Cali or Bust Part Cont...

Our arrival to Tuscon wasn't ideal, it was the middle of the night and took us an hour to find our hotel. When we did finally find it we were just happy to get some sleep! By this point we were getting to be pro's at unpacking and re-packing the car quickly. The next morning we agreed that this city had nothing to offer and we'd drive straight through to San Diego where we'd meet up with a high school friend who's naval station was just outside the city. Arizona did however show two native New Yorkers what this "dry" heat that people speak of is, what it looks like when grass doesn't exist, and just how cool gigantic cacti all over the place are.

The drive through the desert was pretty cool just for the shear fact that niether of us had ever encountered that type of climate. Driving through the rest of Arizona and New Mexico was a little over 400 miles and took about 7 hours. We'd only stop for food and gas but when we got out it was hot! It was really weird though because of the lack of humidity. It was the first time either of us had a decent hair day. It's like when your laying out in the sun and you feel your skin start to burn and get hot after a little while, except it took getting out of the car and standing in the sun about 30 seconds for that occur, yet you didn't feel all sweaty and greasy.

Once we entered California we were pretty excited, our Texas experience didn't have us in the greatest of spirits. To get to San Diego we had to drive pretty much straight over giant mountains that we dubbed "rock mountain" yet is actually called Anza Borrego State Park, was a really cool sight, and we both agreed we'll return there one day. But finally we reached San Diego around 6pm, and we were starving and desperate to get out of the car! Just a little tidbit of information for anyone considering a cross country road trip, take a large vehicle if you can and a few people. I don't care how good of friends you are, or how well you get along spending countless hours in a small vehicle with nobody else to talk to will begin to wear on anyone's nerves. Jessica and I have been friends since I was 4 years old but by this point we needed another human being to interact with.

San Diego is amazing and laid back. We headed right to Mission beach for fish tacos, and a much needed cocktail! In true form we still hadn't found a hotel so that also needed to be tended to.

Here's are a few little travel tip: Bring a laptop with you, it really comes in handy, also Starbucks is everywhere in this country, so is McDonald's and Walmart, even in the most desolate of places. So bring your laptop and buy a starbucks wifi card. Also a notebook comes in handy or anywhere to keep track of gas usage, prices, etc... we took turns paying for gas and kept note of the mileage and price per gallon, it was the easiest way to keep it fair. A map would've maybe come in handy but neither of us had even thought to bring one, her Droid and my laptop were more then enough. You have to love technology :)
-Lauren