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Days 26 and 27: Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park...Then HOME!

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"Load the car and write the note. Grab your bag and grab your coat. Tell the ones that need to know - We are headed NORTH!" -I and Love and You by the Avett Brothers After Nashville, it was finally time to turn north and start heading home.  We had one more destination we wanted to hit to finish up our trip, and that was Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.  We drove from Nashville to Staunton, VA - over 500 miles and 7 hours - to be near the entrance to the park. The next morning, we had our last hotel breakfast of the trip (it's uncanny how similar each chain breakfast is!), and hit the road for our final national park of the trip and final day of sight seeing.  Just like when we passed through Oklahoma and Arkansas, we continued to enjoy our newfound appreciation for green.  After spending more than two weeks of this trip in desert areas and coastal areas, the lush green of the eastern states in summer was a welcome sight
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Days 24, 25, and 26 - Nashville!

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"You're as smooth as Tennessee whiskey You're as sweet as strawberry wine You're as warm as a glass of brandy And honey, I stay stoned on your love all the time." -Tennessee Whiskey by Chris Stapleton Nashville was amazing!  It's hard to believe neither of us had been there before - it seems so close to home now in comparison to many of our other stops.  It's hard to go wrong in a city full of good food and good music.  Having never been to Nashville before, we decided to stay at the Omni Nashville , because we had stayed at an Omni for the first time in Denver and really liked it.  The Omni Nashville was probably even nicer than the Denver one.  The lobby area was expansive and had a really nice restaurant for convenience.  The gym was well-equipped and had a beautiful view of the city.  The location was fantastic - just a block or so away from the heart of Broadway, where all the bars and music are at.  The only downside was th
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Days 21, 22, 23, and 24: The Miata Gets Its Kicks on Old Route 66

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“He’s my baby, and I’m his honey - I’m never gonna let him go.”  "In Spite of Ourselves" by John Prine and Iris DeMent How silly and cute is that song, In Spite of Ourselves?  Didn't even know it was from a movie until looking for a YouTube version to post here.  We definitely did listen to "Life is a Highway" by Rascal Flatts at least once on Route 66, but the song above better represents what was on our playlist and catches the mood of our silly, carefree return trip home.   We needed to head north to catch Old Route 66 in New Mexico for the return trip home.  We had decided to pick up Old Route 66 in Albuquerque, so we had 450 miles to cover and well over 6 hours of driving not counting stops.  So, Day 21 was mostly an on the road day.  The one thing we had heard about New Mexico was how great the Mexican food was.  We were STARVING when we got into Albuquerque.  Unfortunately, the restaurant we picked was suuuuuuper sloooo
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Day 19 - 21 - Turning Around and Heading "East Bound!" via Palm Springs and Tuscon

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"We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there. I'm east bound - just watch Ole' Bandit run!" After Santa Monica, we decided it was time to turn back east.  We wanted to keep our trip to four weeks or less, which left us a little over a week to get home.  This part of the trip was much less planned than the first half.  We knew we wanted to get to Tucson to visit Joe and Amber, but we didn't have a plan on how we wanted to get there or how we wanted to get home from there.  For now, we decided Palm Springs seemed like a worthwhile half-way point, and we weren't disappointed!  Palm Springs was much quieter than Santa Monica, felt much safer, the accommodations were MUCH nicer, and to be honest...we had both been waiting for our chance to sing "East Bound and Down!" from Smokey and the Bandit.  We had to keep skipping it on our playlist until now!  We decided to walk to dinner despite the extreme heat.
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Days 17 and 18: Palm Trees in Santa Monica

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"I just want to see some palm trees. I will try to shake away this disease." -"Santa Monica" by Everclear When we left Morrow Bay, we had a little more inland driving than coastal driving to get us to Santa Monica.  We passed through a lot of farm land - the kind of farm land you picture when you read The Grapes of Wrath  or Esperanza Rising  or anything that has to do with California's role during the Dust Bowl.  Strawberries were in season when we were passing through, and the scent of ripe strawberries in the air was absolutely tantalizing as we were driving along with the convertible top down.  As soon as we found a roadside stand, we had to buy some.  While we might have turned our noses up at California strawberries at a market in Pennsylvania, California strawberries straight out of the fields of California in the middle of July were just amazing.  We ate the whole big box in 24 hours!  What a nice, healthy treat to take to our hotel
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Days 15 and 16: A Home By the Ocean (Cruising PCH)

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"I wanna build a home by the ocean Underneath the sky, gonna leave the door wide open So I can see everything, gonna build a home by the ocean Buried in the sand, gonna leave the door wide open so I can sing" - "The Architect" by O.A.R. On Saturday, July 7, we got back in our car after leaving it parked for two full days!  We drove to the other side of San Francisco to hop onto Pacific Coast Highway (PCH).  When we reached the Pacific Ocean on the opposite side of the city, we were treated to some spectacular views that would become everyday life for us for the next few days.  The photo above is at the Lands End Lookout Visitor Center at Point Lobos, which is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  This stop got us our first National Park stamp on our National Parks Passport for this trip!   We left San Francisco behind us by jumping directly onto Pacific Coast Highway.  The first stretch of our driving for the day had a lot o
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Days 13 and 14: Save Me San Francisco!

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"We took the highway to the one up the coast to catch some sun..." -"Save Me SanFrancisco by Train In our last post, you may remember that we finally made it to the Pacific Ocean on July 5!  We made a short stop in a Pac Coast beach town called Stinson Beach.  It was such a cute town!  And the views were amazing!  After enjoying the best fish tacos we've ever had on the beach, it was time to hit the road for San Fran, and this was the view we were treated to as soon as we started to leave town.  The beach behind the car is Stinson Beach, where we had just come from.   That view was just the beginning of the beautiful sights we would be seeing on Pacific Coast Highway!  We began our PCH journey right there on the road leaving Stinson Beach.  If only this area was just ten degrees warmer!  The water is so beautiful and inviting, but it's a little chilly for our preferred swimming temperature!  It was only in the upper 60s or low 70s
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