the west coast tour heads east.

we’re keeping this one brief. cause we’re sad. we’ve said goodbye to everyone... the friends, the family, the food. the drinks. well... not the drinks quite yet.

this trip has been one for the record books. and sabine’s journal log. we’ve laughed, we’ve cried, capture memories, told tales, heard tales, hopefully didn’t grow tails, and smiled all the way.

thanks to each and every host along the way. meg and will, uncle butch, melissa and matt, stacey and her parents (charlie and peggy), ki’s parents, and hertz for the lovely kia spectra. white. thanks, too, to the followers of our blog. even though we’ve been running behind, it’s been a blast to rehash our trip and share with you all. can’t wait to see everyone back in boston.

xoxo

one day more.

today we all ventured (again) to viva for chips, salsa, and burrito goodness. we know this was the second appearance but it’s worth the repeat. after that we split and went to old tucson studios and to take in the view at gates pass.

ki had to run errands this morning which included a bit of a spiderman act at his storage unit to exterminate the nest of black widows that had taken up residence.

after some desert views we went down to fourth avenue and grabbed a coffee and ventured down the street for some afternoon shopping. rachel and sabine both found some small treasures before we met up with ki again.

we all went back to the house so that rachel could pack up and make her way home to phoenix. super sad. but so glad we got to spend the time together. we chilled for a while, sent rachel on her way, and got in some rest before meeting up with ki’s friend sean for dinner at el charro.

our original plan was for mi nidito. a delicious mexican restaurant that (unbeknownst to us) is closed on mondays. el charro was a perfectly decent stand-in though and has this meat they sun cure on the roof called carne seca. if you’re in town, go. try the meat. eat the meat. and everything else. and drink the margaritas.

after some great conversation, and walking away full of goodness, we headed home to do laundry and pack up the last two weeks of our lives into suitcases.

aretha, whitney, jackson five... on vinyl, bitches.

we decided that today we were hitting snooze. it was sunday, and let’s face it—on the seventh he rested.

today was a day for peaches n cream, fries in three varities; ranch, pizza, and chili cheese... delicious. all this came at the hands of eegees. a local sub shop featuring the best fresh fruit icees you can find (and conveniently located throughout tucson). rachel, ki, and cullen decided to be “tough” and match each other in a jalapeno eating contest. perhaps (another) mistake.

after eegees, cullen gave the group a tour of his old stomping grounds at the university of arizona. it was approximately as hot as the surface of the sun, or hell, whichever you prefer, but sabine loves the dry heat and wanted to be outside... preferably all day. after some souvenir shopping at the bookstore, and some pictures next to the “wildcat family” statue, we ventured off to ki’s parents for a delicious southern barbeque.

when we say delicious... it was... well... sabine was left speechless. as were the rest of us as we devoured each bit of this amazing food. the menu featured:

country style pork ribs

beef ribs

grilled corn on the cob (on the husk)

cullen’s pasta salad (a big hit)

collard greens

crowder peas and rice

and a sock-it-to-me cake with strawberry ice cream... no, seriously... sock-it-to-me.

we capped off the night with about the best journey through a record collection any of us had ever been on. we’re not talking about cd’s, folks... vinyl. like everything. like amazing. like hard to find. sabine was not bashful about digging through with ms. emma and finding the classics. whitney. the commodores. jackson five. aretha. repeat aretha. live from paris. aretha. so much more. even the fertility figurines sabine found on the side table got in on the act and had to begin dancing.

it was the best. a highlight of our trip to be certain. and we loved every minute.

fifteen things to love about viva.

today was completely low-key. we said goodbye to melissa and stacey as they headed back to phoenix and flagstaff respectively.

ki joined us as we went to lunch at baggins. after that he departed to spend some time with ms. emma and mr. isiadore (his mom and dad). rachel met up with us and we went on a search for some local art.

we stumbled into a beautiful little craft shop (see www.artistsatwork.com) and found some beautiful handmade silver and ceramic pieces for a great deal. the shop owner henry was super helpful and provided us with many laughs and advice on getting the delicate pieces 3,000 miles home.

after that we went back to stacey’s parents for a little nap before heading to ki’s mom and dad’s. our visit was short with his folks, and we then went to viva burrito. for those of you who have not experienced this amazingness... below are fifteen reasons to love love love viva burrito:

(1) they cube their chicken

(2) they stew said chicken in deliciousness

(3) their tortillas are deliciously fresh

(4) they give you more salsa than one could want (which is equally amazing)

(5) even when it’s too spicy it’s damn good

(6) their burritos are stuffed with equal portions of chicken, cheese, and sour cream

(7) their drive thru cashiers speak little english but rarely mess it up

(8) their sour cream is thick and evenly disbursed throughout

(9) it’s large

(10) numerous locations

(11) open 24 hours

(12) the cheese gets gooey and melds with everything forming a scrumptious sauciness

(13) it’s appx. $3.49 for the best meal ever

(14) rarely a wait, and when there is... always worth it... more salsa

(15) chicken, cheese, and sour cream.

we retired back to the homestead and sabine got her first viewing of the ghetto bird. for those not from az or other places that partake... the “ghetto bird” is a police helicopter. at around 12:30am rachel and sabine were doing a load of laundry in the room outside and heard what can only be described as scene from cops... the tv show that is. three gunshots in rapid succession with the barking dogs to boot. they thought the most appropriate plan of action would be to close the laundry room door and whisper. while continuing to do the laundry. excellent plan. never fear though, the ghetto bird was soon to follow shining it’s big ‘ol spotlight right down the street to make for a lovely conclusion to the evening. more fun tomorrow.

iRobot

after returning our rental car we made our way down to tucson with rachel, melissa, stacey, and ki. after getting settled into stacey’s parent's place that they had graciously opened up to us all, we went to frog and firkin for some drinks and apps, and a lovely patio experience.

we followed the happy hour up by meeting danielle, jess, brian, and the bun in the oven at bison witches. because we’re all getting old, the music was (of course) too loud, so we left to head to the shanty’s patio. danielle had to depart, but it was a great meeting nonetheless. after a few more drinks, and some bonding between sabine and the girls, we then notched the night up at congress where we stumbled upon a robot contest/party/effing rad night.

though the night was slightly blurry, there are many pictures (some attached), that speak for themselves. the people here competing did it right. there were leggings, booty shorts, lit costumes, foil antennae, piping, and how-to’s of making yourself a genuine robot. there was even a dude who was in fact a superhero, NOT a robot, but got third place because that’s just how brilliant the costumes were.

the night ended with some shenanigans back at stacey’s, some deep convos, and sprawled body’s on the terra cotta tile. an amazing first night in the dirty desert.

rollin', rollin', rollin', gee my ass is swollen...

so today was the big trek from the city by the bay to the city with not a drop of water. san francisco to phoenix, off we go!

we got up at 6am (on schedule, per usual, cause again, we effin' rock), hit the road by ten of 7am, and made our way down the california grape vine (aka the entirely ugly I-5). although, through a stroke of friggin genius, the amazing photog sabine was able to make it nothing less than picturesque.

on the way out of the bay area we watched the sun come up over the rolling brown hills, dotted with windmills, and then smaller little bumpy hills along the san andreas fault. we had decided early on that we would institute a no a/c rule. our first mistake. which we (slightly) amended when we had swamp ass that wouldn't quit.

our first sight of amazement was the valero gas station in between san francisco and l.a. that sold wonderful california memorabilia, along with the other road trip necessities... which they seemed to think included army knives, hand guns, rifles, and other ammunition that might be needed along ones path. thank god for blue states.

we made it through l.a. with no real traffic hiccups... a feat in and of itself, and continued on our way after a brief stop at in n out. it's important to note that l.a. for all of it's "glory" had not a single good radio station. big let down on a road trip.

a few hours later we reached the border of arizona and promptly began seeing cacti-- sabine's first. along the way were border patrol and the minutemen sitting in campers throughout the desert. still instituting the no a/c rule we cried mercy when the thermometer was somewhere around 105.

as we reached our destination we were greeted with an amazing sunset followed by a brief desert rain and rainbow. for a place that receives appx. 350 days of sun per year-- we're pretty that we lucked the eff out. for those who have never smelled the rain here in az-- you must must must experience it once in life.

we got to melissa and matt's place and met their beautiful babies, roxanne and lola (yes, just like sabine's baby back home, but not). following a brief tour of their place (beautiful)... we headed to meet up with rachel, jenny, and stacey at the infamous via delosantos. delicious food, great company, and fantastic margaritas. we stopped briefly over at chez lytle to meet rachel and colin's beautiful babies penny and violet, and concluded the night with drinks back at mel and matt's, to mark the beginning of the end of our fantastic tour de los west.

up again, up again, jiggity jig

we started the day with a cup of uncle's coffee. cullen's friend christine and her boyfriend dave had a plan to meet us in the city around noon for lunch and shopping... and scaling the ridonkulous jones street in san francisco that we're quite sure should be rated by some rock climber's association.

at this point in our entry, it's important to again note our parking. it's was phenomenal. and for two days the car hadn't moved and we were ticket free even though the little "interceptor" traffic cops were everywhere and we were in a residential zone. christine and dave, sadly, were on the street for approximately 3 1/2 seconds before receiving a $63 fine.

upon their arrival in the city we embarked for union square where we had a great lunch at a little diner. we then walked around looking for some street art (unsuccessfully), grabbed a cup of coffee and proceeded home to meet cullen's uncle. this is when we encountered the lovely jones street mentioned above. and almost died. like died.

after christine and dave departed, we went and met cullen's friends for drinks in the castro. we were joined by jason, kristen, nicole, and uncle's friend callila, the friendly lesbian who LOVED miss sabine. there was a hilarious tranny, and some very forward straight boys (aka ambiguous at best), and many laughs over drinks. jason, kristen, and nicole all separate dinner plans, so uncle, sabine, cullen, and callila spent a lovely 30 minutes deciding where to go. sabine saved the day with the suggestion of italian and we had a great meal at the sausage factory (pun intended).

the night was almost, but not before a nightcap (always with a colorful straw and MUCH ice at uncle's), and a tennis recap from the day's us open action. bed came relatively early (as usual for sabine), as we had a long drive in front of us the following day. san francisco... as always... was simply blissful. more fun tomorrow as we hit the road again for the last large leg of our trip.

x's and o's

sabo and cul

today's scorecard

pounds of those damn nuts remaining: 1.45 lbs. (we're leaving them behind for uncle)

straws used: remarkable amounts

near-death experiences by way of ascending hills: 2 (sabo and cul)

chill-inducing trips to uncle's roof for the view: approximately 3,000,000

miss lola!

so we know it's been a few days since we've blogged. but we seriously could not be bothered to interrupt the fun with sitting at a computer.

today's blog title is sheerly because we miss lola. and love her. (lola is sabine's fabulous pupperdoodle!)

oh, san francisco. this city is truly after our hearts. amazing people, amazing views, amazing hills, amazing food, amazing cocktails, and cocktails, and cocktails. we started the day with coffee on the roof overlooking the golden gate and the rest of the city of san francisco. soon to follow was lunch at the woodhouse with the fabulous katherine.

in a true act of treason on new england, sabine ate the goddamn mega maine lobster roll. like seriously? we're from a place that is an hour from maine, and she orders the lobster roll. that said, i can attest-- it rivals our own.

the ever-so-fabulous mary pitino (of hr fame) met up with the crew following lunch. what a great a improvement to the day. we drove to the market for a quick booze run... again... it's san francisco. we hopped in mary's whip (avoiding all hills possible) and went back to cullen's uncles for a cocktail hour (surprise) before more food (surprise). following this, we had what we call "the chocolate incident." here's how it went:

after our trip to the market, we decided to retire to the roof for a drink and some photos. after chatting for a while and taking in the scenery cullen's uncle butch headed back downstairs to the apartment. upon him leaving, sabine went to sit in the chair he was sitting in. quickly it was realized that the delicious morsel of chocolate had, in fact, been sat in by cullen's uncle. when walking downstairs to alert him of the mishap we stumbled upon the chocolate wrapper completely squashed and rid of most of the chocolate. this was immediately followed by a panic that cullen's uncle has a large white sofa. cullen began to shout: "don't be sitting on the couch! don't be sitting on the couch!" no such luck. when we broke the news butch assured that we need not worry because he had moved the piece of chocolate. again... no such luck. as he rose from the couch to reveal a large brown stain on the white fabric, in typical fashion he laughed it off and assured us all would be right with the world. (see photo.)

for those who have never had the priviledge of meeting cullen's "uncle butch" (who is so much not... butch that is), you truly are missing out. our host for our three short days was hospitable, carefree, loving, and has about the best view in the entire bay area. he showed us an amazing first day, with much promise for day two.

today's totals

us open tennis matches watched: 4

"interceptors" seen: 3

songs sang: countless

"on the road again..."

sabine and i rock. in case you hadn't heard. like we rock hard. up til 3am, up at 6am, on the road by 7am. on schedule. we headed out after a couple of AMAZING days in seattle and were making our way to san francisco. this was to be the longest leg of our trip. 13 hours. straight. (or gay.)

sadly the rain obscured the views of mt. rainier in seattle, then mt. st. helens and mt. hood in portland. that said, we were making great times and it was beautiful to drive in a light rain through the northwest.

as we got into oregon, we passed through portland and made a stop in eugene... oh, EUgene! let's leave it at that. after a slight snafu in the beautiful city by the willamette we decided to press on and continue on our way. much to our delight we were surprised just after passing through grants pass (of oregon trail fame... the video game, of course), that we could begin to see the b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l mt. shasta... california's second highest point and the fifth highest in the cascades... our favorite mountain range(be sure to look at the photos).

as we came out of the mountains and the air warmed up, we rolled down the windows and got baked by the sun for the remaining six hours of the trip. the pine trees gave way to rolling golden brown hills and then down into the bay area. uncle butch had mistakenly left out that the bay bridge was closed through the weekend for one of the biggest architectural feats in modern history (see http://baybridgeinfo.org/1/index.html)... minor detail. we persevered and after a few hours in bay area traffic in a very scenic detour, were crossing the golden gate into THE CITY.

we got in (after finding possibly the most clutch parking space ever. ever.), and in a true sign of san franciscan hospitality, we had a warm welcome, cocktail in hand within minutes, and a delicious blackened chicken salad with buttermilk dressing and french bread... homemade. yum. the rooftop was next to taken in the beautiful view that cullen's uncle has of the golden gate bridge to the marin headlands, nob hill, russian hill, and every other beautiful hill and place.

we've already concluded that we may not come back to boston, and apologize in advance to kiron, the parents, the brothers, the lola, nina, marcy, diane, alexandra, and the many others our void might cause pain. as we discussed earlier and we'll now relay to you, "i always want to walk up hill, and feel like i've had a nice gluteus work out." we love it here. love it. love.

today's tally

cop count: 29... read that again please. 3 states. 12 hours. 29 cops. that's slightly more than two cops an hour. for 12 hours. 29.

miles driven: 914 (see map to left)

volcanoes seen: 2 (mt. shasta, lasser)

trips to "benecifia" (per sabine): just the one, though BENICIA was close by

laughs between friends, random jigs and dances, t.m.i.'s, and belted out songs on the radio (with associated dance moves): countless

it's always sunny in seattle. and rainy. at the same time.

best. day. ever. seriously. we woke up and met linda's. it was great. great food, (again) amazing people, pitcher after pitcher (after pitcher)... (after pitcher) of mimosas. fresh oj, plentiful amounts of champagne, and the food was not to be outdone. our server was great and joined us later in the day for drinks at the clevers.

we left brunch and made our way to pike market (i hear it's NOT to be called pike's). we saw the fish thrown, ate delicious cheese, and in an effort to have the best tourist experience ever... we coerced into 1 1/2 pounds of roasted nuts. i'm still confused.

a wonderful cocktail hour followed (of course), with a wonderful dinner and evening out with (new) friends. i love love love love love this city. and these people. and we both knew the trip may have peaked early.

bed at 3am, up tomorrow at 6am for the longest leg of the trip... seattle to san francisco... a wholly fun experience in and of itself.

people receiving (and most-decidedly deserving) a shout out:

megan.

will.

brutus.

erin.

scott.

john.

joe (happy bday).

abby... still miss u SO SO much and hope u feel better.

terrence and sabrina (CONGRATS!)

john.

brendan.

rochelle and the rock of love bus party.

dick's cheeseburgers.

via tribunali

alyssa and scott (miss u both too!).

the geico car.

the discovery of "cheers-ing" the bartender.

the dude who brought erin's purse back.

rain bonnets.

anyone else who i may have forgot but promise it was sheerly due to the abundance of drinks

and not the lack of love that we truly felt for all of you.

easy, breezy, beautiful, cover girls.

the day we left on the trip didn't start much better than the first. sabine met me at work at 9:30am when we went to pick up ki to bring us to the airport (late). we showed up at the united terminal only to find out that sabine's bag (half of the size of mine) was far too big for that goddamn plane.

twenty dollars, and a bit of saltiness later, we were at the terminal. where were promptly told that we'd been rebooked do to a broken plane. 10 minutes? apparently they were kidding. or at least misinformed. the plane was fixed and we took off as scheduled and made our original flights. which our bags felt the need not to partake in.

still smiling (always as the "easy, breezy, beautiful cover girls" we are), we had made it to seattle. we got the rental car through a coup i still don't quite understand, and we were on our way. just as we were getting off the exit, the gps lovingly failed, and again, we tossed our hair and continued the road we'd set out on. if only we'd had the gardner positioning system.

making it to capitol hill on memory (that i conjured up from the one time i'd been to their place before) was fun if nothing else. we got great parking, got our keys easily, and met cullen's friend megan out for drinks. i know you may not all know megan, but look in the dictionary under "grace," "beauty," "kindness," and "love," and her picture will surely be there. fun with the "rock of love" birthday party tour ensued. i'm not kidding... every single person on that bus deserves a prize for the single best costume party i'd ever seen thrown. let me reiterate. rock of love. birthday party BUS tour. like on an effing bus. (please see http://www.vh1.com/shows/rock_of_love/season_3/series.jhtml if you do not understand the reference.)

the night ended with shenanigans and the best of times with some of the best people we'd both ever met. if you are ever looking for the most accepting, warm, kind hearted, open minded, phenomenal (and any other adjective you can think of for "the shit") type of people. please go to clever dunnes on capitol hill and thank god you got the recommendation.

boom. done.

i think that sabine and i had a pretty similar day leading up to the big road trip. lots to finish up at the office, lots of errands to run out of the office, appointments, laundry, packing, and sleep.

start of day tally

combined errands to run: 16

combined projects to complete at office: 25

combined loads of laundry: 5

we should have known the day was going to be rough- an almost accident from ms. lola on sabo's bed and a realization from cullen after an 8am errand that the bso's parking lots were, in fact, all closed.

the day progressed however, and after running from place to place it seemed as though things were getting wrapped up. until, after a lateish hair cut and quick bite for dinner, we realized that we'd still not booked our rental car and our collective projects to finish up at the office were probably the most cumbersome. we dashed back to the office to book the car and get to work when sabine's realization that she'd neglected to renew her license was going to be a larger issue than first thought due to the fact that cullen does not have a credit card and the rental company requires the person renting the car to have a valid license. oye.

panic stricken, we started looking at flight options between cities or what our other options might be. thankfully, after some haggling, we made a reservation in cullen's name that (fingers crossed) will not be a problem (the indian gentlemen on the other end of the line was slightly less than convincing). onward and upward, we raced to get out of the hall and home to get our lives together. laundry for cullen was the first casualty. wasn't going to happen. thankfully, friends and relatives along the way have washers and driers and i had enough to get by.

sabine got out of the office around 11:45pm and cullen closely followed around 12:15am-- hence this post's picture. it was taken when ki picked me up and i was on my way home... with packing in front of me and the realization that the morning promised another trip to the office some final things.

we both got to bed around 3:30am. our flight takes off tomorrow at 11:35am... and as we end the day:

end of day tally

combined errands to run: 0

combined projects to complete at office: 4

combined loads of laundry: 2

boom. done.