3000 Miles Road Trip Through 5 States In 8 Days
In 8 days, we drove through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. This road trip was something I had always imagined myself doing. This time we did it for real. In this photo blog, I share with you what our journey was like.
A feasible college road trip needs three things: time, friends (with time) and money. Most of the time, we only have two. Thanks to the tax return — we had all three during this spring break.
Day 1
Flight from Washington, DC to Denver, CO
We hopped on the 7am early flight from the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. 4 hours later, at 9am local time, we arrived at the Denver International Airport. The full size sedan we had reserved at an Enterprise 16 miles from the airport turned out to be a Kia Optima 2016. (Picking up rentals at the airport is expensive) After some paperworks, we stocked up food and water supplies and were on the road.
Day 1 involved driving, a lot of it. And getting used to the road rules. The road out of Colorado into Utah was nothing unusual. But the landscape was becoming distinctly barren as we advanced.
After dinner at a Mexican restaurant, we drove up to Blanding and spent the night at the Gateway Inn.
Day 2
3 hours of driving from Blanding brought us to the spot that has been featured in many Hollywood movies — the Monument Valley.
We crossed the Utah-Arizona border not long after. As evening approached, it started raining. We spent the night at Royal Americans inn in Williams, Arizona.
Day 3
We drove to the Grand Canyon National Park hoping that the weather would turn out to be fine, paid the $30 entry fee, parked the car, walked up to the Mather point, and what did we see? Absolutely nothing.
We did see a variety of wild animals in the park though. For instance, this.
The park has an amazing bus system that goes to many other vista points. We hopped onto one and landed at a different place where the weather was clearing up a bit.
Our next stop? Las Vegas, the Sin City.
We stayed for the night at Motel 6, right by the airport less than half a mile from the Strip. The Strip was well lit, with no control on flashy lights and everywhere we could see we could find slot machines. Our luck did not work out at the Casinos. The house always wins. We won some, we lost some. A long day awaited the following morning. We knew we needed rest.
Day 4
Since we drove to Vegas when it was already dark, we had missed the Hoover Dam. In the morning we drove in the opposite direction to unmiss it first.
After the dam, it was time to head towards Los Angeles. First we drove to Riverside and then to LA where we were to stay for 2 nights at an AirBnb in El Monte. Navigating in the LA rush hour traffic was definitely something.
Day 5
We drove around LA downtown and the Beverly Hills. Then we went to see the Hollywood sign from Griffith Observatory where I think the Tesla coil and telescope exhibits are particularly noteworthy. The view of the city could have been nicer on a sunny day.
If one could forgive its horrible traffic, LA seems to have it all.
Day 6
Most of the day was spent on scenic Highway 1 and US101. Unfortunately, parts of the Route 1 were closed due to landslide. We had to take detours on the way but still made it to SF by the evening.
We met a friend in Palo Alto, had Mo:Mo for dinner at a Nepalese food truck, reached downtown SF and stayed for the night at Capri Motel.
Day 7
The plan for this day was to get to few vista points around SF, visit Napa valley and Lake Tahoe and drive as far as possible before darkness. Nothing worked out as planned.
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
As soon as we left SF, it started drizzling. In an hour, the drizzle turned into snow flakes.
The view around us was amazing but little did we know that a snowstorm was headed where we were headed. An accident on the road ahead set us back 2 hours. Meanwhile snow gathered on the tarmac. The car we rented was FWD without snow tires and we were soon turned around by the highway control to put on chains.
We dragged on and reached Lake Tahoe but it was covered by fog. The snow wouldn’t stop. In the evening the visibility was barely anything. We could not see 10 feet ahead of us and many people were driving with hazard lights on at below 20mph. While we were stopped on the roadside, the highway patrol even knocked on our window to see if we were doing okay.
The weather didn’t let us go anywhere. We stayed for the night at a Motel 6 in Reno, NV.
We spent the night laughing at our initial ambitious goal of reaching up to Salt Lake City while we had barely covered 200 miles in the entire day. At the same time, we were concerned because our return flight was booked and rescheduling would be a lot expensive. All we could do is wait for the weather to calm down.
Day 8
Because we lost a day’s worth of progress due to the unexpected storm, we would have to drive a 1000 miles non-stop within the day in order to not miss our flight back to DC.
What did we do? Filled up the tank and drove, taking turns every few hours.
Don’t be gentle. It’s a rental.
We saw a lot of things on the way to keep us entertained.
That was the longest day ever. And the loneliest. Highway 50 is famously known as the loneliest highway in the country. I think it’s true. For up to 100 miles, there are barren lands and no human settlements.
In 1 day, we crossed almost 3 states in a sedan and switched time zones from Pacific to Mountain. Those were some cool experiences.
We reached Denver at 3am and stayed for the remaining part of the night at La Quinta Inn. For the next 4 hours, I think I slept the most comfortable sleep I have had in weeks. The realization that the big trip was successfully over was pure joy. We wouldn’t be missing our flight.
Day 9
Breakfast. Pack up. Leave.
We returned the rental car in the morning at the same Enterprise location, took an Uber to the airport and caught our 11:33am flight to DC from the Denver international airport.
The road trip concluded 4 hours later when we saw our bags roll down the conveyor belt at DCA. They’d been through a lot, and so had we.
A west coast road trip was one of my childhood dreams which came true during this past week. I spent my last Spring Break working on a lonesome side project with screens and keyboard as silent companions (which was a great experience but) this year I had three friends crazy enough to embark on 3500 miles of mountains, deserts, canyons, forests, rivers, rain and snow and discover an experience that cannot be explained in words. I have tried my best to share memories of the journey. I wish I could share the experiences as well.
I think everybody should spend few days of their lives on the road and go places. There’s so many places to go and so much to see. Especially in this country where the roads go everywhere and the cars are abundant and the gas is cheap and finding affordable night stops takes few taps on an app.
