San Diego

In June, Chris and I made the drive (actually — he drove, I rode) from Newport, Rhode Island to San Diego, California.

3,262 miles.

From the northeast to the southwest.

Atlantic to Pacific.

It doesn’t get much more ‘cross-country’ than that.

But as adventure-seekers, Chris and I saw the many hours we’d spend in our SUV as an opportunity rather than a burden. After all, we’d get the chance to visit new places and see friends and family along the way.

Disclaimer: This may be a long post because, well… it was a REALLY long drive.

Day 1: Newport to New York — 185 miles, then New York JFK — London Gatwick

I know, I know… England isn’t exactly on the way to California.  In fact, it’s completely the opposite. Long story, short — we scored ridiculously inexpensive flights on Norwegian Air and decided to go for it.

Days 2-6: England

We visited our dear friends (Kevin & Sonya) who are living just outside London, in the village of Beaconsfield. I spent a semester in London during college, so experiencing a smaller community in the countryside was different than the hustle and bustle of the city, but oh-so-charming. We also spent some time seeing the sights in London and Oxford. I’ll be sure to write more about our trip across the pond in another post.

Day 7: London Gatwick — New York JFK, then New York, New York to Philadelphia Suburbs — 103 miles

Our flight back to the states didn’t land until late, but we decided it best to hop in the car and get away from NYC so we wouldn’t have to fight New York traffic the next morning. We made it past Philly to the suburbs before calling it a night.

Day 8: Pennsylvania to Lexington, Kentucky — 634 miles

This was a MONSTER of a drive, but we wanted to make it to Lexington.

Lexington is home to the Kentucky Wildcats, great bourbon and my amazing friend Leslie, and her family. Leslie was my roommate the semester I spent in Washington DC at Georgetown. We were fast friends and have stayed in touch ever since.

Day 9: Lexington, Kentucky to Louisville, Kentucky — 78 miles

As a pediatric resident with two kids, Leslie is crazy-busy so I was grateful we were able to time our visit for the ONE day she had off in the entire month of June. We spent the day catching up before heading an hour or so down the road to Louisville.

Louisville is home to my friends Tiffany and Ryan. Tiffany is a meteorologist, and the two of us worked at competing television stations when I was a morning news anchor in Waco, Texas. As if the day couldn’t get any better, my brother Spencer and his girlfriend Alyssa made the trip down to Louisville from Indianapolis. The six of us spent the evening at the historic Churchill Downs (home to the Kentucky Derby) for ‘Downs After Dark’ — an evening of horse races, live music and of course Mint Juleps. It was fantastic, except our luck when it came to betting on the horse races (I suppose making picks based on the horse’s name I liked best wasn’t exactly a good strategy).

Day 10: Louisville, Kentucky to Nashville Tennessee — 176 miles

We spent the majority of the day in Louisville before a two-and-a-half hour drive to Nashville to see friends Rebecca Schleicher and Drew Cunningham. They moved to Music City about a year ago. Rebecca and I worked together at the NBC-TV station in Waco.

Day 11: Nashville

It was a Monday, so while our hosts were at work, we explored Nashville! We began in Drew and Rebecca’s neighborhood, 12South — a trendy neighborhood where we hit up The Frothy Monkey for breakfast and coffee and Draper James (Reese Witherspoon’s boutique clothing store). We continued our exploration in Centennial Park and the Vanderbilt University campus (where we even managed to sneak inside the football stadium) and grabbed lunch at Puckett’s Grocer (one of Chris’ favorite Nashville spots).

After Drew and Rebecca returned from work, we hopped in an Uber to Broadway Ave., home to a number of Music City honky-tonks. We ventured to Acme Feed & Seed, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge and a few other spots. It’s Nashville, so obviously we listened to fantastic live music everywhere we went.

Day 12: Nashville, Tennessee to Little Rock, Arkansas — 349 miles

On the road again — this time to Little Rock (by way of Memphis). We made it to Memphis by midday, where we had lunch at Pearl’s Oyster House on Main with Chris’ friend Matt (the two played sprint football at the Naval Academy and spent time in the same helicopter squadron). We wished we had more time to check out Memphis, but were aiming to make it to Little Rock before the Clinton Presidential Library closed for the evening (we made it). After learning about the lives and careers of Bill & Hill we were ready for some food (Lost Forty) and trivia (Flying Saucer) before turning in.

Day 13: Little Rock, Arkansas to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma — 372 miles

For those who don’t know, three of my husbands favorite things are Presidential Libraries, craft beer and National Parks. We’d already hit up the Clinton Library, and I happened to discover the only craft brewery IN a National Park on the way to our next overnight. Enter, Hot Springs National Park, known for it’s historic bath houses built around the hot springs. After a short hike in the park, we made our way to the brewery and distillery (housed in a former bath house).  We also managed to chow down on some Arkansas BBQ before heading on to Oklahoma.

We arrived in OKC fairly late, but did have time to walk around the Brickyard neighborhood and see the canal before getting some shuteye.

Day 14: Oklahoma City to Santa Fe, New Mexico — 534 miles

Another long day in the car. We stretched our legs and filled up on Tex-Mex in Amarillo, Texas (I couldn’t convince Chris to try the Big Texan Challenge).

Upon arriving, we relaxed with margaritas and live music, did some window shopping (the jewelry the southwest is famous for isn’t exactly my thing) and grabbed dinner.

Day 15: Santa Fe to Scottsdale, Arizona — 468 miles

More time exploring New Mexico’s capital city — we visited the Rail Yard District, stopped in a few art galleries and (on a hundred degree day) had Hatch Green Chile Stew.

Scottsdale was hot, dry and really hot. We hit up a few Happy Hour spots before collapsing in bad.

Day 16: Scottsdale to San Diego, California — 363 miles

At this point we’d been living out of suitcases for more than two weeks — we decided it wouldn’t hurt to do a little relaxing. We got a late check-out and soaked up the Arizona sun at the pool before starting the final leg of our cross-country journey. Several hours and a couple of border security checkpoints later and we’d made it to San Diego….where North Park would be home for (just) 3 and a half months.

By the way, serious props to my husband who drove every one of those 3,262 miles. I thank you (as does anyone who was on our route during those 16 days).