the journey...griswald style
So here I sit in Pasasdena, California. A place of mystery, yet a place where I have already met many great people. Sorry that I have not updated my blog in many many weeks, but I recently got internet in my apartment. My apologies, but here I am.
Getting here was quite an adventure with "the parental units" (a.k.a. my mom and dad). We had a good time, which consisited of many laughs, good food, and some amazing sight seeing.
I don't know if you have seen any of the vacation movies staring the Griswald family. If you have not, you should rent them to get a good laugh. If you have seen them, then you will take pleasure in discovering the route my parents and I decided to take in order to get the Cali. Without further ado, I give a narrative of the Bechtol journey to Pasadena, California. Enjoy:
Sept. 9, Saturday:
I woke up and went on my last mountain bike ride in Amarillo. Palo Duro Canyon was great. It was only 68 degrees with a little bit of an overcast—perfect biking weather. After riding, I went and picked up the UHaul trailer. The trailer that would bear all of my precious belongings from four beautiful years in Waco. Upon picking up the UHaul, I thought to myself, "Shit! This is really happening. I am moving to California!" After such thoughts, I began to be overwhelmed for the first time since deciding to go to Fuller. Despite the nervousness, we got the trailer loaded up and ready to leave for Monday.
Sept. 11, Monday:
We left Amarillo around nine in the morning. Next stop: The Petrified Forest and Painted Desert—sight seeing adventure #1. We drove and we drove west on I-40. Finally, we came to the "forest," which ended up not being a forest. Rather than seeing trees, we gazed upon some incredible canyons that contained fragments of trees that were petrifried through the years by the minerals in the water that once surrouned the trees. I called Liz Eddy when we arrived at the "forest" (why do they even call it that? come on!), and she laughed, no joke, for about two minutes about what I was doing. Good times.
As we looked out over all of these beautiful canyons, truly creations of God, I felt numb to the presence of God in such natural beauties. "How can it be possible that I don't feel the presence of God as I look at all of this?" I asked myself. I was dumbstruck. Beauty after beauty and nothing.
Then, as we exited the "forest" (come on!), the sun was setting in front of us. At this point, the presence of God that I thought I had been missinig culminated in this one experience. It was beautiful. We stopped to take a picture.
It seemed like the sun set forever as we drove. It was beautiful.
Sept. 12, Tuesday:
We made it to Flagstaff, Arizona on Monday night and stayed at this great hotel call Little America Hotel. I recommend this place if you ever find yourself in Flagstaff. Of course, it is a historical hotel. Tuesday was a busy day. Our goal was to see the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and explore Vegas later that night. Our stopping point was Vegas where we would spend the next day.
First, the Grand Canyon. We drove through desolate country side, desert would be the name for the aforesaid desolate country. It was not beautiful, but depressing. However, once we arrived at the Grand Canyon, we were gazing down, out, and across miles and miles of beauty. My Dad and I made the most novel statements of the trip at this leg of the journey. As we stood near the edge of part of the canyon, I turned to my parents and said with much enthusiams, "It's deep!" My Mom looked at me, and giggling she responded, "Well that was original." Likewise, as my Dad looked out across the canyon with binoculars, "binocs" as he likes to call them, he said, "It's...it's so big!" The Oxford Dictionary defines novelty as: novelty, n. the quality of being new, original, or unusual; Harris and Richard Bechtol. I swear I didn't add that last part. It is what we are known for.
Next stop, the Hoover Dam. (Journey note: we actually came back to the Hoover Dam on Wednesday because we miscalculated how long the Grand Canyon would take; however, for narrative sake, I am going to pretend we made it to the Hoover Dam in time to do all that we did on Wednesday.) I cannot describe the wonder of the Hoover Dam. You simply must see it yourself. The thing is almost as wide as it is tall. At the top, the dam is 45' wide, and at the bottom it is about 460' wide! This thing was built in the 30's right after the depression. Truly amazing.
A fun little fact about the Hoover Dam and my family: Bechtel, -el, Engineering built the Hoover Dam. The Bechtol, -ol, family is related to the Bechtel, -el, family. I told you that Bechtol's are known for our novelty.
After the Hoover Dam, we pulled into Las Vegas. We were extremely tired from driving and walking around when we got to our hotel. Thus, we ate some great Italian food and relaxed in our hotel room.
Sept. 13, Wednesday:
We awoke, ate breakfast, and took the bus to The Strip. Vegas is another one of those things that you must see. Each nice Hotel on the strip is not merely a hotel. No, the hotel includes its own casino, pools (note the plural form), and mall. I don't know how all of these malls and such stay in business because so many of them exist on one street. Nevertheless, they survive and survive well.
We visited Caesar's Palace, The Mirage, The Vennecian, and The Bellaggio. We were only there one day; thus, we couldn't see them all. The Bellaggio was my favorite. A classy hotel/casino/resort/mall/freeking huge complex.
Wednesday night we went to the show Mama Mia. I don't know if it is the "greatest show on earth," as it is advertised, but it was a great show. I was amazed at how much talent is in Las Vegas.
Surprisingly, none of us gambled at all. As Dugan and Singleton can tell you, I am not much of a poker player. Me playing poker is, for other people, like going to a benefit dinner: they get money for little or no effort.
Sept. 14, Thursday:
We left Vegas and began the worst drive of our entire lives. We only had about 4 to 5 hours left in our trip to Pasadena. However, these 4 to 5 hours were through the desert. We thought the geography before the Grand Canyon was bad, but thiss leg of the trip was ten times worse than that. Nothing but dirt and dirt covered mountains for 4 to 5 hours. I actually was a little depressed when we pulled into Pasadena. Pasadena is beautiful, but the ugly driving getting to Pasadena clouded my brain from recognizing the beauty in my new home. I hope to not make that drive often while I live here.
Thus ended the Bechtol/Griswald adventure to California. The total mileage was somewhere around 1250 miles, and I have to say I could feel my car give a sigh of relief when I returned the UHaul trailer. California feels right.
By Saturday night my apartment was done: boxes unpacked, clothes hung, pictures hung, and furniture assembled. My parents left on Sunday, and I have been enjoying the California sun. As I said at the beginning, I have met some great people. Classes start on monday, and I have to admit that I am ready for them to start because I am tired of trying to figure out how much work I am going to have to do. I know it will be an incredible amount, but I am tired of guessing. I hope all is well with all of you. I'll keep you updated. peace
Getting here was quite an adventure with "the parental units" (a.k.a. my mom and dad). We had a good time, which consisited of many laughs, good food, and some amazing sight seeing.
I don't know if you have seen any of the vacation movies staring the Griswald family. If you have not, you should rent them to get a good laugh. If you have seen them, then you will take pleasure in discovering the route my parents and I decided to take in order to get the Cali. Without further ado, I give a narrative of the Bechtol journey to Pasadena, California. Enjoy:
Sept. 9, Saturday:
I woke up and went on my last mountain bike ride in Amarillo. Palo Duro Canyon was great. It was only 68 degrees with a little bit of an overcast—perfect biking weather. After riding, I went and picked up the UHaul trailer. The trailer that would bear all of my precious belongings from four beautiful years in Waco. Upon picking up the UHaul, I thought to myself, "Shit! This is really happening. I am moving to California!" After such thoughts, I began to be overwhelmed for the first time since deciding to go to Fuller. Despite the nervousness, we got the trailer loaded up and ready to leave for Monday.
Sept. 11, Monday:We left Amarillo around nine in the morning. Next stop: The Petrified Forest and Painted Desert—sight seeing adventure #1. We drove and we drove west on I-40. Finally, we came to the "forest," which ended up not being a forest. Rather than seeing trees, we gazed upon some incredible canyons that contained fragments of trees that were petrifried through the years by the minerals in the water that once surrouned the trees. I called Liz Eddy when we arrived at the "forest" (why do they even call it that? come on!), and she laughed, no joke, for about two minutes about what I was doing. Good times.
As we looked out over all of these beautiful canyons, truly creations of God, I felt numb to the presence of God in such natural beauties. "How can it be possible that I don't feel the presence of God as I look at all of this?" I asked myself. I was dumbstruck. Beauty after beauty and nothing.
Then, as we exited the "forest" (come on!), the sun was setting in front of us. At this point, the presence of God that I thought I had been missinig culminated in this one experience. It was beautiful. We stopped to take a picture.
It seemed like the sun set forever as we drove. It was beautiful.
Sept. 12, Tuesday:
We made it to Flagstaff, Arizona on Monday night and stayed at this great hotel call Little America Hotel. I recommend this place if you ever find yourself in Flagstaff. Of course, it is a historical hotel. Tuesday was a busy day. Our goal was to see the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and explore Vegas later that night. Our stopping point was Vegas where we would spend the next day.
First, the Grand Canyon. We drove through desolate country side, desert would be the name for the aforesaid desolate country. It was not beautiful, but depressing. However, once we arrived at the Grand Canyon, we were gazing down, out, and across miles and miles of beauty. My Dad and I made the most novel statements of the trip at this leg of the journey. As we stood near the edge of part of the canyon, I turned to my parents and said with much enthusiams, "It's deep!" My Mom looked at me, and giggling she responded, "Well that was original." Likewise, as my Dad looked out across the canyon with binoculars, "binocs" as he likes to call them, he said, "It's...it's so big!" The Oxford Dictionary defines novelty as: novelty, n. the quality of being new, original, or unusual; Harris and Richard Bechtol. I swear I didn't add that last part. It is what we are known for.
Next stop, the Hoover Dam. (Journey note: we actually came back to the Hoover Dam on Wednesday because we miscalculated how long the Grand Canyon would take; however, for narrative sake, I am going to pretend we made it to the Hoover Dam in time to do all that we did on Wednesday.) I cannot describe the wonder of the Hoover Dam. You simply must see it yourself. The thing is almost as wide as it is tall. At the top, the dam is 45' wide, and at the bottom it is about 460' wide! This thing was built in the 30's right after the depression. Truly amazing.
A fun little fact about the Hoover Dam and my family: Bechtel, -el, Engineering built the Hoover Dam. The Bechtol, -ol, family is related to the Bechtel, -el, family. I told you that Bechtol's are known for our novelty.
After the Hoover Dam, we pulled into Las Vegas. We were extremely tired from driving and walking around when we got to our hotel. Thus, we ate some great Italian food and relaxed in our hotel room.
Sept. 13, Wednesday:We awoke, ate breakfast, and took the bus to The Strip. Vegas is another one of those things that you must see. Each nice Hotel on the strip is not merely a hotel. No, the hotel includes its own casino, pools (note the plural form), and mall. I don't know how all of these malls and such stay in business because so many of them exist on one street. Nevertheless, they survive and survive well.
We visited Caesar's Palace, The Mirage, The Vennecian, and The Bellaggio. We were only there one day; thus, we couldn't see them all. The Bellaggio was my favorite. A classy hotel/casino/resort/mall/freeking huge complex.
Wednesday night we went to the show Mama Mia. I don't know if it is the "greatest show on earth," as it is advertised, but it was a great show. I was amazed at how much talent is in Las Vegas.
Surprisingly, none of us gambled at all. As Dugan and Singleton can tell you, I am not much of a poker player. Me playing poker is, for other people, like going to a benefit dinner: they get money for little or no effort.
Sept. 14, Thursday:
We left Vegas and began the worst drive of our entire lives. We only had about 4 to 5 hours left in our trip to Pasadena. However, these 4 to 5 hours were through the desert. We thought the geography before the Grand Canyon was bad, but thiss leg of the trip was ten times worse than that. Nothing but dirt and dirt covered mountains for 4 to 5 hours. I actually was a little depressed when we pulled into Pasadena. Pasadena is beautiful, but the ugly driving getting to Pasadena clouded my brain from recognizing the beauty in my new home. I hope to not make that drive often while I live here.
Thus ended the Bechtol/Griswald adventure to California. The total mileage was somewhere around 1250 miles, and I have to say I could feel my car give a sigh of relief when I returned the UHaul trailer. California feels right.
By Saturday night my apartment was done: boxes unpacked, clothes hung, pictures hung, and furniture assembled. My parents left on Sunday, and I have been enjoying the California sun. As I said at the beginning, I have met some great people. Classes start on monday, and I have to admit that I am ready for them to start because I am tired of trying to figure out how much work I am going to have to do. I know it will be an incredible amount, but I am tired of guessing. I hope all is well with all of you. I'll keep you updated. peace
Comments
So glad you started blogging again. I really need to hear from California on a regular basis. Also, Spencer Burke said to call him and you all can hook up for lunch in your copious spare time.
Peace n' love,
RobertD
I forgot to tell you what the funniest part of the pic here with you and your Pa. It's that itty-bitty teenie-weenie polka dot bikini of a U-haul your hitching behind the Rover. Shit! When we moved from CA to TX we had 18 9'x11' crates fulla crap in a fuckin' semi-truck that took 3 months to unpack.
Before I got married, I could travel ANYwhere with ALL my crap, too, in my Honda CRX, including my guitar, yu sunuvabitch. Take a lesson!