USA Travel I MHD59 I Patricia Vasquez I

✪ Utah - I cannot stop remembering how much time I spent contemplating the Great Salt Lake. It made me remember when visiting the hyper saline Dead Sea in Israel. Just amazing

✪ Idaho - Mountainous landscapes, breathtaking views

✪ Montana - From Gardiner to Missoula then crossing again Idaho in the north, Montana Wilderness, the Glacier NP, is not to be missed

✪ Washington - Well know for the ”Needle” in Seattle, a drive through to Alaska (Seattle to Anchorage is 2,265 miles via the Alaska Highway, (Another trip to go)

✪ Oregon - The coast is just Astonishing, beautiful. Not to forget mentioning so many very friendly people, (Not like the Rudeness of Miami)

✪ California - Yes… The Golden Gate Bridge, the Island of Alcatraz, the Transamerica Pyramid, Chinatown and so much more

✪ California - Yosemite NP “El Capitan” Massive, Impressive, the granite monolith extend about 3,000ft. the Yosemite valley below is a beautiful place for camping. We enjoyed spending the night under the pines

✪ California - Felicity City (Center of the World) This is the most intriguing, beautiful place I’ve ever seen. The feeling is almost unbearable! May be the heat, the location, or the conceptual idea or philosophy and the enormous positive energy this place releases. Not to mention the church atop the hill (looks like you are being part of a movie!) May not be the most popular place to visit, however, IT SHOULD NOT TO BE MISSED!

✪ Nevada - Coming from Yuma (close to Felicity) and traveling across the California and Arizona border, to reach the Joshua Tree NP, (beautiful), then Las Vegas (spending the night) and then going to Lake Mead and finally the ‘monstrous’, impressive structure of Hoover Dam on the Colorado river, Arizona-Nevada border. Photo taken from the bypass bridge “Mike O’Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge (Nevada to Arizona by car). The walk on the bridge is extremely scary and goes only one way. You better not be scared of heights!

✪ Arizona - The Grand Canyon. Coming from the Hoover Dam, across Arizona to Flagstaff, and driving along the West and South rims of the Grand Canyon.

✪ Wyoming - Grand Teton NP (Exceptional) just before entering Yellowstone NP, the best of the best, look like the movie 98 “What Dreams May Come”, pictured, here the sweet Patricia. When going to Yellowstone Patricia at a rest stop and looking at the surroundings was surprised by a large male “bison” 5ft behind her. Luckily, no harm resulted from this or any other close encounter we had with medium and large size animals like deer, wolves, red foxes, snakes, longhorn cattle, elks and even a bear!

✪ Wyoming - Yellowstone, here the best friend of Patricia “the BISON”. Photo taken quickly with the ZTE Phone less than 20ft from the Bison

✪ Arizona - Not just another NP! The Petrified Forest in the Navajo and Apache counties. This place is UNIQUE, a colorful 230 square miles of extreme beauty. A 225 million years treasure that we do not want to avoid, from the historic Route 66 to the colorful “Painted Desert” and the wonderful wilderness. A must see…

✪ Arizona - Historic Route 66 (Will Rogers Highway) 1926-1985. From Chicago, IL, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Santa Monica, CA.

✪ New Mexico - An awesome state! From the special city of Santa Fe to the extremely beautiful Abiquiu, well known as “Georgia O’Keeffe country”, a paradise of color. To the extraordinary caverns of Carlsbad NP, a surreal piece of natural architecture. However, Breaking Bad’s Albuquerque was disappointing and quite dangerous. And Roswell, with its “Little Green Man” and the UFO cover-up at Area 51, which could have been exploited as a ‘mecca’ of SCI FI, has become boring and honestly, a big disappointment.

✪ New Mexico - Abiquiu or the “Georgia O’Keeffe country”. You must see it for yourself as words cannot describe it. A natural painting! The only place of comparable beauty -in my opinion- is the Grand Teton NP in Wyoming.

2016 Traveling in the USA

✪ New Mexico - Abiquiu, Georgia O’Keeffe at her Home in 1960

Traveling III
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Traveling in a Car, small SUV or RV? Part I

We made removable, darkening window treatments out of sun-blocking sheet, installed a large Garmin GPS, as well as front and back metal protection elements and a dashboard video camera (to record the entire trip).

After traveling over two months all over the U.S. and adding close to 12,000 miles to the car, mostly on rural and state roads (avoiding freeways), I am lucky to say we never EVER had any issues with the car. All we did was change the oil every 3,000 miles and check the tires regularly. NO issues whatsoever. NO flat tires. Nothing. Yes, this is Honda’s high reliability, as one of the most recommended brands for used cars.

First, we needed a good car that would be able to move around easily both in the country and the city. An RV would have been a good choice, however, not to roam inside the cities. So, after considering several options including the FJ Cruiser, which has limited interior space, and getting an SUV or ‘soccer mom van’ like the Dodge Caravan or Toyota Odyssey (not our style), we decided to go with a HONDA ELEMENT. Spacious, gas-efficient, easy to clean, and conveniently customizable, the Honda Element is a sturdy car that rarely breaks (according to auto mechanic experts) garnering positive reviews. So we bought a used one in excellent shape, customized it by removing the back seats and built a platform finished with carpet for sleep and storage (towels, cooking utensils, food, supplies, etc.).