Its so green part 2, wait now its brown dirt pa.., no now its white, wait what color is that? Well shit now I'm on fire.

we're out of Hawaii, and have started our trip back to PA. 2 things that suprised me. 1. California now feels "Cheap" compared to hawaii. And the second thing is boy, does it look awfully green around here. California is matching PA colors now and from what i've heard:

On top of that, our good old friend, the lantern fly is making a statement on California billboards. that little bastard is making his own version of a gold rush.

Anyway, we make our way back to PA. A few trials and tribulations are left with the trek back.

as a sidenote before we get started: One of the burning questions me and other have had are about palm tree's. For example, are they like avocados in California? How much water they need, are they bad for the environment, why are they everywhere (at least out to phoenix).

The answer is simple: Palm trees are like a box of chocolate. There's a variety of them and their scientific name is weird.    

LA and the in between

LA was neat. felt like Philly but on the west coast. smaller than I thought and was quite disappointed Hollywoodmy childhood glasses have finally come off and i must accept that hollywood isn't special.  

Pheonix and the in between

surprisingly small, really good food and rock climbing can kill.

4 people to a room in a hostel (which seems to be finally catching on in America)

lots of cactus and a surprising amount of rain, we head out for the next spot.

New Mexico and the in between

The road up was surprisingly snowy. considering my tire chains are rusted, I'm glad this wasn't another north California situation.

Also, Jerry got fucked up on the drive: had to break off the dirt ice for like 15 minutes.

Lets get back to the roots of this blog. noting weird and useless things that one who was sheltered in philly never got to saw.

The houses look like they are out of this country. Square and yellow. there was a bit of this theme in Pheonix, but not as much.

It's cold. I was told the south was Hot during winter, i was lied to. On the bright side, I finally got a bear spray for my hikes. ya cant get more prepared than that.

some museums  and "experiences" later, We head off to the Land of BIG BBQ.

Austin and the in between

So, we woke up at 3:30 in the morning to leave. Why you may ask?

well, Since this trip began, I have been on a hunt. A hunt to stargaze and finally see the milky way. The west is a great spot for this considering it has miles of nothing. This was also the last opportunity in the west and there was a new moon that night. But the half-sad result was that it was cloudy with a side of no traffic. it did let me arrive in Austin by 6pm and no dear were harmed in the making of this drive.

We also took a small pit stop in El Paso. Texas does food big. also, there was a random drug? immigration? Security Theatre? stop about 50 miles outside of El Paso. Dog detectives sniffed my car and just let me pass without checking my papers which also threw me off. Probably there was a good reason for this. this was also a few miles off the border of Mexico, but Sticking around for longer would have been fun to get an actual gauge on the area.

It is so bizarre being back here. I lived here for a month and it's the first place in my travels. I'm not sure if the feeling is Deja Vu or not just cause I feel like I've changed, and so did Austin to an extent. But its all so familiar, it was a good call to stop here on the way back.

Also like Seattle, this would be in my top 3 places to live in... if it wasn't for the scorching heat in the summer, failing power lines in the winter, and the creepy old parent (the State of Texas). Also, as I type this out. it's the middle of February and its 79 fucking Fahrenheit. Literally, we are in the devil's ass here.

So what did we learn?

       I AM A SHAMAM, WHERE I GO THE RAIN GOES.

I go to California, it storms, I go to phoenix it thunderstorms, I go to Texas, it RAINS!!