NW Trip '12 - Day 16

6/17/12 - Day 16: Well, there's not much to this day, but for good measure and for closure, I thought I'd add an entry. We decided to sleep in a little since we were up late the night before enjoying all that Vegas had to offer (not really, just blisters on our feet). We grabbed Starbucks in the hotel on the way out and began the 9+ hour journey back to Albuquerque. The good thing about the trip from Vegas to ABQ is that the roads are straight/flat for the most part. The bad thing is that it takes NINE HOURS!! 

We broke up the trip by stopping in Flagstaff for lunch at the Cracker Barrel. We also got a chance to talk to our respective fathers since it was Father's Day!! After some brief conversations and bellies full of food, we finished the rest of our drive to ABQ. We arrived into town around 8:30 and hit Taco Cabana for some quick tacos before we went to pick up our sweet puppy from her dog-sitter's house. She was excited to see us, which was surprising; I didn't think she'd remember us after 2 weeks! 

We arrived back at our apartment around 9:30, unloaded what we could, and passed out. 

1 year of planning, 2 weeks of traveling, 7 cities and 8 national parks visited, 5300 miles driven, and we made it. We made it. We saw every state in the western/northwestern United States (with the exception of Alaska) and visited another country. We drove flat, windy, gravel, dirt, foggy, and rainy roads. We drove 10 + hours some days and 2 hours other days. We drove on cliffs 10k feet up and we drove through creeks along coastlines. We saw deer, elk, moose, bison, bear, bird, and mosquito. We went from desert to lakes to forests to plains to mountains to beach. We were happy and healthy some days and we were sick and grumpy other days. We made it. Would we do it exactly like this again? No, we wouldn't. But do we regret it? No, we don't. What an incredible experience. It's one we will tell our kids and grandkids about. We'll remember it forever!