthenon in Athens. Check
it out:
Inside is a best-guess sculpture of the Athena statue that was in the
original Parthenon. That's Sonia down in front:
After that, we went to downtown Nashville to check out the Capitol, which was actually quite small. But the location is great - it's on top of a hill so it naturally catches your eye. We also went to the War Memorial Plaza, then we went to Ash Wednesday services downtown as well.
The priest was actually very funny. He had this Southern Preacher quality about him, which made his asides absolutely hilarious. At one point in his sermon, after relating an incident where he did a favor for a very rude women, he concluded his story by saying how much he smiled that afternoon thinking: "Thank you, Jesus, that I'm not married to that battle-ax!"
After lunch, we headed off to The Hermitage, which was Andrew Jackson's
home. We found out that not only was he one of the America's great
presidents, but he also managed Michael's career. It was a stunningly
beautiful setting - something you'd see out of a period movie. We've
decided that we want a home with neo-classical Greek columns:
How do you like this one? We went ahead and bought it. That's
me in the car:
Actually, this particular house on the same property is where Jackson's
nephew lived - or something like that.
We headed off to Knoxville to spend the night. That evening, we decided to head directly to DC instead of going through North Carolina to sightsee more. So, here we are!
We're staying at a Marriott Residence Inn here in Arlington. Here's
the address and phone:
1651 N. Oak St.
Arlington VA 22209
703/812-8400
we're in Room 211 (call us!)
Here's what the outside looks like:
Here are the living spaces:
It's pretty gosh-darn unbelievable that we're actually here. As a matter of fact, it was really strange to be driving our little old Acura around DC. I insisted that we drive around the monuments this evening - so I could actually see with my own eyes that we really are here. It is still surreal.
Sonia's Belly:
