The End...

As we all know, all good things must come to an end. Sadly, our road trip has ended. While we all agree that this is a terribly depressing thought, you could not pay us enough to get back in that car and drive even a mile anytime soon. We logged over 7,000 miles in just under a month. It has been a whirlwind of an adventure, but I don't regret one second, one penny, or one decision we made. Hands down, one of the best experiences of my life (and coming from the girl who spent 4 months in France... that's saying something).

Above all else though...

Thank you to my mom and dad for saying yes. Thank you to my dad for helping finance some of our more expensive ventures. Thank you Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mike for donating your beautiful Honda Accord. Thank you Honda Accord for not dying on us (especially on those rough, snowy mountains). Thank you Aunt Jan for your generous gas money donation (and for instilling a sense in adventure in each of us since we were kiddos). Thank you to all of the hosts who opened their homes. Thank you to all of the locals for lending a hand. And probably most importantly, THANK YOU TOMTOM FOR NOT GETTING US LOST!

We are so thankful and grateful to have been given this amazing opportunity. It is a month we will NEVER EVER EVER forget.

With love,

Katie, Nicki, and Carly

random videos.

Here are some random videos to enjoy:

Carly eating bread.

our journey through Utah and the Grand Canyon.

Nicki, Carly, and Katie*

*Katie actually made the video. Nicki actually helped. Carly actually sat and watched.

Damn over passes!

Chicago was pretty awesome! We were staying with Katie's best friend Vinnie in his apartment and we got in pretty late on Tuesday night so we just watched Avatar and went to bed. Then we woke up and went sight seeing on Wednesday with Vinnie as our tour guide!

The Giant Bean with the reflection on the city!

In front of the giant fountain!

After our day of sight seeing we went back to Vinnie's apartment and watched the finale of American Idol while we ate deep dish Chicago style pizza. We had to leave early the next morning so we went to bed pretty early. I wish we had more time in Chicago! I had lots of fun. The drive from Chicago to Katie's house was about 7 hours long, and it honestly felt way longer than both of the 22 hour drives we did earlier in our trip because I am completely ready to be at Katie's house with Aunt Bev and Uncle Don! I was so excited to do laundry! :)

So between the Grand Canyon and Pennsylvania we missed sooo many state signs! But it wasn't our fault! We actually COMPLETELY missed Colorado (Carly was driving!) so we turned around and drove 15 miles back to get the state sign, and I'm so glad we did! Because then Nebraska's state sign was in a construction zone so missed that one. Then Iowa, Illinois Indianna, and Ohio all had their state signs hanging on the over passes so we would have been standing in the middle of the highway to get those pictures! Which I think is ridiculous! We were doing so good! Their signs should be on the side of the rode OR at the next available exit they should have a welcome center!! But we did get the PA state sign! :) And then we plan on getting all of the state signs between here and Florida on our way back home!

Nicki

mule rides and snow.

Today we went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. These past few days, we've been between Arizona and Utah so many times I've lost count, but our tomtom has been AMAZING and we have managed to not get lost once (knock on wood). So we made it to the Grand Canyon and it was beautiful. It was so much fun. I knew the Grand Canyon was big, it's not that that was a surprise or anything, I just couldn't get over the view. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

On top of the view, we did mule rides. It was an hour ride just along the rim so we could get the experience without actually having to sit on a mule for too long. It was so much fun. My mule's name was Gus. Carly had George. and Nicki had Suds. They were so cool. And our tour guides name was Kitty. It was so much fun. Those mules are crazy though. They ride right on the edge of the trail and there were definitely a few 'whoooa' moments. It was totally worth every penny we spent though. The view we got to see was even better than what we had seen on the other trails.

And our Aunt Jan will be happy to hear that we managed to get her a pretty impressive rock. It took quite a bit. We couldn't find a suitable one at first and then we when we did find one, we were a ways away from the car and it was super heavy, but thanks to Nicki and Carly, we made it safely back to the car without getting caught. Our rock count is now up to 3.

The craziest part of this trip so far though... SNOW! And Utah's snow isn't playing games. It is legitimately accumulating outside right now. We were driving from the Grand Canyon to our next hotel in Cedar City, UT and we had to drive literally OVER a mountain elevated at 10,000 feet. It was a little intense. And it was COVERED in snow. And then it started to actually snow. I was so happy I was driving. I get horribly carsick and it was so windy and hilly on the mountain that if I hadn't been driving I would have gotten so sick.

Now we are in our hotel though and it is still snowing. I'm so happy we are finally leaving Utah. I'm sick of these crazy mountains and tiny towns. It's too much for me haha.

Our next destination is CHICAGO! We have to stop one more night before we get there but I am so excited!

Katie

Fabio! Warner Bros! and Glee! Oh my!

Here is a video of us running into the Pacific Ocean in San Diego. We finally figured out how to get the videos to upload faster so there should be more of them now.

So let me just start out by saying that Thursday May 20th 2010 was one of the best days of my life (it definitely made the top 5)!! We started off with our lunch reservations at Fabio Vivani's restaurant Firenze Osteria in LA. The food was delicious and actually fairly reasonably priced. We were in the middle of eating our lunch when Carly suddenly dropped her fork and exclaimed "No! No?" Katie and I turned around to see what the heck she was freaking out about and we then proceeded to freak out ourselves because Fabio was walking by. (ok so maybe I'm the only one that really freaked out, but all 3 of us were overly excited). We asked our waiter if if we could possibly meet Fabio and if it would be impolite to ask for a picture. As you can see, we did meet him, and he agreed to take a picture with us after we finished our lunch. For those of you that don't know... Fabio was a contestant on Top Chef Season 5 on Bravo! He was our absolute favorite and we were so pissed when he was eliminated that we looked up his restaurant because we wanted to go eat there. When we found out it was in California we made a joke about taking a road trip so we could eat at his restaurant and that is kind of how this whole thing got started.

After lunch at Fabio's we took the Warner Bros Backlot VIP tour. Which was amazing!! We got to see the sound stage for 2 1/2 men, the sets for tons of TV shows like the Mentalist, Dark Blue, True Blood, ER, and GILMORE GIRLS!!! We actually got to go into Sookie's House and we also got to see Lorelai and Rory's house, Doosey's Market, Miss Patty's Dance Studio and Luke's Diner!!

Lorelai and Rory's House!

Luke's Diner!

THEN!... After the the Warner Bros Tour we went to see GLEE! LIVE IN CONCERT! It was absolutely, positively, amazing! Our original seats were up pretty far in the the balcony off to the right of the stage. But after the opening act we noticed there were lots of empty seats in the lower levels so we ran down there and snagged 3 of them. We were in the front row of the middle section in the center and it was fabulous! We sang and danced and screamed and basically had the time of our lives! It was soooo much fun! The cast is so talented and the songs they chose to sing were great! (they sang my favorite one!)

Super excited!

Taken from our original seats.

Taken from our new and improved seats!

(my favorite song!)

So that's it for now. Tomorrow we have reservations for our mule rides in the Grand Canyon, which should be pretty fricken awesome! So, I'm sure we'll have tons of pictures and videos from that. Hopefully we'll have internet at the hotel we're staying in tomorrow so we can update again.

Nicki

Los Angeles!!!!

So we are officially in LA!! We're having an awesome time! So far we've taken a StarLine bus tour and got to see lots of celebrity homes (I kinda felt like a stalker)!! We strolled down the walk of fame and saw all of the gold stars (they cost $25,000!!! each). We also got to see all of the celebrity hand and foot prints outside the Chinese Theater! I found 3 pressed penny machines!!! Yessss! We strolled down Rodeo Drive and looked at all the fancy clothes we couldn't afford! It was a great day!

Today we went to the beach, but we were only there for like 20 minutes because it was windy, overcast, and gross. And SUPER DUPER cold! Right now we are in a Starbucks using their WiFi because there is no internet at Aunt Emma and Uncle Mick's. Tomorrow we are going to Fabio's Restaurant, taking a tour of the Warner Bros Studio, AND.... GOING TO THE GLEE CONCERT!!! :D

We'll update next time we have internet access!!!

Nicki

The Box

El Cajon is a beautiful city. And I have officially fallen in love with San Diego. There is a huge possibility of moving out here post graduation. We went to the San Diego Zoo yesterday and it was phenomenal. It was HUUUUGE! We spent the entire day there. We saw lions, tigers, and bears! We say birdies and flamingos and turtles and a bunch of other cool things. We went to the bird show too since Nicki is obsessed with birds and it was actually a really cool show. Overall, I'd have to say its one of the best zoos I have ever been too.

Sadly, we have to say goodbye to San Diego. We have had SO MUCH FUN here. I cannot even begin to describe it. Jim and Gail, our gracious hosts, have been fantastic. They took us out to dinner last night and sightseeing around the city. We went to the Pacific Ocean for the first time and got to stick our feet in the water! We also got to go see the San Diego skyline, which was also beautiful! It's been so much fun and I'm so sad to say goodbye. But we will FOR SURE be coming back. For now, we are on to Los Angeles!

Katie