There are only a handful of people on the planet that I could be crammed into a car with for five days. My friend Holly (who I've known since pre-school) is one of those people. So when she called me up and asked "Hey do you want to road trip up from San Luis Obispo with me after graduation?" I had to say yes.
Planning:
One of the most exciting parts of a road trip (for me anyways) is the planning. There's no sitting in a car until your butt goes numb, no breakdowns or crappy road food. It's endless possibilities of the fun that stands to be had.
We started with our route. Since we had no time limit, we decided to make some detours to hit Yosemite and Crater Lake National Parks on our way back up the west coast. Somewhere in between the two we'd have to spend the night, so we found a cute little cabin on Air BnB.
After the timeline, driving time and sleeping arrangements were made, we could focus on the small stuff. What activities are we doing on a day to day basis? Hiking? Riding? Beach Walking? Camping? Once we had the answers to those questions, then came the packing list (We used a google doc since she was in Cali and I was up in Oregon). After some last minutes adjustments, it was time to fly down.
Day 1 & 2 | San Luis Obispo
We spent the first couple days in San Luis Obispo as Holly showed me around her old stomping grounds. We hiked, hit the beach, ate great food, saw lots of baby cows and horses and had a great time catching up. But that was the easy part, the road tripping wouldn't start until day three.
Day 3 | SLO to Yosemite
We had made our reservations for Yosemite months in advance (and we got the last spot in the campsite, so make sure you book super early), which meant that we didn't have to rush to leave early in the morning. Holly said goodbye to her coworkers and friends, we packed up the car and headed out.
There always comes a point in a road trip where you think you're at least halfway to the destination, then you check the clock and realize you've only be driving for 45min. My advice is to crank the music, sit back and enjoy the scenery (if you're the co-pilot). Other co-pilot duties include: navigating, selecting music, fetching chapstick, food, drinks or whatever else the driver requires as well as checking incoming texts and providing entertainment.
After five hours of driving, around 3:00pm we arrived at Yosemite National Park. We paid the entrance fee ($35) and drove down to the valley. Coming through a tunnel to the viewpoint overlooking the entire valley may be one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. We snagged a lucky parking spot and got out of the car to enjoy the view.
Before us stretched El Capitan, Bridal Veil Fall, Half Dome and the Three Brothers. Huge granite monoliths ripping up through the ground. It was stunningly beautiful. I will admit, I hadn't researched much into Yosemite, and had no idea what to expect. But this park would be at the top of my list solely for this view alone, not to mention what stands to be discovered in the rest of the park.
Since we didn't have a lot of time to hike around, this view was the highlight of this stop. We also hiked the easy trail to the base of Bridal Veil Fall (getting absolutely soaked by mist in the process) and stopped by the store to pick up dinner and some stickers and magnets from our visit. Over the years I have always tried to commemorate a trip with a small token of some kind, typically either a magnet, post card or sticker. I should pick one and stick with it, but I usually end up with an amalgamation of the three. But I do recommend finding one or two things that you keep as souvenirs of your travels. I especially like stickers and magnets because they can be displayed on a water bottle or refrigerator.
After our shopping spree, we drove back to our camping space at Hodgdon Meadow, ate our dinner and zipped up the tent for the night.
Day 4 | Yosemite to Montague, CA
Day 4 was by far our longest day of driving, so not much exciting happened except for great conversations, jamming to music and the various pit stops to fuel Holly's Starbucks addiction (and fill up the gas tank). That being said, it did lead to one of the highlights of the trip: The Juniper Rose, our Air BnB.
When Holly and I were looking to book a place between Crater Lake and Yosemite, we used Air BnB to find places in the area around Redding. Our number one requirement: price. Both recently graduated college students, we were looking for anything around $75. With Air BnB it's also usually a good idea to go with a Superhost, or at least check out the reviews. This place, was $65 a night, had a Superhost, and a five star review with over 200 people. Plus it was a ridiculously adorable tiny house.
The cabin had an outdoor shower, out house, basic amenities and a bed that looked out over a wonderful view of Mount Shasta. Plus the interior was just as cute as the exterior. We never did meet our host Jennifer, but she left great recommendations for Thai food in the area, and we met her niece as she was feeding the horses. It was a great little pit stop for us, and I would highly recommend if you're every in Northern California.
Day 5 | Montague to Crater Lake to Portland (to Seattle)
At this point in the trip, both of us were still getting along great, but we were both getting kind of tired of being on the road. We wanted to get home. So we made the decision to turn what would have originally been a night at Crater Lake into a brief detour and pit stop at Crater Lake before heading on up to Portland. We were both a little worried that the detour wouldn't be worth it, and almost ended up going straight up to Portland, but in the end both of us were really glad we took the path we did.
Our decision not to camp at Crater Lake was also reconfirmed when we opened the window to pay for the park pass ($25) and six HUGE mosquitoes flew into the car in under a minute. What ensued was trying to remain calm while Holly paid and I killed as many of the suckers as I could reach. Alive and unbitten, we started the drive up the crater. Snowbanks were piled up almost as high as each of us in the lee of the mountain, yet another reason we wouldn't have been prepared to camp. (Crater Lake gets around 44ft of snow annually, making it one of the snowiest inhabited places in North America)
We arrived at the top around 9am. Dogs aren't allowed anywhere other than on paved paths, so that took out most of the hiking aside from the 1/4 mile walk along the promenade at Rim Village. Which was perfect because that was all we needed. We were able to take in the majesty of the ninth deepest lake in the world, stretch our legs for a bit and enjoy the sunshine before hitting, you guessed it, the gift shop and getting back on the road.
I am definitely glad that we stopped here because the beauty of the lake was stunning. The water is an incredible, almost unbelievable shade of blue both because of the depth and the fact that the lake is fed only by rain and snowfall. And, since I attended college in Oregon for four years, I had always wanted to see Crater Lake to check off one more of the Seven Wonders of Oregon.
After our wonderful pit stop it was time to churn on up to Portland where Holly would drop me off and then continue the last leg of the journey by herself up to Seattle. The road trip was a complete success. After four difficult years of grinding through college, our trip together was a wonderful way to conclude that chapter of our lives and transition into the next. I'm glad Holly and I didn't kill each other (not that I was particularly worried) but I'm especially grateful that we were able to have this time to learn even more about one another and grow closer together as friends.
Who would you road trip with? Is it time to reach out and give them a call? Sometimes it just takes one "you wanna go on a road trip?" to spark an adventure.
I'm not crying after reading this at all. I love and miss you beautiful human. Can't wait to do this again!!