California; Part 1!

Downtown Los Angeles

     I love to travel. I can even admit that it's a passion, a need. I need to travel. To get away, to escape. Each time I leave, I come back different, happier & with great memories. Today, I wanted to blog about my favourite road trip so far; California!

The truck in Arizona!

    My passion for traveling comes from my father. He's been driving trucks and exploring the North American continent ever since he dropped out of high school. He's been to every province/territory in Canada and to every American state (except Alaska and Hawaii). I admire him for that. I use to take his Atlas and name some random cities and he'd tell me in what state those were located. Having a truck driver as a dad could be pretty hard at times. I was basically raised by my mom as I would only see him every two weeks and for a short period of days. Back then, I couldn't understand his job. I would beg him to quit his job and get a job at an office so I could see him more often, like a normal father. Kids at school would even tell me that the reason why he's not home every night is that he doesn't love me or care about me. Cruel much? But, in the end, when he would come back from his trips, he had so much too tell and I would listen to him and hoped that one day, i'd go to the same places. Today, I can understand why he became a truck driver. I would myself become one if I wasn't so afraid of the roads. Like I said above, having a dad who drives truck can be hard but, it can also be great. I'm 14 years old and I can proudly say I've been to over 30 states while, half my classmates never even left the province or the country!

   

Great view in Ontario, California

   He always knew California was my all-time dream. Don't we all have this place where we're attached to? Where you envy the people living there and want to have their lifestyle? California is a common place where people want to establish their lives because it's probably one of the most popular state (and every celebrity has a house there). My sister had gotten the opportunity to go with him and I would always look at her pictures and wish that one day, i'd be standing with those cactus too. In December, I was washing the dishes (again) with my father when the subject came up. He had a load of lobster to bring there in a week. I couldn't help but think about it every day. Where would we go? What could we visit?

My dad is very spontaneous when it comes to traveling. Last night, he told me he'd like to go to New York this summer (he's been telling me this for 2 years though). I didn't want to get my hopes up so, I didn't tell my friends about it until I was 100% sure. But, I did drop some clues. I was looking on Google maps how long the trip would be, who had a star on the walk of fame, the best places to eat in LA etc. When my friends saw me googling those thing, they thought I was wasting my time because I wouldn't be visiting the west coast in a million years. But, the timing was perfect since the load was to be delivered in my Christmas break. He decided to take the load and here we were, the day after Christmas in a 18 wheeler heading to the golden state to bring some frozen lobsters in downtown Los Angeles. It was a dream come true! On December 26, we drove all the way from home to Toronto. There was a big snow storm there, I remember thinking that in less than a week I would be outside in t-shirts and enjoying the sun. I was wrong. But let me finish my story.


   

Awkward picture in Arizona

     The trip was really pleasant. I would spend a lot of time in the truck reading, watching movies or listening to the radio. You have no idea how many shows Ryan Secreast host! At night time, we listened to this channel with a girl called "Delilah" as a host. The Delilah show is pretty much a bunch of desperate women calling her and telling her about their love stories. They broke up with their boyfriend, her husband is gone and she miss him etc. Then, Delilah would say " I have a song for you!" and she would play random love songs. My father and I would have a great laugh each time we heard the radio say "Delilaaaah".

In the United States, the truckers definitely have their space. There's truck stops everywhere and truck parking too! In my father's truck, there wasn't any cooking appliances. So, we had to stop at different restaurant every day. Imagine, two weeks with about two meal everyday that's about 28 meals! At the end of the trip, I was almost shedding a tear when I tasted my mom's cooking! On the other hand, we did get to eat at some pretty nice restaurants. One of my favorite was "In-n-out burgers". You might have heard of it before since they have the best burgers and milkshakes ever! Trust me, if you ever go to the west coast, get "in-n-out"! We also went to some great Mexican places! I tasted some Quesadillas for the first time and I even had a morning burrito (eggs,hash browns,sausages and bacon). There was this great place in Texas too, but I'll get to that later.

Quesadillas

In n Our burgers

In a space of two weeks, we drove to 18 states.

     Such as Iowa. We stopped at biggest truck stop in the world. They had a barber shop, a church and even a dentist place! They also had a variety of great candies such a Jelly Belly's!

Iowa 80, biggest truck stop in the world

   
    Wyoming was probably one of my favorite state. It's so gorgeous. It was the first place where I felt I was really in the west even though they had snow. They also have heated toilet seats and every flavor of Arizona ice tea you could wish for.

Wyoming State line

Ice tea heaven

 

     

     

     

   

     Even though we didn't drive there at night time, Nevada was so pretty! As it was close to new years, the road from Nevada to California had zero traffic as everyone was getting out of Cali to go see family or just have a great new years in Vegas.The hotels all looked fancy. One of my favorite was built as New York city. There was one who even had some roller coaster rides on the roof. Pretty sick! We went to eat at casino buffet and they had unlimited pizza, bacon and an ice cream maker! I was already in heaven. The casino was fascinating. Even though I didn't have the age to gamble (or the time), I was allowed to be inside. Imagine, a huge arcade with bright lights but instead of wasting your coins you can get some in return! Back in the days, Casinos used to be own by the mafia. In one casino, there was the real death car of Bonnie and Clyde. That was pretty sick. 

Bonnie & Clyde death car

Palm trees in Nevada

                                

Roller Coaster on the roof!

NYC shaped hotel

 
                                                

   

Line of cars to get into VEGAS

 
   This trip was very special to me and I'm glad I get to share it will all of you. I still haven't gotten to the part where I actually cross the California state line. But, I think I wrote enough for today. I have so much to tell.

To be continued...