Stop 1: St. Louis
Our first day of travel was from North Carolina to St. Louis. Our plan was to see the arch, rightfully named the gateway to the west. We felt like this was the perfect first stop since we would end up at Santa Monica Pier on the other side of the country. The arch was a monumental experience and work of architecture, not to mention the food in St. Louis was top notch.
Stop 2: Mount Rushmore
A long drive through the badlands of South Dakota, we made our way to Mount Rushmore. There were a couple small places we stopped at a couple of small places, including the town of Wall. Their main attraction was this drug store that has turned into a small mall. They have good ice cream that I recommend trying if you find yourself out there. Mount Rushmore on the other hand was magnificent to see in person, I couldn’t imagine what it would have looked like if they had finished the original design. A must stop if you plan on traveling through South Dakota on a trip.
Stop 3: Yellowstone
We spent a couple days in Yellowstone National Park. There was too much to see and do so after we set up a campsite, we headed out to the geysers and reflecting pools. Everything reeks of sulfur, but if you manage to get over the smell, the sights are beautiful.
Stop 4: Grand Tetons
As a group, we decided to do a hike that had been completed by my friend’s parents around 20 years earlier. The hike to the Static Peak Divide was around approximately 17 miles round trip with a gain of 5000 feet in altitude. The views of the untouched nature was astonishing. We started early in the morning with a nice 70 degree temperature, and by the top of the mountain it was 35 degrees with snow still on the ground. If you are able, it is highly recommended to go this hike.
Stop 5-8: Ending the trip
After the Grand Tetons, we had one park left on our trip; Yosemite. We wanted to go and see the giant sequoias that they had to offer. We planned to spend much more time in the park, but due to wildfires it shut down the end of the day that we visited. We moved on to visit Los Angles, The Hollywood sign, and Santa Monica pier the next day. If your visiting the city of angels, go to Lucifer’s Pizza to grab some lunch.It is worth the wait! After hitting the west coast we started our journey back. Hitting the start of route 66 and traveling east we found ourselves in Arizona and also in our first dust storm. It felt like a thick fog that we find in the mountains of NC, and was very hard to drive in. We hit Winslow, Arizona because of the old Eagles song that played constantly on our road trip playlist as well as the grand canyon the same day. We headed back through the great state of Texas and hit the last stop we wanted to before finally getting on the road again to NC: The Cadillac Ranch. This spot is a bunch of old Cadillacs stuck into the ground that everyone has spray painted on. I’m sure by this point there is more paint than there is car, but we left our mark and continued home.
This is a short summary of our trip of west, but to see more pictures head to my Instagram page.