ERIN and AARON's ROAD TRIP

Home Stretch!!

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 13:22:48 -0400

We are heading to Chester, Va to Aaron’s parents’ house to clean the truck to officially end our journey!

North Carolina! Our visit with my grandparents was very nice. We...

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 13:21:10 -0400

North Carolina! Our visit with my grandparents was very nice. We arrived Wednesday night and went out to eat with Pop-pop in downtown Ashville at the Mellow Mushroom Pizza (while grandma entertained a party she had scheduled before we were going to visit). Thursday we drove up to Yellow Mountain! We walked up to the Bald and enjoyed a picnic at the top! It was a really great visit up there and thinking about my childhood memories of summers and holidays spent up there. We even got to hike down to see the old house. That night we watched the olympics and relaxed while Pop-pop made use a delicious meal with various things from his garden! It was great!
We stayed at my parents farm house in Marshall, inside the closet haha!
We got to check on a few things up there for them and pet the donkey, Festis!

Atlanta! I’m so happy we got to stop and see my aunts,...

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 15:16:07 -0400

Atlanta! I’m so happy we got to stop and see my aunts, uncles, and cousins! Including my new second cousin, Jake! He is five weeks and he makes Jackie and Nick so happy! It was a short, but very fun stop. I will need to come back very soon to spend time with everyone!

Well, yesterday we got up and went south to our swamp boat tour!...

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 12:00:46 -0400

Well, yesterday we got up and went south to our swamp boat tour! It was bright and sunny, but with the threat of thunderstorms (which fulfilled its threat..)!
We got on the airboat Aaron reserved for us, which was a small airboat! It ende up only being me, Aaron, two girls and the guide! He drove us around finding alligators with ease, in which we found out that it was because I was wearing white! Apparently alligators love the color white and eat everything that is white! (They also don’t eat what they can’t swallow..!) But their favorite treats include marshmellows! The guide said it’s cuz they are “marsh” animals. HAHA! We loved that pun! The guide also had the greatest love for the gators and even was touching them on their faces and all!
Anyway, it began to rain.. and downpour.. we continued a bit further so we can see examples of the bayou before we got hit with any thunder or lightning and we had gotten back just in time and SOAKED!
It was great fun and I would totally do this again!
Last night we went out to eat at the same restuarant as the first night because it was so good!! I had the gator pasta again and Aaron had blackened chicken pasta. YUM!

New Orleans is fun! We are staying in the French Quarter at the...

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 12:09:32 -0400

New Orleans is fun! We are staying in the French Quarter at the Prince Conti. It is just off of Bourbon Street so we get to see the crazy partiers and see the shopping areas and the people! This city really doesn’t sleep (except at 9am on Sundays)!

We are heading to our swamp airboat tour today!!

New Orleans on Bourbon Street last night! We showered and went...

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 14:49:48 -0400

New Orleans on Bourbon Street last night! We showered and went out to eat! Aaron got a gator burger and I got spicy gator pasta! SO GOOD! We both really enjoyed dinner and walking down the party street! It was full of funny people. We explored a little more around the area as well and picked out a few places we wanted to see today like the antique collector gun store! haha!

More later!

So, sorry about not updating, but I had to wait until we had...

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 14:38:08 -0400

So, sorry about not updating, but I had to wait until we had internet to grab some photos off of Aaron for the update. Since we left Santa Fe, we drove through Texas (the hottest night we had to spend in a horrible state park outside of Wichita Falls, TX..) It was over 90 degrees the whole night! Then we drove up through part of the border of Texas/Oklahoma to arrive in Crater of Diamonds State Park! We got there early enough to get some mining in!

It was very, very hot! We didn’t find anything exciting that night. We returned to the campsite and played card games and showered! (First shower since Las Vegas!) We also cooked up some teriyaki chicken with rice, onions, and green peppers! It was so good!

The next day we mined from 10:30am - 4:30pm straight without barely a lunch breakand in 106 degree sun. We kept hydrated and snacks and sandwiches. We got burnt and tired, and did not find any diamonds, but we did find some pretty cool rocks and crystals. It was SO FUN!

We went to sleep after we recooked our leftovers from the night before, played cards, and went to sleep— we left pretty early the next morning to head south to New Orleans! (Not exciting drive, lots of traffic in Baton Rouge.) But we both decided that we became a little homesick because Arkansas is the first place we have been that actually looks like home because of the trees and “some” humidity.

"..Also, nothing is real."

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 11:46:34 -0400

“..Also, nothing is real.”

- Blair Russell

(These are the wise words of Blair Russell gave me when I first met him and he was giving me advice about VCUtheatre. It holds so much meaning.)

Blair and Nicole met up with us, after they had to be called in to work last minute last night in Santa Fe Opera. We met at the Plaza, which after 10pm everything is closed, but we piddled around until they came into view, of course Nicole was screeching “ERRIIINNN!” It was great fun catching up with them over a late dinner and learning about “real” theatre world and about how Santa Fe works. (They also fought over the bill and would not let us pay it.) Blair was kind enough to let us stay with him in his air conditioning!

Thanks again guys and I hope that I get to see you soon!!

Mule Ridin’ in the Grand Canyon! It was good fun and it...

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 23:33:20 -0400

Mule Ridin’ in the Grand Canyon! It was good fun and it led to a view of the widest section of the canyon called the Abyss! (18 milea across!!) We ended the day with a hike down the bright angel trail, but only part of it.
Spaghetti and italian sausage tonight with garlic bread! (Aaron is skillful with a skillet and propane stove)! YUM

Grand Canyon!! So incredible! We apparently got up really early...

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 14:38:29 -0400

Grand Canyon!! So incredible!
We apparently got up really early this morning and got going to explore the area and food.. We got all checked into our Mule ride, took a cool trail to a point all before 11am. We thought it was 12pm when the mule guy told us that Arizona doesn’t observe day lights savings!

Mule ride today!

Today we got up and packed up. We headed east! Ended up at the...

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 21:59:26 -0400

Today we got up and packed up. We headed east! Ended up at the Hoover Dam!
(We also spent time at the very rocky beach of Lake Mead)

Grand Canyon here we come! Mule riding tomorrow!

Last night of Las Vegas, we gambled and got dressed up and ate...

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 21:56:58 -0400

Last night of Las Vegas, we gambled and got dressed up and ate at Bally’s steakhouse to have fancy steaks! Then we walked down the strip to see the Treasure Island show, which we missed by a few minutes and gambled (badly) there until the next show. It was pretty fun to see a free show and the strip at night. We took our time back and started to explore some casinos we hadn’t seen yet and ended up being further away from wear we started!
Eventually, we got back to Planet Hollywood and played a few slots, saw the raining ceiling, and some window shopping!
Las Vegas was a great stop!

Yesterday we hung around and went to the pool as well as going...

Fri, 27 Jul 2012 20:25:15 -0400

Yesterday we hung around and went to the pool as well as going over to the Luxor to see the Bodies exhibit! It was really cool and very creepy at the same time. The exhibit seems to have created a way to show the actual human body in ways that won’t conpletely make you sick. It was amazing to see this and a huge educational experience for us!
Also here is a picture with me and Papa Smurf! Tonight we are going to dress up and explore!

A lady tried taking our picture..

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:01:47 -0400

A lady tried taking our picture..

Las Vegas! We arrived yesterday afternoon and it was a very...

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:00:19 -0400

Las Vegas! We arrived yesterday afternoon and it was a very stressful driving situation for me with the huge trick and all that traffic!
We checked in, got REAL showers and went out to eat. We explored the 1 mile mall window shopping and went down the strip a little to see the Bellagio and its cool water fountain lights show! it was really neat!
We went back and played some slots and I actually won $60 from a penny slot in 5 goes. (Then aaron went and lost it at 3 card poker..) But together we came out 8$ up!!
Great first night!

Yosemite! We just got back into cell phone service again. We...

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:17:13 -0400

Yosemite!
We just got back into cell phone service again. We had the worst time trying to find the horrible campsite we had to stay at about an hour south of Yosemite (all of their campsites were full last month when we made our reservations)
Yesterday we took a trail called Mirror lake and had the misfortune to take a horse trail so it smelt funny and was verry dusty. But the views were fantastic! Mirror lake was pretty much non existant because it is late summer, which apparently was normal. The river bed that flows under was pretty dry and we decided to follow this back to the main area of yosemite. We climbed and jumped and ate lunch!
After we were hot (it was almost 100 degrees), so we got Cokes and cooled down. Then we headed to the lower falls walking trail, which the upper falls was nonexistant.. so the lower falls were not as grand as they would be in spring.
We went back to the main area an got free showers then drove back to our awful campsite.

Now we are heading to LAS VEGAS!

Arrival in San Francisco last night, SO MUCH SMOG! All attempts...

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 14:50:14 -0400

Arrival in San Francisco last night, SO MUCH SMOG!

All attempts in the campsites we had researched and were told about were a failure.. none of them worked out so we headed straight out toward Yosemite and stopped off at a random State Park near Fresno and camped there.

We came to Fresno this morning to meet everyone’s demands on pictures and updates! Off we go to Yosemite and then LAS VEGAS (for a real bed to sleep in!)

July 22nd: We left our campsite and headed south for SanFRAN! We...

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 14:42:10 -0400

July 22nd: We left our campsite and headed south for SanFRAN! We saw Paul Bunion!

We hiked all the way to the Pacific Ocean from the Damnation...

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 14:40:24 -0400

We hiked all the way to the Pacific Ocean from the Damnation Creek Trail!

July 20th: Travel day to Redwoods, we got in around dinner time...

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 14:38:41 -0400

July 20th: Travel day to Redwoods, we got in around dinner time and we ate and played card games!

July 21st: We took Damnation Creek Trail through the Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, CA (“Del Taco” if you are Aaron) and took the beautiful and wet hiking trail through the giant trees! We were not used to being in this environment since we had spent days in mountanous deserts..and plains. It was grand and beautiful part of the country! These forests host the Coastal Redwoods in which these are the tallest living organisms in the world. (We will see the Giant Sequoia Redwoods in a few days from now).