End of the Journey, Pt.2 (the real deal)

View from the road.

SO....why the sudden departure from our fantastic road trip, you may or may not be wondering? Well, here's a few things I learned the last few weeks - much more than I ever expected.

First off, turns out that I get pretty darn nauseous on long car trips, especially on curvy roads, of which there are a lot of along the coast.

Secondly, I learned that I didn't enjoy driving - not because I don't like driving, but Tim doesn't like me driving. Yes, I may be from New York and never owned a car so I'm the less experienced driver....but long road trips are my specialty and I've enjoyed them in the past - alone and with others. But, when I drive with Tim, he turns into my grandmother, reminding me to signal and step on the break and other not-so-helpful hints. He wants to be driving SO badly that he just can't relax, and therefore, I can't relax. To his credit, he got better at it, but I lost all will to fight for my time behind the wheel.

Tim and his current co-pilot, who, truth be told, is a bit of a backseat driver himself.

So, here's the third thing I learned which kinda falls under the "duh" category yet still managed to shock me: Taking a road trip with someone who has already been on a road trip for 10 months is pretty stupid. He's naturally totally sick of all that road trip stuff and has already established his routine of how he wants to do things!

AND, most importantly, I learned that taking a month-long road trip with your boyfriend after you haven't so much as been in the same time zone for many months is also very very stupid.

Taking a road trip is fun and exciting, yes. But it's also one of the most stressful things you can do! It's totally claustrophobic, monotonous and infuriating. It requires one decision after another, one compromise after another....and if your relationship isn't running like a well-oiled machine, you are going to argue. And if you haven't, let's say, been together for 10 months and are maybe holding onto some frustration, anger, and resentment, for example, well then you are really really going to argue. You might even wind up pulling over to the side of the road a few times and threatening to not get back in the car. That's just a hypothetical example, of course...

Look, good times! OUT of the car.

So we did the best we could under unbelievably ridiculous circumstances and we really did have an amazing adventure and saw unforgettable sights. BUT, a relationship that had been as tested as ours needs safe and nurturing circumstances to recover and restore itself. I really didn't want to fly home early and I didn't like the idea of Tim driving the rest of the way home himself but I also really didn't like the idea of staying in that car for another 2 weeks - it was surely going to be the end of us....

So please, wish us luck, and thanks for reading.... And DON'T plan road trips ill-advised. We did take some great pictures though....stay tuned.

End of the journey, Pt. 1

Sea Lion Caves, somewhere on the central Oregon coast. Not quite as awesome a roadside attraction as the BigFoot Museum, but still pretty darn cool.

So...I'm back in NYC and as much as I really wanted the chance to write about the rest of our cross-country adventure, it just seems impossible in light of recent events -- namely, that i felt compelled to fly home 2 weeks early and not complete the trip, and that Tim and I are dealing with the troubles of re-connecting after such a long time apart....more on all that coming up.

But we did truly see some amazing things and I want to honor it somehow. So, here it is in a nutshell:

The Redwoods:
Hands down, the most beautiful place I've ever seen and my favorite moment of the trip. When you stand in the middle of the forest surrounded by two thousand year old trees the size of apartment buildings, you understand the importance of this earth and the minor blip our lives represent. It made me feel truly grateful and humble about being alive. GO and see them!!

Northern California:
Home to our favorite inn of the trip: The Requa. Beautiful but unpretentious, yummy breakfast, and just the real deal all around. Also the place looks just like the Overlook from the Shining! (which we counted as a major plus, but you might not). Wished we could have stayed there longer!

The Oregon coast:
Rainy as all hell but rivals the California coast for scenery. Incredible jutting rocks! Churning blue surf! AND, what I believe may be the most magnificent, gorgeously perfect spot of earth I've ever been lucky enough to stand on. I'm keeping that location to myself for future reference. But it IS public, so if you've ever been to the Northern Oregon coast and innocently stopped at a rest stop to use the bathroom, you might have stumbled upon it too.

The Shelburne, the prettiest little Inn you've ever seen.

The Washington coast:
More rain, more beauty and the coziest, classiest, most welcoming inn ever with some of THE greatest food I've ever eaten. Who says you can't find gourmet meals at a Bed & Breakfast nowhere near a big city. Them, I will plug -- Shelburne Country Inn near Long Beach Washington. Tell David that Laura and Tim say hello.

See, I said I wasn't going to go on about our travels and then I did!

One more thing - I want to give a special shout-out to the amazing folks in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. We were hosted by an incredible couple who were fans of Tim's work and his blog and and who were so very generous and lovely to us. Also, their friends -- artists and writers, moms and dads -- who welcomed us so warmly. And a special thank you goes to B: You probably had no idea how much you helped me when you talked about how difficult it was for you when your husband goes away, but for the first time on our road trip, I didn't feel alone with how I was feeling about all of it. And that helped me a great deal.

Well, ok -- so guess I'm writing about all that other stuff in my next post! Thanks for reading.

Love at first sight exists.

Stars Hollow, somewhere in TV-land


Mendocino, CA - the real deal.


Close your eyes, click your heels three times, and repeat after me, "there's no place like Mendocino."

Tim and I had planned to camp near Mendocino, but our plans changed, as they are want to do on this trip and we only had time to stop there for lunch - or so we thought. We arrived to the town, drove through it completely wide-eyed for 5 minutes, and then simultaneously agreed (in a rare moment of total solidarity) that we absolutely HAD to stay the night and quite possibly, the rest of our lives. You probably think I'm exaggerating, but I assure you, I am not. We immediately changed our reservation at the B&B up North, walked right next door from the cafe where we had an amazing lunch, and got a room at the most perfect cozy inn you've ever seen.

The whole place is pretty much like that - everything you need is at your fingertips -- and by everything you need, I mean incredible organic and delicious locally grown food, organic toiletries and groceries, local art galleries and bookshops on every block, an annual film festival, the greatest chocolate chip cookies known to humankind, and oh right -- the most gorgeous view of the Pacific ocean. The entire town is snuggled low along the cliffs, and you can walk out anywhere -- to beach, to rocks, to flowering meadows, all bordering the soothing aqua blue surf. The air is sweet and cool - not cold - like the most perfect Spring day all the time.

Everyone is friendly - but not too friendly. You have to earn their respect for a few moments, so it doesn't feel too Stepford there. They get a lot of tourists and you can definitely tell the locals from the visitors. The locals are relaxed and happy, young and old, artists, hippies, and weirdos. We felt like locals from the first moment.

And I haven't even mentioned the architecture! Suddenly you are not in California, but a small New England town. There are wooden farmhouses, white picket fences, ducks and geese in yards with overgrown colorful gardens, and these little blue, yellow and white "salt-box" cottages with tiny porches. Adorable, unassuming, and sweet. Like Thornton Wilder come to life. Except you are on the coast of California! There are also these old wooden water towers everywhere, some of which have been converted to tiny homes or guest houses. Strange and homey at the same time, like part lower East Side, part Old West. In fact, that kind of sums up the place pretty well, although there really is no summing it up. You just have to see it.

Now of course we are certainly not the first dewy-eyed couple to fall for Mendocino's abundant charms. It's no accident that there is also a real estate office on every block! But some of the smaller homes are still priced very reasonably (yes, we looked) and the prices at all the stores and restaurants were shockingly cheap -- very atypical of any part of Northern California. There are only local businesses allowed and the entire town is historically preserved. The open land you see will stay open land, the modest Victorians won't become McMansions, and Starbucks won't be moving in anytime soon.

Tim and I kept joking that we'd found the real Stars Hollow. And those of you who don't get that reference can count yourselves deprived. (hint: I've mentioned the show before on this blog and named my car after a character...)

But even more deprived are those of you who will not find a chance to visit Mendocino some time in your life - it is truly a one-of-a-kind homey paradise. And we just might find ourselves living there someday. Just don't tell too many people about it....