Roadtrip Trivias

We traveled roughly 8000 miles from the Great Lakes and crossed the Plains, Rocky Mountains, Arches, Grand Canyon, desert, sequoia and pine forest, Badlands; thrilled ourselves at amusement parks in Los Angeles and shopped at Mall of America. The roadtrip covered 17 big states including Michigan. Unlike our previous winter travel, we could cover 10 states in the east coast in just a week because the states are much smaller.

We filled up the highest gas price at $4.54 per gallon near Yosemite, California and the cheapest at $3.78 near St Paul, Minnesota. The car was serviced once in Flagstaff, Arizona and right after we got back home in Ann Arbor.

We survived under 120˚F hot sun in Las Vegas. We wrapped ourselves up till the top of our head in sleeping bag to beat 32˚F cold night at Yellowstone. We went through thunderstorm on the plains, sandstorm in the desert; strong crosswinds while driving… and of course traffic jams in big cities.

We roughed in a tent for 18 nights and on comfy beds for 9 nights. I still could not believe I could sleep in a tent! It was difficult initially as I kept on hearing all sort of unfamiliar sounds. However, towards the end of the journey, I slept right after I landed on the airbed. The experience was indeed priceless! I guess I should write about our camping experience at 11 KOA (Kampgrounds of America) campsites later on.

As far as the dollars are concerned, suffice to say we saved a lot by staying in a tent for most nights and by bringing frozen cooked food in a cooler, even though we had to replenish with new ice cubes almost every day. Also, we saved a lot of time not having to look for halal restaurants all the time – we would not be able to survive on just fast food!

We visited 8 National Parks:
Rocky Mountain National Park
Arches National Park
Grand Canyon National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Grand Teton National Park
Devils Tower National Monument
Badlands National Park,

5 manmade wonders:
Golden Gate Bridge
Hoover Dam
Gateway Arch
Mt Rushmore
Mall of America,

and 8 big cities:
St Louis
Denver
Las Vegas
San Diego
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Minneapolis-St Paul
Milwaukee.

Not to forget, here's wishing a very happy birthday to our dear sis, Nik Adura.