I left the REU at 6pm on Friday with Linnea. It was funny starting to pack at 4:30pm including having to go to the bathroom and get ready to return stuff to Chapman before he left at 6pm.

The roadtrip started great. I recalled that it was likely Linnea hadn't eaten and I hadn't eaten since 6am so I asked her if she wanted to eat. She nodded and I saw an exit that said "Quiznos" coming up. I take the next exit and then I realize it was the wrong exit, but to my left I see a very nice looking restaurant called "Fralos". I decide to check it out. We ate outside, the weather was wonderful, without being hot or cold and the sun was up, yet we were in the shade. We ordered a delicious pizza and there was live music. I really enjoyed this dinner, I think part of what made it more enjoyable was how random I found this place. The restaurant is about 15 miles outside of San Antonio and I only saw it because I took the wrong exit on the way to Quiznos. Moments like those make traveling all the more fun.

The drive back home was pretty fun. I got home at 3:30am, and we were going to wake up the next morning early because we were driving to Williams,AZ. I ate some choco krispis which I hadn't had in many months and Linnea tasted them too. I claim that they taste much better than the American version, but Linnea claims they taste the same. Since I haven't had the American version since I was a kid, I don't really have much ammunition to defend my position.

Woke up at 11:30am, a little later than planned and headed out of my house at 12:40pm. It took 90 minutes to cross the border, but I got some Harry Potter reading in the meantime (by the way I finished it Monday night, review to be posted later in the week. Parenthesis in the middle of a paragraph makes me realize that my argument that I write this LJ for myself is not entirely true, since explaining that Harry Potter review thing wouldn't make sense to do if I was writing only for myself, but I guess writing this makes it funny to me to reread in the future, so maybe it is for myself). After crossing the border, the driving ensued. This was new territory in terms of driving for me. I drove through New Mexico all the way up to Albuquerque, there were a lot of casinos near there. Then I drove west on route to Williams, AZ. It started to rain very heavily and a lot of the road was under construction, so it was a difficult drive. We arrived at Williams at midnight and were received by Linnea's parents. We stayed at the Canyon hotel, and my room was the "Mexico" room, I took some pictures, it was hilarious. A huge picture of "Virgen de Guadalupe", some Mexican sweaters on display, the Mexican flag on one corner, flowers on the headrest of the bed and other things I don't remember right now. The room had a window which seemed to be connected to something weird. I snuck out the window without a shirt or pants because I didn't want to get them dirty (it looked very dusty), I realized it was a sort of balcony connected to the two adjacent rooms and I could see the sky from there. It seems like a wall was built which made it a weird balcony, a balcony without a view.

I woke up early on Sunday and had breakfast with the Haight family (Charles is the father, Robin the mother and Bethany the sister). We went to Denny's. I had the All-American Slam. The hash browns were pretty good. I really liked the town, Williams, AZ is beautiful. I think the town in the movie "Cars" is based in some way on this little town. It is on Route 66 (historic route as many signs would enlighten me in) and it is a couple of miles off the interstate. From there, I drove to the Grand Canyon, close to the Grand Canyon there is an interesting camping site called "Bedrock City" and it looks just like the town in the Flintstones, it looks very artificial but funny and cool.

Arrived at the Canyon around noon. The view was majestic. Really nice and I love feeling the breeze. After the first view which is at Mather point we took the bus to see other views, the first bus took us to some views that weren't that impressive. But then we took a longer ride on another bus and saw the famous Hopi view. It is famous because you can see the Colorado river. The view on this occasion was particularly impressive because a storm was starting on our right. It was interesting seeing how the blackness was starting to take over the landscape little by little. I took many pictures, but I suspect the blackness will not feel nearly as interesting in a picture.

After that view it was time to leave. It was fun meeting Linnea's family and it was hard to say goodbye to Linnea, but it was time to head back home since I was lecturing on Monday morning. I left at 3:47pm Arizona time which is 4:47pm in Juárez (Arizona does not have daylight savings). The drive started with a funny anecdote. From the Grand Canyon to Flagstaff, the drive has only one lane (one lane each way), and I was behind a truck, I tried passing the lady but didn't because I realized she was going faster than I thought and it wasn't necessary to pass her. Then she slowed down a bit, but I didn't have good visibility, so I was trying to check by moving my car a little to the left. The driver put on the left turn signal. Now, in one lane it is not rare for a person to put the left turn signal to signal to you that you can pass him, in other words, they don't see cars ahead. Since I didn't see any exit and I saw her put that signal, I pushed forward and passed her. When I was passing her she threw me the finger and when I looked in the rear view mirror, I noticed there was an exit (not pavement, but dirt road) and she was actually signaling left to turn left. I felt a little bad, but not that bad, there's no need to be mean to other people, but I guess I looked mean in her eyes.

I immediately bought Red Bull and nuts in order to not fall asleep on the road. The drive from Flagstaff to Phoenix was very fun because it is all downhill and the views are beautiful, because you are coming down from a mountain (in a way). Even though it was fun, I was getting sleepy, the Red Bull wasn't working. I put on CDs of Sherlock Holmes to pass the time, it actually worked, because I had to concentrate in the stories. I also figured a way to not sleep, the idea is to drink lots of liquid to force myself to stop for bathroom breaks often, the breaks replenish energy and wanting to go to the bathroom also forbid you from sleeping when on the road. The Sherlock Holmes stories were awesome, I haven't read any of Holmes stories, I think my only previous exposure to Sherlock Holmes was an episode of Wishbone.

I arrived home at 3:30am, and had to wake up at 9am to go lecture for the math olympiad. Not enough time to rest, rest would come later, now it was time to enjoy being alive. I really enjoy driving to different places, it makes me feel like I am learning more about the world, it is strange, but it makes me feel that way. This weekend was marvelous in more ways than one. Certainly a weekend to remember.