California, Here I Come!

On Saturday, October 25th, 2008 my Dad and I left to drive out to California. Unfortunately, we did not leave as early that day as we expected since my car was in the shop getting fixed so we did not get a chance to do a "practice pack". Oh well! We finally left at 3:30 or so.

We drove all the way past St. Louis to a place called Eureka, Missouri and stayed at a Days Inn. The next morning we woke up and checked out the breakfast situation but since it was not looking too good, we just decided to head over to MacDonald's. We drove through the rest of Missouri, through Oklahoma and Texas that day and finally, reached Santa Rosa, New Mexico. As we were heading to Phoenix the next day we had to drive across the desert but there were mountains and hills to climb so my car was having temperature issues. Thankfully, we made it to Phoenix that night safely without major issues. I got to see my Aunt Lisa and her family and my grandparents (which was great since I had not seen my grandma or my aunt's family in about 8 years or so) but our family picked up right where we left off as usual. I got to meet my grandparents Westie, named Teddy, who I had heard so much about - he is sooo cute! Anyway, the next day my dad ended up renting a car in Phoenix and put half my stuff in his car so that my car would not overheat on the way to LA since we had more desert to go through.

We pretty much drove through straight desert until we reached Palm Springs, CA. It was cool because there were a couple hundred windmills scattered all over the mountains there. (Those things are HUGE by the way!) Anyway, after that it was pretty much straight traffic all the way to LA. Driving into LA was definitely an experience but gave me a great adrenaline rush of excitement and anticipation. I was nervous and kind of amazed when we finally arrived at my apartment mostly because I could not believe we had finally made it and all the plans from the last year had finally reached reality. Anyway, one of my new roommates, Sarah was taking a nap when I arrived and Rosalie and Daphne were still at work when I reached the apartment so Rosalie's mom was visiting so she let me in and gave me my keys to the front gate and the door. My dad, Rosalie's mom, and I moved all of my stuff into the apartment. My dad soon left to find a hotel to stay in and I was left to get to know my new roommates Daphne and Sarah and their friend, Angela. (Rosalie and her mom went to dinner when she got home so I really only got a chance to say hello.) But the rest of us ordered a family sized Italian dinner from a local restaurant and watched 30Rock. It was definitely a great way to end the day since I was so tired from traveling and anticipation.