California to Florida Road Trip

Can I just start by saying that if you EVER have the opportunity to road trip across the country, whether its to sight-see, or just to get from point A to point B…DO IT.

Everyone always raves about traveling out of the country, over to Europe, Thailand, Japan, etc. But our OWN country has SO much beauty and so much life that is overlooked.

Day 1 : LA + Laguna Beach

I flew out super early a couple of Saturday’s ago to Los Angeles, California. And when I say super early, I mean wake up at 3:30am to be on my way to the airport at 4:30am. I got to LA around 10ish pacific time. I was SOOOOO excited to see my best friend that I had not seen in 94 days (she counted while she waited for my flight to land). She made me such a cute sign and then we were on our way to start exploring!

First on our list was the Hollywood sign. We didn’t just want to see it, we wanted to do the hike up to it. But after 30-45 minutes, we decided to turn around (along with many others who were around us). If you attempt to do this, go early in the morning and not mid afternoon like we did lol (SO HOT). We ended up finding a cute park that had a great view of it. On our way back to where she has been living all summer (Laguna Niguel) we stopped to get In-N-Out Burger. Definitely, 100% worth all the hype it gets! SO GOOD.

We got back to her house and got ready to go see “sunset” and walk around Laguna Beach that evening. The cliffs on the beaches are SO gorgeous. We spent some time there and then went to get dinner that evening.

I really surprised my self because besides the 1.5 hours on the plane, I DID NOT NAP AT ALL. I was so exhausted, and I am normally one that falls asleep even when I am not tired in the car!

Day 2 : San Diego

Niki and I woke up at the crack of dawn because she’s such a great friend and supports my creative needs. I love doing sessions in places I travel too, so Laguna Beach was no different. Thanks Shelby for meeting me super early!!! We got a delicious breakfast with the best orange juice I have ever had. We got ready for the day and headed out to San Diego!
The altitude and dryness is something I am so not used to, so the ride down there I was not happy (total Floridian).
We went to Belmont Park, rode the roller coaster, won some carnival games, ate chili cheese fries and the biggest ice cream cone I have EVER had!

Day 3 : California – Arizona – New Mexico

Day three was the start of the actual road trip! We left around 5:30 in the morning! This was probably our longest travel day (approx. 16 hours). Our first stop (besides chick fil a, hehe) was Kingman, AZ. We knew we wanted to drive on the historic route 66 for a bit and this was the first town we came too after we got off the main interstate. It was so cute, and we saw some tumbleweed. We got the best milkshakes at the cutest old diner and I mailed my momma a post card from here! We continued down Route 66 about 3 hours to get to Seligman where they have the route 66 shields on the actual road. It took about 15-20 minutes to be able to find it, only to see that we drove right on it and completely missed it. When we first drive up to it, we were really disappointed until we got out of the car and actually stood next to it!
Yes, we totally stood in the middle of the highway for pictures (and burnt my legs on the hot gravel lol).
After this we were on our way to our next planned stop which was Sedona, AZ. The drive down to Sedona was so gorgeous with windy, mountain roads and a gorgeous overlook that we almost missed, and I insisted we turn around and go back to (sorry niki for being a brat, but it was worth it lol).
We got to Sedona and did a little hike, where Niki almost took us both out when she made a SLIGHT fall 😉 (sorry girlfriend, I had to add it in there).
We ate at Cracker Barrel and continued for 4-ish hours to Albuquerque for our first night hotel!
I still could not tell you what Albuquerque looks like, we arrived in the pitch black (11:30pm) and left around 5am. New Mexico is one of the only state signs we missed because it was too dark!

 

Day 4 : New Mexico – Texas

Although the first day of driving was the actual longest, this day felt even longer. We only had one short stop planned and we got super hungry but only wanted Chick Fil A, so we waited 2 hours until we got to the next one.
We stopped at Cadillac Ranch, and it must have rained prior because it was SO incredibly muddy – but still really cool!
Finally around 4pm we made it to our hotel in Dallas!
We spent the evening looking at the awesome murals Dallas has, and met up with my friend Laylee who took us to one of the best pizza places I have ever been too!
The highlight of Dallas would have to be seeing the cutest Mini Golden Doodle and the sweet owner let me hold pup’s leash while she went and got her starbucks order. HAPPY GIRL.

Day 5 : Arkansas – Tennessee – Mississippi – Alabama

This day was full of road rage because it seemed like every person driving should have had their license revoked.
We drove through gloomy and rainy Arkansas to our mid-day stop at Memphis, TN. Trying to get the state signs this day was VERY interesting. We didn’t stop at the one entering AR because of the rain, and the TN one was filled with honking, so that was fun. The AR one near memphis was in the middle of an awesome bridge! We walked in Memphis for about 2 hours and I of course sang the song almost the whole time (surprisingly Niki wasn’t even annoyed with me yet). after our mid-day stop we continued to Huntsville, Alabama where Niki’s dad lives and where we were staying that night! He lives on base there, and it was one of the most beautiful bases I have seen! We ate dinner at a good restaurant downtown, where they all laughed because I was using a fork to pull chicken off a chicken wing. I don’t really prefer chicken on a bone, I rather boneless LOL. Huntsville is such a cute town, and where it is placed in the foothills is just gorgeous. It was definitely nice to be staying in a place other than a hotel.

Day 6 : Alabama – Georgia – North Carolina – South Carolina
Day 7 : South Carolina

Day 6 was the day we were finally on our way to our best friend! If you follow me on social media, or read my blog a few weeks ago, you know my best friend just moved to Columbia, SC for grad school. So our road trip was planned to go to SC before coming home to see her new apartment and such. Niki also had not seen Carson in 99 days!!!!
We opted to take the “scenic” route that added on an extra hour to avoid going through Atlanta, and it was so gorgeous. I have been through the Smokey Mountains so many times, but it never gets old! Being back with Car for a few days, all together was so nice!!!!

Day 8 : South Carolina – Georgia – Florida

This 7.5 hours home was brutal. I have done this same drive (but from Charleston) multiple times but this time just DRAGGED. We were slightly delicious and so ready to be back home!

 

Multiple people called me crazy, or nuts or asked me why in the world would I ever WANT to drive cross country.
I have to say, I was a bit nervous I was going to be miserable come half way, but it was more wonderful than I could have ever imagined.
Road trips are not about the destination, but about all the things that happen in between. I couldn’t even begin to tell you how many times we were laughing uncontrollably or seeing such amazing places/things.

Niki, thanks so much for loving me and not getting sick of me!