And so she went on, Mark Twain-ing tales of dirt floors, coal mines, fire roasted game, train jumping, rugged clothes, torn shoes, red hair, blue eyes, sweated brows, and the plural of love.

She told me I come from the civil war and hand-me-downs. That graduating high school wasn’t quite possible. She told me that the men went to war and the women loved them. “Everyone has a vice.” “Comedians today are crude.” “When you get old you know who you are and what you like.” “It’s nice to hear your voice.” “It’s nice to see you.” “You should visit more often.” “I’m sad to see you go…”

I realize that I prosper because I can. I hope because I am allowed to. I dream because I sleep well. I believe because I am comfortable. I live because they have. I live because she has. And so true are her words, even calling them wise would insult.

2. I’m really tired and this blog is difficult to constantly update so these daily updates will have less and less writing.

3. The only thing that you can’t understand from the videos and pictures is that while camping…the moon was as bright as I’ve ever seen it in my life. It felt like a street light. I juggled a few rocks with ease just to see if I could. There weren’t any electric outlets or light sources for hundreds of miles and I could see like it was daylight. It cast a shadow. Spectacular. Go there. Go there. Go there.

Pictures from the Grand Canyon

Rock Out,

Jonathon Kendall

But we stayed in a great hotel for fifteen dollars a night. Went to the two best night clubs I’ve ever been to for free. Our names were on the list so we skipped the line. Got limo service around for free. And had the two most gorging meals of my life.

Sin City is an understatement.

Pictures of Vegas

Rock Out,

Jonathon Kendall

First night we went to Berkeley for a night on the town, drank a few beers, Auren more than a few, got some late night food and called it a night. We got up pretty early the next day and drove to see the some Redwood trees and climb a mountain that was near and dear to Auren’s heart. We climbed rocks and hiked a bunch until we decided to see Haight Ashbury and the Castro District. Both were well worth it, talking with local hippies and visiting some great local eateries.

We had a beautiful dinner with Auren’s Uncle and soaked up their wisdom like a sponge.

I got an ear infection…and we left the Bay Area.

Pictures of San Francisco and Berkeley

Rock Out,

Jonathon Kendall

Yosemite has the largest rocks I’ve ever seen.  They jut out of the Earth like natural born skyscrapers–gapping huge canyons into the Earth.  Breathtaking.

We hiked two trails and got off of both of them–one ending with thousand foot drop offs straight down, and the other with a three hundred and sixty degree view of the park, of California, of the world.  We stood on top  for one moment, touching the clouds, and becoming intimately acquainted with the sun.

What a wonderful world.

Pictures from Yosemite

Rock Out,

Jonathon Kendall

The beach was, well, immaculate. Gorgeous sand, with beautiful college-age girls in bikinis and guys tossing footballs all about. In the distance, the faint beat of an electronic dance beat. Irish accents all around us; apparently the Irish youth love Santa Barbara’s beaches in the summer. I don’t blame them. The life here is slow, chill, Rastafarian, pleasurable, warm, and laden with sun. College at Michigan is competitive but fun. College in Santa Barbara seems like a breezy day at the beach. I pondered how it would feel to take my homework to the beach… I enjoyed the thought. At one point, I decided to go for a swim and ran full steam into the ocean, crashing into the waves. Fighting them like a man. The ground underwater was hard and smooth; it wasn’t until we returned from the beach towards home that we realized that it was tar—and indeed, our feet were completely blackened.

Two British rock band members accompanied us on the couches in Chris’s home (we Couchsurfed). I took the hammock for the first night, but ended up in the car as the midnight dew proved less than comfortable. 4 Swedes almost stayed but didn’t because one was allergic to dogs. Next morning we packed up and headed north towards San Francisco. If you haven’t figured out where you want to go to school yet… UCSB might just be the way to go. Awesome little town.

Peace and love on this rocking out adventure,

Auren

Edit from Jonathon: We ate at an incredible Creole Cajun place in downtown.  It was close to thirty dollars a meal but well worth it.  Auren’s catfish was the best I’ve ever had–while I munched on some softshell crab.  We ordered the dessert before the meal because they make it fresh so it takes more than a half hour to prepare.  The manager liked our road-trip story so much he gave it to us for free.  Karma.

The next morning we left for Six Flags Magic Mountain.  I had always wanted to go there due to the Discover Channel saying it was Cedar Point’s only rival.  It lived up to that.  Auren thinks it might even be better.  I disagree but I might be a homer?  Who knows.  I loved it.

And Cedar Point owns Six Flags so I guess it doesn’t matter anyway.

Here are videos I snuck for first hand views of the rides…

After we drove to Santa Barbara and arrived late at night–sharing the house with couch surfing strangers again.  We hadn’t eaten all day because we didn’t want to pay for a $6 hot dog—therefore upon arrival we stopped at a place called Freebirds.  Amazing.

Pictures from Hollywood and Santa Barbara

Rock Out,

Jonathon Kendall

San Diego is LA’s cleaner cousin.  It’s not as hot, breezier, fresher air, and beautiful beaches.  Upon arrival we didn’t have a place to stay which is typical for us.  But since we had rubbed the Buddha that morning, as we do every day, the Universe conspired once again and gave us shelter.  Janssen’s brother’s friend happened to be traveling through San Diego for business and let us fight for beds in his hotel room…

Upon arrival we went to an OUTDOOR mall–which I had never seen before–but apparently when the weather is 75 and sunny every single day roofs are optional.  It was a comfortable hot.  The people are beautiful.  The downtown area is popping and we had a great night out for our first adventure.  There is a street called the “gaslamp” where there are dozens of bars.  We hopped a few and ended up at a dance club.  Go figure. Auren had a rough night, being nearly assaulted by a few rogue drunkards but all was well and we went to the beach the next day.

Coronado Beach is on a peninsula, so it is necessary to take a beautiful boat ride over to the end.  After a long walk to the beach we decided it was in our best interests to lie on the beach all day intermitently throwing a baseball, reading, and swimming.  Perfect.  Absolutely stunningly perfect.

Everyone got pretty burnt except for me since I have suntan lotion in my blood.  Got to love being Mexican.

I’m fairly certain that I got hit on by a few old widows who we danced with in the park.  We saw a giant gathering of old rich retired people listening to a rock cover band in the park (well over a thousand people were there)—and decided we had to go dance.  We did, and I was taught all sorts of new (old) dance moves by a few woman rocking out.  I enjoyed their company—for a second thought about feigning interest and seeing if I could get a few bucks from the millionaires.  My conscience got the best of me.

After we grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant–saw a sign saying “I’d rather be in Ann Arbor” and met the owner (from Ann Arbor) and chatted him up a bit.  Ran back to the city for one more night out and ended up talking about the fundamentals of consciousness and reality over late night fried food at four o’clock in the morning.

Back to LA for round two.

Photos from LA and San Diego

Rock Out,

Jonathon Kendall

Maybe I’m not supposed to be a hippie?

Rock Out,

Jonathon Kendall

It took us about 15 hours to get to LA from Yellowstone. We stopped in Montana and ate so we can say we have been there. I had an elk burger and Auren had a buffalo burger. They had the world’s largest banana split and I was tempted to try and beat the record for eating it (8:00 minutes) but realized I would be wasting $16.00 because I was so full already. Idaho looked like South Dakota but a little greener. Utah was more desert-y and with giant mountains every so often. We only passed through Nevada for a little bit and saw the lights from Vegas in the distance. The ride was wonderful, arrived around seven in the morning and slept for a while.

We stayed with a few buddies from Ann Arbor who live near Hermosa Beach—it lived up to it’s name. We stayed in Hollywood for the night and partied till the streets were dead of action. Welcome to the City of Angels indeed.

Pictures from LA

Rock Out,

Jonathon Kendall