On to the recap: After a lovely day at the Grand Canyon, I decided to stay in Flagstaff another night to give me a chance to explore Sedona, famous for its amazingly beautiful red rock scenery and energy centers, or vortexes. I’d heard about Sedona through a former co-worker who visited on his honeymoon, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check it out for myself. As the clouds rolled in at Flagstaff’s altitude, I headed back down the mountain and was lucky enough to find the sun breaking through the clouds during a solid portion of my day.

It is a must to take the scenic route 89A between Flagstaff and Sedona. Along the winding road, you encounter lots of trees (snow-covered during my trip), but then you gradually get your first views of the red rocks. If leaving from Flagstaff, make sure to stop at the first official park turn off for a viewpoint, but most importantly, for a chance to shop the silver jewelry, pottery, and other goods made by local Native American craftsmen at very reasonable prices.

As the red rocks got closer and closer, I got a chance to get out of my car and do a little bit of light hiking. I highly suggest visiting the region in an off-season, because you can take in the views by yourself. When I was wandering along the path in the photo below, I didn’t see anyone else until I was leaving, which helped me appreciate my surroundings even more.

After driving through the center of town, I headed to the state park to see the views of Cathedral Rock. I got a later start, and the weather was only semi-cooperative, so I didn’t have a chance to see all the major views. A word to the wise: don’t pay to go to the state park! The best views with the classic reflections in the water are only accessible from a different path, on the other side of the river, which is free. I had a local resident explain this to me from the other side of the river (a little too challenging to cross with two cameras), but I didn’t get there. Do some research and get the best view! I think I did pretty well, though.

As the sun began to set, the colors playing off the rocks became unreal and amazingly beautiful. I drove around, surrounded by the rocks, watching the colors change at each turn, so unfortunately I don’t have many photos to share. I definitely would like to go back to Sedona for a few days and hike around more, maybe do a vortex tour and experience the energy (though I was close at Cathedral Park), and get some amazing shots. More reason to return. But dusk was truly gorgeous.

After a day of exploring and admiring, I headed back to the hostel to plan my drive the next day, as I wanted to make sure to see as much as possible en route to Albuquerque, New Mexico!

Looking at the map, it hit me that I could realize a number of dreams on this trip: visiting the Grand Canyon, exploring some of New Mexico, particularly Albuquerque, where I’d considered attending graduate school, and traveling along Route 66.  Instead of taking the southernmost route, I decided to spend the majority of my drive on Route 40, which more or less follows the historic Route 66.  I plotted some possible stops based on distance and my own interest, and decided to bypass Phoenix and head directly to Flagstaff, Arizona.  Flagstaff is about 8 hours from San Diego and a short drive to the Grand Canyon, with a nice affordable hostel, perfect for a roadtripper’s budget!

After returning from San Francisco, there was not much to do except to finish packing, shipping, selling, and giving away my belongings, which I was doing right up until the morning I left.  On December 9, I got up early to ship some final packages, packed my car with all my random belongings, then deep-cleaned my apartment so my landlord could inspect it before I left.  (My biggest recommendation on that front is wear gloves even with natural cleaning products!  My hands were dry and cracked for almost a month afterward!)  It took a little longer than expected, so I finally left at 2PM.

Leaving San Diego was a surreal experience.  I just got in the car and drove away from my home of three years.  Just like that, I was free!   I started on Route 8, one of San Diego’s main freeways, which I’d driven more times than I could count to my job in El Cajon, but then I kept going. And going.  El Centro was my last stop in California, and as I drove up and down the mountains into Arizona, the sun began to set.  A fitting end to my California life.  After refueling in Gila Bend, Arizona, I headed north around Phoenix, ending up on Route 17 to Flagstaff.  The drive was relatively uneventful, save for stopping for border patrol along Route 8.

A classic moment:
Border Patrol agent, peering into my car, totally packed with my belongings, with a comforter covering the mess and bags of food scattered on top: “Where are you headed?”
Me: “New Hampshire,” laughing on the inside.
Border Patrol agent: “You’ve got a long drive ahead of you.”
Me: “I know!”

As I continued along Route 17, my car’s thermostat kept dropping and the sides of the road revealed the piles of snow from a recent storm.  I left San Diego where it was around 60 degrees, and as I climbed the mountain, I watched the temperature drop to 30, 20, 10.  When I arrived in Flagstaff around 10:30 at night, I realized I should probably change out of my flip-flops before stepping out of the car.  Brrrr!

Checking into the hostel was easy, I unloaded my most valuable possessions from the car, and before long I was settled and eating a late meal in the common area, chatting with a Canadian heading north from Guatemala and Mexico.  And then I finally slept, a well-deserved reward after a hectic day.

The next morning I woke to hear some other guests discussing how they couldn’t get to the Grand Canyon on the shuttle that day, also the only day they could go.  One voice was of my Canadian friend from the night before, and I knew I could save the day, so I stepped outside and asked, “Why don’t you come with me?”  The other guy, an American, said, “Do you have room for two?”  Knowing how packed my car was, I was a little apprehensive, but then they offered to help me unpack and repack my backseat, and just like that I had two buddies for my trip to the Grand Canyon.  Both guys were super nice, fun to talk to with interesting stories of their own, and inspirational travel partners because they got me to do a snow hike that I hadn’t planned for but was glad I did.

As we entered Grand Canyon National Park, the girl at the booth asked, “Where are you going?” I looked at her, confused, and said, “the Grand Canyon?”  She laughed and gestured to the packed backseat.  “Oh!  I’m moving across the country but am giving these guys a ride.”  We laughed about my completely matter of fact response to a question that seemed strange to me with our destination evident.

And then we were inside the National Park, continuing our drive, when suddenly we glanced to the right and BOOM! there it was.  The gorgeous, snow-covered Grand Canyon.  I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

We checked out some viewpoints, grabbed some lunch, and then did a small hike down into the Canyon, against some of my nervous protests about the cold, snow, sunset, etc.  Luckily, my Canadian friend brought a helpful hiking “companion” which really upped my confidence.

Even though we did hike in a lot of shade, we still got a good perspective of the canyon walls.  I plan to return someday to do a longer hike in a different season.

After hitting the first hiker’s rest stop on the path down, we hurried back to the top to see the sunset.  The setting sun made for some gorgeous pictures, both of us posing and and of the colors of the canyon walls.

It turns out I was lucky to go that day, the first of many lucky decisions I made.  The roads had just been reopened after a big snowstorm; the next day, the canyon was hidden by clouds; and the day after that, another blizzard was supposed to hit.  I was very thankful that it worked out: the Grand Canyon was amazing and a perfect opening to the road trip.

After a couple of years in San Diego, it was blatantly obvious that San Francisco and the Bay area were more suited to me — my politics, my love of city life and public transportation, my personality and attitude, my vegetarianism and sustainable eating practices.  But I didn’t manage to visit again until the end of May/early June 2009, when I needed a quick and inexpensive vacation and was evaluating it as a potential place to move.  It was my first solo adventure in the US, and I stayed in a hostel, wandered around, ate alone, and I loved it despite the dampness of spring.  But did I want to move there?  Not really.  If I’m honest, I was tired of California (for good reason, I’d been fighting to survive for too long in its terrible economy).

Once my mind was made up to leave California, I wanted to visit again, cheaply, since it’s far more expensive flying across the country (and I hate, hate, hate cross-country flying, since I have ended up sleeping in the airport on several occasions).  I got a $70 ticket for early December and off I went.  When I got out of the BART station and was surrounded by the tall city buildings, I knew for sure: I love city life, it suits me, and I miss it greatly. San Francisco is a lovely city and someday it would be great to live there (with disposable income).  My second visit in 2009 was even better, with sunshine and blue skies (though bone-chilling temperatures due to the dampness in the air), and my own improved familiarity with the neighborhoods and public transportation.  I wandered and ate lots of delicious food (especially ice cream) and just appreciated the city’s character (so different from and similar to NYC at the same time).  I may have never visited Los Angeles during my three years in southern California, but I visited San Francisco twice!

You can check out my photos here, but below you can find some of my favorites.

But let’s back up a moment!  After my announcement in November, I went through a whirlwind of preparations, beginning with boxing up my books, shoes, purses, and other extraneous items, selling all of my furniture over Thanksgiving weekend, and trying to figure out how to pack my tiny Corolla with belongings either too heavy, too valuable, or too fragile for UPS or USPS.  (Perhaps I’ll make another post in the future with suggestions.)  It wasn’t as difficult or as frustrating as I’d anticipated, though I did have to give away a number of things I’d hoped to take with me at the last moment, including my beloved plants!

Besides the obvious packing aspect, I also set to visiting some San Diego sights I’d managed not to get to over the three years I lived there, and revisiting others that I loved. Mostly I said goodbye to the Pacific Ocean and the lovely ocean (and sunset) views.

This is taken from the beach after a lovely hike through Torrey Pines State Reserve.

This was the classic sunset shot I always intended to get at Swami’s Beach in Encinitas.

While I do miss the San Diego sunsets, I truly do believe that sometimes you just need to leap and trust your instincts. For me, it was fitting that the sun went down just as I crossed the border into Arizona on my road trip. But the details of the amazing cross-country road trip will be saved for a future post. For now I want to say that every day I am thankful that I took charge of my life and decided to leave a less-than-perfect situation for something new. Or rather, something familiar, revisited after years of independence, growth, and change, which allows me to see through a new perspective.

While I’m not sure I miss winter, I’ll soon have no choice in the matter.  That’s right, after a month of considering my options and facing some uncomfortable effects of California budget cuts, I’ve decided it’s time to leave San Diego.  Many of my friends and acquaintances have asked “why now?”, but what it comes down to is that it’s just time to follow the signs and my intuition.  This is a challenge for me: I like to have things planned and arranged before making big decisions like moving, but part of what I’ve learned over the past few years is that no matter how well I’ve planned things, what actually happens is completely out of my control.  And that’s okay.  I just have to pay attention to what is truly going on.

As of now, I plan to move back east in mid-December.  My semester will end December 1, and I will take a quick trip to San Francisco to savor some delicious foods and sights while it’s still an easy and cheap visit.  Then I plan to drive across the country along the southern region (hopefully avoiding snow), passing through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia and then up through all the small states.  I’d like to do some sight-seeing along the way, but we’ll see how it all plays out.

Already I’m feeling like there are more job opportunities on the east coast than here in San Diego.  It may not be easy right now, but I feel a lot more optimistic about my plan than I do about the idea of staying.  At first I’ll stay with my parents, and then I intend to move to Boston, unless I come across a good opportunity in one of the many cities I’d be happy to live in.

So why not start a blog?  It’s a fantastic way to keep in touch with friends around the world, to connect with others in blogging communities, and to share what I’ve been inspired to create recently.  Instead of asking why, I’ll ask why not.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Here’s where I’m at right now: I’m Kim, a 28-year-old east coast transplant currently living in San Diego, California.  I teach ESL to adults at a local community college and love my students and their desire to learn and improve their lives.  Outside the classroom, my life is filled with my many passions: eating and making vegetarian dishes and baked goods from local, seasonal, and organic goods, growing my own garden, running, yoga, knitting, jewelry making, and photography.  Phew!  While I love each of these interests, they each seem to have their season based on my attention span which waxes and wanes.

At the moment, I am in a period of transition.  While I’ve achieved two big goals while living in SD (finishing my Master’s and changing careers), I have realized that I’m ready to move on.  I am fairly certain I’ll be heading to the east coast next, but I’m not sure where, when, or how!  So that’s where that blog comes in–I want to document my journey trying out the “unconventional” paths that many of us are taking in this new economy.  Let’s see how I do!