Our 3 month cross country adventure.

[Megan and Tony]

Day 56 Zion National Park

Looking back on the trip I see that starting with Colorado we had a week or 2 of seeing the most beautiful parts of our planet. It's hard to describe Zion other then it's like entering a different world. We turned off the ipod because we could not find music that matched what we were seeing out the windshield. We came through the east entrance and after about an hour of driving you get to a tunnel that is 1 lane and 1 mile long, cut straight through the mountain. Every quarter mile or so the sides of the tunnel open up to give you another great view of the park. We set up camp and made it an early night because tomorrow we would try to see as much of the park as possible.









Day 57 Zion

We woke up very early and caught the bus into the park.(Zion does not allow cars in the park, they provide a free bus) We did a few of the hikes, mostly the ones that did not have large groups of people already there:
Emerald Pool
Weeping Rock
Riverside Walk (including the beginning of the Narrows)
and a few others that I can't remember right now
Next time we go I'd like to do the Angels Landing

There are a lot of photos here but I found it very hard to not show some of them off.







































This was also the day we decided we needed a vacation from our vacation so we booked a $20 motel room in Mesquite, NV for a night before Vegas. For the most part, every time we met a new couch surfing host we would spend hours trading stories, not just about the trip but many topics. We needed a night where it was just her and I in our own bed.

Next post: Grand Canyon.

[Southwest Dave]

Zion is quite something isn't it ? Your photos have taken me right back there and many of them are so familiar. Actually a couple of them could be mine, other than the people in them ! ;-)

Did you you follow an RV through the tunnel at all ? I ask as it is actually 2 lane traffic [one in each direction] but traffic is stopped from entering the 'other end' temporarily, to let larger vehicles through as they have to drive down the centre of the tunnel to avoid contact with the edges of the arch. Oh yes, it was fun in a 30ft RV !

[Megan and Tony]

Zion is quite something isn't it ? Your photos have taken me right back there and many of them are so familiar. Actually a couple of them could be mine, other than the people in them ! ;-)

Did you you follow an RV through the tunnel at all ? I ask as it is actually 2 lane traffic [one in each direction] but traffic is stopped from entering the 'other end' temporarily, to let larger vehicles through as they have to drive down the centre of the tunnel to avoid contact with the edges of the arch. Oh yes, it was fun in a 30ft RV !

There was a RV in front of us. We had to wait 10 minutes or so for the other lane to go through and when we went through I must not have noticed the center line.

Thanks for reading

[Megan and Tony]

Day 58 The Grand Canyon

Quick bit of background. When I was 15 I read On the Road by Jack Kerouac. 30 days, to the day, after I turned 16 I got my drivers license and started planning road trips. I drove to Boston, Philly, NY, Cleveland, Parris Island SC, Florida, NJ, Newport RI, and South Bend IN before I turned 21. (some of those places several times) In college I would get done with class on Thursday afternoon and drive as far as I could until Saturday night and then drive home. I started planning a cross country trip very early on. I have so many variations of a United States Road trip on google maps that I lost count. When I met Megan we clicked right away on the issue of spending a lot of time driving around America. Finally, 3 days after we got married we hit the road. I've thought about this trip for more then a decade and it was completely different then what I expected. The only place that Megan said was a no way we skip was San Francisco. The only place that I said was a no skip was the Grand Canyon.

When we first got close to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon we both commented on how it was the closet match of driving through our part of PA. You don't expect so much green on the way to the canyon.

My first glimpse of it is something I can still recall right now. It was not only the Grand Canyon but the culmination of everything that we planned this trip to be. Looking at it I thought back to everything we had already done on the trip and just how much this trip would stay with us forever.

This was the first picture we took of the Grand Canyon:
















We drove to Angel's Window and to the highest point on the Grand Canyon, I can't remember what it's called right now. I picked up a rock on the trail of one of the views and I still have that in my car now. Some times on the way to work I'll hold it and think back to what we did this summer.

Day 59

We woke up at 4am so that we could see the sunrise over the Grand Canyon. Although we were tired the rest of the day, it was worth it. For 5 hours or so we watched the light change the canyon. Afterwards we went back to camp and slept for a while, got one last look at the Grand Canyon and spent our last night in Arizona.













After spending so much time in the quiet wilderness of the Southwest, we ventured into civilization headfirst, to Las Vegas.

[Megan and Tony]

Day 60

We left The Grand Canyon and headed for Mesquite, NV. We spent the night in our motel room, eating take out chinese and watching TV. It was exactly what we needed at that time, a vacation from our vacation. We slept in and headed for Vegas.








Day 61 Vegas

Megan has never been to a casino or gambled before so that was my goal for these 2 days. I achieved that goal very early on.


driving into Vegas


Our couch surfing host gave us advice on where to park and what to do. We went to the strip around 3pm and walked around hitting as many casinos as we could. We also drank as many frozen drinks as we could.










Megan played the slots/Tony played blackjack







We came back to Vegas later to experience it at night


Day 62
We went to downtown Vegas and saw the alley with the movie screen on the ceiling. I can't remember what the place is called right now.





We went back to the strip and did some more gambling/drinking that night.

[Southwest Dave]

We went to downtown Vegas and saw the alley with the movie screen on the ceiling. I can't remember what the place is called right now.

That would be Fremont street.

[Megan and Tony]

That would be Fremont street.

Thanks. I could not think of it.

[Megan and Tony]

Day 63 Death Valley

Today was the hottest day of our trip. We heard someone in the park say it was 110, but I'm not sure. We did a few very short hikes and drove a good part of the park. Once out of the park we drove towards Bakersfield, CA, on the way we heard a very loud boom and we think it was a plane flying around the valley we were in. I'm just curious if anybody knows if there is a place a few miles west of Death Valley where they test planes. On to the photos:




even our car looked hot


the lowest spot on our trip, literally.









Death Valley NP was worth the stop, we had the whole place to ourselves and it was different then anywhere I've ever been before.

[Southwest Dave]

I'm just curious if anybody knows if there is a place a few miles west of Death Valley where they test planes

Probably the Naval air weapons base at China lake in the vicinity of Ridgecrest and Trona. Its HUGE.

the lowest spot on our trip, literally.

LOL. And the lowest spot you can find in the USA !!

Thanks for the updates, good stuff.

[Lifemagician]

... on the way we heard a very loud boom and we think it was a plane flying around the valley we were in.

I know exactly what you mean. I was on 190, heading for Lone Pine, when I was scared out of my wits by a low flying jet.... well, it appeared to be very low. Probably wasn't.

Am loving this report.

Lifey