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On June 21, 2003, we packed
up everything we would need for the next year in our trusty Dodge and hit the
road for a cross-country journey from California to New York. We figured it'd
take about 3 weeks or so; it actually took us 5 1/2 (a lot of cool stuff kept
popping up - gotta love the "no deadline" system :).
Trip Route & Calendar
Nevada
What can we say about Nevada... About the most surprising thing is that although it seemed
we were driving across long stretches of desert between mountainous
outcroppings....we actually never got below 4000 ft the whole time we were in the
state (data we know from Joe's handy dandy dashboard GPS).
Nevada Pics
Utah
Utah was so awesome that
it will need it's own page(s) of pictures. We spent a little over a week
there and left with a list of things that we still want to see and do. It
was one visual extravaganza after another. So beautiful and so untouched.
In a single day's drive you could see five or six completely different
geological formations. It was vast, beautiful and mostly uninhabitable ...... we
fell in love with Utah.
Zion NP | Bryce Canyon NP | Capitol
Reef NP | Canyonlands NP |
Edge of the Cedars SP |
Other Cool Utah Photos
Colorado
The
moment we crossed the state line into CO things
began to get a little greener. As we approached
the Rockies the stark barren rocky landscape that we had come to love in
Utah was replaced with long sweeping green fields of grassy
mountain pastures. Colorado became a place to rest our eyes and
our tired driving bones.
Chris'
Place in Denver | The
Dead at Red Rocks | Visiting Drew & the Grubas
Nebraska,
Iowa, Illinois, Indiana
Once we left the Rockies and Denver behind we headed east. By the end
of our second day we were at the lowest elevation that we had been at in over in
nearly 3 weeks. The air was moistening and the dust being replaced by
green pastures and increasing numbers of trees.
Visit with Uncle Carl & Aunt
Jeanette | Visit with Uncle Tom & Aunt Rita
Kentucky,
Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia
We
crossed through Great Smoky Mountains National Park to get to North Carolina
where we stayed with Joe's high school buddy, Colleen and her family for a
couple of days. Then on up into Virginia and into Shenandoah NP.
Mammoth Cave NP |
Pigeon Forge |
Great Smoky Mountains NP |
Visit with
Colleen & Bill
| Shenandoah NP
Washington,
DC
DC was one of our biggest surprises of the
trip. We had originally planned to stay just one day and we stayed 3.
We were impressed and inspired. Every family should make a visit
there. It made me proud to be a "Can-merican" :)
Washington
1 | Washington 2 |
Visit with
the Buckleys
New Jersey & New York
As we left DC, I think that it began to sink in that we
were officially on the east coast. Queensbury began to call to us and the
desire to be out of the truck for more than a few days began to take hold.
Visit with Tom Cooper
| Ground Zero
