One year ago I started a trip up the California coast. Today it feels like a dream.

California Dreamin'- All Over Again

After three flight cancellations trying to get to Albany for a Life in the Dog House shoot, I finally made it. I knew flying back to Cleveland wasn't going to be the easiest task, but at least I got here to film our upcoming episodes. This morning I had my third flight change and will be stuck in New York until tomorrow... or the next day...

Mariesa and Chris are so great and are letting me stay here with them and their 8 dogs. If I am going to be stuck somewhere, here is a good place (have you seen our snowed-in Harlem Shake?). All 10 of them are full of love and are so caring. Plus I'll get to film more! But with all this terrible weather I can't help wishing I was on a beach during my road trip with this guy:

California Dreaming in San Diego

    Pardon me for being naive, but I thought California was hot. I mean, sunscreen galore, miles of beaches, the sun beating down upon your tan skin. As a midwestern kid growing up in overcast Ohio, I dreamed of California sunshine. I subscribed to Surfer Magazine. Yes, Surfer Magazine would find it's way to my mailbox in the middle of a cornfield once a month so I could tear out it's sea-foam green tinted, glossy pages and tape them to my walls.

    I was obsessed with all things Californian, though I didn't travel farther west than Chicago until I was 18. Even then I only went as far as Colorado. Anything with palm trees added a bit of sunshine to my small-town life. I bought the first season of Laguna Beach on DVD because "farmervision" doesn't include MTV. When the Fox television show "The O.C." premiered, I was captivated by the character's clothes, hair, homes, social life and musical interests. I purchased every soundtrack CD full of the shows beachy tunes and subconsciously purchased clothes similar to Marissa's.

    When The O.C.'s theme song, "California," by Phantom Planet, would fade into my living room, my sister and I would play our air guitars and pianos and I would get misty-eyed through a montage of waves crashing upon rocky cliffs, surfers catching swells, kisses on lifeguard stands, and silhouettes of palm trees fading with the sun.  If you think that is a little much, understand I went to a school that celebrated "tractor day" and missing school on the first day of hunting season was an excused absence.

    After years of dreaming about California, I was finally going to experience it from the beginning of Highway 1 to the end. Since the majority of the trip would be spent on the coast, I packed 5 pairs of shorts, 7 tank-tops, 2 bathing suits, 1 pair of jeans and a couple sweaters. Turns out… California is not that hot year round.

    After leaving the Mojave Desert, Matt, my co-pilot and boyfriend, couldn't wait to get to sunny San Diego. "This place has the best weather," I remember him saying. "I know," I thought, "I'm an expert on California- bring out the shorts and bikinis!"

    Instead, I wore my jeans and brought out my rain jacket because it was freezing and rained the entire time. Matt's friend's mother was kind enough to let us stay with her for a couple days and tour the city sans bathing suits, plus umbrellas. I was sad and showing signs of a cold. Yes, I caught a cold while romping through the Mojave Desert.

    Thus, overcast photos of seals and pelicans.

The Joshua Tree

Sun Hands

As the sun set on our last day in Joshua Tree National Park,
we climbed the giant boulder next to our campsite at Jumbo Rocks
to get a better look. Dozens of people appeared on the horizon,
rising up from the shadows looking like a Paleolithic community.
The rocks sustained the sun's warmth for a while after it set,
then the chill of night swept across the desert.














I climbed to the top of a hill
But I had just missed the sun
And although the descending arc was gone
Left behind were the traces that always follow along

The most beautiful colors chase the sun
They wrap her trail in a taunting gesture
That seems to sing out loud,
"this is what you're missing"

-Sun Hands, Local Natives

Pretty Prickly Things

Every place we went seemed like a different planet. Joshua Tree was no exception.















This hurt us both.

The Grand Canyon

I went on a trip

I haven't posted in a while because I went on a 4,750 mile road trip with my best friend during the month of May.

We started in Colorado and drove to Chaco Culture National Historical Park near the four corners in New Mexico.
We drove 21 miles down a dirt road to camp near the incredible structure known as Pueblo Bonito. People traveled for miles
to attend ceremonies there between 850 and 1250 AD, but there is no definite answer as to what the building was used for.











     

Free Range

24 Hours

"I got 24 hours of livin' and I ain't gonna waste it here." -Bar Fly, A Bug's Life