Happy Thursday, and welcome to my third Thursday Travel Throwback series post! Today I’m sharing with you the highlights of my adventures driving from the East to West coast.
At the end of 2009, my Marine and I drove from our temporary residence in the Pensacola, Florida area where he was training, back to our home state of New Jersey for the holidays.
Christmastime in New Jersey – and one of the few times I’ve ever held a gun in my life
Right after spending Christmas with our families, Adam and I packed up a Uhaul, sold his car, and trailered mine on the back, and we were off to move to San Diego!
Weather-wise, it was a little risky driving cross-country in the middle of the winter. We did hit some snow, but we were lucky enough to not get stuck in a big storm or anything.
One of my favorite parts of the trip was spending a few days in Missouri. We explored around St. Louis, including walking around downtown and on the waterfront, and went to the top of the St. Louis Gateway Arch:
We also visited the Anheuser-Busch brewery. My favorite part of the tour was seeing the Clydesdales – they were huge!
Even though I’ve never been a fan of beer, after the tour I decided to embrace the moment and try a beer…
…and as always, did not like it in the least bit!
We also visited a winery in a little Missouri town called Hermann called Stone Hill Winery. It was in a rural area, and the Uhaul could barely trek up the hilly roads leading to the winery. We kept joking that we weren’t going to make it, but we somehow got there okay!
Stone Hill opened in 1847, making it Missouri’s oldest winery. We toured the winery’s underground cellars – the largest series of vaulted cellars in America – and it was pretty damn cool. Definitely worth the trip off our route to the countryside!
Another fun stop during our trip was to Colorado to visit friends of ours. We spent New Year’s Eve hanging with them, were in awe of the beauty of Pikes Peak, and spent an afternoon in the quirky nearby town of Manitou Springs.
After driving through the deserts of New Mexico…
…we stopped in Arizona to see:
I was psyched when we made it to the California border. It was my first time ever being in this beautiful state, and I immediately loved it!
I have such great memories of our cross-country trip. We now have a bit more baggage – including a dog who doesn’t like the car, an additional car and motorcycle, and a hell of a lot more furniture – but I’d love to venture on a cross-country trip again and take another route. There’s so much beauty in the U.S., and I want to see it all!
A lot of people thought that driving 40+ hours cross-country sounded like a nightmare, but I was so excited to see parts of the country with Adam that neither of us had ever experienced before. Besides seeing new areas, I had fun consulting our maps and reading random facts about wherever we were, jamming out to whatever radio stations we got at the moment, and laughing with my new husband. It was a blast!
Have you ever driven cross-country in the U.S.? If so, what was your experience? If not, would you want to if given the chance?
How fun! I’ve never done a cross country trip, but I think it sounds great.
Thanks, Ali!
I can’t say I have ever had much of an urge to drive across country but you make it look so fun! I would like to go to the Grand Canyon! Maybe I’ll just fly there though! 😉
Ha, road trippin’ isn’t everyone’s cup of tea! Don’t get me wrong, I also appreciate being able to just fly somewhere.. but to me, it’s a cool experience doing a driving trip too!
Hi Nicole, I’m enjoying reading about your travels in this series! I’ve never been to St. Louis but have always wanted to check out the arch there. Was it scary going to the top?
Thank you, Paula! Yea I thought it was a neat city. It is a bit surreal going to the top of the arch, but it was cool seeing the views from up there!