US

I began my final week of the road trip feeling especially soothed and transcendent thanks to all of last week’s spiritual beauty. So imagine the jarring experience of then driving into Salt Lake City and encountering a massive collection of intensely Mormonistic sculpture art.  At least that’s what Atlas Obscura recommended. Obscura indeed.  Definitely not as transcendent, or at least not in the same way. Though you could argue perhaps still spiritual. I’d planned to…

Coming off that extra emotional last week, I was grateful for some more drone-like days of long distance driving. That is, until I hit my 10th consistent hour behind the wheel driving the Standing Rock National Native American Scenic Byway (say that ten times fast) and realizing I was going to need to cut the drive shorter than originally planned. So I sadly did not make it the whole length of the Scenic Byway into…

Leaving NYC back across the northern half of the US, I had a hard time letting go of what I was leaving behind and getting excited about what was to come. My first stop was Cedar Point amusement park, one of my all-time top bucket list places I've been wanting to visit all my life, as a lifelong roller coaster enthusiast- nay, fanatic. So this one stop on my US Road Trip was so special…

I spent one idyllic week in my beloved New York City, one of my favorite cities to visit in the world, on my epic 2019 cross-country road trip. I drove up north from D.C. for the perfect bookend to mark the road trip halfway point. So as with the opposite coastal city trip bookend in Los Angeles, I gave this city a full week of my time. I lived here in NYC back in 2015-2018,…

Feeling especially exhausted from a particularly packed week on my cross-country road trip. And I thought the last week was too full! I left New Orleans and drove up the Natchez Trace Parkway, a truly beautiful and historic route, to Nashville. I’d planned to stay here two days as well, including a ticket to attend the Grand Ole Opry one night! I wasn’t sure what to expect in Nashville. I hadn’t heard much about the city…

Continuing up I-25 through Denver and Boulder to visit another old friend, I’m starting to see what Kerouac meant calling the landscape here an “endless poem”. Such a strong sense of space to breathe and think. Will definitely need to come back and explore it more someday. Hopefully soon. Until then, it’s on down I go the entire length of Texas, top to bottom, to Austin. Spent a full day and overnight driving like the…

Bidding LA farewell, I first made my way to Joshua Tree National Park. But as it would turn out, I barely got to see much of it at all. This being my first stop on an already-too-aggressive trip schedule, I’d not yet learned how much extra breathing room I’d need for food stops, bathroom breaks, navigating the more confusing routes, and (most annoyingly) the surprisingly long line of cars trying to get into the same…

This summer I embarked on a massive solo cross-country road trip that would take me a full 2 months and 9,000 miles across America and back again. So I began my journey in a city I know and love well – Los Angeles – the perfect launching point for a whirlwind excursion into the unknown. I’ve been to LA many times before, but I never feel like I get enough time to see everyone and…