3,280 miles: A cross-country roadtrip to Disneyland, CA! (NEW x2! 5/22)

[scoutingbear]

Sound fun! Following along.

 

[enchantedrosex]

This is the post where I will start to introduce some of the frequently used words in me and Mitchel's vocabulary. Nowadays, we have so many that it's almost our own language. It may be hard to grasp as first, but once you get to know us through the manymanymany posts to come, maybe-possibly-hopefully you'll understand us a wee bit better. Or not. It's whatever.​

(weird words will be in bold)​

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I forgot to mention that we switched drivers again at the NJ rest stop. Now, I was driving again! Since getting all confused over Karen's (our GPS) false arrival time, we decided to switch drivers way earlier than originally planned, so now we were back on our normal schedule!

It took me forever to convince Mitch to take a video, but he finally obliged. We ended up getting an awesome one as we were driving through a very long and dark tunnel but the dumb lump realized he hadn't pressed "record"

Lump= derives from "lumpy" which derives from a text that was originally supposed to say "lmao" that was autocorrected to "lumps" for some reason. We liked lumpy so much that we made it into a word to describe a person that I can't really explain right now because it just is. Heheh.​

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Anyway, the video that actually did record consisted of this... ​

Me: "HI I'm driving!"
Mitch: "Really? Never woulda guessed"​

(A very snarktastic response, btw)

In in case you were wondering..."snarktastic" is snarky and sarcastic. Snarky is one of our favorite words and it'll turn up often!​

Then it was...

Mitch: "Are you sad we don't have the tunnel vid"
Me: "YES"
Mitch: "MMohwell, AIN'T"

Ain't=another favorite word. It derives from the popular pop-culture phrase of "Ain't nobody got time for that", which we shortened into "ain't nobody" and then during this trip it just became "ain't". It's now a perfectly simple word that describes a multiplitude of happenings in our lives. (like washing dishes when you're the only one using them, doing homework anytime before the day it's due, etc)

P.s. you should probably take notes on all this...just sayin' ​

Mitch: "My job is to text B...oh, hey B"​

B= my mom. We used to call her Beast Woman (in a loving way of course). Ok, before you judge, we called her that because she had this Halloween decoration of a dead little man in a sack who jumbled around and groaned scarily when you pressed a button. We named him Beast Child so it was only appropriate that my mom became Beast Woman. Well, she wasn't to keen on the name so it was shortened to B and the name stuck forevermore. (Her real name is Betsy, so it totally makes sense)​

B is a worrier like most mommas and insists on texting us 24/7 to make sure that we're still alive. ​

Mitch: "Well here's a video. The end"

Lul.

Lul=our special way of spelling "lol"; we also frequently sub pronouncing "lul" out loud in place of real laughter because real laughter=ain't.

You got all that??
Great, because there's a ton more to come!​

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Alllllrighty. So, pretty soon we were on the outskirts of D.C. Also known as "somewhere in Maryland". HOLY TRAFFIC AND AGGRESSIVE DRIVERS. So, naturally I was panicking a tad. Plus, the area we were going through was kind of sketch. Buuuuut guess what? I managed. Yay me.

We soon reached the ACTUAL D.C. area where more panic ensued. But also excitement because I had never been here before and also a "Secret Service "car just passed on my left. We (as in me) had a ton of fun pointing out all of the exciting political/official buildings around us as we sat in non-moving traffic for hours like the BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING!​

Which I just knew you would really want a picture of, so you're welcome...​

And also this cute little couple walking with an umbrella on this super sunny rainless day!​

Famous pointy building that we had no name to put to at the time. THAT I NOW KNOW IS THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT! (thanks ​

Google)​

"OMG IT'S THE WHITE HOUSE"​

Lul.​

And yes, I wholeheartedly believed that this was my first glimpse of Obama's residence. But hey, at least now I can say that I know it's the Capitol! (I hope it is anyway)​

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I'm holding the Jefferson Memorial. I bet you that you can't say that you've did that. Womp wooooomp.​

This sign just made me laugh...I wonder if they could be ticketed for doin' a roll thru. Wouldn't that be funny??

'Scuse me for not coming to a complete stop on my bicycle.​

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You see, I coulda said "chuckle" instead of "laugh" up there, but I didn't. And do you know why that is? Because chuckle is a horrible word. Don't ever use it.​

Guess what?? We're extremely close to our first destination...Mitch's cousin Josh's apartment! What will our experience be like? Is Josh a good host? Will we like D.C? These are all questions that you can ponder while you wait for the next update!

TALK TO YOU SOOOOOOOON!​

#'Mericuh​

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[poppins2008]

Enjoying the report ........but I hope it isn't 4 months before the next update!!!

 

[Credit Man]

Cool! An update!!!

 

[enchantedrosex]

Ok, so you know how I said we were super close to Josh's??
That was totally true. Josh actually doesn't live in D.C. He lives in a cute little town called Alexandria which is actually in Virginia, but close enough.

If you remember, we were supposed to arrive at 1 in the afternoon. However, due to traffic and some more getting lost, we didn't arrive until 2. Woooomp.

Here's a little background on Josh:
He's Mitch's cousin and they are the same age. Josh is very "hipstery" and "pompous". Lol. At the time, he had just moved into this apartment in Alexandria with roommates he found via Craigslist and was commuting into D.C. to work in various political-y internships. His dad is pushing him to be a lawyer but right now he's kind of struggling and confused and doesn't really know what he wants in life. You know, the typical 20-something year old.

So, we finally arrive at Josh's apartment and are SO happy to be out of the car. We giddy on up to the door, and give it a nice little knock. Josh answers, completely shirtless and looking like he A) just woke up and B) was completely surprised/confused that we were there (which makes no sense really because we had been texting him updates of our whereabouts and ETAs all the while). That's Josh for ya.​

He informed us of the sweltering conditions and that he had been waiting for the A.C. installing man all day. Yay.

His apartment was understandably a hot mess because he had just moved in a couple of days before our arrival. Me and Mitch contemplated on where we were going to sleep while we hauled all of our crap into Josh's cramped, rabbit-hole room.

Mitch's reaction to our current sitch:​

I was all like "whatever, man". I mean, as long as I have a shower and a floor and maybe a blanket, I'm cool.

Mitch, on the other hand, was displeased with Josh's lack of hospitality and general good host-ness. (They are 2 totally different people.)

So after we got settled-ish and freshened up, we decided to go into the city by ourselves because we didn't wanna waste a whole day sitting around waiting with Josh for the A.C. man whilst sweating to death.​

We ventured out and walked over to the metro. Man, that thing is CONFUSING. I mean, I think all metros are confusing, but I'm definitely waaaaay more used to NYC's. They just have transport down over there. But, we figured it out and I snapped this lovely pic of this funky building that we decided was an airport, I think...

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And then our train pulled into our destination...
WHAT will we do next??
WHERE will we go??
WHO will we meet??
WILL we have fun??

I know these are burning questions in your mind, but you'll just have to hang onto your knickers for a pinch.

Coming soon to a (trip report) near you:

MITCHEL AND MICHELA TAKE D.C.​

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[enchantedrosex]

Enjoying the report ........but I hope it isn't 4 months before the next update!!!

Thank you! And I know, I got crazy distracted...hopefully I'll be able to post more regularly now hahah

Cool! An update!!!

It was about time!

 

[BaileyKin]

I just started reading your trip report. How was the rest of the drive? I live in ny too and wanted to do a similar trip with my boyfriend. Updates!! How was it?

 

[enchantedrosex]

It took us about four years to find our way out of the metro station and into daylight. Not even exaggerating. ​

We decided to hit up some Smithsonian museums first! But not without stopping for a quick pic at these pretty flowers!​

UGH. Please excuse my hair. This was seriously a rough time for me in that department. I was transitioning back to blonde from a dark brown and I apologize for the horridness. ​

It took us another 8.5 years to get on the right track to the museums. All the meantime we stopped at took photos at some fancy/important political buildings to send to our fams back home.​

It was seriously SCORCHING HOT and we were dying of thirst in the heat. Mitchel was starting to feel like he was gonna pass on out...​

Luckily a quick drink at a street cart fixed that quick.​

We passed this fun looking architectural art garden thing that we thought would be cool to walk through...so we did. We were greeted immediately by this funky spidery-lookin thing...​

And this super cool tree made completely of some kind of metal...​

Then after some more confused meandering, we found the museum we wanted to go to...the natural history one!​

They had some fun aquariums! ​

Can you spot Dory, Marlin and Nemo? ​

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And then we decided to play a fun game with the cave-esque people statues and models. Be prepared for some extremely embarrassing and unattractive photos of me...you're lucky they're too funny not to post on the internet!​

As usual...stay tuned!​

 

[Credit Man]

Welcome back, again!

 

[enchantedrosex]

Where I last left off, me and Mitchel were casually strolling through the natural history Smithsonian and heading towards the "Primitive" section. Let me tell ya, there is nothing we like more than some cave men exhibits. And pretending to be those exhibits. ​

Sigh. Now that that embarrassment is over we can move on...

We stopped to take a daring photo on this dangerously exciting bit of clear plastic floor #livinontheedge​

(RIP cute shoes )​

...before honin' in on our/my acting skillz some more. Sigh.​

Allllllright, enough of that. Seriously, my hair here was almost as bad as the mullet I had in high school. Almost. Do you ever look at older pictures of yourself and wonder why anyone allowed you to look like that? Yeesh.
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As always, stay tuned! Plenty more adventures to be had ​

 

[enchantedrosex]

I just started reading your trip report. How was the rest of the drive? I live in ny too and wanted to do a similar trip with my boyfriend. Updates!! How was it?

It was awesome! I definitely recommend it because it was such an experience. I'm dying to do it again!!

Welcome back, again!

Ahh thank you! It's been so long!

 

[enchantedrosex]

We made our way back into the beautiful sunshine and continued to explore D.C.!

Mitch snapped this photo of me looking quite concerned...

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Ooooh such a pretty sky ​

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I liked these arches...

And then we decided we were hung-hung (hungry) so we chose a random quaint-lookin French café type thing named 'Paul'. Pronounced "pah-ooul" if you're fancy like us. Basically, they were a French and classy Panera.

Here's proof that we were there in case you were skeptical...​

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We ordered what I believe to be croque monsieur (ham & swiss, if you're not fancy ) with a side salad and we split it. It was deliciously satisfying!​

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During all of this, we had been in communication with Josh's girlfriend, Emily (who I will refer to as 'Fleur' because she reminds us of the French character from Harry Potter), about meeting up and we ultimately decided to meet in front of the White House since mine and Mitchel's phones were dead/dying.​

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We finally found each other and just spent some time chatting and taking photos. And also observing the quite intimidating secret service posed and ready with weapons up on the roof.​

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This is Fleur...​

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These next pictures are the result of us trying to look "regal and stoic"...​

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The crowd 'round the White House started to get a bit overwhelming so we relocated to the patch of shady benches across from it. ​

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*Fun fact: This next photo actually ISN'T a candid of Mitch and Fleur engaging in conversation. Sometimes ya just gotta fake it.​

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Then I became fascinated with this bee that wouldn't leave Mitchel alone...​

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And then I experimented a little with the camera and got a little personal...

Introducing the many faces of Mitchel:​

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Fleur should probably just go be a model...​

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I'll leave you with this image:​

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(You're welcome)​

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This is what happens when we have a lot of time to kill.​

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Finally it was time to move. We got back on the confusing metro and headed toward DuPont Circle-a quaint little district of D.C.

What ever will we do next?? What's in DuPont?? You know what to do! (stay tuned, duh)​

 

[petals]

joining in.

 

[enchantedrosex]

So, we arrived at DuPont Circle and set out to find Josh. It didn't take to long before we found him casually sprawled out on a fountain reading a book (so typical Josh).​

He recommended that we all go to Black and Orange, which is apparently a top-rated burger place, for dinner, so there we went.​

Annnnnd at a place that's known for their burgers, I would obviously get chicken. The chipotle chicken sandwich with a sweet iced tea to be exact. Pretty sure everyone else got burgers...sorry, no pics! ​

I think we mighta all shared sweet potato fries too, but who can be sure? Everythang was yummy (I'm assuming) and we all sat around for a bit and chatted. Me and Fleur bonded over our love for Gilmore Girls and discussed our fav boy choice for Rory (Team Logan over here) and then we all decided to peace around 9:30

We snapped some celfies in the metro station. Josh is much hipster. So blasé.

We finally get back to Josh's apartment back in Alexandria and we had the pleasure of meeting his dirty hippie of a roomie, Tim and his lovely *sarcasm* friend/boo thang. Tim was alright but his lady friend was quite rude and ended up stealing the bottle of wine Mitch's rents had gifted to Josh for his, errr, hospitality. Mitch was more peeved about the whole situation than I and refused to sleep out on the couch because Josh's roomies were up all night playing guitar, so we ended up stealing Josh's bed. Josh wasn't so ecstatic about that, and we felt kinda bad, so we blew up an air mattress and and managed to fit it snugly in Josh's room. Mitch was cranky about the guitar playing, but it eventually stopped and we were able to catch some zz's before our early rise.

We woke up a few hours later at 4:30am to prepare for our long day of driving...only to find out that Josh had no hot water. Like at all. It was take an ice cold shower or nothing, and we sadly chose nothing. All we were lookin' forward to was a nice hot shower to take off the filth of the city and now we had to sit in the car for 9 hours like sweaty, smelly hobos. Sigh. We packed our bags, bid our farewells to Josh and hit the road.

Was this day fated for disaster or does it look up? Stay tuned for DAY TWO!​

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[enchantedrosex]

joining in.

Yay! Glad to have you here!

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Hi Michela!! I love it so far

 

[enchantedrosex]

Hi Michela!! I love it so far

Hi! Thank you so much

 

[enchantedrosex]

__may 23;​

Feeling about as refreshed as we could be with having not taken showers and running on 4 hours of sleep, we set out for Dacula, GA at approximately 6:00 a.m.

But first...breakfast. At none other than good ole Mickey D's. I was trying to be "healthy-ish" and really wasn't feeling greasy fast food at this early in the morning, so I opted to order the fruit oatmeal. I think Mitch ordered some kind of breakfast sandwich.

Welll of course we had to get the most incompetent worker ever who barely even spoke English and our order was totally messed up. I ended up receiving a smoothie instead of the oatmeal, and Mitch had not gotten ketchup. Womp womp. So we had to pull over and wait literally 7 years for the oatmeal and ketchup.



Here's a slightly blurry pic of my oatmeal. Hooray!

Finally, after struggling to find a gas station that was open/not broken (this was a really great morning) we were able to get on the road with no more interruptions!​

Mitch drove the entire 9 hours because he was "loving it" and "having fun". We drove with the windows down the entire way, which was awesome because outside smelled like fresh pine! Yummmm!

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I took this picture of this random truck for a specific reason but now I can't seem to recall...hmmm

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Maybe because of "bam bam"? Or I'm thinking it was because they were a terrible driver and almost killed us and I wanted to remember the moment.​

Woooohooo we're officially in Georgia!​

Here I noted that we passed approximately 8 million waffle houses and peach farms. When in Georgia??​

During this entire duration I took 2 naps and slept for a total of 4 hours according to Mitch. I think it ended up taking us longer than 9 hours because at this point Mitch has been driving for 8 hours and we were scheduled to arrive at 5. (Making it about 11 hours! Yikes!)​

Finally after a very loooooong and pretty uneventful drive we arrived at Mitch's Aunt Julie's house. We didn't have plans for the rest of the night so we settled down for some much needed southern home cooked dinner.​

As soon as we walked in the door we unpacked and took showers out of pure desperation. Julie was already cooking when we arrived so we were super pumped after all those packaged road snacks.​

Here's a pic of what our room looked like...​

And here are a couple (really cute) mirror selfies I took to express my sadness over my grimy hobo disposition while I waited for my turn in the shower. ​

When we were all cleaned up and pretty again, we went downstairs for a yummy dinner that consisted of some salad, noodles, green beans and pork. Basically, it was Ohana.

After dinner came an equally delicious and simple dessert that me and Mitch helped make. It was this banana cream pie thing that's apparently big in the South. All it had was vanilla wafers, pudding and bananas. WHAT A DREAM. It was literally the most amazing thing ever and I continue to make it all the time to this day. If you haven't tried this yet, you're definitely missing out. SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GO GET YOU SOME BANANA CREAM PIE! ​

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So after dinner we went for a walk with Julie and her kids AKA Mitch's cousins. We just casually played at a park and it was splendid. When we got back we talked with the A-dults about what to do in the morning. At this point, we didn't really have a plan but I wanted to go to Atlanta! So we decided that we would follow Julie into the city bright and early and then choose what to do from there.​

Hang in there, folks ​

 

[Credit Man]

Yeah for an update!!!

 

[enchantedrosex]

__may 24;​

We (I) woke up the next morning at 6:20 a.m. to shower and get ready. Shortly after, Mitch got up and we packed up all of our stuff to hit the road. We decided on the Atlanta Aquarium! Yay!​

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Julie made sure we were well prepared for the day's travels and packed us up with some yogurt, rice krispies and leftover salad. Yum!​

We were out the door and on the road at 8 a.m (Cue Disney Pandora). Julie works in the city, so we followed her until we had to part ways. Georgia toll booths are HELLA confusing and they use "Peach Pass" so our EZ Pass was totally invalid here. WHO KNEW?? Obviously not us. Sigh.​

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This one crazy driver in a mom-van kept trying to squeeze their way in-between us and Julie but we were NOT HAVIN' IT. We managed to be bumper to bumper with Julie the whole way so A+ to Mitch for his smooth-cat (and slightly aggressive) driving!​

We arrived at the aquarium around 9 and began the hunt to find a parking spot that didn't cost $20. We finally found one that was only $5 buuuut it was in a sketchy and unprotected lot that was in some alley.​

But I mean...it was like $15 less so I'd say it was a SCORE!​

Mitch can't park his shiny new car for life, so I had to do it. He was pretty worried about his car here but we decided to risk it anyway. (Spoiler alert-it was totally fine) ​

We finally got to purchase our aquarium tickets at a whopping $37 each and headed right in! The lobby is super cool and changes colors! It's kinda circular and has a few different halls leading to each section of the aquarium that is differently themed!​

First stop? The magical belugas! I oooh'd and awh'd over these brilliant creatures for a few minutes. I loved them then but now I love them even more after recently been given a chance to study them up close at Marineland in Canada!​

We saw a lot of mating going on in the sea otters and the penguins, but one of the coolest things here was their massive tunnel tank that had WHALE SHARKS. If you haven't seen a whale shark yet, you need to put in on your bucket list because WOAH.

Crappy blurry pic comin' up, but WHALE SHARK!!!​

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We spent a lot of time wandering around these massive tanks and ended up talking to an elderly employee there. He was so knowledgeable and really passionate about marine animals and seemed to love his job. It made me happy and got me excited for the future because I want to get into the animal field!​

Jellies!

One of the coolest creatures ever...an albino gator! Eeep!

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After hitting up a good chunk of the aquarium, we breaked for lunch. Here's Mitch passively enjoying his...​

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And here's mine. Notice the banana wafer pudding that I got really excited about having just discovered it. The addiction is real. The wrap, on the other hand, was "meh". $11 later... ​

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We explored the aquarium for another hour or so but then we had to be back on the road. But of course we couldn't leave without exploring the gift shop!

How freakin cute are these plushie penguins??!!

I wanted to take one home so badly

#CUTEOVERLOAD

Sadly, I didn't buy anything because I was saving all my money to blow in Disneyland!

We left the aquarium around 11 and walked back to the car which was perfectly safe and sound. Phew!

Got some petty drama coming up so...

STAY TUNED!​