Day 13 - Is That Snow?!

Yes, it was. Today we drove for Moab Utah to our campsite in Rocky Mountain National Park 8,600 feet above sea level. To get there, we traveled on I 70 through the Rockys. We went along the Colorado River for most of it, then headed north on a small gravel road for about 20 miles ot get there faster. At one point, the road reached 10,066 feet about sea level.
When we got to the Park, we were stunned by teh amount of wildlife. As we got there, we were met by a heard of reindeer crossing the road. we set up our tent and decided to explore a bit. There, the mighty Colorado River is just more that a stream.

That night, we settled in with a dozen warnings of bears...fun

Day 12- Arches To Arches

The first day we actually didn't drive or have to worry about going anywhere. We woke up late and made a breakfast of pancakes on a Coleman stove. Pretty impressive for 3 teenagers with barely any sense of cooking skill. Anyway after breakfast we headed out to Arches National Park to hike up to delicate arch (the famous arch on most Utah license plates). We had a blast climbing the red rock and soaking up the hot desert sun and got some awesome pictures on the way. Delicate Arch was incredible, its a lot bigger in person. On the way, we somehow found a way off the path and wondered there our own way...which turned out to be shorter. There, we climbed and hiked around the arch. later we stopped at sand dune arch, a much smaller arch and inhabited by kids. we left there and explored part of the Fiery Furnace, and maze of rock spires that are supposed to be ranger-lead only so people don't get lost.

That night, while charging his phone, Louie managed to brake the cigarette lighter, therefore all of our electronics, including the radio. It turned out to be a blown fuse, but we blame Louie non the less. We all went to bed very angry at the car, realizing that the rest of the trip we going to be in silence.

Day 11- Red Rock Never Ends!

We started day 11 in great pain. A baby in the tent next door was screaming from 3am to 5am and it was about 40 degrees outside. With this in mind Howie decided to wake us all up and shoved us in the car to see the sunrise. After waiting for about an hour (thank god we didn't miss it) the sun finally rose giving us two memorable pictures and a certain hate for Bryce Canyon. Once the camp was packed up we headed out towards Arches National Park located near Moab, Utah. The drive to Arches was one of the best driving roads we had been on yet. It was called route 12 and in a twelve year old minivan it made it all the better.
From there we drove through Capital Reef National Park, a giant fold in the Earth's crust. From there, route 24 was the strangest road we had been on. About an hour later, we made a stop at Goblin Valley State Park, basically a Garden of rock mushrooms. We spent another hour there just climbing and messing around.


We left for Moab to see the Arches. Our campsite was the best so far and we had a lot of fun. that night we dinned on half pound burgers, steak sandwiches, and BLT's, then hit the hay.

Day 10 - Canyonlands

We left Vegas with a full stomach of blueberry pancakes. We headed north on I 15 to St. George. Off of the interstate, we stopped at Zion Canyon. We got some good pictures of the Kanab Arch, second longest in the world. From there we followed Rt 9 to Bryce Canyon, where we were to stay for the night. The hoodoos and peaks in the canyon were incredible; so much that we decided we would get up and dawn to see it at sunrise. That night was crystal clear and there were more stars out then we have ever seen. The Milky Way was clearly visible. After a couple of shooting stars, we headed to bed.

Day 8/9- Palm Tree Springs and Lost Vegas

It's been about two days since we've updated due to visiting family and lack of terribly interesting things happening. But now with two days behind us we have a lot to tell. At the start of day we headed out the hotel early to see the sights of San Diego. No one informed us of the gloomy weather during the month of June but we still enjoyed seeing our final destination and dipped our feet in the pacific. After some driving around we decided to head to Palm Springs which where we will be staying for the night. The drive there was called pines to palms highway, and dropped several thousand feet in a few miles. The result was a state highway made from switchbacks. we arrived at my cousins house where there was a very refreshing pool.

The next day we depart and headed north to Joshua Tree National Park, which is famous for their tower mountains of boulders. We hiked and climbed there for about an hour and headed further north into the Mojave Desert. There we hit 150,000 miles on my car right in front of a dry salt lake. The heat there was intense, even being dry, the heat made it hard to breathe. Through the Mojave Desert we happened upon Route 66 again and saw the famous shoe tree. We passed the Kelso Sand Dunes also, 700 foot tall mountains of sand the cover the horizon.

Afer about 200 mile of deserted roads, we made it to I 15 and eventually to Vegas. My cousin showed us around the Sin City and we had a great time.

More to come.


- Howie + Louie

Day 7-Finally

Today was our final leg to hit the west coast. We left Tuscon for San Diego around 1pm taking route 8. It was a pretty uneventful drive through the desert until we hit the center of the world. Located in Facility,CA a local mayor dubbed an area in his small town the center of the world. It was pretty much a bunch of junk in one spot but it was funny to see. From there we kept driving and made another stop at a gravity hill. Basically you stop your car put it into neutral on the steep end of the hill where it would normally roll back, but it actually looks like your going up the hill. These two things were the only eventful parts of our drive besides getting stopped by boarder patrol at checkpoints numerous times. Overall this day was just about hitting our initial destination. California.

Day 6-But It's A Dry Heat

So we woke up to a 45 degree wet and soggy tent about 10 miles from the Grand Canyon. It took us about an hour to get out of the tent and get everything organized, so we came to the conclusion that we should just skip the Canyon and head to Tucson to see my aunt. We headed to flagstaff and on the way stopped at the lava tube which was about 5 miles into a random forest on a dirt road. We only went down about 200 ft and
realized that it was completely pitch black.

We arrived in Tucson around 7 our time, and drove up to my aunt's cliff side house, providing a spectacular view of the Arizona sunset across the entire city of Tucson. After settling in for a hour or so we headed out to eat at El Charro, an authentic Mexican restaurant in downtown Tucson.

After dinner we went with my cousin to The Sculpture Resource Center, a workshop where you can spend hours creating art. There his friend gave us a small lesson on metal working and blacksmithing, where we worked our hands to death till 1 in the morning.

Tomorrow we are heading to our most western destination of this road trip: San Diego.

-louie