OK, here’s the plan for Susie’s and my upcoming road trip vacation. If you will be intersecting us at any point, or if we could drive a mere 300-400 miles out of our way to see you for an hour, please let me know.
Tuesday, July 16—leave L.A. and try to beat rush hour traffic, head to Las Vegas. Hang with Victor / Clara / the pastries she makes.
Wednesday, July 17, drive N. like a bat out of hell. Arrive in Utah (note irony). Or maybe Idaho.
Thursday, July 18, drive N. again. Either stop in Swan Lake for the night, or push on to Calgary.
Friday, July 19. If we’re in Calgary, we’ll wish Bon Voyage to my mom who is about to embark on a 5-week teaching trip to China, where she’ll be working as an English as a Second Language Teacher. No, I’m really not kidding. Also Friday night, my good friends Mike and Julie are having a party, which we will be at for sure.
Saturday, July 20. Breakfast at the Harley diner in Calgary. Free all day to mull around. 2 p.m. head out to Millarville to see Mike and Julie marry each other. I’ll take pictures.
Sunday, July 21. Morning: Depending on the wedding’s progress, perhaps wake up underneath a bush or in the back of a truck. Otherwise, have morning free. At some point we’ll drive up to Banff.
Monday, July 22. Columbia Ice Fields tour. Climb around on a glacier, or what’s left with the global warming and all. End up in Jasper, stay with a friend.
Tuesday, July 23. Look around Jasper. Note all the trees.
Wednesday, July 24. Back to Calgary.
Thursday, July 25. Down to Swan Lake, Montana.
Friday, July 26 .... OK, fine, it gets a little fuzzy at this point. But we’ll be back in L.A. on either Sunday or Tuesday, and I’d like to see Utah’s Monument Valley as well. So imagine a fair amount of driving, and some picture taking, and perhaps a stop at a fast-food restaurant.
Well, that’s the plan. Yahoo says it’s 1724.5 miles from Pasadena to Jasper, so that’s 3600 miles total probably. Woohoo! Well, I’m off to get the oil changed.
“Almost every American I know does trade large portions of his life for entertainment, hour by weeknight hour, binge by Saturday binge, Facebook check by Facebook check. I’m one of them. In the course of writing this I’ve watched all 13 episodes of House of Cards and who knows how many more West Wing episodes, and I’ve spent any number of blurred hours falling down internet rabbit holes. All instead of reading, or writing, or working, or spending real time with people I love.”
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
You can scroll right easily by holding down the SHIFT key and using your scroll wheel. (Firefox users trying this will end up jumping to old Web pages until a) Firefox releases a fix, b) they change their settings like so.)