We woke up super early (5 o’clock or so) and had breakfast and were on the road right at 7. After a bit of initial confusion with signs (Los Angeles road planning feels very haphazard, and the signage can’t help but follow) we got to the rental car drop-off point, hopped on to a shuttle, and were at LAX. Despite a rather large crowd even at around 8 o’clock on a Saturday morning the line moved fast as we got checked in, went through security, and proceeded to our gate a bit earlier than intended (about 8:20 for a 10:50 flight).
We got some McDonalds to tide us over a bit, as well as some snacks and Genetta a sandwich as airlines don’t give a proper meal anymore, even for longer flights like Las Vegas to Raleigh (following our short flight from LAX to Las Vegas). Addison and I napped a little while Michelle and Genetta read and such.
The 10:50 flight to Las Vegas was interesting. I saw a sign on the runway about “no turn until shoreline” which was interesting — basically we took off and only over the Pacific did the pilot turn the plane eastward while gaining altitude. Now facing the proper direction we passed back over the basin and the mountains to the desert beyond, eventually coming to Las Vegas. Had a great view of the strip (which was surprisingly close to the airport) including a few fake NYC buildings, a large black pyramid, and a sphinx. I didn’t have my camera on me, sadly, so missed a picture.
We dashed off the plane and bolted for out flight taking off from another terminal in 50 minutes. We were worried we wouldn’t get to sit together or, worse, miss the flight. We needn’t have feared. They hadn’t even started lining up the A tickets (Southwest groups A, B, and C, 1 through 60 in each group).
Amazingly enough, we encountered one of Addison’s friends from Boy Scouting and his parents and sister (names withheld since I don’t know if they’d want to be mentioned by name here) going on the same flight as well. Turns out they had stayed a week on the Olympic peninsula (the same place we visited early in our trip) and had just flown in from Seattle to get on the leg from Las Vegas to Raleigh just as we had from LAX. Small world!
The flight itself soon boarded and we got decent seats. This time I was prepared, camera in-hand, to take pictures. There was a delay taking off as the pilots dealt with “weight balance” issues due to the heat (already 110F). That resolved, we took off and passed over the beautiful desert of southern Utah, into the plains, and finally over the Appalachians and home. Our plane, a brand new 737-800 was neat and had LED lighting that changed color as evening approached. We arrived in Raleigh shortly after 8 o’clock to a light rain — the first rain since we left nearly three weeks ago, aside from that minimal 10 minute rain in Yosemite. Amazing luck we had with the weather on our trip!
Environs of Las Vegas, Nevada
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, southern Utah
Canyons in southeastern Utah
Rocky Mountains, Colorado
Great Plains, likely Kansas
Sunset over the eastern ridges of the Appalachians, North Carolina
The Southwest flight attendants had been great all day and were often quite funny. The funniest moment came at the very end, however. As we were landing the head flight attendant said “Whoa!” into the com system then made some horse snorting noises and a clip clop clip clop as the plane slowed down. Too funny.
Adrianne drove us home where we unpacked a little bit, started laundry, and watched some TV before heading to bed.
We traveled just over 3250 miles during our 18 days (no including the two days traveling to Seattle and back from LAX), slightly more mileage than our 2010 trip (but also had a few more days to do it in). I think we’ve all agreed that 18 days was a bit much and will try for 15 or so next time. We’re also going to try and use “hubs” from which to drive to nearby sites rather than have a different hotel every night. During our 2010 trip we had two hubs, in the Black Hills of South Dakota and in Yellowstone, Wyoming, that worked really well. It means a little more driving but has the benefit of not always unpacking and packing the car.
There were some deviations to the original plan, but not many. We skipped Mount Hood and the Columbia River gorge in favor of spending time in Portland’s Rose Garden and visiting Cape Disappointment, Washington. We missed the Valley of the Ferns in Prairie Creek Redwoods SP due to the difficulty of getting to it. While we did visit Lake Tahoe we missed Emerald Bay — not a huge loss considering we had already visited Crater Lake. Glacier Point in Yosemite was shut down by law enforcement so we had to pass on that. We skipped Muir Woods for Muir Beach, a great trade-off since we had already seen many, many large tree groves at that point. In San Francisco neither Coit Tower nor Alcatraz (due to time and being booked out a couple of days) happened, but we did visit the wonderful Musee Mecanique. We didn’t go to Hearst Castle or the Mission San Miguel. Finally, in Los Angeles, we didn’t get down to Venice Beach nor make it to the Rainbow. A big list, I suppose, but we made far more than we missed. Only big regrets on that list are Valley of the Ferns, Glacier Point, and maybe the Rainbow.
I’ve got forty states now, Michelle has 39, and the kids 36 and 37 (Genetta lacks Ohio, which Addison most certainly does not due to summer camp). We’ve got one more big trip, I hope, to the desert Southwest. Probably using Las Vegas as a start / end point and going in a loop through southern Utah, Colorado, as well as much of Arizona and New Mexico and extreme western Texas. That’ll pick up one for me (New Mexico) and two for Michelle (New Mexico and Arizona) and three for the kids (New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas). Not too shabby, with the missing states being Alaska, Hawaii, and the rest in the Great Plains.
Is it worth it? Yes. It’s a fair bit of money and while there is little physical to show for it the memories last a lifetime. It also means a good deal of concentrated family time which is really nice. I’d always wanted to see this great nation of ours and share it with those I love. If the kids decide to do the same when they are older and have kids of their own, great, but if not then at least they’ve seen it themselves. The best part of any trip is that it builds an appreciation of home and of all of the unique, wonderful things that it has that other areas lack — such as sweet tea and barbeque. Yum!
Route for July 23 through August 11, 2012