Rawr, I've Returned

Dear Digressing Novelist,

Where are you, and why haven’t you been here lately?
Love,
Your many adoring fans and readers

Rooooooooooaaaaad Trrriiiippppp! *insert fake enthusiasm* Yes, I have gone on an insane road trip, leading to who-knows-where. As far as I understand, this trip goes from small-town Gilroy to the coasts of Santa Barbara to the lights of Las Vegas to the gargantuaness of the Grand Canyon and the arches of Zion National Park. Somehow, we make that entire thing into a loop.

Yesterday(June 22) we made the first of our six days together to Santa Barbara, and we stayed in the nearby town, Ventura. On the way, we stopped at a random Ostrich Farm that we saw off the side of the highway. I ended up feeding and petting ostriches and emus. Quite the experience of weirdness. Apparently, you have to use either a saw or a drill to open an ostrich egg. For all of you tourist-y readers this was just on the outskirts of Solvang, CA, which is also a cute little stop, because it’s a mini Dutch town. Very cute if you enjoy that kind of stuff.
We ended up eating dinner at Mimi’s Café at 10:30 at night because that was how late we made it to our hotel. The chefs probably spat in our food because they couldn’t go home. Believe it or not, they’re open until 11:00.
That was Day 1 for ya. The Craziness continued onto Day 2 in Vegas.

One thing about Las Vegas, NV: It’s just about the prettiest and ugliest city in the U.S. (And no, it’s not a
Stephenie Meyer quote. It only sounds like one. “The next day was better… and worse.”)

(At 103 degrees at 10:00 pm) The lights were fantabulous, and we had an equally fantabulous view from the Luxor hotel. (Best pool ever, by the way) Later we went to the old strip to see more of the lights and in the morning we left for the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
The Grand Canyon was nice; it began to rain lightly after awhile. Nice and cool, as opposed to the rest of the state. We stayed in a very nice Best Western with a bowling alley (which we spent our time in). The name I typed in for the game was "Egg" since my name didn't fit (Cursed 7 letters!).
After that we went BACK through the desert and up to St. George, Utah to go to Zion National Park. It was much like the Grand Canyon except you were in it not above it. It's gorgeous with the Virgin River flowing through it, lots of hanging gardens, and friendly squirrels. According to the locals the squirrels were extremely friendly so that they could fool you and bite off your hand. A couple times that day I screamed out "MAN-EATING SQUIRREL!" and people would look at me like "wth?".
Back through the desert once more, and we decided rather than staying in Barstow(nicknamed the armpit of California? I didn't want to be in any place called an armpit.) to return to bright and shiny Vegas. We stayed in the Circus Circus Hotel this time, being subjected to several clowns up and down the halls (much to my mom's horrror). The show was great and I won nearly every game on the midway with my awesome mad skills lol. Lot's of stuffed creatures.
The next day we were back in quaint Gilroy. I had only four days to complete The Last for Createspace. Somehow I managed and my book came in on July 13th!! (I argued with the company for over nine days). It looks amazing though, and I'm going to read it tonight! :D

So that was a very quick write-up of my road trip last month. Sorry, I've been too busy to write this.

Toodle-oo,
Katelyn