that time i peed on the midpoint of route 66

adrian, texas is a small town less than 25 miles from the new mexican border, but it's an important piece of american history and a bit of tourist attraction because it's the midpoint of route 66. 1139 miles to chicago or 1139 miles to los angeles. 

 

 as we learned, adrian used to be a thriving town, back when route 66 was how people moved across the country, but as the interstates were built towns like adrian were bypassed and forgotten. but slowly, as route 66 becomes a monument to bygone days, adrian, and other towns like it, have started to get a little more traffic. which is nice to see, because when you drive through these small towns, it's evident the pride people have in living alongside the mother road.

for me though, adrian, texas will always be the place where i peed on the midpoint of route 66. 

2013 -- week 28 -- our wedding party and an awesome weekend in flagstaff!

all you hear about planning a wedding is how stressful it can be. and i agree, it can definitely be stressful. but our wedding is still light years away so it's not feeling too bad yet. except for the dress. every time i think about anything involving the dress, i'm instantly stressed out. part of the problem is that i hate shopping, especially shopping for expensive things. i'm the kind of gal that needs to mull things over; i can't decide on anything right away. and when something costs more than $20, it has to be something i truly love to even consider buying it. small problem: wedding dresses cost more than $20 (unless i get something from h&m like i've been threatening). also, the idea of spending a lot of money on something i'll only wear once, is a bit of a stresser too. the other part of the problem is the wedding dresses themselves. they're poofy, lacy, long, intensely white, and made out of crazy fabric. they give me the heebie jeebies. so i've been taking it slow with the dress, trying them on when i see a place, but i'm still strategizing on the best way to tackle this daunting part of wedding planning.

i'm sure that i've mentioned it before, but we love flagstaff. it's a smaller, cooler (temperature) tucson. there's tons of climbing, great food, and a great music scene. so when we heard one of rcg's favorite bands, widespread panic, was headed to flagstaff we knew we had to go check it out. they played on sunday night at the pepsi amphitheater just south of flagstaff on I-17, and it was awesome. the space was super cool because it's all lawn seating so you can spread out and dance! we had a great time.

we had a great week, but the best part had to be when our brothers agreed to be in our wedding party! 

(thanks to sc, db, & sn for helping coordinate. we couldn't have done it without you!)

the leaning water tower and a giant cross: groom, texas

we decided, like many other travelers along route 66, to stop in groom, texas for gas and a peek at their two tourist attractions: a leaning water tower and a giant cross.

the water tower, on the eastern edge of groom, is a gimmick; it was put there in the 1980s specifically to draw more people to groom. it was put in by a local business owner and was supposed to advertise his business, the leaning tower truck stop. it doesn't hold any water and it isn't held into place by any wires, but it does have two of it's legs dangling in mid-air a couple of feet above the ground.

groom's other claim to fame is the 190 foot cross on the southwestern part of town. you can see the cross from the highway, but it's also nice to see up close, if for no other reason than to stretch your legs. the giant cross is surrounded by smaller stations of the cross statues, a church, and a gift shop. but don't worry if you don't have the time to stop, you can see the cross from twenty miles away!

2013 -- week 27 -- a kitten birthday, homemade pizza, and a lazy holiday weekend

i can't believe it's already july; i feel like this year just started. but i guess we've been busy and, as they say, time flies when you're having fun. and this week was definitely fun.

on monday we had a birthday party for cornelius, our cute but precocious kitten. he turned four, and one can only hope that as he ages, he's finally starting to slow down. he's a super lover kitten -- he's always looking for a lap to take a nap on, or a body to lean against -- but he's also wild. over the years we've called him a raccoon, a black bear, a panther, and a master buggy hunter because he's always getting into things he shouldn't and rummaging around. he's become quite adept at opening cabinet doors, and any day now he'll be able to get into the bathroom by himself. despite all of his hijinks, he's still my baby kitten. happy birthday bug.

on wednesday night we decided to try making homemade pizza. we cheated a little -- we bought pizza dough from trader joe's, but that's only because we were so nervous to make our own dough and we really wanted to try out our pizza stone. we had some problems at first rolling out the dough, and then again when we tried to take the pizza off the peel and put it on the hot pizza stone, but we were resourceful and made a calzone instead. and it was delicious.


we especially enjoyed the holiday and the opportunities it provided for us to hang out with friends and eat well. on the fourth we ate at new restaurant, robert's. we'd heard that it's supposed to have amazing cinnamon buns, so we got up early on thursday to give it a try. and we were pleasantly surprised, because not only were the cinnamon buns huge and delicious, but they also had homemade pie! and i can't resist homemade pie for breakfast; i am my father's daughter after all.

for the weekend, we met up with friends at the salt river and went tubing. we went tubing last year, so we had an idea of what to expect, but it's a lot more fun with a large group of people and beer! it's so relaxing floating down the river; there's nothing to worry about (except reapplying sunscreen!) and it's refreshing being in the chilly water when it's 100+ degrees out. if you live anywhere near a river and tubing is an option, take one day and float your river -- you won't regret it.

what did you do for the holiday weekend?

that time i tried to take a panda, a koala, a capybara family, and a clouded leopard home with me.

i love zoos. and i hate them. 

i love them because i love the animals. i love watching them and learning about them. and i'm pretty sure that they should all come and live with me and be my best friends forever and ever. 

but i also hate them because i hate seeing these magnificent creatures caged up in tiny spaces. especially the really big ones; it's so sad to see them locked up when you know that they should have thousands of miles to run free in. and i know that sometimes the zoo is the only place for some of the animals to really be free and safe, but it's still so sad to think about the fact that they can't return home because their habitat is being destroyed and they're being hunted. in that case, living in a zoo is probably their best option, but it still makes me sad.

that being said, i could sit and watch the animals for hours. couldn't you?

 

  

pandas are one of my favorite animals to spy on; they're just so freakin' cute. and at the san diego zoo they have three! the mama, bai yun, above, and two of her children. we didn't get to see the smallest panda baby, xiao liwu, because he was sleeping in a tree, but at a little under a year old, he's still only 39 pounds or so. (and as a result, could totally fit in my backpack and come home with me.)

 

we also saw yun zi, another son of bai yun. he's massive. and adorable. and despite what the panda trainer said about panda's having coarse hair, and not being soft and fluffy, i would still cuddle with him any day of the week. 

  

 

there was a lot of action in this cage -- a zoo employee was cleaning out the cage, so the animals were very riled up and running around. of course, the running looked more like fancy high stepping or prancing, but it was still cool to see the animals up and about.

 

  

the capybara, looking like a cross between a beaver and a guinea pig, is the world's largest rodent. and it's cutest. i would take a family of these guys home with me in an instant.

i mean, just look at those cute butts. how could you say no to a butt that cute?

 

my senior year of high school i helped a friend do a project on llamas, and ever since then, i've had a soft spot in my heart for them. especially when they're cute and precocious like this guy.

i was happy to see that the elephants had a pretty large enclosure, but unfortunately that made taking pictures a little more difficult. in fact, we discovered on this trip that while our fancy new camera is, and will continue to be awesome, it may be worthwhile to invest in a new telephoto lens.

 

while we were watching the meerkats, who may be almost as cool as the prairie dogs at the sonora desert museum, a tour bus rolled by and said that timon, the meerkat in the lion king was modelled after one of the meerkats at the san diego zoo. kind of cool, huh?

 

i know that koalas are supposed to be vicious and mean little animals, but i just can't believe it. all they do is sleep and look adorable, how can they be mean? i just want to have one attached to me at all times, sleeping and hanging on while i go grocery shopping and run errands.

  

the giraffes were super cool because they had a plaque with each of their names on it. we sat there for ten to fifteen minutes trying to figure out which giraffe was which. it was not an easy task. but it made me feel better to pay extra attention to them -- so many people look at them every day i thought that we owed it to them to learn their names, if only to say hi.

 

  

omg. can you believe this kangaroo? how inappropriate. i love it.

i learned something new about flamingos recently: flamingos stand on one leg to conserve body heat. since their other foot is often in water, that lowers their body temperature, so standing on one leg should help them from getting too cold. i wonder if it works for humans? i smell a winter time project!

this clouded leopard was one of my favorite animals, and the one that made me the saddest. when we came over to say hello, he/she (?) was pacing the cage in a loop. as the clouded leopard came nearest to us it meowed the most pitiful, throaty meow growl you've ever heard. and as if that wasn't enough to make me want to put it in my purse right then and there, we saw it's awesome magnificent three foot long tail as it walked away. gimme.

these guys were awesome -- two grizzly bear brothers from idaho. we were lucky enough to stumble upon them as they were getting fed and it was really cool to watch. because they patiently waited as  their trainer threw all sorts of food into their habitat, but what they really wanted was the huge hunk of meat. as soon as she threw it in, they both retrieved their portion and took it off to a corner to eat in peace.

 

  

 

this guy was also waiting for his food, albeit a little more civilized, sitting at a makeshift table.

all in all it was a great trip -- we saw lots of cute/ferocious animals and we visited with friends. the worst part, rcg wouldn't let me take any home with me.  

what's your favorite animal to see at the zoo?