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My work is never done, and Alf can attest to that! After receiving my Ph.D. on 2/22/2002 (interesting numbers, aren't they? my thesis was also 222 pages!), I continued working in the lab to get one last set of results to publish before leaving MIT in June. I also had to go to an American Association of Cancer Research conference on 4/5, and it just happened to be in San Francisco!
So that's where the title comes in! Alf decided to join me on that lovely Friday morning, when it was exactly freezing temperature in Boston. The 6.5 hour flight was uneventful (thank God), but neither of us really like flying. San Fran was overcast and in the 60s, but it shortly cleared up and we had some pretty good weather. Most of the time, I was at the conference, but we had time to do some sight seeing. When we arrived on Friday, we took a historic streetcar to Fisherman's Wharf. Wouldn't you know it, the streetcar was from Newark, NJ! We were not even in CA for 3 hours and we were already reminded of home. At the wharf, we ate at the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant, (with a nice view of Alcatraz) where there was a Tom Hanks look-alike proclaiming Gump-isms to passersby. We also took a tour of the marvelous city, seeing the Golden Gate Bridge and Park, Nob Hill, the Haight-Ashbury district, the crookedest street, and the Cliff House. We also went to the cable car museum, which was truly amazing!
After presenting my work to a bunch of famous scientists (yes, some were Nobel Laureates!), it was time to head down to San Diego for some job interviews. We decided to take our time and drive down along the coast, stopping at the Monterey aquarium (we saw the jellies exhibit and petted sting rays!) and spending the night near the Hearst Castle. The castle was beyond belief. I want to be that rich someday! We drove the coastal route from there, experiencing breathtaking views and stopping to photograph every vista we could. We made our way inland and drove through Hollywood, taking pictures of the sign on the hill from someone's driveway! Then on to LA, and down to San Diego.
We arrived in San Diego on 4/10, and saw real surfers for the first time. I had full day interviews on the 11th and 12th, and came home in the evening to a cool pool and a warm hot tub. All the while, Alf was schmoozing with some fellow investors and the VP of New Visual Corp. in which he owns stock. On the 13th we enjoyed a tour of San Diego, stopping by (but not going into) the world famous San Diego Zoo (it was a zoo in there!). We saw Old Town, where we ate very authentic Mexican food and drank HUGE margaritas. We also bought some of the hottest hot sauces in the world! Next we got to see some aircraft carriers and the island of Coronado. And oh yeah, some of the places where Top Gun was shot! One of my favorite movies of all time! We met up with some of Alf's pals, Karen and Dave, who generously treated us to a nice dinner (complete with California chardonnay) and shared with us some of their experiences about living in San Diego. They took us to the famous Comedy Store, where comedians like Robin Williams got their start. It was a great show!
The next morning, we were supposed to fly back to Boston, but as I said, we don't like to fly. We decided to ditch the tickets and drive home! Here's where the real adventure begins…
Our first destination was the Grand Canyon, roughly 800 miles from San Diego. We set out around 9:30am, and saw A LOT of the Mojave desert. It got up to about 104 deg F! Eventually, we were just south of Las Vegas (we didn't have enough time to drive through) and at the Hoover Dam. Wow. What a marvel! We could only stand to look around for about an hour in the grueling heat before heading on. We continued through Arizona along the southern edge of the Grand Canyon, although we didn't see it till the next day. We climbed up to an elevation of over 7000 ft, which made our ears pop, our throats dry, and our heads a little woozy. But we arrived at our hotel at 8pm, with just enough time to have dinner and plan the next day's route.
We awoke early on 4/15 (don't worry, our taxes were done weeks ago!) and headed down to breakfast. Upon checking out, we learned that we had a $127 phone bill for a 2 hour call to the next town over! We argued and argued, but only got half the bill reduced. Alf and I were furious, and we were about and hour behind schedule. After calming down a bit, we headed out to see the Grand Canyon. We forgot about the bill instantly. There is no way to describe the beauty of this place. Pictures and post cards don't do it justice. We had a hard time believing it was real at all! It looked like a backdrop to the movies. After taking about 50 pictures (lucky we invested in a digital camera with a big memory chip!) we headed on to a winding road with lots of Native American roadside stands. Our favorite was Chief Yellowhorn's. Once you passed, there were signs that said "you missed us…nice Indians behind you…the Chief sez turn around"! We continued on along a very straight desert road once again, seeing lots of dust devils along the way. The dust devils soon turned into a huge and horrendous dust storm (no wonder why they had wind advisories on the radio!). At times, the visibility was less than 50 feet. We made it through, though, and headed on to the Four Corners. This is the only place in the US where four states intersect exactly. We then rode on the Devil's Highway (featured in the movie "Natural Born Killers"), Route 666, but we didn't pass by Alfie's Donuts. Oh well! We continued on through Moab, Utah where the rock formations were striking. We ended our day in Grand Junction, CO.
On Tuesday morning we set out to see the Rockies, and what a sight they were! We drove on the winding mountain roads, climbing higher and higher, and experiencing hail the size of my pinky fingernail. It was about 38 deg F. The hail soon ended to yield sunny skies and beautiful mountains. Vail Pass came next, bringing us some of the most spectacular views (and yes, the peaks were still snow-covered!). We reached a maximum elevation (on the highway itself) of 11,992 ft at Loveland Pass and photographed mountains that reached over 14,200 ft. We gradually decreased our elevation to about 5000 ft in Denver, and as we came down from the mountains, there were signs for the truckers reading "Don't be fooled! You are not down yet…", encouraging them to keep it in low gear. From Denver you could look behind you and see all the mountains in their grandeur, the snow-capped peaks rising above the lower, tree-covered "hills". After that there was A LOT of flat farmland, and as we looked to our left on the eastern border of CO, we saw ominous dark clouds turning the skies black. To the right, blue skies and puffy white clouds. We experienced a little wind and rain, but basically outran the storm before it became severe. Once in Kansas, the temperature rose up to about 89 deg F on the prairie. Lots of prairie. We did see lots of tumbleweeds, oil derricks, and tractors. We made it to Junction City just before a severe thunderstorm around 8 pm, putting in about 10.5 hours of driving.
Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore! I could finally say that after passing through Topeka and arriving in Kansas City, MO, where we saw Royals Stadium from the highway. Missouri was a little more interesting than Kansas. We passed through the Ozarks region, and saw many fireworks outlets and signs for cheap cigarettes on the way. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is located right on the Mississippi River, where we admired the riverboats as well. It was a quick stop, then it was on through Illinois and Indiana, which went relatively quickly (compared to Kansas!). We were headed to see Alf's friends in Cincinnati, or so we thought. Little did we know, we were actually going to Kentucky (just south of the Ohio border). So we took the long way around, but we admired nighttime views of Cincinnati on the way. We arrived in Kentucky (finally!) at about 10:30 pm, giving us a total of about 14.5 hours on the road that day. We needed a few drinks after that one, so we met up with Alf's pals around 11 pm at a local watering hole. Mike and Jason were there to welcome us with open arms, and they even got the barmaid to make a pass at Alf, surprising him and making him blush! We hung out till the wee hours of the morning (almost 3 am) and decided we weren't driving anywhere the next day. Thursday was for sleeping late, enjoying the hotel's indoor and outdoor pools, and soaking up some Kentucky sun. Jason met up with us again that evening, generously treating us to a nice dinner overlooking the famous fountain featured in the opening sequence to "WKRP in Cincinnati". We learned that there was no actual building or radio station though. Afterwards, Jason put the top down and chauffeured us around the waterfront, pointing out the sights and telling us a little history of the area. He then took us to a great spot were we could have an after dinner drink while overlooking the city. We returned to the hotel early that night, so we could get a fresh start in the morning.
Friday, 4/19, we headed out by 9 am. One thing we noticed since Indiana is that there are a lot of motor speedways between Indianapolis and Pennsylvania. The drive through Ohio was also mostly farmland, except for when we passed near Columbus. There we made a rest stop, and we actually bought some Krispy Kreme donuts! I'd been hearing about those for years, but never actually tried one. They are pretty darn good! We crossed the Ohio River and spent a few minutes (literally) in West Virginia before entering into Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania is also a pretty lengthy state, but the rolling hills and lush green pastures were pleasing to the eye. We passed though some "mountains" (the Alleghenies), which peaked around 2100 ft. Not very interesting compared to the Rockies! We encountered some traffic near the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, but it was pretty smooth sailing after that. Signs for Crystal Caves, Hershey, and Lancaster reminded me of childhood vacations. The Pennsylvania Dutch style actually runs up to the Appalachians in some places. After traveling through Bethlehem we approached the New Jersey border with eager anticipation. Finally, something we were familiar with! We continued to Newark, where our families awaited our arrival. Another 10.5 hour day on the road culminated not in a hotel room, but in my mom and dad's house. As much as we enjoyed the experience, it was nice not to have to pay for a bed.
