yesterday we embarked on a family road trip, the first one in years where we'll all together. my mom picked up my brother at the airport and then they stopped by to pick me up. we had dinner close by and then my brother realized he forgot something at my mom's house so we had to go back to get it. by the time we actually hit the road it was rush hour traffic. needless to say, it took a long time to get out of it and start moving. we stayed at the motel 6 in flagstaff which is way better than the motel 6 i stayed at in san diego because the toilet actually flushes! but i must say that our neighbors were really loud (fighting) and there was also the sounds of passing trains.

i came prepared on this road trip for the awkward breakfast situation i envisioned i would have as the only veg(etari)an on the trip. i brought cereal and soy milk that didn't need to be refrigerated. i ate creal in the hotel room but my brother was hungry so we ended up going to mcdonald's and everyone ate. i admit i had some food there 'cos my cereal wasn't enough. i had a hash brown and orange juice (way too salty!). i never drink orange juice anymore so all of this was a shock to the system.

red rock state park

my mom really wanted to go to sedona due to the influence of friends saying how beautiful it is. well, there was road construction and it seemed like a couple boring hotel traps. we stopped at the visitor center and saw the map of rock formations named after things that people think it looks like, like a ship or cartoon character. it didn't call out to the interest of anyone and we would've drove straight through on to new mexico if i didn't mention that we haven't even seen red rock state park. we went there and well, it wasn't a big deal either. perhaps if we did hiking and held a picnic it would have been nice but we pretty much stuck to the visitor center and took some pictures.

coconino national forest

for our drive back to flagstaff to continue on our trip, we took a different road (we missed our turn on the way down and went the long way around) and it was really nice. it felt more like the mountains of santa cruz but in a high desert setting. there were trees and some cabin resort things but still very small town. the weather seemed cooler and the trees were changing colors. the road we took previously was the same boring desert stuff you usually see, although there were some variations including short trees like a forest.

petrified forest

we continued on and saw the petrified forest though again we didn't spend much time there. it's one of those places you learn about as a kid and i was really interested in it as a kid but not so much as an adult. i wanted to go for the child of my past. as a kid i heard about the fines of removing petrified wood and all it did was make me want to take some home to prove you could sneak off with it. i had absolutely no desire to do that as an adult. if you really want petrified wood, there were some places next to the park offering it for free.

we pressed on and are staying the night in albuquerque. my mom didn't like motel 6 so now we're at the super 8 motel. sounds like another cheap motel but that 2 number really makes a difference. it feels cleaner, the neighbors aren't crazy, and there is free wifi.