I’ve been everywhere man

I just got back in from my cross-country road trip and I have to say it was AWESOME!  My mom and I had a great time driving and seeing all of the different states…and the people that come with it.  What an amazing experience.  I have not started to download any of the pictures off of my “real” camera, but wanted to share a few snapshots I took on my phone.

Really quickly our trip went like this:  San Diego – Vegas – Grand Canyon – Albuquerque – Amarillo – Hot Springs – Nashville – Home!

We spent a LOT of time in the car, but who is going to complain when you have a view like this?

So we flew into San Deigo and literally stayed one hour – just long enough for lunch before we headed out to VeGaS!

In Vegas we stayed at New York, New York – I was skeptical, but would highly recommend it to anyone.  We had a great room, with a great view.  About 10 minutes after arriving we heard what sounded like a train – NOPE it was the caravan of NASCAR trucks coming to town.  Hilarious!  People were lined up along the strip to see it!  Then we walked down the strip to go see The Beatles LOVE – Cirque Du Soleil.  Although at this point we had been up 23 hours, it was one of the best shows I have seen!

Next we were headed to the Grand Canyon, but not before we stopped over to see the new bridge at the Hoover Dam.  I had been following how it was built and it was so great to finally see it!

We arrived at the GRAND CANYON just in time for the sunset.  Ok, some people say they are not impressed by this big hole in the ground… well, those people are crazy.  Did you know the GC is 271 miles wide, at least 2o miles across and a mile down??? It was amazing.  I loved it.  It took my breath away and we only got to see just a small portion.  I want to go back, hike down in and really spend some time there.  We stayed just off the South Rim and had breakfast at El Tovar over looking the canyon.  Again… just amazing!

The next morning we got up and headed to Albuquerque, NM.  I am impressed with myself for being able to spell Albuquerque!  We stayed near Old Town which is this GREAT little area for art, jewelry, and New Mexican food!  YUMMM  Everywhere you look is beautiful.  I especially liked the teal and red combos!!

While in Old Town I met this amazing artist, Fermin Hernandez.  I WANTED one of his original prints, but for now, the copy will have to do  You can see his work online.

As we were heading out of town, we rode the “Worlds Largest Tram Ride” at Sandia Peak.  It lasted 15 minutes and at one point they said, look down you are 1,000 feet up in the air – or roughy the height of the empire state building.. WHAT?  Again, breathtaking!

Next up was Amarillo – but you can’t get to Amarillo without stopping in at Cadillac Ranch.  What a cool place!  Mom and I may or may not have found some spray cans that were laying around to add our touch on the cars!

Ok, so Texas knows how to advertise.  We had been told to eat at the Big Texan steakhouse – one of those cheesy overdone home of the 72 ounce steak deals…. and I am not kidding, we had road signs leading us there for about 4 hours!  It was crazy, it was just like we imagined and it it was delicious!

Early the next morning we drove over to see the Palo Duro Canyon – it was really pretty and you could drive down in the canyon which was really nice, but after the GRAND canyon – it wasn’t somewhere we spent too much time – plus we were almost out of gas and Flossy (my mom) doesn’t deal well with that 😉

Next up was Hot Springs.  We stayed at The Arlington which was built in 1925 and was BEAUTIFUL.  This town has tons of history and our amazing waiter told us all about it.  Unfortunately most of the pictures were taken on my real camera, but… here is a snap shot of where we had dinner, Belle Arti – amazing food with an amazing pianist.

After leaving Hot Springs, we stopped in Memphis for a quick lunch on Beale Street and a visit to the King… Elvis that is!

Beale Street was cool.  We ate BBQ outside and got to people watch – my FAV!  Here is a shot of the inside of our restaurant Rum Boogie Cafe – where their tagline is Eat. Drink. Boogie. Repeat – yes please!

Then we headed to GRACELAND — ahhh home of Elvis Presley – I love him.  I admit I was “All Shook Up” 🙂 ha!  Here is a picture of his pool room.  Yep, that is fabric on the walls and ceiling – he had interesting taste!

Almost home, the next stop was Nashville.  I love this town, I could live there.  Honky Tonks, Cowboys and boots – what else does a girl need?

I found some boots that I like to think were branded for Dry Ink…if only they were not $800, they would have come home with me!

I also stopped in at Hatch Show Print…. a trip to Nashville isn’t complete without going in there!  Below is a wall of some of the posters they have done….by hand.  Graphic Design at its best!  You can read here about when I got to hear Jim Sherraden speak!

After Nashville it was 6 more hours and we were home.  6 days of craziness with mom!  It was an amazing trip and I cant’ wait to really look through all of my pictures!  I had a wonderful time and can’t wait to do it all again – maybe next time we will take a little bit longer to enjoy the towns, right Flossy?