Quick Facts:

• Distance Traveled: 436 miles
• Lunch: Cracker Barrel, Kyle’s favorite restaurant
• Books Listened To: Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
• Altitude: 6,000 feet
• Scary Thunderstorms Traveled Through: One
• Hotel: Red Roof Inn in Gallup, New Mexico

Kyle and I took a trip to the Grand Canyon three years ago, so we decided to drive straight through Arizona this time around.

The weather, for most of the trip, was perfect–75 degrees with a pleasant wind. Arizona is beautiful with a giant sky and huge clouds and zillions of juniper bushes that spot the landscape like a never-ending Christmas tree farm. The highway signs kept telling me to look for elk and rams, but the only creature I saw was a dead coyote on the side of the road. False advertising.

I did, however, see my first desert cactus.

At the end of the day, Kyle and I went to the painted desert and petrified forest. The painted desert was not as vibrant as it usually is because of a persistent thunder storm that had started about an hour beforehand. I still enjoyed the weird rock formations.

Now the petrified forest was amazing. The trees, which are millions of years old, are gorgeous amalgamations of colors–red, yellow, white, black, orange. Sometimes it’s hard to believe they are stone. Other times, it is hard to believe they were once trees.

A pile of rocks? No, the roots of an ancient tree.

The thunderstorm was the strangest one I have ever been in. Because the clouds were interrupted by the blue sky, you could see where it began and ended. As we drove into it, giant bolts of lightning twisted in the sky and when we got on the highway again, there was a giant rainbow that ended on the freeway. We drove right through it. (No pot of gold, though.)

Then, it started to hail. Soon it was hailing so hard, I thought it was going to break through the window. Lightning was flashing all around us. It scared me, so I put my hands over my face and tried not to freak out. After awhile, I decided that if the hail was going to go through the window, it would have done it already and started to calm down.

Just then, a giant bolt of lightning streamed down and struck across the freeway. It was so close, we could see how the end of the lightning looked like a red poker when it struck. I more or less held my breath from then on, and finally, we came out of it. The sunset that night was amazing.

Tomorrow: Santa Fe.

Quick Facts:

• Distance Traveled: 601 miles
• Temperature: Hot with weird hot wind
• Hotel: The Stratosphere, the one shaped like a space needle
• Dinner: A surprisingly good sea bass at the Luxor, the one shaped like a pyramid

The drive over was smooth and fast, considering. I now know it’s not that bad to drive 600 miles in one day. The Mojave Desert was hot but not unbearable, especially since we spent most of the drive under a sheet of clouds.

This is the second time I’ve been to Vegas. I’ve now been to the entire strip. I put a dollar into a slot machine and did not win. Bummer. I watched people on drugs and women in tiny tiny tops and drunken packs of 35-year-old housewives out on the town with the girls. One lady was not wearing pants–she was wearing white leggings circa 1989 and a red polka-dot shirt, and the leggings were completely see-through. Two old guys with stringy hair were filming a handsome young man walking down the Vegas Strip for a movie or TV show. The actor was looking up at the lights in a country-mouse-in-the-city kind of way, and he did not break character even when the old guy shooed a woman out of his path by shouting “Clear!” Everything is so dramatic in Vegas. I suggested to Kyle we get matching “Sin City Kitty” tee-shirts, but he wouldn’t go for it.

It was fun, but Vegas is getting so expensive! I’m mean really, if I am going to buy a $12 cocktail, I’d better be in the fanciest most awesome bar in San Francisco, not in an overrated desert town. Where was the free food? The $2 margaritas? Will people keep coming here when they realize all that’s going away?

Probably. But I won’t.

Today, I am going to … Gallup, New Mexico … possibly? Adventure!

Starting Saturday, Kyle and I will be embarking on our cross-country vacation. It’s planned to last from September 15-October 3. Here is the basic route again:

We will be visiting the following states:

• California
• Nevada
• Arizona
• New Mexico
• Texas
• Louisiana
• Mississippi
• Tennessee
• Kentucky
• Missouri
• Kansas
• Colorado
• Utah

So, lots of driving coming up. To entertain ourselves, we set up a system that will allow us to be completely wired as long as we have cell coverage. This includes Internet access via Kyle’s ENDO wireless internet card and phone-calling ability via a blackberry and calling card. I will also be blogging and taking pictures with my new camera.

But we aren’t stopping there with the gadgets. No! We will also have:

• Our laptops (of course)
• A GPS system borrowed from Paul, along with an atlas, compass, highway stops book to keep us from getting lost
• An Archos media player filled with movies, music, and books on tape.
• A cooler that plugs into your cigarette adapter to keep food cold, which will save us money on lunches and diet soda.
• My knitting, which is kind of the opposite of a gadget, but I feel inclined to mention it anyway.

We’re taking our 2004 Honda Civic, which is currently getting 44 mpg on the freeway. The entire trip should cost less in gas than two airline fares, and we don’t have to deal with airport bs.

Another aspect of this trip is that there isn’t a solid plan. I know where we are going and we do have hotel reservations for certain cities like New Orleans and Las Vegas, but much of this is unplanned. We’re going where the wind blows us! (Don’t worry, we have camping gear so that if the wind gets us stuck, we can set up a tent.)

I may hate this trip. I might be bored and dirty and stressed from not having a decent bed to sleep in. On the other hand, it may be a grandiose adventure to rival Kerouac’s On The Road (which, coincidentally, just celebrated its 50th anniversary).

In either case, you should be able to follow along. Keep coming back to read about and see pictures of this rascally country of ours–or at least part of it.

So I’ve been nattering on about going to Peru on here. That’s still a trip I want to take someday, but I decided it would be extravagant to buy a house and go on a big vacation in the same year. It’s cheaper and just as fun to do something else I’ve wanted to do for a long time–go on a cross-country road trip.

Here’s our potential route, Southern first, then Northern:

We would spend roughly a day in each state, with the exception of Texas–too big to do in one day–and Kentucky–we would stop and see Kyle’s family for a few days. Since we can’t see the entire country, we decided to concentrate on the South, and will be making a nosedive to New Orleans, and then up through Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and back along the North.

This way, by the time I get ready to do another big trip, I’ll be over my “airplanes are a pain in the ass” mode, and will be more open to flying more than 10 hours.

We are going to be winging a lot of this. Few or no hotel reservations, just drive and stop whenever. I know how boring parts of it will be. But here’s the thing: We plan to be completely wired the entire time. As long as there will be cell phone coverage, we will be on the Internet and e-mail. We may even have a GPS with us. I’ll have books on tape and knitting and my laptop. We’re getting one of those coolers that plug into the car, so we will have snacks. It will be an adventure, Jack Kerouac style! (Only in a car with the Internet.)

Some of the things I plan to visit on my trip:

Las Vegas
The Georgia O’Keeffe museum in New Mexico
Aztec ruins in New Mexico
Austin, Texas
The Texas Conspiracy Museum
New Orleans
Faulkner’s house in Mississippi
Kyle’s family
Memphis, Tennessee
Graceland
Hannibal, Missouri (Mark Twain!)
The Rocky Mountains
Salt Lake City
Some park in Utah–maybe Zion?

Any other suggestions of what we should see? In particular: Is there anything to do in Kansas?

I am planning my trip to Peru–We’re going in October. It is making me think about travel. The other day, someone asked me what my top trips would be if I could go anywhere in the world, which got me to thinking about allllll the places I want to go to. So, I made a list of the top places.

First, the list of places I’ve been:

Small! Very Small.

Here are the trips according to the order I would see them in if world politics and length of plane rides weren’t a problem:

Spill-over countries (countries I will get to if I go to all those other places–i.e. not that likely): Russia, Cuba, Holland, Switzerland, Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), Austria.

I have given up on a few things. I’m not sure Antarctica is so interesting–in theory it sounds neat, but in reality, it sounds cold and dull. I am not interested in oppressed Muslim countries where I might get stoned if I wear shorts. I don’t like gross toilets, dirty hotels, and getting sick on vacation, so many adventurous places will remain unseen by me. On the other hand, I don’t like sitting on the beach doing nothing, so don’t need too many vacations like that. I dislike being on a plane, so I’m only going to take a long plane ride if I really want to go somewhere, knocking quite a few places off the list. I don’t have a problem with being a tourist, so I feel no need to make a big deal out of not being a tourist by going to dangerous places or trying to find off-beaten paths with strangers. Finally: I’m bad at geography, so I might be missing some places because I am forgetting them or don’t know enough about them to know why they are cool. The list could change because of that.

But barring that, there you have it: 19 trips–20 if you count Peru. Do you think I can do them all?

What’s your list?

ETA: Is it weird that I don’t want to go to Prague because I don’t like the sound of the word Prague? It sounds ugly and boring, like a computer game created circa 1985 involving pogo sticks. Who can jump the highest in the Prague game? Super happy time! That is what I think of.

I am considering where I want to go next year on vacation. It will probably be our last big vacation before we start concentrating on buying a house. Originally I had considered going to Africa, but I now know that I don’t want to sit on a plane for 18 hours. I have decided that 10-12 hours is my limit. It’s not that I don’t ever want to go to Africa–In fact, I fully plan to some day. But later in life. Not now.

So, due to the (relatively) shorter plane ride and the fact that I (sort of) speak the language, Kyle and I are considering South America. I haven’t read up on South America enough to make this decision, but right now we are seriously considering Peru.

Things that Peru has:

• Machu Picchu

• Lake Titicaca
• Wild llamas (!)
• Hummingbird tours
• Volcanoes
• The Inca capital of Cuzco
• The Amazon rainforest
• The Nazca Lines

I find Peru really interesting and have always wanted to go there. In addition, I heard that they are considering restricting or shutting down parts of Machu Picchu because tourism is destroying the place. So I want to see it while I can.

However, I am also interested in the Galapagos Islands. They are off the coast of Ecuador, which is right above Peru. For a couple of exciting hours I thought I would see both Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands, but that doesn’t look logistically possible. At least not without tremendous effort and a lot of extra travel. Which is too bad, because the Galapagos Islands have:

• Unique species
• Giant tortoises
• “An incredible mix of polar and tropical species, from penguins and fur seals to flamingos and tropical fish.
• Volcanoes
• Animals that aren’t afraid of humans (I wonder if tourism is changing this?)

If we did the Galapagos Islands, we would go to Ecuador instead of Peru and then have a side-trip to the islands. I don’t know much about Ecuador yet, but it doesn’t sound as interesting as Peru. So I keep going back and forth. Animals that aren’t afraid of humans or Machu Picchu? Giant tortoises or wild llamas? Island life or the Amazon river (well, the Amazon goes through Ecuador too)?

What would you pick?

I was going to write one more Italy entry, but I feel like it is dragging on, so I will just tell you a little story about Florence and Siena.

In the 1200-1300s, Florence and Siena were in stiff competition with each other. Florence had a river, Siena had banking. They were both in Tuscany. They both built gorgeous marble-covered churches with big domes in the center. They both had lots of yellow buildings with red roofs.

Siena

Florence

However in 1348, Siena was struck with the black death. The population was wiped out. Afterwards, the monks blamed the illness on the large statue of Venus that stood in Il Campo, the courtyard in the center of town. The townspeople broke the statue up and buried it around the city.

Il Campo

But the damage had been done. Florence went on to become the birthplace of the Renaissance. Siena stayed a charming town. Today, they are similar-yet-different experiences. Florence is gorgeous, crowded, and filled with wonderful shops and museums. Siena is smaller, more intimate, and in the evening, Il Campo is filled with pretty Italian children.

While in Siena, I tried wild boar and grappa and wandered around and around the same crooked alleys that are much the same as they were in medieval times. In Florence, I did all that other Italian stuff–eating, art, etc.

Siena Alley

Both were fun. Both were worth it. I will definitely go back to Italy some day.

Me in front of the Fountain of Joy in Siena.

Part I: Ancient Rome
Part II: Italian Culture
Part III: Art and God
Part IV: Florence and Siena

Note: My Italy trip was huge. I took over 1,000 pictures and went to at least 10 museums, six churches, and three towns. It would be overwhelming to talk about it all in one entry. So I am going to break it up into a few episodes to give you the highlights.

Of all the art I saw in Italy, without a doubt, Michelangelo’s David was my favorite. It completely lives up to the hype (unlike certain other overrated paintings). Every detail of that statue is perfect and refined. And I never realized before how it tells a story: It is David right before he throws the stone at the giant Goliath. David’s face, looking up at the giant, is vulnerable and contemplative, but his hand holding the stone is large and powerful, indicating the power of God that would guide the stone to Goliath’s forehead. It is touching and powerful and absolutely beautiful.

Michelangelo was 24 when he made the David. When I was 24, I could barely handle writing an article on health care insurance.

We also saw Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel at the Vatican Museum. The line to get in was insane, but it went pretty fast.

Inside, you go through seemingly endless rooms with painted ceilings and walls, each more fabulous than the last. At last, you see the Sistine Chapel itself. The walls and ceiling tell the entire story of the Bible from Creation to Judgment Day, all done in exquisite detail. No photographs are allowed, so I have no pictures of it. We spent so much time in there staring at the ceiling, my neck hurt when we left.

The rest of the gallery had some statues that were worth looking at.

Me in the Vatican Museum

Then there was Florence’s Uffizi Gallery, which holds Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and Primavera. While we both liked Botticelli, we got a little tired of looking at painting of Madonnas after awhile. In some ways, it’s too bad they don’t leave the religious art in the churches where they have more context. As it is, looking at rows of Madonnas gets tiring.

Statue outside the Uffizi, shot through the rain

But even though much of the art has been removed from the churches, they still often act as museums. In one Florence church, we looked at the graves of Galileo, Michelangelo, and Machiavelli, among other famous Italians. Both Florence and Siena have gorgeous churches with green, black, white, and pink marble on the outside. I was in love with the one in Florence — I took probably about 30 pictures of it. None of them are that great though. Here’s the side of it.

As you may have guessed already, Kyle and I looked at a lot of statues. Many of them were over 2000 years old. The National Museum of Rome was particularly good. The statues were organized into each era so that you can sort of walk through the rise and fall of the empire. There were amazing statues salvaged from a sunken ship, statues of all the gods, and countless busts of emperors.

Me looking at a bronze statue in the National Museum.

We also saw the Modern Art Museum in Rome, which has what passes for Italian Impressionist art, but also some anti-Nazi propaganda, a Van Gogh, and a Klimt. Outside, they were filming a movie, and I watched them repeatedly shoot a scene with an old lady crossing the street with a dog.

One the highlights of the trip for me was seeing the Keats museum. The 25-year-old poet, who was dying of tuberculosis, came to Italy in the hopes that the dryer weather would prolong his life. He wrote Ode to a Grecian Urn and other poems in the house, and then died a slow painful death in a small room overlooking the Spanish Steps. The museum, which was run by a 20-something American woman who gives one mean lecture, has his death masks, lots of his original letters, a draft of a poem that Oscar Wilde wrote about Keats’s grave, and even some parts of Keats’s body–hair, ashes, etc. It’s well worth checking out for anyone who likes poetry.

View from Keats’s window.

And of course, there was St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest Christian church in the world. It is so big you could put Notre Dame inside of it. It’s built where St. Peter was crucified and the Pope gives all his important speeches (sermons?) there. Inside, Michelangelo’s Pieta sits behind bulletproof glass.

But for all that, we weren’t impressed. The church was cold like a big mausoleum. There were countless statues of Popes and Catholic things we didn’t understand. No one was worshipping or praying–they were all taking pictures. And the Pope was not even there to say howdy!

Graffiti near the Vatican

Part I: Ancient Rome

Part II: Italian Culture

Part III: Art and God

Part IV: Florence and Siena

Note: My Italy trip was huge. I took over 1,000 pictures and went to at least 10 museums, six churches, and three towns. It would be overwhelming to talk about it all in one entry. So I am going to break it up into a few episodes to give you the highlights.

I had heard that California is supposed to have the exact same climate as Italy, but that didn’t seem to be the case when I was there. Italy in October is more like California is in February–everything is lush and green. There was also this gorgeous light covering everything, a swath of gold that filters down from the clouds. It was hard to photograph, but I understand why artists like Italy now.

Girl on the bus from Siena to Rome.

The plants were all familiar — oleanders, palm trees, pampas grass, etc. But everything was slightly bigger and healthier. The oleander blossoms were as big as azaleas and even the dandelions were taller and somehow more elegant. Gardening is a big part of life there. The smallest apartment balcony has an herb garden. Restaurants use piles of fruit for decoration. And who can blame them? Look at the size of these grapes:

Of course, the most interesting part of Italy was the food. I have never eaten so much in my life. On a typical day, we had espresso for breakfast, a two-course lunch, and a two-course dinner. The courses were usually pasta and some sort of meat dish afterwards. We also had wine with most of our meals. In between, there was gelato.

We had everything from cheap sandwiches to gourmet meals. One meal would be in a small nook in a romantic alley while the rain beat down outside, the next would be in a touristy pizza joint. The best thing I had was a meat lasagna that was, without a doubt, the best lasagna I have ever had in my life. I also had wild boar, rabbit, shrimp scampi, and veal, among other things. And the best tiramisu.

Somehow, despite all this, I lost weight. I guess it was from all the walking.

Kyle eating gelato.

I loved the shopping in Italy. The clothes are cheaper and better made than you can get in California. Kyle bought a leather wallet and a pair of dress shoes, both handmade in Italy. I bought a navy coat, two scarves, Venetian glass earrings and necklace, a purple sweater, a green sweater, and a terracotta canister for my coffee. I had to force myself to stop. I wanted to buy everything I saw.

We also really liked the Italian people. They are not the gregarious caricatures you see in the Olive Garden commercials, but they are fun, outgoing, and more laid back than people from other European countries. They are also polite. We didn’t run into a single jerk or rude person our entire 10 days there, and some people were extraordinarily kind to us.

Italian couple kissing while Kyle looks on.

Communicating was easy after awhile. I now like the Italian language. It is beautiful and easy to pronounce. Maybe because of my background in Spanish, I found it easy to understand and by the end of the trip, I was beginning to get snippets of conversation. (Whenever I travel, I am surprised by how easy it is for me to pick up other languages. I really should put more effort into learning a second language.)

An odd caveat to all this is the beggars. In Italy, bands of people work the street, some selling you things, some begging for money, some playing music for money.

Street musicians near the Pantheon.

Actually, the beggars were fascinating. Many of the younger gypsy women would sit holding an infant while rolling their eyes to indicate despair and helplessness. I saw other beggars holding puppies or sitting on church steps fingering rosaries. Then there were the ones who used their infirmities for gain–people with bent spines or stunted limbs, etc. One person appeared to have fallen on the sidewalk. He was lying face-down with his cap splayed out beside him for coins. On his head, peeking through his hair, were large brown boils. I was so surprised, I dropped my suitcase.

And then there was the beggar I saw while standing in line for the Vatican Museum. An old lady came along holding out a green bowl and saying in an elaborately shaky voice, “Signora, Signore?” She took off her hat, and half of her scalp looks worn away, a raw pink wound like she had taken a cheese grater to her scalp. It was weird and certainly didn’t make me want to give her money.

A different beggar woman on the Spanish Steps

Americans love Italy, apparently. We were everywhere. Because of this, some of the Italians were a little wary about Kyle and I. Whenever we ordered a caffe, they would almost always explain that it was Italian coffee (espresso), not American coffee. I can only imagine the reaction they received when some Americans ordered a coffee and got an espresso instead. I saw a similar situation in a leather store. An American woman was having a fit because a wallet she wanted to buy had a small scratch on it. She treated the shop owner like he was a thief who was trying to cheat her. It was embarrassing.

Me, sitting at the top of the Spanish Steps

Part I: Ancient Rome

Part II: Italian Culture

Part III: Art and God

Part IV: Florence and Siena

Note: My Italy trip was huge. I took over 1,000 pictures and went to at least 10 museums, six churches, and three towns. It would be overwhelming to talk about it all in one entry. So I am going to break it up into a few episodes to give you the highlights.

One of the coolest things about Italy was how history is transparent there. It’s not just the fact that modern Rome is sitting right on top of ancient Rome; it’s also how the art in the museums was at one point housed in churches right down the street, and how the churches house the bodies of the famous people who lived in Italy–popes, artists, philosophers, etc. Everything is right there, and you can figure it all out with little effort and without even speaking Italian. It is as close to history coming alive as you are going to get.

One of my favorite things about Italy was the Roman Forum. This mile or so of ancient land was the cradle of the Roman empire. It has the Colosseum, the spot where Julius Caesar’s body was burned, the place where Peter and Paul were imprisoned, and even a cabin that Romulus supposedly lived in.

The Colosseum is huge. At one point it could house 50,000 people. It was, of course, where the Romans had all of their “games”– chariot races, people being chased by wild animals, etc.

Inside, there are several levels you can walk around. There used to be a floor in the center, but it has since been excavated, so you can see the pens where all the animals and such were kept.

The most amazing part was simply how big the place was. It was every bit as impressive as one of our super-stadiums, plus it was covered in marble. You don’t really understand how advanced that civilization was until you see something like that. Also interesting was all the ancient graffiti, most of it crosses and other Christian signs. Supposedly, early Christians were martyred in the Colosseum. Right outside is the Arch of Constantine, the emperor who brought Christianity to Italy. It stuck. Apparently Italy is still 85% Catholic.

I also saw several cats wandering around the Roman Forum. This one was particularly friendly.

Right outside the Colosseum is about a mile of the remains of downtown ancient Rome, called the Roman Forum. Here is one of many pictures I took of part of it:

The three white columns in the center is the remains of the Temple of the Vestal Virgins. Six virgins tended the fire of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth and home. Letting the fire go out was punishable by death. So was having sex — if a virgins was discovered to have been deflowered, she was buried alive about a quarter of a mile away. The virgins lived in houses behind the temple, which you can see in the picture. To the left (not pictured) is where Julius Caesar was burned.

The forum was an oddly pretty place, with olive and palm trees in among huge arches so old, the marble has worn away from time.

At the end of the Forum is a museum and several churches. One of them in built on top of the prison where at different times both Peter and Paul were imprisoned. You can go down into the cramped, dark hole they were kept in. For some reason, it smelled like sewage down there. Kyle thought there was a sewage line nearby. In any case, it was realistic.

After seeing all this, you understand why Rome only has two metro lines. I guess when you have priceless ruins under your soil, it’s kinda hard to dig tunnels for trains.

Part I: Ancient Rome

Part II: Italian Culture

Part III: Art and God

Part IV: Florence and Siena