First, I just wanted to share a quote from the movie V for Vendetta that I love...

"What I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that, even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you...I love you. With all my heart...I love you."

If that quote doesn't show the bond one person can have with another regardless of their circumstances, I don't know what does.

Anyway, so yeah, I drove cross country...literally...

Well, actually Lam, Becca, Chris and I drove cross country...literally...but now I'm back in the real world :-\ A quick recap...First, we flew into LAX last Friday night and stayed with Chris' ridiculously nice family. Some drinking ensued into the wee hours of Saturday morning with Cheese and Camel (don't ask) until we fell asleep at about 4am (which was about 7am Jersey time). We arose Saturday at which time we decided we would be the stereotypical tourists and go to Universal Studios. We guilted Chris' cousins, Eli and Hannah, into coming with us and man did they have fun!! (I've never seen someone so bored in a theme park, but they were good sports about it) After the park we were treated to a delicious Filipino dinner thanks to Chris' aunt and uncle. At this point we met the rest of the local family which included, another of Chris' aunt and uncle, Cinco, Joy, Balls, James, a couple who was very into Star-Trek, along with the aforementioned Camel (again, don't ask). Following dinner was a hilarious game of Taboo (RECEPTIONIST!!) at which Chris and Becca dominated. Sunday morning we ate breakfast at Ruby's on the peer (longest. peer. ever.) followed by some beach volleyball (man were we good) in the beautiful 75 degree/0 humidity weather.

We left Cali late Sunday afternoon and headed to Vegas (baby). I realized during the drive that we were taking the same route as Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn in Swingers, I immediately felt cool. We stayed at the luxurious (sarcasm) Excalibur hotel and ate dinner at the Bellagio cafe. After losing $100 bucks playing limit poker (aka best hand wins poker because it's impossible to bluff) I left the table. Chris decided he would try to double up (again) by putting it all on red in roulette so I decided to take $40 and do the same along with Lam. Well, shockingly, red came out and I ended up losing $60.

After lunch at In-and-Out burger (holy shit they're good) we headed for the most famous hole in the world, the Grand Canyon. We get there and it is quite awe-inspiring. To give you an idea of the size...When we got there we asked the park ranger taking our money how far away the "glass bridge" is (the one that just opened that lets you walk out over the edge while looking down through glass). We were thinking a couple miles, maybe a extra 30 minute drive, nope, it was 255(!!!) miles away. Holy f-ing spaghetti monster!!! I read late that it is 277 miles long and from 4 to 18 miles wide. For comprehension purposes, New Jersey is only 150 miles long and 70 miles wide. Seriously, that was one pissed off river.

We left that canyon at about 7-ish and had every intention of going straight through to Denver. Well, we made it to Fruta, Colorado haha. Also, the south eastern part of Utah...most boring place on earth. Lam and I were freaking out because we were below a quarter tank of gas and we literally did not see a gas station for hours. No cell phone service, no civilization, no gas, no lights, NOTHING!! I was waiting to see the family from 'The Hills Have Eyes' on the side of the road waiting for us to break down.

We slept in the car in Fruta for about 4 hours, hit up McDonald's for breakfast (which broke our pact not to eat there all trip) and then drove (my favorite length of highway of the trip) through the Rockies to Denver. What a beautiful state Colorado is, if I wasn't so attached to people here in Jersey, I would definitely consider a move. Becca's childhood friend, Jacob, lives in Denver so we stayed with him Tuesday night. He took us to a great Japanese restaurant (apparently rated #5 in the country) where I was the odd one and didn't have sushi but teriyaki. We hit up downtown Denver Tuesday night but were so freaking tired from driving, we were home by 12. After sleeping peacefully and for more than 5 hours for the first time all trip, we arose, ate crepes, and headed out.

We drove all day and stopped for some steak in some small town in Nebraska. Yeah, we didn't stick out too much there. I think Chris and Lam were getting dirty looks from all the locals. We also noticed that we had the only non-American made car in the entire parking lot. So yeah, I'm ok with never living in Nebraska. We drove a couple more hours that night before crashing outside of Des Moines, Iowa where we met the nicest stranger on our entire trip, the late night desk clerk at the Courtyard by Marriot. He gave us a discounted rate and free breakfast (which we didn't use) and was just a genuinely polite person.

We left for Chicago that morning and arrived late in the afternoon. Chris had his meeting to go to for racing and then afterward we drove into downtown. Apparently, both Becca and Chris heard about this place called 'Dicks' where the waiters and waitresses are rude to you on purpose. It was entertaining and we met some girl who was celebrating her 21st birthday so we bought her an Irish Car Bomb (which they didn't know how to serve). The waitress we had was funny but was far from a complete bitch, which I think would've been more entertaining because I could have said some things I was holding back. Chris and I went to a bar across the street from our hotel (Embassy Suites = A-) until 3 in the morning. Which was a great idea since Chris had to be up at 5:30. Amazingly, he slept through his alarm and was late for his track event. Not a big deal since they were cool about it and he didn't miss any of his scheduled track times. Lam and I headed over to the track when we got up about noon :) and got to go around the track a couple times as passengers. Lam went in Chris' Crossfire and some nice guy let me tag along in his S2000. It was awesome to see how my car could perform if there was no speed limit and such.

Figuring we couldn't leave Chicago without having some deep dish pizza, we decided to look up the best ranked online and headed downtown again. It was good but it was more like an entree than a pizza. You couldn't pick it up cause there was so many toppings on it so you had to use a knife and fork. I think I prefer my Jersey/New York style traditional pizza (hello Sawmill, Lorenzo's, and Mack and Manco's).

We got up early Saturday and drove the VERY long drive home (12 hours). Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as you would think, but that was probably due to the company I had more than anything. If I did that alone or with annoying people, I never would've made it. So finally, Saturday night at about 10pm we pulled into the Navy base to pick up our cars and we were home. Wow, what an awesome trip. Something that will stay with me my entire life, but at the same time, I would probably never do again. There was just too much driving and not enough enjoying the places we were at. Seeing the grandness of the Grand Canyon (get it?) and the absolute beauty of the Rocky Mountains will turn anyone into a romantic (Unless you're Chris who could only admire the Grand Canyon from about 10 feet back...haha)

All in all, an amazing trip with amazing friends.