NH to CA Roadtrip: Part 2

Part two of our road trip! Starting with our beloved travels through Colorado and Utah, and then on to Nevada and California.  Check out part 1, of our trip from New Hampshire to arriving in Colorado.

DAY FIVE // We slept in until 8am (!!!), and then headed north, with my sister, to the Rockies.

For miles and miles you see these grand mountains, and finally, you start driving into and through them. We entered the national park like a bunch of tourists, stopped the car, leaped out, and started snapping photos.

 

Once we paid our visit to the visitor center, we followed the flow of traffic along Trail Ridge Road, the main road through the park.

Top left: Elk scattered around, only a dozen feet from our car!

Right: A couple moose in the field next to a picnic area

We wound up and around the mountains, through the vast green forest. It was all so absolutely beautiful.

After a day at the park, we stopped to have dinner with our uncle and his family, and we are fairly sure this is the only photo that exists of us in at least a decade.

One more night hanging out with these people, and sleeping in a comfy bed, until we were off again.

 

DAY SIX // The day finally came for my sister and I to say goodbye until Christmas, and I have to say, it was rough. BUT! Cody and I were in for one of the most beautiful parts of our drive. Seriously, if you ever have the chance to take I-70 west from Denver to Utah. DO IT. DO IT NOW.

After getting out of the city, we found ourselves surrounded by stunning view after stunning view. But really, Glenwood Canyon takes the prize. Incredible.

As we continued west toward Grand Junction, CO and Utah, the beauty continued.

And then, UTAH. *Insert all positive, beautiful, wonderful adjectives here* Go to Utah. Spend a lifetime there. I will come visit.

Narrowing Utah down to just a few days was hard, but we decided on going to both Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park, because of their relative proximity to one another. Moab, is the town between them, and is also known as a mecca for off-roading. National parks, I was thrilled. Off-roading, Cody was thrilled. YAY. We stayed at Archview Campground, which was centrally located and served its purpose, but as a campground, we were less than thrilled. The campsites were squished together, and at night, among the most star-filled sky I had ever seen, was a giant shining Chevron sign. Luckily, the view was great compensation.

We arrived in the middle of the afternoon, to the sight of looming dark clouds. Our plan was to go to Arches first, but as we started driving toward the park, it started down pouring. We took our chances and went first for food at the Moab Brewery and then to Arches.

It hadn’t completely cleared by the time we were done eating, but it had stopped raining!

There were beautiful rock formations and arches everywhere I turned. It was unlike anything I had ever seen in the east.

The only true downfall to getting food first, was that in a sense, we wasted some of our daylight. We shorted ourselves on time, and didn’t make it all the way through the park (leaving with a promise to make it back someday). Mostly because we didn’t want to rush ourselves.

We found ourselves at a good stopping place, and jumped atop the FJ to watch the sunset.

DAY 7 // We slept in a little later than planned, but still left our campsite around 8am.

The drive into the park was beautiful, but just the beginning of what will go down as one of the best days of our lives.

There are three distinct parts of Canyonlands, and after a lot of research, we decided to spend our day at ‘Island in the Sky.’ After stopping at the visitor center, we made our way into the park.  We followed the road along the canyon and to all of the viewpoints

Surprisingly enough, on the road in the center between the canyons, were these large expanses of grassland

It was a blazing 103 degrees for most of the day, so we kept our hikes to a minimum. However, there were several short ones that provided incredible views. One in particular was Whale Rock. It was only about 30 minutes, but gave us an even better view than we expected.

 I mean, UNREAL.

Eventually we grew hungry, threw together some sandwiches from our cooler, grabbed some chips, and sat at this casual lunch spot shown below. Just your average day in Utah, I suppose.

And then! My friends, we began down White Rim Road. There are so many options for off-roading in Moab, it is a little bit overwhelming. However, we knew going to national parks was super important to us, and we realized we had the opportunity to drive off-road, through the park. SOLD!

We began down the road, and then down the inside of a canyon. I hope I never ever forget those moments.

A short little walk off the dirt road, and BAM! This overlook that I can’t believe people actually pass by.

As much as we wanted to continue down White Rim Road, we still had a lot of road ahead of us in order to make it back to Moab by nightfall, so we eventually had to turn around and we exited the park via Potash Road.

We headed back in to town, poked around in the stores for a bit, and then after a long, exhausting, wonderful day, we slept.

We left our campsite as the sun rose the next morning, and headed for Nevada. We stopped in this tiny town with Mom’s Cafe. We had a hearty breakfast, and then headed west once again.

Western Utah was a barren. There were rolling hills, rock formations, and small mountains.

And then, it was flat.

After an uneventful morning of driving, we made it to Great Basin National Park, our fifth and final park of the trip.

We had a wonderful time touring this little park, windows down, singing to some old Kenny Chesney songs. However, the park was unexpectly busy. We saw so few people our entire drive from Moab, and then there they all were, buying all the tickets to the cave tour. Leaving none for us! For once, I failed to plan effectively.

As we left the park, we stopped at this random pavilion right outside the gate. Quaint and charming, just as I like life.

Then, suddenly, we found ourselves at our final campsite. With a couple thousand miles behind us and some of the best memories, we pulled into Ward Mountain Campground. We were at the perfect elevation for the sunset, and so we dragged out our cooler, sat, and enjoyed.

Finally, we were on our last day of the trip. We spent hours driving along the Loneliest Road, named properly so. And yet, we found ourselves in an hour of traffic as a result of a semi truck accident, which covered both lanes of the road.

We made it to California in the middle of the afternoon. Something we had talked about for so long, and we were there, in our new home, just like that.

I dreamed of this trip for months, we did it, and now it all feels like a dream. We trekked across this country, through beautiful state after state, adventuring in national parks, and enjoying every minute. If you actually made it this far, thanks for reading! And, the hope is, there will be another great roadtrip in summer 2017! #cassandcodycoast2coast