30 days on the road
July 23, - August 21

Denver and Boulder / Zion National Park / Palm Springs / Tijuana, Ensenada and Rosarito, Mexico/ San Diego / Phoenix / Santa Fe / Colorado City / Home

Photos using Olympus Stylus Epic and 35mm Portra 400 film

Day 2

July 24:
Our first stop on the roadtrip was Denver, CO. We left before the sun was out and headed west from Chicago, 16 hours later we arrived. We got to our hotel and went hiking that evening at Table Mesa (not pictured). The next day we came here, to Brainard Lake Recreation Area and hiked this trail.

Day 6

July 28:
Zion National Park scenic drive

July 28:
Photos from Zion National Park, the National Park was one of the dog friendly parks on our way out west, so we made the stop here for two days. We hiked around the park and hung out by this creek for lunch.

July 28:
We were going through a long tunnel at Zion National Park, we were last in the car line so we slowed down on the window section to take this picture.

Day 11

August 2:
House patio in the Los Conejos complex in Palm Springs. Andy’s mom owns a condo in Palm Springs, he came out and met us there for the weekend, took us hiking to Mt. Jacinto, where we had a view from above the clouds and Miguel got a huge blister on his foot. His friend cooked us Bulgarian food one evening and it was a cute little week here.

Day 12

August 3:
The Tropicale Palm Springs, Palm Springs, CA. Unknown to us it was the owner's birthday the day we went here. So the whole restaurant was jungle-themed for the occasion and our waiter was shirtless with a leopard tunic.

Day 15

August 6
After Palm Springs we had some time to kill before we needed to be in San Diego. We decided to cross the boarder to Mexico. The license plate sticker was set to expire and we didn’t want to risk complications. So we parked the car on the U.S. side and crossed the boarder by foot where we rented a car and drove further south into Rosarito. The beaches in Tijuana weren’t great, but we found this one. This was our first dip in the ocean on the trip. These are photos Miguel took of Ozzie and I running into the ocean in Ensenada.

Day 24

Daliahs in Santa Fe, NM

Day 24

August 15:
Spiral Staircase Santa Fe, NM

This staircase at the Loretto Chapel St Joseph is considered a carpentry miracle because it was built without bottom support from a very mysterious stranger, with wood said to not be native to the land.

Day 27

August 18:
Ozzie at a Desert Dowgs bar in Santa Fe, NM

Main plaza in Santa Fe, NM. This was originally going to be a one day stop on our way back home, but we loved it so much we ended up staying for a week.

Day 29

August 20:
As a stop on our way back between Santa Fe and Chicago we decided to stop in Colorado City for the night, and made our way to Garden of the Gods National Park.

Day 30

August 21:
Last few hours on our way back into Chicago we stopped at the World's Largest Truck Stop.