Camp Sites

I tried to take pictures of each camp site on the trip. I'll post pictures in individual posts below. The route, roughly, was southwest on hwy 81 from NJ to VA, where we spent the first night.

Then mostly west to spend night two in TN on a lovely lake, created thanks to the TVA.

We passed through Nashville, saw free live music at 4:30 in the afternoon (GOOD live music), and spent night three in one of Davey Crockett's special places, somewhere in southern TN.

Day four we headed south through Alabama, stopping in Birmingham, and we stayed the night somewhere in Alabama or Mississippi.

Day five we hit the gulf and drove west to New Orleans. We spent the afternoon wandering around the french quarter. A friend of Steven's mom lives there and gave a us a driving tour of the larger city and we had po boys and allegator tarts for dinner. We spent night five in a real bed in a lovely house on one of the bayous.

We drove around southern LA on day six checking out the bayous and various WPA projects, stopping for gumbo at the shell station, and driving towards Lafayette where we camped at our only dud of the whole trip.

Day seven we shot across Texas, stopping in San Antonio to see the Alamo, walk around the 'river walk' (another WPA project), and grabbing a bit to eat at some really good restaurant in an industrial part of town. In an effort to make Texas a one day event, Steven drove until 1:00am and we stayed in a hotel near the NM/TX border.

Day eight we started with a trip to Carlsbad caverns and then made our way to the Navajo Nation. We arrived at the campgrounds at Canyon de Chelly at around midnight in the midst of a storm.

Day nine started off with five hour hike down into Canyon de Chelly with our guide Stanley. It was pretty amazing. We drove north through Monument Valley, swung east (I know, the wrong direction) so that I could stand on the four corners. That night and the next we stayed at the camp grounds in Mesa Verde park in Colorado. Somewhere are here we found out that Steven's aunt died and that he needed to get to Washington State for the funeral. Fortunately, we were already headed in that direction, but we needed to pick up the pace.

Day eleven we set out from Mesa Verde to meet my mom at Arches in Utah. Because she was running late we snuck in a visit to the museum and hike before we left Mesa Verde. We stayed the night at a campground about five miles outside of the entrance to Arches, on the banks of the Colorado river.

Day twelve was a push after Arches to get as close to Bryce as possible. We arrived very late at night and were lucky enough to find a nice place with a few campsights. not really a campground, per se, but nice. I can't remember the name of the town, but it was at around 8,000' just north of Bryce.

Day thirteen we set out for Bryce, did a whirlwind tour, and made it to the campgrounds in Zion just before they closed.

Day fourteen was a trip through Zion and then starting the drive north. The most interesting thing that happened after Zion was trying to find a place to eat in Salt Lake City on a Sunday evening.

We stayed in Twin Falls, Idaho. The next morning we set out for Pendelton where we parted ways (Steven heading to the memorial sevice/funeral in Washington). I stopped for a day in Portland before making my way to Jewell.

Pictures, in no particular order, can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wasabigirl/sets/1307878/