Graduated 2005 and went to work... while working I realized how precious vacation time was and how quickly you loose it to things other than what you want to do... like family, gf's errands etc...

So when I went back to school I preplanned upon graduation to take plenty of time to do whatever I felt like... I finished school december 9th and had a great holiday season... before this about midway through last semester I decided that I wanted to do a grand US tour road trip to see the Grand Canyon and Mt Rushmore and anything in between.

At thanksgiving I told my parents and my mom mentioned my dad would want to go. Me and my dad get along really well and had taken a similiar trip 10 years ago and did 3 weeks in California.

Monday we did charlotte-St Louis
Tuesday StL-Sioux Falls, SD
Wednesday Sioux Falls - Rapid City, SD through the badlands
Thursday: Rapid City - Billings, MT with a trip to Mt Rushmore...

Ok so I just spent nearly an hour trying to get pictures and stuff... but I'm going to have to figure something better out when I'm not exhausted...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=202973&l=6da5a&id=572300243
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=201685&l=6d2dc&id=572300243

for the time being...

much more to come



[Edited on January 9, 2009 at 1:22 AM. Reason : way too tired to figure it out now...]

1/9/2009 1:06:30 AM

I did a very similar trip recently.

Seattle, Washington - Missoula, Montana (stayed a few days in a really neat cabin)
Missoula, Montana - Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Mt. Rushmore)
Sioux Falls, South Dakota - Omaha, Nebraska (visited some friends for a few days)
Omaha, Nebraska - St. Louis, Missouri (visited my old neigborhood, saw a friend I hadn't seen for 15 years, went to the gateway Arch)
St. Louis, Missouri - Ravenswood, West Virginia (visited home, in-laws, drop off pets)
Ravenswood, West Virginia - Indianapolis, Indiana (visited Mom)
Indianapolis, Indiana - Owensboro, Kentucky (visited Dad)
Owensboro, Kentucky - Ravenswood, West Virginia (more in-laws, picked up pets)
Ravenswood, West Virginia - Saratoga Springs, New York (new home)

Seeing so much of the country is awesome. Montana is probably the prettiest state I could have imagined, and Wyoming is really awesome too with its windiness and stuff.

1/9/2009 2:10:58 AM

Totally agree. I've driven from Pensacola, FL to Whidbey Island, WA (north of Seattle), and I've driven from Whidbey Island, WA to Morehead City, NC. Been to all the places mentioned so far in this thread except for the last 3 places on AngryPotato's list.

I want to do another XC trip on a motorcycle sometime (when I get the time), and I'd like to do it in a light civil airplane, too (when I get the money).

1/9/2009 2:34:39 AM

I don't know if anyone on here would be interested, but this company:

http://www.intrepidtravel.com/about/jobs/index.php

has jobs where you basically are paid to take people on road trips around the US and Canada. I have a friend who used to lead their Latin America tours and she said it was a fun company to work for.

1/9/2009 5:04:41 AM

^ oops, that was me

1/9/2009 5:30:24 AM

I did something like this after graduation in May. Me and my brother drove from San Diego to Anchorage and back. We did it in 4 weeks to not rush it. Then in September We flew to Chicago and drove back to San Diego stopping in some of the places mentioned. We camped a lot and stayed in hostels too; that made it that much more enjoyable and interesting (cheaper too).

1/9/2009 4:45:18 PM

In June I'm driving to California via a southern route and back on a northern route. 7000 miles in three weeks with the GF.
All started because of a car show in Vegas that I was set on attending.

1/9/2009 8:11:00 PM

on the way into Yellowstone today...


Wyoming


badlands bunny... had really sharp teeth and could jump really really fahr


rushmore...


the arch


tractor behind taco bell on Concordia Missouri

1/9/2009 8:55:03 PM

I have 1k+ pictures after deleting ~500 and my dad has just as many for a P&S...

if you have days of time... I'm currently handpicking and going to make a much more focused set of pictures... All are as they were shot without any correction yet.
http://community.webshots.com/user/bholford_west

day1 = boring (NC-Mo)
day2 = StL Arch + some pretty parts of Mo and Iowa when I was shooting with the ultrawide and ruined a lot of shots shooting through the car window
day3 = SD, Badlands
day4 = mt rushmore, wyoming (once again ruined a lot of REALLY awesome shots shooting through the car window where the dash is being reflected)
day5 = Montana and Yellowstone (I think I learned by this point to stop using the ultrawide in the car and was using a polarizer to get rid of the window reflection)
day6 = SNOWMOBILING IN YELLOWSTONE!!!
day7 = Idaho, Utah
day8 = Utah, arches1
day9 = Utah, Arches2, Canyonlands (Really REALLY awesome)
day10 = Utah, Bryce NP,
day11 = Utah, Zion NP, Grand Canyon (was hazing and kinda sucked)

Moab, Utah (Day8-9) was by far the most awesome, awe inspiring place

[Edited on January 19, 2009 at 11:51 AM. Reason : (Copied from the DSLR thread)]

1/19/2009 11:50:51 AM

^^ nice pics

1/19/2009 7:44:35 PM