We are back from our road trip! We saw so much and had a ton of fun but we are glad to be home now!! I decided to break up the road trip into 3 different parts so that it wasn't picture overload. I already had trouble narrowing down which pictures made the cut into the blog. So this first part represents the majority of our first 3 days:
Day 1- Denver to Elko, Nevada
We left Denver a little later than planned (which is a recurring theme throughout the trip but it's vacation right?) after dropping Huey off at doggie daycare for the trip. We contemplated bringing him but we decided to let him play in Denver since we were going to log some serious hours in the car.
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| Driving through Wyoming |
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| We saw so many different landscapes driving across the US! |
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| Made it to Utah!! |
| We were lucky and had pretty great weather for the majority of our trip!! |
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| I love the sky in this picture |
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| Salt Lake City |
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| THE Great Salt Lake!! |
We didn't spend time here at the lake but we drove along a significant portion of the shoreline- the lake is huge!!!
So go figure, I spent a good bit of time planning for our trip and researching any "must-see" items along our route. I found this spot on my Roadtrippers app (which helps you plan trips and stops and even calculates how much gas money you will need!).
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| One of my favorite spots of the trip |
It looked like we were on a different planet. The water is very shallow and very salty and seems to go on forever! There have been several movie scenes shot here including one with Johnny Deep in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean when he is in Davy Jones' locker.
We ended our first night in Elko, Nevada. This was one of our longer driving days so it was nice to stop, relax and of course do a little gambling! This was Josh's first time in Nevada so what better way to celebrate?
Josh ended the night with a little less than he started with but I won $120 off of a slot machine! This way I didn't have to stop at the ATM for cash in the morning!
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| My winnings |
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| The highway we traveled from Cheyenne, WY to Reno, NV |
Day 2- Elko, Nevada to Redding, CA
We spent the second morning driving through northern Nevada which is mainly a big desert. We listened to podcasts to pass the time. For lunch we stopped in Reno!!
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| I had to get a picture of the famous sign!!! |
After lunch, we got off of I-80 and took state roads up towards Redding, CA.
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| Josh's first time in California! |
We drove through Lassen National Forest which was pretty and
much different from the Nevada desert.
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| In the far distance you can see Mt. Shasta |
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| This snow capped peak is Lassen Peak |
Fun Fact-Lassen Peak is the southernmost active peak in the Cascade Range. Its last major eruption was in 1915.
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| We HAD to stop at In-N-Out for dinner! After dinner, we went to walk around the Sundial bridge in Redding. We needed to stretch our legs from riding in the car all day and it was the #1 thing to see in Redding according to TripAdvisor. It was cool to see but I think that speaks more to the fact that there's not much else in Redding. |
Day 3- Redding, CA to Brookings, OR
We left Redding and headed for the coast! This was the least fun part of the drive because we had to travel over mountains to get to the coast on a small two-lane road for the majority of the morning. The constant curves and ups and downs were not that great but we made it and traveled south for just a little while to drive through the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt State Park.
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| Josh in a tree |
Josh really wanted to drive through a tree so we found on and took the Altima through it!
Then we made it to the coast!!
We traveled up the coast to Crescent City and made a stop for a late lunch, saw sea lions at their harbor and visited another redwood park- Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park.
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| The sea lions were so cute just sunbathing on the docks |
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| Josh hugging a tree |
This park has a larger amount of old growth redwoods than the more popular parks to its south. We traveled on a dirt road for around 9 miles and it looked like this area has remained untouched for decades.
We got out and walked around briefly in Stout Grove which was gorgeous in the afternoon with the sun beaming through the trees.
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| These trees were massive!! |
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| I used my panoramic view to fit in the entire tree! Josh is so small!! |
