Let's go on a road trip ...

I know this is a bit of an oxymoron coming from a flight attendant, but road trips are truly the best. 

Don’t get me wrong. I fly for a living and love it, and being able to get on a plane for 7 hours to make it to my best friend’s 30th birthday in Paris and back to NYC 24 hours later for a friend’s engagement party is awesome and quite impossible by car. Plane hoping all over Alaska was super fun as well. And flying over 20 hours to get to Palau was worth every effort it took to get there.

However nothing beats taking a car and driving around when it comes to really discovering and exploring an area. 

So after all my international trips, I was itching to discover the US a little more and what better than a cross-country road from New York to California. 

I had three "bucket list" items for the trip:

1. eat crabs in Maryland
2. eat deep dish pizza in Chicago 
3. get married somewhere along the way

Yes I know that third goal was a bit of a big one -:) But I am happy to report all three items were crossed off the list, and then some. Let's start from the beginning.

I said goodbye to my apartment and set the GPS for Maryland. Crabs here we come. Now if you reading this and are driving distance from Maryland, stop reading now and get in your car to head to Bill's Terrace Inn. You must have those crabs sooner rather than later. Seriously.  They were amazing! Then of course come back and read the rest of the post. 

Now the deep dish pizza on the other hand - sorry Chicago - didn’t really live up to my expectation. It wasn’t bad, but it was just OK. The city is very pretty though, but again not worth the detour if not on your way. Again sorry Chicago. 

Everywhere else we stopped: just W-O-W … 

South Dakota was drop dead gorgeous. Wyoming was exceptional. And Utah was full of beautiful surprises. 

They say pictures a worth a thousand words, and as a writer, I usually disagree, but here you go. Enjoy the visual iPhone 6S tour, some helpful tips on where to go in each state, and a few restaurant recommendations. And if you have been reading my blog, you know I take food super seriously, right? 

All these photos were taken in Custer State Park in South Dakota. Sylvan lake was our longest stop and the perfect place to picnic, kayak, swim, make out, basically do anything your little heart desires -:) 

  

It was really hard to leave and get back on the road, but thankfully the draw to see bisons on the Wildlife Loop Road got us moving, and our effort was well rewarded. We got to see hundreds of them and really up close. 

Our next stop was Wyoming, but since that is where we ended up tying the knot, I will leave the best for last, not that Utah wasn't pretty cool. 

Zion National Park  - in Utah - was so amazing that we stayed an extra day to hike a few more trails. Be prepared to get wet when hiking to the Narrows and also sweat a little. The hike is about 9.4 miles, it is rated strenuous, and you have to swim upstream in some areas. Super cool though and totally worth the effort. 

See I am still smiling even though my sneakers are drenched  -:) 

How cute is this little guy eating watermelon? 

We also loved the hot springs in Utah. Here is the website  for any info you might need, but keep in mind, if your GPS can’t find the address as Fifth Hot water spring trail, try Diamond Trail hot springs. That worked best with my GPS 

Now: WYOMING. 

First off because I am a foodie, Wyoming was heaven, especially because road trips can be a little hard for us foodies between very very very basic hotel breakfast buffet and buying food at gas stations. But none of that in Wyoming. The food was amazing everywhere we went, whether it was Cafe Genevieve  located in a historic log cabin, the adorable French bakery Persephone nearby or the casual BBQ joint quaintly called Big Hole BBQ.  

Then there was the landscape: the mountains, the lakes, the perfect blue sky ... And of course the wildlife: the beautiful horses roaming freely, a few bisons here and there, some beautiful birds. Basically the park is beautiful and even though it is busy, it was very peaceful. 

And then there was the wedding, that was perfect, and as much as I would love to take credit for the venue, I can’t. Our last minute officiant Caryn picked it and it was FANTASTIC to say the least. We said “I do” with the Grand Tetons as our backdrop around 12pm, were swimming in Jackson Lake by 3 pm, stopped for a mini photoshoot at Lewis Lake around 5 pm and  got to the Yellowstone waterfalls just in time for sunset, and of course we ended the day with a picnic. P-E-R-F-E-C-T-I-O-N. 

Hope you enjoyed reading about our road trip ... Now it is your turn to go somewhere, or better yet, don't have a destination, just make sure you pick the right person and follow the "road trip rules" below  -:)

EAT WELL, TRAVEL OFTEN, TAKE PICTURES 

SARA