Road Trip 2018

Road Trip 2018 - Cruise Across America!

So this is how "Road Trip 2018" came to be...

Nic and I were booked for a trek at Philmont Scout Ranch out in Cimmaron, New Mexico in July with some buddies from our Boy Scout Troop. We were scheduled for a 10 day trek out in the back country, and it's similar to a trip that I took with Anthony back in 2014. However, wildfires overtook a good portion of the property, and unfortunately all treks for 2018 were cancelled.

That left us with non-refundable airline tickets and the need for a plan with only 2 weeks to go. By swapping the tickets to fly into Las Vegas versus the original Denver destination we saved enough money to add Anthony to the trip with us, and started planning what I always told the kids would be a "Cruise Across America". We plan on visiting a lot of the National Parks our west and will end with a few days in Southern California. What about the girls you ask? They wanted nothing to do with roughing it in the dessert, and made alternate plans for a bunch of fun together as well as a beach trip with some friends.

I'm going to try to use this page as my blog for the trip and will be providing links to the pictures/video on my Google Photos. Hope you enjoy!

FYI - I am using an app called Roadtripper to help me try to plan and navigate - you may be able to see our trip at this link:

• http://roadtrippers.com/trips/22415099?utm_source=mail&utm_campaign=trip_guide&utm_medium=ios

Day Two - Kingman to Sedona to Grand Canyon

Interesting start to the morning- we had a good night’s sleep (except for me and Nic’s snoring according to Anthony) and then just before leaving the Dust Storm Alerts started coming on our phones - “Pull Aside - Stay Alive” is the lesson of the day.

Long stormy drive from Kingman to Sedona - most of the drive was in some crazy thunderstorms with lightning strikes that were magnificent.

The road into Sedona was packed with visitors to the local parks in the surrounding forests and there was no parking all the way into town. The road was very curvy and Nic took a lot of pics and video of the sites. We decided on a Pink Jeep tour at sunset and hope it’s what everyone tells me in terms of greatness. Still not sure where we end up tonight, and when we’ll actually get to Grand Canyon, but my bet at lunchtime is tomorrow.

Enjoying some wood fired pizza for lunch - updates to follow later tonight...

After-lunch update: We got lucky and there was a cancellation so we took the 2:30pm Pink Jeep Tour to Broken Arrow, which we really enjoyed. The guide was so knowledgeable, and really did a great job giving us a tour that was bumpy and thrilling. We got some great pictures, but Nic said it best, they will never be able to capture how truly breathtaking the views were.

After Sedona, we rushed up to Grand Canyon Village and were able to get a view of the Canyon around sunset. Another great set of views that we were amazed with.

We are stopped for the night back on the old Route 66, staying in Williams, Arizona for the night.

Day 3 - Meteor Crater, Petrified Forest, and Sandia Peak Tramway

We left Williams early and again headed East towards New Mexico. Along the way we found some great sites and landscapes, and then came across a sign for Meteor Crater somewhere along the road. Anthony sounded interested and curious, so we stopped and we were so glad we did. There in the middle of the dessert was this enormous crater hole, and the observatory views were grand. We really enjoyed exploring this site and learning about how it was proved that it resulted in a meteor rather than a volcanic eruption. What also amazed us was that there was a Subway sandwich shop in the museum in the middle of nowhere.

Hitting the road again it is amazing to see so many shuttered businesses and houses along the way. Granted they are not near anything, but it makes you wonder whether there was more tourism and travel along the way to support (or does the GPS feature help you find bigger and cheaper gas and food within range).

Using my new National Park pass (bargain at $80) we got into the Petrified Forest National Park, which was a different type of site but still awesome. The different colors of the rocks were explained to me by Anthony, as I of course forgot he is a science teacher, which has certainly come in handy along the way (discovery - it's great to have kids who are smarter than you!).

Then we had a long drive into Albuquerque where we enjoyed the Sandia Park Tramway, which ascended up beyond 10,000 feet with grand views of the city and surroundings. The tram is truly an experience, and the boys enjoyed (Anthony and I did this during our Philmont trip in 2014 as well). We left there and then headed up to Raton, New Mexico to stage us closer to our Colorado destination.

We ended the day to find the cheap motel we were going to park in had NO A/C and it was close to midnight and 90 degrees, so we had to do some last minute swapping to find a place to sleep. We found what turned out to be an OK room, thanks to the McDonalds Wi-Fi in town as Raton is not very Sprint-friendly.

Day 4 - Colorado Springs, Red Rocks, and Downtown Denver

Left Raton for the drive to Colorado Springs, with some different but once again grand views along the way.

Getting to Colorado Springs at lunchtime, we found a place called Rudy's BBQ, where we enjoyed some great pulled pork sandwiches, along with some brisket and ribs. It was like the BBQ version of Katz' Deli out west, where they even gave you some sample slices to feast on before ordering. Highly recommended (by Uncle Ivan as well)!

Garden of the Gods was an awesome site, and we did some light hiking, with Nic tempted to climb the rocks. I had to remind him that it's not the time to get hurt with a heavy dancing based Newsies show coming up soon.

We drove up Pikes Peak but at the gate we were told that the weather being tracked wasn't good so we decided to not go to the top, which in retrospect was a very smart move, given the tornado warnings and crazy weather that quickly followed. Instead we headed north for Denver in some torrential rains and slight hail.

Got to Denver and was greated by torrential downpours but we managed to walk the 16th Street Mall downtown and have dinner. Dispensaries galore, and I will equate it to the Blue Light security system in a college with the idea that you can't look at any moment 360 degrees without seeing at least 2 blue light stations - instead in Denver, you can look 360 degrees at any moment and see at least 2 people partaking in the medicinal goods (Nic keeps reminding me that it's not pot or cannibas, but medicinal items).

Getting a hotel was a chore - 97% booked in Denver, so we ended up north in Fort Collins.

Day 5 - Bear Country USA, Mount Rushmore, and Crazy Horse

We left our hotel in Fort Carson just north of Denver for the long trip to South Dakota through Wyoming. Not a lot to see as there was vast lengths of nothing in Wyoming by cattle farms and rolling hills. We didn't realize that there wouldn't be a lot of food choices, so when we saw an Arby's along the way we decided to stop. Nic and I got into a debate as I told him that Arby's was terrible, and that they take a million scraps of beef and press them together into something into roast beef. When I started college there was an Arby's just off campus, so we went there but I never enjoyed it. Nic liked the sandwiches and shakes, and said it's quote "Not terrible". In the middle of Wyoming with no other choices, Arby's suddenly becomes a gourmet meal. Check out the video of Nic ringing the bell for the good service we received (not the good food).

First stop in South Dakota was Bear Country USA, a place I saw online and then later was recommended by my friend Dave who took his family there and they enjoyed. I knew any place Dave loved we would as well. Bear Country USA didn't disappoint, with a great drive through safari with bears and other animals who were very active, and we followed this with a walk through their exhibits with the younger animals. This is a must if you are visiting Rushmore.

Next up was Mount Rushmore, which was a bucket list item for me, something I always wanted to see. The pictures do it no justice - it is grand, and watching the film to see how it was built, and also to appreciate the men who built it was great. Also, there were some facts about these four great men who used their presidency to create a legacy - they did what was right and good for all, at the time of their leadership of the country and beyond.

We then drove towards the Crazy Horse Monument, and took a quick look. It's a great site, but not quite there in terms of finished, but still a good site to see.

We drove a long way next back across Wyoming to Sundance, WY where we stood for the night in preparation for a visit to Devil's Tower the next day. We stopped at a Wayback Burger shop for dinner in some town in Wyoming where there was literally nothing else - burgers and fries were awesome.

Day 6 - Devil's Tower, Cody Firearms Experience and Cody Nite Rodeo

Day 6 started with an earlier rise and departure as we had a lot of ground to cover today. We left Sundance, Wyoming and headed north to Devil’s Tower National Monument.

My memories of this site of course go back to when I was 11 years old, watching Richard Dreyfus building a replica of the tower with his mashed potatoes in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. Of course the boys have never seen it, and I found out Damari didn’t either. I have to admit feeling old thinking that movie came out in 1977! Devil’s Tower didn’t disappoint and we all enjoyed the views.

One of the unexpected finds at Devil's Tower was the prairie dog population - they were everywhere as we drove up to the monument. Nic got some great pics and videos, and we loved watching these guys.

Next was the long trip back west through Wyoming as we headed to our next stop, the town of Cody in preparation to go to Yellowstone first thing Thursday. We did see a bunch of cars pulled over on the scenic trip, and it turned out there were some elk just off the road, so we pulled off to watch and take some pictures.

First stop in Cody was one Nic was greatly anticipating - the Cody Firearms Experience. We were greeted by friendly staff who explained how things worked, and after touring the place we all picked revolvers of some type to shoot. After a safety talk we headed into the range, where Nic started off with a 1911, a gun he’s fired many times in VR, which may have helped as he did very well hitting the target with great groupings. Anthony was next with a six-shot revolver, and he was a natural as well. I chose the Glock 10, which was fun to fire, with lots of kick. If you are in Cody this is a great place to go.

We ended Day 6 at the Cody Nite Rodeo - Rodeo Capital of the World! I wasn't quite sure how the boys would like it, but I think Nic favored it more than Anthony as I thought they'd want to exit early but Nic wanted to stay. It was good entertainment, in that you never know what will happen, and there was good music and some comedy mixed in, so we had a good time before retreating for the night.

Day 7 - Yellowstone National Park and Old Faithful

Got some extra rest on the morning of day 7 to prepare us for a full day at Yellowstone. The drive to the park took us through 2 other parks, and the views were grand, but nothing beat Yellowstone. The changing landscape while we drove, from different trees, different rocks, etc. just kept us busy looking everywhere.

Yellowstone Lake is an amazing site. It's unbelievable to think that this vast amount of water sites so many thousands of miles above sea level. The views were incredible, and although we took pictures it will never capture being there.

Once through the East Visitor Gate (thanks again to my National Park Season Pass we breezed by) we stopped at several picture spots before hitting the Fishing Bridge visitors center. The rangers at the parks do a phenomenal job overall, and the person who helped us at the visitor center provided a map to make sure we could spend our day productively visiting all the sites on our list, especially Old Faithful.

Next stop after checking in at the visitor center was to a thermal field with many pockets of boiling water and mud. It was a great tour along the boardwalk set up for observation, and there was a lone elk roaming around as well. I took an extra souvenir by rubbing my leg against the wood railing, leaving me with several splinters that will need their own time to come back to the surface.

Next stop was Old Faithful, where our timing didn't work, as it was erupting while we parked. We had about an hour wait, and the ranger's prediction time was spot on. It was a great site to see, considering you see it so many times on TV - just amazing to watch.

We roamed through the rest of the park, with the best spot of the afternoon an area where there was many wildlife. The bison in particular were huge and roaming, and we got great video of one that decided to stop traffic and roam across the road.

It was a long day, and we retreated back to Cody, Wyoming for a much needed night of rest.

Day 8 - Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park

Road Trip Day 8 brought us back through Yellowstone, where we were lucky to meet up with two great friends who were also on alternate trips as they were going to Philmont hiking with us. After a brief visit we then headed south to Grand Teton National Park. The views here were incredible, and I could spend forever here just sitting by the water and viewing the mountains. Pictures will never capture the beauty. We drove further south and I put Jackson Hole on my return list, as it wasn’t a planned stop but looked awesome (and was also packed). Now we are headed south to hopefully spend the night in Salt Lake City. Ended up at Embassy Suites for an unbelievably low rate, so we pampered ourselves to the hot tub, and will have a great breakfast tomorrow, besides having a huge suite!

Day 9 - Arches National Park

Maybe the hot tub last night just before 11pm with Nic wasn't such a good idea... both he and I couldn't sleep, and I didn't get to sleep until about 3am, which is not good when you're planning on a long drive in the morning. First lesson of the day.

After a somewhat late start we left Salt Lake City and headed south for Arches National Park. The drive was somewhat long, but once we arrived it was worth the trip. Nic was joking and said to write in the blog "Not only did we see more rocks, but these formed arches", but it was clear once we looked around the park that this was more than just rocks with arches. No matter what direction you looked in the formations of red rock were amazing. Nic said it best, that the tops of some of the formations looked like when you drizzle wet sand onto your sand castle at the beach. The arches were something else, and we took a short hike up to the top of one of the sites, where the views were amazing.

Unfortunately, we hit some storms there. On the way we drove through some windy storms that had some formations that you could clearly see were swirling with wind and rain from the ground to the clouds, and the gusts while driving were crazy. We thought we left that behind us, but as we hiked up to the arches the storm started to settle in, and the wind got so bad that a dust storm started. I haven't had that much sand in my mouth since sleeping in a tent on a windy Assateague Beach on a Boy Scout trip. We were lucky to get our trip to Arches done, because once we left it started raining and the storm really became intense, to the point that you couldn't see Arches or Moab as we drove away in the rear view mirror. I was grateful that we got those sites in.

We then tried to get to Bryce Canyon National Park before closing, but lesson number two of the day kicked in. When you have a chance to get gas, get it, even if you still have half a tank. Driving to Bryce I got dangerously low, and my stress level was way up there until Anthony somehow got service on his phone and found a station that although closed, it had a 24 hour self-serve pump that we were able to use to fill up with the tank almost completely empty. Many thanks to Randy's in Emory, UT for keeping the 24 hour pump operating for dopes like me who almost ran out of gas. At least I didn't feel alone - Anthony was reading other testimonials like this from others where Randy's saved them - who would think you could literally drive for hours without exits or gas (or electric, or phone service, or civilization for that matter).

Given that extra hour of detour for gas put us behind we decided to head straight to Kanab, UT where we will rest tonight. Tomorrow we can hopefully get Zion and maybe Bryce squeezed in before we head back west through Las Vegas and then on to the coast and California. The road was not an easy drive, with so many animals on the road. I've only seen a real skunk once before while Boy Scout camping until tonight, when one wanted to play chicken in the middle of the road with me - luckily I saw it (and so did Nic) and was able to swerve - but I don't think he got that lucky with the cars behind me. At least our car doesn't stink (at least on the outside - after the amount of hours/miles we've spent in it, I don't think I can say the same for the inside).

Day 10 - Kanab, WY to Ontario, CA with a stop midway in Las Vegas

Road Trip Day 10 was a travel day from Kanab, WY to Las Vegas, the half way point of our driving today, where we had lunch and got to walk around a bit and explore. The boys went to the Avengers exhibit at Treasure Island, and then we headed for dinner at the buffet at Circus Circus before driving the west of the way to California. Lots of driving but it sets us up well for the remainder of the week for our California adventures.

Day 11 - San Diego Zoo, La Jolla Cove, Mission Beach, and Old Town

Road Trip Day 11 started with a somewhat long drive from where we were staying to the San Diego Zoo. Driving on the freeway is interesting to say the least, as people pass from any side in any of the 5 lanes, and there is no such thing as a fast or slow lane. Drive defensively for sure on the freeways!

Got to the Zoo and did lots of walking, especially up and down the hills. It was amazing when you start to view exhibits and aviaries and realize just how many of them exist. They do a great job to provide the proper habitat, and the animals seem to like it judging by how they were playing in them. We took a ride in the Sky Ride, where the boys figured out that I'm not too keen on hanging from a cable in the sky (I was like that at the Sandia Peak Tram, but they were too mesmerized to notice). It got up near 100 degrees so we definitely burned some calories while enjoying the zoo.

Next up was a short drive from the zoo over to La Jolla Cove. Driving there brought back many memories of visiting there with my buddy Lucas, and all of the other fun times we had in San Diego. It's great to say it hasn't changed, and was as beautiful as I remember. Last time I was there was many years ago with Damari, but it was just after a big quake in LA that left the sky brown and yellow, so she didn't find it as gorgeous as it was today.

Besides the stunning views of the Pacific Coast, the other big attraction is the Sea Lions. There were many in attendance today, and we were able to get up and close to see them - just see the pics/videos. However, on a day near 100 degrees up and close isn't always a good thing when visiting Sea Lions. Let's just say they aren't the cleanest creatures, and their stench was a bit much. The boys and I were talking after, and I'm not sure how everyone was swimming with the stench all around, but they were.

La Jolla Cove was a tease for the next stop, and perhaps my favorite in the San Diego area, Mission Beach. Here we parked by the roller coaster and rented some beach cruiser bikes and hit the boardwalk. It was a great ride, and we covered the entire boardwalk north to south. Definitely someplace I would spend my days, should I hit the lottery or come into some insane amount of money, as I'm sure that's what the oceanfront places cost.

All that walking and riding worked up an appetite, so we then headed over to Old Town to see if I could remember what Damari told the kids was the restaurant where she had the best Mexican food ever was located. I got lucky and my memory brought me to Fiesta de Reyes, where the food was so good. We enjoyed sitting outside eating, listening to the dancers not too far from our table performing, tasting some very well spiced food. We left there very happy!

Back up north, where we stay in Norco, California for the rest of our trip as it is easy to get from there to the rest of the Southern California attractions on our list. They will primarily be in the Los Angeles area, Hollywood, and the beaches on the coast.

If you were curious, my Roadtrippers.com app is telling me that when all done we will have had about 53 stops along the way, and will have totaled about 4929 miles traveled!

We are tired now, many steps (steep ones at the zoo) and miles on the bike, so it's off for some rest.

Day 12 - Ultimate Hollywood Tour, Santa Monica Pier, and Venice Beach

I know you were expecting Universal Studios, but I slept through the alarm, and when I did get up the LA traffic and our late start would have made Universal tough, so I swapped some events around today. We started the day with a late departure and tried the famous In-N-Out Burger, which seems to be all the rage in fast food out in California. We had to wait a while, but when it did come it didn't disappoint. I didn't go for the double, but had I have known how skinny and small the burger was, I probably would have (Anthony was smart and went with it). The burger had a great taste (even though I didn't get the spread on it, which disappointed NIc), but I did have to take off some of the onion - but the veggies on the burger were super fresh, and the fries tasted just like when Damari makes her homemade Abuelita fries at home. It hit the spot, and then we hit the road, observing a drive through line of about 15 cars.

We drove through some fairly heavy LA traffic to get to Hollywood where we took the "Ultimate Hollywood Tour", one of the typical van tours where the top is cut off and it's pretty much open air for the tour. In researching on TripAdvisor it got good reviews, so we did the cliche tour of the stars homes (which I guess we'll have to give Ryan our tour guides word on, as we never actually saw a star near one of these homes), but Ryan our tour guide was funny and connected with the group, and showed us most of the sites in Hollywood and Beverly Hills. After 2 hours, we were eager to get up and move around.

We walked about 2 blocks from the tour company to Hollywood Boulevard and walked the Walk of Fame observing the stars and the massive crowds visiting. Overall it was pretty dirty, and there were plenty of homeless on hand. We went to Grauman's Chinese Theater and then walked by where they film Jimmy Kimmel's show before heading back to the car to leave Hollywood.Next we hit more traffic as we drove to the Santa Monica Pier. The pier was packed, and there were some interesting characters and street musicians there, but nothing in particular caught our attention. We thought about bike rentals but it was too late in the day, so we continued on.

A short drive south brought us to Venice Beach, where we were lucky to find an electronic scooter rental place that was still open. Riding these electronic scooters was fun, and the go somewhere around 12-15 mph so you do move on these things. We had a lot of fun on them, and then after returning them walked along the boardwalk, observing the many crazies that flock to this beach. We had some pizza on the boardwalk and did some shopping and just enjoyed observing the rather eccentric people along the beach. Many people were partaking on this beach, as I was reminded by Nic that medicinal materials were now legal and available to the many.

It was a long day, and the walk at Venice Beach (including a walk past Muscle Beach) put on lots of steps for us for today, so with the sun setting we headed out (something told us that Venice Beach is not the place to be late at night) and hit the hotel for some needed rest.

Day 13 - Universal Studios Hollywood and Long Beach

Day 13 had us off to Universal Studios Hollywood - did I mention how crazy traffic is in LA? What should have taken maybe an hour took almost 2 as getting into LA/Hollywood by car was insane. We finally arrived, had a quick bite of lunch, and then made our way through the park. While some of the newer rides (Harry Potter, etc.) were amazing, I couldn't help but think about how some of the attractions were quite dated. Really, a Water World exhibit/show? Also, while it was great taking the studio tour through the back lot, some of the sites there were dated as well, as I remember going on the tour back when I was 18 and saw some of the same things (Jaws, Earthquake, etc.). I'm not sure how relevant that was to the boys, but they did have a Walking Dead walk-through attraction, and some Fast and Furious attractions as well, so I guess they are trying to stay relevant at the park. It was a great day, but the sun was hot, and I think we got some extra color today.

We left Universal and once again crawled on the various freeways south down to Long Beach, which along the water by the convention center was quite nice. We walked around an area called Shoreline Village with shops and restaurants, and ended up at an old favorite, Outback Steakhouse, for dinner (we are so tired of eating out - at least this was familiar). Once we wrapped up dinner we miraculously didn't hit any traffic back to the hotel, and got ready to get some rest as we'll have a long day tomorrow driving back to Vegas for a red eye flight Thursday night into Friday back home. Anthony said it at dinner, and I think we all feel the same - we loved the trip, but can't wait to be home!

Day 14 - Drive through the Desert to Vegas for the Flight Home

Road Trip Day 14 brought us through the Mohave Desert with 114 degree weather followed up by another big storm as we cruised into Vegas. Dinner at the buffet, and then it’s off to the airport for our red eye flight home - badly missing the girls, looking forward to seeing them soon!

Road Trip 2018 Fun Facts and Highlights by Day:

• Over 50 stops

• Over 5500 miles covered

• 9 states - Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, South Dakota, Idaho, Utah and California

• Day 1 - Vegas, Lake Mead and Hoover Dam

• Day 2 - Sedona Pink Jeep Tour and Grand Canyon

• Day 3 - Meteor Crater, Petrified Forest and Sandia Peak Tram

• Day 4 - Garden of the Gods, Red Rocks and Downtown Denver

• Day 5 - Bear Country USA, Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse

• Day 6 - Devil’s Tower, Cody Firearms Experience and Cody Nite Rodeo

• Day 7 - Yellowstone

• Day 8 - Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Salt Lake City

• Day 9 - Arches

• Day 10 - Vegas

• Day 11 - San Diego, La Jolla Cove, Mission Beach, and Old Town

• Day 12 - Hollywood Tour, Wall of Fame, Santa Monica Pier, and Venice Beach

• Day 13 - Universal Studios Hollywood, Long Beach and Shoreline Village

• Day 14 - Mohave Desert to Vegas for our flight home!

• And on Day 15, Dad gets a vacation from his vacation and rests...