Where In The Hell Have I Been?

It’s been months since I’ve written a post.  The thing is, I don’t really like to write when I’m traveling.  I left home on January 22nd and hung out in the States for 5 months, living out of a suitcase.  And, though I did some traveling and took a decent amount of photos, I couldn’t bring myself to write a post for my blog. 🙁  I don’t know why.  Thank goodness I don’t “have” to blog.  I do post regularly to my Facebook page.  So, those following my Black Chick On Tour FB page saw my shenanigans in real time.  🙂  Well, I’m back home now.  For all those who don’t like me on FB (tsk, tsk, tsk) I’m gonna catch you up.

I left the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in January, this became my trajectory:  DMM > AMS > SEA > LAX > SAN > ATL > SAN > SEA >  SAN > LAS > Road Trip > SAN > SEA > AMS > DMM. All this, with a few day trips to LA and Portland, Oregon thrown in.

Let’s start with Seattle.  Seattle is my adopted hometown.  We moved there in September 2000.  This is where I will settle when I move back to the States (at least that is my intention).  However, I no longer have an actually place of residence in Seattle, and since I’m in town way too long to stay at a friends, I typically rent an apartment while in town.  This time I had a really cute newly remodeled 1 bedroom apartment in a nice central location in Capital Hill.

Seattle Skyline from Balcony

I was in Seattle on three separate occasions this time around.  On one of those occasions I teamed up with a video production company.  One of the scenes involved me skydiving.  It was my idea.  I had been wanting to try it, so why not?  Then I chickened out.  I tried to write the skydive scene out of the project, but it left the project feeling flat, so I had to put it back in. On the day of the “big” event.  The weather couldn’t have been more perfect.  After 6 days of rain, the skies in the Pacific Northwest opened up to give me a beautiful sun filled day.  I loved it!!  One of the best experiences ever!!   And, would totally do it again.  Wanna see my scared face?  You can see more photos here: Terri Skydiving

Flying High In The Sky

Skydive Exhileration!!

Even though I consider Seattle home and prefer spending my time there; I’m a native San Diegan.  By default, I end up spending more time in San Diego because my family is there and most importantly I can get a roof over my head for free. 😀 LOL.  It’s kinda funny that I go to San Diego to save money considering that it’s an expensive place to live.  When I’m in San Diego, I’m doing all sorts of things.  And, going to the beach; a lot.  Basically I’m just living (grocery shopping, going to the movies, shopping, etc.); but I’m also almost always planning my escape.  Even though I love San Diego, as a city I think it’s kinda boring.  But, what can I do…I love it still and it will always feel like home.

San Diego Skyline

My mother was in Atlanta when I first arrived in San Diego from Saudi Arabia.  So, right about the time I was turning the jet lag around, I decided to go to Atlanta.  I had bad memories of Georgia in general.  And, said I’d never go back.  Well…never say never.  To my welcomed surprise, I had a great time.  I stayed with a close family friend; who is one of the best hosts ever!  What’s not to love about free accommodations!!?  I didn’t do anything touristy since I had seen a lot of what they had to offer while I lived there years ago.  I just hung out with family and new friends.  I went for no particular purpose other than “why not?”  I was only there 5 days, but I will definitely check out Atlanta again.

Mother Daughter Dinner at Ray’s By The River in Atlanta

From Atlanta I went back to San Diego for a few weeks and then headed to Seattle for another 2 weeks.  In between all of this Roland arrived Stateside, so now I have a travel partner.  After our stay in Seattle we went on a Road Trip.   This wasn’t a road trip from hell but it was close.  We started out from San Diego and the plan was to go to Vegas and from there the Grand Canyon and from there, where ever the wind took us.  Well…Vegas was fabulous as always.  we cashed in on the free nights stay given to us by the Aria because of the horrible experience we had there last year.  The room had a great view.  If only they’d wash the damned windows!  Anyway…we were there to see Jerry Seinfeld at The Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace.  He was wonderful.  Still funny as hell, talking about nothing and everything.

Aria Las Vegas – Room with a View

We did a little day trip outside of Las Vegas to Red Rock Conservatory.  It was okay.  Of course, nature was in all her splendor.  However, the price we paid to drive through the conservatory I could have saved.  The fee for automobiles is only $7 but the deal is this, you can see the rock from the road, but if you want to hike around the park, or get a closer look, you have to pay to get in.  Do I think I wasted money. Not really.  But, I took note that I could have saved that money once it was over and I drove back past the rock on the “free” road.   With all that said, it’s a do.  Not far from Red Rock Conservatory, a 10 minute drive south on Highway 159 is a small town (population 290) called Blue Diamond that has wild burros roaming around.  That was kinda cool to see.

The Red Rock at Red Rock Conservatory

Blue Diamond Burro

We left Vegas going towards the Grand Canyon.  Instead of staying inside the park, we stayed in a little town called Williams, right on Route 66, which was about 40 minutes drive from the park.  Upon arrival at the hotel we rushed out trying to reach the park before sunset.  When we arrived inside the park we were immediately met by the locals, a group of Mule Deer.  Once we turned onto Desert View Drive and it didn’t take long for us to see the canyon.  It was breath taking.  At the first turn out, we parked and were awe struck.  Nature truly is the greatest artist.  I got some decent photos. However, they don’t do it justice.   The scene the next morning at sunrise was just as spectacular.

Mule Deer

Grand Canyon At Sunrise

Somewhere along the way we decided Sedona was our next stop.  It was just a few hours away and on our way we would stop at Meteor Crater, a meteorite impact site.  Basically it’s a whole in the ground.  But, it was cool.  There’s a fragment of the actual meteorite in the museum.  I can now say that I’ve touched a meteorite. 🙂  I was while we were at the Meteor site when I couldn’t stand any more so I went back to the car to wait for Roland.  I just felt weak.  As the day wore on, I got progressively worse.  While Roland drove to Sedona I knew he was passing fabulous “stuff” because he kept stopping to take pictures, but I couldn’t lift my head off of the car seat.

Meteor Crater

Meteorite

We spent 2 days in Sedona.  I never saw Sedona. Roland climbed rocks.  I climbed out of the bed and hugged the toilet.   I did see a smidgen of what the town had the offer from the room balcony.  It was after this that we decided to go back to San Diego, which is about a 6 or 7 hour drive away.  I don’t know what I had, but it was like a flu bug.  It lasted for about 10 days but the cough stayed for almost a month!!  The upshot was that I lost at least 10 pounds. 🙂

View from Balcony – Sedona

At this point my time in the States was winding down.  We spent the last 10 days hanging out in San Diego before we left and returned to The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

There you have it.  That’s where I’ve been 😀

*You can click on the photo to bring it up in a separate page then click again to enlarge. 

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