1001 in 101: More Items Completed

Creative juices are not flowing, so that means another update to my 1001 in 101 list!

 3. Go on an adventure, big or small, every month (Completed September 2013)
I was going to try to make this all the time, but decided to change it. I had some great adventures before moving back to Nashville, and I am sure they will continue. I just honestly cannot keep track.

11. Start rock climbing again
Completed October 2013. Having rheumatoid arthritis in the hands does not make climbing very easy. At least I gave it a shot!

26. Go kayaking at least once a month, weather permitting (July 2013)
I am ending this one as well. Kayaking is just not as easy in the cold weather back in Nashville!

33. Go to state I have never been to (September 2013 – Kansas)
This was on part of my Adventure Across America Series

Kansas is flatter than a pancake

45. Write down my thoughts more (November 2013)
Hey, I like it.

That’s it for now!

The Last Leg

THe day finally arrived. The last day of the five day long road trip. The morning started with a trip to the St. Louis Arch. It is quite the example of some crazy architecture. I could have told you the style and year last year, but I am not longer reading about that. Whatever it is, it is amazing.

It is one of the places that has the visitor center underneath the museum, well architectural piece. They did this so it would not distract viewers from the amazing work of the Arch. Tara and I went inside and rode the little car up the to the top.

The car door. It was tiny. This was the view from the top (seen below).

We left St. Louis and hit a detour that took us through the east side. What what! We encountered a lady who did not like the fact I was driving five over the speed limit. I guess I was not driving fast enough. She proceeded to give me the bird, and well that made my a little angry. Road rage. I had it bad. Nothing crazy happened because they got off the exit. Thankfully, or that would have been a very long drive back to Nashville.

The rest of the drive was uneventful. Kentucky had lots of traffic as did Tennessee.  But we made it!!

That is the end of Adventure Across America. Round two.

Sleepy Town

It was the fourth day of the trip. Needless to say it was getting old, and we still had to get through the rest of Kansas. We started our way to Independence, Missouri, the home of Harry Truman.

I just learned he was a Free Mason. Interesting. Anyway, we arrived to a town that was sleepy. Nothing was opened because it was Sunday. Even the Truman Library was closed. So what do you do when everything is closed, walk around and take pictures.

In front of the courthouse.

Truman walking signs. All over the place.

We walked around this museum, but could not go in because of Abbie. It was also expensive for such a tiny place.

First courthouse. It has been moved from the original location. Truman served as a judge here.

We left and headed to St. Louis! Drive was uneventful. We made a couple pit stops, first to get gas which is important, but I also picked up some good ole Ozark Moonshine. We also stopped at Larry’s Boot World to pick up some new cowboy boots. Also important. After the fun, we finally made it to our hotel. It was very nice, and also had free drinks. Notice a trend?

Wish we could have made it to the baseball game! After searching, we made it to downtown St. Louis on the river and found a brewery. St. Louis was also a sleepy little town that night. The next day would provide adventures, because we ventured into areas we really should not have been.

AAA: From Sand to Absolutely Nothing

The third day of the road trip back to Nashville started out with a visit to Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. It was about a 45 minute drive from the hotel. We managed to get there before the visitor center even opened, so we just drove down the road. Tara and I saw the sign that said DUNES. Away we went. 

Obviously we expected to see sand, but not mounds of it. We started our walk out to the dunes and soon realized it was a little longer than we thought. Thankfully it was a cool morning. In the distance we saw people hiking up the dunes. No thank you, my dog was not up for that.  We did however climb the closest one to us.

We looked around. It was crazy to see sand dunes one one side and trees and mountains on the other side. We hiked back down and headed over to a teepee made out of wood. It just happened to be hanging out. We also saw some deer tracks, and probably rabbits of sorts. Abbie’s nose was going crazy. We even think we saw bear tracks, but we thought it would be best not to find out. We got back in the car, still before the visitor center opened and drove around. We soon discovered another dirt road, and figured why the heck not. We drove for a little bit until we saw this sign.

We turned around, went to the visitor center and started the ever so wonderful drive to Kansas.

Horrible. We came across some cowboys doing what they do.

Just getting cows across the road. No big deal. Our plan was to go to Dodge City, but we somehow missed the sign for that, so we headed on to the Santa Fe Trail Center, but it happened to be closed. We arrived in El Dorado hours later and tired.

Abbie agreed that Kansas was miserable.

Two days left at this point, and we could not wait to get to St. Louis.

AAA: Monument Valley

Tara and I left the Grand Canyon the following day and witnessed a gorgeous sunrise. 

We drove down the canyon and saw some elk hanging out to eat some breakfast. Once we reached normal elevation for that area we began our drive to Monument Valley, Utah. Before we even entered Utah we encountered a crazy Subaru driver almost the whole way there. He finally left and went someplace, not that I really care because my road rage came out. We entered Utah and the scenery completely changed. It was gorgeous. Abbie decided it would be fun to sit on top of the luggage on this day. Of course there is a picture.

Strange dog. Monument Valley is part of the Navajo National Tribal Parks. The roads are not paved and there is dirt all over the place. However, out of this clay colored dirt comes the monuments. So impressive. It was probably my favorite place.

We didn’t really feel like hiking around the place so we took the car for an adventure down the dirt road. Steep, windy and not really made for a luxury car, but I was determined if a minivan could make it, my crossover could. The ride down the road was bumpy. The ride back up…. nerve-racking. Dirt going all over the place, cars coming down the switchbacks, crazy Native Americans speeding past you in pick up trucks, but we made it back to the top and went on our little way.

We finally entered Colorado and headed toward Durango because I have heard great things. It was awesome. We found a brewery to grab a bite to eat at and also grab a drink. Great beer in Durango. Leave it to me to find a fly fishing shop. I managed to get a few things. 

We kept on driving. I think this was the longest day. More excitement as we drove up a mountain, a huge mountain that had two tunnels! It was just a hairy day for driving.  We finally reached the town where we were going to stay and luckily it also had a hot tub!

The next day involves a lot of sand….

Adventure Across America: Round Two

Last week I left sunny San Diego and started the road trip back to Nashville. One of my good friends, Tara flew out for the adventure back and boy did we have some fun. We left on a Thursday and our first stop would be the Grand Canyon. Both of us had never been so we were very excited. It was about an 8 hour drive there. Not a lot happened on the drive, besides hitting traffic all along California. Abbie behaved herself for the day and slept a lot. She also snored. We passed an exit for Oatman, Arizona. I had a flashback to my younger days of driving up an crazy curvy road with my family and my grandpa to go to this old ghost town. At one point in time it was a thriving mining community. They have fake gun fights and touristy places there along with random donkeys that roam the streets. I should really go back.

Abbie snoozing in the car.

Looks very comfy.

We arrived at in Grand Canyon Village a little too early to check in so we went on to the canyon. Amazing. Incredible. Awesome. That is all I really know how to describe it. Everyone needs to see this. Everyone. I also recommend spending more than one day there. 

Abbie enjoyed the canyon. She also tried running into people and enjoyed looking over the edge. Not so fast. She also saw squirrels for the first time since we moved to San Diego. Such a happy beagle. We

We came back to the hotel and had our meal at the hotel steakhouse. In the village, there are steakhouses all over the place, this one just happened to be inside the hotel. There was a guy playing the banjo. It was cool. The food, not so yummy. The best part of the whole night was the hot tub.

Day two gets more adventurous. Luxury off roading.

Nothing New

Tonight not much has happened besides my dive master class getting underway. While I was thinking about something to blog about, I saw Surrounded by Imbeciles post about the categories that are listed on the side of the blog page. Since the creative juices are not flowing tonight, I am going to follow this and see what the first thing I can come up with might happen to be.

101 in 1001 – I really need to update this more often.

Adventure – I am flying back to Nashville on Thursday. Airports are always interesting.

Adventure Across America – Part II will begin at the end of October.

Beach – I have not been in two weeks. Pathetic.

Books – Currently reading some more Hemingway

Concerts – Old Crow Medicine Show on Saturday!

Dogs – Abbie is snoring

Dreams – Had another dream about clowns last night

Family – Seeing them at the end of this week!

Fashion – Pretty pumped about my new shoes, Blu Kicks.

Fiji – Soon close!

Fishing – Hemingway’s books also talks about fly fishing

Food – Can’t wait until sushi

History – Talked about maritime history in dive master class tonight

Kayaking – Need to go

Movies –  Haven’t been since Top Gun 3D

Museums – Tattoo exhibit possibility

Music – Daft Punk

Nashville – Thursday

Pictures – Sent the shark one to my grandpa

Quotes –  The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.

San Diego – Amazing

Savannah – Not so much

SCAD – No more school

Scuba – Master Diver!

Sea Life – Shark Week is soon

Shopping – This will be happening in Nashville

Spiritual – I am

Sports – Fall means football in the South

Technology – I am loving my new computer

The South – I miss it

Travel – Everyone should do it

Uncategorized – This post

 

Adventure Across America

I have made it to San Diego. Sunday will mark my two week mark here in Sunny San Diego.

I finally have internet today after learning my Mifi is not the best for streaming Netflix. Whoops.

I also uploaded my pictures from across America.

I left Tennessee on May 15 and arrived out here on May 19.

My internship started this week, and it has been good so far.

This post is about the road trip out., in pictures!

My copilot slept most of the way. Rough life.

Abbie and I could not enter the Oklahoma Bombing Memorial because she is a dog so we had coffee while everyone toured the area. Crazy to think that the following tornados would rip through the state.

This also happened.

The big cross in Groom, TX

Former classmates at a ghost town.

Yes. Wagon Wheel

Abbie made friends at the Coronado National Monument

I decided not to go through Mexico.

Overlook in Arizona

1976 Landcruiser. Yuma, AZ.

What one does for fun in Yuma.

That is all for tonight. Off to Chicago tomorrow because the big brother is graduating med school!