Arrival!

We woke up bright (well, technically it was still dark) and early for our expected 2hr drive to La Jolla. On our way out of the hotel we were treated to a beautiful sunrise:

Beautiful Sunrise in Palm Springs

 And so we hit the road, pretty much the same way we had for the previous two weeks except that we hit traffic for a good few mile stretch. I guess that's a typical wake up call that you're in civilization, unlike our drive through the midwest.

 Some 2.5hrs later we arrived:

apparently the balloons were not for us

Of course we had a little drama prior to the arrival of our movers. When we went to look at our apt it seemed tiny despite it being the largest size apt available. We then scrambled for the next hour looking at the different available apt's until we found the one we were (or at least I was) most happy with. Here's a few pics of the empty apt:

entrance - living room and porch

view from bedroom #2

Master bedroom

bedroom #2/ Office

kitchen

washer/dryer!!!!

umm, pool.

hot tub

The following week we spent unpacking, assembling furniture and getting settled.

Here's a few fun facts of our trip:

Total mileage driven

Gas costs: ~$500
Total T-shirts purchased: 7
Total states visited: 12 (NY, NJ, PA, OH, IN, IL, MO, KS, CO, NM, AZ, CA)
Total observatories visited: 1 (Lowell Observatory in AZ)
Total Meteor craters visited: 0
Total times 'It's gonna be a good life' was heard on the radio: 87

Up next: Pictures of our settled apt

-A

Days 12-13: NM to Cali!

Day 12: Santa Fe, NM to Flagstaff, AZ

Before leaving Santa Fe we spent a couple of hours on a walking tour of the area near our hotel; read: Hillary wanted to see all the various shops/boutiques/etc.. 

Kiva!

Aside from the classy shops we found some goodies for us to decorate our new home with:

Caliente!

Sadly, none of these were the right fit

Otherwise, no offense to all the lovers of Santa Fe, but this is not a place we will visit again. Aside from the REALLY cheap gas (lowest we saw: $2.96/gal!!!) New Mexico was a dud. Sure there was a nice little area of shops and we stayed in a nice hotel with a inappropriate name for a spa:

  but otherwise it didn't do it for us.From there it was on to Arizona. Our drive showed us some nice scenic views:

We even hit some important landmarks, like the continental divide: 

Driving through Arizona we weren't expecting to make any non-pit stops until we saw signs for the Meteor Crater, something I immediately wanted to see (google maps link). So we high-tailed it to the site but arrived at 5:01p, 1 full minute after closing. Even my sweet face couldn't convince the security guard to let us in. (All we wanted was a picture!)

[Snooze Alert] Our night activity after checking into our hotel in Flagstaff, AZ was something very exciting. Being the astronomy buffs we are ( I did take a Astronomy 101 class in YU ) we decided to take the 5 minute drive to the Lowell Observatory where we saw some truly fascinating things. To start with there were two powerful yet portable telescopes that enabled us to see andromeda  and many other stars/constellations. The guru there even pointed out the shine from the rings of the milky way visible to the naked eye. Next we went to the big telescope where we saw Jupiter! The guru pointed out the moon of Jupiter and the storms that were taking place. All very interesting stuff, great way to end the night. (Hillary may say she felt like she was on a class trip, but I know she secretly loved it)

the big telescope

Day 13: Flagstaff, AZ to Palm Springs, CA
Logistically it made sense for us to stop somewhere in between Arizona and La Jolla- we picked Palm Springs. Once again the weather cooperated and we were treated to stunning views:

yes, you can see the moon

our new time zone

our new state

 Aside from a crazy ~100mi byway in the Mojave Desert getting from I-40 to I-10 on which there was construction that shut down everything, things moved pretty quickly.

traffic in the mojave

Luckily we got to Palm Springs, where the weather was 75f and sunny, with enough time to enjoy some of the amenities:

Pool and Hot tub- view from our balcony

golf club - view from our balcony

After which we took another tour of the surrounding area; read: we went to Outlet Shopping.

This is the end of our journey- tomorrow morning we drive to La Jolla to sign the lease and have our stuff moved in. And so begins Our So Cal-ed Life.

-A

Days 9-11: Weekend in Colorado

Day 9: Friday

Colorado was awesome. I'm not a skier and never knew much about the mountains, but after hiking in Chautauqua Park, I was totally sold. I can appreciate the snow when it's 60 degrees outside. Boulder was beautiful and the St. Julien spa was great!

Check out the awesome view from my treadmill in the fitness room:

We then headed to the MillerCoors Brewery tour in Golden, CO. It was a self guided tour which is often pretty lame, but the tour was informative and interesting. Did you know that no ingredients are wasted at the brewery? Leftover ingredients are shipped to local farms for cattle feed and also reused in cat food!

Outside the factory

brew kettles

Oh, and by the way, don't listen to the AAA book, 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver is absolutely NOT a must-see.

Day 10: Shabbos at the Friedmans

We spent shabbos in Denver with Avi's childhood bestie, Yosef/Joseph/Joe, and wonderful family Andrea, Leila and Yoav. Thanks so much for a relaxing weekend and great Mexican food!

Saturday night with the boys

Day 11: Sunday Drive

Unfortunately Colorado and Utah forecasts were not looking good for our drive and we had to change our route and head south to New Mexico instead of west to Utah. While the GPS says to take I-25, Mr. Moshav, who seems to know every highway in Colorado and the surrounding region, strongly suggested we take US-285. It was a little out of the way and gas stations/stopping points were hard to find but we saw some amazing views (do I hang out with Avi or what?) driving through the mountains, saw some cool red rocks and crazy clouds.

After winding up and down the mountains, a few pressure headaches and ears popping, we finally reached New Mexico. Make sure to get gas in Colorado because you never know when you'll find the next gas station in NM.

Most of us are used to seeing signs for deer crossings, but in New Mexico, it's more like cow and elk crossings! (Yes, Mr. Elkin, this picture was hard to capture, and yes, it was taken just for you)

We are spending the night in a fun Western hotel in Santa Fe and will check out town tomorrow. I'm hoping to find Walter and Skyler White and maybe Jesse Pinkman if we're lucky.

-Hillary