My Dad was a road warrior. He LOVED car trips. He’d pack our Chevy Impala like a jigsaw puzzle, complete with a camping grill, a huge cooler, lots of non-perishables, 6 suitcases, and a bench that he built to fit into the back seat, thereby creating a station wagon-like effect. He’d pile us all into the car and take off for that summer’s vacation.

We drove to Florida several times to visit our aunts, uncles, and cousins. We toured Boston on our way to New Hampshire and Maine. Niagara Falls, Quebec, Toronto, Allegheny PA, Washington DC, Saratoga & Ticonderoga… plenty of forts, because my Dad was a history buff and wanted to share our country’s history with his 4 daughters. We stuck with the east coast for the most part until someone in the family discovered that we had Spanish Basque cousins in Idaho, and off we went to meet the rest of an already-huge family.

As a result of these road trips and subsequent work-related travel during my 30 years at AT&T, I’ve been to 48 states. The last 2 are New Mexico and Alaska. Mike and I will be checking those 2 off the list this summer. We’ve shared our plans with our friends, and they have asked us to share our experiences, recommendations, and pictures. Since this is a blog about health, fitness, and soup (which I’ll expand to include food in general), I’ll use this to as a vehicle to share our adventures with our family and friends.

The first leg of our trip will be from Manhattan Beach to Sedona. Mike’s plan is to hike, hike, hike. Mine is to do some kind of guided tour to get acclimated when we arrive on Tuesday afternoon, maybe see the sunset, do some hiking the next day, and get massages. This trip should be interesting, since I’m a “journey” person, and Mike is a “destination” guy.

Stay tuned! Here’s our itinerary:

Passing through Palm Springs and south of Joshua Tree National Park (might have to take a detour at Joshua Tree), en route: