Road Trip Summary

29 May

Day 5 of the road trip was Sunday and consisted of driving ALL day! We left Las Vegas at 7am and got back to Steamboat around 7.30pm, a total of 11.5 hours! Talk about being tired and sick of sitting in a car once we got back here! But it went really well!

As you can see below, we spent almost 33 hours total in the car over 5 days.

We visited 5 states (Colorado, New Mexico (if you count the Four Corners which I am), Arizona, Nevada, and Utah).

We drove a total of 1810 miles, which is about 300 Swedish Mil.

 

This is what our complete drive looked like!

 

 

I absolutely love to travel! I love seeing new things, experience different cultures, and here in the U.S. be able to see differences in different states. It is very eye-opening and a humbling experience (and makes you appreciate what you have at home). It’s fun to see similarities too from Colorado and Sweden. Arizona positively surprised me, with its Mediterranean like weather. (But I guess we came at a good time before the real summer heat had struck).

Also, having my parents on the trip was so much fun, not only because I got to spend so much time with them, but also to see the places and cultures we encountered through their eyes. I think that, at times, they experienced some serious cultural shocks! :)

Sin City

28 May

Day 4 (Saturday) was a fun-filled day to say the least! We woke up in Las Vegas and had an early breakfast before heading to Las Vegas Blvd. We walked up and down The Strip and admired everything we saw, trying to take it all in. Las Vegas is truly a crazy place!! The weather was good, sunny with some windy, making it bearable to walk around. Since it is in the desert it tends to get super hot during the summer, but we beat the heat which was nice! :)

We meet up with two friends from Steamboat and had a drink with them in Ceasar’s Palace. We also got to see MGM, New York New York, The Bellagio, and The Venetian. All really cool hotels. (No gambling though, just watched others lose their money haha). After 6 hours we went back to our hotel and sat in the hot tub for a bit! We were exhausted to say to least, and almost didn’t go back to The Strip that night. But after a beer and hot-tubbing, we felt energized again and went back to see Vegas by night! And good thing we did because that was so nice!

Las Vegas in the hazy distance

New York New York

The Strip

Amazing summer garden at the Bellagio. They re-decorate this 5 times per year!

Relaxation time!

Super busy traffic

The Strip by night

Bellagio Fountain

Tags: , , , ,

Grand Canyon

25 May

Today (Day 3) has been awesome! We have done so much today and it’s only 6pm, which means that we have the whole night ahead of us! In Las Vegas too, which I can’t believe that we are in! :)

We made it to Grand Canyon West this morning and did a helicopter tour down into the canyon! None of us have ever been in a helicopter before and it was the coolest thing I’ve ever done! We also went to the Sky Walk, located on the west rim and 4000 feet above ground. That was insane! On our way to Las Vegas we stopped at Hoover Dam, which amazed all of us with its greatness. So many impressions today that I can’t believe that we have been lucky enough to experience!

It’s hard to describe the amazing views and things we have seen today (and to pick out the right pictures that will do it justice) so I’m just going to let the pictures below speak for themselves.

Cows crossing the street on our way to Grand Canyon West

Our helicopter on the bottom of the canyon

From the front seat in the helicopter

Jared pumped on the amazing views

The Sky Walk

Memorial Bridge by Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam

Total amount of miles driven Day 3: About 250 miles (ca 40 mil).

Tags: , , , ,

A Never-Ending Road

24 May

Day 2 consisted of driving, driving, and some more driving. We had a plan to drive from Grand Junction to Kingman, Arizona, where we will be spending the night. This drive was a total of 11 hours, which sounds so damn long, but it actually wasn’t too bad!

We decided to take the longer route so that we could stop at the Four Corners on the way. By longer, it was actually just an hour longer, which was totally worth it when we ended up on a scenic drive in Southern Colorado.

Endless Road

After 5 hours of driving we came to the Four Corners, which is where New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona meets, we ate lunch, got some touristy pictures, and then got back into the car for another 6 hours of driving!

Four Corners

At times, in Arizona with its desert like views, it seemed like we were on a never-ending road. But knowing were we will end up makes it all worth while! We have not only seen flat dry spaces on both sides of the road, but also the most amazing rock formations, and in Arizona (between Flagstaff and Kingman) the surroundings of green pine trees reminded us of both Sweden and Cape Cod. Great contrasts to say the least!

Desert Scenery

Amazing rock formations

Oh btw, pretty excited when we noticed that we drove a little bit on the Historic Route 66 when coming into Kingman. AND that there are palm trees everywhere! That is the sign of a good vacation, as Jared said!

Motel on Historic Route 66

We have some big plans for tomorrow as we steer our way to The Grand Canyon.

Stay tuned!

Total amount driven Day 2: 600 miles (100 mil).

Tags: , , ,

Wine and Dine

24 May

Day 1 (which was yesterday) we arrived around lunch time in Grand Junction, Colorado, which is about 3 and a half hour from south of Steamboat Springs.

Me and Jared were here last year for his birthday and I fell in love with the place. (I knew right away that I wanted to take my parents here when they came for their next visit!) I had no idea that Colorado had vineyards and that south Colorado was known for its wine-country. But it’s true, and that’s where we spent the first day of the road trip!

We went back to Two Rivers Winery, which is where we stayed last August. Then we managed to visit three other wineries and tried their amazing wines. We also found a vodka distillery that is well known for their award-winning Bloody Mary’s. Of course, we had to try that as well! And at least me and Jared were not disappointed!

Two Rivers Winery

Award Winning Wines

Cheers!

Greystone Winery

A french inspired winery

Bloody Mary

We ended the night by enjoying some cheese and wine (in paper cups, very classy) in our room at the Inn where we stayed (which Jared thinks he might have seen on an episode of Cops haha)!

Total amount driven Day 1: 200 miles (Ca 32 mil).

I’m back! :)

23 May

I am well aware that it has been forever since I wrote on here, but nothing too exciting has been going on so I haven’t felt inspired or encouraged to write any blog posts. I almost decided a few times to stop blogging but today I had a change of heart! The reason is that my parents finally got here for my graduation, which was this past weekend, and today was our first day of our roadtrip (which I talked about in the last blogpost).

I’ll write another post about today, but before that I want to just do a quick sum-up of what has happened lately!

  • The most exciting thing that has happened is that I finally got a job, after a few months of applying for jobs and interviewing. I’ll be working Front Desk at an amazing resort, located on the mountain side in Steamboat, called One Steamboat Place.
  • I finally (officially) graduated from Johnson & Wales on May 19th. So much fun, especially since I got to have my parents there! However, it rained during the whole two-hour ceremony though, but I made it through it and made it out alive without freezing to death! :)
  • During the past weekend in Denver with my parents, me and Jared got to take them to a baseball game, which was a lot of fun!
  • The weather in Steamboat has been amazing so I have been enjoying myself a lot, especially with a good book by the pool.
  • I said good-bye to the house in Denver, where I have lived for the past two years, before I moved up to Steamboat.

Mom and dad <3

Represented Sweden during graduation!

Love Colorado sunsets

Bye bye house in Denver

Fishcreek falls in Steamboat

Ready for our road trip!! :)

Just a few highlights! Right now we are in Grand Junction and about to head out to dinner. I will do a summary of our day when we get back!

Thanks for stopping by, and please leave a comment and say hi and let me know who reads my posts!

Tags: , , , ,

Road Trip

19 Apr

I love planning things, especially trips! Since my parents will be here in less than a month for my graduation, me and Jared have finally started planning the road trip we are going to do with them! So excited!

They will be here for 12 days and the first few days we will be spending in Denver. We will have my graduation ceremony to look forward to, as well as a baseball game and hopefully a brewery tour at Coors brewery in Golden. I just got the tickets today for the baseball game and my dad is super excited to see this. He has only seen it on TV so it should be fun. Not that I know too much about the game, but that’s where Jared will step in! :)

Coors Field in Denver

As for the road trip, we have decided to go to Grand Canyon, with a few stop along the way! Once we know more exact where we will stop, I will write another post! All I can say is that I am super excited! :)

Tags: , , , ,

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 812 other followers