Welcome to our cross country trip blog from 2016! This was an adventure of a lifetime–a chance to see the country now that the kids are old enough to remember. Our trusty Honda Odyssey took us through dozens of states and more than a dozen national parks and back home again!
Days 40-46 (8/7-8/13) Outer Banks -> HOME!
Days 40-46 (8/7-8/13) Outer Banks, NC -> HOME! (Lin) Sadly, this is the last entry of our Cross Country Trip Blog. After 46 days on the road, we finally arrived back home in Rhode Island this evening (Saturday)! Phew. We were lucky to spend a relaxing week in the Outer Banks with my family, something…
Day 39 – Chapel Hill -> Outer Banks!
Day 39 (8/6) Chapel Hill, UNC -> Outer Banks! (Lin) It’s hard to believe that we have reached the last major destination of this trip: the Outer Banks, North Carolina. My family (most of it) meets here every two years in a huge ocean-side rental house. We’ve been doing this for almost a decade, and given…
Day 38 – Stone Mountain, GA -> Chapel Hill, NC
Day 38 (8/5) Stone Mountain, GA; driving to Chapel Hill, NC. (Lin) Can I just say that Jo is an amazing driver? She has silently been the driving machine for 90% of this entire trip. We hit 10,000 miles today for this trip in eastern North Carolina, which means Jo has easily logged in 9,000…
Day 37 – New Orleans -> Moundville, AL -> Atlanta
Day 37 (8/4) New Orleans –> Moundville, AL –> Atlanta. (Lin) Woke up to a super muggy morning in New Orleans (even in our hotel room – air conditioned, but still damp). Got on the road and enjoyed driving across part of Lake Pontchartrain (smaller section, not the N-S long bridge). It was also fascinating…
Day 36 – New Orleans
Day 36 ( 8/3) New Orleans. (Lin) Another lovely late start to the day. It was raining when we woke up, so we felt no rush to get out and sightsee. When the weather cleared up around 11 am, we headed outside to explore the French Quarter. Our hotel is half a block off of…
Day 35 – San Antonio and driving to New Orleans
Day 35 (8/2) San Antonio and driving to New Orleans. (Lin) For the first time this whole trip, I believe, I didn’t set an alarm for all of us in the hotel room. Sleeping in until 8:30 was good for all of us. We eventually packed up, ate the huge breakfast at the hotel, and…
Day 34 – Santa Fe & driving to San Antonio
Day 34 (8/1) Santa Fe and driving to San Antonio. (Lin) Today was our longest driving day yet: 11 hours. Texas is yuuuge, yuge, I tell you. And New Mexico is not small, either. We all had a hard time getting up this morning. Travel fatigue is definitely kicking in. Fortunately, there was nothing urgent.…
Day 33 – Four Corners and Chaco Canyon
Day 33 (7/31) Four Corners and Chaco Canyon. (Pickles – you know, the trusty Honda Odyssey) Okay, people. Today was the worst day yet. For 33 days straight I’ve been pretty chill about this ridiculous marathon trip my humans are taking. I’ve faithfully chugged straight up steep mountain roads, around wicked hairpin bends (and even…
Day 32 – Canyonlands National Park and Mesa Verde National Park
Day 32 (7/30) Canyonlands National Park and Mesa Verde National Park. (Lin) Last night was a unique experience at Moab Under Canvas. Glamping in a luxury tent high in the Utah Desert. No electricity, no AC, but the comfort of a king bed and cots, all under heavy canvas tents. It was warm, but during…
Day 31 – Moab, Rafting on the Colorado River, and Arches National Park
Day 31 (7/29) Moab, Rafting on the Colorado River, and Arches National Park. (Eden) (This is posted late because we stayed at a hotel where there was no wifi. More on that later.) This morning, we said goodbye to Monument Valley, which made Dad sad. He likes big rocks. We stopped just outside the park…
Day 30 – Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley
Day 30 (7/28) Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, and Monument Valley. (Lin) Today might have been one of our favorites yet. On the road by 7 am, with Monument valley as our final destination and several planned stops along the way. The pine forests and confined meadows of the north rim area soon gave way to…
Day 29 – Grand Canyon
Day 29 (7/26) Grand Canyon, North Rim. (Everyone—joint entry) Today was a bit of a lazier day, even though we started off with a hike. We got up later than usual and hiked to Bright Angel Point, even though it was hot and generally not shaded. At the end there was an awesome view of…
Day 28 – Bryce Canyon National Park
Day 28 (7/26) Bryce Canyon National Park. (Lin) Woke up to a cool morning in the Utah highlands. The view outside our hotel room reminded us of parts of Wyoming – large sweeping valleys with mountainous terrain looming in the background. Definitely not the desert here – much cooler and not as dry. We slept…
Day 27 – Zion National Park (2)
Day 27 (7/25). (Lin) Today was a parents’ nightmare! Well, potentially, at least. We had a our most exciting and yet terrifying hiking day yet. We got another early start to the day (the kids are such amazing troopers about constantly getting less sleep than they want and getting up relatively early) – this time…
Day 26 – Hoover Dam and Zion National Park
Day 26 (7/24). (Lin) We were out by 8 am from our hotel in Las Vegas – it is amazing how quiet the city is at that time. And yet, there were still hundreds of people in the huge hotel lobby gambling. Such a strange and crazy place. Harrison loved it (the strip, the look-alike…
Day 25 – Death Valley & Las Vegas
Day 25 (7/23). (Lin) Today was full of highs and lows. Specifically, the highest point in the contiguous 48 states (Mt. Whitney, 14,505 ft.), which we saw from a distance, and the lowest point in North America (Death Valley, 282 ft. below sea level), where we walked in 125 F blistering heat. It is ironic…
Day 24 – Sequoia National Park
Day 24 (7/22) (Lin) This morning we filled our bellies with the healthiest breakfast known to humankind: Nutella buns. Indescribably gooey and unhealthy. (Thanks, Kristina!) After saying our goodbyes, we headed north through the Central Valley of California and then up into the Sierra Nevada mountain range to Sequoia National Park (which is right beside…
Day 23 – Hurricane Harbor
Day 23 (7/21) (Lin) Today is easy to summarize: Waterpark! It was 100 degrees today, so the timing was good. We’ve been debating whether or not to go to Disneyland (2 hours away) or Six Flags (10 mins away). The kids aren’t that into Disney (or the idea of Disney), or the long drive, and…
Day 22 – Los Angeles
Day 22 (7/20). (Jo) Today we got off to another slow start, as we wanted to, in order to allow the traffic to clear up a bit heading into Los Angeles. We packed a lot into our day and I got to show the rest of the family a number of places I’ve been on…
Day 21 – Greater LA / Valencia
Day 21 (7/19). (Lin) A much-welcomed chill day here in the greater Los Angeles area. After almost three weeks of rushing from one site to the next, it was great to sleep in, run some errands, lounge in the swimming pool, and eat fantastic food prepared by Kristina Kuzmic (including Nutella crepes for breakfast and…
Day 20 – Big Sur and Coastal Drive
Day 20 (7/18) (Lin) We left Los Gatos this morning at 9 am and headed south towards Carmel-by-the-Sea in order to take the coastal route (Rt. 1) to Los Angeles. Our first stop was the 17 Mile Road, which we only did the coastal portion of, and featured beautiful beaches, rocky waterscapes, old and majestic…
Day 19 -San Francisco
Day 19 (7/17). (Lin) We finally officially completed the coast to coast leg of this trip – we touched the Pacific! More on that soon. Today was a nice change of pace in many ways. We all slept in, and the kids got up and watched TV with our friends’ kids while eating breakfast. Score.…
Day 18 – Yosemite –> Los Gatos, CA
Day 18 (10/16). (Lin) A mostly travel day today. We got up early again to beat the crowds at Yosemite, which definitely paid off. We hiked the Lower Yosemite Falls trail, which gave nice views of the Upper and Lower Falls. The kids played on the rocks and in the water, which was freezing cold.…
Day 17 – Yosemite
Day 17 (7/15) (Everyone – joint post) Another early start today to beat the crowds in Yosemite Valley and grab a parking spot. We opted to hike the Vernal Fall trail. It started out as a steep, paved, uphill trail, and we thought that was tough enough in some spots. And then we reached the…
Day 16 – Lake Tahoe –> Yosemite
Day 16 (7/14) (Lin) After a solid night’s sleep in South Lake Tahoe (and gorging ourselves on the continental breakfast), we wanted to see a bit more of Lake Tahoe before heading south to Yosemite. We drove to Emerald Bay, on the southwest side of the lake, to Inspiration Point, and then hiked a short…
Day 15 – Salt Lake City –> Lake Tahoe
Day 15 (7/13). (Elliot) We got up this morning and we got ready for the long drive ahead – about nine hours to Lake Tahoe. The landscape across Utah and Nevada was mostly flat, with mountains in the distance. Sometimes the road was extremely straight and it looked like it went on forever. It was…
Day 14 – Salt Lake City
Day 14 (7/12). (Harrison) Okay, so this morning we ate breakfast and changed and had some screen time. We went to Salt Lake City and we saw some Mormon temples and buildings and we saw some cool buildings. We met one of Daddy’s friends who is from Salt Lake City and he showed us around…
Day 13 – Grand Teton National Park
Day 13 (7/11). (Helena) Today when we woke up in our Yellowstone Lodge, we packed up and we drove to Grand Teton National Park [Lin: we unfortunately learned today that the three largest peaks of the Tetons were called “les trois tétons” by French fur traders. The translation? “The three breasts.” Uh…time for a new…
Day 12 – Yellowstone (2)
Day 12 (7/10). (Eden) We were off to an early start this morning, after another short stop for the night in Canyon Village. Unfortunately, it started pouring soon after we got on the road, but Yellowstone is beautiful in any weather! The rain did get annoying, and our trip to a petrified tree (which seemed to petrify…
Day 11 – Yellowstone
Day 11 (7/9). (Lin) Up early and on the road after a shorter night and big breakfast in Sheridan, Wyoming. It was dark when we arrived at midnight last night, so we woke up to a nice view of the mountains looming to the south and east. We chose to take Rt. 14 through the…
Fisher Family Travels 