Our summer roadtrip

by Andrew Hixon
(Littleton, CO, USA)

As August approached, my girlfriend and i found ourselves in between jobs and in need of some mind-clearing relaxation. We looked at each other and simultaneously said, "Road Trip!". Within minutes it was decided that the West Coast would be the obvious destination as we live in Denver and neither of us had traveled any further west than Vegas. After a few days of route planning and finding hotels and campsites, we were off.

Our first day was a 750 mile trek to Las Vegas where we spent the night with family who live a few miles off the strip. After a few cocktails and a solid night's sleep, we climbed back in the family truckster and made our way to sunny San Diego. Eager to get our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, we quickly unpacked, threw on our bathing suits, and hit the beach. The waves were great but the water was a bit too chilly for either of us to brave a full dip. In lieu, we stood at the waters edge for a few hours and took in the beautiful scenery....until we were numb from the knees down.

After the beach, we took in a delicious dinner and a leisurely stroll along the San Diego Harbor and prepared for the next leg of our journey. Day 3 began with a short drive up to L.A. where we took in all of the touristy sites (hollywood sign, walk of fame, rodeo drive) the city had to offer while boldly navigating, and sitting in, the lovely saturday morning traffic. By mid afternoon we had reached the Pacific Coast Highway and headed north through malibu. We made our way up the PCH, which is undoubtedly the most scenic and enjoyable roads to drive in the country, and spent the night in a cozy motel in King City.

When we woke the next morning we had San Francisco in our sites but needed to make good time becuase we had tickets to the afternoon Phillies/Giants game at AT&T Park. We arrived with time to spare and took a lap around the concourse of what may be the most beautiful baseball stadium in the league. From there, we headed back to Pacifica to check in to the hotel for the night and recharge for some sightseeing. We spent the entire next day seeing all that San Francisco had to offer and we both fell in love with the city by lunchtime.

A two hour guided tour on an open top bus, a one hour boat tour through the bay, and a round trip ride on the infamous cable cars were the highlights of our day....if we only had another week to spend there. We said a sad goodbye to the wonderful city by the bay and continued north on the Pacific Coast Highway where we were greeted by the most scenic, breathtaking, and exciting 200 miles of the entire trip. Winding roads, steep elevation changes, rocky cliffs, and a nice mix of fog and sunshine made this leg one of our favorites. We topped it off with a relaxing picnic lunch in a quiet northern california bay where it was just us, the breeze, and some ham sandwiches.

When driving fatigue finally set in, we pitched our tent at Patrick's Point Campground and instantly agreed that it was the most perfect campsite we had ever been to. As the sun began to set through the thickly treed site, we could hear crashing waves that seemed to call our names. We found a small, almost hidden trail a few steps from our tent and followed it towards the sun. Five minutes down the trail we reached a clearing and our jaws promptly dropped. There we stood on a rocky, grassy bluff about a hundred feet above the crashing waves as we watched the most awe-inspiring sunset either of us had ever seen. Without a doubt, those thirty minutes on the bluff will be etched in our minds forever.

It was hard to leave but we forged ahead to the majestic beauty of the Redwoods National Forest and the waterfalls of southern Oregon. It seems as though each day of the trip has brought new and different sights and an ever-changing landscape. We headed back down into California and spent the night in a "green" hotel near Mt. Shasta. The hotel was complete with recyled materials, meters showing energy consumption to track its eco-footprint, and an eco-friendly toilet with multiple flush options.

Our final stop was on the horizon....Yosemite National Park. We made it to Yosemite late that afternoon and set up camp about twenty miles from the entrance gate to the park. The entire next day we sweated and hiked our way through the most amazing and beautiful terrain nature has to offer. A three mile roundtip hike to a grove of giant sequoia trees started off our day. The grand finale of our day in Yosemite was a grueling four mile roundtrip hike, gaining 1000 feet in elevation, up to the top of Vernal Falls. We almost didn't have the energy to get back down but it was well worth it.

Our journey is now almost over as we head east from Yosemite, across the California and Nevada desert, and back to Las Vegas for a well deserved gut-busting buffet dinner. After saying hi and goodbye to family once again, we headed off for Denver and the comfort of our own bed.....11 days, 1,400 pictures, and 4,127.4 miles later! It was a humbling experience to see parts of the country that we never knew could be so beautiful and made us realize how much more there is out there for us to see. Now, to plan that next trip....where to?