here, there, everywhere

We are in Shanghai, where we haven't done much more than get ourselves to our hostel (no easy feat with four massive bags) and make a brief excursion out to the Bund, though before we were even allowed to get off the plane, we had our temperatures taken by a solemn, white-hazmatted health inspector in the plane, who took *every* single person's temperature with a strange forehead laser pointer before giving us clearance to step into China. This morning was muggy, though not as humid as Hanoi, and the tops of the Pudong skyscrapers were shrouded in mist. (I am not evolved or classy enough, by the way, to not snicker at the name "Pudong.") We haven't had the chance to explore much, but despite being massively exhausted, I'm so excited to be here; Shanghai definitely a world away from Hanoi and we have a whole week before summer camp starts, so more to follow I hope. (A side note - China blocks blogspot, the website I usually post through, so any blogs while I'm here are either posted via flickr or e-mail, so I'm sorry in advance if they look a bit funky).

We said goodbye to LA this morning and - after an amazing pancake breakfast graciously cooked by my eleven year old cousin - set off North towards Monterey along the Pacific Coast Highway, a drive I've never done before and which is even more beautiful than I'd imagined. 

For all my worries about driving out of LA (after the two hours spent inching along the 10 when we arrived), the drive was actually a lot of fun, and was accompanied by two CDs made explicitly for use along the PCH, which Iain's former boss made for him before we left Hanoi. (So if you think it's lame that I quoted the Red Hot Chili Peppers in my subject heading, you should just be relieved I didn't say anything about long strange trips or being a goddess on the highway. All hot-linking aside, the CDs are great company, so, thanks, Iain's old boss!).

(This is my favorite kind of scenery in the whole world.) 

The Continental Divide
After two days of non-stop driving along the I-80, Iain and I made it to Boulder, where we had a great time hanging out with Ryan-from-Hanoi (and also, briefly, my awesome stepsister Nika and her friend). Ryan was able to show us a lot more of Colorado then I'd ever seen before, including more snowy weather than I'd ever thought possible in June. 


Ryan and Iain climbed to the top of Mount Evans (after we drove to the observatory just underneath the top of Mount Evans). I did not, because I am a wimp. Ryan, incidentally, is about to leave on a one month long hike all alone through the mountains, so he probably didn't even notice the two minutes it took the two of them to climb to the top while I picked my way gingerly through the icy snow below and tried not to fall down.

And then we saw Marmots! Best road trip ever! 

Guess which state we're still in? 

My new favorite sign, in Winnemuca, NV.
Twelve hours and six hundred miles into the road trip, we're staying the night in Wendover, a "resort" town that straddles Nevada and Utah; we're on the Nevada side, staying alongside a stretch of shady casinos (this wireless network's password, ominously, is "mafia") and resisting the temptation to gamble away our budget at the Red Garter, though Iain succumbed to the Well's rest stop's slot machines and lost a whole 25¢. 

Iain shows off in Los Altos.
Setting off early tomorrow in my sister's car, armed with newly-minted AAA membership, language-learning CDs and some Google maps that helpfully show us exactly what the roads look like, to visit our friend Ryan, formerly of Hanoi and now of Colorado. I always have fun hanging out with Ryan (and his awesome girlfriend, Jessica) so I'm really happy we'll get to see him again, and am hoping that said happy thoughts will provide any additional nudges I need to get over my lifelong aversion to freeway driving. I'd like to think I'm over it after driving some of the scariest roads I've ever seen in much worse conditions throughout Vietnam. Nonetheless, while I've borne witness to this drive twice before, it's never been as the driver, so this will be... interesting. 
We have less than a month left in the States and many plans are afoot, though I'm going to wait till they're a little more solidified before blathering about them on the internet. I've figured out how to update this thing via text messages*, so will post more from the road! 
* Also, in the realm of newly discovered technological advances - I have a webcam now! Which would have been a slightly embarrassing admission back in 1999 (when my soon-to-be college roommate freaked me out with a similar announcement) but which, in this age of iSight and general online overexposure, is probably just sadly passe. At any rate, not much point to this except to say that even if I can't yet promise to stay in better touch than I did in Hanoi, at least I'll be able to make an actual smily face at you on iChat this time around.