By the numbers: A summer recap
The “Morning Eagle” from the base of Grinnell Glacier at Glacier National Park
Yes, we’re quite late on this post considering the trip officially ended nearly 10 days ago, BUT better late than never, right? Well, we hope so.
This summer has been hard to put into words, so we’re going to rely on lists and numbers…
BY THE NUMBERS!
Total nights on trip: 42
Nights spent camping: 22
Nights spent with friends: 9
Nights spent sleeping in the cozy front seat of the CRV: 7
Nights spent in a hotel: 4
Total STATES visited: 26 (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio)
State CAPITOL buildings: 8 (Baton Rouge, Austin, Santa Fe, Salem, Helena, St. Paul, Indianapolis, Frankfurt)
CITIES (Note: we considered any city where we got out of the car and walked through town. Basically, any city listed here we could conceivably say, “Yeah, we’ve been there.”): 56 (Listed in order: Roanoke, Winston-Salem, Asheville, Hartford, Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, Manchester, Birmingham, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Beaumont, Houston, Austin, Fredricksburg, Marathon, Terlingua, Pecos, Carlsbad, Roswell, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Durango, Panguitch, Tropic, Springdale, Las Vegas, North Canton, Baker, Los Angeles/Venice Beach, San Jose, San Fransisco, Gualala, Eureka, Arcata, Eugene, Salem, Portland, Eatonville, Seattle, Spokane, Babb, Browning, Choteau, Helena, Jackson Hole, Riverton, Custer, Wall, Sioux Falls, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Eau Claire, Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville, Frankfurt, Richmond)
NATIONAL PARKS visited: 16 (Smoky Mountains, Big Bend, Carlsbad Caverns, Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Yosemite, Red Wood, Mt. Rainier, Glacier Park, Yellowstone, Tetons, Mt. Rushmore, Wind Cave, Badlands)
MILES hiked on National Park trails: 123
BY THE LIST!
Top 3 Cities:
- New Orleans
- Austin
- Santa Fe
- Honorable mentions: Seattle & Chicago
Top 3 Towns:
- Durango, Colo
- Gualala, Calif.
- Arcata, Calif.
- Honorable mention: Bonnaroo tent city
Bottom 3 Cities/Towns :(
- CarlsBAD, N.M. (the name speaks for itself)
- San Jose, Calif. (this would not have made the list if not for the fact that it’s the 10th largest city in the US and Boone, N.C., had a more vibrant downtown)
- Helena, Mont. (it’s the state capitol… I mean, really?)
- Honorable mentions: Pigeon Forge, Tenn. (this is kind of a slap in the face considering we’ve been here before this trip, but we had to put it on the list) & Beaumont, Texas (I think the entire city was under construction)
Top 3 States:
- Louisiana (pleasantly surprised by the bayou state)
- Oregon (they’re so friendly that they don’t even let you pump your own gas!)
- Washington (Chris is a sucker for the Pacific Northwest)
- Honorable mentions: Colorado & Minnesota
Top 3 National Parks:
- Bryce Canyon (Utah)
- Zion Canyon (Utah)
- Yellowstone (Wyoming)
- Honorable mentions: Big Bend (Texas) & Badlands (South Dakota)
Top 3 Hikes:
- Fairyland trail (Bryce)
- Narrows (Zion)
- Skyline loop to Panorama Point (Mt. Rainier)
- Honorable mentions: Angel’s Landing (Zion) & Tall Tree Grove (Red Wood)
Top 3 Campsites:
- Bonnaroo tent city
- Red Canyon National Forest (outside of Bryce Canyon)
- Big Game Campground (outside of Yellowstone)
- Honorable mentions: Las Ruinas Camping Hostel (Terlingua, TX) & Tetilla Lake Campground (outside of Santa Fe)
Top 5 Restaurants:
- Trinks (Gualala, Calif.)
- Starlight Diner (Terlingua, Texas)
- Cafe Flora (Seattle)
- Coyote Cafe’s Rooftop Cantina (Santa Fe)
- Swingers (Venice Beach, Calif.)
- Honorable mentions: Cafe Du Monde (New Orleans) & Bryce Canyon Pines Soups and Pies (Bryce Canyon, Utah)
Top 5 Homecooked Meals:
- Sloppy joes at Zion’s Watchman Campground
- Feta pasta and mushrooms by Colleen and Clair at Yosemite
- Jacqui’s chilled cucumber soup in Seattle
- Shrimp and wine at Christina and Jeff’s in Houston
- Mama Z’s salmon salad in Ohio
Top 3 Drives:
- West Texas (from Austin to Big Bend at 3 a.m.)
- Highway 1 in Northern California (unlike any drive we’ve ever been on, from San Fran to Eureka)
- Northwestern Montana (Highway 93 past Flathead Lake toward Glacier)
Whew! Well I think that’s everything we considered counting and/or listing (which, by the way, we compiled on our last drive from Chicago to Charlotte). We still have a few more posts before we officially retire this blog (final picture post and a CD club recap), but this one really gets to the heart of the trip.
Thanks for following along with us! We’ve been amazed by the amount of comments and the shear number of visits we’ve had on this blog. We’d love to hear some of your top 3 lists if you’ve been to any of these areas because I’m sure there’s a lot we’ve missed.
