Time: 9 hours, 15 min
Milage: 640 miles

Hannah and I traveled up through Florida to stay at her Dad’s house outside of Atlanta, Georgia. There are two routes that you can take when leaving Florida: Florida Turnpike or I-90 / I-10. This time, we took the Florida Turnpike to save time (though not necessarily money – $22.59 with Toll by Plate or $17.45 with SunPass). Depending on how quickly you are making this drive, there are plenty of stops to check out on the way!

Time: 6 hours, 30 minutes
Milage: 420 miles

Our second day of driving was spent mostly singing, laughing, and snacking. The day ended dropping Hannah off at her house and prepping for the drive out west.

• Dining
  • The Varsity – Atlanta, GA
  • Dwarfhouse Chick-fil-A – Hapeville, GA
  • Milk & Honey – Chattanooga, TN
  • Hattie B’s Hot Chicken – Nashville, TN
  • The Hampton Social – Nashville, TN
  • LouVino – Louisville, KY
  • Hammerheads – Louisville, KY

• Other activities
  • Amicalola Falls – Dawsonville, GA *
  • Mount Oglethorpe – Pickens County, GA
  • Lookout Mountain – Chattanooga, TN
  • Walnut Street Bridge – Chattanooga, TN
  • Gaylord Opryland Resort – Nashville, TN

Time: 13 hours
Milage: 879 miles

With my 2016 Toyota Prius packed to the brim, my dad & I headed west to start the new chapter of my life. Our main goal of the day was to make it to Kansas City for a late lunch/early dinner to get some famous Kansas BBQ. And boy, oh boy, it did not disappoint. I’ve always been a fan of the dry-rub BBQ (as opposed to NC’s vinegar based BBQ).

• Dining:
  • Wild Egg – Louisville, KY
  • Q39 Midtown – Kansas City, KS
• Other Activities
  • Churchill Down – Louisville, KY
  • The World’s Largest Catsup Bottle – Collinsville, IL 
  • The Gateway Arch – St. Louis, MO

Time: 9 hours, 15 min
Milage: 560 miles

We started the day early with the plan of visiting the Rocky Mountain National Park. We entered the park through the Beaver Point gate and took the trail ridge road through the park. We stopped at the Alpine Visitor Center and took the short hike up the Alpine Ridge Trail. The Alpine Visitor Center is at the highest evaluation of any visitor center in the National Park System. It is at a whopping 11,796 feet above sea level. If you take the 0.7 mile trail up, you’ll reach a total elevation of > 12,000 feet. Be mindful that even though the trail is short, it is composed of almost 225 steps and the elevation will leave most short of breath.

We finished the drive on the other side of the park, exiting out the Kawuneeche Gate. Outside of the park there are a handful of small towns! We stopped at Steamboat Springs and walked through the main street. We ended the night in Vernal, Utah (also known as Dinosaurland). We stayed at the Dinosaur Inn – not the most luxurious of hotels, but it is within walking distance to multiple sites in the town. 

Time: 13 hours
Milage: 825 miles

As we headed out on our fifth day, our first stop was Salt Lake City to see the Great Salt Lake. I will admit I was EXTREMELY unimpressed and disgusted. The coastline was covered with brine flies and the lake itself has a rotten-egg smell. The smell is a byproduct of bacteria breakdown. To be fair, if I would have done even an ounce of research I would have known this. 

After the lake we continued our drive through the Nevada desert. This was a primarily empty drive – anyone that takes this route should be mindful of this! There were limited stops for gas, food & rest.

Time: 5 hours
Milage: 279 miles

The southeast corner of Oregon is near several interesting parks & monuments. We started the morning by actually going SOUTH to Lava Beds National Monument in California. The park is made of more than 800 caves and you have the chance to go caving, hiking, and see native american pictographs.

After exploring Lava Bed National Monument, we headed up to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. We took a drive around the rim, making a stop at Cleetwood Cove Trailhead to hike down to the lake. While this hike is relatively short at 1.1 miles one-way, it is extremely steep. The park reports that most search & rescue operations occur from park visitors not being able to ascend this trail once they have hiked down. 

Time: 3 hours
Milage: 144 miles

We started the morning by stopping by some of the sites on Oregon’s Highway of Waterfalls. Some of the waterfalls early on in the trail: Latourell Falls & Bridal Veil Falls. After visiting some waterfalls, we headed up I-5 for the last portion of the trip. It’s not too long in the drive that you start to get glimpses of Mount Rainier.

• Dining
  • VooDoo Doughnuts – Portland, OR
  • Hops on the Hill – Olympia, WA
  • Bruceski’s – DuPont, WA
  • Cactus – Tacoma, WA
• Other Activities
  • Mount St. Helens – Skamania County,WA
  • Olympia Farmers Market – Olympia, WA