May 6, 2006.
19 years ago today I followed my dream and moved to California.
It was May 1st. I just finished packing my last bag I was going to take with me. All other bags, boxes and some furniture were already shipped. I wasn’t going to take too much with me, mostly personal stuff. Everything was set except for my travel arrangements. As I flew to CA quite a few times within the last year, I really wanted to experience the drive thru half the country. My plan was to drive from Chicago to California, stop at small motels and see a few states along the way. Unfortunately, my mom was stressing about the idea of me driving alone so far. As I was not going to give up, my mom introduced me to Jacek, a Polish truck driver she knew very well, whose route was going to be very similar to the one I was going to take. Happy my idea was going to work out, I accepted his invitation to join him on this trip.
It took us 5 days; we slept in the truck, ate and washed off at truck stops. I got to see 7 states along the way: Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and, finally, California. It was a great experience, and if you ever have a chance to take a drive across the US, I definitely recommend it.
After we left Chicago and started getting closer to Iowa everything became quite flat. The road in front of us and the landscape on both sides on the freeway, all very green and nice, but flat. No hills, no mountains range, just flat fields of corn and oats. Somewhere in the distance I saw apple trees. Iowa is a country’s major producer of corn. The landscape didn’t change much all the way thru Nebraska, who is also a major producer of corn. If it wouldn’t be for the “Nebraska… the good life” state sign, I would probably not even know we were in a different state.
From Nebraska road took us to Colorado. And, even though it was already May, and in the states we passed it was green and warm, Colorado was a different story. Snow usually begins falling starting in late October and continues until April, or sometimes even later months. Sometimes it snows in end of May – beginning of June and in the mountains it can snow as late as in July. Summer snowfall is not all that uncommon in Colorado and it’s even possible to see flurries above the tree line as early as July. Down in Denver, the earliest snow on record fell on Sept. 3, 1961. When we drove thru Colorado, Jacek, who visited this state many times, wanted to show me the mountains. He took a little extra route to do that and I was very grateful for that. However, what we did not account for, was a snow in the mountains. It was very surreal to see a snow in May and though I was definitely not dressed for the weather Jacek stopped and I walked in a snow for a while.
Things started to change as we entered Utah. Utah is known for having some of the best skiing in the country, and the mountains near Salt Lake City receive an average of 500 inches of snow per year. Mountains, hills, desert-like landscape – that’s what makes Utah quite unique. The name “Utah” comes from the Native American “Ute” tribe and means people of the mountains.
Utah is a home to Big 5 national parks, also called The Mighty 5:
- Arches National Park. Moab, UT
- Bryce Canyon National Park. Bryce, UT
- Canyonlands National Park. Moab, UT
- Capitol Reef National Park. Torrey, UT
- Zion National Park. Springdale, UT
A quick stop by the Black Dragon Canyon was all we had time for, but the view along the way was enough to satisfy my love for the nature.
After leaving Utah we headed towards Nevada, where, of course, we had to make a stop in famous (or infamous, depends on how one looks at it) Las Vegas. As I am not a gambler and casinos are quite boring for me, I left my driving partner in one of them and wandered around the city. In my opinion one time is enough to see it all, but I visited Vegas a few times after.
We had one more state to visit, before heading to what would be my new home – Arizona. A very hot, desert place, where temperatures in summer reach 120F (49C). A home of the world famous Grand Canyon.
Finally, we headed to my destination: Calabasas in California. We arrived at the apartment complex May 6th around 6am. As it was a few hours too early, I decided to take a walk around the place I was going to call my new home. I was very impressed with what I saw. I think I owe you a little explanation. Let me tell you guys, I found, rented and signed the lease for an apartment all online. Before May 6th I have not seen the apartment or the complex other than on the internet. Turned out, I made a very good decision.
Apartment complex where I rented my first apartment is California is called Malibu Canyon Apartments, and is located at the end of Las Virgenes Road which is a part of Malibu Canyon Road. You can take it all the way down to Malibu, to the beach. Beautiful complex; pet-friendly and smoke-free apartments with premium kitchens and resort-style pools (not sure if I remember correctly, but I think there is 4 pools total – a main one in the middle of the complex and three small ones in addition), hot tubs, and a gym; free parking permit, friendly and helpful maintenance and staff. Complex is surrounded by hills and at the end of the complex (which is also the end of the road), there is a Las Virgenes park with many trails to choose from. Perfect for a morning run or an afternoon stroll.
Our apartment was overlooking the pool from one side and beautiful hills form the other. The grounds were green, clean and kept up very well.
It does get pretty hot in the Summer, as it is in the valley. However, Malibu with its beautiful beaches is only 20 minutes away. If you take Las Virgenes Road all the way down to Pacific Coast highway, you will end up straight at the beach.
Fun fact: there is a tunnel more or less in the middle of the road between Malibu and Calabasas, and every time we crossed the tunnel, it seemed like a temperature dropped at least 10 degrees. A few times we would wake up, feeling it was very hot. We would gather our stuff and headed to the beach. However, each time. After we crossed the tunnel, it would become foggy and way cooler. So we would turn around and spent day at the pool instead.
I had, however, many opportunities to discover Malibu, its beaches, hills, canyons, caves and many other places. My first job in California was in Malibu, at the city hall.
I will take you to all those places, and more, on my blog, so make sure you visit often and stay for as while.
