Rome was certainly not built in a day, and neither, it seems, was our road-tripping car.
Manni and I have been in America for 5 weeks already(!!!) and we are both so happy to finally be on the road! At last we get to wake up with the sunrise each morning and taste the fresh air of freedom and the sweet thrill of the unknown out on the open road!...
What took us so long? First, we had to build our car; Now that we have been road-testing the finished project I can say that this is not just any car, it's pretty much the most epic, camping-SUV, hippie-roadster to ever travel across the great American plains! I imagine it took the Romans a long time to build their great historical masterpieces. Well, I assure you: This car... is our Car-osseum. A vehicle sculpted into traveling-vagabond-perfection by the very gods themselves (and I'm not talking about Manni). :)
So now.... Our Great Road Trip Adventure begins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Perhaps I should start a bit more at the beginning for those of you not so up-to-date. This adventure actually started some time ago... Manni and I met at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany through mutual friends... and a few (several) liters of good German beer. What followed was a whirlwind romance with, of course, all of the stereotypical scenes like walking hand-in-hand along his quaint hometown river, going to little eateries, and a week together in the Italian mountains, etc etc... but mostly you would just find the two of us, eating a very good home-cooked German meal (courtesy of the amazing cook, Sir Manni himself) wearing matching football jerseys and screaming at the TV.
Fast forward, and I have officially "moved" to Germany in the hopes of pursuing a career in Teaching English as a Foreign Language! BUT before the school season begins, Manni and I decided to do an American Road Trip to basically every corner of the US.... Exciting times lie ahead indeed.
So....
In preparation for this trip, we literally stripped the Ford Explorer down to its frame, and built in our own conversion system to make the Ford a fully livable (and enjoyable) travel home. (See Manni's post for pictures and descriptions about all the changes!!!)
-All of this stuff was a ton of work and stress, but for the most part, Manni and I make a great team!! We are both perfectionists, so sometimes we both had to remind each other (often without success) that we are not performing heart surgery and can undoubtedly live without the hand-painted Sistine Chapel that we soooo wanted on the ceiling of our car... But alas, pride in the work we do is our creed.
Next, we went to Yosemite National Park!!!! The grand beauty of that place is simply indescribable. *Soon* we will have an additional photo album on the blog for you to SEE all of the amazing sights and things we do on this trip!!
In Yosemite, we hiked the Mist Trail up to Vernal and Nevada Falls. The next day we went to Mirror lake, and our last epic day of hiking we went to the top of Yosemite Falls (half the trail still covered in Winter snow). My legs and feet were pretty dead after we completed a 3 day total of about 18 miles and 3,500+ feet in elevation gain (and descent) but Manni and his long-enduro-soccer legs didn't seem to have a single sore spot. ha. It was a great start to the trip and Yosemite definitely set the bar high for the rest of the natural wonders throughout America!
After that we made a quick trip to LA for my cousins wedding ---Manni has now officially met my ENTIRE family and extended extended family.... and he still tells me he wants to stick around... so that's a good sign (and a little bit of a pleasant surprise haha). Then we headed down to San Diego to meet up with friends, learn to climb (manni), and visit Manni's highschool friend now living in SD- thanks again to the one and only Conway brothers for the house to crash :)!
and now...... the trip is ON!!!!!!!!!!!
-All of this stuff was a ton of work and stress, but for the most part, Manni and I make a great team!! We are both perfectionists, so sometimes we both had to remind each other (often without success) that we are not performing heart surgery and can undoubtedly live without the hand-painted Sistine Chapel that we soooo wanted on the ceiling of our car... But alas, pride in the work we do is our creed.
Next, we went to Yosemite National Park!!!! The grand beauty of that place is simply indescribable. *Soon* we will have an additional photo album on the blog for you to SEE all of the amazing sights and things we do on this trip!!
In Yosemite, we hiked the Mist Trail up to Vernal and Nevada Falls. The next day we went to Mirror lake, and our last epic day of hiking we went to the top of Yosemite Falls (half the trail still covered in Winter snow). My legs and feet were pretty dead after we completed a 3 day total of about 18 miles and 3,500+ feet in elevation gain (and descent) but Manni and his long-enduro-soccer legs didn't seem to have a single sore spot. ha. It was a great start to the trip and Yosemite definitely set the bar high for the rest of the natural wonders throughout America!
After that we made a quick trip to LA for my cousins wedding ---Manni has now officially met my ENTIRE family and extended extended family.... and he still tells me he wants to stick around... so that's a good sign (and a little bit of a pleasant surprise haha). Then we headed down to San Diego to meet up with friends, learn to climb (manni), and visit Manni's highschool friend now living in SD- thanks again to the one and only Conway brothers for the house to crash :)!
and now...... the trip is ON!!!!!!!!!!!
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