Days 9 and 10

Yesterday morning we mostly relaxed...we do that a lot. We went to watch Doug swim part of a triathlon, and it made me wish I was much more athletic than I am. We decided to go to Avila Beach last night and check out the sunset. The beach was really pretty and had a pier. It was a strange feeling though to walk on the sand and not have your feet burned. It was also weird to be wearing pants and a sweater, and still feel chilly. I love that we have kind of escaped the summer heat on the east coast by hanging out here. Although, once we are driving through the desert on the way back, we will probably feel differently.

This morning, after I could finally get away from doing things for marching band, we went on a hike up a mountain (some would call it a hill, we like mountain) and had a nice view of SLO.

I'm sure I'll have more thing to take about later, since it's not even 2:30. I just felt like taking the time to blog now since I'll probably be too lazy to do it later. I also wanted to thank everyone who has been reading it! The main reason I decided to do this is because I know my family likes to know where I am and what I'm doing. I figure keeping a blog and putting it on Facebook would help keep them updated and let them know I'm alive and having fun!

Some of you may wonder, why did Andrea and I decide to go on our road trip and how we planned it? Well, Andrea's brother Kevin invited us to come in May. I remember I was driving back to PA from Staten Island on Mother's Day when I thought of this whole proposal that we could go on a road trip. Airfare round-trip to SLO is about $600 each, so it just made sense to drive here! Our plans changed on which route we would take a few times. We really wanted to go to Colorado, but didn't want to risk it with the wildfires. We also really wanted to go to the Grand Canyon on the way here, but didn't want to get stranded in my shady car. Well, we ended up not taking my shady car and I learned how to drive a manual just for this trip! Actually, it was more like on this trip. Instead, we are going to the Grand Canyon on the way back. We also attempted to go on a strict budget. We cut out eating out, purchasing alcoholic drinks and coffee and couldn't shop for clothes or nail polish. We were really good at this in th beginning, but I kind of fell off the wagon at the end because I needed to buy clothes for teaching...and just have a need to shop. We also saved our change and put $20 each in a jar each week, and would add more if we had some extra cash in our wallets. So far, the cash thing has worked out well because we used it to buy food and gas when it was cheaper to use cash than a card. Not including the wine we have purchased, so far it has cost us about one person's airfare. That is including two hotel stays, food, seeing Mount Rushmore and enjoying the view on the road.

So, if you are wondering if it is worth it to go on a road trip, I would have to say it absolutely is! It really doesn't have to be as expensive as you think, if you can find some family to stay with here and there, and you save some money in preparation! Just a heads up though, you might feel like you are so free an be inspired to see the entire world...because that's how I feel right now...