Road trippin’

Some of the most classic movies are about road trips.

We made our own movie recently with a road trip of immense proportions – 6,192 kilometres, which, for my American readers, is 3,847 miles.

That was 18 days in total, and 12 days in the car.

And what a trip. From Midwest Canada to the west coast, and along the coast of the United States, then into Mexico and through the Baja Peninsula to the lowest tip at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

My ass was sore at the end, and I was sick of restaurant food and hotel rooms, but the drive and the scenery were worth it.

The car stunk, but we found out when we cleaned it that an apple had rolled under a seat and rotted there. Oops.

The dust accumulated on the outside was from three provinces, three states, and four days of Mexican adventure – desert, mountains, ocean side and farmland.

If you want to see the countryside, this is how to do it. We went though farmland and beautiful mountain ranges in Canada, traversing the Rocky Mountains, driving along the lakes near Kelowna, and into the pretty city of Vancouver.

In the US, we quickly got off the Interstate highways so we could truly see the scenery. The interstates are fast, but we didn’t want to see cement. This was a vacation as well as getting to a destination.

The ocean highway along the Washington, Oregon and California coasts was a sight to behold. We stopped at lots of turnoffs to look at the rock formations and beaches. We had a picnic in the mighty Redwood Forest. In one day, we went from the Redwoods through the Sonoma wine valleys and across the Golden Gate bridge into San Francisco.

We learned to pack food so we could picnic instead of stopping in restaurants. We took a break by walking on the beach in beautiful Oceanside, California. We decided to spend an extra day in San Diego. And we split our Mexican trip into an extra day so we could have short days and enjoy our drive.

Most of all, we were flexible with our trip, so that we could enjoy it. And that’s exactly what we did.