On the road again...

After two amazing weeks, I’m back at Denison! There’s so much to share, and I’ll do my best to get as caught up as I can.

We graduated on Sunday, I was home on Monday, and E & I left early Tuesday morning to take one of the best road trips of my LIFE. The end goal: Seattle, WA. But we didn’t want to go the easy way…instead I planned out a route that is nearly identical to that of Route 66. We didn’t ever take the actual old highway, but we saw a lot of the same sights. I absolutely loved seeing the land change as we moved south, and then west. But, I’ll start from the beginning:

Day 1: Chicago, IL – Tulsa, OK

We set off early, to beat rush hour traffic, and headed towards St. Louis. This was the most boring part of the drive, mostly because I’ve seen it all before. Once you get beyond Chicago…there’s not a whole lot of excitement in the state of Illinois. St. Louis for lunch, an appropriate stop because it houses the Gateway to the West (the big arch). This stop pretty much set the bar for how we ate the rest of the trip. E looked up the places Man v. Food had been to in the city, and we chose Pappy’s Smokehouse for it’s BBQ. Best. BBQ. Of. My. LIFE. 

If you’re ever in St. Louis, eat there. No joke. Mmm and they had delicious sweet potato fries & green beans. An hour long wait, but totally worth it. My food coma lasted through most of Missouri, which ended up being more green & beautiful than I expected. There were lots of rolling hills of full, lush forest. It saddens me to think that a lot of what we drove through is now plagued by tornados, and I feel very lucky to have not encountered any on our drive. We stayed the night in Tulsa, and got in late so didn’t explore the city at all.

Day 2: Tulsa, OK – Santa Fe, NM

The beginning of classic, breathtaking western landscapes. Oklahoma, rolling farmlands stretching into the flat, barren Panhandle of Texas. We stopped for lunch in Amarillo, TX. Smack dab in the middle of the panhandle. Tex-mex was our goal, and we found a cute little place a bit off the highway. Second amazing lunch in a row, the best fajitas I’ve ever eaten! The chicken was perfectly cooked, tortillas soft & hot…delicious. 

Also in Amarillo, we stopped at a classic Route 66 destination: the Cadillac Graveyard. I absolutely love old cars & art, so this was a must-see. As touristy it may  be, I loved it. Read up on the exhibit! 

 Then we continued on to New Mexico, “The Land of Enchantment”.  For awhile, it was enchanting…then we hit rain. The rain followed us to Santa Fe, which is the most interesting city I have ever seen. All the buildings are adobe & low to the ground, so it was difficult to tell where the downtown was. A lot of artsy old folks too. I think I would have loved it more if the sun was out, rain makes everything a bit more depressing. Dinner though, was a long, wonderful affair. It was classic Santa Fe, organic ingredients and creative foods in a kitschy, small corner restaurant. E had enchiladas with mole sauce, and I crusted chicken with lemon & asparagus. We of course, also split a bottle of wine.

Day 3: Santa Fe, NM – Grand Canyon, AZ

 This was one of my favorite driving days, minus the confusion in the evening. We left Santa Fe and headed north to the Four Corners, adding two more states to our list. The tourist site was mostly abandoned since we got there later in the day, but you just have to come here once! Then we continued through Colorado and into Utah & Monument Valley. After taking Geoscience last year, I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to rocks. And Monument Valley was incredible. Here are some pictures, since I have no words.

What time zone is Grand Canyon in?? Anyone know? Because it went over to west coast time on the GPS & phone, but that was not shown on the map (I’m big on maps). This added an unwelcome surprise extra hour to the drive, which was partly my fault – oops!

Day 4: Grand Canyon, AZ – Bakersfield, CA

Since we got into the Grand Canyon late at night, we stayed until noon or so to get a couple hours of walking in. We walked the South Rim trail, which was paved & relatively easy (though because of the elevation I was dying for a bit on the incline). Picture the Grand Canyon. It’s bigger than you’re imagining. A LOT bigger. I was blown away, and we only walked 3 or 4 miles of one of the rims! I want to go back, do a real trail & go down to the river. More pictures to show you!

I wish we could have spent a whole day or more there, but gotta keep moving! South to connect again with I-40 to California, destination Bakersfield (which is slightly ghetto-tastic). On the way, we drove through the Mojave Desert – the first desert I’ve seen. It was huge! Mountains surrounded us in the distance, there were scattered plants in the sand, and the occasional Joshua Tree. In Bakersfield I went to my first “In-n-Out”, a burger place that I think is only in Cali?

Anyways, I’ll post the rest later – gotta run down to Broadway with some of the “fratpack” J

- a.