fsjesdriving-blog

[fsjesdriving-blog]

Left Lane for Passing Only!

Sof made an awesome compilation video of our adventures. Check out some of the highlights!

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"Enjoy the Journey, Forget the End”

Better late than never, huh? Apologies for not finishing up the blog and posting about our last week of the trip. California was a beautiful blur and Oregon was/is (typing this from a Portland coffee shop- I can’t seem to stay in one place) a refreshing destination. We eventually got to a point where we were too tired to sit down and blog, and with the devastating earthquake in Nepal occurring on the final day of our trip, we just didn’t have the heart to focus on ourselves. Having visited the northeast states of Sikkim and West Bengal just 6 months ago with our family, we couldn’t get the beautiful Nepalis that we met in India out of our minds. So many had left their families and come to India for jobs and better lives. Luckily, we were able to finally get in touch with a young Nepali friend we made that was living and working in Sikkim so that he can send money back to his family in Nepal. We’re delighted to know that his family is safe and was not hurt during the earthquake :) The Nepali people are beautiful, strong, resilient and will get through this troubled time ahead of them, but our prayers are still with them and their families. Everyone should donate whatever they can for the rebuilding effort- every little bit helps!

That being said, It’s been almost a month since the end of our road trip on April 25th and we’re missing it so much! Real life is so boring. Good thing we’ve been busy with weddings and searching for the meaning of life (kind of). I can finally post some of our pictures from California and Portland. 

We started in Socal and made our way up the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH/1). After some inevitable car trouble that pushed us back 3.5 hours, we were still able to enjoy the AMAZING drive up the coast, stop at Big Sur and Pfeiffer Beach, and and the night in Salinas, CA- home of John Steinbeck!

Everyone talks about the PCH as if it’s the land of God, or something. They’re not kidding. I thought it was very hyped up and would just be eh. The PCH is one of the best drives I’ve made in my life. Not going to lie, I was freaking out through most of it since the cliffs get REALLY high and the road is winding pretty much the entire way, but the views are unbelievable. A bright sunny sky turned into a gray sky and things just got prettier. This must be the land of Narniaaaaaaaa

After a handful of stops to take pictures or just take in the scene, we finally made our final and favorite stop: Pfeiffer Beach. So, to get to Pfeiffer Beach you basically make a random, completely unmarked left turn at a winding part of the PCH. The only reason we knew how to get here was because Sof’s friend was recently here all and gave us the exact address, which, because it wasn’t marked, we only found because our gps picked it up. Picture this: It’s about 25 minutes till sunset and you turn left on an unmarked random street that is shaded with trees (so even darker), you have no service, and there are no signs. Oh did I mention that two cars can barely fit on the narrow winding road so that every time you see headlights you have to get to the extreme edge of the road so the other car can pass. It felt like the longest mile of our life, especially because we weren’t sure where it was leading, and also because I really didn’t want to be stuck down here after it got dark, let alone get back on the windy PCH after sunset. We knew we only had 20 minutes or so when we reached the beach, so we quickly paid and parked and headed out. I can’t describe how magnificent this little gem is and picture sure can’t do justice to the immense beauty that is Pfeiffer Beach. It was so beautiful I think Sof and I were on the verge of tears, but also oozing with happiness at the same time. We were elated! The twenty minutes we spent down there at sunset marked a defining point in our trip. I think the realization that we had made it so far, done so much, and got to spend such a great memory together really sunk in at that moment. I think we will probably cherish that high-on-life feeling forever <3 Our cameras had no setting fit for capturing the beauty that is Pfeiffer Beach, so take a look at our attempts and try really hard to make a trip of your own there someday :)

It was a super windy day as well...so we’re a little shaky here:

ALSO, the sand is PURPLE. no joke- it’s really purple!!! Don’t believe me? Go see for yourself!!!

Hm, so I thought I could fit all of the west coast in one post, but in an attempt to not make this a novel, I will do a separate post on the last few days of our trip!

xo,

far

[fsjesdriving-blog]

“And it’s not what you’re aware of thats important, it’s that you’re aware at all. Being in nature is such a great opportunity to connect with something that is on a scale so much bigger than us. Keeping anchored in our bodies but open to the sense of a vast world around us, a world that just keeps going on with life no matter what we do or what we want.”

Taken from Buddhify, a guided meditation and mindfulness app we used here at Zion National Park, UT. We’ve been using these guided mediations throughout our trip and highly recommend them for everyone! 

Until next time,

Sof n’ Far

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There is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun

Chris McCandless (via thetarmacadventures)

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It’s funny how you end up leaving a piece of your heart in the tiniest, most obscure places. As you all know, we left a piece in Marfa, TX, and then yet again in Hurricane, Utah. We have one more state to go in our journey, but who knew our favorite state thus far would be Utah? 

Sometimes it’s not only the place, but the people that capture your heart. In this case, it was both. We made our exit out of Arizona and made it to our Airbnb in Hurricane. The plan was to spend a day at Zion National Park (future late post), and Hurricane seemed to be a good place to spend two nights since it’s just about 20 minutes from Zion. We have never been to Utah. We would probably never arbitrarily go to Utah. Do we even know where Utah is on a map?! Probably not.

We had a long day of travel from Flagstaff to Hurricane, packed with a stop at Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend (both ridiculously worth it). Great day. Cue entrance of CUTEST home ever. We pulled up to a place we were about to spend 2 wonderful nights. Sof and I had been eating out for every meal and were quiet frankly getting very tired of it, so we had picked up groceries on the way with the intention to cook some simple healthy meals. What a perfect place because this beautiful home had an even CUTER kitchen and we were able to make ourselves right at home!

Ok, seriously if you know me you know I’m gushing at this shabby chic rustic cutesy home...

The best part was the people, though. We must have gotten especially lucky or something because the owner of the home lives in Oklahoma City and her best friend runs the Airbnb. Marla (owner) happened to be in town that weekend, as well as her older sister Monica. Monica lives in LA and drove up to Hurricane in her Harley. Oh, and she’s 61. Oh, and they are AWESOME. It feels like a displaced memory in retrospect, us cooking dinner and talking to the sisters in the kitchen, which then turned into all of us sitting at the giant dinner table eating and talking for hours that just passed by without us even noticing. The entire two days turned into long talks and tons of laughs and crazy stories. Who knew we would have so much in common with these two? They had lived such different crazy lives, and accomplished so much, failed so many times, but triumphed in so many ways. And that house..

The house was built in 1909 (holy crap) by Bishop Isom of Hurricane for his family. Marla bought it in 1997 when it was apparently piece of crap (I mean really, everything was broken and there was no plumbing, etc). Marla and Monica have been fixing the house up for the past 2-3 years, and although it’s probably not up to their standards since they are so aware of every tiny issue, I think it’s amazing, and perfect, and full of character. I mean, it was built in 1909 for crying out loud!

They’ve done such a great job with the house that the city of Hurrcane gave them an award for basically saving a historical home. Turning it into an airbnb is probably the next best thing that could have happened, because it is such a perfect place for people to meet, and the hosts are so warm and welcoming that you forget you’re so far from home. During no part of our stay did we feel like we were in someone else’s home as a guest, and that is huge. We highly highly recommend a visit to Utah in general, but insist on planning to spend a few nights at this lovely home. We are definitely coming back. Arizona/Utah/Colorado trip anyone?!

ALSO, homemade banana bread without any nuts- amazing (and how did she know about my allergies?!) Won my heart over in a jiffy. 

xo,

Far

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Horseshoe Bend, AZ, is one of those places that pictures could never do justice. You walk up and peer over this cliff to see the Colorado River and the whole thing is just kinda unreal.

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Antelope Canyon, AZ. Where you go to worship Mother Nature and her badass ways.

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Its been almost a week since we left Marfa, TX, but I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Sofia and I were talking about how this place seems like a dream we had. Like it wasn’t real. 

I heard about Marfa for the first time in my life literally one week before leaving for this road trip. A good friend asked me if Sof and I were going to the Prada store in the middle of nowhere. What the hell..? I was hooked, and quickly texted Sof asking if she knew about this...thing. She quickly replied “I was going to tell you about that, I just came across it the other day!” How could we get there, though? We were already dreading the drive from Austin to Carlsbad, NM because it was the first unfamiliar route and we knew it would be driving for hours with no big city to stop in in case we got tired. Worst of all, we had this dreadful feeling we would lose service on this route (oh the terror). How worth it was it to go even more out of the way just to see a building whose existence we still didn’t fully understand? Normally, we would just drop the idea, but for some reason we kept coming back to it, trying to figure out how to fit this little town into our itinerary. The day before we left Austin we started looking up hotels and airbnb’s in Carlsbad and cities nearby, and much to our dismay (and eventual good luck) everything was SO DAMN EXPENSIVE. Our minds wandered back to Marfa, and we started looking up airbnbs and hotels in Marfa...on my phone...at brunch. 

What kind of weird town was this? Marfa has 3 hotels- none of them being familiar ones. And each of them seem just a little odd. You know the kind of odd where you’re borderline sketched out, but also very intrigued? Yeah, that kind of odd. And then there were only 2-3 airbnbs for the night we needed, but one of them was in a TRAILER, and the other two were rooms in a house...but all 3 were featured by the same user. So we kept doing research until we found this hotel/hostel/I don’t know what to call it because there are no regular rooms. El Cosmico is 18 acres of trailers, tents, and campground in this middle of nowhere town. If I start writing about how awesome it is, I probably won’t stop, so I’ll let you poke around at the link yourself and see how ridiculously cool this place is. I called them up and they had one tent left, so I quickly booked it over my phone. 

After leaving the Mandir in the morning, we headed straight to Marfa, and as expected we lost service along the way. We also had tons of rain on the way so the drive wasn’t memorable at all. And then we got to Marfa.

I don’t know how to describe Marfa. I guess the best adjectives are artsy, quirky, and just wonderful. The entire town is basically comprised of ten blocks across Highway 90 that is called W. San Antonio St when driving through Marfa. The biggest intersection is a four-way stop. 

Sof and I grew up in a giant county made up of giant school systems and high schools with giant classes (800-1000 in our graduating classes.) When flipping through our yearbooks, chances are we recognize less people than we actually knew. This is the norm in big suburbs in Georgia (at least in our world). Marfa is the opposite. Everybody knows everybody.

We had dinner in a local tex mex joint and minutes after opening, the place was packed with bustling customers all greeting each other: “you moved back!!” or “How are the kids?!” or even a straight up standing ovation when this dude Brit rolled up into the establishment. Brit was awesome. So awesome his shirt said “BRIT” on it.

We were amazed by the genuine camaraderie.

So we talked to Brit, and turns out he was a teacher and later principal of one of the local schools, He basically ran the town for a while. But man, the way this town full of people interacted with each other was something out of a movie. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Before going to sleep under the stars (more about that later), we got to see some awesome bands play in the El Cosmico lobby. Technicolor Hearts and We Will Be Lions are definitely worth checking out! We met people from all over, even a couple who were in town to choose their wedding venue because they shared that same love for this weird adorable town.

Back to the stars. So B I G. We had never seen stars like this. I mean, we could have reached out and held them. We could have moved them around and made little shapes with these humungous stars. It was incredible.

Oh, and the Prada Marfa art piece was totally worth it. It is literally in the middle of nowhere, so much so that we sat down in the middle of the road to take a picture:

About to make breakfast at our airbnb in Hurricane, Utah and get started on our day!

xoxo,

Sof&Far

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Pit stop at the Petrified Forest National Park on the way to Flagstaff, AZ! Hiked the Blue Mesa Trail and consequently left in awe of how beautiful giant deposits of petrified wood can be.

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Are there any places that have made you feel this way?

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How crazy is that sunset?! We spent two nights at La Posada de Santa Fe, “the Art Hotel of Santa Fe.” Vibrant colors and intricate oil paintings can be seen on every corner. Art is so overwhelmingly ubiquitous in this city-I love it.

The Plaza is a national historic landmark in the heart of the city right in down town. Close by are the historical San Miguel Mission (oldest church in the US) and the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. Also, just a couple blocks away is the popular Bell Tower Bar at hotel La Fonda where we went to watch the sunset from their balcony. 

Frolicking around the Plaza:

xo,

Sof

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Welcome to the Land of Enchantment! Our first stop in New Mexico was a last minute detour to the White Sands National Monument. This is located near the New Mexico Missile Range...aka the site of the first atomic bomb test. Yeah, it was scary. But totally worth playing in the largest gypsum dune field in the world (lol thanks Wikipedia). 

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Early morning peacock parties...

is how we like to start our days I guess. Yesterday was the 5th day of our trip marking the completion of the first quarter of our road trip. While the past few days have been really fun, exploring new cities and meeting new people. there hasn’t been too much out of the ordinary...until yesterday. There is no way in the world I can fit the shenanigans of yesterday into one post, so I’m breaking it up into 3. (Also I’m sitting at the cutest coffee shop doing this and writing post cards, while Sofia is napping in our tent because she didn’t sleep much last night...so I’m limited on time before we’re back on the road). 

Friday April 10th began wonderfully, literally before the sun even came up Sof and I were on the road heading towards the Radha Madhav Dham, one of the largest Hindu Mandirs and Ashrams in the U.S. We  missed the 6:30am arti, but made it in time for the second half of the Satsang that followed. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of a Satsang, it’s basically a spiritual discourse or sermon. We were surprised to see 15-20 people already there so early in the morning, and just found a spot to settle in in the back of the BEAUTIFUL main room. The satsang was great, all about detachment from worldly things and not drowning in them. I guess people were surprised to see two young girls so engaged at this early time in the morning because the woman next to us began talking to us, expressing how wonderful she thought it was that we woke up extra early to make it here before leaving Austin. 

This particular temple/group focuses on devotion through Radha and Krishna. The entire property is over 200 acres and is made to represent the  holy land of Braj, where Radha and Krishna lived. The whole place just took me back to my childhood, Mahabharata-watching days as a kid (team Pandav all the way). There are holy sites representing Govardhan which Krishna was said to pick up on his pinky for seven days to protect its inhabitants from torrential rains brought down by the godess Indra, there’s a holy site representing Barsana Hill where Radha’s palace was situated, and there’s even a site called Mor Kuti. Mor means peacock, and there is a story in which Krishna turns into a peacock and dances for Radha. So....there are peacocks that freely roam the property!!! We sat through the Satsang, and some of the beautiful chanting and singing that followed, and eventually slipped out because we had a long drive ahead of us. We walked out only to find that all the peacocks were heading towards the Mandir!!! It was literally a peacock party, and they were just walking all around us as if they didn’t even notice us. How ridiculously random. We had to stop and think...well, we didn’t expect this to happen on our trip. We walked with them towards the front of the Mandir, so we could finally take some pictures of the beautiful facade and lotus-shaped fountain. Seriously, so so beautiful. The woman we spoke to told us that they are planning to build a similar mandir in Duluth, Georgia- of course that’s where we live! 

So that was our morning- beautiful and serene. We got back on the road and headed for the middle of nowhere, Texas to a tent we had just booked off my phone on a whim just the day before. I think this is when our trip really began. Pictures won’t do our morning justice at all, but I’ll still share some of my favorites!

Also this is a fitting time to share the “eye” candy we got for Delilah the other day :)

More later. Stay cool people.

xo

Far

[fsjesdriving-blog]

Looks likes the universe knows what we're up to :)

Xo

[fsjesdriving-blog]

Everything is bigger in Texas!!!! Well, I don’t know about that but its definitely awesome. We had our own separate expectations about Austin and I would say the city did a good job of meeting and exceeding them. The great thing about this place is that its got the big city feel of Atlanta with the small town flair of Athens. Athens + Atlanta is a perfect harmony of environment (in my opinion but I haven’t really lived anywhere else…) But when I say Austin exceeded our expectations, I mean its got some beautiful scenery! After having some badass chicken and waffles (and baked mac n cheese) at Moonshine Patio, we decided to climb, which we later found out actually meant walk up ~20 steps, Mount Bonnell. Some friends had mentioned this was a great spot for a view of the city. But oh man, it was such a great view!! 

After sitting at the top for a while and hanging out with some women we met, who were also from Atlanta (my Georgia hat and Farah’s Atlanta tank must have given us away) we went over to the 360 Bridge. This was more of a climb similar to Stone Mountain. We got to the top to see this:

Something that Austin is definitely known for is music. So much that they have dubbed themselves the “live music capital of the world” not surprising with having some of the coolest fests around (SXSW, ACL). Once we got to the city we met up with my friend Drew at The Gallery above the Continental Club to see Trube, Farrell & Snizz  play. Not pictured: me playing the tambourine with the drummer. They ruled.

Its 9 pm right now and my brain can’t work. Typing this right now is pretty difficult. We’re waking up at 5 am tomorrow to get to our next stop. But this picture is pretty darn adorable so I’m going to post it.

So is this one. And this is a cool thing about Austin street art.

Our original plan was to head to Carlsbad, New Mexico, after this buuuuutttttttttt we decided that we’d rather go to Marfa. What the F is Marfa right? We’re gonna go there, sleep in a tent, and then post about how that goes (if you know me or farah then you know this will be a huge challenge/joke) Also, to finish up this post on a semi-inspiring note, we saw this cute sign at Seventh Flag, lil coffeeshop we visited today. Seems fitting for our change in plans ;)

xo,

Sof 

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In case you wanna pretend like you’re groovin on the road with us. Carefully curated playlist with songs that are guaranteed to make you feel warm and sunny in your gut and bones.

5 more hours til Austin!

[fsjesdriving-blog]

Hola from Nola!!

I can’t believe we’re almost done with the second day of our trip! I have to say I’m wired on some good coffee I was able to find here in New Orleans. Spitfire Espresso bar is in the French Quarter, serves Nashville’s Crema beans (yumma and among other local roasts), and they don’t have a phone number- that has to be the quirkiest and most perfect trifecta right there. I’m so happy I found this little place in the middle of the madness this city is...I’m in my happy place sipping on this pourover right now...

I should probably give a few highlights of our trip so far :) Our drive to Louisiana was just right. I have to admit this is the first time Sofia and I have ever driven a long distance. We’re both usually the ones who don’t drive on a road trip. We made a couple short stops and one notable one. Since we’re not running on a time constraint, we’re able to opt out of the regular fast food stops and instead grab some local grub. Our big stop for lunch yesterday was in good ole’ Mobile, Alabama. Yes, that’s right. We had some great soul food at Mama’s on Dauphin in downtown Mobile, which I have to say is such a cute place. We walked around a bit after chowing down on some fried chicken, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, fried okra, and banana bread pudding that was to die for!! We stopped at the uber cute Bienville Square and took a few pictures before hopping our food-coma-ridden bodies back into the car for the final leg of our trip which included a pretty awesome view while going over the 18 mile Atchafalaya Basin Bridge.

Ok, on to the wonderful city of New O’leans! Wow, what a place. Here’s what we saw as soon as we turned on Bourbon Street..

yes, “what the hell” was our thought exactly. But lo and behold, we drove around it as nonchalantly as all the pedestrian passerbys. New Orleans is weird. I don’t know how to describe it- it’s sooo bad, that it’s great. Standing on Bourbon Street, we were just gawking at the madness surrounding us. We were warned not to stay on Bourbon by some locals, warning that it was pretty gross, but we did anyways and it was probably very smart because we were within walking distance of everything, and it was pretty safe because the street was always busy- always! Even on a random Monday night! Bourbon Street is filthy. Think Penn Station during rush hour, and then add some strippers and a laissez-faire open container policy. CHAOS. But organized chaos- chaos you can grow to love. Actually, a lot of things are treated with a laissez-faire mentality in New Orleans. We ventured out to Frenchmen Street to get away from the tourists on Bourbon last night with some friends that are locals. Here we got to listen to some really awesome local jazz. I learned that the vibe of the city is just very laid back, and much of that is due to the tragic card the city was dealt with Katrina. Many people look at what they have with the idea that it can all just wash away tomorrow, and no one can know that feeling more than the people of this city. I love this about New Orleans. The fact that people live on the edge and don’t take today for granted. That, and the vibrant culture and FOOD! What I didn’t love so much is how pas laissez-faire the city is on ID’ing- our young faces got ID’ed everywhere- even more so than normal!

Ok so, FOOD. First of all, char grilled oysters exist. YUMMA. Also loved the delicious Gulf oysters at Luke (basically the best oyster happy hour in the city). Of course we made a stop at the famous Cafe Du Monde by Jackson Square for beignets and cafe au lait. The wait wasn’t long at all, and they definitely lived up to the hype! We also had a delicious lunch at a local Mexican restaurant in the Warehouse District called La Casita- we were basically in taco heaven. Also, the staff there is wonderful.

So, to sum it up, New Orleans is pretty awesome. The eclectic vibe is what makes this city so unique. It’s also great knowing that the city is so much more than just Bourbon Street, and although Bourbon Street is not really my scene, it’s an experience in itself, and I’m glad I got it. Will I be back? The first opportunity I get! Could I see myself living here? God, yes. I always tell people that everyone should live in NYC for a stint in their life, and now I’m adding New Orleans to that incredibly short list of mine. Living in New Orleans would be a ridiculously awesome and wholesome experience. There’s good food, deep-rooted history, beautiful buildings, and you can hear jazz blaring on every corner- what isn’t there to love? Even our boy Benny rocks those Mardi Gras beads...

Much love from Nola, people. We’re Austin bound tomorrow...!

-SoFar