in the city, the city of angels

Wowza! It's Friday night and I was hoping that I would've been able to update this more often, but it just hasn't worked out. We're in LA tonight and tomorrow, and I'm really excited about staying in the same city for 2 nights in a row. We've been busy. I've been in 11 states (including ga) in 5 days and it's overwhelming, but amazing. So much to write... where to begin?...

After leaving Oklahoma City, we headed to Albuquerque for the night, passing through Texas. I thought that western Oklahoma was really beautiful, the wind was really sweeping down the plains and pushing my car around, and I abused the "sweeping down the plains" joke, like it was going out of style.

We stopped in Texas for a picnic lunch at the nicest rest stop I've ever seen. It was insanely windy and we enjoyed peanut butter and jelly sammies, chips, avocados, good company and a fantastic view, narrowly escaping the clutches of death from a rattler bite. We drove across the boring as crap panhande into New Mexico, the land of enchantment. It is freaking gorgeous! We had dinner in Albuquerque at a place called The Frontier. Albuquerque, for those of you that haven't been there, is a cute freaking town. It's like a big Athens, but it's surrounded by beautiful beautiful scenery. I think that's a town I could live in. Brooke's cousin's friend, Angie, put us up for the evening. She has a studio apartment and hosted 3 girls for the night. I think that says a lot about someone's character. She was a doll. We left the next morning for the Grand Canyon, and while driving out of Albuquerque, my check engine light came on. We drove on to Flagstaff and dropped my car off at the Mazda dealership and headed to the Grand Canyon. Broken car = lame. Grand Canyon = awesome.

It was insane. We all cried. There's no way to put into words how you feel looking at that massive chasm. I felt incredibly small. I felt that God is incredibly immense, and I felt so thankful that I was able to experience that place. We walked around the rim trails for a few hours, then headed east to watch the sunset. We hiked out to this cliff and drank Lucky Duck wine and admired the wonder of it all. After sunset, we headed back towards the visitors center and waited for the stars to materialize. As we sat there, they kept getting brighter and more of them kept appearing in the blackness.
He heals the broken hearted... He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.
Psalms 147: 3-4

The next day Brooke and I said goodbye to Mary, who headed to Phoenix for a few days, and we went back to the Canyon for a helicopter ride. Again, breathtaking. Brooke got to sit shotgun in the helicopter and we took a half hour flight of pure magic. I kept tearing up sitting there thinking about the beauty I was staring at, and how it must have felt to be an explorer and stumble into that thing! insane. I could write for days about the feelings that I had there and what I experienced, but none of it could convey how emotional and spiritual it was. You should go. Now.

After that, we headed to Vegas to stay at the Flamingo. Eh. I wasn't too impressed with Vegas. It depressed me. We spend a lot of money on a drink, a few hours at the pool, and a couple of hours wandering around and gambling. I think I could go the rest of my life without returning there. 

And now we're in LA. I am happy to report that this place has really exceeded my expectations! It's really pretty here!! We drove around West Hollywood and Beverly Hills tonight and had dinner at The Ivy. We're staying with Brooke's friend, Kyleen, who is a freaking excellent hostess! She took us to the Griffith Observatory tonight, which overlooks LA. The weather was perfect and in the distance, we could see fireworks from Disney. It was really cool. Tomorrow I'm brunching with a friend, then we're heading to Malibu for a day at the beach. Not too shabby. 

I'll write more soon! I love you!!