We made it. The idea for this entire trip was born earlier this calendar year when we decided it was time to migrate back east to be closer to family… and we’re here!
After a less than thrilling Mount Rushmore experience with the ½ mile trail being closed due to recent snowfall and loads of construction, it was time for our journey of just Josh and I to come to an end and spend time with some friends and family on our final stretch to Tennessee.
We made it to Memphis for Thanksgiving with the Rishers, are now in Nashville for a bit, and we’ll end the year with a bit more running around. Virginia for Christmas with the Brandts, PA between Christmas and NYE for the annual Brandt Hershey Chocolate Factory extravaganza, then a quick jaunt to Boston for NYE with a dear friend before eventually making our way back to Nashville to set some roots… and maybe find jobs… we’ll see ha!
We want to end our blog (for now) with an overview of what we saw and say our thank yous.
Our journey began in late August in San Diego. From there we traveled north for a few days parked just outside of LA as our first stop to get our feet wet into travel trailer life. Our first big stop was Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Parks broken into two separate RV parks where we saw our first bear and my first experience with the massive Sequoia and Redwood Trees.
Following Sequoia and King’s Canyon, we had a weekend in Fresno, CA on our way to Big Sur for some stunning coastline views and the Monterey Aquarium. After Big Sur we got to reconnect with some great friends in San Francisco, then flew to/from Ohio for an epic wedding, before disappearing into Yosemite. Yosemite was amazing (hello half dome) and our time seemed too short even though we were there for almost a week.
Following Yosemite, we drove north and had a day in Lake Tahoe, a day in Crater Lake (that place was STUNNING), headed west to Bend for a weekend, then ended up on the coast one last time in Seaside, OR.
After Oregon, we kept going north into Washington and stayed at the base of Mount Rainier without ever even seeing the mountain due to weather. We kept going even further north and stayed just outside Everett, WA for that mailbox hike of death (remember that post?) before heading east.
On our way to Yellowstone we stopped in Spokane, WA to break up the drive a bit, and then Yellowstone froze us out pretty quickly, but we still got to see our fair share of Elk and Bison.
After Yellowstone we started our journey south through Salt Lake City and reached Zion and Bryce Canyon for over a week of exploring including hiking the Narrows and Angels Landing, a MUST DO for all.
We left Utah heading east and had some fun snowboarding just outside of Denver and made a dip down to Colorado springs for Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, and the biggest staircase EVER before heading north again.
We made the haul to Rapid City, South Dakota in one day from Colorado Springs for the Mount Rushmore viewing before it was time to start making moves toward Memphis for Thanksgiving. We went east out of Rapid City for the most boring drive of all time to get to Minneapolis for a weekend with friends before heading south for a night in Iowa to see another dear friend before pulling into Memphis late Tuesday night before Thanksgiving in the pouring rain as our adventure had reached its final stop.
A huge thank you goes out to our San Diego friends and colleagues for your support and suggestions on our travels of places to go and things to see. Thank you to our families for being as excited (and maybe a little nervous) about our adventure as we were and humoring our endless text messages of pictures of yet another hike ha!
Thank you to Peter, Roisin, and Frank for keeping us entertained in San Francisco. Thanks to Jeff and Lauren for hosting us for an amazing dinner when we were in northern California and letting us feed cookies to your horses. Thank you to Ramadan for telling us about that mailbox hike in WA (kind of, that was rough, and I still hate you a little). Thank you to Cameron and Brian for having us over for dinner in Salt Lake, and thanks to Megan, Kyle, and little Kinsley for spending an afternoon with us catching up in Denver. Thank you to Billy, Kelli, and Charlie for hosting us for an entire weekend in Minneapolis. Thank you to Tiffany and Nick for having us over for dinner in Iowa, and thank you to Alan, Michelle, and Wesley for hosting a great Thanksgiving dinner in your new home with Juanita parked safely in your driveway.
It’s time to put Juanita and this blog to rest for a while, but stay tuned, this is likely not the end of our story of getting lost and eating cake.
With Love
The Brandts.
Getting Lost and Eating Cake 
What an amazing journey for the two of you. We are so happy and grateful for your safe arrival. We love you both so much.
Dad
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