day seven - on road trips

I wasn't sure what I wanted to write about today, so I asked my friend Ryan what he would suggest. He came up with road trips and it sounds like a fine idea to me.

The only road trips I've ever really been on thus far have been with my parents. We took one a long time ago to visit some friends in Grass Valley, CA, North East of Sacramento. I forget how old I was, but the trip was over eight hours and I vaguely remember sitting in the backseat of whichever car we had taken and looking for license plates from other states. I still do that while I'm driving. I probably spent most of the trip there sleeping, but I also remember on our way back home, that we stopped in a lot of tourist spots along the coast - Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Monterey and Carmel-By-the-Sea, Big Sur, Hearst Castle in San Simeon, and Solvang. I'm sure we did a lot more than that, but my memory fails me. It was my first memorable road trip and I know I enjoyed it a lot.

More recently, I believe it was during my Junior year of high school, my mom and I drove from Tustin to San Jose where we saw the Winchester Mystery House and stayed the night in the city. From there we continued North to San Francisco where we stayed a few more days. I think that was my first time in the City by the Bay and I was in love with it instantly. We didn't even explore all that much, though we did drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, walk around Pier 39 and visit the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It saddens me that I'm actually having trouble remembering what else we did, but I would've loved to stay longer and see more. We also visited my mom's friend Jenny in Janesville, CA for a few days before continuing onto Yosemite National Park. I really wish we'd stayed there longer, because we only spent part of the day driving through it and it was incredibly beautiful. I'd love to go back again.

The only other pseudo road trips I can remember have been smaller trips, like a day trip with my dad down to San Diego for breakfast with my Grandpa and out to the Salton Sea afterwards to see Slab City and Salvation Mountain (another place I'd love to visit again), and another in which way drove up Highway 395 to visit his old friends in Yerington, Nevada for a few days. The best part of that trip was seeing the sky at night from the middle of nowhere. You could see so many more stars in the sky than anyone ever will from most of Southern California. It was wonderful out there, aside from the heat. I'm sure I'd go crazy living in the practically-barren desert, but it was a beautifully serene place to stay for a few days.

If nothing else, writing this blog has both brought on an extreme bout of nostalgia and strengthened my desire to travel. One of my greatest goals in life is to see the world. I'm not entirely sure how it's going to happen but I feel like I have to find a way. Maybe I'll focus on travel writing instead of entertainment journalism. Maybe someday I'll just disappear to another place and start over, just to try something different. Maybe..