Alright, the itinerary has been finalized.
We started out all “let’s go to New Orleans! Let’s go to Montana! Let’s see EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD!” And then plugged all our dream destinations into a road trip planner and realized that those little “detours” that are only an inch or so long on the map amount to eight hundred extra hours in a car with two small children. And our kids are good in cars, but no kids are eight hundred hours of good in cars.
Fair enough: straight across America it is. We hit most of our must-sees that way anyway.
So here’s the plan:
1. Williamsburg, Virginia (to see Kendrick’s sister and her family).
2. Asheville, North Carolina, because it’s in between Williamsburg and Nashville, and I hear it’s a cool place.
3. Nashville, Tennessee (to see my friend Nesrin and her family).
4. Memphis (Graceland!).
5. HOT SPRINGS. Hot spriiiiings. I have ALWAYS wanted to go to a hot spring, and the Arkansas National Park is right there on in our path. We’re staying at a place called The Springs that apparently has a spa offering treatments right in the spot where the 147-degree therapeutic water comes out of the earth. Cool, so I’m going to just move in there for the duration of our stay.
6. Tentatively Oklahoma City, but this is just a stop-for-the-night-wherever situation, so we’re flexible.
7. Amarillo, Texas. The land of bad souvenirs and the Big Texan Steakhouse.
8. Santa Fe, New Mexico. One of my favorite places on the planet. We’re spending two nights here so we can take a day trip to…
9. Taos. It’s just spectacularly beautiful, and I want Kendrick to see it.
10. On the way down to Tucson, we’re thinking it might be a good idea to stop for the night at the Wigwam Motel 6. No?
11. Our longest stop will be three nights at the White Stallion Ranch in Tucson, Arizona. Like everyone who has ever seen the movie City Slickers, one of my lifelong dreams is to visit a dude ranch, and I can. not. wait.
12. Kendrick’s never been to Joshua Tree, so we found a ridiculously cool Air BnB in the desert.
13. Finally, we’re spending a night in Los Angeles to see Francesca and pick up Lucy (who’s staying with her while we drive across; Virgil’s staying with Morgan in SF) before making the drive up the coast to our new home.
Obviously I would love all of the suggestions in the world.
