I need to be quicker at getting these things published. I've been working on this one for about a week and now I have to edit it further so that way things are timely. I have made it my goal for today to be the day for this thing to finally leave the confines of the "draft" section.
So, I officially made it to LA. It's weird to think that I'll be spending the next four months in this place, because it felt very vacation-y with my family here and all and now that they've gone and I am all moved into my place (which, by the way, is A-stinking-mazing...I will try to post pictures when I get the chance) it is just weird to think I'm here to stay, for a while anyways. It is so different. But it will be good. Of that I am confident.
I guess, however, that I should start at the beginning, which is where all good stories start. THE ROADTRIP HERE!!! Which, by the way, was amazing.
I traveled with the lovely, talented, charming, and gorgeous Bethany Coffelt (henceforth affectionately referred to as BC). We were supposed to start our amazing trip at 6am on August 11th. After a bit of a setback involving a storm, a phone call, an alarm clock, and one of us scrambling to gather toiletries, BC and I began our journey at 8:00am.
We stopped in Des Moines, IA and visited Karen MacKinnon at the Carlos O'Kelly's where she works. I asked one of her co-workers what the O'Kelly's part of the menu was, since most of the items seemed more Carlos than anything...he tried to explain but I stopped paying attention because Karen came over. Sorry Karen's co-worker...we all have priorities.
We stopped at the QT across the street from the Carlos O'Kelly's (which, Karen informed us, was Urbandale, even though it was right across the street)...this place had THE MOST AMAZING ASSORTMENT OF DRINKS! It was so exciting, I was very thrilled. I took a video of it. Perhaps I will post it.
In Omaha we saw some amazing signs ("From homeless to Harvard. Ambition!"). And this big bubble-looking thing...I think it was some sort of stadium, but I'm not really sure (BC later informed me that it was part of the zoo).
We drove for 18 hours the first day, through the mountains of Colorado (and several tunnels...I made it through a pretty long tunnel holding my breath and I was very proud of myself thank you very much) and made it to Caitlin Johnson's house by around 12:30am, which was pretty great timing, actually. She was so kind as to let us spend the night with her on her wonderfully comfortable couches. Her mom made us breakfast the next morning, which was extremely nice of her. She has a great view from her backyard of the Colorado river and the Rockies. Very cool.
So, the next day we got going and we made a stop right across the border of Colorado and Utah at the Arches National Park. It was very cool to see all the natural stone arches and other things. AND Indian Jones was filmed there! Too cool. It totally seemed like Tatooine...not even kidding. We were going to hike up to what was called Delicate Arch, but it was a VERY long way and it was VERY hot, so we took the shorter, not-as-good-of-a-view-but-still-good way to see it. It was so pretty all over. I liked it.
We drove into Las Vegas at night, which was awesome and which you could see from about 15 miles out. Then we tried to find a place to stay after our first plans fell through. My mom suggested we check out the Vagabond Inn, since it was in the tour book and right on the strip in Vegas. After searching for this place and driving up and down the strip we FINALLY found it. BC and I went in and it definitely seemed shady, but we thought "What the heck? Let's try it." But the guy at the counter wouldn't let me stay there because I wasn't 21, which totally doesn't make any sense since it's not even a casino, but was something BC and I dubbed a God-thing because we then decided to try the Fiesta which was about 300 times nicer. The rooms were spacious and clean and the same price, so we couldn't beat that at all. After checking in we were so tired that, after a viewing of the Disney Channel, we explored for about 10 minutes then went to bed.
The next morning we had breakfast downstairs...2 pancakes, 2 strips of bacon, 2 eggs, and hashbrowns for $2.99! Very good deal and very good meal. We started the final leg of our journey, but of course HAD to stop at the Hoover Dam! We took the tour and got to go down in the dam and see where they keep the transformers, of course. We were also in two places at once (Arizona and Nevada).
We finally made it to LA at around 7:30 or 8:00 and after a brief stop in the worst part of LA, we met my parents and went to the Green Burrito for dinner. Then we drove BC to LAX and she was off to her home in Nor. Cal. while I stayed in LA for vacation with the rents.
This was the most amazing trip I've had, and there's so much to remember and so much I haven't even covered here.
Oh, but I know that some of you were wondering about my mailing address here in LA, so I will give that to you:
Bethany Armstrong
c/o LAFSC
5455 Wilshire Blvd.
Suite 1615
Los Angeles, CA 90036
There you have it! I will try to keep up-to-date on this thing. That's the goal anyway. Until next time...
BA
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