Oklahoma
Oklahoma, it was good while it lasted. [20 mins]
Texas
So big. So good.
First stop, San Antonio. Never pictured the Alamo in the middle of town, butttt it is.
Then on to Austin. Full of food trucks, music and art. So much to do and eat, so little time.
Crazy awesome food trucks everywhere. Can you think of a better breakfast than an Elvis donut and breakfast tacos [split, just to be clear].
That's peanut butter, bacon, bananas & honey! ^
Good TX souvenir?... It is on AstroTurf!
Finished off Texas with a visit to the Dallas to see the grandparents [again!]
New Mexico
This is what 2 hours of traffic from 4-6am looks like. Not fun, but I'm glad I wasn't driving :)
An early wake up and standstill traffic were totally worth it because we got to see hundreds [600 maybe?] of hot air balloons ascend for the first day of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Magical.
Super cool that you can walk down around the balloons, there are people everywhere, even while they're taking off... This is supposedly the most photographed event in the world! [I believe it, I couldn't stop taking photos]
Stopped in Roswell to make our own judgement about what goes on there, then continued south to Carlsbad to see the caverns and bats. We didn't see any bats, but we did wait for them... for an hour... in the cold rain. Bats can't fly in the rain, so they never came out.
Colorado
If only there had been snow!... too early for that, but we did see some evidence of fall [we've kinda been running from that unfortunately]. Yellow leaves- and i haven't even had a pumpkin spice latte yet... weird, i know.
We spent a lovely day in Denver which we filled with brunch, walking, shopping and a cat cafe! What more could you want?!?
After Denver we headed to Colorado Springs... and up Pikes Peak, or course. Kayci drove and I encouraged [read: harassed] her by making sure she knew how high we were from the ground and how far a drop it was over the edge- making sure to note that there were no trees or guard rails to slow the fall... but we made it safely to the top... and had donuts [I guess that's a thing?].
Spoiler alert: we made it safely back down to bottom too.
Garden of the Gods.. to climb on some more rocks.
Gotcha? You thought we went to Greece. Nope. The Olympic Training Center.
What do you think? Should I try out for the team?
Utah
Utah... full of so many cool things. Too many to see in such a short time.
Because of the rock slide in Zion, we ended up going to Bryce Canyon to start things off... it was a good choice, so much natural beauty. Hoodoos [tall skinny spires of rock that protrude from the bottom of arid basins and "broken" lands], giant trees growing in the canyons, a hike to the bottom of the canyon and back up.
...I adopted a Utah prairie dog [they are endangered- his name is George]
^ One fraction of the hike, I believe this is when I considered just living at the bottom of the canyon forever.
Then to Zion... such a picturesque place where you could spend days exploring.
And finally to Moab [super cool little city] for Arches National Park.
^ Me [tiny standing in the middle of Double Arch]. It was an awesome view.... you can kind of see the view from inside in the panoramic pic.
Nature is crazzzy. Definitely gotta get back to Utah.
Arizona
Pretty much what Arizona looked like, complete with an authentic tumble weed [not gonna lie, I was pretty excited when that happened to be laying where we pulled over].
[Above & below] The Grand Canyon... the North Rim. Not what I was expecting... Is it bad I was a little under-enthused by this?... After visiting SO many other amazing places...
^ Stars over Jacob Lake, AZ the night of the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious [or whatever] moon... minus the moon.
v Horseshoe Bend picture/ social media vs. reality- a long, uphill both ways walk in the blazing hot sun.
Nevada
Ohhh Nevada, we didn't spend much time together, but it was good while it lasted... and hot, the desert is very hot.
v Kayci ready to win the big BUCK$
And... the Hoover Dam, crazy place.
California Part lll
Greetings from Southern Cali!
We drove down CA 1 for quite a while... the views weren't bad.
Farmer's marketed in Santa Barbara, then hit the beach [I know, life is tough right now]... but it wasn't just any beach- it was the 'World's Safest Beach' [What does that even mean??]
Then on down the coast to LA where we hit up more beaches... Santa Monica, Venice, etc... and ate some delicious tacos, visited Griffith Observatory where we learned about planets [don't worry, Pluto was still display there... either they want Pluto to stay or they're just lazy, idk] ... life is good.
Kayci tried whole-heartedly to get Ellen tickets with no avail, so we drown our sorrow in donuts and got over it... then headed towards San Diego.
v With a quick stop in the pristine Laguna Beach.
^ Who doesn't want to eat a greasy burger and fries after paddle boarding?
v 'Kayci, give me a desert pose.'
Palm Springs is pretty great [extremely hot, but pretty great], I could see why people winter here.
Dinosaurs: road trip essentials.
And that ended the posh leg of the trip.
Mexico
I dragged Kayci to Tijuana, Mexico for tacos... #WorthIt. It was Taco Tuesday after all.
It was amazing how quickly things changed. Landscape and language, I thought it would be more of a gradual change and that Tijuana would be just like another California city, but it was actually quite different... and only a couple miles difference.
Indiana was a little out of place.
Had to stop at Starbucks, of course... The barista guy started to right my name... and then gave up and handed it to me to write on... shoulda practiced up on my Spanish alphabet before driving south.
California Part ll
^ We joined the tourist and biked the GG bridge over to Sausilito [harder than it looks].
v Parking #WIN
And then... Yosemite! So pretty, so diverse. The clouds and chilly weather continued there, but eventually that let up and we got some sun!
v Taking a rest after climbing up Half Dome [in the photo above].
Jk... we just hiked up Sentinel Dome, but it was an awesome view, albeit cloudy.
^ Nature is crazzzy. Devil's Postpile- from below & on top.
v Found a natural hot spring in the middle of a field in Mammoth and watched the sunset with a 360 degree view of the mountains [and a nice stranger]. Also a nice way to warm up before camping in below freezing temps... brrrr.
We stopped by Mono Lake and saw the Tufas... Calcium carbonate [limestone] formed underwater and evidence of the decreasing water level caused by funneling water to LA in 1941... hmmm.
California Part l
California is such a big and diverse state that it warrants a few posts...
Just in our first few days we have done nature [Fern Canyon & Redwoods], little cities, the Jelly Belly Bean [they say that every time] factory tour, Napa Valley wine tasting and on to a big city.
In order to avoid the danger of the single story, I feel I need to show the other side of our coffee journey. Sometimes you've gotta take what you can get...
[Don't you like the fact that they list coffee & yeast on their sign? Quite the selection.]
v Pit stop in the cute little Victorian-esque town of Ferndale for burgers at a tiny burger stand.
^ Tree hugging, of course.
v Because wouldn't you go? How often does your gps tell you to go to 1 Jelly Belly Lane... I think the answer is: not often enough.
AND... Napa Valley before heading into SanFran.
Oregon
Oregon was good to us. Good food. Good friends. Good time.
^Poppin' tags in Portland
^ Got to hang out with this kid.
Multnomah Falls to walk off some of the food. Jk... but seriously!
Portland has SO much good food (we didn't try quite all of it), who would've thought a biscuit burger- genius.
... And then we hit the coast. A strange place that can't decide if it is foggy or sunny.
Happy to find a bit of sunshine at the beach!
Washington
Coffee. Coffee. Food. Coffee.
^ Spokane Coffee
٧ Washington grows a plethora of fruit. Pears, apples, peaches, nectarines, pluots & more... they offered, so we had to sample them ALL.
^ When in Levenworth
BRUNCH... duh.
Montana
Montana is called 'Big Sky' for a reason. We drove through a LOT of wide open country between the mountains... there is NOTHING out there... but it's crazy how 'nothing' can feel so different in different places.
Glacier National Park was quite amazing.
Diverse landscapes and climates all in a relatively small area.. all around the mountains it was thinking about being sunny, but not far off ominous clouds and the threat of rain hung over the mountains. Crazy how that works.
...lots of cold wind as we hiked up through Logan Pass.
Epic top of a mountain pose.
Evidence of the fires that we drove through. No flames, but it was pretty clear they had been there recently.
Idaho
This is pretty much it.
In Idaho's defense, Yellowstone does occupy part of the state, just not the part we were in... I think.
Wyoming
Wyoming has a lot to offer, who knew?!
^ Devil's Tower selfie win, for sure.
Along the way we stayed in Cody [outside of Yellowstone] with Paladin & Donna. They made us fluffy pancakes and gave us lots of tips of the best places hike in the parks.... some of the nicest, most hospitable strangers I have ever met!
YELLOWSTONE- we made it out without being attacked by bears.
Hiked up a trail for a 'better' view of the Grand Prismatic Spring... worth it.
We decided to camp in Yellowstone... it was really cold, so thankfully Kayci is capable of making a fire.. if it was left up to me, we would have just sat in the cold.
Also, after using the camp ground showers, I feel as though I am one step closer to knowing what it's like in prison. Wasn't expecting that.
The stars were out. There was little to no light pollution, just a bright full moon.
CHIPMUNKS ARE MY FAV.
Wish there would have been snow in Jackson Hole.. next time.
South Dakota
So many activities, so little time! But seriously, South Dakota, surprisingly enough, has a lot to do... and it has prairie dogs!
Overheard at the Badlands:
"Imagine those settlers in their wagons saying, 'This is sure a nice flat prairie to ride across' and then they roll to this edge of this and they're like, 'Oh shit, this isn't gonna work.'"
Wall Drug- so many signs, you feel obligated to stop. Well... it's not hard too obligate me [or Kayci] when the signs say 'Homemade Donuts', '5¢ Coffee', & 'Free Ice Water'.
North Dakota
The road to North Dakota goes on and on... and on.
Yes... we need to clean the windshield, didn't realize how bad it was!
Ellendale, ND
Population: 13,067[ish]
Reason for stopping:
Minnesota
Climbing. Coffee. Catholicism. Enough said.
View of Minneapolis from the Guthrie Theater.
Good coffee is essential to a good day... & helpful [mostly] for a long drive.
Wisconsin
Land of cheese & beer- possibly heaven?
Madison capitol building from the Monona Terrace, a Frank Llyod Wright design.
We ran into an older man who was an attendant at the capitol overlook area. He was great.
[He also had a handlebar mustache]
Him: 'Did you girls see any cows down there?'
Us: 'Hmm, no.'
Him: 'People keep walking out there and saying 'Holy Cow!', but I still haven't seen any cows yet'
Us: Hahaha
I'm really glad he enjoys his job.
The same man also tried SO hard to take our picture, but after 5 pictures, he still couldn't figure out pushing the circle button on the iPhone, so we happily too what we could get.
Cheese in every shape & flavor. EVERYWHERE.
I'm not complaining.
...And then there was the pink elephant, a roadsideamerica.com must.
![... perception vs. reality can be very different. This was one of those cases. This pink elephant lives in the parking lot of a Shell gas station in the middle of Nowhere, WI [not a real place], next to an unmanned booth with an honor box selli…](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/4febe019c4aa9cb2975229c8/1440568072850-UE7AV4AW5TFJNTRK3LUL/image.jpg)
... perception vs. reality can be very different. This was one of those cases.
This pink elephant lives in the parking lot of a Shell gas station in the middle of Nowhere, WI [not a real place], next to an unmanned booth with an honor box selling sweet corn.
Good thing we didn't go more than .25 miles out of our way.
Really though, it worked out well because we needed gas and didn't even have to leave the parking lot.
Observational note: Wisconsin seems to have a thing for weird animal statue 'attractions', they're everywhere. It's weird.