The Big Trip

After a week in the Caymans, two days in NYC, ten days in Turkey and four days in Boston, we back on the road. This time our final destination, and hopefully our new home, is San Diego.

We've learned some good lessons from the first leg back in May so our car is a lot less heavy now. We broke up the stuff across three smaller bags instead of one huge one. We didn't bring the 47 pairs of shoes I own. We traded the box of books for a bag of books. Especially since all I read in the last month was Five Quarters of an Orange, the Shipping News, the Eight and Range of Motion.

The back seat holds only the food, the cooler and the AAA maps. We have two 12-packs of diet coke and quite a bit of snacks.

We put another 256megs of RAM into my laptop and got a car-charger so I can continue the Python coding I've been doing for my father-in-law. We brought along two more laptops, the little libretto and an old loaner. With one blackberry, two phones, three laptops, five cameras, two iPods, one Rio, one Palm and one Visor, we have quite a bit of charging to keep up with.

We planned out most of the route. The trip doesn't really start until we leave St.Louis since we've seen most everything east of that, we decided to zoom to Missouri, see our friends and go from there. We have 21-driving days planned but I can't so far tell if we've over or under estimated.

We didn't get on the road till 1pm but we're now making way through Pennsylvania, hoping to reach St.Louis tomorrow night. We've already begun reading a fascinating book, The Secret House by David Bodanis.

Right as we entered Connecticut, I looked over to my right and made an eye-connection with a driver to my right. I remarked to Jake about how much the driver looked like my friend Pat. A few minutes later, the same car put on its sirens and pulled us over. The cop came over to me and after giving us a bit of a hard time decided a ticket would be a terrible way to start our trip, so he let us go.

Lucky!

Our Route

Now that we're staying at a hotel with broadband access I figured I'd post our route in case people have recommendations. We've been adding sites as we go along so this schedule is not rigid. I will put the added sites in italics so you can see how much we've already added. Also, the original plan was not to drive more than 200/300 miles a day so if it seems we are covering very little ground per day, that's the reason. We've also gotten more flexible on that so I'll try to show those changes, too. The days are not dated since we didn't want to be locked into a date in case we chose to stay somewhere longer.

Day 1: Boston to Pennsylvania - driving through New Haven for some banking needs
Day 2: Pennsylvania to Louisville, KY
Day 3: Kentucky to St. Louis, MO - we ended up making it to St. Louis in two days and spent the fourth of July weekend in town with good friends.
Day 4: St. Louis to Oklahoma City, OK
Day 5: Oklahoma City to Dallas, TX
Day 6: Dallas to New Mexico Border Big Spring, TX
Day 7: Big Spring to Carlsbad Caverns, NM - that day we also did White Sands and ended up spending the night by Valley of Fires
Day 8: Carlsbad to Santa Fe - we also visited Valley of Fires
Day 9: Santa Fe to Great Sand Dunes, CO - we ended up driving all the way to Colorado on Day 8 and spent the night at the Grand Sand Dunes so we ended up saving one more day
Day 10: Great Sand Dunes to Rocky Mountains - we also saw Black Canyon and drove to Fort Collins, CO for the night instead.
Day 11: Colorado to Badlands/Mount Rushmore/Crazy Horse Memorial, SD - this is a bit ambitious so we might take two days, especially since we won't get on the road until noon. It turned out that we camped at Custer State Park that night and saw all of the above the next morning.
Day 12: South Dakota to Devil's Tower/Yellowstone, WY - we thought this might take two days as well. We ended up spending the night in Gilette after the Devil's Tower and drove to Yellowstone the next day spent the night and drove around the park the day after. We also visited the Grand Teton National Park.
Day 13: Wyoming to Missoula, MT - we also wanted to add the Great Falls (I'm not sure that's what they are called) We skipped Missoula, went to Glacier National Park instead, camped, and visited the park the next day. We did also get to stop by Great Falls.
Day 14: Missoula to Spokane or Seattle, WA - depends on how much driving we can do that day. We made it to Seattle and are planning to visit the Olympic National Park and Mt. Ranier National Park so we will probably take an extra day here.
Day 15: Seattle to Portland, OR
Day 16: Portland to Boise, ID
Day 17: Boise to Craters of the Moon Nat. Park - we were also told to visit Red River along the way.
Day 18: Idaho to Salt Lake City Vicinity, UT - we decided to add on the Bonneville Salt Flats and we were told to stay in St. George in Zion National Park for the night.
Day 19: Utah to Four Corners/Canyons of the Ancients/Canyon De Chelly, AZ - we were told to go through Sedona on our way.
Day 20: Canyon de Chelly - Grand Canyon - we may take an extra day here, depending how tired we are and how much of the canyon we get to see.
Day 21: Grand Canyon to Las Vegas, NV - we added Hoover Dam on the way
Day 22: Las Vegas to San Diego, CA - our new home!

There you have it. This is the plan as it stands now. I am sure there will be changes and additions but we've been having a blast and we think we'll end up seeing almost every great site in the country. The one thing we left out was the Pacific Coast Highway which we decided would be a trip of its own once we settle down in San Diego.

Including the trip in May, the states we will have not visited at all will be: Vermont, Maine, Nebraska, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa and North Dakota.

Did we miss anything? Are we seeing something that's not worthwhile? All comments are very appreciated. Our method of choosing the sites was opening a US AAA map and looking carefully so we may have easily missed some amazing places.

St. Louis, Missouri

After two long days of driving, we arrived at St. Louis on Friday night and spent the weekend at my friend Ashlie and her husband Travis' new house. In two days, we watched some amazing fireworks, saw penguins, puffins and prairie dogs at the zoo, went up into the arch, ate toasted ravioli on a riverboat, and spent quality time with my three good friends.

Besides the obnoxious heat, I found St. Louis to be very pretty and charming. This opinion was, of course, strongly influenced by our amazing hosts. They went out of their way to make our experience really memorable. Especially, Travis (see, I told you I'd write about you.) He has also helped us fine tune our travel plans to make sure we don't miss anything amazing and we skip the unneccessary. So now, we're all set for the next month.

We're currently driving through Oklahoma, on our way down to Dallas where Jake has a good friend. Today's highlights included driving on the famous Route 66 and a sign for a porn store that was immediately followed by one that said "porn ruins lives". We have been driving by lots of farms so we see many cows and lots of neat hay bales. We even saw mini oil wells in Illanois on the way to Missouri.

Our stop tonight is Tulsa or Oklahoma City depending our mood. I want to see the memorial in Oklahoma City which, I was told, is breathtaking.

Oklahoma

We were still not too tired when we passed by Tulsa, so we decided to continue to Oklahoma City and arrived in town at 7:20pm local time. We set up camp at an RV Park right off of the highway. There was only one more tenter, a woman with two young kids. She told us she would have slept in the car if we hadn't been there.

After we set our tent up, we drove down to the memorial which really was quite magnificent. Afterwards, we drove around looking for a movie theater and finally asked two women at a gas station. Legally Blonde 2 was so bad that even I didn't like it and I'm not exactly what one would consider selective.

Driving around last night and this morning, the city seems so deserted. There are many run-down, empty gas stations and stores. It didn't feel scary, just odd. I wonder what people do in this city. The one place that seemed somewhat lively was a small section called Bricktown. It has a pretty canal with bars and restaurants overlooking it.

Today's drive is south on 35 to Dallas. Here's a bit a trivia I learned recently: the odd numbere highways go north-south and the eveb ones go east-west and the numbers increase from south to north and from west to east. Oh and if you ever wanted to visit the largest McDonalds, it's on 70 somewhere between Missouri and Oklahoma.

Texas

We arrived at Dallas around 5 in the afternoon. We were close to the border hours before that but decided to stop and experience some Dairy Queen, a first for both of us. The woman at the store was extra kind to us, first-timers and mixed in chocolate chip, cookie dough ice cream with a ton of fudge and a banana. It was delicious. I'm afraid we're going to have to stop at many DQs from now on. We then went on some farm roads to find cows. We stopped to talk to many cows. The first two times they got scared and walked away but the third set seemed curious, especially the calves, so we hug out there for a while.

We went to Jake's friend Ivan's house in Dallas and spent the night with them. Like our friends in Missouri, they too have a big and beautiful house. They grilled us some food and we chatted. The next day we drove to downtown Dallas and had yummy Mexican food. There are many huge, mirrored buildings in Dallas. My favorite was the enormous Pizza Hut building. It must be their headquarters because I can't imagine why Pizza Hut would need that big a building.

We then got on the road to Carlsbad Caverns, NM. We took I-20 and I drove the entire way. Around 8pm, we decided to stop at the last big town on route: Big Spring, Texas. There were only two still-functioning hotels. We picked one and spent the night. Dinner was from Schlotzky's Deli which we were awfully surprised to see in the remote corner of Texas.

In the morning, we checked all of our car's fluids since the next part of the trip will be through some hot climates, and got on the road. We found a dealer in Santa Fe, where we plan to be in a day or two, so we can get on the road. Big Spring supposedly is a big oil town so there is a huge refinery. There is also a huge landfill. We're now on a small road with nothing but grass ranches on both sides. This supposedly takes us right to Carlsbad.

With its red clay, rundown and deserted stores, magnificent cacti, and delicious food we enjoyed Texas quite a bit.

New Mexico

Carlsbad Caverns and Santa Fe were two original spots we had decided to visit but once we drove into the state we decided we had to go to the white sands and our friend Travis recommended that we check our the Valley of Fires so we're doing it all.

New Mexico so far has been drastically different than anywhere I've been. The roads are completely flat with nothing for miles and miles. We occasionally see some cows and some mountains in the distance. We've seen a few little animals scurrying off the road. They look like squirrels but kinda small. I have no idea what they are. But we're often alone on the road for miles at a time, which is a bit scary in the middle of the torrential rain that just poured.

The cavern was unbelievably huge, very humid and somewhat smelly. It was a long hike to get to the bottom but it was worth it.

On the way west, we drove through Cloudcroft where the air suddenly went from 100s to 60s. We started seeing trees and mountains. The town is around 8000ft. and seems to be a ski area.

The contrast between the sands and the lava and between the barren desert and the lush Rio Grande area, the flat and the mountains makes this state fascinating to me. The cutest part of today was Jake seeing a prairie dog on the side of the road and our seeing a couple on a bike and dog with its very own tiny helmet.

In Santa Fe we emailed our teacher, Prof. Miller, from CMU who works at the Santa Fe Institute. We hadn't seen him in 6 years. He was there and we had a nice chat and tour and got back on the way. We're now driving to the scenic route through the Carson National Forest up to Colorado.

Lodging: The Four Winds Motel, Carrizozo, NM@$44
Miles on the car: 10715
Gas: $20.72@1.49 and $10.12@1.45
Roads taken: 180 to Carlsbad, 285 to Artesia, 82 to Cloudcroft, 82 to White Sands, 54 to Carrizozo and 25 to Santa Fe
Sites: Carlsbad Caverns, Lincoln National Forest, White Sands National Monument, Valley of Fires, Santa Fe

Colorado

We arrived at the Colorado Great Sand Dunes at sunset. We walked around for a few minutes and then drove to the campground four miles away. We camped on the side of the mountain at quite a steep slant. I kept falling sideways in my sleep.

We awoke at 5:30AM local time and revisited the dunes. The amazing thing about such a huge quantity of sand is that it makes you lose your perspective of height and distance. We kept thinking we were almost at the base of the dunes but there was always more to walk. Especially with the huge mountains behind them, the dunes look small from a distance. Only when you climb up do you realize how incredible they are. Jake climbed all the way to the top as the sun rose and I waited at one of the hills. Over an hour later we got back on the road to Gunnison Park where the Black Canyon is. This site was picked last minute from the AAA guide which turned out to be a very good pick. The canyon was deep enough to fit to Empire State buildings on top of each other.

We then drove from the westernmost end of the state to the Rocky Mountain National Park passing amazing badlands, canyons, the Colorado River on the way. The difference between New Mexico and Colorado is striking and the mountains here are truly awe inspiring.

We arrived at the Rocky Mountains National Park at 7pm and worried that we wouldn't be able to see anything but the ticket collector told us that it would be light till 9. During the awesome ride up, we saw elk. At the top, we saw the sun set. Simply Magnificent.

Lodging: Great Sand Dunes Oasis Camping@$12
Miles on the car: 11541
Gas: $10.08@1.62 & $8.89@1.69 & $15.70@1.89
Roads: 285 to Alamosa, 160 to Blanca, 150 to the Great Sand Dunes, Road w/ no number to Mosca, 17 to Poncha Springs, 50 to 347 to Black Canyon, 50 to 70E to 40 to 35 to the Rocky Mtn. Nat. Park, 287 to Fort Collins
Sites: Great Sand Dunes Nat. Mon., Black Canyon of the Gunnison Nat. Park, White River National Forest, Rocky Mountain National Park

South Dakota

We didn't leave Ft Collins until 3pm so we couldn't make it to South Dakota before sunset. At 6pm we stopped in Wheatland and ate a patty melt at Casey's Timberhouse and it was delicious.

All the way to SD, we listened to David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day which is read by him and hilarious. As we approached the Black Hills Park, we saw many prairie dogs. As we stopped to take pictures they started barking loudly and you could hear hundreds of them.

In Custer State Park, we ran into a bison right in the middle of the road. It seemed to be minding its own business and didn't even glance at us. By then, the sun was setting so we looked for a campground which we found right in the middle of the park. The place said it was full but thanks to cancellations we got a spot and made in just in time to watch the 20minute Spring Prairie movie.

After our best night of camping ever, we got on the road at 6:30am and saw some bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelopes on the way to the Crazy Horse memorial. The memorial was huge but we didn't get to get close as we were there too early and they were also blasting the mountain.

We then drove back and up the Needles Highway Scenic Drive to Mount Rushmore. Both Rushmore and the Horse memorial were somewhat of a letdown after the amazing nature we saw in the last few days.

We stopped by Rapid City, bought batteries, wifi card, movies, Naked on CD, and drove on. One the way over we saw huge signs for Wall Drug and, thanks to Sarah, I knew to stop. We ate lunch and drove to the colorful Badlands.

Lodging: Marriott@$72 in CO & Custer Park Camping@$15 in SD
Car's Mileage: 12103
Gas: $12@1.48 & $13.95@1.65
Roads: 25 to Orin, 18/85 to Hot Springs, 385 to Wind Cave Nat. Park, 87 and 244 to to Mt. Rushmore, 16 to Rapid City, 90 and 240 to the Badlands
Sites: Custer State Park, Crazy Horse Memorial, Black Hills National Park, The Needles, Mount Rushmore, Rapid City, Wall Drug, Badlands Nat. Park

Wyoming

At 4pm we arrived at Devil's Tower. The tower is visible from the horizon. You need to register to climb it so we took a hike around it and Jake went up as far as they let him. On the way back, we saw two doe with two fawns. We also stopped to watch the prairie dogs which we endlessly entertaining.

Since it was already late, we spent the night in Gillette. Our dialups didn't have a local number but the hotel had a business room where you could use their computer. We wanted to download the linksys drivers for the wireless to my laptop so we grabbed the crossover ethernet cable in the car and stuck it in their computer and, ta-da, it could see my laptop. There had to be some advantages to carrying all the computer equipment around.

The drive to Yellowstone was pretty but long. It took us 5 hours to arrive at the east gate. By the time we saw the lake, went down to the Grand Teton Park and back, it was already 8pm so we decided to spend the night at the park. The camp ground was really pretty but had no water and only pit toilets. We set our phone to alarm at 5am and watched the rest of our movie on my portable DVD player. We had to watch it inside because the mosquitoes were swarming us.

The Grand Tetons were amazing but obviously need to be hiked because the road didn't get too near them so that was a bit of a disappointment. Yellowstone proved otherwise. The night we arrived, we didn't get to see much as it was already late and the speed limit in the huge park varies between 35 and 45. We did see elk and a bear and we drove south bu that was mainly it for the day. We camped for the night and decided to get an early start. At 5:30am we got on the road and saw Old Faithful, the geyser. It erupted 20 minutes or so after we got there. We watched it wrapped around my blanket cause it was still freezing out. We stopped at the many geyser basins, we hiked to the lower falls, saw the mammoth hot springs and finally, 6.5 hours later, we left.

Lodging: Hotel in Gillette@68 & Lewis Lake Camp in Yellowstone@10
Car's Mileage: 13,029
Gas: $14.21@1.61 & $9.99@1.62
Roads: 90-14 to Devil's Tower, 90-14 to Yellowstone, 191 to Grand Teton, 89 to Montana
Sites: Devil's Tower, Bighorn Mountains, Yellowstone Nat. Park, Grand Teton Nat. Park

Montana

The drive from Yellowstone to Glacier Park was long and uneventful. We stopped by Bozeman but it seemed empty. We then stopped at Big Spring and saw the waterfalls which also weren't as impressive as we expected.

So far, the smallest town we've seen is Emblem, WY with a population of 10. Northern Montana is completely empty with farmland as far as the eye can see. We drove through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and all the roads everywhere in Montana were scarcely populated.

We arrived at the park at 9pm, went to the campground even though it said it was full and got a spot. The gusty winds made for a very hardy night. Our crappy tent thrashed around in the wind. I kept thinking it would fall on us any minute. As a result, we got maybe 3 hours of sleep all night. We kept waiting for the sun to ocme up hoping it would signal the end of the wind but even as late at 8am, the wind was still going full force so we gave up and decided to get going.

We drove the going-to-the-sun road and hiked, saw deer and longhorns, saw a glacier and waterfalls. We saw bighorn sheep just lying on the grazz and sun bathing. A deer looked us in the eye at about 5 feet. The peeks of the mountains were covered with snow but the meadows had wild flowers. Streams of water trickled down most of the mountains. Bird chriped everywhere and we saw at least 7 chipmunks running past us. One even approached us thinking we had food but quickly lost interest when we didn't. St.Mary's waterfall had a rainbow going ight through it and the water was icy. The park had magnificent views and falls. It was one of the most beautiful parks I've ever been to and I'm glad we decided to go out of our way to come here.

I've officially become a fan of Montana.

Lodging: St.Mary Campground in Glacier Nat. Park@$17
Car's Mileage: 13,526
Gas: $13.40@1.69 & $13.03@1.62 & $10.05@1.77
Roads: 90 to Butte, 15 to Shelby, 2 to Glacier Park
Sites: Bozeman, Big Spring, Glacier National Park

Washington

We arrived in Seattle around 9pm. We checked in the hotel, surfed and slept. The next morning I called my friend, Zeynep, to see if she was up for lunch. We made a date and went to checkout Pike Place Market.

It was a beautiful day in Seattle, cool but sunny. We walked around the market, going in and out of stores, watching the flying fish, and buying cashews. We walked over to my friend Sarah's dad's gallery, the William Traver Gallery, and chatted with her friend Ben.

When I talked to the dept of transportation, they told me to rush and take an early ferry to Bainbridge island so we would be able get across faster. I called and apologetically cancelled with Zeynep and we drove to the ferry. It turned out we were too late and were going to have to wait almost two hours so we chose to drive instead.

The Olympic Peninsula was covered with evergreens and lakes. On our way to the Hoh rain forest we ran into a huge line or cars. Miles and miles of cars. We tu! rned back, trying to find out what went wrong. As it turns out, a cement truck turned over and the road had been blocked since 9am. We decided to turn back and take a small hike in Sol Duc. There was a small trail which was like a rainforest. The trees were tall as far as the eye can see. Moss covered the trunks and branches. Mushrooms spurted out of the ground and bugs covered the forest. It was my first time in a forest like that and I couldn't get enough of the lush green.

All the guides said not to go to the forests in the weekend due to huge crowds so we decided to skip Mt. Rainier National Forest and drove south to Portland. We stopped in Centralia for the night and are currently on our way to Portland.

Seattle and Washington is beautiful. The weather was really pleasant, the people fun.

Lodging: Fairfield Inn Bellevue@$71 & Centralia Inn@40
Car's Mileage: 14,642
Gas: $11.54@1.59 & $14.21@1.55
Roads: 2 to Spokane, 5 to 110 to Olympia Nat. Forest, 5 to Portland
Sites: Seattle, Olympic Nat. Forest

Oregon

We arrived in Portland around noon. We drove down to the historic district where the saturday market made its home. We walked around for a while and bought a postcard. I read that Powell's bookstore was in the city so we asked around and drove to it.

After the two Sedaris CD sets and Cause Celeb by Helen Fielding that my friend Ashlie had lent me, we were out of audio CDs so we bought Reefer Madness by Eric Schlosser, Fraud by David Rakoff, maneater by Gigi Grazer, Dirk Gently's Detective Agency by Douglas Adams and the Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evans. Cause Celeb was quite dumb really. But I am not a fan of Fielding anyway. I imagine Maneater will not be so great either but it might be fun. Schlosser's voice is too monotonous but the reasearch, like in Fast Food Nation, is quite detailed and interesting. Though obviously biased so far.

We're now on the way to Idaho; spending the night in either Boise or Craters of the Moon. Even though we stayed in Portland only 2 hours, the city was very clean, very green and quite beautiful.

Lodging: none
Car's Mileage: 14,922
Gas: $19.00@1.79
Roads: 84 east all the way after 5
Sites: Portland

Idaho

After a very long day of driving we decided to skip Boise and get as close to the Craters as possible. Around 10:30, we passed the last large (population of about 1,500) town on the way and decided to turn around to stop for the night. It was getting tool late to camp and we weren't sure the two tiny towns up ahead had hotels.

We spent the night at the only lodging in town and got back on the road at 8, right after eating the pancakes cooked by the owner. We chatted with a Seattle couple who were also going to the Craters.

The lava at the Craters was very different than the one in the Valley of Fires, NM. You were not allowed to walk on this one because there was a high chance of its caving in. The chunks looked like wood but sounded like metal. The entire place was one big bed of black.

We had read the one of the caves, the Boy Scout Cave, had ice on its ground all year round so we decided to check it out. We took our flashlight and walked down the path. The entrance to the cave looked like nothing more than a tiny hole. Jake was skeptical that it was the entrance but sure enough it was. We walked in to the cave which had low ceilings, sharp rocks and ice. There was a family of three in front of us so it felt less lonely and dark than it would have. We walked/crawled all the way to the end and back. The inside of the cave had been cold and drippy so going back out to the steaming weather was a bit of a shock.

Since our next stop was the Salt Flats in Utah, we decided it would be faster to cut through Nevada. As we entered the state, we saw a sign on the map for a Ghost Town and decided to drive out of the way a bit to find it. We spent the next half hour searching for it. Unsuccessfully. Do any of you know a ghost town in Utah or Arizona?

Lodging: Governer's Mansion B&B@$55, Shoshone
Car's Mileage: 15,559
Gas: $13.62@1.76 & $15.55@1.79
Roads: 84 east to 26 to the Craters, 93 to Nevada, 80 to Utah
Sites: Craters of the Moon National Monument

Utah

We arrived in Utah in the afternoon. We drove right to the Salt Flat and was awed by the uneding flat road. We were scared to take our little car onto the flats since the person at the cafe by them told us that many cars get stuck. But while we were standing on them, an SUV came up and drove right onto them. It disappered into the horizon within seconds. If you're a fan of speeding, that's probably the best place in the States to visit. Not to mention it's quite neat.

We then drove to Provo where I decided I was too tired to continue so we spent the night in a hotel and relaxed and did the laundrey and logged in. In the morning, we took our time leaving and drove towards Zion National Park. On the way, we stopped at Marysvale around where we had read about two ghost towns. We stopped for lunch at this tiny cafe which had the best burgers I've eatned in quite some time. We then drove up to Bullion which wasn't really a ghost town; it was an old town which was really no longer there. There was an exhibit with the mining equipment. It was interesting but not exactly what we were looking for.

We then drove down tothrough Red Canyon to Bryce Park. It had started to rain and within minutes, it ppoured and started to thunder loudly. e saw several flashes of lightning. We drove anyway and by the time we arrived at Bryce, it was trickling a tiny amount. The shaved and cony mountains of red, pink, yellow, white and orange covered miles and miles. I was so awestruck that I couldn't stop taking pictures. I thikn it might be the most beautiful sight I've seen on this trip.

An hour or so later, we drove to Zion Park and got there throught the east enterance, which turned out to be interesting but a bummer. The winding roads took a long time to get through and by the time we were in the park and got on the shuttle (you can't drive in the park, you have to take the shuttle) it was already 8:30pm. We went up to Weeping Rock and walked a trail that was only a quarter of a mile long before it got dark. We made a note to definitely come back to this park as the huge mountains that towered over us in multicolor fascinated Jake and he wanted to do some of the longer and steeper hikes that we hadn't had the time to do. A truly inspiring park.

We drove to St. George for the night and plan to take the quicker, though by no means quik, route to the Four Corners, Canyon of the Ancients and then Canyon de Chelly.We'll see how far we'll get. Utah, albeit hot, was amazing and we haven't even seen half of it.

Lodging: La Quinta Inn, Provo @ $62.10 , Singletree Inn, St. George @ $41.50 Car's Mileage: 16,110
Gas: $11.87@1.69 & $14.07@1.78
Roads: 80 to SLC, 15 to Provo, 70 and 89 to Bryce and to Zion, 15 to St. George
Sites: Bonneville Salt Flats, Provo, Bryce National Park, Red Canyon, Zion National Park

Arizona

Our visit in Arizona turned out to be racing from one end to the other. From Zion Park in Utah, we drove all the way to Canyon de Chelly through small roads, passing Grand National Staircase, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Monument Valley on the way. The drive was a feast on our eyes. A site we had never experienced previously.

We drove to Four Coners, paying 6 bucks to get in and being majorly disappointed. The one place that definitely wasn't worth the time.

Canyon de Chelly was quite beautiful but we'd heard so many stories about it being the best place to visit in the US that I think it was a tiny bit of a disappointment.

We then drove all the way back west, almost immediately south of Zion Park to spend the night in Williams. We drive to the Grand Canyon at 7 in the morning, thankfully missing much of the crowds and traffic but not enough of the heat.

The canyon is immense, words cannot adequately describe its size. The hills are pale and I am worried my camera didn't do justice to its beauty. We took a small hike and decided to call it a day. We'd already skipped Sedona because we wanted to save a day so we started on the drive to Vegas.

On the way to Nevada, we took a side exit to visit another ghost town, Oatman. The town was overpopulated with people selling items and burros left from the mining days. It was interesting but not what we had in mind.

Lodging: Mountain Side Inn, Williams @ $49.10
Car's Mileage: 17,019
Gas: $15.43@1.67 & $12.28@1.56 & $12.03@1.79 & $14.48@1.55
Roads: 59-89-98-160 and 163-191-160-191 and 7 to Canyon de Chelly, 191 and 40 to Williams, 64/180 to the Grand Canyon, Oatman
Sites: Glen Canyon Rec. Area, Monument Valley, Four Corners, Canyon de Chelly, Grand Canyon

Nevada

Hoover Dam is on the way from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas so we, invariably, stopped for a few minutes and took some pictures. I thought, as I knew I would, that it wasn't that impressive. However, I am sure it must have been in the 30s.

I had reserved a hotel, Treasure Island, using hotels.com, a night ago in Williams, Arizona. We drove in around 6pm and waited too long to check in. Since it was a Wednesday, the Cirque de Soleil show in our hotel, Mystere, was dark for both of our nights. We asked about tickets to the other show by the same group, 'O', which was sold out but we could go and wait for last minute cancellations.

We rushed to Bellagio to get in line which already had 60 people in it. While Jake waited, I walked up and asked if there were any tickets for the next night and it turned out there was a cancellation so we walked out of the hotel, thrilled not to have to wain in the line.

Neither of us being gamblers, Vegas didn't promise huge excitement for us. We walked around to see the Mirage's volcano erupt, we watched the magnificent lights of the Bellagio. On the way back, we walked into a casino, played for 2 dollars and won 45. We went to the hotel and slept.

The next morning it was pouring so we took our time getting up. We visited a chocolate factory with a cactuds garden. We walked around, seeing the lions in MGM, the fish and tigers in Mirage, playing pinball, visiting Luxor, Mandalay Bay, Tropicana, Excalibur, New York New York, and went back to take a nap to make sure I'd be able to stay up through the night.

The Cirque de Soleil show was breathtaking. I can honestly say I enjoyed every moment of it. We waited in the extremely long yet very fast-moving line to take a cab to Hard Rock. After dinner, drinks and winning 5 bucks we took another cab to Tropicana and walked into some more of the hotels, ending up in the same casino. An hour, drinks and losing all of our winnings later, we went to bed at 4am. A true Vegas experience.

San Diego

We made it! Our amazing trip is finally over and we've now started the fun business of looking for an apartment. It will be followed by finding a moving company and a job. I suppose the vacation was bound to end eventually.