Back in Baltimore

Baltimore: Home to the greatest TV show ever created, a kickass football team, a somewhat hopeful baseball team and the writers of this blog.

After spending more than a month on the road, we returned home to Baltimore at 11:50 PM on Saturday, February 19th - 10 minutes before my sister's birthday. The next morning we went to my place (also my sister's place) to have brunch in celebration of our return, her birthday that day and my birthday the following day. Yes, we share living spaces and birthdays (almost). We're weird.

Since we got back a month ago, it's been somewhat depressing. Not to say we don't enjoy seeing our friends and family, but there's nothing like a cross-country road trip. At this point, we're beyond wanderlust -- we're travel junkies. Each morning we'd wake up, pack the car and head somewhere new. That high we got heading to our next destination made it almost impossible to be sad to leave the previous. Now that we're back, the feeling of withdrawl we had avoided is now hitting us hard. It doesn't help to be jobless and have little to do -- a stark contrast from visiting a different city each day.

We would like to keep traveling, but economics limit what we can do.  Sure, there have been a few weekend trips here and there after our trip, but nothing like what we were doing before. We were essentially transient vagabonds who had the great fortune to visit old friends, meet new people and experience unfamiliar cultures. It sucked losing our jobs, but we definitely made the best of the opportunity. We're considering doing some more traveling once my bank account replenishes -- let's hope that happens soon. In the meantime, we're still applying for jobs to give us something to do until our next trip.

This might be our last post surmising our travels, but there will be still more posts. Think of the upcoming posts as a Behind the Scenes type updates - Pictures We Missed, a Soundtrack (here's to hoping we get a movie deal) and, of course, Best/ Worst of our Road Trip. Stay tuned.

Honey Badger Homage

If you have spent more than 10 minutes talking to me in the past two months, I have probably told you about the Honey Badger – the Chuck Norris of the animal kingdom.  Ayk has probably heard me talk about it at least a dozen times (Ayk’s note: That’s a conservative estimate).

This obsession slightly bordering monomania seems misplaced, since girls always fall for the cute and cuddly animals.  What makes this stubby and vicious creature so fascinating?  Simply put: it’s pure, unadulterated badass.  Watch this video and you will be overcome by its sheer awesomeness:

I have been antsy and giddy to see the Honey Badger ever since we planned to visit San Diego on this trip.  I’m fairly certain that I told almost every friend we saw on this road trip how much I wanted to see it.  Sadly, we didn’t realize that the SD Zoo is so massive that it has several different parks.  The Honey Badger, as cruel fate would have it, is located at a completely different park than the one we visited.

With only one and a half days in San Diego, my mother’s hometown, it was either take a brief tour of the city, or see the Honey Badger.  We went with the former.  It was hard holding back the tears.

Some day, Honey Badger, I will see you.  Some day.

Day 14: Half Moon Bay, Drinks in SF

Half Moon Bay

One of Mo’s friends from San Francisco recommended that we visit Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Half Moon Bay.  

Apparently the marine life is abundant at low tide.  Hoping to see some sea critters at the optimal time, we were disappointed to find none in sight.

Except this lone sea ... weed?  Seriously, what is this thing? 

 On the bright side, Ayk finally got to see the Pacific.

And at sunset, no less. 

At least one of their recommendations, Flying Fish Grille, did live up to expectations. Neither of us is a fish taco enthusiast, but we liked them so much we had them for lunch the next day.

 The tacos were just as cheesy as their decor.

Drinks in San Fran

My friend John Britton, who worked at Ixia with me, moved to San Francisco to pursue his masters degree in the classic guitar.  We met him in the city for drinks at Suppenküche, which is a German restaurant, if you couldn’t tell from umlaut.  His opera-singing girlfriend Laine met up with us later. 

Their babies will surely be adorable Mozarts.

We asked him what the transition from East Coast to West Coast was like.  Other than the ridiculously high prices in the Bay Area, he said that San Franciscans tend to get too chatty and too invasive of personal privacy.  Sometimes people will even initiate conversations He says he’s adapted to it, but it took a while.