Day 1-July 8, 2009: Houston, TX - Los Cruces, NM. This leg of my road trip was actually one of the best because my Dad was along for the ride. For some reason I thought that I would be bored. I was anything but bored. With my father I and both "talkers" there was not a moment of boredom in my 2006 little white Nissan Sentra. Even as we set the AC blasting to the max we were still sweating and hot. After San Antonio, like most Texans warned me, there is not much out there. However, surprisingly I found the landscape quite scenic. I had envisioned a brown desert like setting but it was green and became rockier with more hills and mountains as we traveled West.
I enjoyed the massive windmills an hour outside of El Paso.
My Dad and I passed two Airstream trailers (we are both huge Airstream fans).
Last the sunset in Los Cruces (40 miles north of El Paso) was spectacular. We found a La Quinta to crash for the night and while talking on my cell phone outside I learned that the beetles and bugs in Los Cruces were unfamiliar. "Texans are nice" my father observed and I was a little sad leaving the lone star state. The drive that first day was enjoyable: catching up with my Dad, listening to old school Michael Jackson, reading my travel magazine and enjoying the humidity one last time! :)
Day 2-July 9, 2009: Los Cruces, NM -Anaheim, CA
My Dad accompanied me all the way to Anaheim where his parents (my grandparents) live. That is why we did not drive to Seattle on a more direct route, say through Denver, CO or the Rockies.
Day 2 was enjoyable as well although I began to get a little restless in Arizona. Southern New Mexico is quite uneventful. Finally we reached Arizona and made Phoenix our lunch stop. My expectations for Arizona were much higher than the end result. Perhaps all the beautiful cactus landscape roads I had witnessed on movies were not filmed along highway 10? Instead the dry, brown desert did not impress me whatsoever.
Traveling twenty miles off of highway 10 to a suburb of Phoenix called Gilbert, my Dad and I sought out a diner that has appeared on his favorite television show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives or triple D. The diner is called Joe's Farm Grill.
The Fontina Burger and Mexican Vanilla bean shake were incredibly delicious! The restaurant sat on land that used to be a farm owned by the Johnston family. My Dad believes that most likely the farm land was sold to developers and the owners used the profit to build the restaurant. Next to Joe's Farm Grill, there was also a Coffee Shop that had adorable cupcakes and next to the coffee shop was a scooter shop. So cute, modern and hip!
We finally reached the California border! From one of the US's largest states (TX) to another (CA). I was really looking forward to California because I have fond childhood memories of visiting Grandma and Grandpa and going to Disneyland.
I thought the windmills set up for wind power just east of El Paso were spectacular until just past Palm Desert we came upon hundreds upon hundreds of windmills. Nestled just inside a valley to catch the Santa Ana winds were at least 500 windmills. I was blown away by the number of windmills in California. If Texas is number two in wind power California has got to be number one!
Finally, Dad and I arrived in Anaheim. My Grandma was patiently awaiting our arrival. Doris is the cutest woman ever! She had her hair done and was so excited to see us!
My Dad stayed in Anaheim a few days before departing home to Seattle! I must say, he was probably the best partner in crime for two 12 hour days of driving. We had fun! He made me laugh quite frequently. I have never met anyone else who is so friendly to everyday people at gas stations, etc. He is very knowledgeable and informative on the trucking lifestyle, roads, highways, etc. Thanks Dad! Let the journey continue!
i <3 triple D!!!!
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