I recently had the opportunity to travel across the U.S. with my giant, crazy family. We were kicked out of the house we were renting because the owner lost it. After a long hard search in trying to find a new place to live, we decided to say "screw it" why not take a road trip? We fumbled over the idea for a few weeks, but realizing that Dad is out of work because of an injury, and my mom is unemployed, we really have no reason to stay (other than it was my last term of high school and senior year was almost over).
Lets Go! We bought a trailer for our minivan, loaded it up, and said our goodbyes.
We our on the road! Of course, we planned out the whole trip before we left. Places to stay, budget and what not. Our first stop; Temecula, California!
While on our first long drive, we opened gifts from our relatives who were going to miss us. We would be gone for the next 3 months!
And we're off!
Our first stop was Temecula, California, which was our 'home base' for all the things we wanted to do in San Diego.
We went to the Zoo, longboarded around Temecula, went to the piers, went to Point Loma, and so much more!
There were peacocks running around at the San Diego Zoo..
After staying in Temecula for about a week, it was time to head to our next stop; The Grand Canyon!
The Grand Canyon was a truly remarkable experience. An amazing and beautiful natural creation! I could hardly believe what I was looking at.
We stayed at the Grand Canyon in a hotel for a couple nights. When we left we were on the road again to our third stop of the trip; Albuquerque,New Mexico. Nothing really exciting happened there. We stayed over night, and in the morning we started our way to Carlsbad, New Mexico.
Carlsbad was fun. We stayed with relatives of whom we never met before, so it was good to meet them. We went to the Carlsbad Caverns! Which is another awesome natural creation!
After Carlsbad, we went to Austin, Texas. There we stayed with my dads sister and her husband, and it was really fun!
Driving through Arizona, New Mexico, and the west part of Texas looked like this the whole way:
As we were driving through this, we kept seeing some signs off the freeway. Something about a meteor crater. Should we stop and check it out? Why not!
In Austin, Texas, we got a private tour by our uncle of the University of Texas! This was on the roof of one of their buildings:
After staying a few days in Austin, it was sad to say goodbye, but the "epic road trip" must continue. Next stop: New Orleans, Louisiana!
In New Orleans, we did a lot of things. Went on a swamp walk, saw alligators, went to WWII Museum, drove around the city, walked around the city, went to beautiful parks, toured cemeteries, and more.
We even went to the Abita Mystery House, which is a museum that a guy created out random stuff he found.
After 2 weeks in New Orleans, it was finally time to continue the adventure. Our next stop was a tiny town in Alabama where my Uncle Jeremy and his spouse lives. They are amazing people to be with. He is retiring from the Army after 21 years of service. He showed us around Fort Benning, the base where is works, in Georgia. We got to climb in all kinds of vehicles, including a tank!
After Alabama we were ready to go to our last stop of the trip, but we weren't ready to leave Jeremy and Tina. We finally left after a couple extra days there, and head to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where most of my dads side of the family lives.
In Virginia we mainly just relaxed and hung out with our family. My favorite part was my Grandma Anna's house. She lives in an old river told house, that is now a historical landmark.
After a few days in Virginia, everyone was ready to come home. It was fun, but we started to get sick of each other, and we needed to come home for the end of the school year.
We took the same route back as we took there, only staying one night at each stop.
Throughout the whole trip, all 5 of us kids were doing homeschool online, we spent a lot of time on the trip at each stop doing schoolwork.
The trip was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and a great experience, but it is really good to be home, back with friends and family. Auburn, California; Home sweet home.
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