The Road Back Home: Day 10 and 11

Today we finally arrived back home in the Bay Area and brought our lengthy cross-country road trip to a welcome close.

On Tuesday morning (day 10), we said our goodbyes to our Wisconsin friends Tessa and Lucas and drove to Irvine, CA to meet up with some college friends that we haven’t seen in years. We enjoyed some Chinese food from Tasty Noodle House, caught up with life, played with Roo the puppy, and attempted the co-op game Forbidden Desert (which we lost). It is always a blessing to be able to pick-up old friendships right where they left off, even after years of no in-person connection. From Irvine, we had a late night drive to Ventura, CA where we stayed the night.

Today (day 11), we had a late start due to the previous night’s fun. We grabbed some breakfast burritos at a local Mexican market, and headed up highway 101. We stopped for a late lunch at Phil’s Fish Market in Moss Landing for clam chowder and picked up a Cioppino dinner to share with Jon’s parents that evening.

We rolled into Fremont around 4pm and enjoyed the rest of the evening (after unloading/cleaning the car) with family.

Thanks for joining us on our road back home!

The Road Back Home: Day 9

Yesterday (Memorial Day), we woke up early and left Flagstaff headed for Sedona, AZ for some morning hiking in attempts to beat the crowds and the heat. Our first stop was Devil’s Bridge Trail, where we hiked 4 miles out-and-back to a popular natural sandstone arch safe enough to walk/stand/jump on. True to form, there was a long line of hikers at the top waiting to have their pictures taken on the arch with the beautiful red rocks in the background. Usually people would just ask those behind them to help take their photo, but one couple in line whipped out a drone for their personal shots…

Once we completed the necessary iconic photoshoot, we found a quiet spot past the arch to enjoy the landscape before heading back down the trail.

Our next planned hike was Cathedral Rock Trail. Unfortunately, around 10:30am when we arrived, the road down to the parking lot was closed and guarded by a police officer informing prospective hikers that the lot was full. We ended up finding a parking spot in a lot up the hill but it added an extra mile to the hike trekking down the regular road to the trailhead. The hike itself was quite hot and required significant scrambling toward the top. The view, however, was rewarding and worth the effort!

When we got back down to the trailhead, Jon graciously volunteered to hike back up the road to get the car and drive back to pick me up. When he arrived back much sooner than expected, he informed me that he had caught a ride (hitchhiker style, thumb and all) on the back of a pickup truck to the top of the road! Exciting new experience for Jon…

Because we had changed our itinerary a few days ago for the Zion/memorial day weekend fiasco (see prior posts), we realized that we may be able to see some Wisconsin friends (that moved to Texas last year) that happened to be vacationing in Arizona at the time. We called them up, and they generously invited us to have dinner and stay the night with them in Sun City, AZ. It was another spontaneous change to the itinerary, but it was great evening of sharing life updates, enjoying good food, and playing games!

The Road Back Home: Day 8

Today we back-tracked east a bit from Zion to visit Horseshoe Bend in Page, Arizona. Originally, we had planned to visit Page before Zion but ended up shifting our itinerary to avoid the peak Memorial day crowds in Zion. We had also originally hoped to visit Antelope Canyon, but unfortunately the Navajo nation parks have not reopened status post COVID yet.

We arrived at Horseshoe Bend around 9:45am and it was already in the high 80s. We walked the short 3/4 mi hike and spent a good hour walking the rim and shooting photos of the iconic and beautiful site.

From Horseshoe Bend, we drove to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We parked at the Visitor’s center and took the free shuttle to the South Kaibab trailhead. Thankfully, it was a cloudy and cool afternoon, so our 2pm hike was a comfortable mid-70 degrees. As it was our 3rd day of hiking with one more to go tomorrow, we opted to stop at Ooh Aah point, 1.7 miles down the canyon.

After our hike, we drove to our day’s final destination in Flagstaff, AZ. We had some very satisfying Korean food for dinner, restocked our water, and turned in for the night!

Tomorrow, we are planning for some morning hiking in Sedona, AZ! Stay tuned…

The Road Back Home: Day 7

Today we were originally planning to hike a portion of the Narrows in Zion NP, but due to the toxic cyanobacteria bloom in the Virgin River we decided against it during this trip. Instead, we saved ourselves the hassle of waking up at 5am to beat the crowds/lines and visited Kolob Canyons on the west side of the park instead (a much less visited and underrated area of Zion).

Our first hike was the Taylor Creek Trail which was an enjoyable 5 mile out-and-back adventure with lots of small stream crossings and the beautiful double arch alcove at the end. Thankfully, the trail was quite shaded and the temperature in general was significantly cooler than yesterday. Also, we have become a huge fan of hiking poles…

To finish off the day, we drove up to the end of Kolob Canyons Road and hiked the short Timber Creek Overlook Trail along a ridge for amazing views of the canyons. Apparently, you can even see part of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon from this spot!

In preparation for a few more hiking days, we headed back to our hotel then grabbed a quick pizza dinner.

Tomorrow, we head to Horseshoe Bend and the Grand Canyon!

The Road Back Home: Day 3

In efforts to optimize our time in Denver, we left North Platte early this morning and finished most of our driving by noon (thanks to the time change from Central to Mountain Standard). Before heading into the city, we drove the wildlife scenic drive in the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge and got the chance to see deer, prairie dogs, and tons of bison closer than we ever have before. It was truly a picture-worthy sight, with the backdrop of the Rockies framing every shot.

For lunch, we headed to El Taco de Mexico for the well-known green-chile-smothered pork burrito which apparently helped this hole-in-the-wall restaurant win a James Beard award in 2020. It was quite delicious and filled with a stuffing of tender pork, refried beans, and rice. Next, we headed to Denver’s iconic Union Station and took a break from the heat with a refreshing Acai smoothie bowl.

We had an early dinner at Kickin’ Chicken, a local fried chicken restaurant recently opened by a brother and sister duo. Then, we headed off excitedly to Red Rocks Amphitheatre for the “The Music of John Williams” with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra! The red rock formations majestically surrounded us, and during the concert, the moon rose over the valley in the background. What a beautiful and unique venue that paired perfectly with amazing and nostalgic music. Highlights included E.T., Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, and of course plenty of Star Wars!

We got back a little later than normal to our hotel near Boulder, but it was worth it! Stay tuned for our adventures tomorrow in Rocky Mountain National Park…

The Road Back Home: Day 2

We spent a little time exploring Des Moines, IA this morning, starting with a hearty breakfast at Waveland cafe, a cozy small-town diner playing electronic music to accompany our meal. Next, we strolled around Pappajohn sculpture park admiring public art, followed by an exciting wildlife sighting of a hungry school of carp on the banks of the Des Moines River. Of course, we also had to seek out the quintessential pagoda that seems to exist in every midwest city!

For lunch, we stopped in Omaha, Nebraska and tried Alton Brown’s favorite hamburger in the country, the Croque Garcon at Block 16, a “1/3-pound burger, cheese, ham, a sunny-side-up egg, mustard and truffle mayo on a ciabatta roll”. It was pretty delicious, with an equally amazing side of corn elote speciality fries. We thought that this meal was a great way for us to sample the renowned beef and corn of the state of Nebraska (because unfortunately, Omaha steak for lunch did not fit in the budget for this trip…).

The Old Market in Omaha was quaint, and we enjoyed some of the small shops while sipping on a Caramelicious® from Scooter’s coffee, a local franchise touted as the “Starbucks of Nebraska” according to Yelp reviews. Thanks to our friend Mit for the recommendation! Another interesting find was Hollywood Candy, a vintage candy and variety store complete with a maze of rooms containing but not limited to an extensive pinball arcade, Pez dispenser collection, retro ice cream counter, and in-house mini movie theater.

On our way out of Omaha, we had to make one last stop at an Omaha Steak retail store for a picture (when in Rome…). When enthusiastically greeted by the advertised “steak specialist”, we awkwardly pretended to be interested in purchasing frozen beef while on a cross-country road trip. Interestingly, in a mini deep dive, I learned that Omaha Steaks was founded by an immigrant couple from Latvia escaping religious persecution in 1917 (the company started as a small butcher shop) and has stayed in the family ever since!

The rest of the day was a flat drive through Nebraska until reaching our overnight destination in North Platte, NE.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventures! Next stop, Denver, Colorado…

The Road Back Home: Day 1

Four years (well, technically 3 years and 10 months) has come and gone, and today we said goodbye to our home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and hit the road again. We have had an amazing adventure in the Midwest complete with incredible new friends, novel seasonal experiences, and also academic accomplishments — shoutout to the new MD in the house! We will miss everyone greatly, and hope to see you all “down the road”.

The past few weeks have been a blur as we sold furniture, packed boxes, and shipped our car in preparation for our swiftly approaching relocation to Honolulu, HI. With the help of friends and Imago Dei church community, the move was as smooth as it could be, and we did not have to eat any meals/sleep on the floor at any point in time. Of course, there were also bittersweet farewell dinners, hangouts, and graduation celebrations interspersed through the chaos.

Today, after a hectic morning of last-minute apartment cleaning, we drove through southwestern Wisconsin and into Iowa, stopping in Des Moines for the night.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventures…