The Reluctant Road Tripper: Day 1

DAY 1 California→Nevada→Utah→Colorado

I don’t seem to remember whose bright idea it was to do a road trip from California all the way to the East coast and how the heck I bought it because here I am, crammed in a huge SUV with excess luggage, plastic/paper bags of random stuff like toothpaste, plastic forks and phone chargers poking me on every part of my body. Mind you, this is the first real interstate road trip I’ve ever been on. Add that with my parents and two of my siblings joining in and well…let’s just say you will have to get creative to withstand the 15-hour drive per day.

In between bickering about who ordered the large fries with what in the drive-thru and listening to the same songs played over and over on the satellite radio, I promise to document as much as I can as I go along.

A 2-week long road trip diet consists of mostly one thing---big, bad junk food. Naturally, I am appointed to pick the junk food to carry for the trip---(tough job, I know).

Some of my faves from Trader Joe’s:

The must-try's are the Kettle Cooked Olive Oil potato chips, Sea Salt Butterscotch caramels and the Chocolate crisps.

Ready or not, here we come.

We headed out at 5 am in the morning and managed to cross from California to Nevada then to Arizona then to Utah and ended the day in Colorado. Take note that we left right after my little sister’s graduation so my family and I were totally beat without enough time to recuperate from all the craziness that comes with graduation ceremonies. We didn't have time to stop over the main cities of each state since we were literally just passing through but the scenery was still phenomenal. I took some naps in between but I tried to stay up and take some interesting photos. 

The ones that really caught my eye were of the natural rock formations as we crossed from one state to another.

You can easily spot high-end homes as well, just hanging right on cliffs and mountains.

The view from this house must be amazing...and the bathrooms too. Tee-hee. I think I spotted this house while we were passing through Utah.

A great scenic view here in Colorado.

Colorado is usually flocked by tourists and locals alike during winter season, having Aspen and Vail as the go-to spots especially for celebrities. I'm not really the outdoors type of person but I think it would still be fun to hang around these resorts whilst drinking hot chocolate, watching people get knocked off their @sses in the snow. Amen? Amen.

Due to higher elevation, the potato chips were all puffed up that one of 'em popped! So when you're traveling through the Colorado Rockies, make sure to secure your chips in a paper bag to save yourself from a messy situation.

With having to endure 24 hours of not being able to take a shower, a pair of sunglasses and some Dior lipstick will automatically be your best friends. OMG, I KNOW it’s gross but I just couldn't get myself to wake up and take a shower at the crack of dawn before we left for the trip! FYI, I showered right when we got to the hotel so I’m so fresh and so clean, clean whilst typing this post.

Yes, that is a roll of toilet paper in my hand. Staying classy.

By the way, it’s always a bad idea to bring Chinese food if you know you’re going to be on the road for the whole day. Lesson absolutely learned.

 a) You're going to stink up the car and b) something will act up---rhymes with towels.

Hello Panda!

I can’t resist but share this really amazing feature of our Ford Expedition rental:

A legit power socket! No more smashing your head against the dashboard for not remembering to bring the car charger! Of course, this was my first time to see such a thing on a vehicle so I was gawking at it like a cave woman. Oh and speaking of car features, make sure to get a rental that has a satellite radio or have a music device plugged in---you'll breeze through those long winding roads if you've got your fave songs on.

For accommodations, I greatly recommend the Marriott group. No matter where you are, the standards are pretty consistent and the rooms are clean and decent. They also tend to not be situated in shady areas, so that kinda gave me the peace of mind, especially that we're not familiar with the places that we're going to.

This was my room in Colorado. I forgot if this is in Courtyard or Residence Inn.

Anyhoo, I’ll keep mum about the final destination of this long excursion to myself until I get there. And no, you can’t really guess what it’s about because for the first time in history, it’s NOT about me. Just kidding. It’s always about me. Mwahahaha.

Toodles!