2,930 miles, 41 hours, and 9 states later, I made it all the way from North Carolina to California. Y’all. The US is cool. I’m the first to admit that I’m all about Europe, but wow this country’s great. Now let me convince you to road trip across the US!
North Carolina
We left NC after work on a Wednesday and drove until about 11 PM. We started out immediately by belting out Les Mis and the Sound of Music soundtracks to entertain ourselves, and enjoyed a glorious sunset on the road. Right in between Knoxville and Nashville, Tennessee was our stop for the night.
Tennessee
We continued our road trip on Thursday morning, we ate muffins and yogurt in the car for breakfast while we drove through Nashville. We planned to stop on Music Row to refresh our music history, but it was strangely lame. I quickly googled “best things to do in Nashville” and saw that there is a replica of the Parthenon in Nashville. How did I not know that before??? There’s nothing like pretending you’re in Athens to round out your visit to Nashville.
I can only imagine how beautiful the real Parthenon must be, when just the replica took my breath away.
After stretching our legs at the Parthenon, we got back in the car and sang Johnny Cash as we drove to Memphis, where we also stopped for a while. There’s an enormous Bass Pro Shops shaped like a pyramid that even has a small village and a lake inside and a lookout balcony at the top. I’m not normally the type of person who frequents Bass Pro Shops, but the view of Memphis on one side and the Mississippi river on the other side from the balcony was just beautiful.
Arkansas
We left Memphis (which is right on the Tennessee/Arkansas line) and crossed into Arkansas. I drove while listening to Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen on Audible, while my family slept in the back. How can I say this nicely…..? Arkansas is pretty monotonous. It’s almost all farmland- just miles and miles and miles. Butttttttt we made it through to Oklahoma.
Oklahoma
Friday morning, we grabbed bagels from the free continental breakfast and ate on the road. One of the Historic Route 66 museums was close to our hotel, so we stopped there to look around. There was a replica of an old Western town, with a saloon, hotel, general store, school, chapel, and many other cute buildings. We had the best time exploring the little town!
I can see why Oklahoma is prime tornado country – it’s extremely windy and so flat!
Texas
To be honest, Texas was a little boring too. I don’t think I would say that if we had gone through Dallas or Austin, but we just drove right through Northern Texas. We only stopped in Amarillo, TX to see the Cadillac Graveyard. My sister called it the “Texas Stonehenge.” It’s just 10 or so cadillacs buried upright in the ground that are now covered in spray paint, so of course I spray painted “Wolfpack” onto one – always supporting my school!
And in case you ever wanted to know what pretty much all of Northern Texas looks like, here you go!
New Mexico
Strangely, New Mexico was probably my favorite state that we drove through. It’s strange because I’ve never had any desire to visit, but it turned out to be one of the coolest places I’ve been in the US so far! We stopped in Old Albuquerque to stretch our legs, where it was suffocatingly hot but the town was just lovely with live music and dozens of little shops selling jewelry, blankets, baskets, pottery….and frozen yogurt!
I also discovered that I love New Mexican food – which by the way is NOT Mexican food at all, according to our waitress. I give New Mexico an enthusiastic thumbs up!
Arizona
Hmm I wonder what we stopped to see in Arizona?! The Grand Canyon of course!!
These pictures don’t even come close to doing the Grand Canyon justice. It was just breathtaking. We stopped there on Saturday morning and spent a good 3 hours exploring, rock climbing, hiking, and taking pictures. If you haven’t been, drop everything and go. It is so worth it.
Nevada
After the Grand Canyon, we drove north to Las Vegas, Nevada. As my dad said when I asked him about Vegas – there’s nothing else to do in the middle of the desert. When we reached Vegas and passed what seemed like hundreds of casinos, including Trump Tower *insert eye roll*, my dad pulled into the valet drop-off at the door of the Palazzo, which is probably the biggest and most expensive hotel I’ve ever seen. Our jaws literally dropped when he said that this was where we were spending the night.
I mean, this is just the lobby…
The bedroom was great, of course, but I gotta say that I truly appreciate fancy bathrooms even more.
Housed at the bottom of the hotel…was a replica of Venice and a huge mall. With a freaking river running through the hotel. What. All of that was inside our hotel.
Truthfully, I like the real Eiffel Tower better. And I’m sure I’ll like the real Venice better when I travel there someday. Vegas was fun for a day – but I prefer to see the real major landmarks of the world.
California
Finally, late Sunday afternoon, we made it to California. I think we made it through the first 4 days of driving well, but by the last one, I was antsy to get out the car (and never return!). What a relief it was to see the California state sign!
Up next
In the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing my actual time in California (full of farmer’s markets, sight-seeing, and well, work) and then our road trip back home since we’re taking a different route to visit more states. See you then!
