Why fly across the United States when you can drive?

In March of 1999, I volunteered to drive Stacy across the country en route to North Carolina for the beginning of her MBA program. We discussed every possible scenario from driving a U-Haul with all her belongings, to shipping her belongings to her mom's and taking our time driving across the country. Well, we choose the latter of the two and decided to start planning our trip. The goal of our trip was to visit as many national Parks as we could, and stop to see friends along the way. Thanks to Stacy for taking the time to type this up as we drove across country. It's so important to write things down as they happen, so you don't forget all of the little things. In case you just want to read about certain spots, feel free to click on the name below to be linked to its summary.

• Los Angeles
• San Francisco
• Yosemite
• Yellowstone National Park
• Glacier National Park
• Clearwater, MN
• Chicago
• Pittsburgh
• Last Leg

Photo Album

Trip synopsis

Los Angeles: After a stressful couple of days getting the furniture loaded with the movers and clearing out my apartment, we started our grand adventure on June 21st. We set out in the early afternoon from San Diego headed to Los Angeles for a brief visit with my uncle Jeff. We ended up with several last minute errands to run that morning but were still able to set out in time to stop for a hefty lunch at Roberto's in Del Mar (the last for awhile). We arrived in Los Angeles and were greeted by Jeff who was mid-cribbage game. It was still early, so we took a walk down Melrose, did a little window shopping and enjoyed the sunny afternoon. We all went out to dinner at Le Chine Wok, ordering an unusual crispy fried fish on Jeff's recommendation, which was yummy! Even Will, who hates seafood for the most part, tried a bit.

San Francisco: On June 22nd, we left Los Angeles, headed for Oakland and Dad and Laurie's. Dinner was fantastic as usual and we were very stuffed. We met Mucha and Bonito, the new ocicats. The next day we decided to head into the city (San Francisco) to do some sightseeing. We took a walking tour recommended by the AAA guidebook, which started in Union Square, walked us through the financial district, then up to Chinatown where we had dim sum for lunch. Then we went up to Coit Tower (finally, we went up the wrong hill initially, only to turn around and see Coit Tower rising behind us). Then the tour took us to fisherman's wharf where we had to try some fried seafood (again, Will actually seemed to be enjoying it).

Yosemite: June 24th, we left Oakland en route to our first National Park destination, Yosemite. After missing a turn, we saw a fender bender and pulled over to help out. Then made our way back to the missed turnoff and we were on the road again. When we entered Yosemite Valley for the first time, we were overwhelmed. Will was on the lookout for water of any kind, streams, waterfalls, etc. I was trying to capture how majestic the surroundings were with the video camera but I kept getting blurry trees. It was magnificent! We wound around through the valley past, El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, and made our way to Curry Village. After checking in and lugging our stuff to the cabin, we gathered up all of our food and toiletries and anything else that might attract a bear and put it in the bear proof boxes provided near the parking lot. There were warning everywhere to not leave anything out where a bear might be able to smell it, including videos of bears ripping the doors off of cars. Our cabin was a canvas sided structure a la MASH with two beds and a little dresser. We could only get it for one night and were going to try to find accommodations so we could stay for an extra night. A few weeks earlier there had been a rockslide near Curry Village, which shut down an entire section of cabins such that they were already overbooked. Very hungry after our long drive, we headed over to the dining hall, which held several options. On the outside patio we ordered a large pizza and an even larger lemonade. After eating we decided to take a walk around the valley. Again our sense of direction was tested as we tried to navigate some of the trails over towards Yosemite Falls. We walked around the Ahwahnee Hotel and took the free shuttle back to Curry Village (they provide shuttle buses throughout the valley to encourage people to not drive; the buses looked like something out of Disneyland, no windows). It was still fairly light out and half dome was shining brightly as the sun reflected off its face. We stopped in the general store and picked up some postcards to send back home. We sat on the porch of one of the common buildings in two wooden rocking chairs for a little while and enjoyed the night before heading to bed. The next morning we were anxious to find a place to spend the night so we could stay in the valley a little longer. We tried again at Curry Village but there were no openings. We were able to find a campsite at the other end of the valley (Sunnyside Walk-in). Our search took just long enough so that we missed breakfast at the main dining hall and had the worst muffin and cinnamon roll we'd ever had at the coffee shop. We packed up our gear and set up camp at the new campground, which was in prime bear territory at the base of the cliffs. In the early afternoon, we started out on a hike to the top of Yosemite Falls (the tallest free falling waterfall in North America and the 2nd tallest in the world, 1430ft). It ended up being a fairly long hike, taking the rest of the day. The trail was very steep in parts, which meant moving slowly, at least for me. We reached the top of the falls, after some breathtaking scenic points, and were rewarded with a spectacular view of the valley below and spraying water creating rainbows. Will was disappointed because all he wanted was to be able to jump in the water at the top of the falls. Understandably, you can't do this, which I tried to explain to him, unsuccessfully. We reached the campground just before dark and gathered our belongings to head back to Curry Village for dinner and a much needed shower. We postponed the shower after finding out that the dinner bar in the main dining hall closed in 10 minutes. We ate BBQ, which was pretty good except Will got twice the amount of ribs that I did for some reason. It was OK, though, because just when we finished eating, I realized that Will's hair was sticking straight up after our long hike and it was the funniest thing I'd seen in a long time, for some reason, and I went into a convulsive fit of laughter. We finally got to those showers and then, warm and clean, headed back to the campground to get some sleep. Will was hoping to spot a bear, I was hoping the opposite. While falling asleep, we heard pans banging several times and "get outta here!" yelled from various spots in the campground. Then, Will heard "Bear, bear!" nearby, and a "whoosh" by our tent, luckily I was asleep. The next morning, sadly, it was time to leave Yosemite. However, we couldn't quite bring ourselves to just pack up and leave. So, we packed up the car and decided to go get that breakfast that we had missed the day before. It wasn't as good as we hoped but it was better than the muffin. It was a gorgeous day, and Will wasn't willing to leave the valley without partaking of some of the water nearby so we set out to find a little beach by the river for a dip. After several recommendations, we decided to go off on our own and find one. We walked down the river til Will found a spot he thought would be good but it entailed crossing the very cold river which I wasn't so sure about. Will proceeded to show me how easy it was and I recorded his crossing just in case it was as humorous as I thought it might be. After making it to a sandbar about 1/3 of the way across, Will decided it was a little too cold and probably too deep to go all the way so he shrieked his way back to shore. We continued on down the river and found a nice spot to set up our chairs. We watched a family of ducks swimming around and several people rafting down the river. The water was very cold, I know this because Will decided he wanted to take a dip (all the way) and I couldn't let him show me up. Will went in a second time before we left but I couldn't bring myself to do it again. Finally, we decided that we needed to start making our way out of Yosemite towards our next destination. It took several more hours to actually get out of the Park. It's huge! Much more than just the valley that everyone goes to. We stopped near Tioga Peak and walked around the edge of the lake, filming snow. We exited Yosemite into Eastern California, which looks very much like Nevada, and drove around for a while in the middle of nowhere. We came around a bend and suddenly we were in the middle of biker heaven. The funny thing was, I had been riding in the car with only my bra on since it was so warm and I didn't have time to put my shirt back on before we were surrounded by bikers so I had to hold it in front of me as we crawled through the town. Then, before you knew it, we reached the end of the town and were back in the middle of nowhere. We had intended to spend that night in Reno, NV en route to our next destination, Jackson Hole, WY. We passed through the capital of Nevada, Carson City, and came into the middle of an old car parade. We hit Reno around 6:30 or 7:00 and Will wasn't feeling too bad so we decided to eat dinner there and then continue on for a little while. We made our way towards the neon and finally found a place to park and had a fairly crummy meal and spent a few bucks gambling before we both decided that we didn't like Reno very much. Back in the car we headed into the Nevada night to find a little motel somewhere on the way. We stopped in Battle Mountain, NV at a motel with no parking. The lot was full of racecars, which were nice enough to wake us up in the morning as they all revved their engines in preparation for the race they were headed to.

Yellowstone: Another long day of driving took us the rest of the way across Nevada, into the corner of Idaho, then across Teton Pass into Wyoming. While crossing the mountains, we stopped at the side of the road for some of "the world's best, fresh, beef jerky" or so the signs claimed. After trying some and listening to the 15-minute shpiel from the one-armed gentleman selling the jerky, we left with a $14 pound of the best and thickest beef jerky ever. We descended into the valley known as Jackson Hole and found Casey Williams house (one of the students that Will coached at the Academy). The Williams' were nice enough to house us in a trailer in their yard for two days. After stretching some and meeting Casey's family, we went down the road to Ellen's house (a friend of the Williams). Two of her horses had given birth a couple of days earlier and the little foals were walking around with their mommy's. One of the mommy's tried to eat Will's video camera bag. Casey and his sister, Lanie, took us to a local bar for a little while that evening. (Add stuff about Lanie being underage and the sheriff coming in and our drunk waitress?) Casey and his girlfriend (at the time) Lindsey, took us around the Tetons the next day. We drove the Moose to Wilson road and came across a skinny Moose feasting on grasses by the side of the road. We stopped near Jenny Lake and unloaded the canoe (Casey's family's). Casey and Will paddled us across the lake where we stowed the canoe and went hiking. We hiked up to Hidden Falls where we stopped for lunch (we had roll-up thingers) and then went on to Inspiration Point, which was very inspirational. As I looked through the pictures from Happy Trails, which was the last time I was in Jackson, I realized that I had actually been on this very hike when I was 15. After we returned from the lake, we decided to head into Jackson for some sightseeing and dinner. We found a small Mexican place, which Casey and Lindsey enjoyed and ate there. Then we walked around the square and took in all the touristy stuff. It looked very much as I remembered it from my Happy Trails days. We had intended to spend the next day in Yellowstone and camp somewhere for the evening before driving to Glacier. However, Casey's father recommended that we drive through Yellowstone and stay somewhere on the northern edge to shorten our drive the next day. We spent all day wandering around Yellowstone, stopped at Old Faithful and walked around a bunch of the geysers there. We also went to Yellowstone Falls and the Petrified Tree. On the way to Old Faithful, Will asked me to take over the driving for a little (for the first time) while so he could sleep. Not long after I took the wheel, we ran into a long line of stopped cars. It wasn't until we got much closer that I could see the reason for all the stopped cars, a huge bison grazing beside the road. By the time I realized what it was and woke Will up to get the camera, all we got was a shot of bison butt. The entire time, we were on the lookout for wildlife. We saw quite a few bison, some elk (Will came up with the term "delkelope" meaning some kind of deer, elk, antelope thing that we can't identify). When we were leaving the petrified tree, we saw a couple of vehicles pulled off to the side of road looking at something. We stopped, in case it was a bear, and it was!! About 100 yards up the side of the hill, a young grizzly was making his way back towards the Petrified Tree. We watched and taped for a little while before continuing on our way - two very excited bear spotters.

Glacier National Park: It rained off and on all day as we traveled north through the Yellowstone Park, eventually leaving in early evening. We continued north into Montana and stopped for the night in Helena. After a huge breakfast the next morning at Jorgenson's Family Inn (where we stayed) we headed out for Glacier. Breakfast was the "$1.95-two-egg-breakfast-that-lures-you-into-the-restaurant-so-you-order-the-$5.00-omelette". We drove north through Montana watching the snow-capped peaks in the distance and hoping that the clouds above them didn't mean what we thought it might mean. Just outside of Glacier we drove through the town of ???????, where we came across two stray dogs running through the street. The locals weren't about to try and miss these two, some even gunning the engine as they approached the dogs. Needless to say, we didn't stay there any longer than we had to. Finally we reached the edge of the park and turned west towards the Many Glacier valley and our hotel. Unfortunately, those clouds did mean rain and snow up on top of the mountains. It was a beautiful sight, driving up to the Many Glacier hotel again after all these years. Funny how everything looked much smaller than I remembered. We checked in and tried to change our reservation to a lake front room but were told that there were no more available. We headed down to the room with all our luggage (they don't have elevators at Many Glacier) only to find that our room did in fact look out onto Swiftcurrent Lake, we even had a door that opened onto a small patio and then to the lawn in front of the lake. It was incredible. The clouds were huge and puffy cotton balls, coasting through the blue sky with pockets of darkness sprinkling fog and snow on the peaks surrounding the hotel. Many Glacier is built in the style of a Swiss mountain chalet and the chilly temperatures, despite it being July, coupled with fields of snow completed the picture. Our room was on the bottom floor, which tilted somewhat with the settling of the ground on which the hotel is built. Combined with the creaking of the pipes and the long white hallways with dark green carpet gave the impression of being on a ship. We had three days in Glacier and were determined to go hiking and horseback riding regardless of the weather conditions. It was early evening when we arrived so we unpacked and relaxed a bit before heading to dinner. That night we ate all-you-can-eat homemade chili from the bar and watched the rain on the lake. The next morning we decided to take a hike even though it was raining. We got all bundled up and decided on the trail to Iceberg Lake. Because of the rain, we decided to leave our cameras back in the room. Of course, this hike was without a doubt the most beautiful on the entire trip. Most of the trail was spotted with streams of water melting off snow packs, running over rock formations of the most amazing green and red brick colors. We had decided earlier to collect pebbles from all of our destinations as mementos and these made for some colorful additions. About halfway up the trail, we came across a school trip and decided to stay somewhat near them as bear protection since they were making a good bit of noise along the trail. About 2/3 of the way up, we started having to cross large patches of snow on the trail. Eventually, the trail completely disappeared under the snow and we were reliant on poles with orange flags to guide us in the right direction. We finally reached the lake, completely iced over, almost completely surrounded by sheer cliffs with the exception of the side we entered on. It was spectacular. We sat down on our jackets and gazed at the majesty of nature for a while. Once the school trip showed up, we were surrounded by the sounds of civilization again and, though the instructor was talking about the striations of the rocks in the cliffs and giving an interesting geology lesson, we decided that it was time to head back to the hotel. The trail back was just as spectacular, with snow and waterfalls, trees and clouds and a sprinkle here and there. We came round a bend near the end of the hike and there arcing before us away from the trail was the most brilliant double rainbow either of us had ever seen. It was so bright that it was difficult to look at. You could even see the yellow and the purple vividly. We regretted our decision to not bring the cameras but in some sense we were glad that the memories of that day will forever be only in our heads. Besides, there is no way that film could have done it justice. We made it back to the hotel in time to clean up and relax before dinner. We were wet and muddy but not that cold. We decided to eat in the restaurant in the hotel that night. After dinner we sat in the lobby near the huge fireplace before calling it a night. This fireplace had to be at least 6 feet across, burning logs the size of telephone poles. It was surrounded on all four sides with wide cement hearths, perfect for resting feet and sofas and chairs. It was located in the center of the lobby, directly in front of the windows looking over Swiftcurrent Lake - what a perfect setting. The next day, our last day in Glacier, we had intended to go horseback riding but the snow was still so high on some trails that the rides we wanted to do were closed. Instead, we decided to take a drive on Going-to-the-Sun Road, which bisects Glacier National Park running east and west. Before we headed out, we took a walk over to the Many Glacier campground and the little restaurant nearby for some pizza. On the way, we passed a woman who said she had just encountered a mama moose and her babies. Unfortunately, we must have missed them. It was an overcast and rainy day but many of the vistas along Going-to-the-Sun road were still incredible. We stopped at the Logan Pass visitor center, at the Continental Divide, but it was still closed because the snow was too high. That was where we started our hike to the chalet during Happy Trails. We had considered staying at the chalet overnight one night in Glacier, but decided that it was probably too early in the season and that we'd rather have the time to explore trails near the hotel than hike for two whole days. Maybe next time… While at Logan Pass, Will left his mark on a wall of snow, writing "Will and Stace's adventure" using dirt and sticks. The snow along Going-to-the-Sun Road was still so high in some places that bulldozers were used to clear passage for cars.

Clearwater, MN We awoke early the next morning and filmed our room and the lobby of the hotel for the last time before getting on the road for our longest driving day of the trip. We were headed directly east, across the rest of Montana and half of North Dakota before calling it a day. In all, Will drove for 15 hours that day through some very flat land. We took a slight detour and explored Theodore Roosevelt National Park and ate in a little tourist trap nearby. I was served half cooked chicken, which we promptly sent back but I had already had a couple of bites so things weren't sitting all that well. We finally crawled into bed in Bismarck, ND, in the middle of a huge storm. The thunder and lightning didn't scare me as much as the wind did. I got up several times in the night to look outside and make sure the buildings around us were still standing. In the morning we headed through the rest of North Dakota, through Fargo then stopping in Clearwater, MN. The news that morning reported that the storm was heading towards Fargo and that winds were expected to reach 80 mph. Since Will had driven so much the day before, he asked me to drive for the second time on the trip. I drove for about an hour and a half, sure the entire time that the car was going to be picked up by a cyclone and tossed into Oz. At one point, I swerved the car to miss a tire in the road and woke Will up. I think that's when he decided to take the wheel back from me. My plan worked. We didn't really hit the worst of the storm, after all, but did hear later that some roofs of buildings were ripped off in Fargo. We arrived in Clearwater and found Ron and family's campsite at the lake in the early afternoon. We met Ron's daughter Amy and her family. Sandy served a huge turkey dinner with all the fixings for the 4th of July. It was a hot evening so we all went back to the lake for a dip. After that, it was time for cake and ice cream in honor of Suzann's birthday. Suzann and Jon broke the news that they're expecting the newest addition to the Benge family. As evening fell, out came the sparklers and the 4th celebration began. It was fun to see everyone for a short visit, and it was short as we had to leave the next morning to stay on our schedule. Next stop, Madison, WI for a brief visit with Trish and Jeff and then on to Chicago for the night. We had lunch with Trish and Jeff and walked around Madison a bit. It was an even quicker visit than the one we had with the Benges.

Chicago: We finally arrived in Chicago in sweltering heat and found our hotel in Lincoln Park. We lugged everything up to the room, or should I say oversized closet, and couldn't find the air conditioner. We were about to pack up and move to another hotel, regardless of cost, when we finally found it and cranked it on full blast. The next day was our tourist day in Chicago. We took the L downtown and walked to the Sears Tower first. From there we went to the Art Institute to learn that Tuesday was the free day. We walked around there for a couple of hours and then headed down Michigan Ave to the North Pier where we went on an architecture cruise. After the cruise we went to Navy Pier, had some lemonade and french fries, walked around admiring boats and looking at the skyline. Back towards the city, we decided to try to find Eli's Cheesecake, allegedly the best in the world. We were able to find his steakhouse and had a couple of pieces of cheesecake in the lounge that were pretty fantastic. Chicago was hosting an art exhibition, which consisted of 300 cow models. A local artist had decorated each cow. Local companies who paid the cost of the artists work hired the artists. The cows were displayed all over the city with outrageous themes like a cow being led by a piece of cheesecake in front of Eli's restaurant, "Holey Cow" a la Harey Carey, and a Marilyn Monroe cow dressed in pink satin with heels, diamonds and even a little mole. The cows were going to be auctioned in October with the proceeds going to the sponsoring company's charity of choice. After cheesecake, it was time to give the feet a break so we headed back to the L and up to Lincoln Park. A long hot shower later, Will was ready to see the town at night but I played party pooper and we stayed in, watching a little boob tube. We were going to try to see the show at Second City but it was already too late. We had originally planned on another night in Chicago but decided to add a trip to Indiana to visit Will's Dad.

Pittsburgh: We checked out in the morning and stopped by the Shedd Aquarium for a brief visit before leaving Chicago. We made it to Indiana in time for dinner and Will and Rick smoked cigars afterwards. We talked about Pittsburgh since that was our next destination and Rick was born there. We learned a lot about the Miller family that night, got a list of names and connections to talk to Grandma about when we saw her the next day. As it turned out, Dick Miller, Rick's father, had been involved with building both Rhodof Shalom (grandma's temple growing up) and Allderdice High School, where all three Littman boys went to school. Rick had also gone to Linden School, where the Littman boys went to grade school. Small world… We left Indiana the next morning and stopped by Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, OH for a couple of roller coasters and a Ferris wheel ride. We arrived at Grandma's that evening and talked about the Miller and Littman connections. She knew many of the names we were mentioning and we decided to try to find the house on Linden Ln where Rick grew up the next day. We slept in the next morning and then went off in search of the Miller roots. We found Linden Ln. with Grandma's help, and found the house (501 Linden Ln.). Dick Miller built the house where Rick and his brother and sister grew up. Rick remembered the names of some of the neighbors, Mars and Rakhoff????? Will called his Dad and told him we'd found the house. Rick convinced him to go up and knock on the door. Judy Kauffman, who bought the house from the people who bought it from the Millers, greeted us. Judy, as it turned out, remembered Jorrie and Tommy, Rick's brother and sister, as well as Rick, Bill and Jeff Littman - they had all gone to Allderdice together. Judy apparently dated my Dad in High School. Next, we called on the neighbors but only Mrs. Mars was home. We talked to her for a few minutes and she also remembered the kids. It was really amazing to learn all of this background into the Miller side of the family, which Will had never known. We were afraid if we dug much further, that we would find out that we were related! We drove around a bit more and found Allderdice and Linden schools, as well as taking a trip through Squirrel Hill and stopping in to say hi to Connie who gave me my first haircut. We headed back to drop Grandma off and then went down to the Original for a hotdog. Will ordered a large fries (I forgot to warn him), which is the size of a full fry basket! Then we walked around the Cathedral of Learning but unfortunately the country rooms were already closed for the day. We went out to dinner at a great Chinese place, which we almost didn't get to try at all. Just after we arrived, a huge storm knocked the power out. We waited around for a little while hoping it would come back on and it did, phew! After our long adventurous day, Grandma bravely tried to stay awake watching footage of our trip to that point.

Last Leg: In the morning we left Pittsburgh for the last leg of the trip, to Mom's. We headed south through Pennsylvania into Maryland, then to Northern Virginia and Mom's later that afternoon. We were greeted at the door with a jumping up and down "you're here, you're here!" Will met almost all of the family during this trip. The next day we loaded up the moving van and helped Mom get some stuff out of the garage, including the little piano. Then it was time to head down to North Carolina, and our new home. We met up with Rick at the complex and he helped unload, and that's all she wrote.