The past 96 hours have been filled with a TON of new things! Daddy and I left Greenville on Saturday morning (May 1st) around 10 a.m., after getting a 3-hour late start…which, by the way, turned out to be great because I got to hang out with the fam and Teeesh for a little longer! : ) And thennnnn came the goodbyes. I knew it would be tough, but I had no idea it would be THAT tough. To say I cried a river MAY be an understatement. I definitely lost a lottttt of water-weight in a short time frame. Puffy eyes are cute though, right?
On day numero uno, we made it through South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana before stopping for the night in Marshall, Texas. Eight hours of sleep later, we were up and at em’ around 7 a.m. ready to start all over. We knocked out around 1,100 miles on the second day, making it through the rest of Texas and New Mexico before stopping in Tucson, Arizona for a second night of rest. We had another eight hours of sleeeeeeeep and finished up our road trip by 3 o’clock on Sunday. I can honestly say that it may be the best road trip I’ve ever been on. Not only because of all the super cool things I got to see (i.e. my first tumble weed blow across the road and real-live, tall cactuses in the desert), but also because this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for daddy and me to hang out for a whole lot of uninterrupted quality time. That chance may never come around again and I am grateful beyond words that we got to have that daddy-daughter time.
From the time we got to Chino Hills (a.k.a. my home for the next three months) to 10:30ish on Tuesday morning, daddy and I were little traveling bees! We toured Chino Hills and Pomona; we even stopped by Outdoor Adventures in hopes to meet Anne and Jen, and daddy got to meet Anne and see the hospital I will be working at all summer. I think it made him feel good to know my whereabouts and kind of get a feel for the area before he left me all by my lonesome. And speaking of, that was when the waterworks started up again. Even worse than the all the rest. Not only was I in a new, HUGE city but I was about to be all by myself in it. But mostly, I was going to miss my daddy. And he was going to miss his little girl, too. How do I know? Well, I’ve only seen my daddy tear up/cry maaaaaybe five times in my whole life, and this was one of them. Now THAT was a doozy and part of the reason I cried so hard when I dropped him off at the airport in Ontario, CA. The perfect quote for this moment: “A father is always making his baby into a little woman. And when she is a woman he turns her back again.” -Enid Bagnold. : )
Once I dropped him off, I did a little more exploring—I’ve got a list of things to accomplish while I’m here, ya know! I only stayed around the Chino Hills/Pomona area for the afternoon, stopping by Wal-Mart and a few other familiar shops. I made quite possibly the best purchase of the whole trip: a WEBCAM!!!!! Now I get to see the faces of all my favorite people, which may help me not miss them as much. Orrrrr maybe not. But I’m willing to try anything! ; ) My first skype date was with Michal, and we talked about her coming to CALI pretty much the whole time! Wahooooo! I also got to have a skype date with Melly, Lizard, P. Sawyer, and Melissa! Cam-o doesn’t have a webcam yet, so we just messaged for a while, which was great as well! Now if my fam, Teesh, Whit, Cait Cait, Laur Laur, and Emilie Carol skype me, life will be grandddd. That’s a HINT to ya’ll, by the way!
Today (Wednesday) was thebomb.com. Why, you ask? Oh, no big deal…I just went to the heart of LA and hung out for the afternoon. Rodeo Drive, Sunset Blvd, Hollywood Blvd…like I said, no big deal. HAHA! RIGHTTTTTT! I was the most touristy person in the WORLD today!! I even squealed in public. Multiple times. And I wasn’t even ashamed. Basically, I wanted to walk up to everyone I saw and introduce myself as Vivian. Fact: I may need a babysitter while I’m out here.
I saw all the ritzy stores on Rodeo Drive (not to be confused with the Mighty Ducks’ pronunciation of Rodeo Drive—even though it’s tempting) and even went into a few ones. I legitimately felt like Pretty Woman walking into Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Tiffany’s, etc. Whew. It sure is tough being a poor country bumpkin from Simpleville, SC. I was scared to touch ANYTHING in all of the stores! I just stared at everything in awe. I kid you not.
Once I left Rodeo, I immediately went to see the Hollywood sign. I saw it when I crossed a bridge going to the other side of town and stopped breathing at my first glance of it. Who knew huge block letters had the power to take your breath away. Because they DID! Once I did my paparazzi duties at that location, I moved on to Hollywood Blvd and looked at the Walk of Fame. I only made it through a fraction of them because I didn’t realize there were SO many of them. I took pictures of my favorites, which really ended up being most of them (whoops!). I met Zorro and the Cookie Monster while walking down the strip, and they proceeded to talk to me for about five minutes. About what? Oh you know, absolutely nothing. I got pictures with them (per their request, I promise) and when Cookie Monster told me that I looked just like “a curly-headed Julianne Hough,” their innocent, “I just wanna be friends” disposition disappeared. Flattery won’t work, buckos. I look in the mirror every single day and never in my LIFE have I ever though I looked like Julianne Hough. Next time, just say, “Welcome to Hollywood!” It may work better than lying to my face. HA!
I walked down a little bit of Sunset Blvd, thought I saw Kim Kardashian (false alarm, dangit), then decided that I better head back to Chino Hills before traffic got bad. Did I mention that most highways in LA have at least 10 lanes? It’s either scary or fun, depending on perspective. I choose fun! Just ask daddy! ; )
I made a pit stop at Chick-fil-a before heading back to the apartment (couldn’t resist), then went to the grocery store with Catherine, one of my roommates! After that, I put on some comfy clothes, admired all my pictures from today, watched the Disney channel, and even got to talk to Kerbear! That is, before my phone went bazerk and hung up on her. I’m kind of excited that happened because now I’m guaranteed another phone date tomorrow to finish up our conversation. YAY! Another fact: I miss my roomies. A lot. Squid and Mal-o are graduating on Friday and I can’t be there, which doesn’t make missing them any easier. On a bright note, I will love them even MORE than before at the end of summer. I didn’t know that was possible, but I’m pretty positive it will definitely happen!
Tomorrow is my first day on the job (YAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!) and I honestly could not be more excited. This summer is going to absolutely BLOW my MIND and I can’t wait to get started. Orientation tomorrow, surfing on Friday at Bolsa Chica Beach, house boating on Lake Mead in Nevada all next week…sounds like a rough summer, right? I hope you caught the sarcasm in that. This could quite possible be the greatest summer of my life, and I am SO ready to get started!!!
Welp, that’s all for now folks! Can’t wait til next time! : )
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