Hello, L.A.

Slumming it in the hostels and eating my meals of cheap carbs and sugar is going to be hard to readjust to after this last week of luxury in LA. There are two unrelated things that I've learned while in LA this past week: 1) LA is exhausting and 2) Family means everything.

The events of my week have revolved around my commutes. Thats what I do here in LA. I go somewhere and then I get in my car and I go to somewhere else. Its not the destinations that make a lasting impression in my mind, its the commute. My main events here seem to be surviving freeways and negotiating traffic. My memory of this city will be of white knuckles and prayers to St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers.

But so far, so good. With the energy draining drives, my days get limited to one to two small activities. My reprieve from the tension is staying at my Aunt and Uncle's house. I've been sleeping like a queen in a bed that wraps itself around my body and on sheets that are like swimming in butter. Butter, I tell you. Believe me, reverting back to my hobo ways is not going to be easy.

About Thanksgiving: I have this theory. The theory has to do with the fact that holidays can be a trying time for people. Although its supposed to be a time of joy and love and blah, blah, blah, a lot of times there is just a melancholy that hangs around and a feeling of stress. My theory about why this is, is that what we all want is to have the holidays be like they were when we were little. And as adults, we can never achieve that. I must say, though, I came pretty close this year.

My family from Los Angeles would come to Pittsburgh to visit every year. The Thanksgiving holidays that I spent with them were the ones that I remember the most. This Thanksgiving I pretty much reverted back to being 10 years old. Although my aunt, uncle and cousins have all changed in the way that growing up makes us change, they are so much just as I remember them. Its going to be hard to one-up this Thanksgiving, so I told them that I'd just need to come back every year.

I'll end this post with a pic of my cousin Kim, myself and my cousin Chrissy with their dogs, Zoey and Benjamin:

The dogs don't get along and are in perpetual quarantine from each other for fear that one will eat the other. So for us to try and get them in a picture together, we were running the risk of one of the five of us not walking away with a face after the shot. Or we were going to get a damn cute pic, like above.

Fish apathy

Remember, in one of my first posts, how I took a picture of the food that I was taking with me on my trip? The pile of food included carrots and nuts and oatmeal. It steered clear of processed sugar and empty calories and, unfortunately, any kind of taste. Oh, those were ambitious times.

This was the breakfast that I had a couple of days ago when I was going down the Oregon coast:

I kid you not, it is called a "Trucker's Delight." This morning I had a full serving of waffles with butter and syrup, a bagel with cream cheese and a bowl of frosted flakes. Please notice the lack of the fruit/vegetable and protein food groups. I have created my own system of food groups that revolves around carbs and sugar. I actually thought to myself that maybe if I put more butter and cream cheese on my food that I could get close to a full serving of dairy.

Now I spend quite a bit of my day doing the math trying to figure out how far I need to walk and which meals I need to skip to insure that I don't need to be rolled back into Pittsburgh for the holidays. Although, as long as I can get my seat belt to fit around me and am able to move the steering wheel without my belly getting in the way, I'm good to go.

I cruised through San Francisco the other day. I went into the city for one night, staying at a hostel, and walked as much as I could in one day and took in the sights. I realized afterwards that I didn't get one picture while I was there. If you would like to see pictures of San Francisco, please google them. You'll get the gist.

Once again, family and friends made my day. I got to see Mill Valley, stopping by to see close friends of my family. It made my week. I'm passing through Monterey right now and am on my way to spend Thanksgiving in Malibu with extended family. Mom and Dad: I love you both and am going to miss you for Thanksgiving. But I am so incredibly psyched to be seeing my aunt, uncle and cousins (Jane, you will be missed.) Its going to be strange to not have grey skies and rain and cold on Turkey day but I'll just have to make-do with sun and warm weather and the beach in the 'Bu. I'm taking one for the team here.

With all of the Steinbeck that I'm reading, it only makes sense that I would stop by his stomping grounds, Monterey, California. Here is a picture of me with a statue of my man:

I was reading "Cannery Row" while sitting in a coffee shop on the actual Cannery Row. I have to say though that I was hiding the cover of the book as I read. I was worried that I might look like a tourist; and I put a lot of effort into being a tourist while not looking like a tourist. I'll never see the people here again, but it is still incredibly important to me to make strangers think I'm cool. My own behavior baffles me. I think I might start strutting down the street, from now on, giving winks and shooting off finger-guns as I pass people. That way there could be no doubt that I was cool.

I did slip into the Monterey Aquarium for a quick look. I don't think I get aquariums. Fish just don't do it for me. Maybe I feel a slight twinge of excitement when seeing a shark. Jellyfish can hold my attention for a half-minute, but thats about all. I think this is just something that I'm going to have to accept about myself. Another self-discovery made on this trip: I have an indifference to marine life.

Here is a pic of a jellyfish (I forget which kind.):

Passionate car sickness

Aaaah, Mendocino. I could get used to you. I had high expectations and they have been met. First things first, please notice my new dream bench:

It might be hard to notice the bench, being that it is between such a picturesque town on one side and crashing waves on the other. You may remember, there was a bench that I found on Antelope Island that I said I would frame when I got home because it was in such an amazing location. But I believe it just got the boot. This bench is the winner and it will be put in a heart-shaped frame. To put the cherry on top, I spent the time with my man, John Steinbeck. I'm reading "Tortilla Flat" and, again, I revel in Mr. Steinbeck's constant genius.

(Side note: if you have the book, please check around page 23 for the paragraph that describes the correlation between the amount of wine in a jug to the common actions of the paisanos. I was so impressed that I wanted to call someone and read the paragraph to them because it seemed like such a gem. Ben, we may need to have a Steinbeck book group when I get home; we can take Mary Ann's idea of a salon. Mary Ann, you're invited, too.)

From Portland, I did a reorganizing day in Eugene, followed by a day in Coos Bay, then went on to Eureka, California, which I used as my home base while checking out Redwoods National Park. I was able to do a fantastic hike at the Klamath Overlook, leading to this view:

Yesterday, I went from Eureka to Mendocino passing through Humboldt State Park. This took me to the very top of the infamous Route 1 that goes along the California coast. My dad had actually called me that morning to warn me of the intensity of this road, so I kind-of had a feeling it might be difficult. But really I didn't believe him. How hard could a road be?

There is a 20 mile stretch that goes from inland California to the coast that is insane. I've never been car sick while driving before but I had to pull over 3 times yesterday within those 20 miles to pull myself together and shake off the motion sickness. I was actually to the point where I was telling myself to "just make it one more mile." You may have to experience it to believe it. I did text my dad right afterwards to let him know that he was right. I said that I would never doubt him again. He has told me he is "going to preserve that text for posterity -- and as a reminder."

I had mentioned that Portland marked a turning point in my trip where I realized that I'd have to start thinking about reality again. During my 10 minutes of sitting still, I've come up with my big goal to try to achieve after this trip. It, in general, is to live passionately. My top three ways to do this (I'm huge on top three lists) is:

1) Stay close to family and friends. I've realized that although I've seen some amazing places on this trip, the highlights have been when I reconnect with people in my life and when I meet and make new friends.

2) Eat well and exercise daily. To "eat well" is in one part to keep myself thinking straight but also to become a little less meh about food and a little more aware of taste. Exercise for me is walking or hiking which gets me out and looking around me.

3) Take time to sit still and take time to write. Doing both of these things helps me to slow down and let experiences seep in a bit more.

I have to admit, this is all pretty easy to do when on the road and going to beautiful places. Check back with me when I'm working a nine-to-five job and taking care of mundane life chores. I'm interested to find out how I incorporate living passionately with doing laundry, getting groceries and paying bills.

I'll close this post with a picture that I like to call "Big Tree. Tight Pants.":

A tourist in Pittsburgh

I am back from the vacation that I took to get away from my vacation. I have now reported back to duty in Portland, Oregon, ready to for my continuing travels. I've been having such a blast in Portland and have loved being around friends and family in Pittsburgh, that it has felt like it would be difficult to get back on the road by myself again. But I have a feeling once I get about 10 miles down the Oregon coast on my way to San Diego, I'll be just fine. Plans from here are pretty simple: make my way to Cannon Beach, Oregon on the northern end of the Oregon coast, then go straight down the coast until I almost hit Mexico, then head back inland. This trip was originally going to last until about mid-October. Obviously, I missed that deadline. Then I planned to be finished with the trip by Thanksgiving. It looks like that is not going to happen. Before my trip to Pittsburgh last week, the thought was to finish at Christmas, but even that is on the verge of going out the window. I'm starting to suspect that there will be a day in the future, maybe sometime like next October, when I'll be in Punta Arenas, Chile saying that I'll stop as soon as Thanksgiving comes again. Although, if thats the case, then I either found a Sugar Daddy to fund my trip or have robbed a bank. And being that my free-wheeling ways have felt great, it will probably be the bank robbing idea. Don't worry, I've watched Bonnie and Clyde -- I know just what to do.

A note on going to Florida: my family have definitely passed the test of fantastic vacation-mates. I think I had a concern that I would be awoken out of bed the first morning at 6 or 7 and told that a tour bus would be picking up the family in a half hour to take us to a Colonial village, which would be followed up by a 3 hour session of marathon shopping and topped off with a family throw-down of Scrabble. Instead, it was a lot of freedom to do whatever I wanted (long walks, reading, napping, swimming) at whatever pace. It reminded me why I enjoy being around my family so much.

Following up with the title of this post, when I got back to Pittsburgh, I treated myself to a day of seeing the city's tourist attractions. I've lived there all of my life, yet never have I done such a thing. I applied my research methods that I use when in a new city and applied them to my home town and ended up visiting the Strip District, the North Side, Station Square and walking around downtown (pardon me, dahn-tahn, as the Pittsburghers say.) I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I vow to always take full advantage of any city where I might reside in the future.

Side note: I stayed with my friend, Meredith, and her family in Portland. One morning eating Turkey Bacon with her kids, Winslow and Ellie, I said that a piece of "bacon" looked like a lower-case 'h' (I realize this was a huge stretch.) Winslow identified the "bacon" as a goose riding a baby buffalo. I have been blown away by his genius. There is no other correct identification of this shape. Feel free to share your own shapes of Turkey Bacon in the comments section. We all play this game, right?