ADVENTURES IN AMERICA: Snapshots from a Thanksgiving Road Trip

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone, and while we all ponder ways in which we’ll be exercising off the copious amounts of calories ingested over the weekend, I’ve decided to relive the glorious memories from the past week. Actually, I’m just posting photos. I headed up to San Francisco this year on a mini-road trip where I met up with none other than IndianJones (who provided my lodging) and J-Unit. Jash was supposed to join, but he was sidelined by a particularly vicious bout of food poisoning that left him bedridden and clammy. It’s probably for the best. As jash is American Indian, I would have heard nothing but squawking about retribution and maize all weekend long. Nevertheless, after the jump, check out various random photos from the exciting drive up.

The adventure began in suburbia. Valencia, to be specific. Only twenty-five minutes into my drive up the 5 freeway, I stopped in at the new abode of my former neighbors, Greg and Julie. Their new neighborhood is very cul-de-sac-y.

Thanksgiving is clearly just around the corner, as made evident by the presence of random gourds and a solitary chocolate turkey.

Suburban vegetation.

The tour de force of my suburban adventure: a giant bathtub. And yes, I did get in it.

Fully clothed, natch.

I particularly enjoyed these Desperate Housewives blinds – the better to spy on your neighbors with before swiftly snapping them shut upon first detection.

Well, suburbia was fun, but it was time to hit the road.

Just north of Valencia, the 5 ascends into the mountains for forty miles in a section of windy road lovingly termed the Grapevine. Naturally, I decide this is the best time to start taking pictures of the highway.

Don’t worry, I was keeping my eyes on the road, despite what this photo may suggest.

The landscape was kind of breathtaking, and the lack of traffic made it even better.

AMERICA.

I had some time to kill; so I stopped off at Pyramid Lake to take some photos and to visit a museum about water and aqueducts.

Behold the Vista Del Lago Visitors Center — home to the California Department of Water Resources museum!

A foreboding sign advertisesd water as California’s liquid gold. Seems a bit bombastic to me.

One of several interactive exhibits.

I apparently carry around a hundred and five pounds of water. And in other news, I’ve gained eight pounds.

Why there’s a giant cheeseburger in a water museum is somewhat beyond my comprehension.

OOOOH – it all makes sense now.

I can feel myself growing stronger as I take in random facts about water. I’ll be a star at the next cocktail party!

A cross section of a real life pipe! It was very large.

The view from the museum’s observation deck.

Off yonder is the highway, still remarkably sans traffic.

This was lovely and all, but I had a nagging sense (a.k.a. a text message from IndianJones) telling me I should hit the road.

As I leave, I view a charming map of California’s aqueduct system.

Alas, it is time to depart.

I bid you adieu, Pyramid Lake (I’m really dragging this out, aren’t I?)

On the road again. I’m instantly infuriated by a cop up ahead at the bend who has taken over the highway and acted as a pace car of sorts, forcing my clump of traffic to roll ahead at a torturous 40 mph.

However, it’s all the calm before the storm. As I approach the town of Gorman, traffic comes to a halt.

On the plus side, the hills looked lovely.

After a forty-five minute delay, I finally emerge from the Grapevine and descend into the bright, bland landscape ahead.

It’s like this for the next four hours. Actually, I find it quite beautiful, but the repetition can be a bit much.

After driving for who knows how long, I pull over for a late lunch. (Very late – the sun is going down)

Unsurprisingly, my journey takes me here. I was really hoping they’d have free WiFi as part of their McCafé experience, but alas, they didn’t. KNOW THAT.

After lunch (Big Mac meal), I got some gas (in my car, not in my intestinal tract) and headed off again.

As the sun set over a foggy ridge in the distance, I took one last pic before focusing solely on driving (and singing loudly and off-tune to my iPod).

Night driving. No interesting stories here. However, at one point I thought I smelled a rich, smokey fireplace — only to find out it was a car engulfed in flames. Oops!

At around 8:15 PM, I finally crossed into San Francisco on the Bay Bridge (this is a tunnel connecting two of the sections).

Almost there…

And I have arrived.

Such was the trip up through California. Later today, I’ll post some random photos from the weekend, and in the meantime, I have to go catch up on some TV…