There's Some Kind of Fire or Somethin

On our way to Ventura, California for an audition the other weekend, Elisa and I passed a landmark. Well, it was a landmark for us at least. It was Cahuenga Blvd., a street on which the action of possibly our favorite YouTube star's hit video occurred. We discovered Tracy about two years ago and she's remained a regular guest at many of our gatherings over the months. If you don't know Tracy yet, enjoy the YouTube above.

For those of you who are perhaps less than amused by Tracy, I suppose I should get on to more travel-related discussion. Though, again, I will assert that Cahuenga was a very exciting waypost on a not quite as exciting journey through Los Angeles on a Friday afternoon. And by not quite as exciting, I mean basically hell on earth. It was hot. L.A. drivers are jerks. It took us four hours. Definitely NOT the kind of travel that I find enjoyable. If you've ever travelled through L.A., I'm sure you've suffered similar pain.

The real travel began last weekend, as Elisa and I made our way from San Diego to our old chum Christian's house in The Most Obscure Town Ever, Colorado. The drive was again, hot, and again, long. But the traffic was minimal so the driving was actually more or less pleasant. On the first day of driving, we stopped to see friends in El Centro, California (did I say driving through L.A. was hell on earth? I was mistaken. El Centro, with the average summer temperature consistently above 100 degrees, and most days even above 110, is hell on earth) and Scottsdale, Arizona. Day two was the long day, though we made it from Scottsdale to Christian's house in a speedy 11 hours.

We always enjoy our time at the Sanders' home; how could we not? Look at that view (pictured left)! I was up doing some yoga on the deck one morning, and when I saw Isaac and Mohabi along the fence for their breakfast, I couldn't not take a picture. Turned out pretty nice for being snapped on my iPhone, don't you think?
About half of our time in Colorado was spent in this lazy, blissful manner: sleeping in late, reading (for fun!), doing yoga, napping, and eating wonderful food, courtesy of Elaine Sanders. But, as I mentioned, there was some adventure too, and I did quite a few things that I never would have chosen to do of my own volition.

For example, I was surprised one afternoon when Christian announced that his plans for us that evening consisted of driving to an old barn turned playhouse/dance hall at the base of a nearby mountain and joining in the square dancing that was going on there. I don't like country music and I don't dance...so you can imagine why I was a little hesitant about the whole thing at first. But we geared up, cowboy hats, belt buckles and all, and made our way out. Then we proceeded to make fools of ourselves on the dance floor. Okay, maybe not fools; not to offend the general class of the establishment, but it's hard to be a made a fool in such a... carefree environment. I was particularly fond of the sound system, run by Santa Claus in boots and a plaid shirt. He would teach us the steps to all these different dances and then we'd put them to music. Unfortunately, his ancient system was not really up to playing a whole song all the way through without some protestations, so when the music would start to skip in the middle of our dancing, Santa would promptly give the old system a good slap to get it going again. I think it's time for him to invest in an iPod, but that's just me.

That was only the beginning. We went to the bottom of a gold mine, flew a kite, threw together something that could be called a concert for the friends and family of Christian, and (my personal favorite) went up a mountain...on four wheelers and a Jeep. I can tell you right now that four-wheeling up the rocky terrain was a daunting prospect for a city girl such as myself. And in fact, Elisa and I only made it about a third of the way up before our four wheeler pooped out on us and we had to wait to be picked up by Christian's parents in the Jeep. I quite preferred the four wheeler to the Jeep and though I'm sure the cause was a combination of the two, I blame the bumpy ride in the back of the Jeep for the feeling I had when I woke up the next morning. I kept asking Elisa to make sure my back wasn't actually physically black and blue, because I could have sworn that the bruising was visible. It wasn't.


The view from the top was worth the bumpy ride (Elisa appropriately reenacted Maria's 'The Hills are Alive' scene from The Sound of Music once there), though I surprisingly loved every minute of the journey as well, especially the coming down. Elisa and I had to leave our four wheeler on the side of the road when it stopped starting for us on the way up, but we tried to start it again when we passed it on our way down, and it decided it would like to accompany us on the rest of our down-hill journey. We went fast. Elisa and I had ourselves convinced for a while there that we were following the wrong path down the mountain; things looked very different going down. We figured that as long as we were still heading in the general direction of downhill, we were going the right way. We were much relieved to find Christian and Craig at the bottom.

Now if I may, I will add my cheesy, philosophical thoughts about our trip to sum things up (Christian, if you're reading this now, you can stop reading here. You don't need another reason to make fun of me). I will make these thoughts short, don't worry. It's not been the easiest season of my life, what with graduating and having no idea where I will end up next (after Germany). I'm definitely feeling a bit of anxiety about not having a clear-cut path laid before me. I've been told by many wise individuals not to fear, with a bit of searching and a lot of faith, my path will make itself known...eventually. It's a comforting sentiment, but not always one that's simple to live by contently. However, I'm becoming more and more secure in this as I spend time with good friends, try to do what I love as often as possible, and just generally enjoy myself while living in the gray areas. I'll make it down the mountain eventually, right? As long as I'm more or less headed downhill.