July 3, 2015
Day 1
States Traversed: Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico
Hours on the Road: 9.5
This morning, I was awakened at the unholy hour of 5:30 am. We finished getting ready (filling coolers with ice, downloading Spotify playlists, cleaning the kitchen…) and were out the door by 7:30.
Fueled by McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches and the spirit of adventure, we started our journey in high spirits.
We stopped in Greensburg, Kansas, in the morning. It’s a tiny little town that was almost completely destroyed by a tornado in 2007 (please note that the following conversation actually occurred:
Dad: So there was a tornado a few years ago that completely wiped out Greensburg—
Me: I think it was more like eight years ago.
Dad: It was not that long.
*inside the museum*
Lady: We were hit by a tornado eight years ago, in 2007.
Me: Boom, baby.
Moral of the story: I am a genius.)
Greensburg also has the World’s Biggest Hand-Dug Well. (No joke). There’s a museum around the well, and it also talks about the town’s history, the tornado, and the recovery from the tornado. The museum was actually really cool. We got to go down in the well and run around a little bit (not in the well, just in the museum). It was really weird to think how much was taken from the town eight years ago. They just finished rebuilding the movie theater a couple months ago. Twelve people died, and everyone lost almost everything (95% of the town was destroyed.) When they started rebuilding, they decided they wanted to be green and environmentally friendly. Greensburg is the “Model Green City.” I really like that. I like that they decided to do something positive and make the best of the situation. It’s inspiring.
When we got back in the car, I (semi-jokingly) said we should make a “Roadtrip: Expectations vs. Reality” video. The family jumped on the idea. Holly films and edits, and the rest of us act. It’s extremely entertaining. I’ll post the link once it’s done.
During this, Mom played “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten approximately twelve times in a row.
Stop #2 was in Mead, KS, for the Dalton Gang Hideout. We didn’t actually go in the hideout, because it required more time and money than we wanted to spend, but we took pictures and played in the courtyard-ish area.
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| A door. And Holly. |
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| Behind the storefronts of the "courtyard-ish area" |
I’m not really sure what happened after that, because I slept. I remember getting out when we hit Texas, but then I think I napped all through Texas.
We were alongside a railroad track for a really long time, and I think that’s about when we lost it.
The fam woke me up when we hit New Mexico. We stopped in an itty-bitty town and bought corn on the cob from a truck. It was awesome.
New Mexico is really pretty. The sky is paler in Kansas. And it feels huge. You can see incredibly far. This is probably because there aren’t really any trees. There’s little bushes that amuse me, because they’re short and round and everywhere and so grumpy-looking. I love it. And there are so many shades of green. The grumpy bushes are dark, dark green. There are gray-green shrubs and yellow green flowers and bright green grass and blue green weeds.
We camped in Moriarty, New Mexico (Holly and I exchanged a slightly panicked, quite delighted glance when we heard the name). We got there around six p.m. (and there was a time change, so it was really twelve hours before we got there. But we were really driving for about nine and a half or ten hours) and set up camp. Putting up the tent for the first time on a trip is always… entertaining. And by “entertaining,” I mean “a struggle.” But we got it sorted and safe to sleep in. Starting a fire was another challenge… Yeah, we were a bit of a mess tonight. I promise we go camping a lot and actually do know what we’re doing.
Everyone was super tired (it’s incredible how draining nine hours in the car can), so after dinner and s’mores, we crashed.
July 4, 2015
Day 2
States Traversed: New Mexico, Arizona
Hours on the Road: 9 (?)
Showers at campsites are risky business. We lucked out today. There was hot water and doors that latched and, despite many spiderwebs, no actual spiders. I was exceedingly grateful.
Packing up this morning was surprisingly quick. Roll up the sleeping bags, pull down the tent, have the traditional “do we fold it in half or in thirds” debate, stuff everything in the trunk or strap it to the roof, google the nearest Starbucks.
We might be hard-core travelers, but we’re not that hard-core. Quality caffeine is a must. (We eventually had to lower our standards).
We stopped at R.E.I. in Albuquerque and got a blanket and a hammer and we were off.
Today mostly consisted of driving. Sooo much driving.
It was supposed to be an easier day than yesterday, but it… wasn’t.
We stopped in Gallup, New Mexico on Route 66 for some really freaking delicious enchiladas and sopapillas. I wish we’d had more time there. Everyone was friendly, the food was good, and there were pretty lights hanging across the street. One lady invited us to the Fourth of July party that night. Sadly, we had to keep going, but that stop was really nice.
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| Jerry's Cafe in Gallup, New Mexico |
The afternoon’s driving was bruuuuuutal. The road went through the middle of nowhere, which I think it was why it was so bad. We didn’t see civilization for hours.
Which is okay, if you’re expecting it.
And if not everyone in your car needs to pee.
Spirits were low, folks.
Personally, I just read the whole time. (The 100, by Kass Morgan. Interesting, but not quite as rounded out as I would like. Bit too much kissing and not enough detail. And #Bellarke all the way.)
I also woke up this morning minus my voice. I’ve been sick since last Tuesday, and today my voice was gone. I never realize how much I like singing until I can’t. It’s one of the worst things ever.
We finally made it to our campsite at (in?) Jacob’s Lake. To my joy, there were plenty of trees, and I finally got to use my hammock. It is wonderful and super relaxing and lovely and goes perfectly with a good book. (Latest is Fic by Anne Jamison
– an exploration of fanfiction’s history and influence of literature. It’s
totally fascinating and geeky and I adore it.)
July 5, 2015
Day 3
States Traversed: Arizona
Hours on the Road: 4
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| Photo Creds: My Mom |
I’m fairly certain Arizona is the child of New Mexico and Colorado. Because some parts look like NM, all rocky and pretty flat and have the grumpy bushes. And other parts look like Colorado, foresty and mountainous and cool (cool as in not hot, not cool as in awesome. Although that too).
We’re at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I thought it would be desert-y, but no. It’s a forest, right up to the edge. I didn’t expect so many trees, and definitely not so many flowers. It’s a lot prettier than I thought. I like it.
On our way from our campsite to Grand Canyon National Park, we drove through the most wonderful meadow ever. Flowers were everywhere, trees rimmed it, and not a fence or telephone pole in sight. It was glorious. We got out and frolicked.
The Grand Canyon itself is… trippy. And freaking huge. I mean, I knew it was big, but it’s not “big,” it’s freaking ginormous and expansive and enormous and massive and wow. And there’s so many colors, layering and layering on each other for thousands of feet. It’s dizzying. It’s stunning.
Apparently, on this side (the north), the cliffs are a lot more irregular and rocky, whereas on the South Rim, they’re more sheer. I think most of the pictures I’ve seen of the Grand Canyon are from the south (which is hardly fair) so the view we actually had surprised me. The very first spot, especially. It really confused me, actually.
The other spots were better, either because they looked more familiar or because I knew what to expect, I’m not sure. But I did appreciate the later views far more than the first.
It’s breathtaking, let me tell you.
We were there a long time, coming back to our campsite around 3:30. Holly felt kinda sick (the roads are suuuuper curvy, I felt a tad queasy, too) and we all just slept/hammocked/read.
Mac and I went on a walk and then it started raining, so we all huddled in the tent to nap/read. After it stopped raining, we huddled around the fire to eat/read. There’s something about campfires that is very cozy. There was a lot of relaxed family bonding tonight, which, I think, was really the point of the trip. Seeing tons of America and going on a huge adventure was part of it, yes, but family time is honestly the best part, no matter how corny it may sound.
July 6, 2015
Day 4
States Traversed: Arizona, Utah, Arizona (again), Nevada, California, more Nevada, back to California
Hours on the Road: 8
We started the morning with a super nourishing breakfast of Pop-Tarts and coffee/juice. Then we drove some more (heh). It’s a good thing we’re all good with just sitting and reading for hours on end... other people might think this much down-time to be boring. It’s not, really. It’s relaxing. We spent most of the morning dropping altitude. We came down so quick I had to pop my ears like three times. Almost as soon as we got to 4000 feet above sea level, 4G came back. Holly almost cried with joy (she had ninety-one Instagram notifications alone. I had four. Literally.) We had the data for all of five minutes, and that’s all we’d had in three days. Which was a bigger deal than is probably healthy...
We stopped at (*gasp*) Starbucks in Utah and kept going, descending pretty much the whole time. Our route through Utah was weird (whatcha doing to us, Google?) because we just drove in and out of Utah in like twenty minutes.
We stopped at (*gasp*) Starbucks in Utah and kept going, descending pretty much the whole time. Our route through Utah was weird (whatcha doing to us, Google?) because we just drove in and out of Utah in like twenty minutes.
Hello, again, Arizona.
This part of the trip looks like Tatooine, but with more shrubs and less pod-racers. We drove in between tall, pale, rocky cliffs littered with caves. And then – Bam! -- flat land for miles.
Arizona is bloody weird.
We then hit Nevada, which, as far as I can tell, is basically three things. 1) Desert, 2) Casinos, and 3) Palm trees (which do not seem to be 100% natural, either). I’m sorry, Nevada, but you are not my favorite state.
The road had these funky dips in them that felt like a roller coaster. I drove for a while, and it was a bit scary. Fun, but scary. We were changing altitude allllll day. First we dropped altitude really fast, then went back up, came down, went up, came down, and finally went up to the mountains outside Yosemite.
Our campsite in California was about an hour from Yosemite, and was kind of a sucker campsite. It was in a little town with one coffee shop and a diner and a couple tourist-y stores. The lawn was manicured, there were nice bathrooms ten feet away, and loads of RVs. It was kind of nice, though, because the grass was soft to sleep one and after a while of peeing in hole, the bathrooms were welcome.
I woke up about 3 am needing to pee (I was seriously grateful for the nice bathrooms then) and oh my cow the stars were beautiful. There were so many and they were sooo bright. It was gorgeous.
July 7, 2015
Day 5
States Traversed: California
Hours on the Road: 3
Yosemite is Narnia, I am quite sure. It’s wonderful. Of all the National Parks I have been to, this is my favorite. There’s so much to explore. Rocks to climb, trees to crawl over, creeks to swim in. It’s amazing.
We found a lake and went swimming in 64 degree weather (I made $5 by being the first one to go completely under water). The water is clearer than any I have ever seen. It was so cold though. A group of college-age guys (we think from Britain) got in right after we got out and they screamed like little girls.
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| In the freezing water |
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| Shoes are overrated. |
There are so many opportunities for was wandering around in Yosemite. We went off in the woods and climbed trees and rocks and leaped across creeks and just wandered. It was so fun.
We lucked out on our campsite for this night. Last night, Dad made a few calls asking about cancellations in the park. There was one. When we got there, a couple from LA were setting up in the campsite next to us. Apparently, this campground – and our spots in particular – sell out the first minute they go on sale. And it was obvious why. We were away from everyone else, there was a creek with a perfect spot for swimming just behind us, there were trees for hammocking, it was spacious… we lucked out, let me tell you.
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| The creek behind our campsite |
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| Lower Yosemite Falls |
To Be Continued...
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