The Perfect Roadtrip: Part Two

Recap: We have traveled from Conestoga, Pennsylvania and have now arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah.

KOA is very accomadating when arriving late. It was no issue to use the honor system to find our campsite and submit payment. However, setting up in the dark just by the glow of my headlights was not the most fun. The next day would be another grueling drive to Santa Rosa, California, and that left little sleep having arrived at 11 p.m. We awoke early, cranky, packed up the Saturn and headed on our un-merry way. We did not have time to visit any of Salt Lake's famous sites, such as the Mormon tabernacle, but we did get a peak at the famous Salt Lake. We weren't too impressed. My parents have since visited Salt Lake and were fortunate enough to visit the Mormon tabernacle when the famour choir was practicing and they said it was amazing.

Road trip tip: always keep track of your belongings, especially those important to you. Over an hour into the drive, my co-pilot realized she could not find her watch, a very imporant gift given to her by her grandfather who had passed away. We drove back after much arguing and still did not find it. I recommend leaving these items at home. It was sad and frustrating for both of us, and I just would like to have all you roadtrippers out there avoid these issues.

The drive to Santa Rosa was hot and beautiful. We played one our signiture California theme songs while crossing the state border and our spirits were lifted as we had reached our main destination: sunny, warm, vibrant California! This was another stop where we took advantage of family connections and stayed with my co-pilot's great Aunt & Uncle. It was a wonderful 2 day stay where we got to visit the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, The Redwoods, and stick our feet in the Pacific Ocean-a first for both of us. It was beautiful and uplifting. Exactly what we needed to survive the trip back home! I highly recommend the fresh crab sandwich at the Fisherman's Wharf restaurant. Nothing like it!

Having reached the pinnacle of our trip, the drive back was more or less about getting home rather than enjoying the scenery and stops along the way. Driving away from Santa Rosa, we made another stop at a National Park: Yosemite. As I mentioned in part one, take advantage of the National Parks. They are amazing and exclusive. Yosemite was a beautiful experience and we were so glad to go off course from our original plan to stop at this National Park.

Once we left the park, we were anxious to get to our next stop: Las Vegas baby! I guess the local police caught onto our excitement as well, because they gave our first speeding ticket of the trip to my co-pilot. This put us even more behind than the Yosemite drive through and before we knew it, it was getting dark and we were heading into the unknown, known as the great Nevada Desert. Our first animal encounter was with a cow who decided to park himself in the middle of the windy road leading through the dunes. Stubborn thing. Once we got past that, we thought we were in the clear. I fell asleep and grandly awoke to my co-pilot running over what I initially thought was a small deer. It turned out to be a jackrabbit. For the rest of our travels to Las Vegas, I was so uptight about hitting something that I stayed up and scouted for random animals cutting in front of us.

It was getting very late and was pitch black in that desert. We couldn't see a thing but the fencing next to us marked "US Nuclear Testing Facility". It was even on the map. Personally, my guess was it was Area 51. Who knows. Either way, we were scared. Finally we came upon an intersection where we were hoping was some gas. Unfortunately, no gas, just a gentleman's club. Not exactly what we wanted. So we drove on and decided we were going to stop and get gas as soon as we could and spend the night in a hotel. Well, we received a 2 for 1 deal on that matter. We got gas, and also paid for our hotel in the gas station! A bit creepy, but the police car out back made us feel a bit safer. We quickly went inside our hotel room and enjoyed a nice long shower.

Recommendation number 2,000,012. Not all AAA rated hotels are great. That AAA rating does mean something. I imagine this hotel was a 1/2 star rating. Be safe. Choose wisely and if it doesn't feel right, move on. Thankfully, nothing was stolen, and we got out alive, but neither of us were comforatable with our sleeping quarters.

The next morning we enjoyed sleeping in a bit, and hit the road to drive through Las Vegas. Being only 18, we drove through Las Vegas instead of staying, but I don't remember anything I really liked about that town. It offered hot coffee and donuts, but in the morning, nothing was pretty around the outskirts of Las Vegas. So we drove on...and on.

Our travels took us through the Hoover Dam, and although we didn't have the time or money to stop and truly enjoy it, it was awesome looking. Next stop: Flagstaff, Arizona and home to the Grand Canyon.