Best road trip ever!!

On Sunday afternoon of last week Holly flew into Seattle. We were finally all together as a family. We had a great time exploring Pike Place Market and downtown Seattle. In the evening we went and saw the final Harry Potter movie. It was great! Then Holly and I dropped my parents off at the airport. When we got back to the house it was really late and we still had to finish packing everything into the car. (I couldn’t pack much beforehand since I needed room for everyone to fit inside.)
When we woke up the next day we began the first day of our “sister” road trip. Our first stop was Portland, OR which I have heard a lot of good things about, but I have to admit that Holly and I were not very impressed. It was old and dirty and there were not a lot of cool looking places to walk around. However, the farther outside of the city we got the better the scenery. We stopped at a little state park and walked the trail. It was a beautifully cool day and everything about it was perfect.

  
We continued onto the coast and where the day only got better. We stopped at a place called Cooks Chasm where the rocks have been worn away by the sea for years and there are a ton of tide pools to explore. The show at sunset was spectacular and I am so glad I got to share those moments sitting on a log with my little sis. Could not have gotten any better.

 We never wanted to leave Oregon. It was the most beautiful and peaceful ride down the coastline. There were many lighthouses along the way and cute little towns. 

  
But eventually all good things must come to an end, and for us, it was when we crossed the boarder into California. It was amazing how the landscape completely changed immediately upon crossing. Of course, there are pretty parts in Cali, but we had to get into the Redwood National Park before we liked what we saw. We went to a couple tourist traps as we passed through the redwoods. One was the "Trees of Mystery" where we learned a lot about the redwoods and got to take the Sky Trail up past the tops of the trees. The other was the "Drive -Thur Tree."  (that's pretty self explanatory)

 

We took a brief jaunt into San Fransico and then back to nature in Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia National Parks. There is no way we could see everything there is to see in all those parks in a few days so I definitely would love to go back someday, but we did get to see all the major attractions:
Yosemite falls, the General Sherman tree and the Kings River. Just the drives through the parks were spectacular though. We stopped at so many of the look outs and at every one we were just blown away!

 My plan was to drive through Death Valley National Park before heading into Vegas, but the more I researched it the more it sounded like a bad idea. With temperatures reaching above 115 degrees, my car fully loaded, and climbs of 5,000 ft around mountain curves... I don't think so. We decided to go to another desert instead :). The Mojave National Preserve. It was only safer cause it did not have the steep climbs and the temps were a tad cooler. It was so hot! Everything about the place reminded me of the beginning of that movie, "Australia." The dust flying around and the quietness. That is what was most startling...the only noise was the wind and the sound of the huge crows. It was so totally cool. Holly and I also learned that the sand on the dunes can have avalanches just like snow, and when all that sand gets moving it makes a deep rumbling sound like nothing I have heard before.

 

We learned all about the Union Pacific Railroad that came through that area in the visitors center and then as we were leaving a Union Pacific train drove by. Perfect timing.
We finished our trip in Vegas. We drove down the strip and around the town to look at potential places for me to live. I was so happy to have Holly with me the whole way and the only thing that could have made it better would be if it were two weeks long!