Final Blog Post

I'm sorry I haven't blogged for the past few days...being on the road is not condusive to writing regular updates. But I will still fill you in on the road trip home as my last entry to my Sweet Summer '09 blog.
Blair, Mel and I left early Friday morning headed to Fort Stockton, Texas. This means driving for 16 long, long hours. As we drove farther and farther from LA and then out of California I became more and more depressed. Luckily, I had my best girls and some rockin' tunes to help raise my spirits. We jammed to everything from old-school Brittany, N'SYNC, Backstreet, Spice Girls etc to recent stuff to musicals, Disney classics (my choice of course) and Weird Al. It made the butt-numbing drive a little more enjoyable. The only snafu was when Mel got pulled over but I name-dropped Ellen and got her out of the ticket. Yay for written warnings! Anyhow, I drove A LOT and it was exhausting but we stopped only for fast food and bathrooms and gas. It was very efficient though tiring. We made it all the way to Texas which was actually a cool drive. It went from hilly California to the desert of Arizona complete with cacti and tumbleweed to rocky New Mexico with cool plateau rock formations to the actually populated Texas. My favorite part of the day was the drive just past El Paso, TX. Never in my life I have seen so many stars in the sky. I felt like I was in a planetarium!! We saw planets (and I meant that to be plural) and more stars than I ever thought I'd see in the actual sky. I suddenly understood how the Native Americans actually came up with the animal shapes that became constellations. With that many stars...it's easy to make shapes. It was absolutely gorgeous. While that was the most beautiful part of the day, it wasn't the funniest. We had to go through border control (yes, we were that close to Mexico) and the officer asked us if we had any Mexicans hiding in our trunk. HA! I told him he could look if he wanted but I would hold him responsible for getting it shut again. He opted to trust the three white girls in the car piled with preppy Vera Bradley bags. I thought that wise. :)
Day two wasn't quite as long so that was a relief. We got in really late and up pretty early but despite the lack of sleep and questionable lodging, we were awake and on the road by 8am. Texas took a long time to get through btu we didn't stop for longer than minute until we got to New Orleans, LA. We parked there and got out to walk around and explore the city. We ate on the famous Canal Street next to a traditional blues club pumping out totally rad music. The food was delicious! I had fried alligator and jambalaya; I wanted to really experience the city. But better than the food was the live street performers all along Bourbon Street where we played tourist. They sounded liked professionals! A whole 8-person group of brass instruments having a great time playing music you could just tell they loved. It had real soul and people were just dancing in the street. New Orleans truly is a unique place and I loved the culture. Last night we stayed right outside of New Orleans in another questionable hotel (so questionable in fact than when my eye was red upon waking up we all thought I had pink eye...no worries, it was just my contact) However, we got to sleep in which was fantastic.
All that was left for today was an 8-hour trip. Split between 3 people, it was no problem after what we'd been used to. We rocked out to our music and chatted about the upcoming school year, friends, boys...you know the typical girl stuff. :) I ALMOST forgot about the fact that I miss my Ellen friends and LA terribly! They kindly reminded me by texting/calling me to tell me about the awesome day they were having showing their family and friends around LA. They both leave tomorrow though so at least then we can all comiserate together. I was also brutally reminded of how much I was going to miss Cali when we entered the state of Florida and found ourselves driving the remainder of the way through a tropical storm. Oh goody... I left beautiful, dry, sunny California for muggy, gross tropical storm-ridden Florida. Nonetheless, I am happy to report I am writing my final blog from the comfort of my childhood home in Tampa. I made it!
And with that, my blog, and my Sweet Summer '09 comes to an end. I hope you all (aka my parents and sister) enjoyed following my adventures in LA and with Ellen. I certainly have enjoyed living every moment of it. The only question left is...what on earth will I do to top this next summer?