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melwhelstravels · 8 years ago

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Cross Country 2014!

Day 1 – Raleigh NC

We arrived at our campsite around 5pm and the gates locked at 9 so we decided to make a walmart run for burgers. We pulled up to the campsite and we were the only people in the site besides one other guy a few sites away. We ran to walmart for under $30 bought burger dinner and a grill..can’t really beat that. Plus now we have a little grill for our camping stops. We foot back to camp, unloaded our tent, made some drinks and got settled in. We played some gin rummy under our beautiful canopy of trees. I would highly suggest William Umstead park it was gorgeous. We cooked up the burgers. The ranger arrived at 9pm to lock the gate and check to make sure we weren’t murderers. She sold us some firewood and we snuggled up by the fire until we got sleepy,

Day 2 – Raleigh to Savannah

We survived the night without being murdered by that one other guy or eaten by wolves so that was a good start. We stretched out and showered up (super clean bathrooms again I would highly suggest this park) then went for. Little hike before heading out to Savannah. We had a beautiful day for driving, 92 degrees! Windows rolled down, jams pumped up…could not be happier. We drove until we, of course hit the South of the Border store and stopped for gas and tacos. We got to Savannah around 6pm checked into The Oglethorpe Inn. Really pretty hotel/inn and super inexpensive for how nice is. We got a king suite really reasonably priced. We showered up, got dressed and headed into town for dinner and exploring. We went to Anna’s for dinner, which was subpar, but really inexpensive so we didn’t mind. Then we walked down to the riverfront, which is gorgeous. We headed to “world of beer” which Matt of course loved, and they had Framboise so i didn’t hate it! We decided to bar hop and check out some other bars. We went to Social Club where we sat under a tree on the patio and watched a drunk girl fall asleep on a couch in front of us. It was entertaining until she was kicked out. She just wanted to take a lil nap. Matt had a couple of drinks then grabbed a beer to go (cause you can do that here, gotta love the south). Headed back to our hotel for the night. More updates to come!

Savannah, GA - Day 3

Day three started with our subpar hotel breakfast and deciding what we want to do. I did some quick research and we found Wormsloe Plantation only 3miles away. We arrive and it’s everything I was hoping for in a nature trip to Savannah. The row of live oaks is hanging over us, with an old gorgeous, but fading archway entrance. I just want to write entire seasons of American Horror Story based on this place, and that wasn’t even the creepiest thing we did all day. The row of live oaks is actually the one you will see at the moment Forrest runs in Forrest Gump, it was pretty awesome. The original plantation is only ruins now, so we get to tour that and it’s awesome, between live oaks, palms, lizards and crabs we aren’t sure if we are in Savannah or Guatamala. All in all if you don’t mind a little bit of a stroll and being outside, this is a Savannah must see.

Then we headed to lunch and I had the best salad of my life at Road Side Cafe. We went into town, because we knew we wanted to go on the 4pm river boat tour. We headed down to the river and did a bit of shopping (this is around 2:30). Random off story, we went into this one little $20 and under store to buy whatever’s and this lady (definitely/maybe a few drinks in) runs into the shop yelling “I saw this girl steal from you, hurry she is getting away!” Meanwhile the poor “thief” she is accusing has a painting from a totally different store that she is being told she stole from the store we are in. The girl at the register kinda just blows off the crazy drunk lady and she storms out saying “your loss!” This comes up later, so I thought I’d mention it.

We hop on the riverboat, sitting in the sun on the perfect day we were having. We buy a frozen drink and we are in heaven. The ride is great, beautiful breeze, beautiful weather, can’t stop smiling. The ride is about an hour and we are pretty sticky from sunscreen so we head home to freshen up and get ready for a fancy dinner. We decide on the restaurant Alligator Soul which is incredibly highly rated and has creole/southern which is what we were lookin for. We get there and they are booked until 9pm so we find a spot at the bar instead which we are just as happy about! We order some great drinks, and the bartender asks what we are in town for. Wait..pause…remember where drunk lady is supposed to come back….she does…she rolls into the bar around the same time as us, still lit up carrying a PBR pounder in a cozy and a wine bottle in a cozy, don’t forget this is a four star restaurant. She is also sitting at the bar, at the other end fortunately. Back to the bartender asking where we are from. So we tell our story about the trip and where we are headed. The people next to us stile up conversation and we learn they are in town for a convention and are from right outside Santa Monica in Cali. We have an awesome meal and chat with our new friends from Cali the whole time, they give us suggestions for NOLA. We grab a pic together and they told us to call to get a drink when we are near them. I think we just might! Then after our great dinner we headed out to meet my loves from West Chester Topher & Brenda. We had some catch up time, drank a couple of drinks then headed to our ghost tour led by only the best tour guide in Savannah, Topher. I definitely suggest the Blue Orb tours it was super creepy and actually really factual and interesting. I might just sound like a proud mom, but Topher is actually probably the best tour guide you will ever have so if you can go on his tour, I would. We had an awesome time hearing about how creepy Savannah really is basically a huge, well laid out city sized graveyard. We had a great time and I was sad to see Topher and Brenda go, plus we met some adorable Aussies on our trip, also from Cali.

Day 4 - Pensacola We got up early in Savannah and headed to Pensacola, Florida. We arrived in Pensacola around 5ish and hit up a Winn Dixie for some dinner. We headed over to the campground and set up in our great little site. Matt attempted to make a fire , unfortunately it appeared all the firewood was wet from the recent rain storms. We lucked out with everything not being flooded. We used our fire (mostly smoke) to heat up our rotisserie chicken and beans (cause we are hardcore campers). Had a lovely dinner by citronella candle, then sat by the sorta fire for a while. We kept scanning the still water that was behind our site for snakes and other creepy crawlers, of course we scanned across and saw a little water snake and I was like NOPE. So I decided it was time to sleep and not watch the marsh anymore so I didn’t end up sleeping in the car lol. The sound of the swampy marsh was actually great to sleep to so I didn’t wake up all night. Matt got up one in the middle of the night and apparently had a party with an armadillo outside the tent, but I slept through it..oh we’ll I’ll get ya next time armadillo.

Day 5- Pensacola & New Orleans We packed up camped and headed to the beach. It was unfortunately rainy and gloomy, but we wanted to see the pretty beach anyway. We walked down the beach and sat in our folds chairs a while, it was actually really nice. After an hour or so we headed out to NOLA. on the way we made two pit stops. First was the El Chikino (obviously a large chicken sculpted onto an El Camino). Then we stopped at the worlds largest rocking chair Gulfport, Mississippi. We drove through four states in four hours (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana). We arrived at the Royal Barracks B&B which is super cute. The B&B has a patio with high walls so it’s really private, and our little room is great. We parked the car (about five blocks away, not close.this is important). We double and triple checked to make sure we had everything out of the care fore heading back to the room. So we walk back to the room (it’s now drizzling). We get back to the room and I go to take a shower, that’s all I wanted, just a lil shower. Nope, I left my toiletry/makeup bag in the car cause I’m the smartest person I know. So Matt was super excited to walk back with me in the now torrential rain with our broken umbrella. We finally got back to the room soaking wet, showered and changed and chilled for a lil. The rain didn’t let up all night so we decided to eat close, we ran through rivers of water and waterfalls off the rooftops to an Italian place a block away (Mona Lisa Cafe, really cute). That was basically the end of our night, which was fine we were tired. I know we are super lame for not going out and getting wasted, but that’s not really our dig anyway.

Day 6 - NOLA We got up and took a trash bag full of laundry over to be washed nearby, yay I can wear my fave jeans again! We grabbed lunch at 801 Bourbon, which had awesome salads (we are attempting to be healthy where we can). Then we picked up our laundry and, of course, it was time for a nap. Don’t judge, we are on vacation. After our nap we headed out to explore. We stopped at one of the many frozen drink dispensaries and bought some god awful frozen drinks, we wanted to be cool…we no longer want to be cool. We stopped at a couple of bars and little shops. Took some photos In Jackson Square, normal touristy things. We found this great prohibition bar 21st Amendment, it was awesome. Jazz singer playing piano, Godfather on loop and drinks with words I can’t pronounce. After 21st amendment we headed back to our B&B to get changed for dinner. Our B&B is right off of Bourbon, so about four blocks from the craziness, which is far enough away for it to be quiet and homey. We had dinner at Palm Court Jazz Cafe, really delicious, old timey NOLA Jazz band playing. Then we headed to another jazz club called Irvin Mayfields, nice smooth jazz and comfy dark club. We ended our night back at 21st Amendment, awesome five piece jazz band playing. Small bar, not packed, we had front row seats for the band. Stayed until around 1am then headed back to the B&B, like I said we aren’t into partying all night, plus there is too much to do and too little time to be hungover and non functional all the next day.

Day 7 -New Orleans We woke up to rain again unfortunately, but we made the best of it, as we do. We did sleep in pretty late cause we might have gotten a wee bit intoxicated the night before, but what else were we supposed to do!? We got up and put on our rain jackets (seriously glad we bought those before we left home), then headed to get tacos for brunch. We figured we would check out the aquarium, since it was raining, but quickly changed our minds when we saw the hordes of screaming babies whose mommies had the same plan (happy Mother’s Day to them!) we decided we would check out the IMAX later in the day. We walked around the financial district for a while, do a bit of shopping. We mostly just strolled around a while. Shortly after it was time for our IMAX, about great white sharks, cause we are nerds. After the movie we headed we shopped around a bit more, then headed back to our B&B. it was just about nap time so we snuggled in for a bit. After chilling for a while we got dressed for dinner. We went o Snug Harbor on Frenchmen street which was pretty good. Then we checked out this awesome art market that was open until midnight.on a Sunday. NOLA is a strange place. We went to three different bars on Frenchmen with bands, it was great. Really awesome conclusion to our NOLA trip. Just walking down Bourbon I wouldn’t come back to NOLA, but after experiencing Frenchmen I would definitely consider returning

Day 8 - Kountze, TX (We’ve never heard of it either)

We packed up from NOLA and headed out to Texas early on Monday morning. We didn’t hit any roadside stops on the way, but it we arrived early enough to play around outdoors. Kountze it just as you may have guessed, a middle of nowhere little town. Scary thing about Texas their speed limits are insanity. We were driving down a small two lane highway where the speed should probably have been maybe a max of 50, I shit you not, it was 75mph. Besides that it was a lovely ride, even with the speed limit craziness it was kind of an adventure. We arrived at Ethridge Farm B&B, which is right between NOLA and Austin if you ever want to take a cross country trip like ours, do not stay anywhere else, this is the perfect little slice of country heaven. Ann, our innkeeper led us to our personal cabin, which was brand spankin new. It was perfect in every way, porch swing, outdoor shower, huge king bed with hand stitched (not by Ann, it’s not her thing) quilt on the bed, literally perfect. The “ranch-hand” Jay was a character out of a movie. He had a thick drawl accent and rode around in his golf cart warning us about snakes (it was “the season for em”, obviously) and talking to Biscuit the dog, who did not like us. He also had cane poles made up for us if we wanted to fish for Blue Gils, I love Jay, obviously. We arrived early enough to go for a country road bike ride, so we did. It was raining on and off, but never enough to be too annoying. We went to a crappy taco place “Crazy Jose’s” for dinner, oh well, ya can’t win them all right? Ann had turned the hot tub on for us, of all things for them to have right? We went over around nine to relax out some of the driving aches, it was perfect, just as everything else was. We decided to go snuggle up for the night and get an early start the next day.

Day 9 - Kountze to Austin, TX

We got up early and headed over for Miss Ann’s Texas breakfast. We were the only ones staying at the B&B so we were alone at this huge family dinner table with a big deer antler chandelier above us. Ann made us Texas style biscuit’s and sausage gravy, it was obviously amazing. Then we bid adieu to our little cabin and hit the road to Austin. On the way we hit Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham, TX. This was probably the best ice cream I’ve ever had (and I love ice cream); 3rd best in the country actually. Plus we went on a cool little tour of the factory. We arrived at the Brava House B&B and met our host Nick. He is a young hipster and led us to our room and gave us a tour of the B&B facilities. It has a gorgeous little patio in the back of the house, off the house is a separate space for breakfast, and our room is awesome. The first night we headed into town, which was only about six blocks away. Picture this layout of the city, we are in a suburb, super quiet little residential suburb, walk seven blocks and you are downtown Austin. It’s awesome. We walked into town and ate at Z Tejas, this was delicious. Awesome margaritas and TexMex food; definitely go if you go to Austin, which you should. We walked up to some bars in town and had a drink, it was raining so we didn’t do too much.

Day 10 - Austin, TX

We go up and Nick made us a yummy breakfast and told us all the cool spots to hit. We took our bikes out and rode down town to Zilker Park and hit their amazing trail. We rode about five-ish miles stopping here and there for photo ops and scenic lookouts. It was really well laid out, something you would have to drive miles to get to from Philly or any city I’ve been to and it was feet from the main downtown area. The path was along the Austin riverfront, which was perfect and we had a perfect day for it. We hit the downtown area for lunch and maybe I’m exaggerating now because I’m overwhelmed with the awesomeness of this trip, but I had probably the best burger ever. We strolled around downtown and checked out some shops, then headed back to the trail to get home. We got home, napped, then headed back out (walking this time) to grab dinner and go out. We had dinner at Maiko sushi house, super delish. Afterwards we went to this bar in a parking garage, called…go figure, Garage. It had great prohibition cocktails (you know how we love our prohibition dranks) and some great music. We went to one other bar and then headed back to our humble abode.

Day 11 - Austin, TX

We had breakfast at our B&B again, which was again, delicious. Then we got dressed and headed to Hamilton Pool (Google that shit, it’s amazing). It was a beautiful cave/crater type pool (unfortunately closed for swimming), but still really awesome to take pictures and grab some sun for a few minutes. We came back to town and walked (again) to Z Tejas (seriously great food and drinks). We walked around at some shops nearby. Then we checked out this house that is actually a castle, plus the HOPE outdoor gallery. This gallery is all graffiti for four stories outdoors. Then we obviously napped. After chilling we headed to the closest bar for drinks and dinner (our leggies hurted). We needed to chill out the rest of the night so we just watched a movie and passed out. All in all Austin was amazing!

Day 12 - longest day ever in the car

We slept in then headed out to New Mexico. I don’t know if people realize this, but Texas is friggin huge so getting through it with only two stops is insanity. So this day was mostly just driving (about nine hours). We did stop at the Caverns of Sonora in Texas that took about 2.5 hours, but really awesome. The scenery driving through Western Texas is amazing (really all of the scenery so far has been pretty great). The scenery was huge plateaus and mountains with giant fields, occasional dust storm. We drove really close to the Mexico border once night fell so we could see the huge lights that divide us and Mexico, really crazy. It’s insane to look at how close Juarez is to El Paso, literally the next town over. We finally hit Las Cruces, NM around 10pm and everything was closed for food, so we hit Applebee’s then went to bed in our La Quinta.

Day 13 - Phoenix, AZ

We left New Mexico and went off to Arizona, had yummy morning burritos. We are classy and had DQ blizzards on the drive for lunch. We arrived at the Zenyard B&B and were immediately in love. It had a private pool, hottub, back porch, and awesome everything else. We got in the pool which felt like a hot tub because it was a record 102 degrees outside, felt awesome though. Our host Dale suggested this great Italian restaurant Cristos. We walked to Christos and had a great authentic Italian dinner with old Italian men spieling the specials so fast we had no idea what they were sayin, but we wanted it anyway. Then we came back and utilized the hottub and pool at night, sooooo awesome.

Day 14 - more Phoenix

We had great breakfast made by the B&B in the morning. Went to Echo Canyon trail, which has the disclaimer “extremely difficult” but they are NOT joking. It was 100 degrees, straight incline up to the top of this mountain with huge stairs, bouldering, and parts where you are literally pulling your whole body up a railing. Needless to say I didn’t make it to the top. Post mountain climbing we went home and took cold showers, obviously. Then we went to nordstrom rack and bought piles of clothes. We ate at this place called twin peaks, which we quickly found out was the Hooters of Phoenix, get it, twin…peaks…anywaaaaay. Then we went home, napped and hot the pool…aaaagain. For dinner we went to Matt’s Uncle Randy’s, which was really lovely. We hung out for six hours and chatted and had a great time.

Day 15 - San Diego, CA

We got a bit of a late start cause sooooomeone (Matt) had a wee bit too much to drink the night before. Regardless, we got packed up and headed to CALIFORNIA BABY!! The mountains from Phoenix to California we’re amazing. We went through two border patrol check points, dem gringos are crazy mayn. We were staying at Campland on the Bay. It was a cute campground..you guessed it right on the bay. We set up our camp while murderous ducks stalked around us. Then we grabbed a bite and did laundry and got in the hot tub at the site. We built a cool fire and cuddled up

Day 16 - Santa Monica, CA

We were awakened by the murderous ducks again first thing in the morning. We packed up camp and headed to the beach! We went to The Menu for breakfast. We went straight for Pacific Beach in San Diego, then obviously did happy dances because we made it to the west coast. We visited the Sunset Cliffs which was incredibly beautiful. Then we got back on the road on the way to Santa Monica. We checked into our B&B which was just this girls apartment that we had our own room in, still really nice though. We walked down the third street promenade and window shopped. We had dinner at Chloe, which had great drinks, but vastly disappointing food and service. We had after dinner drinks at Copa de Oro and The Misfit, which made me forget how much I hated Chloe. Then we headed home to sleep

Day 17 - Santa Monica, CA

We rode our bikes down to the Santa Monica pier and hit Dean’s on the beach bar. It was a cool, somewhat touristy bar and we had a great spot outside. We were sitting right by the entrance, but the place was small so you could see all the tables. Two guys walked in and Matt and I immediately recognized the one from movies. It took us twenty minutes of searching imdb to finally give up and ask the waiter who he was. OH DUH Luke Wilson (ya know the lesser famous of the Wilson bros, but still totally awesome). So we finished our food then Matt nicely asked if it would be a huge pain in the butt for him to take a picture with me. He was super nice and Matt brought me over and we both got pics with him. Then we chatted about our trip for a minute, it was an excellent start to our day. We got on our bikes and rode down the beach trail, we got off and sunned by the ocean for a while (I unfortunately burned, while Matt simply sunned, jerk). Then we rode down to Venice Boardwalk and checked out all the little shops. We rode back to the pier and walked to the end, bought tee shirts. Then we rode into town and grabbed a snack and drink again at Misfit (you’ll never guess that it was another prohibition bar, seeing a trend here?). We went home and got dressed and showered for dinner. We were having dinner with my moms longtime friend (from when she lived in Venice after going cross country at my age, fun fact!) and our family friends Sandra and Tony. It was a lovely dinner catching up with friends at this cool Cuban restaurant Versailles. After dinner we we’re beat from a long California day.

Day 18 - still Santa Monica

We walked down the 3rd street promenade and ate at the mall. There was a weird competition happening in the open lower level where 20 girls had to dig through a huge cake to find a wedding ring, only in America folks. We walked around and shopped for a few hours. We went to The Misfit (yes, again) and had a drink and a snack (don’t judge they have a great happy hour). The. We went home and relaxed for a while (midday drinks make me sleeeeepy). We got dressed and headed to Monsoon for sushi, then to 4th and Jane for drinks. At 4th and main we learned that I’m terrible at connect four and the bartender Brian thinks we are locals of California, il take it.

Day 19 - Ventura, CA

We took a quick ride down the Pacific Coast Highway, which was so beautiful. We were taking a day trip to the Channel Islands off the Cali coast. We boarded the ship (it’s still pretty cool in California, that’s why there hasn’t been any swimming, which makes me sad cause I’m a fish, but beautiful weather nonetheless). We sat down in the bottom back of the boat where no one wanted to be, but was perfect. It was about an hour boat ride in beautiful weather. We saw a few huge sea lions, about a hundred dolphins and a humpback whale tail (this is just on the way to the island). The island itself looks like something out of Jurassic park, so cool, clear green-blue water with kelp forests, and rolling hills on this huge island in the middle of the ocean. We hiked up to the peak (again seriously check out matts pictures). On the boat ride back we saw, again hundreds of dolphins and three humpback whales. One fully breeched out of the water, which was just flipping majestic and another (possibly the same one, who knows) came right up to the boat and just kinda whaled around as they do. It was such an amazing day trip I can’t even believe it was real. We then checked into our B&B, which is a huge old church, so stinking pretty as if this day could get better. Oh and a waterfall rock shower, yea I’m moving in. So we changed and went into town, which is equally adorable. I’m sad we are only staying one night. We had dinner at Anacapa Brewing Company then strolled along Main Street.

Day 20 - Lake Havasu

We had a delicious breakfast at The Victorian Rose (our B&B in Ventura, awesome old church), then we headed on to Lake Havasu, AZ. Drove through the Mohave desert to our little oasis town. We were staying at the Bridgewater Motel with a bunch of old Germans which was perfect because we didn't want 21-year-old frat bros passed out all over the place. We went to the Barley Bros Brewing Co and played trivial pursuit like the coolest nerds you have ever met at the bar. Then we went to Kokomo, the main club/bar in town. We made friends with some awesome metal head German guys; Dennis & Holger. We also learned that Germans can out drink us any day of the week, so three jäger shots later and many drinks we stumbled home.

Day 21 - Lake Havasu We, of course, slept off our hangover until noon. We rode our bikes around looking for a spare beach whichever were none to be found. We decided to get in the car and drive far enough away from the craziness. Found an awesome family beach, swam, and chilled out the rest of the afternoon. We went to dinner literally across the street from our motel at Cha Bones, super yummy. We chilled out undecided what to do with the rest of the night, then made the obvious choice to go see XMen.

Day 22 - Vegas Baby

We drove through some more desert to get to Vegas and came in and rode down the strip, very cool for a first timer like me. We stayed at Planet Hollywood and ate at Tao in the Venetian for our first night. Matt played some tables then we watched girls dance at The Heart Bar In PH. We were obviously hungry again at 2am and you can get a full meal at that hour in Vegas, so we did.

Day 23 - More Vegas Ate lunch at Earl of Sandwich (we obviously slept til noon...again, life's hard). Sunbathed and swam at Planet Hollywood. Shopped around in PH a bit. Went to Joe's seafood for dinner, awesome steak meal. Then we headed to Aria for our awesome Cirque show, Zarkana. The show was exhausting from the anxiety of watching the crazy acrobatics in the show. We had 2nd row seats, so we could see the performers anxiety too. Walked around the strip a bit more then headed home

Day 24 - Again, Vegas

Ate lunch at the Tilted Kilt then walked around more, cause that's what you do mostly. Drank huge frozen drinks, cause that's also what you do. Went back to PH and won $400 like a boss. Went to Choya for taco dinner (we eat a lot of tacos). Took Matt to see Rock of Ages because he needed it in his life (he agrees). The show was awesome, then we went to the Rock of Ages themed bar and partied with the band, cause we are cool like that. Went back to PH for a snack & drink in the Rockbar, noticed they have a mechanical bull. I obviously was a boss, rode for over 30 seconds, and have the bruises on my thighs to prove it.

Day 25 - Grand Canyon Ah finally some fresh air. Took a pit stop on the way to check out the Hoover Dam. Had lunch in the most perfect Route 66 diner on the way. Arrived at our campground in the park and walked up to see it and take photos. There really aren't words that can describe the majesty that is the Grand Canyon, but it was definitely beautiful and awesome. Grabbed dinner then tucked into our tent a lil early.

Day 26 - Page, AZ

arrived at Colorado River Discovery and hour before schedule because they don't observe daylight savings time, jerks. Grabbed lunch at the Rivers End Cafe. We boarded our bus to our Glen Canyon river tour. The bus drives into guarded government property and down a huge Willy Wonka dark tunnel to get to the boats, sketchy as crap. River tour was amazing, we were on the Colorado River in the bottom of this huge canyon. I jumped in the 40 degrees water at our halfway point, it was refreshing and freezing, but now I can say I took a polar plunge in the middle of the desert. After the tour we struggled to get to our guest ranch in the middle of nowhere (no gps signal or address, just using coordinates and directions) but once we found it, it was perfect. We had a cowboy named Joel cook us steaks and had an awesome dinner on the porch. Played some pool before a gaggle of 21 year old British kids took over the game room. Since we were in the middle of nowhere you could see every single star in the sky for miles (nearest anything was 25 miles away).

Day 27 - Page AZ

went into page for lunch at the Ranch House Grille. Headed over to our Antelope Canyon Tour. If you have never seen a picture of antelope canyon, it's amazing! We had a crazy little Navajo tour guide who loved Matt and kept stealing our camera to take photos, worth it though we got some perfect shots. Afterwards we went to lone rock beach on the way home and swam in Lake Powell, beautiful. Then we headed back to our cabin and I cooked us dinner (you'll never guess that I cooked tacos) and we sat on the porch and played rummy cause we are adorable.

Day 28 - Moab, UT

Today was mostly driving and looking at some awesome ever-changing scenery. It goes from all rocks to mountains to all red rock, it's crazy how much is in America. We checked into our little cabin with a view that could kill of mountains and rock cliffs. We mostly just chilled out and went to Moab Brewing Co and here we are. Only 14 days left in our trip and every day is a new adventure. Having such a great time with my awesome best friend and babe. Also just as a recap Matt has driven 5300 miles, I've driven 10 (someone's gotta drive us home from all these breweries).

Day 29 - Moab, UT

Happy Birthday Mom! Today we got up at 6:30am (earliest day so far on the trip, struggles), but it was totally worth it. We went to hike to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. Not only was it so much cooler first thing in the morning, there was also zero crowds (even on the way back around 8:30/9 it was starting to get pretty crowded. This is the biggest tourist spot in Moab so it was definitely something we were doing. We were following some people on the hike up that seemed to know what they were doing, and we were apparently wrong in doing so because they had us going the entirely wrong way. For some reason the park people thought it would make the most sense in a desert area compiled of rocks to make the markers for the trail be piles of rocks, good call park people, good call. We finally got to the Arch and it was amazing, pictures cannot do it justice. You think when looking at a photo, meh thats pretty big and kinda cool looking. When you stand under the arch it’s massive, so huge and it’s amazing how it has stood there for so long. How has nature even allowed that to stay balanced, insanity. Then we hiked back after taking some photos. We hit the Moab Diner for a breakfast fit for kings and then headed back to our comfy cabin for a well deserved two hour nap. You do not want to be out in the desert climate in the middle of the day so we were perfectly cool with snuggling up and napping right through it. We woke up chilled for a while then went to dinner at Fiesta Mexicana (you know how much we love tacos and quesadillas). Then we figured it would be awesome to check out one of the crazy kawasaki tours on the rock structures. We went on the Moab Cowboy tour, where Matt drove and Cowboy Kent was our instructor. This was probably the craziest thing we did on the whole trip. When the tour starts by driving across something called the “Devil’s Backbone” you know you have gotten yourself into something that is insane. You basically drive up and down these mountain formations made up of whats called slickrock (it’s not slick, it’s actually like a cats tongue or sandpaper) and the wheels of the kawasaki’s stick right to it. It was so cool and fun and I would do it again and again. I think Matt would totally move to Utah and do it all the time, which makes me want to not move to Utah because I like him alive. I’ve also met a few cool rednecks in my day, but Cowboy Kent was by far one of the coolest. We got to see a stunning sunset while on our drive.

Day 29 - Mesa Verde/Cortez, CO

We packed up and said goodbye to Moab and moved onto Colorado. This drive was so interesting because you are moving from the crazy red rock formations to the mountainous area of Colorado. We bought our tickets at the visitor center in the Mesa Verde Park, then realized we had to drive 30 miles up a mountain to the actual tour. This was a twisty curvy drive along the side of this mountain (really beautiful drive). We grabbed lunch at the Terrace Overlook cafeteria in the park. The Cliff Palace was so interesting, our guide Jim was so knowledgeable. It was nice because we had a very small tour group so we had the opportunity to ask a lot of questions and check out the site in a bit more detail (once again lucking out with the no crowds).

Day 30 & 32 - Santa Fe NM

Magic Staircase, Stayed at an amazing B&B with a retired carpenter/harpsichord musician. Got tatted up.

Day 33 - Amarillo TX

Almost got Tornadoed on, Found worlds biggest steak (everything’s bigger in Texas), stayed at an really nice & clean KOA (had to upgrade to the cabin because of potential aforementioned tornado). Found a strip club called “Beaver Town” can’t make that up (I could but I’m not nearly that funny)

Day 34 - 35 - Oklahoma City, OK

Lots of flat land on this drive, stayed with the cutest gay couple with their baby dogs, The one is a highly renowned concert pianist with a solid gold plated full grand piano in their little living room; why have more than two seats in the living room when you can have a grand piano? Went on a lovely nine mile bike ride around a pond. Checked out the downtown Oklahoma City area Day 36 - Lake Ouachiata AR

Stayed a simple hotel, went to a dive bar, went to the movies (saw the best movie ever “Edge of Tomorrow”, seriously see it). Went to bed

Day 37 - 38 - Nashville TN

Honkeytonks, music, some good country food, really beautiful Airbnb (she gave us wine); our first Uber!

Day 39 - 40 - Bardstown KY

Whiskey, Colonel Sanders (the real one), more whiskey, Haunted old jail cell B&B, aaaaaaand more whiskey

This was the trip of a lifetime. We were excited to be home, but we can’t wait to do it again. This trip was the main instigator for us purchasing our Sonic RV. Spring 2018 looks like our first BIG trip with the RV, but for now we will have some awesome weekend trips. Anyone who has the opportunity to go cross country whether it be in an RV or like we did with just our loaded down Xterra, do it. You will never regret the experience. There are a lot of really beautiful places in the world (see other posts regarding the Caribbean), but you really don’t have to leave the country to see some of the most beautiful places. The most common question we get after our trip is, where were your favorite places. To explain that I feel like I have to preface we had an awesome new experience everywhere we went so it’s hard to pick. Savannah was gorgeous with all the willow’s and the feeling of being in the South. Austin was such a different city (especially coming from Philly), really amazing to have real nature in a city and the planning to make it such a great walking city (take notes philly). Ventura CA was such a cool experience and we wished we had stayed there longer. Utah was actually our favorite place probably; Moab is the most different place we have ever experienced (look at that arches pic again.. we are under the arch). Our next trip we are thinking of going as far as Phoenix then exploring more of Arizona & Utah. Our least favorites (we didn’t dislike anything on the trip so they are only least faves) would be Vegas & NOLA. Vegas was a really cool experience to be had, but I would never go back unless it was for a great show. NOLA was neat on Frenchman St, but anyone who comes to NOLA to go to Bourbon St is crazy to me. Maybe if I was 21 and with my girls I would feel differently, but at this point in my life, no thanks. We definitely enjoyed both, but were not our faves. Please go cross country, you will not regret it!

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