Monday, December 17, 2007

J Matt's Winter Vacation, Days 5-7

This is a big country.

And I have been doing some serious driving.

on Thursday (four days ago) I went from Santa Fe, through Vegas.

All I can say is the high southwest desert is absolutely gorgeous.

And I HATE the way I feel when I drive through Native American reservations.

Why? Because these people really were routed from their land and forced into these patches of expansive, desolate land. And then in order to survive they have to trade on the general public opinion of what an Indian is.

Examples:





Anyway. That aside, on the road from Santa Fe to the City of Sin, I met some really nice, kind, giving people. I also stopped in this Pueblo:



(the Pueblo of Laguna) in western New Mexico to get gas, then found myself doing some shopping. My family has a strong native side, one of which my mom is really proud of, so I stopped to pick her up some stuff. I was struck at how much this Pueblo, and many of the other Pueblos in New Mexico feel like they belong in the third world. They are still the homes of many different tribes, yet they feel like archaeological sites in some ways. Beautiful, but also kind of sad. And in their own way, they made me appreciate my native heritage more than I have in the past.

Anyway, the drive to Vegas pretty much looked like this along the way:



One highlight was passing the Continental Divide, where rainfall divides equally in draining toward the Pacific and Atlantic oceans:



Then I passed by one major anomaly in the desert landscape: The Meteor Crater in central AZ. Millions of years ago, a meteor (of which this rock here is a fragment of):



crashed into the desert, blacking out the sky, and sending debris around a five-mile radius. The crater itself is about 1000 feet deep, and over a mile across. And here it is:



And here I am at the bottom of it:



OK, not really. Due to the delicate nature of the site, you aren't allowed to hike on the crater, or down into it, for that matter. But what you can do is take a photo in the museum with the bottom of the crater as the background. You can tell from the blatant overhead lighting on my face that it's an obvious fake. Otherwise I'd tell you about how I "totally was a badass and broke the rules to totally run to the bottom of the crater, where I fought the crater protecting ninja brigade to the death...."

So much for my plan.

Then it was further east to Flagstaff, and into Nevada and Hoover Dam. Mind you, I hit Hoover at the twelve-hour mark, so my mental state was somewhat...altered. This video will attest to that:



Now, I KNOW Hoover Dam is named after President Hoover. At the time, however, my brain was at about a third-grade level, so there you go.

Then I made it to Vegas:



where I had the largest beer of my life at the Hoffbraus House:



Mmm. Beer.

Then on the road again to California. Which meant 6 more hours of driving through the desert, where I continued a tradition that my friend Rob and I started on our Vegas trips from years past: whenever in the desert as the sun is rising, you must pull over and listen to songs from Radiohead's OK Computer:



However, the desert eventually gave way to farmland near Bakersfield, CA, and some pretty damn adorable sheep:



Yep. Frickin' cute.

After the farmland I hit the highway where James Dean had his ill-fated car crash that took his life. Here's the memorial to him at the spot of the crash in Chalome, California:



Almost at the coast, I come across one of the funniest images I've ever seen in the Salinas Valley...just use your imagination:



Finally, at 5:00 in the evening on Saturday, December 15th, I arrived at Monterey and Carmel Beach just in time for the sunset:



I miss living here.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

J Matt's Winter Vacation, Day 3/Day 4



Santa Fe.

Yeah, I could get used to this life...staying in a beautiful house I don't pay for, eating fantastic food, bumming around in museums, hiking canyons, going to archaeological sites, reading plays and novels, writing in my journal...

...yep. That's been my life the past 2.5 days.

But sadly, this must, like all things, end.

I'm in my last night in Santa Fe, drinking a margarita or two and reporting to you, my friends, the trip thus far.

Yesterday I bummed around Santa Fe's plaza area. Checked out an Egyptian exhibit at the Art Museum and an exhibit on the "disappeared" (political prisoners, refugees, victims, etc.) in Nicaragua, as well as a gallery of paintings reflecting the Native American opinion of war at the Native American Cultural Museum. The plaza was cool...lots of Native American craftsman selling their wares, and a bulk of historic buildings. And for lunch I had possibly the best damn meal I've had in a long time:



Green Chile Stew, Pozole (a type of corn simmered in chiles and pork), and an enchilada. Totally spicy, totally awesome.

Then I continued my tour of interesting places in Santa Fe. I found one: the oldest church structure in the United States, the Church of San Miguel:



Even cooler though, was Loretto Chapel, which contains a "miraculous" staircase. According to legend, this stair case stood erect by the will of God alone (there used to be no anchors holding the stair case in place. It spiraled from the ground to the choir loft in a double helix without support--a feat apparently impossible according to the laws of engineering).

And here it is, decorated for your Christmas pleasure:




Cool? When I asked the woman working in the chapel why it was anchored now, she simply said that it was for decoration only, that it wasn't "really" anchored to the adjoining pillars.

God Bless, then.

So that was yesterday.

Then today I went on a bit of an adventure. I drove southwest to Tent Rocks National Monument, where I hiked around these bizarre volcanic formations, as well as into a slot canyon. This chilly winter hike was, well, gorgeous. Just look:



Then I drove a loop through the back country between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. I was driving through snow covered trees, and once again...gorgeous. Just look:




I ended up at Bandeliere National Monument, home to cliff dwelling ruins of the ancient Pueblo Indians. Yep. I even managed to get my archaeology fix on this trip. Who knew?





So, now it's further west. Arizona to Vegas to Cali. More to come.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

J Matt's Winter Vacation, Day 2/Day 3 Begins.

Whew.

Made it to Santa Fe.

Day two was spent driving through The Last Great Midwestern Ice Storm, 2007.

Yeah. Good times.

A common theme along the road was my screaming "Ohhhhhh.....SHIT!" and swerving.

A Video Sampling:





Another common theme was the countless big rigs that were sliding, flipping, and jack-knifing all over the place.

Not cool, man. Not cool.

And as for Oklahoma and northern Texas, well, this speaks for itself:



However, 11 hours after leaving Tulsa, OK, I have arrived. And Santa Fe is great.

I wandered around the plaza last night, and found a cool little restaurant called "The Shed", and had the hottest yet most flavorful enchiladas I have ever had. No joke. Even started taking notes/roughing out a draft for an indie film. We'll see where it goes.

Then I went back to my aunt and uncle's vacation home and promptly passed out after reading a chapter in "The Sun Also Rises", by my man Hemingway.

And today I woke up to this:





Yeah. It's gonna be a good trip. : )

Sunday, December 09, 2007

J Matt's Winter Vacation, Day 1

So, I left Champaign at about noon today, and have arrived at my first stop (of necessity, mind you--not pleasure): Tulsa, OK. The drive here was shitty. The weather: shitty. The drivers in the 9-hour ice storm: Shitty. The people I actually interacted with in person: quite the opposite of shitty.

Because most of the trip so far was in the familiar desolate mid-western winter landscape we all know and loathe (or was in pitch black), I have but one photo to share with you, taken from the side of the road in Joplin, Missouri:




Yep. That's what it says.

The really funny part is that it's an automotive factory.

They make shock absorbers.

Perfect.

Anyway, onward to Santa Fe tomorrow...wish me luck.

Cheerio,

J

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Remember, Remember, The Month of December...

Hiya.

So, it's December. Peace, love, joy, cheer, blah-de-blah.

Point is, it is time for my annual visit home to the holy lands of California.

Except this time I'm driving.

I leave Sunday December 9th. I'll be stopping in Santa Fe, New Mexico, possibly Las Vegas, then up to Monterey, CA. I'll be there from about December 15th-20th, then driving down the coast and over to Bakersfield. I'll probably camp in Big Sur on the way down. I'll be in Bakersfield from 22-27th, then in So Cal (L.A./San Diego) through 27th-January 10th. Then I drive back to good ole' Illinois.

I figured I needed a big epic road trip this winter. A little soul searching. A little time doing whatever I feel like for a month.

I look forward to hearing from/seeing all of you that I can on my trip West.

Peace (for real),

J