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Three States in Three Days

One thing you can never say about me is that I like to sit still. Since being away in college, I have not had the chance to do the weekly road trips that have consumed my life for so long, however, I am determined to make up for lost time. While I was home for winter break, my parents gave my younger brother and I a choice: receive gifts on Christmas Day or, go somewhere none of us have ever been. And, like the wanderlusting people we are, the Robinette clan skipped out on extravagant presents and boarded a plane straight for Las Vegas, Nevada.

 Reasons why we chose Vegas as our destination:
  1. Vegas is close to an airport, so no need for additional travel once we landed.
  2. Super cheap hotels that are of decent quality.
  3. Only a few hours to some of the country's most famous landmarks such as Yosemite National Park.
To be around the slot machines and blackjack games you have to be at least twenty-one years of age in the state of Nevada, but that didn't matter much to us. We really only walked around the town for a few hours before exploring the west coast! After renting a Kia Soul (yea, the hamster car), we left our hotel at four in the morning and set our sights on the Mojave Desert.

 We didn't pass a single vehicle for hours, only buzzards and Joshua trees from literally one end of the preserve to the other. When we reached the exit, we thought Why not just keep going? California is gorgeous, and there was no real reason for us to head back to Sin City. A few Google searches later we set our GPS for the Sequoia National Park, home of some of the largest trees in the world. The weather was nice, the car drove amazing, and the candy bars from the Chevron on Route 66 gave us substance.

 Knowing we would fly back to the great state of North Carolina the next day, we knew we needed to pack in as much as possible before our red-eye back east. Loading back into the Soul after a few hours rest, we again left before the sun rose over the Sierra Nevada mountains and steered towards the Grand Canyon, which is definitely more than a hole in the ground. This took us through the state of Arizona and over the Hoover Dam. We saw wild elk and passed more than one amazing In-N-Out Burger. And in the end, we still made it back to Las Vegas with two hours to spare.

Three states in three days, no problemo. In the end, it was just a normal trip for this abnormal family. When traveling, there are some things we all make sure to do:

  1. Pack carry on! Bringing a backpack will always trump checking in luggage and you'll have both hands free.
  2. Check Expedia or other trip planning websites for making arrangments rather than trying to book your trip straight from the big guys. If you use the site consistently, a lot of times you can get cheaper rates and better customer service!
  3. Have an idea of what you want to accomplish, but be flexible as to when you do it. Feeling like you're on a schedule is no fun and neither is standing still waiting for your TripAdvisor to load.
Obviously, I am no licensed travel expert, but I hope these little trips can help when planning your own weekend getaway, and that you are inspired by my family's spontaneity. I am all the time doing something, so I hope you will subscribe to this blog and stay tuned as to what happens next... Thanks for reading!
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