Road Trip Recap

Looking back on our 25 day journey, it's difficult to say the experience was anything other than incredible. During the final days we reflected on our route, audibles and all, and tried to assess the damage to our wallets, the mileage on our rental car, and of course, the sheer amount of ground that we covered.

The trip cost us approximately $5,500 (including gas, car rental, accommodations, and meals but excluding other spending cash). Split 3.5 ways (Eros being with us for only have the trip), it was probably the best $1,571 any of us have ever spent over a 25 day period.

We put 10,400 miles (2,500 of which came on our 2-day drive back from Arizona) on our Pontiac G6! All I could say is, thankfully they don't charge per mile…We stuck to our route pretty well, with the exception of a few unplanned, albeit, necessary audibles and a few unavoidable detours.

The G6 was good to us. We all agreed that once we figured out a way to efficiently pack all our luggage into the trunk, the car was spacious enough to comfortably sit 4 (and even a smaller cooler in the back seat for one of us to rest our head on - see picture in one of the previous posts for example).

Overall, we visited 26 states (and probably twice as many Subway restaurants), 15 major cities, 4 national parks, and all this within the borders of one amazing country.

Thank you again to those who followed the blog and shared in our experiences. For those considering a trip of this magnitude, I think we would all say, if you have the time, resources, and energy…just do it!

THANKS!

As our trip has come to an end...so does our blog. We would like to thank all of our avid readers for their support and their comments throughout our journey...you know who you are! It was truly a pleasure to have you share in our experiences and we hope that our blog has entertained you through some of your more monotonous work days.

This was an eye opening experience for all of us, as we can now truly appreciate the vastness of our country. One realizes, that life is incredibly different from one corner of the country to the other. The 25 days that we've spent on the road barely scratched the surface that are the depths of this great nation. Rather, it allowed us to gain a good idea of all the different cultures, religions, languages, foods, etc., sprinkled throughout the country.

As we assimilate back into civilian life, we would like to welcome any questions you may be curious about, including planning, costs, etc. Maybe we've inspired you to take your own journey. Vlad will follow up with a post about the total miles we've driven, the total cost of the trip, and the total number of states that we've visited. We will also be posting a link to an online photo album documenting our adventures.

Thanks again!

Day 25 - In Transit: Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey.....NEW YORK!

This post took a little longer to post than we expected-we have all been trying to get our lives back on track. As you might have assumed, we made it home in one piece, passing through a total of 12 states during our non-stop drive back from Arizona. Even more impressive, we made it back without being stopped by the fuzz during our entire trip.

Unfortunately, we didn't really stop at any of the states mentioned in the title, except for bathroom and snack breaks. Maybe the South will be a roadtrip on its own...

Day 24 - In Transit: New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas

We are about halfway through our 40-hour journey that began yesterday evening. We have been on the I-40 East for what seems like an eternity. Currently, we are approaching Little Rock, which is pretty much dead smack in the middle of Arkansas.

New Mexico was a blur, as both Vlad and I slept right through it. Driving through Oklahoma, one realizes how Native American culture is intertwined in this country. Reading the names of the many exits on the I-40 through Oklahoma will show all types of Native American town names. As well as signs indicating when you are entering and leaving different "nations".

The attached picture (of Sal and Eros passed out after driving straight through New Mexico all night) pretty much sums up the last 24 hours. We are looking to shoot straight back to NY with just stops to answer nature's callings. So far, we've done pretty well.

Our strategy revolves around 2 teams of drivers, one team drives while the other sleeps. Each person puts in a 5-hour stint behind the wheel and then switches. Everyone does a total of two 5-hour sessions, and we're basically home. Starbucks Double Shot Espressos have become part of our daily diet during these drives. We will probably be driving through all of Tennessee tonight. At this pace, we should be back in NYC tomorrow afternoon!

Day 22 & 23 - Phoenix, AZ & Grand Canyon National Park

We arrived in Phoenix, AZ at around 6:30 PM and went straight to Phil G's place (thanks again for letting us crash, brah). We caught up on old times over dinner and a few brews at The Tilted Kilt. We took it easy that night as we were heading to the Grand Canyon the next morning then beginning our official journey back east.


The path from San Diego to Phoenix really leaves you on the US/Mexican border. In fact, our cell phones even picked up a Mexican cellular signal.

The drive north to Grand Canyon National Park took about 4.5 hours and took us through Sedona and Flagstaff. We spent some time admiring the vastness of the canyons and picked up some gifts at the souvenir shop.

After grabbing a quick dinner, we entered our home address in our GPS unit and began the 40-hour drive back home. We are currently on the I-40 East heading to New Mexico then through the northern tip of Texas and all of Oklahoma. Vlad and I are watching Role Models in the back seat while we wait for our rotation to drive. Stay tuned for updates from the road!

Day 21 - La Jolla, CA

PB Sushi was excellent. This place makes some exotic type sushi rolls such as the ones pictured. From top to bottom: pictured is a lobster roll, spicy yellowtail roll, and samurai roll.

The next morning, we headed north to La Jolla in search of Wind & Sea Beach, but we found Marine Beach instead. The beach was excellent and the waves were the strongest we all have ever experienced. I think all of us have battle scars from literally being flipped and body slammed by the waves. You'd be surprised how easily skin scratches when sliding across sand. It was a blast though. The Pacific Ocean was warmer than I had expected.


Between sessions of being manhandled by the ocean, we played a little football and even some beach volleyball. Eros and I edged out Vlad and Sal for the crown. They were no match for our tandem setting and spiking skills.


After the beach we took a cruise up the historic Pacific Coast Highway (US-101) to Laguna Beach. Although it was foggy at first, the haze thankfully cleared up, giving way to magnificent views of the beach strewn Pacific coast. Currently, we are in Arizona on the I-8 East heading to Phoenix to hang with one of my buddies, Phil G. This leg of the trip marks the beginning of our journey all the way back east!

Day 19 & 20 - San Diego, CA

We were reluctant to depart Las Vegas but laying here on breezy Pacific Beach in San Diego, CA makes Vegas a little easier to leave behind. We arrived at one of the "nicest cities in the world" (with close to a combined 300 sunny or partly sunny days) at around 9 PM last night. We are staying in the Gaslamp Quarter, which is a short walk from ample nightlife.

Last night, although it was already late by Cali standards, we kicked off our evening at The Yard House, which served what seemed like a limitless number of beers from around the world. Unfortunately, they had run out of Carlsberg, one of our favorite European brews. We opted for some of the local offerings instead. Afterwards, we walked around 5th Avenue and checked out a few random places including Stage and O.


Today, we are just soaking in some rays at Pacific Beach. Eros tried his hand at a little surfing and wasn't too shabby. We are happy to be winding down our trip in such a lax city. Tonight, we will be heading to PB Sushi and hanging around the area afterwards to see what beach life is all about! Stay tuned!

Day 18 - Audible #4: Las Vegas, NV

When we were originally planning this trip, we purposely excluded Las Vegas because we felt we wouldn't be able to give it the attention that it deserved. However, when we were in Denver, we decided that we were going to cut one of the two days out of Los Angeles, and take the 4.5 hour drive through the Mojave Desert to Vegas.

Hotels were on a firesale as a night at the Hard Rock went for just $80 - we couldn't pass up on a deal like this. However, things weren't all rainbows and sunshine, Vlad misplaced his ID somewhere between LA and Vegas. We knew, doing anything in Vegas without an ID would be tough.


We discussed the night's plans over dinner at The Cheesecake Factory in Cesars Palace. After dinner, Sal and Eros headed to Tao in the Venitian, while Vlad and I tried to track down a police station to file a report so that he could have some sort of identification. Two hours later, we finally found a police station that was open in Downtown Las Vegas. Just to let you know, even with the police report, no casino would let us do anything, including entrance into Tao. They were even reluctant to let Vlad just stand on the casino floor.

The good news is we all did pretty well in the casinos. A few of us cleaned up in roulette. I actually hit my numbers dead on about 5 times (36-to-1 payout), and about 4 times on the line (18-to-1 payout). Eros however, was the most efficient, putting one dollar in a video roulette machine and cashing out his $90 voucher within 5 minutes.


The next day, we relaxed at the Hard Rock Hotel's pool, which is the setting for the famous pool party, Rehab, every Sunday.


We soaked in the 114 degree heat for a little while and headed back towards LA and down to San Diego!

Day 17 - Los Angeles & Hollywood, CA

We left chilly San Francisco for the Southern California sun early in the morning. There are several ways to get to Los Angeles from Northern California. The fastest way is the I-5 South, which doesn't offer much of a view. Then there is Highway 1 and US-101, which runs down the Pacific coast of the US. We chose the latter option as it would be the more scenic route. However, there was so much fog (see picture above) on the coast that not much could be seen. We will try again around San Diego.



Our first stop was the Santa Monica Pier where we walked around the beach getting a feel for the atmosphere. It sort of looked like Coney Island but much newer. There were tons of people rollerblading, biking, and jogging around. It was hot out, at least 90 degrees. LA is actually going through a heat wave right now - go figure.

Before heading over to our hotel, we went to In-N-Out Burger on Sunset Blvd. and had a delicious lunch/dinner. Our hotel is actually right around the corner from the Hollywood Blvd. and Highland Blvd. intersection. We are also right behind The Chinese Theatre (which is where they do all the big premieres, more on this below).



We got pretty lucky as we were walking by The Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. checking out the Walk of Fame. There was actually a movie premiere going on for All About Steve starring Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper.


Right as we were walking by, we heard someone shout out "that's her!" Sure enough, it was her. She was literally 3 feet away from us signing autographs.

After our celebrity spotting, we headed over to Saddle Ranch on Sunset Blvd., which is a Texas-style bar, fully equipped with a mechanical bull. We went over the day's happenings and talked about tomorrow's Audible #4 which will be revealed soon! Stay tuned!

Day 16 (Bonus) - Diamondbacks vs. Giants @ AT&T Park

Much to our dismay, most major league baseball teams in the cities that we've been visiting have been away (exception: Cubs). I guess timing really is everything. However, the Giants were not fortunate enough to escape our grips. The event card promised quite a pitchers' duel in the Giants' Matt Cain versus the D-Backs' Dan Haren.

There are several tributes to Willie Mays around the stadium and McCovey Cove, which is where many of those Barry Bonds homerun balls landed. Also, let me mention that if you are ever going to AT&T Park, you should bundle up! The combination of San Fran already getting fairly chilly at night, and the winds whipping up in the Bay, makes for a chilling experience.

We all donned our beloved pinstriped Yankees gear in AT&T Park. Expectedly, we got some glares, but we thought it was rather school-girlish of some of the fans in the upper deck for throwing peanuts at our backs and not fessing up to it. Also expectedly, we saw some Red Sox fans (these people are all over the freakin' country, doesn't matter where you are, chances are there is a Sawx fan lurking around you).

In fact, as we were walking around the stadium, Vlad overheard a compliment given from a Giants fan to a Red Sox fan and said "Red Sox suck", as he pointed to the Yankees logo branding his chest. Startled, another defending, and possibly inebriated fan, slurred out "hey, get outta this stadium". We did eventually leave, but not before we said hello to fellow New Yorker Lauren C. who was also at the game (although it would have made for a better story, this meeting was not coincidental but rather coordinated).

After the game, we headed over to City Tavern and Matrix Fillmore on Fillmore Street for a night cap, before turning in and preparing for our 6-hour drive south to Los Angeles in the early morning. See you in Southern California tomorrow - stay tuned!

Day 15 & 16 - San Francisco, CA

After a long drive (south) through all of Oregon and most of Northern California, we finally arrived in San Francisco via the Bay Bridge late Monday night. I crashed early as I was nursing some cold symptoms, while the boys wandered into the Tenderloin. To quote comedian Dave Chappelle (who has been a staple in our daily entertainment repertoire), "there is nothing tender about it", and "we've never seen crack smoked so casually."


In the morning, we drove to San Francisco's most famous landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge. Did you know? The bridge is constantly maintained (possibly on a daily basis) to preserve its copper-hued color known as International Orange. On windy days, the bridge can sway up to 27 feet from side-to-side. Luckily, we had great clear weather which afforded us the opportunity to see the coast and Alcatraz in the near distance.

Does anyone recognize the houses from the second picture? If you said the opening scene from Full House, you are absolutely correct. Your prize is in the mail. Our Roadtripping USA guidebook did not have an exact address, but with little research, we discovered that the houses lay somewhere on Steiner Street. So we drove through, and lo and behold, we eventually saw several groups of people taking pictures of a row of Painted Ladies, which is what the style of house is known as (props to Lana R. for pointing this out). Sure enough, we had found them.

These excursions had worked up an appetite, so on our way to lunch, we drove through The Castro, to see what all the fuss was about. Maybe it was a quiet day but it just seemed like a (tolerant) normal neighborhood. For lunch, we headed over to Taqueria Cancun in Mission to satiate our Mexican-food cravings. The burritos were delicious, albeit, probably unhealthy, but you only live once!

Lastly, we ventured off to Fisherman's Wharf to explore the touristy pier. Hustlers were on the prowl as we were asked for money from several people. They were not performing, doing magic tricks, or making believe they were homeless, they were just plain out asking for money. At least they get creative in NYC!

Day 14 - Portland, OR

We are still getting over the daunting fact that we've driven all the way out to the west coast. Maybe it will be easier to fathom once we hit California.

Portland is a beautiful city with beautiful weather. It was reminiscent of Denver, another outdoorsy-type city, but with the advantage of being on the Pacific coast. A drive around town will spawn many sightings of runners and bikers sprinkled throughout the city. Plus Mt. Hood in the backdrop serves as icing on the cake.

Before we kicked off this trip, we each picked a place that we wanted to visit. Vlad's city was Denver (which was a blast), mine was Portland (which was also a blast), and Sal's is San Diego (which will be a blast). We only had one night in Portland, and we loved it.

After a leisurely stroll around Washington Park, we caught the end of the Yankees-Red Sox game (go Yanks!) over some excellent wings at The Cheerful Tortoise, which is right by Portland State University. Vlad had some friends from Eugene, OR (shout out to Mike & Mike in the SI!) who met up with us and showed us around the Pearl District in Downtown. We went to Deschutes Brewery, which is a local microbrewery in Oregon. After sampling the goods, we walked over to Life of Riley Tavern where we settled an East coast vs. West coast feud over a game of darts. It was a close match, but Mike & Mike edged us out, however, they have to go to work in the morning. For a city not being NYC, Portland was bumpin' on a Sunday night.


Before setting off for California, we took a short gondola tram ride which offered a panoramic view of the city (see picture). That is the Ross Island Bridge and Mt. Hood in the far background (better photo coming soon). We are now en route to San Francisco. As you can see in the lower left hand corner of our GPS unit, we have quite some ground to cover today. We are now officially going going back back to Cali Cali.

Day 13 - Seattle, WA

Our first stop of the day in Seattle was the Space Needle in the Seattle Center. The Space Needle appeared a lot less imposing than it did on the former Seattle Supersonics logo (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) and the opening scene in Fraiser. Although it was a rare clear day in Seattle, we opted not to venture to the top.

About 4 blocks away, towards Elliot Bay, we walked by the suite where the Real World Seattle was filmed and the infamous spot, where Stephen smacked Irene as she was pulling away in a car. I'm sure you Real World fans remember that scene.

We then drove down to Pike Place Market and bought some coffee at what we thought was the original Starbucks. When we asked the barista, she disappointingly informed us that the original Starbucks was about four blocks away. We made the mistake because the Starbucks we went to donned the old school all-brown logo. The attached photo is one of the original.

Day 12 - Boise, ID and Seattle, WA in Transit

After pretty much non-stop travelling the past few days we decided to take it easy and rest up for our impending descent down the west coast. Boise served as a place to run errands, such as doing laundry, changing our car's oil (we've clocked up about 6,000 miles already!), and mailing all our space consuming camping equipment home (we think the UPS Store overcharged us) to make space in the car for a new member of our team, Sal's friend Eros. Eros is joining us for our second half of the trip.

The last leg of the drive on the I-90 West into Seattle was both scenic and curvy. Seattle is known for approximately 200 days of cloudiness and today was no exception. Our drive through the outskirts of Seattle, through the mountains, felt as if we were driving above the clouds. Stay tuned!

Day 11 - Salt Lake City and Park City, Utah

The drive from Yellowstone was just plain long and tiring, so we got into Salt Lake City right before last call, which was 1 AM. We had just enough time for one brew before closing, so we walked over to a little bar called Bayou (thanks to Ashley P. for the recommendation!), which served a plethora of local brews. We settled on a pint of Uinta IPA, which is brewed in SLC, and was full of flavor and had a nice amber color.


In the morning, we headed to the downtown area and walked over to Temple Square, and saw the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints. The city is centered around the church and street names indicate how far you are from the city center.


Afterwards, we drove about 40 minutes east to Park City, which may be better known to many of you as the setting for the Sundance Film Festival. The city also has some of the best skiing and snowboarding in North America. We had lunch at a great restaurant called Zoom, and walked around the main strip of shops and restaurants.

We are now off to Boise City, Idaho, which is about 5 and a half hours away. Boise is just a necessary stop as the drive straight to Seattle (which is the stop after) is way too long to do in one shot. These 5 to 6 hour drives are really becoming walks in the park with repetition. You just throw on some tunes, start up some good conversation with your allies, and boom, you're done! (that one is for you J to the K!).

Day 10 - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

This post comes to you as we depart Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park for Salt Lake City, UT. We entered the park this morning through the Roosevelt Arch in the north entrance. We drove through Mammoth Hot Springs, Canyon Village, and West Thumb on our way to Old Faithful. The drive south through the park yielded many wildlife sightings right on the side of the road, including bison, moose, and deer. We also drove by Yellowstone Lake, which we learned, is the highest altitude lake in North America. Another honorable mention is seeing the Continental Divide. Which is where the watershed of America is divided between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This divide runs from Alaska, through Canada, and along the Rocky Mountains.


For those of you that have not heard of Old Faithful, it is Yellowstone's trademark attraction and also one of it's most predictable geysers. It is located in the park's Upper Geyser Basin, which has the largest concentration of geysers in the world. Eruptions usually occur about every 1 to 1.5 hours. We grabbed lunch and waited, and when the geyser finally erupted, we were fortunate enough to be in the direction that the wind was blowing (sarcasm), so we got sprayed down by the sulphuric water.