Two weeks before we were planning to move from New York to southern California, my husband and I decided to drive instead of fly – a trip we will remember for the rest of our lives as we got to stop at so many exciting sites and see the country from the open road.
After packing up the truck with all of our belongings, we set off from New York City, making our shortest drive to Baltimore, where we visited the famous Baltimore Harbor and Aquarium and ate the best and biggest crab legs in the country.
We decided that we couldn’t make it all the way to Virginia without stopping in Washington, D.C.,
so we spent the night at a local Quality Inn, and the next morning we spent the day taking in all the sites of the nation’s capital.
The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the Washington Monument, The White House, the U.S. Capitol Building and the Lincoln memorial were just a few of our stops.

Then came the longest drive we will probably ever make in our lives: from Washington, D.C., to Iowa City, Iowa, the drive was 1,050 miles and 15 hours long.

Unfortunately, there was little to see along the way.

We spent those hours staring out of our windows at farmland, barns and open road.

The third leg of our trip wasn’t much different. The drive from Iowa City to Denver did not spark our interest, either. It was extremely interesting to learn, though, how much of the country is pure farmland. It was a very different feeling to be looking out into the openness of the country rather than the congested streets of Manhattan.

Our stay in Denver was probably the highlight of our trip. We spent the weekend at my aunt’s house, and my cousins showed us the natural beauty of Colorado. including places like Boulder Falls and Vail.

It felt great to spend a couple of days without riding in a car, but after the weekend was over, we packed up and hit the road again, this time to Las Vegas.

Twelve hours after leaving my aunt’s house, we arrived in a city full of lights, huge spectacular hotels and countless tourists walking the Vegas Strip, a huge contrast to the oblivion we experienced driving through states like Nebraska and Utah.

We only spent a couple of hours in Las Vegas. Trying to convince the valet parking at the Bellagio Hotel to park our 14-foot moving truck was our first incident in the city.

However, afterward, we sat and enjoyed
a delicious dinner at their buffet and watched the
famous water show outside the hotel.

The last stage of our trip was the short four-hour drive from Las Vegas to our new home in southern California.

Six days after leaving the Big Apple, we were sitting in our new, empty apartment, looking back on what we had just experienced.