Westward Expanison

When we have reached Santa Barbara, California, we will have gona about as far West as we can without hopping onto a cruise ship. This is our turnaround point, from which we will head back towards Texas through Arizona and New Mexico. When we get to Santa Barbara, we will check into our hotel rooms, and then spend the afternoon laying out on the beach. We will find a restaurant eat at and sit outside and watch the sunset while sipping on Strawberry Daquiris. The next day, we will explore Santa Barbara a little, but mostly just relax around the pool and the beach and bask in the sun.

Rolling Like Big Shots

I'm not sure if Las Vegas can handle us. I know they get lots of crazy people (reference The Hangover for an illustration), but 5 Texas girls just let loose from the confines of college? We might tear down the town. We will arrive to Las Vegas at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon from Salt Lake City. We will check into our hotel room at the Bellagio (the one with the really cool fountains in front), and then get dressed and plunge into the strip. Our first night we will eat at a restaurant called Margarittaville. They play Jimmy Buffet songs and of course have wonderful margarittas, as well as a fun and loud atmosphere. Then, we will head over to the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino, look at all of the old Rock and Roll memorabilia, and win some money playing blackjack and slots. The next day, we will eat at a nicer restaurant owned by the famous chef, Wolfgang Puck, go see a Circ du soleil show, and go gamble at Ceaser's Palace. We will stay out a little later that night, exploring the strip and all of the excitement that it has to offer.

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Wet

Jewelle's house in Albuquerque is about 3 hours away from Taos. So, we will get up early in the morning and drive to Taos to be there in time for our guided white water rafting trip in "The Box." It will be a day full off intense (but not perilously intense) rapids, beautiful scenery, and invigorating splashes. Halfway through the day, we will get to have a picnic by the water, provided by the guide company, and then we will finish out our rafting excursion around 5pm. We will check into our hotel room in the Historic Taos Inn, get showered and dressed, and walk around the town in the evening, shopping, and enjoying a hard-earned and delicious meal at El Meze, which supposedly has great steak and seafood . The next day, we will drive to Red River, because this is where I spent a week of every year of my on the ski slopes. It is a great little town to explore and shop in. We will spend the rest of the day exploring sites around Taos, have another nice meal at a restaurant called The Stake Out, which boasts a sunset view and excellent food. We will head back to our rooms early to get lots of sleep before our long drive to Colorado the next day.

Our Route

I get lost easily...I once ended up in the next town while trying to get home from tennis practice. Obviously, we need a plan for our route. We will be using a GPS system to help us get where we are going, but of course, we will have printed out directions and maps as well. We can't completely trust the GPS - it is only a machine. Here is our
route:


View Assignment 3 Map in a larger map

Where's the Money?

One of many life lessons learned in college: unfortunately, money does not grow on trees. So how much are we going to pay for this extensive road trip? And where the heck are we going to get that money? Well, I will being working throughout my senior year, and I will take two extra, and I will take on three extra hours per week, which will be about $35/week. That will come out to about $1250 over the course of the year. Also, I will save up birthday money, Christmas money, and Easter money from my family and relatives, which will be around $500. Finally, I have enough money in my bank account accumulated from working that I can dip into $250-$300. All of that puts me up to about $2000, which is the budget that I have set for myself for this trip. As for the other girls, they will also work, save up, and probably sell this trip as the "Ultimate Graduation Gift" - aka beg the parents for a little cash.



Here's the cost breakdown that I have estimated:

1. The trip will cover about 4,135 miles of traveling from place to place, plus at least 30 miles of traveling within the cities. The cost of gas for 4, 165 miles should be about $480, divided among the 5 of us that will be on the trip, that should come out to about $100 per person.

2. Other traveling expenses: taxi rides, trains, shuttles, etc. in the various towns: $100 per person.

3. Food - this is a big one. We will each spend $30 at the outset of the trip on snacks to pack into the car: fairly nonperishable things like cereal bars, cereal, chips, apples, bread, crackers, peanut butter, jerky, cookies, candy, etc. so that we can eat at least one meal per day, as well as snacks, in the car, for fairly cheap. Then there will be eating out in the evenings at the different places that we stop, and sometimes for lunch. The first 2 days of our trip, we will not have to spend money on food thanks to our awesome families. After that, we will eat out about 15 times (not including in Las Vegas, which I will talk about later). We don't want to spend $20 each a nice meal out every night, (although we will go to some nice restaurants) but we don't want Jack In the Box either. And, we will all be 21, so we are definitely going to want some drinks. My budget for eating out (not including Las Vegas) is $300. So overall, with snacks and restaurant food - $430.

4. Hotels - These are actually pretty expensive. Between our stays in Taos, Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City, Santa Barbara, and White Sands, the hotels will cost about $1,5oo total. This comes out to about $300 per person. We will stay for free in Amarillo, Albuquerque, and Phoenix, which helps a lot!

5. Fun activities - White water rafting, entry into various parks and museums, and anything else fun we can find to do in the various cities - $500.

6. Las Vegas - The details of this will be explained in a later post: $670.

7. Souvineers and impulse buys - $200

All of these totals come out to about $2,300. The other girls may set different food and Vegas budgets, but we will probably all spend about that much.

Adios, Austin!

Me, Stacy, Alley, Katie, and Jewelle have all lived in Austin for the past four years, and now we will be leaving to go to different parts of the United States for graduate school, medical school, and to work. So, we will be starting and ending our road trip in Austin, as a tribute to the place where we met and have grown to be such close friends. I will definitely miss walking around campus and seeing the tower against a bright blue sky. The tower represents what we are leaving behind on this journey - campus, classes, work, and college life in general.

Proposal: We're Following the Sunset - To the West!

For me, a road trip is about leaving my ordinary environment behind, sharing a journey with companions, and having experiences that will leave me with memories and knowledge that I can reflect on once I return to my normal life. A road trip should be rejuvenating, and leave me feeling inspired and refreshed to take on the tasks and responsibilities that wait for me when I return. Ever since I traveled to Argentina this summer, I can’t quench my thirst for experiencing new places, whether I travel to Dublin, Ireland or a new hiking trail twenty minutes away, I always have the urge to get out and explore the world around me. Since a road trip provides the freedom to get out of my routine and responsibilities and try on a different role in life – that of a traveler and tourist rather than a student and employee, I have chosen a road trip that will allow me to explore places that are both familiar and brand new to me in the United States.
Next year, I will be on the brink of plunging into a career path that will require all of my time, dedication, and brainpower as I head to medical school. However, the road trip that I take next May, right after graduation, will allow me to leave the routine that I have become used to for four years and create some lasting memories with friends that I will be moving away from. The important thing to understand about our trip is that this road trip is not all about the destination. It is defined by all of the stops along the way, including the destination. We are not going to get somewhere, we are going just to go. Our plan is to leave from Rockport, Texas and travel up through the Texas Panhandle, into New Mexico, up into Colorado, across into Utah, down into Nevada, and finally to the coast of California. After we reach the coast, we will head back towards Texas by going through the lower part of Arizona, then New Mexico, and then back through West Texas to Austin, our common home.
I will be traveling with four other girls: Katie, Stacy, and Alley, who are my roommates, and Jewelle, who is our honorary roommate. This may seem like a lot of people to travel with, and it is. However, this way, we can split the gas and driving time five ways, and there will definitely never be a dull moment. We will be driving in my Mom’s Chevy Equinox because we need more space than a small car could provide. I will bring about six days worth of clothes – tshirts and shorts, jeans and nice shirts, dresses, etc. - tennis shoes for outdoor excursions, flip flops for everyday wear, and dress shoes for our downtown adventures, especially in Las Vegas. I will bring a swimsuit and towels, basic toiletry items, my cell phone and charger, camera and batteries, Stacy’s GPS (this is essential), cash and credit cards, and snacks for lunches in the car – crackers, peanut butter, cookies, fruit, cereal bars, Chexmix, water and Gatorades. Avery important part of our traveling will be our music. We will each make a CD with twenty songs on it – songs that we find fun, inspiring, beautiful, or purely entertaining. So, we will have 100 songs to listen to on the road.
We are covering a lot of distance on this trip, and so it will take us about 15-16 days to complete, but we are flexible. If we need to stop and rest for a day or two, 17-18 days is fine. For the first few days, we will be making stops along all of our hometowns, to visit with each others families and to take advantage of free food and beds. From Rockport (Alley’s hometown) we will travel to La Grange (me and Katie’s hometown), and then through Austin (just to drive by the tower one more time), and stay in Abilene for the night (where my grandparents live). The next day we will spend the night in Amarillo, where Stacy grew up, and then travel to Albequerque, New Mexico, where Jewelle’s family lives. On the fourth day, we leave all family behind and head up to Taos, New Mexico for white-water rafting. On the fifth day, we will make it just to the border of Colorado and Utah. On days 6 – 9 we will make our way from Salt Lake City Utah to Las Vegas, Nevada, and finally to a beach on the California coast, where we will spend two nights and a day. The last four days will be us driving back from California along the more southern roads of Arizona and New Mexico, stopping at intriguing, beautiful, and interesting spots along the way.
Between gas, hotel rooms, food, and other entertainment expenses, this trip is not going to be cheap. In fact, it will be very expensive. I expect the trip to cost about $2,000 per person, and that is if we eat most of our breakfasts and many of our lunches from snacks that we pack ourselves. We will stay in nice, but cheap hotels from Colorado to California, and on the way back, and stay with our families for the first three days of the trip.
On of our stops will be in Taos, New Mexico – Taos has beauty, history, culture, and most importantly, excitement. Since we are 20 something college students, we have some energy to burn. What better way to find an adventure then to plunge into a rushing river in a raft with paddles, helments, and a hot river guide? Also, if we are ever able to take our eyes off of the rapids in front of us, the view around us will be stunning: towering cliff walls rising on either side of us will have us enclosed in the famous “box” canyon. Taos also has pueblos that we will explore, as well as delicious authentic New Mexico food and quaint hotels.
Another stop that will be very memorable will be in Las Vegas, Nevada. I have always wanted to go to Las Vegas, and since this trip is all about having fun and going a little bit crazy before we start a regular routine of toiling to create futures for ourselves, Las Vegas seems like the perfect place to go wild one last time. We will eat at a nice restaurant, see a show, and hit the Casinos for a night. I know this isn’t much time in Las Vegas, but, after all, we have other places that we want to see on this trip.
This journey will represent my definition of a road trip, because it will be a chance to experience different and fun places with friends. I know that we will never forget some of the places, people, and crazy events that will take place during our trip. Throughout our trip, we will learn new things about the places that we go, and our trip will leave us satisfied that we have lived a great adventure, and are now ready to invest our time and energy into building our careers and our new lives, with a joyfulness and new perspective gained on the road.