After a few days hanging out at our beautiful 
hotel, sitting by the pool and hot tub, enjoying an awesome brunch at Kono's on Mission Beach (the 
big breakfast #2), walking steps from the hotel down to the endless sands of San Diego while witnessing the perfect lines of waves being enjoyed by surfers....Man, this is the life. Although I worry about being jobless and homeless, this is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy this country. If there is one thing I have learned over this road trip, it is that we have a absolutely beautiful country. Every state and region has distinctive cultural, environmental, and historical differences. It's amazing how a 6 hour drive can bring you to another part of the country that is so different, so interesting, and so amazing. Anyway, there will be 
more of this reflection once I wrap up this road trip 
blog. From San Diego, we reluctantly left our beautiful hotel and drove eastward. We officially gave up on Arizona, finding only 1 position here and there, but never finding 2 positions. Hopefully, we will make it back before our adventures in traveling PT come to a halt. So, on we went, with no job towards San Antonio to visit the Darter household. On the way, we stopped at the official center of the world in Felicity, CA. Now, the controversy here is that it was made official by some person in France. Its basically a tourist trap, and a horrible one at that. But, we stopped at the Corn Palace, so I figured why not the official center of the world. We got gas down the street, drove back over I-10 to a small conglomeration of a few buildings, weird sculptures, marble barriers, and a small pyramid. We
parked the car, hoping to just walk around 
quickly and leave, but a lady came out of the "restaurant" and said that they prefer if we took the tour. We walked into the "gift shop" paid our 2 dollar tour fee, and was whisked outside into the bright sun where weird "art" out of a Salvador Dali gallery stood before us. We first saw the town's "sun dial" which was a sculpture of a human arm jettisoning from a rock pointing north. Already a bit freaked out (Religious people in the middle of the desert are scary), our guide (a teenage girl who didn't even want to be there) continued to tell us a little bit about the town, how the mayor made a decree that no building in 
town be higher than the church, how it came to be founded (an ex-marine bought some land and had it turned into a town in 1982). I then asked her a few questions, like why he decided to build a town in the middle of the desert (he wanted to) and what was the population of the town (6), and was she part of the population of 6 (no). We watched an amateur film about the "history" of this town (Brian, maybe you can help them out in this department), and then were taken inside the pyramid. Adjacent to the restaurant and gift shop lies the pyramid. No more than 30 feet high, we were let in, told to stand in the center of the pyramid (marking the official center of the world), instructed to make a wish (if my wish comes true, i'm donating to this town), and given an official certificate saying the time that we stood on the official center of the world. The 
certificate should have said...."sucker". We were then free to 
walk around the grounds. I felt really creeped out by this town, but Amy wanted to explore, so we continued. We walked through these marble barriers, each one engraved with weird and random things. Usually, these etchings in marble would signify something significant, but not in Felicity, CA. From sketchings on evolution to alumni of SUNY Stoneybrook, the randomness made absolutely no sense. I told Amy that I would absolutely not ascend the hill to see the church, so we skipped that. Oddly enough, they also have on display a small section of spiral staircase, which was an official section of the Eiffel Tower in France. I'm sure the French are happy that a piece of one of their great architectural accomplishments is now sitting in a sketchy part of the southwest desert in a town whose population is 6. Anyway, on we went, on the road again. We passed the sand dunes that were used in the filming of Star Wars as the planet of Tatooine, and we drove through the mountains resisting strong wind gusts. We drove straight through AZ, through New Mexico(where they have many signs saying caution because dust storms can make visibility Zero), and into El Paso Texas. We 
stopped for a quick bite of dinner at Smoky's BBQ, which was recommended by our friend Amanda who was born and raised in
El Paso, and then stopped off at
La Quinta Inn for the night. We woke up, had a quick complimentary breakfast of cereal, and were on the road to San Antonio. The drive through west Texas is probably...no, it is the worst drive ever. The speed limit is 80 however, but don't go faster, I was pulled over and issued a warning for going a couple mph over. It is just miles and miles and miles of nothing. I ended up counting roadkill to pass the time. I actually counted 30 deer, 5 racoons, and 4 unidentifiable. We arrived in Universal City, a town outside San Antonio that evening at Ben and Chrissie's house(college friends of Amy's) where we were treated to a nice home cooked meal with Abby (the most adorable 3 year old) and Chrissie's mom also present. We slept well, and the next AM, we went out to San Antonio to explore, as everyone was at work or day care. We arrived, parked, and walked around the city. We visited the riverwalk where tons of restaurants line a little river, el Mercado which is spanish for "the Mercado" where you could get any tex/mex trinket that you can imagine, la villeta where artisan galleries are plentiful, and the Alamo! We saw a little History channel video on the Alamo, and walked around the grounds. We saw the church, viewed
the barracks, and saw a number of alamo artifacts including a 
locket with Davey Crockets hair. It's a very cool little spot to visit. Afterwards, we had lunch on the riverwalk (not good) and drove to Ben's work where he does research for the government on amputees and(from my understanding) gait analysis with prosthesis. It was an amazing place, especially as a PT, seeing the high tech equipment, robotics, cameras, and technology. It made every PT gym I had ever seen look like a shanty working out of a third world country. Afterwards, we drove back to the house, gathered up the family and went out for a good mexican dinner to make up for the bad one we had on the riverwalk. I had a great Chile Relleno that was delicious! We drove back to the house, and we all played MarioKart and Wii Fit on the Wii. We awoke the next AM, said our goodbye's to the Darter family, and continued on. I had heard of this great BBQ place, rated one of the best in Texas, right off of I-10 in Luling, Tx, so we headed there for lunch. It was called City Marketplace, and we walked in to find this little smokehouse restaurant where you have to walk to the back to a separate room to order your BBQ by the pound from a 
group of men in hard hats. We walked away with some brisket and BBQ ribs, and they were the best!! It was probably the best BBQ that both of us had ever had! We walked away with a quart of BBQ sauce as a souvenir (which we never got to try b/c I ended up dropping the bottle on the floor), and then headed to our next destination, Lafayette, Louisiana where Amy has more friends to visit. I wish my friends would move out of the Northeast so we could visit some of them!!! We arrived that evening to the beautiful house of Rene, Jane, and baby Aaron. We were treated to a great meal of authentic Louisiana jumbalaya, gumbo, and chicken/corn bisque. It was great!! After some catching up, we went to sleep, letting the parents of a newborn get as much rest as possible. We awoke the next AM for a quick drive to New Orleans for a night. We arrived in New Orleans soon enough, and checked into our hotel. We stayed and walked around the beautiful French Quarter, around the many shops, down Bourbon Street (hedonism central) and towards the famous Acme Oyster House. Now, we have always had oysters from cold climates. We've had oysters from the waters off Japan to Prince Edward Island, but never southern Oysters, so we were a little hesitant. We ordered a dozen on the half shell and when they arrived, they were
Huge!! The oysters were absolutely delicious!! They were 
probably the best I ever had! We also tried a oyster/shrimp Po' boy, and a "ten napkin" roast beef sandwich debris style. Both, incredible. We went back to the hotel to field some calls about jobs. It all worked out and we soon realized that we were going to return to Naples, FL for yet another season!! We quickly planned out our route for the next day. For dinner that night, we walked down to Mr. B's Bistro, and had some great gumbo and Pecan Pie. We then walked down to the famous Pat O'Briens for a Hurricane drink. We spent the next few hours walking in and out of bars on Bourbon Street listening to live music. The next AM we grabbed a Cafe au lait and a few beignets from the famous Cafe Du Monde, took some pictures, and headed back to the hotel to check out and begin our long trek towards Naples, FL. We drove, and drove and drove. We drove the 12+ hours and finally arrived in familiar territory, somewhere where we could call home for a bit. We stayed at our friend Tricia's house for a couple nights until I found a few housing options to choose from. So, we are back in Naples in a beautiful 2 bed/ 2 bath 
condo (Come visit all you northerners stuck in the snow). Amy starts work tomorrow, and I will start either later this week or beginning of next week! It's SOOO nice to finally have someplace to call home....if just for a little while.
hotel, sitting by the pool and hot tub, enjoying an awesome brunch at Kono's on Mission Beach (the 
big breakfast #2), walking steps from the hotel down to the endless sands of San Diego while witnessing the perfect lines of waves being enjoyed by surfers....Man, this is the life. Although I worry about being jobless and homeless, this is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy this country. If there is one thing I have learned over this road trip, it is that we have a absolutely beautiful country. Every state and region has distinctive cultural, environmental, and historical differences. It's amazing how a 6 hour drive can bring you to another part of the country that is so different, so interesting, and so amazing. Anyway, there will be 
more of this reflection once I wrap up this road trip 
blog. From San Diego, we reluctantly left our beautiful hotel and drove eastward. We officially gave up on Arizona, finding only 1 position here and there, but never finding 2 positions. Hopefully, we will make it back before our adventures in traveling PT come to a halt. So, on we went, with no job towards San Antonio to visit the Darter household. On the way, we stopped at the official center of the world in Felicity, CA. Now, the controversy here is that it was made official by some person in France. Its basically a tourist trap, and a horrible one at that. But, we stopped at the Corn Palace, so I figured why not the official center of the world. We got gas down the street, drove back over I-10 to a small conglomeration of a few buildings, weird sculptures, marble barriers, and a small pyramid. We
parked the car, hoping to just walk around 
quickly and leave, but a lady came out of the "restaurant" and said that they prefer if we took the tour. We walked into the "gift shop" paid our 2 dollar tour fee, and was whisked outside into the bright sun where weird "art" out of a Salvador Dali gallery stood before us. We first saw the town's "sun dial" which was a sculpture of a human arm jettisoning from a rock pointing north. Already a bit freaked out (Religious people in the middle of the desert are scary), our guide (a teenage girl who didn't even want to be there) continued to tell us a little bit about the town, how the mayor made a decree that no building in 
town be higher than the church, how it came to be founded (an ex-marine bought some land and had it turned into a town in 1982). I then asked her a few questions, like why he decided to build a town in the middle of the desert (he wanted to) and what was the population of the town (6), and was she part of the population of 6 (no). We watched an amateur film about the "history" of this town (Brian, maybe you can help them out in this department), and then were taken inside the pyramid. Adjacent to the restaurant and gift shop lies the pyramid. No more than 30 feet high, we were let in, told to stand in the center of the pyramid (marking the official center of the world), instructed to make a wish (if my wish comes true, i'm donating to this town), and given an official certificate saying the time that we stood on the official center of the world. The 
certificate should have said...."sucker". We were then free to 
walk around the grounds. I felt really creeped out by this town, but Amy wanted to explore, so we continued. We walked through these marble barriers, each one engraved with weird and random things. Usually, these etchings in marble would signify something significant, but not in Felicity, CA. From sketchings on evolution to alumni of SUNY Stoneybrook, the randomness made absolutely no sense. I told Amy that I would absolutely not ascend the hill to see the church, so we skipped that. Oddly enough, they also have on display a small section of spiral staircase, which was an official section of the Eiffel Tower in France. I'm sure the French are happy that a piece of one of their great architectural accomplishments is now sitting in a sketchy part of the southwest desert in a town whose population is 6. Anyway, on we went, on the road again. We passed the sand dunes that were used in the filming of Star Wars as the planet of Tatooine, and we drove through the mountains resisting strong wind gusts. We drove straight through AZ, through New Mexico(where they have many signs saying caution because dust storms can make visibility Zero), and into El Paso Texas. We 
stopped for a quick bite of dinner at Smoky's BBQ, which was recommended by our friend Amanda who was born and raised in
El Paso, and then stopped off at
La Quinta Inn for the night. We woke up, had a quick complimentary breakfast of cereal, and were on the road to San Antonio. The drive through west Texas is probably...no, it is the worst drive ever. The speed limit is 80 however, but don't go faster, I was pulled over and issued a warning for going a couple mph over. It is just miles and miles and miles of nothing. I ended up counting roadkill to pass the time. I actually counted 30 deer, 5 racoons, and 4 unidentifiable. We arrived in Universal City, a town outside San Antonio that evening at Ben and Chrissie's house(college friends of Amy's) where we were treated to a nice home cooked meal with Abby (the most adorable 3 year old) and Chrissie's mom also present. We slept well, and the next AM, we went out to San Antonio to explore, as everyone was at work or day care. We arrived, parked, and walked around the city. We visited the riverwalk where tons of restaurants line a little river, el Mercado which is spanish for "the Mercado" where you could get any tex/mex trinket that you can imagine, la villeta where artisan galleries are plentiful, and the Alamo! We saw a little History channel video on the Alamo, and walked around the grounds. We saw the church, viewed
the barracks, and saw a number of alamo artifacts including a 
locket with Davey Crockets hair. It's a very cool little spot to visit. Afterwards, we had lunch on the riverwalk (not good) and drove to Ben's work where he does research for the government on amputees and(from my understanding) gait analysis with prosthesis. It was an amazing place, especially as a PT, seeing the high tech equipment, robotics, cameras, and technology. It made every PT gym I had ever seen look like a shanty working out of a third world country. Afterwards, we drove back to the house, gathered up the family and went out for a good mexican dinner to make up for the bad one we had on the riverwalk. I had a great Chile Relleno that was delicious! We drove back to the house, and we all played MarioKart and Wii Fit on the Wii. We awoke the next AM, said our goodbye's to the Darter family, and continued on. I had heard of this great BBQ place, rated one of the best in Texas, right off of I-10 in Luling, Tx, so we headed there for lunch. It was called City Marketplace, and we walked in to find this little smokehouse restaurant where you have to walk to the back to a separate room to order your BBQ by the pound from a 
group of men in hard hats. We walked away with some brisket and BBQ ribs, and they were the best!! It was probably the best BBQ that both of us had ever had! We walked away with a quart of BBQ sauce as a souvenir (which we never got to try b/c I ended up dropping the bottle on the floor), and then headed to our next destination, Lafayette, Louisiana where Amy has more friends to visit. I wish my friends would move out of the Northeast so we could visit some of them!!! We arrived that evening to the beautiful house of Rene, Jane, and baby Aaron. We were treated to a great meal of authentic Louisiana jumbalaya, gumbo, and chicken/corn bisque. It was great!! After some catching up, we went to sleep, letting the parents of a newborn get as much rest as possible. We awoke the next AM for a quick drive to New Orleans for a night. We arrived in New Orleans soon enough, and checked into our hotel. We stayed and walked around the beautiful French Quarter, around the many shops, down Bourbon Street (hedonism central) and towards the famous Acme Oyster House. Now, we have always had oysters from cold climates. We've had oysters from the waters off Japan to Prince Edward Island, but never southern Oysters, so we were a little hesitant. We ordered a dozen on the half shell and when they arrived, they were
Huge!! The oysters were absolutely delicious!! They were 
probably the best I ever had! We also tried a oyster/shrimp Po' boy, and a "ten napkin" roast beef sandwich debris style. Both, incredible. We went back to the hotel to field some calls about jobs. It all worked out and we soon realized that we were going to return to Naples, FL for yet another season!! We quickly planned out our route for the next day. For dinner that night, we walked down to Mr. B's Bistro, and had some great gumbo and Pecan Pie. We then walked down to the famous Pat O'Briens for a Hurricane drink. We spent the next few hours walking in and out of bars on Bourbon Street listening to live music. The next AM we grabbed a Cafe au lait and a few beignets from the famous Cafe Du Monde, took some pictures, and headed back to the hotel to check out and begin our long trek towards Naples, FL. We drove, and drove and drove. We drove the 12+ hours and finally arrived in familiar territory, somewhere where we could call home for a bit. We stayed at our friend Tricia's house for a couple nights until I found a few housing options to choose from. So, we are back in Naples in a beautiful 2 bed/ 2 bath 
condo (Come visit all you northerners stuck in the snow). Amy starts work tomorrow, and I will start either later this week or beginning of next week! It's SOOO nice to finally have someplace to call home....if just for a little while.Even sitting here now, and reflecting on our amazing journey across country, we have seen such
beautiful sights, and shared such wonderful experiences. From the Space needle and Puget Sound in Washington, to Haystack rocks, whale watching and Seal Caves of the Oregon Coast, to the Northern California Redwoods and rolling hills of grapevines, to Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge and the beautiful SF bay, to the dazzle of Hollywood, the beach and the Pandas at the San Diego Zoo, across the red rocks and desert of Arizona, to the BBQ and Alamo in TX, to the music, swamps, oysters, and debauchery of New Orleans, the last 2 weeks will remain in my memory for a lifetime. I urge any who have the chance to take road trips, to see this wonderful country. You truly can appreciate the saying that the US is a melting pot of cultures, when you drive and visit the different locations and 
experience these cultures. I can honestly say, you can't beat Texas BBQ, Gumbo in New Orleans is worldly, Mexican food in southern California/Texas is authentically delicious, and fresh salmon and dungeness crab from the Pacific northwest is indescribable. We've experienced so much in just 3 weeks and we both feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have such great friends, and to have the chance to explore and to live. It has been a wonderful trip, and although words fail me to accurately describe the emotion, wonder, and awe of some of the sights that we have seen, I hope that you may have a chance to use our travels as a guidebook to your own road trip. Words fail to describe seeing the sunset on the SF bay, or on the san diego beach. They cannot accurately articulate Mt. Rainier's enormous presence, or whale watching in the San Juan Islands. They cannot provide you the memories of
seeing a full moon rising over the red rocks in Arizona or feeling the history of the Alamo. You just have to experience these things on your own. Thanks for coming along with us on this blog trip. We've had a wonderful time, and hope you enjoyed reading.
beautiful sights, and shared such wonderful experiences. From the Space needle and Puget Sound in Washington, to Haystack rocks, whale watching and Seal Caves of the Oregon Coast, to the Northern California Redwoods and rolling hills of grapevines, to Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge and the beautiful SF bay, to the dazzle of Hollywood, the beach and the Pandas at the San Diego Zoo, across the red rocks and desert of Arizona, to the BBQ and Alamo in TX, to the music, swamps, oysters, and debauchery of New Orleans, the last 2 weeks will remain in my memory for a lifetime. I urge any who have the chance to take road trips, to see this wonderful country. You truly can appreciate the saying that the US is a melting pot of cultures, when you drive and visit the different locations and 
experience these cultures. I can honestly say, you can't beat Texas BBQ, Gumbo in New Orleans is worldly, Mexican food in southern California/Texas is authentically delicious, and fresh salmon and dungeness crab from the Pacific northwest is indescribable. We've experienced so much in just 3 weeks and we both feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have such great friends, and to have the chance to explore and to live. It has been a wonderful trip, and although words fail me to accurately describe the emotion, wonder, and awe of some of the sights that we have seen, I hope that you may have a chance to use our travels as a guidebook to your own road trip. Words fail to describe seeing the sunset on the SF bay, or on the san diego beach. They cannot accurately articulate Mt. Rainier's enormous presence, or whale watching in the San Juan Islands. They cannot provide you the memories of
seeing a full moon rising over the red rocks in Arizona or feeling the history of the Alamo. You just have to experience these things on your own. Thanks for coming along with us on this blog trip. We've had a wonderful time, and hope you enjoyed reading. 
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