Road Trip

The Great Nothing Mundane Road Trip

The Trip: Starting in July 2015, we (Heather and Jake, an architect and a lawyer), decided to live out our dream of an epic road trip in an RV across the United States. Starting from New York City, we traveled around the Northeast and up to Maine, then down along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, where we stopped for a wedding in San Antonio and some RV renovations in El Paso. After that, we hit as much of the West as we possibly could, traveling up the Pacific coast, down through Utah, up to Wyoming and Montana, and back across the country through the Dakotas and the Upper Midwest. We circled back to New York, then decided to move to Colorado.

Oh, and in the middle of all that, we drove from Phoenix to Boston and back again.

Whew! It was quite a year and a half, and now we’re settled down in Denver making sense of it all (and editing lots of photos!). Check out our travel map below to learn about each place, or scroll down for some further highlights.

Our Travel Map

Green markers are state and national parks, while yellow car markers are from our roadtrip-within-a-roadtrip to the Northeast for the 2015 holidays. You can click on any of the markers on the map for more information and a link to any blog posts or galleries.

Trip Highlights

In 13 months, we visited 46 states,* 40 major cities, 28 national parks, and an amazing number of state parks and national monuments. All told, we stayed in well over 100 different locations, and just about every place we went had something amazing to see. But since you asked (probably), here’s some of the highlights from our trip.

* Sorry, Iowa, Delaware, Hawaii, and Alaska!

Notable National Parks

Choosing only 11 for this list was like having to pick your favorite child while all of them are listening.



			
			
			
				 				 
				
					

					1. GLACIER NATIONAL PARK. The crown jewel of the national park system, we spent two mind-blowing weeks here with Jake's family.  Warning: may cause you to be unimpressed with everything else you ever see again. (Blog post: Part 1 & Part  2)


	
	

				
				
					
	

					2. YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK. Yes, it's crowded, but with staggering cliffs, endless waterfalls, and some of the only giant sequoias groves on Earth, few places can compare. (Blog post)


	
	

				
				
					
	

					3. GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK. You've probably heard of it, but it's so, so much better than you imagined. (Blog Post)


	
	

				
				
					
	

					4. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. The granddaddy of all national parks, it lives up to its billing with an incredible variety of things to see, including most of the world's geysers.  Just mind the tourists and the smell! (Blog post)


	
	

				
				
					
	

					5. DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK. An amazing place with far more to it than we ever imagined, including a waterfall!  We were lucky enough to catch a once-per-decade wildflower "superbloom" while we were there. (Blog post)


	
	

				
				
					
	

					6. GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK. It's basically paradise on Earth. (Blog post)


	
	

				
				
					
	

					7. REDWOOD STATE & NATIONAL PARKS. Very few things in this world can compare to a walk through the giants. (Mega-blog post)


	
	

				
				
					
	

					8. BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK. Incredibly cool and unique rock formations, plus a distinct lack of crowds, made Bryce Canyon one of our favorite parks on our trip. (Blog post)


	
	

				
				
					
	

					9. ACADIA NATIONAL PARK. A gem of a national park, all tucked away down there in Maine. (Blog post)


	
	

				
				
					
	

					10. ZION NATIONAL PARK. An incredible series of canyons with mind-blowing views. (Blog post)


	
	

				
				
					
	

					11. PETRIFIED FOREST & PAINTED DESERT NATIONAL PARK. Stunning desert views with fields of colorful petrified wood.  Seriously - it's just laying around everywhere. (Blog post)

Hidden Gems

Some beautiful natural spots you might not have heard of.

The perfect and beautiful Watkins Glen State Park
Scenic drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville, North Carolina
White sand beaches and bright blue water in Destin, Florida
The amazing Caverns of Sonora in West Texas
The Seussian Valley of Fire State Park near Las Vegas
The wild Oregon coastline, including Thor’s Well, a literal hole in the ocean
800+ year old abandoned tower ruins at Hovenweep National Monument
Otherworldly lava flows at Craters of the Moon National Monument in… Idaho??

Gloriously Offbeat

Some places we went that are too cool not to share.

Cool sculptures at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park and Storm King Art Park
The Fantastic Umbrella Factory in Rhode Island, which is fantastic but not an umbrella factory (discuss)
The tiny but charming town of Marfa, Texas
Sledding at White Sands National Monument
Roswell aliens and the world’s biggest wind chimes, chair, pencil, etc, all seen on our Inception Road Trip
“Elderly Burning Man” in Quartzsite, Arizona
Incredible salvaged art at East Jesus, California
Potato Chip Rock near San Diego, perfect for your social media selfies
The weird and wonderful melted hoodoos at Goblin Valley State Park in Utah

Unexpected Adventures

Sometimes things go exactly as planned. Sometimes not…

Hopeville Pond State Park in Connecticut is the elemental source of all mosquitoes
A tire fails in Maine, and Jake fails to notice
That time we got peer pressured into fixing our brakes at a sketchy industrial park in New Jersey at midnight
Jake narrowly avoids “littering” in Big Bend
The smell of the Salton Sea

Our House On Wheels

Living in an RV is both exciting and a little daunting. Because we moved into our RV from a small Manhattan apartment, the size didn’t bother us too much, but that doesn’t mean there was nothing to improve! We worked hard to upgrade the interior of our RV, a 2002 Itasca motorhome, since the day we bought it. In November 2015, we stayed with Jake’s mom for several weeks while we overhauled the interior: new floor, countertops, faucets, sinks, backsplash, slipcovers, and more! It all turned out, and if you’re interested, you can check out our post about our renovations for some before and after shots.

After we returned to civilization, we sadly said farewell to the RV in April 2017.

As you can see in one of the above images, we pulled a Honda Fit behind our motorhome. It’s perfect for getting around town – no more packing up our lives because we need to go to the grocery stores – and it was game for everything we threw at it. “Mr. F” has been to some beautiful places and driven on some ridiculous roads – see our Big Bend post for an example!

Follow Along

We’ve been everywhere, man, and although we’re settled down, we’re still blogging and posting photos of our trip, so be sure to check in for all the latest news and updates. You can check out our blog, or see all of our travelogues in chronological order here. If you’d like more trip-related news, please bookmark this page or nothing-mundane.com/tag/roadtrip.

You can also follow along on Facebook (NothingMundane), Twitter (@NothingMundane) and Instagram (NothingMundane) to see even more cool pictures, posts, and Candy Crush requests!