Cross-Country Road Trip
I recently had the wonderful opportunity to drive cross-country from upstate New York to the San Francisco bay area as I moved out west from Cornell. I was alone on the road for three weeks and went to 13 national parks, even sleeping in my car at Yellowstone.
A lot can be written about the diverse terrain of the USA and the mountainous state highways of Montana with 70+ mph speed limits, but the trip was also a great time to reflect and think about my priorities in life. I was incredibly lucky to be able to take the time out for such a trip, and would highly recommend it to everyone!
The map below shows the route I took and my stops, and each day is a different color. I generated the map by smoothing the raw GPS data collected using my phone.
Perhaps I’ll write in more detail about the trip at a later time, including some recommendations on good places to stay at each of the parks I went to:
- Badlands
- Wind Cave
- Glacier
- Yellowstone
- Grand Teton
- Arches
- Canyonlands
- Capitol Reef
- Bryce Canyon
- Zion
- Death Valley
- Sequoia
- Kings Canyon
In the meanwhile, here are some pictures of the wondrous diversity in terrain — from lush green meadows overlooking snow-clad peaks to rainbows in barren deserts with natural rock formations.
