Phoenix Part 2: The Apache Trail and the Best Pizza Joint You'll Ever Find is Actually in Arizona of All Places.

Hey everyone,

So the Phoenix posts are different than the other posts, because we did things on different days, so I'm just going to list a bunch of fun things that Ryan and I did while we were there. This is Part 2.

The Apache Trail

So one of the things we did while we were in Phoenix was to go on the Apache Trail. The Apache Trail is a 41.5 mile windy, curvy, steep and mountainy trail that takes you through some of the most scorching, barren rocks and desert that Arizona has to offer. Going east from Mesa, you go through some beautiful canyon lakes, an abandoned frontier stop called Tortilla Flat, and the most amazingly steep an windy road you've probably ever been on, the Roosevelt Dam, and abandoned mining towns along the way.

At first, I didn't want to go. Ryan had to talk me into doing it, mainly because the idea of driving on steep canyon roads where you could go tumbling off the side did not seem automatically appealing...gee, I wonder why?

But, we ended up going and I'm very glad that we did. The desert landscape was so stunningly beautiful. I've always loved being in remote places and discovering things that appear almost untouched. And that's what we say. Desert and canyons untouched for miles on end. It felt surreal to me, because you just think that when you go to places in the U.S., you are bound to run into a town or some sign of human civilization. But we hardly ran into anyone the whole time. It was just Ryan, me, and Ryan's little Saturn SUV going over unpaved desert roads, alone in the landscape.

It just reminded me of the beautiful world we live in and how much we sometimes ruin all the beauty by building so much. Also, it's just so much fun to go exploring. That's one of the reasons I love Ryan so much. He always is ready to go on a new adventure and he's never afraid of plunging head first into anything and so we just have a lot of fun because we are always looking for new things to enjoy!

But anyway, we started out on the paved road and reached Tortilla Flats. They call it a "town", but really its just a random outpost in the middle of nowhere with an ice cream shop, a saloon, and a gift shop. I loved stopping here because it took me back to a memory I have of my grandma taking me and my brother and sister to Tortilla Flat years ago when she used to live there. So it was like going down memory lane and I remember her taking us and sitting us at the bar to have "beer" (which was really just root beer, but when you are in grade school, drinking root beer from a beer bottle is insanely cool.)

Anyway, we stopped for ice cream and kept on our way. Then we reached a point where the paved road just ended. It was mostly sand and tire tracks after that. This is when I realized I was about the furthest from civilization that I had ever been. It was, in a word, sublime. And then we reached the steep road with no railing. Um, scary. Thank god Ryan was driving or otherwise I would have panicked. But with Ryan's guidance, we got through and continued driving through the sweltering desert. Miles of uninterrupted rocks and canyons. And then finally we see this stream. Water! And then we saw the huge dam. Hoover dam may be more well known, but the Roosevelt Dam is gorgeous. Like Hoover, it towers high in the canyon and the water is crystal clear. It was quite picturesque. And then we went over the Roosevelt Bridge which is a really cool, bright indigo-colored bridge going over the crystal waters of Roosevelt Lake.

And then we just drove, winding our way back to Phoenix through canyons, abandoned mining towns, and dusty roads. And we made our way to our new favorite Pizza place: Oregano's. If you have not heard of Oregano's then go look them up and find the nearest one to you and GO! The 50's kitsch-y pizza place is huge in Phoenix.

Their pizza is fantastic deep dish pizza that just melts in your mouth! And you have to get a dessert pan cookie. It's like a deep dish dessert. Picture chocolate chip cookie + warm, melted gooey goodness + vanilla ice cream. It is the best restaurant dessert I have ever had. So after a long day of travel it was nice to unwind with tasty pizza and dessert!

And that concludes most of what we did in Phoenix. In the next post, I'll share the adventures of driving through Texas. SO. MUCH. DRIVING. Until then!

Nick

Tortilla Flats. Yep, that's pretty much it. 

Wouldn't be a frontier town without a local legend.

The Roosevelt Dam.

The Roosevelt Bridge

What most of the rest of that drive looked like.

Phoenix: Sedona, AZ State Capitol, and the MIM

Hey everyone,

So the Phoenix posts are different than the other posts, because we did things on different days and most of this is a random collection of Phoenix memories so I'm just going to list a bunch of fun things that Ryan and I did while we were there. This is Part 1.

Sedona

One of the first things we did was go to Sedona. I found Sedona to be a really cool place. A lot of natural wonders and a lot of beautiful scenery. The town is known for its red rocks and for gorgeous views of mountains. Also, the town is host to a lot of crazy. By that, I mean a lot of people come to Sedona for spiritual healing mostly in the form of feeding off of the energy of the rocks, meditating, psychics, etc. Not that its a bad thing people come here to get their spiritual fix, but all of the palm reading and feeding off of psychic energy is just a tad...odd.

Anywho, we walked around the shops for a bit and I bought some alligator jerky, which is delicious! They also had a cool candle making shop and a Christmas shop, and Ryan and I's favorite, a olive oil and basalmic vinegar place that let you try a million free samples! And it wouldn't be me without getting stains on my nice polo, effectively ruining it, :-(

But the best part of the whole thing was just driving around looking at the gorgeous scenery, it really was incredible. After driving for a while, we stopped at this brewery called the Oak Creek Brewery. It was a really fun little spot, and I liked it because it was a very local place, small and intimate. There was a band singing and we tried the beer, I enjoyed the atmosphere there and it was a nice, peaceful place to just chill.

Afterword, we drove back to Phoenix, but we took the back way and went by the town of Cottonwood, Arizona. And let me tell, I was glad we did! The town felt so remote and untouched by a major population and the town sits at the bottom of this valley with mountains all in the background. We arrived just at sunset and the effect was magical, it was just so beautiful. If I were ever to live in the Arizona desert, it would be at that place, because it was one of the most gorgeous sunsets I have seen.

Arizona State Capitol and the MIM 

So Ryan and I looked up things to do in Arizona and we decided we wanted to see the state capitol and a museum that looked really cool called the Musical Instrument Museum (or, the MIM). So we went to the State Capitol and it was pretty much your typical state capitol. I thought it was neat that the building was built in the early 1900's, and you could see elements that made the building period-specific and also some elements of Arizona culture that made it in there. And actually, that was the best part of the museum was finding out about Arizona culture in the museum. The state does a great job of showcasing their heritage and how Arizona came to exist as a state. I was disappointed however that no governmental official has there office in the Capitol anymore, but instead, the offices are in other buildings.

But, Ryan and I were curious if we could see the office of the controversial and one of the more interesting governors in the United States, Jan Brewer. We tried taking an elevator up to her office, but access there was restricted. So we left and moved on to our next museum, the MIM.

It turned out to be a good thing that the State Capitol was brief, because the MIM was HUGE! I was stunned by how big this museum was, not in size, but in sheer volume of things to do and see in there. I had a blast at this museum! On the bottom floor, there was an exhibit on musical instruments (true to its name) and an exhibit where you got to play and touch replicas of instruments that were in the museum. So I banged on every drum, rang little bells, and got to act like a kid again. We also went into the artist gallery which had stars like Taylor Swift and the Black Eyed Peas and their artifacts, which was pretty cool.

But to me, what was most incredible was the top floor. When you buy your ticket, they give you a guide that lets you listen to the audio of the exhibit as you walk. What was very cool was that the whole device was wireless and you never pressed a single button. Instead, every TV screen in the museum senses your device and then automatically plays the song and music video of the artifact you are walking by. HOW COOL IS THAT!

The upstairs had artifacts and music sorted by geographical area, and had rooms divided by continent. And on each continent they profiled music from almost every country in the world! The geography nerd in me was beyond thrilled and I looked at stuff from every country. Poor Ryan went ahead of me finished a full hour to an hour and a half before I did. In total we spent 4.5 hours there! I don't know if I've ever spent so much time at a single museum before!

And that's it for this post. Here's pics!

Sedona

Random little Brewery, fun to hang out with the locals.

Arizona State Capitol

Had way more info about Arizona than Georgia's State Capitol does.

Ryan loved playing the gongs at MIM.

Crazy huge circus organ!

Rockstar microphones. Awesome!

Los Angeles: Being California Tourists With a Side of Oprah Stalking

Hey everyone,

Our next stop was Los Angeles, the great sprawling metropolis of California. Basically there is not a single person I know in both Georgia and Missouri who at all likes Los Angeles. None, everyone I talked to said to stay away! But, Ryan and I were curious about the city, because we had never been before and we wanted to try something new and different, that's the whole point of the trip right?

Well, traffic was bad (surprise, surprise) but we made the long drive from the hotel to our first stop, which was Warner Brothers Studios. Yes, we took the incredibly touristy studio tour, but I have to admit, it was a lot of fun! We got to ride around in a golf cart touring the studio and seeing all of the set designs. I was amazed at how detailed their exterior design really is, they put a lot of effort into each piece. And it was really cool being on the set of 2 Broke Girls and the Big Bang Theory.

But probably the coolest part of the tour is that Warner Brother's had preserved the entire set design of Central Perk, the coffee shop from the amazing TV show Friends. Since the show is over, they let people look at it and we even got to sit on the famous couch that all of the cast-mates sat on during filming! Afterward, we got to see a truck full of props they use for the show Pretty Little Liars, and also got to tour a room that had all of the famous cars seen in Warner Brothers movies and TV shows like the Batmobile and the "Shag Mobile" from Austin Powers. They even took your picture on a green screen that had the Hogwarts Express train from Harry Potter in it. As you can see below in the picture, Ryan wasn't very nice to me at all! The studio tour ended with a little museum they have set up showing off artifacts from movies and TV shows, which was a fun little bit of pop culture. Afterward, we went to the gift shop and bought some stuff, I got an Ellen T-shirt which I thought was fun and Ryan got a bunch of different stuff.

Afterwards, we left the studio and went to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Chinese Theater. This part was probably the worst part of the trip! First of all, its insanely crowded. Then there are all of these grimy looking street performers trying to pose as your favorite actors and characters and they practically shout at you for attention, and then we couldn't even see the Chinese Theater because they were doing a major renovation. Then we tried to go inside this mall to get a good view of the Hollywood sign, but the view is from so far away that it looks like a tiny speck on the hills. Not exactly awe-inspiring.
Personally, I just felt the whole area was way too overblown, congested and touristy.

It's funny, because I think that was what people who've been to L.A. characterize the whole city as. But I found that that was really the only part of the city that I felt was awful! Afterward, we drove an hour and a half northwest of the city...why? Because we wanted to see where the biggest stars truly lived!


And because Ryan may be obsessed with Oprah...just a little bit. It was a beautiful highway that wound along the coast and it felt relatively untouched except for a city here and there. Well, we finally made it to Montecito where Oprah and Ellen live. It's a beautiful little town with a LOT of mansions! It was dark by the time we got there, but Ryan was determined to find Oprah's house. So we drove around trying to find it, pausing each time we thought it was it. Finally, we found a gate that appeared to be the main entrance. We could tell because I could spot at least 3 security cameras surrounding the outside of the place. For me, that was good enough, but for Ryan, he had to have a picture in front of her gate.

So, he got out and we took a picture of him from the car. Of course the whole time, I'm thinking, the gate's going to open and we are going to be busted for snooping around Oprah's property, I was freaking out a little. And then to my horror, the gate started opening up behind Ryan! We flipped out because we thought we were going to be confronted or worse, arrested, and we got in the car and sped away! We were laughing so hard, but we were worried! Thankfully nothing happened, Ryan got his picture, and we were off. But now with the memory of the time Ryan almost got arrested for trespassing on Oprah's property.

The next day, we woke up and went to Disneyland. Ryan and his family love Disney, so we wanted to stop by and go to the big Disney store on the property. We had fun walking around and looking at stuff, even though we didn't go into the park. Also, the Disney store was massive! I had never seen a novelty store that big before and they had everything! Ryan and I bought these adorable graduation caps with Mickey ears on them that said Class of 2013. And that was a lot of fun! Also, we ate at Goofy's Kitchen which was a big buffet style place that had Disney characters walking around. So we took a picture with a few characters and had a good meal before driving back to Phoenix.

And that was pretty much it, the next post will feature Arizona. Until then! (Pictures Below)

Nick

Entering the Warner Bros. Studio lot Tour

The Back Lot

OMG! Central Perk from Friends! We even sat on the couch!

The Batmobile!

The Mystery Machine!

The Hollywood sign in the background. yep, that's as close as you get to it kids.

The Chinese Theatre. Pretty cool. The Hollywood Walk? Not so much.

The drive up to Oprah's. So beautiful.

Ryan stalking Oprah, because of course. Then we ran away! lol.

Awesome lego sculpture in Downtown Disney. It's Beauty and the Beast. Love it!

Preface: Why I'm Returning to Writing

So...it took me an embarrassingly long time to come back to this and finish my travel blog posts. And as silly as it is, that it's just a fun, personal blog, I didn't finish because I began to take the writing too seriously, too personally.

I love writing. It's honestly one of my favorite things to do in the world. I love the feel of pen on paper or the sound of my computer keys clicking on the keyboard as I enter a steady flow. I love writing because I feel like when I write I have confidence in my ideas, I feel like I've made a commitment to speak my mind and I feel like I have so many ideas and important things to say and reflections about this world that I want to share with people. I like making connections and building relationships through my words. But I stopped writing because I stopped believing in the power of my words and my ability to make a difference with them.

I lost a lot of belief in myself. And when you don't believe in yourself, you get insecure and start doubting everything you do. I started worrying what people thought, if people found my words interesting. It felt like if I got no response on something I wrote, then people didn't care and what I had to say wasn't important.

But after having a wonderful response to my "coming out" anniversary post and seeing the overwhelming response, it made me believe again and showed me that people do appreciate my words and that there are a lot of really great people who care and love me deeply. And I think I needed that support. That and my rock and amazing boyfriend Ryan, who has believed in me and loved me unconditionally throughout this very frustrating time in my life. He's been there to give me "tough love" when I need it and I would be so much worse off without him in my life. For him, I am so thankful.

But I just want to thank you all for being so encouraging and loving while I am going through a rough patch in my life. Looking for a fulfilling career has been very hard on me and I haven't been that successful, and it's drained my confidence and self-esteem. But I'm beginning to be a little less hard on myself and more focused on living in the moment and doing what I love while I am still young. I am resolved not to care so much about whether I have it figured out yet or if I haven't gotten that start on a museum, archive, communications, or tennis job.

I think I just need time to figure it all out. I need time to build my confidence back up and to find something I can consistently love doing and trust that it will all work out. And who knows, hopefully by continuing to write I can discover my passion and figure out what I'm meant to do.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of my posts about Ryan and I's excellent adventure! Thanks for reading!

Nick Woodbury

Save Me San Francisco! Day 4: Alcatraz, Pier 39, and the Strange Ride to L.A.

The last day of the trip to San Francisco, we saved to go see Alcatraz. But because I forgot to get the tickets in advance, we had to buy the more expensive package that required us to go to Angel Island before we went to Alcatraz Island.

At first, I didn't know if we would enjoy Angel Island, because no one really talks about it, which is much larger and has more growth than rocky Alcatraz. But I was very glad we did go, because the island was fascinating. For one, Angel Island has a diverse history dating back to the Civil War when Confederates armed the island to shoot at Union boats entering the bay. The island has also been home to a military processing center for soldiers going to the Pacific in World War II and an immigration station for Asian Americans entering the U.S. It was very interesting to see because most of what remains are relics of old houses and buildings from these times, although park rangers and their families do still live on the island. Also, the island offered up some of the most amazing views of San Francisco across the bay on the mainland. Truly spectacular.

Then we went on the rest of the boat ride to Alcatraz. The infamous prison was definitely worth seeing, and I feel they did a great job bringing in the audio to guide you around the prison. There's a lot of interesting stories to hear about the prison and its a very entertaining place.

Afterword, we got on the boat back to San Francisco and made one last stop at Pier 39 for souvenirs. Then we got in the car to drive to our next stop in L.A. and that's when things got interesting.

First off, getting out of San Francisco is an interesting challenge because the city sits on a peninsula with bridges going from it to other areas in California. We were supposed to head back to San Francisco on Hwy 101, but we got turned around and ended up going out on I-80 to I-880 which ended up taking us to Oakland. Now, everything you heard about San Francisco being the better part of the Bay Area versus Oakland being the "bad" part of the Bay Area was....absolutely true, at least in our experience.

We stopped at a random convenience store because Megan and I had to go to the bathroom. When we went in we saw a man standing in line who was fidgeting. At the time, I didn't think anything of it, and we left. As Megan and I were leaving the store, we watched as that same fidgety man bolted from the line at the register, sprinting out of the store with merchandise. We just witnessed the guy shoplifting! I had never before seen someone shoplift in front of me and it was scary, because he ran right past us and who knows what might have happened! Yikes!

After we calmed down, we got out of that area in a hurry and made our way down I-5. Then another strange thing happened. We were in the middle of nowhere in California about an hour north of Fresno. The sky was dark, clear, and you could see for miles and mileswhen suddenly Sharon pointed out two blinking white lights parallel to each other zooming faster than I have ever seen any plane travel zip across the sky. It was far too dark to make out what it was, but it was going unbelievably fast and then all of a sudden the light disappeared in the distance.

What did we just see? Was it a UFO? Was it a plane? We don't really know. I did some research and found that it could have been a plane from a Naval Air Station nearby, but it had to be something either rarely used or a top military plane. But it was something we had never seen before. But it definitely was a strange sight and very fitting for our strange trip back to L.A. for some brief fun before heading back to Arizona. Until next post!

P.S. Sorry for the lack of Alcatraz photos. My phone camera started acting funny and I didn't get it working again until afterward, but Ryan has some on his phone he will probably upload onto Facebook. Thanks for checking in!

Nick

Save Me San Francisco! Day 3: Muir Woods and Napa Valley

EDIT: Okay, so maybe I got Muir Woods mixed up on the wrong day, we actually went to Muir Woods the previous day. But since I had a lot of info about the previous day, I'm just going to include it here.

So we went back on Day 3 for more amazing California scenery. The first thing we did was to drive up and visit Muir Woods. Muir Woods is a beautiful park that had some amazingly tall redwoods. Since we didn't have time to make the 5+ hour journey up to see the Redwoods in the Redwood National Park, Muir Woods gave us some of those tall old trees instead.

After navigating some curvy, hilly roads with sharp turns, we pulled into the parking lot and it was packed! As much as I'm happy the park is conserving the forest by not building any more parking, the situation was a nightmare! We had to wait until another visitor left before we could get a spot.

But once there, it was very worth it. The forest, for having so many visitors is amazingly peaceful. It reminded me of my time in Colorado, except without the heavy hiking! We walked around, took some pictures inside giant tree trucks and moved on, all the while looking up as the trees towered above us.


Afterword, we headed up to Napa valley. I was very excited as this was the only part of San Francisco Area that I had never been to before. The drive into Napa is very picturesque and we saw a lot of beautiful land on the way up (yes, I sound like a broken record, but California is by far the most beautiful state in the country!) We hopped out and took a picture by the big Napa Valley sign. Apparently, we started a trend because after we did it, several cars pulled up and did the same!

The first winery we stopped at was the Sterling vineyards. My aunt and uncle chose this one because it is a beautiful winery to tour. First we went up on a tram ride to the top of the hill where the winery is located, which was really fun! Then, we got to try a lot of wine and we had a delicious meat and cheese tray we enjoyed while enjoying the sun and scenery. Pretty cool!

Next we went to the Mumm champagne place. Again, nice scenery and we all had champagne samples. Although everyone else was not a big fan, I had a fun time trying the different kinds and found all of them to be pretty delicious. In fact, I finished the other samples people didn't want, but thankfully I didn't go overboard! haha.

Last, but not least. We went to the Beringer winery. This one had some really cool architecture! This winery was built like a fortress and had some cool stone walls and even a castle (unfortunately, we didn't have time to go explore it!) But, we got to try a lot of different wines at this place too and the staff at Beringer were very nice and friendly. So, we took a lot of pics, Sharon and I bought a bottle each of red wine to use for cooking when we got home, and then we were done.

Lastly, we ate dinner at a very nice Napa restaurant. Cindy Pawlcyn's Woodfire Grill was the perfect way to end the evening. The food was very California (diverse, different yet homey feeling and down-to-earth) and we left feeling full of food, wine, and fun!

I loved the drive back through Napa. It was just gorgeous! The sunset was perfect, the small, windy countryside road felt warm and comforting. It was exactly what I imagined in my head when I pictured the perfect trip so long ago when I was stressing out during my last semester of graduate school. It was a great moment and a great feeling and I won't soon forget how calm and relaxed I felt.

Here are photos from this part of the adventure. Enjoy!

The next post is Alcatraz and the strange trip we had going back to Arizona. Stay tuned!

Nick