06/13/11

7:00 am:

UP! UP! UP!  And there’s fresh coffee and toast and fruit and oatmeal!!  YAY!  I’m at the dining table updating my blog and a young man from Japan sits down with me.  He’s going to school in San Diego and it’s…HIS BIRTHDAY!!!!  He’s all alone because he’s doing an eighteen day tour of the US.  WHOA!  So I was more than happy to get real excited about his birthday…and then let everyone who passed by or sat with us know that it was his birthday!  YAYAYAYAYAY!  Luis came to sit with us too.  He’s been sleeping in the woods to defragment; his car is broken though so he has to get it fixed, which is why he’s back at the hostel.  Luis is recording his dreams and pushing out all of the old dialog that is in his head in order to make room for positive thoughts and dialog that he will now encounter.  Awesome!

So I’m outside now because the sun is warm and I would like to have my coffee in the sun and just sit.  I join Chris at the table.  He works here and is crazy nice.  Then Dave shows up (he has a guitar) and they talk about Jessie (who’s staying in the hostel) and how he left his room a frickin’ mess!  Like gross mess with food and stuffs. 

Dave looks over at me and says that he wishes he knew the 311 song “Amber” so that he could play it for me.  Awwwwwwww!  OH!  I have a fancy phone!  Can you play something after hearing it?  YEA??  Ok!  GO!  And he did.  Wow.  Best morning ever.  Thank you. 

I have to go to the Grand Canyon now…sorry guys…I really don’t want to go because you are making me feel like I’m at home and we’ve known each other forever, but I so need to go otherwise I will just stay here and have to call Chad to tell him to move to Flagstaff with me.  Ok.  Tear yourself away. 

The guy at the coffee shop said he just made me the best black-eye chai he has ever made just for me and that he made sure there was just enough love in it.  Wow.  Yea.  Flagstaff.  Gimmie.  I believe rolls have been reversed and Flagstaff just unicorned ME!  Score!

11:45 am:

The Grand Canyon.  I won’t talk too much about this because there is no possible way I can convey the feeling that you get when you first lay eyes on this wonder.  Just know that I immediately started crying and did not stop for 2 hours.  That type of cry where you are staring and the tears just goosh out of your eyeballs and you don’t realize it.  Wow.  Just wow.  A quiet wow.  So why does the average person only spend 15 minutes here??!!  How is that even possible???  Oh!  I see!  You marathon walk it…yea.  Don’t bother looking at all.  It’s just some canyon thing that’s MILLIONS OF YEARS OLD!!!!!!!! 

I sat on a bench to recoup at one point and this older guy walks up with his wife and asks if he can share the bench with me.  Of course!  Then he looks out and says “amazing, isn’t it?”  Well, hey there crazy Amber!  Yea!  Right now would be a great time for you to start crying again!  AAAAHAHAHA.  Whoop!  Tony looks at me and gets genuinely concerned and asks if I’m ok.  I tell him yea, but I just can’t handle the magnitude of this.  Tony and Lily Taylor.  They’re from Florida and they’re biking (like motorcycle biking) to Las Vegas for a wedding.  We talk about bikes and road trips and Tony tells me that I need to stop by Florida on the way back so he can teach me how to ride and so they can show me the beaches and ocean.  Wow!  And he was super sincere!  Not weird at all!  Yes, I will stop by someday…and maybe I’ll be all together when you see me next.

Time unknown:

Somehow I force myself to leave the Grand Canyon.  I need to sleep someplace now…maybe I’ll go into town and see what they’ve got.  OH!  Look!  An overpriced hotel just for me!!  And Joann at the front desk?  She was SO mean!  I don’t understand!  All attitude and snobby and just generally bitchy.  I asked about internet too…they have it…I get to my room and try to log in.  HA!  Guess what??!!  You need a frackin’ code to get in.  So, um…if someone asks about internet wouldn’t you actually give them the code so they wouldn’t have to walk allllll the way back to get it?  I weren’t too happy.  I decided to channel my dad and a wee bit of passive aggressiveness.

Do you need a code to get on the internet?

Yes.

So when I asked about it earlier…

What?

Thanks for giving me the code when I checked in so I wouldn’t have to walk all the way back here.

What are you talking about?

Yea.  Again.  Thanks.  You’ve been real helpful tonight. (evil glare with flared nostrils)

And then I vaulted over the counter and punched her.  Naw, I didn’t.  I takes a lot to get me this worked up nowadays, so Joann?  You’re on my list, hon.

06/12/11

7:30 am:

UP!  And a unicorn name generator on Facebook?  Yes please!  Helliboirne Pretty Filly.  Thassa my name now:

She is very lucky and always succeeds
She is pretty as a picture and she casts spells if plenty and bounty!!

Ok, so now?  Sue and I are gonna sit by the pool alllllll day!  And swim and then sit again, then swim.  I know!  It’s rough!!!

2:00 pm:

Pack it up, pack it in…hit the road again!  And I crushed Sue so hard!!  The bears wanted to sit at the pool for a bit, so I let them.  They’re so cute!!

5:40 pm:

Flagstaff!  Sue told me to stop here, so here I am!  Almost to the Grand Canyon, but I’m tired, so let’s see what we gots.  OH!  A hostel?  Yea!  We should try that out!  This is the Dubeau Hostel and it’s AWESHUM!  If you need to stay in Flagstaff, AZ, stay here!  The people are crazy friendly, they have private rooms or bunk rooms, and they have a full kitchen that you can use!  They also have the internets without wires!  I unpack and have a dinner of tortilla wraps and peanut butter.  MMMMMMMMM!  Kitchen?  Tsssss.  Whatever!  Silly Amber!  I go outside to have a beer in the back courtyard and BAM!  WOW!  It’s COLD!!!  Like 50 degrees!  WHA??!!!  Ok, so I gots to go back inside and get some pants on and a sweatshirt…oh, I was wearing a skirt, sillies!  I wasn’t walkin’ round with nothin’ on my bottom parts!  HA!

In my room putting on my jeans and…HOLY OW!!!!!!!!!!  That there?  That is yet another sunburn right on my thighs and belly.  (sigh)  What is WRONG with you AMBER??!!!  Come on now!  Ouchie.

10:00 pm:

Sleep.  And I fell to sleep with the noises of activity from the kitchen and music playing.  It was awesome.  Like I was at home taking a nap while someone (ehem) cooked me dinner…I should have recorded it and played it every night like a lullaby.