Road Trips
Miranda and I have been on 5 road trips together. Most of our drives were between California and Colorado. Whether we were moving into, or out of school, our road trips always kicked off the semester or ended the school year with a little adventure, and a lot of country music. Our longest drive was 18 hours. Most of our road trips include taco bell, stuffed animals, and me getting a speeding ticket… One of our goals is to go to all of the national parks in America together. We both felt pretty biased about our homes when we moved to the mainland. Exploring more of America has shown us how beautiful and vast the U.S. is! During every trip that we take to a national park, I like to educate myself beforehand about who the original stewards of the land were. I’m very aware that national parks were founded at the expense and displacement of thousands of people. What we so often see as being “natural” and “wild” in national parks is actually a very curated and controlled environment. Ethics and land management is very interesting to me and makes me think A LOT, but I should probably save that for another post.
WYOMING
At the start of our junior year, Miranda and I drove from California to Grand Teton National Park. This road trip was one for the books, and one of my fondest memories together. We drove out in late August and must have hit the park on the perfect week. Most people were already moving back to school so the crowds were gone, and the weather was perfect. We spent the week hiking (in crocs), swimming in mineral lakes, hitchhiking, cliff jumping and watching the most unreal sunsets and stars at night.
On the longest hike we did called ‘death canyon’ we saw a baby black bear! We made sure to keep a safe distance and continued our descent past horses, sweeping views, and wildlife. Carole was put to work this trip and we maneuvered her through some serious off-roading. Grand Teton National Park was one of our all-time favorite trips together.
COLORADO
From Fort Collins, we ventured west into the mountains. We drove twice during fall and winter. The first time we went into the mountains was going to Rocky Mountain National Park. We pitched a tent and hiked all day passing through Bear, Dream, Emerald, and Nymph Lakes. We jokingly thought we would be immune to the effects of altitude and were quickly humbled. By the end of the first (very short) hike I was seeing stars and about to fall over. After ample hydration, snacks, and rest we made it through the rest of our trip. On our last day, I woke up and unzipped the tent, coming face to face with a deer. That day we saw lots of elk on the roads and running across trails.
The second time we took a road trip into the mountains we were headed to Steamboat Springs. Miranda and I had both been wanting to go to the hot springs in Colorado for over a year. We were very eager to put our bikini and beanie combo to use. There were various tempered pools that ranged from scalding hot water (which I struggled to acclimate to) all the way to literal ice baths. Miranda had no problem plunging into either, while I could barely muster my foot being in the water for more than three seconds. We got a beautiful rosy sunset that evening and dipped out of the springs just before the ‘clothing optional’ hour came around.
WASHINGTON
In the spring semester of junior year, Miranda and I road-tripped to Washington. We drove to the Cascades, Mount Rainier, and Olympic National Park. It was a little chillier this time of year and we packed for lots of rain and snow. Our Twilight Saga dreams came true and we stayed in the infamous town of Forks. We went to the Swan house, saw Bella’s truck, and yes… La Push baby.
The roads were quite icy during our drives and there was lots of snow at the top of Mount Rainier. I’d love to come back to these parks during the spring and see more. During this trip, we hiked through the largest tempered rainforest in the U.S., saw lots of waterfalls, and braved the chilly weather.
UTAH
School had just got out for summer break and Miranda and I packed up our lives from Foco in Carol and drove to Utah. We passed through Great Sand Dunes, Arches, Canyons, Bryce, and Zion National Park. The heat this time of year was no joke. As now seasoned road trippers we put the crocs away for this one and got a proper pack and pair of shoes. We pitched our tent in Moab, which ended up being my favorite town that we’ve road-tripped through. In one shop I found a straw cowgirl hat and knew I couldn’t leave it. After sporting it for a day Miranda followed suit and we both left Utah as certified cowgirls.
I had never seen the Earth look like this before and my mouth was agape for every hike we were on. The bright rock formations seemed unearthly to me. This road trip was my personal favorite. We attempted more high level camping than we’ve ever done (with a tent we broke the first night), and started a campfire to cook our own dinner. This road trip was a ton of fun and gave us a great tan to start the summer. We saw famous arches, and hiked into The Narrows.
On our last night in Utah, we camped on a family ranch. Little did we know that to get to this ranch Carol would have to haul up a literal mountain with a STEEP dirt road. There was genuinely a solid half-hour of defeat. Carol was so heavy with all of our stuff moving out from college and had very little grip on this road. After lots of panicking and screaming later, we summited the slope. There were so many cows on the farm that we heard mooing all through the night.
I knew that this would be my and Miranda’s last road trip for a while, and we went out with a bang, ending our journey in Las Vegas and recovering in California. This time was very emotional for both of us, having to leave school and say goodbye to one another until Christmas. The change was coming. This has been my favorite road trip of all time, and I am so thankful for all the memories Miranda and I get to create together… even if we are eating dirt-covered potatoes and peeing in bushes.
