Green Chilies Make The World Go Round

First things first, downtown Tucson on a Sunday is not that exciting. Our apologies to any Tucsonians (we didn't after all, properly research) but that main street was dead!! On the other hand, Apache National Forest (in AZ) was beautiful. It took us longer to get there than we thought but the drive on the 191 was worth it. We were greeted with rain showers, no entrance fee, and a fantastic campground host, Cliff.

The drive to Santa Fe was less than stellar. In our next life, we need an ipod so we don't have to listen to the same pinche cd 3 times in a row. Literally. Three. times. in. a. row.

Santa Fe, however, is truly magical. We were only planning on staying here for a night or two but have since fallen in love with it and are staying as long as we can. The adobe architecture, art galleries, sterling silver, and clearly, New Mexican cuisine, have cast a spell over these humble Californians. To top it off, every local we have met has been so kind and gracious and excited to talk to us about their favorite places in town. There is so much culture and so much history here, in fact Santa Fe is celebrating it's 400th year!! It's the oldest capitol in the US.

Now we must apologize to our fathers for passing up the opportunity to stay at a legit campground in order to stay at a........KOA. So we can get internet and showers...sacrelig!!!!!

Above is a pic of Jer enjoying locally brewed beer and some killllller green chili at The Shed.

Tucson, AZ 9:15pm

Jer and I pulled into a Super 8 on the outskirts of downtown. Our room was stifling. The car thermometer registered over 100 degrees outside for the majority of our 7 hour drive. The pool here stays open until 9 pm so we figured we had about 20 minutes. I haven’t gone swimming in a long time. I’m at a pool frequently enough, but usually just lounging or putting my feet in or the occasional dip to cool off whilst tanning. I haven’t played in the pool in awhile. We jumped in without even feeling the water and I just immediately started laughing. I just felt silly, but in a good way. We tried to think of pool games that only have two people but we came up short so we settled on submarine rides and wall to wall races. Two little kids and their grandma came in, the kids no more than 4 and both wearing full body floaties that made their chests look disproportionately larger than the rest of their bodies. The little boy was so excited to get in the water and show off his paddling and floating skills. He was just as jovial as could be. It was so sweet and so refreshing. I remember being a little kid and being on an all day car trip and pulling into a hotel in the later part of the night and just hoping we would make the pool hours. The whole day has brought back such happy memories of my youth, the desert skyline, the smells, the dairy queen blizzard stop. It’s been a really busy couple of weeks between packing and moving and hopping around between relatives and friends. There has been a lot of laughter in the hanging out and a lot of tears in saying goodbyes. But tonight I feel a childlike kind of carelessness. Not irresponsibility but just a freedom. We are on the road.

Last Days in SoCal

Leaving for San Diego, clearly without brushing my hair.....

License Plate Game scoresheet (I'm winning right now)

Dearest Dede!!! (Jer's aunt)

Visiting the Sawdust festival with Nat before Art a Fair!

July 6, 2010—

Keeley and I took the drive down the 5 yesterday. Our first official day of this road trip. She's the one taking that picture, I'm obviously concerned with the road.

As we crossed the bridge into the east bay and headed down south, we noticed the thick fog rolling into the bay. We eventually pulled into Natalie's place last night around 9:30. We were both tired...too tired to grill. It's just wrong to not grill when you're staying at Cleon...but driving is oddly tiring.

Coincidently, I went on another drive this morning through Burbank, while Keeley and Natalie practiced for Friday's show. I headed over to Porto's for a little snack...one of their cheese danish's. If you've never been to Porto's on Magnolia, you've got to go. As I drove down There was a blanket of fog floating low. Only the bottom of Mt. Wilson and the others could be seen underneath the thick white clouds. I thought of San Francisco and the fog we watched from the 580 yesterday. we noticed the fog rolling into the Bay. I guess it floated down south to Burbank, greeting us with a beautifully bitting morning. It's nice...

It’s weird though, to be back in LA as a visitor. It's really engulfed in concrete...all of it. From the riverbed to the freeways, this city is pure asphalt. It’s literally been six days, but already southern california feels different…distant. I hope I can appreciate this city more some day. I assume that I will, once the memories of smog and the 405 fade. For now, it seems to be an odd reminder of why I drifted up north to begin with.

But right now, I'm sitting here in Natalie's room listening to her and Keeley rehearse some more. It's now night and it's a beautiful 58 degrees outside. The cool wind is drifting in from the open patio screen door. It's a perfect California night. It's amazing to sit here and just listen to the ladies rock it. Talent is really inspiring. until next time.

DATES OF KEELEY'S SHOWS

...as of now, these are the shows that are set in stone, more to be added soon

June 14th -- Los Angeles, Ca - Gengis Cohen
July 9th -- Laguna Beach, Ca - Art'A'Fair 5pm
July 19th -- Dallas, TX - Opening Bell Cafe 7:30pm
July 21st -- Bandera, TX -Dogleg Coffee House 6pm

July 28th--Nashville, TN - Bluebird Cafe 6pm

July 30th -- Louisville, KY - Derby City Espresso

July 31st--Indianapolis, IN- Laze Daze Coffeehouse 5:45pm

August 12th - San Francisco, Ca - Hotel Utah 8pm