HOT-lanta

On New Years day, we ended up eating and resting most of the day. We had beneits and hot chocolate at Cafe Du Monde...so yummy! Then for dinner, we went to Mothers for some real southern cooking. I got a fried shrimp po'boy...also delicious! Then we headed to a bar called Lucy's where I discovered a great new beer called Purple Haze. We then headed down to Bourbon street just to say we had gone but we were all so tired and could not hang with all the party people. The Sugar Bowl had just ended so the street was packed with Florida and Cincinnati fans.

Yesterday was very sad to leave Molly, Laura, and Josh. I once again shed some tears in New Orleans as I set off to Atlanta to meet up with my new roommate, Josh. First I made a stop at Sucre in New Orleans to pick up some New Orleans-famous macaroons for Josh's family. I was on the road around 9AM. It was definitely a lot more boring without my friends with me. We have to read the book, "3 Cups of Tea" for school so I ended up buying the audiobook and listened to that most of the way. It's funny to me that it took us 2 days to get through Texas but yesterday I passed through 3 states (Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia) all in one day! I stopped in Montgomery for gas and met a nice man from North Carolina who was shocked to see my California license plate.

Thanks to my GPS (I really don't think I could have made this trip without it!), I finally made it to Hot-lanta around 5:30 (with the hour time change from New Orleans). And let me tell you, it is FAR from hot here. It's currently 8:30AM here and it's 18 degrees!! The scary part is that Durham is actually colder...I hope I can survive this cold weather! I was really nervous to meet Josh but him and his family are extremely warm and they have welcomed me into their beautiful home. I also met Josh's girlfriend, Ashley, who is also so sweet. I talked with him and his family for a while and then showered and headed to dinner. I must say, I definitely see what everyone means by southern hospitality now - everyone here is just SO nice!

Then Josh, Ashley, and I went to a bar to have some drinks. We got to know each other and talked about our living situation and "pet peeves." Apparently Josh is always hot, so he keeps the house pretty cold. Uh oh, I'm cold a lot! But we decided we'll need to compromise on that issue and I'll just have to wear my snuggie more. He let me know that he's pretty clean (good!) and I told him that I really like to bake...his girlfriend said that was perfect because Josh loves to eat! So I think it's going to work out just fine.

I'm taking a break from driving today and spending the day in Atlanta. We're going to make a trip to Ikea since there is not one in Durham and if I buy some stuff, I can put it in Josh's U-haul because there is still plenty of room. Tomorrow we leave for Durham - my last car ride!! Wohoo! Josh's parents are coming with us to take his car and he'll drive the U-haul. It's about 380 miles - piece of cake and the shortest drive I'll make this trip. They want to stop in Charlotte to take me to a good BBQ place on the way.

I still can't believe how far I've come and that I'm so close to Durham and starting the program! Monday seems like months ago, when we packed up the car and headed out on this journey. I'm both excited and nervous but I know it's going to be a great adventure. Josh's parents keep telling me that Durham is a wonderful place and I'm going to love it. I'm really looking forward to seeing my parents on Wednesday in Durham and having them help me get settled.

Hope everyone enjoys their last day off before heading back to work tomorrow!

Love,

Amanda

Happy New Year!!

We woke up very early on New Years Eve and headed out of San Antonio on our way to New Orleans. We did a quick drive by the Alamo on the way out. Here are some of the highlights…

- Song of the day: “Ready to Run” by the Dixie Chicks. Very appropriate!

- For the first stop of the day, we took a detour off of I-10 to check out the Shiner Bock Brewery in Shiner, TX (population 2070). We were the very first customers to arrive at 8:58AM and they open at 9:00AM – we even beat a few employees there! We received 4 free beer tastings and we all agreed that the holiday cheer (with hints of peaches and pecans) was the best!

- We wanted to also stop at the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory, but it was closed on NYE! So sad!!

- There was heavy fog during the entire drive through Texas

- We lost Laura and Josh in Houston because they took a wrong exit but thanks to my amazing GPS (thanks, Christina and Chris!), we stayed on track and on the I-10.

- We stopped in Beaumont, TX to get gas…not too much going on in that place

- Once we got into Louisiana, the terrain changed to swamps and a lot more trees

- We arrived at Laura’s friends’ (Tim and Carrie) house in Uptown New Orleans around 5:30PM and then started getting ready for our dinner and night out on the town. We dined at Cuvee in the Wherehouse district of New Orleans. The general manager is also one of Josh’s best friends from college so we got some royal treament! It was a nine course meal with wine pairings and included, foie gras, turtle soup, rabbit patte, date salad, veal, lobster, and flourless chocolate cake for dessert! We were still eating at midnight so we rang in the new year with a champagne toast at the table. I cried for a bit at the thought of not being in California for midnight L

After midnight we finished all of our glasses and headed to Tipitina’s to watch the jazz funk band “Galactica.” Despite our long trip, we all managed to stay up til 3AM!

- New Years day morning we headed to Willie Maes Scotch House for America’s best friend chicken. We scarfed down a HUGE plate of friend chicken coupled with red and butter beans. New Orleans by far has been the best food of the road trip!

- We’re taking a break from driving today and exploring New Orleans a bit. We’re going to go walk around the French Quarter and possibly catch the crowd after the Sugar Bowl later on.

- We’ll have to say goodbye to Molly today, which I’m sure will make me cry once again! I’m so happy to have had her in the car with me this past week and am going to miss her very much! I’ll be on my way to Atlanta (my second to last stop) tomorrow to meet my new roomie and Josh and Laura will be off to Jacksonville, their new home!

Happy New Year everyone!! May 2010 be filled with health and happiness!

-Amanda, Molly, Laura, and Josh

Too Fast Too Furious

We left the El Paso house this morning and headed for San Antonio after first stopping at Chick-Fil-A for some breakfast chicken minis and then our routine Starbucks.

Here are some highlights from today: (it was not too exciting of a day because there is really NOTHING between El Paso and San Antonio)

- We get faster everyday: most of the way on 1-10 today had a speed limit of 80mph! So we cruised to SA with only 2 stops for gas and bathroom. The second stop gas station had 69 cent corn dogs and chicken legs...hmmm we resisted both.

- We crossed no state borders today. Texas is a HUGE state!

- Song of the day: "The Sign" by Ace of Base. We looked for a sign of some sort all day, but all we saw was nothing all around us.

-We drove through a very large fog bank right out of El Paso for about 30 minutes where the weather was in the 30s but when we arrived in San Antonio it was a warm 58 degrees!

-The license plate game continues and Amanda and Molly have pulled ahead with 35. We spotted on from the great state of New Hampshire today!

-Molly and I made a few videos in the car, one is a music video and we promise to post them soon (we're still figuring out all the videos/photos, sorry!)

-We tried searching for radio stations at one point and found none! What do people do out here?!

-I have gone through 4 of a total 10 states in my trip to Durham...6 to go!!

-We are staying at the Marriott in downtown San Antonio tonight and we just got back from a real Texas barbecue dinner at County Line BBQ. Then we took a nice walk down the river walk which is so cute and totally happening - there were a ton of people out! The whole downtown area is all lit up for the holidays and it's really beautiful!

Tomorrow we're off to New Orleans where we'll spend New Years Eve with dinner and a live jazz funk concert at Tipitina's. We are really looking forward to taking a break from driving New Year's Day and exploring the city a little more. This will also be Molly's final destination as she'll be flying back to San Francisco from there. :(

Have a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve! We miss everyone very much!

xoxo,
Amanda, Molly, Laura, and Josh

Day 3 preview

We just had breakfast at chick-fil-A and got chicken minis....YUM!!! It's a good start to our day! Heading to San Antonio!!

xoxo,

Amanda, Molly, Laura, and Josh

Desert Mysteries

Today was the longest travel day that we will have on our journey!! WE embarked bright and early and set off on our way to El Paso (705 miles away!)

Highlights…..

- song of the day: “oxford comma” by vampire weekend – our thoughts about that… eh?. Don’t really know what that means? Oh well.

- Molly broke out her new toy – the flip video camera – and was able to record some memorable moments: crossing three state borders, sticking her head out the window, the Thing tour and scenery along the side of the road.

- Stop #1: lunch in Phoenix was at a little gem of a stop that we found by chance using Yelp on the iPhone. Rito’s Market and Mexican Takeout was compared to the Seinfeld show’s “soup Nazi” in one review so we decided that we had to give it shot! (plus the green chile burritos enchilada style were apparently mouth watering!). We arrived to the place and it had NO sign on the outside but there were people chowing down on the patio plus a long line out the door. The menu was made up of two items: “burros” and chimichangas. When Molly asked the man behind us in line what a “burro” was, he said “Guuurl, where you from? It’s a burrito!” Amanda went to order a “green chile burrito with chicken” and the woman (slightly annoyed) told her that they did not have chicken – only “meat”. So Amanda inquired as to what kind of “meat” was in the burrito and she replied with “tender”. Haha! Mystery meat aside – the burrito was the bomb, hit the spot and the 4 of us were energized to truck on to El Paso.

- Stop #2 - The Thing: look this up on Wikipedia. This is an attraction that has entertained road travelers since the 1950s!! There are a TON of signs (for 200 miles there are 247 signs!) advertising this road side attraction is “the desert mystery” and that you can stop to see for yourself + get breakfast or a blizzard from the adjoining Dairy Queen. We HAD to see for ourselves. We pulled into the dirt parking lot and walked into a very impressive gift shop with trinkets that you can only hope to find at a thrift store = t-shirts with howling wolves and others with grazing bison, there was also no shortage of dream catchers, ponchos, and cactus shaped salt and pepper shakers.... plus specials on machete knives. After paying the admission fee of $1 – we walked through the attraction and all we can really say about it is that we got “punked”. But of course – I would recommend this stop to any curious traveler on the highway 10. It might be the most happening pit stop on this long stretch of road.

- Gas is getting cheaper as we drive east - $2.45/gallon in New Mexico! Dang!

- There is snow on the ground in Arizona and New Mexcio!

- The speed limit is 75 mph on I-10!

-Stop #3 – we stopped in Las Cruces, New Mexico for dinner looking for “Old Town Restaurant” but when we arrived we realized that it was no longer open. Oops! Yelp did not tell us that! We asked a local guy what he recommended and he replied with “Applebees” or “Cracker Barrel” – 2 chain restaurants, really? So instead we went for yet another authentic Mexican meal at “El Comedor.” I think we’ve had our share of Mexican food for the trip….we’re hoping to move on to some Texas BBQ tomorrow!

-Stop #4 – Buddy’s Beer Barn Drive-Thru (www.buddysbeerbarn.com): “Best Beer selection from Albe to Austin!” Josh bought some whiskey and then the girls went into the wine cellar to find every bottle covered in dust. Sooo Molly sang the song that came to mind to Buddy, the owner “There might be a little dust on the bottle…” Check out the website, it’s for real and this really would never fly in California! We’ll post some photos soon of it

-Final Stop – El Paso country home! Our friends from college rented a home in El Paso this week to go to the Sun Bowl and cheer on Stanford and we’re joining in the festivities for the night. We’re in the middle of nowhere but happy to in pajamas and resting. We’re off to San Antonio tomorrow!

Quote of the Day: “American by birth…Texan by the grace of God.”

Miss ya’ll!

Amanda, Molly, Laura, and Josh

Hakuna Matatta!

We set off this morning at about 10 after 8 (right on schedule!) made a pit stop at Starbucks and with the help of the GPS we arrived at the Cabazon dessert outlet stores around 3:00PM! We met Laura and Josh here and walked around a little (don't worry - we did not buy anything since there is NO room in the cars for more stuff) 482 miles - we made great time!!

Points of interest on Day 1:

We will play a game everyday when we get in the car called “song of the day” We'll put the iPod on “shuffle” mode and the first song that comes on is officially the “song of the day” – today’s selection was appropriately “Hakunah Mattata” from Disney’s the Lion King. (“means no worries! For the rest of your days…it’s a problem free philosophy – hakunah mattata”) So perfect. We had no worries and the time actually flew by!

Molly and I also decided to try to name all the 50 states. After a brief discussion about whether New Hampshire is officially a state, we managed to name them all. We have started a competition with Laura and Josh to see who can find the most state license plates on the road. Losing car buys a round of beers in New Orleans. So far, Josh and Laura lead 15-11. (Bonus points for Canadian or international plates)

Tunes on the road today included: Lady Antelbellum, Rihana “hard”, Lady Gaga, San Francisco tribute mix by Molly's brother John, Glee soundtrack, Tim McGraw, and 2Pac.

Unfortunately our day was not too exciting today...I-5 is not the most thrilling road but hoping that will change from here on out as we travel to new places we've never been to.

We're now at Josh's aunt's beautiful house in La Quinta, CA - making dinner and resting up for our longest drive of the trip tomorrow (684 miles!)

We miss you all!

xoxo,

Amanda, Molly, Laura, and Josh

W

Welcome!

Hi everyone,

We leave early on Monday, December 28th and our first stop is Palm Springs...stay tuned to see how our first day goes!

xoxo,

Amanda and Molly