SFO to PHL

Day 1:

With the car already loaded, all we had left to do was throw my mattress up top and figure out how to get rid of it, which we were able to do illegally in a legitimate and respectable way. Then it was off to Vegas! Driving south through California we came across a number of fruit stands selling fruit for astonishingly low prices, so needless to say we stocked up.

10 for $1!

Channeling my inner Julie Andrews

We stopped briefly at the Calico Ghost Town, which lived up to its namesake given that it was closed and we were just about the only people there. 

Ultimately, we made it to Vegas! But I can't tell you what happened there, sorry! (No rules against pictures though-right?)

 Day 2:

Vegas Cont.

Next stop: Grand Canyon. Arriving just around dinner time, we made it our mission to watch the sunset at the canyon. Unfortunately, there was no previous planning and we were surprised to find out that you can't drive right up to the lookout spot (shocking right? yea no we were just dumb...). So we hopped on a bus that we thought would take us there, only to realize it took us on an hour-long loop to the visitor's center. We didn't see the sunset that night, and we left feeling cold, tired, and disappointed.

Day 3:

TAKE 2: 

We dragged ourselves out of bed at 5am to catch the sunrise, and this time we knew where to park and which bus to take. Hurray! 

May have napped for a few hours after, but I think I deserved it for getting up at 5am (no?). Well rested and returned to an acceptable body temperature, we diverted our attention from the Canyon for a couple hours to live out a childhood dream of ours: bedrock.

As I'm sure anyone who has been to the Grand Canyon will tell you, there are no words to describe it. Actually, that's not true, if I had to summarize our visit in one word it would be breathtaking "cold." People warned me that the canyon would be chilly in march but I wasn't expecting snow, or long lines, or, well, this cold. Luckily, the views took our minds off the weather, even if only for a few moments.

And hey! We caught the sunset this time!

Day 4:

I wasn't really sure what to expect of the petrified forest, but I certainly didn't imagine this:

After hours of exploring, I still can't tell you what made the forest petrified, but I can tell you that it was beautiful and the museum sucked. 

~A Bali Minute~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC2oKtiYirY

Beach Hopping

Caro and I have been waiting this whole week to head down south and check out some surf beaches, and our first stop is Pecatu! We are staying at this cutesy surf hostel where everyone is tan and good looking, even the dogs.

Our first beach was Padang, a very well known surf beach in the area. We kind of ended up there by accident, meaning to go to Uluwatu beach, but we were happy we came across it! This was our first white sand beach we had been to in Bali, and it didn't disappoint.

Next came Balangan, which we hit up as a result of a recommendation from a guy at our hostel. I don't remember his name, but I'm so thankful for him because this turned out to be my favorite beach of them all! The waves broke consistently without fail, truly proving to be a surfer's paradise.

Next came Dreamland, which was a nightmare to get to. We were walking back from Balangan in the smoldering heat searching for a taxi, but it's a long road through the middle of nowhere leading up to the beach, so there were no taxi's to be found. Most of the taxi's (they actually spell them "taksi" here! ha!) here are unmarked silver SUVs, so when one drove past us offering us a ride, we were overcome with relief and hopped in. The driver spoke virtually no english, so he had us put the location in his gps. The driver took many wrong turns, and what should have been a five minute drive was talking over a half hour. When we ultimately pulled into "Dreamland Waterpark Resort," Caro and I were ready to just pay the man and find the beach on our own, because he was clearly having a very hard time understanding where we wanted to go. When we asked how much the fare was, already worrying about the price due to how long the ride was, the man said "no charge no charge." It was then that we finally came to the realization that we had just accidentally hitchhiked. Sorry mom and dad! I'm still alive though!

After a full day of sun, we headed back to Canggu, our favorite place so far. We had two phenomenal meals- it's actually insane how many raw, gluten free, and vegan options Bali has- and then met up with Ian, Klaus, and Dan.

It was Klaus's last night in Bali before heading back home to NY, so we went for a night out in Seminyak to this cool bar called La Favela. The place was kind of like a garden, with great music and overpriced drinks. I turned out to be pretty desirable that night, with Dan and Klaus fighting over which one got to use me as a wing-woman. 

It's a great time to be in Bali, with tsunami, earthquake, and volcano warnings circulating the island. I was able to remain pretty calm, but my other friends were pretty freaked. Caro wanted to ditch our beach-front hostel, so luckily we were able to stay in our friends' guest bedroom a little further inland. Not a bad trade.

I spent my last day doing what I like best: tanning and eating. 

I'm going to miss Bali and all of its beautiful people, beaches, and temples. This is definitely somewhere I'll be returning to.