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.

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 disappeared 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 @ $41.50Car’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

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

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

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 were 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

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.