More scenes from an unintended road trip by jayRaz
The act of taking your car, stuffing your friends and family into it along with their luggage, food, and stuffed animals, and driving thousands of miles across the country for fun is a distinctively American pastime. The introduction of the automobile, the paving of the Interstate Highway System, and an increase in leisure time contributed to the development of road-tripping by the middle of the 20th century. Road trips can be planned out to the minute or they can be completely spontaneous and open-ended, finished only when your gas tank and wallet are empty.
That we would be taking a road trip this summer was a foregone conclusion. As early as a year ago, my dad had been talking about making the journey from Texas to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon, and from there to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore. As Yellowstone National Park is pretty much on the way from those two points, my suggestion that we visit America’s first national park was accepted. Over the next few months, the trip gained a few points of interest mainly situated along the main route from Texas to the Grand Canyon, from the Grand Canyon to Mount Rushmore, and from Mount Rushmore back home.
So, this June, my family and I will be undertaking such a trip, leaving our home in Plano, Texas, and making a great circle across the American West. After leaving Texas (finally!), we’ll drive through New Mexico west to Arizona, north through Utah to arrive at Wyoming, east to South Dakota, and south through Colorado to return back to Texas. Although enjoying the many hours on the road will be a large chunk of the trip, we plan to visit many national parks and a few other natural and cultural sites of note.
I plan to blog and photograph each day of the trip, but will not hold myself to posting, for instance, all my pictures and adventures from the day in the Grand Canyon, having returned to the hotel. There will probably be a lag of one or two days because the interstate does not have wifi and I would like to get my beauty sleep at the hotel rather than stay up late blogging and tagging photos on Flickr. Over the next week or so I’ll be posting from this grand region of the country rich with natural beauty.
- Day 1: Plano, Texas, to Albuquerque, N.M.
- Day 2: Albuquerque, N.M. to Flagstaff, Ariz.
- Day 3: Hiking Grand Canyon National Park
- Day 4: Flagstaff, Ariz., to Salt Lake City, Utah
- Day 5: Salt Lake City, Utah, to Jackson, Wyo.
- Day 6: Yellowstone National Park
- Day 7: Cody, Wyo., to Rapid City, S.D.
- Day 8: South Dakota
- Day 9: Rapid City, S.D., to Denver, Colo.
- Day 10: Denver, Colo., to Colorado Springs, Colo.
- Day 11: Colorado Springs, Colo., to Plano, Texas
- Conclusion
