Candy and I are starting our road trip today!

Yeah!

So this is going to be -- how many days is it, actually?

I believe it's... well, I think initially we had 10, but now I think it's 11.

Okay, so like a 10 to 12 day road trip.

I know we're starting today, Thursday, August 27th and then we'll be back in Florida, Tampa by September 8th and that's a Tuesday.

So definitely like a week and a half to two weeks... somewhere in there.

We're going to make multiple stops and each day we're going to plan about, I would say, average eight hours a day.

There are some places where we'll be only driving like four hours a day  

but most of the days will be like an eight hour drive average

and we'll probably be adding on more hours because we'll be making pit stops

and probably looking at some gorgeous scenery along the way because we're going towards Utah first

and I've always wanted to go to Utah because they have the most beautiful landscapes there.

They do. We got a little teaser a few years -- has it already been three years?

Probably, yeah.

Actually, around this time, Labor Day weekend, we went with our girls on a girl's trip

to uh... what was that? I can't think of the name of the national park right now that we went to.

Zion.

We went to Zion and then when we were driving there from Las Vegas, we were like, we should have just stayed in Utah this entire trip.

It was just so gorgeous.

Yeah, I feel like we wasted our time in Vegas.

Yeah, skip Vegas. Go to Utah.

Yeah, maybe it's because of our age too.

We're a little bit older and we've been to Vegas so many times that we were kind of over it by the time we went again.

And we enjoy the nature a lot more now

and we're not hikers, but I still like a little bit of hiking and seeing like the mountains and stuff.

So yeah, if you're debating between Vegas and Utah, go to Utah.

But yeah, first we're going to Sedona, Arizona.

We just left from LA about two and a half hours ago and right  now we're in Coachella -- driving through Coachella.

Yeah, Candy was just telling me about her  Coachella experience and how horrible it was  

because I was telling her I would never want to go to Coachella.

I'm just not a big music fest person like that.

I like my own concerts I like to go to but I don't like big music festivals like that.

Yeah, the music part was awesome and everything in between that is not awesome

and again, this was 10 years ago already when I went to Coachella.

Yeah, she went before it was like a fad.

Yeah, so I don't know if it's changed since then -- the logistics of it... but um, anyways...

Anyways, yeah so we're passing by Coachella area now and it's really in the middle of the desert.

There's nothing around here.

It's like 106 degrees.

Yeah, it was 108 earlier.

You can feel it through the window, how hot it is.

So after Sedona, we're only going to stay one night there.

Kind of like a pit stop because I was thinking Phoenix first but then we were like, you know, we should just go a little bit further to Sedona

and also there's more beautiful scenery there so I found this resort called the Sky Lodge Resort  

and they're supposed to have like this deck or terrace that has a beautiful view  

of one of their iconic red rocks so kind of looking forward to that.  

So we're just going to relax and get some rest and have some dinner there

and then next day, we're going to go towards Capitol Reef National Park

but on the way, I want to go through Burr Trail Road which has some of the coolest views

and they have like this one view where you could see all the switchbacks of the road.

I think the driving might be a little bit terrifying but Candy's going to have to drive that part

because she doesn't do so well with motion sickness if I'm driving on mountains so good luck with that, Candy. Hahaha!

We'll see if I can do it.

So Burr Trail Road is pretty famous in Utah.

I didn't really know about it until a month ago when I was planning this out

and my boss actually told me about it because he used to live in Utah

and he said you definitely need to go through that road.

It's gorgeous and it's awesome.

Some of the views like you probably won't be able to see anywhere else,

so definitely going to go through there

and then we'll end up at Red Sands Hotel which is in Torrey, I believe, or near Torrey.

And that's close to Capitol Reef National Park.

Yeah, if you watched part one of Crystal's road trip when she came to California from Florida,

she didn't replace Kuma with me. Kuma is still here.

Yes, Kuma is here.

So this is still a dog-friendly road trip.

So we will be staying at all the dog-friendly hotels.

Yes, I didn't forget to mention Kuma. Sorry, Kuma.

Yeah, Kuma is with me still.

And the route is different this time.

On the way here, she took a different route on the way to California.

So on the way back to Florida, it's a little bit of a  different route and we'll also be stopping by Nebraska.

Yeah, but before we get to Nebraska, we still got some other stops.

But yeah, so the one that I took from Florida to California --  that was really quick. I did it in five days.  

It was a little bit longer than what other people do, but I took five days because I wanted to do 8-9 hours each day

since I had my dog and I wasn't sure how much she could take within a day.

She actually did really great. She probably could go longer.

but I felt like eight to nine hours a day was perfect for me as well because I didn't feel too tired each day.

I felt like it was just the right amount of driving for driving solo every day.

This trip, since I know I have Candy with me too, I'm going a little longer and stopping by different places because I'll have some help driving.

I could probably do it all by myself again but...

Yeah, I'm sure she can.

But it would be nice to have some help, so it's great that Candy  decided to come with me back to Florida.

So yes, we'll be staying in Capitol Reef for a couple of days exploring the national park.

Maybe do some night photography because they have a place where they're known to have a really great place for night photography

and then after that, we're going to make our way towards Arches National Park.

Stay there for a couple of days and then we go to Denver.

Yes.

And Denver is kind of like a pit stop, so we're only staying there for a night.

And then we move on -- that's when we go to Nebraska.

We're staying in a town called Beatrice, which probably nobody knows where that's at

but that's where our grandma used to live or near there -- real close to Beatrice  

and our uncle has a farm in Wymore.

Yeah, which is like about a 20 minute drive from Beatrice.

We have not been to the farm in years. I don't even remember... maybe almost 10?

Uhhhh... has it been 10 years?

When did grandma pass away?

I don't know... has it been that long?

Anyways, it's been awhile.

But we actually have been to the farm since kids because we lived in Nebraska when we were kids in the late 80s,

so from' 86 to '89, we lived in Nebraska because our dad was in the military in the Air Force.

So we lived in Omaha on Offutt Air Force Base or near Offutt Air Force Base

and our grandma's house was a couple of hours, so we would go there often

and see our relatives and go to the farm

and the farm -- it's actually very fond to us.

We have very fond memories of it.

Every time I go back to the farm, I really enjoy it and I always feel very nostalgic.

I'm like, oh I remember when we used to go there and play with the cows or feed the cows

and then they used to have wild cats, so we used to feed the cats

and our little brother would play in the hay

and our cousins would have like these dirt bikes.

The farm -- gosh, our grandpa owned it

and it's been a family for years and years.

And his grandfather owned it.

Yeah, I think his grandfather owned it too, so it's been in the family since the early 1900s.

Over a century.

So yeah, we're staying there for a couple of days so we can spend time with our uncle and our cousins and see the farm again.

After that, we're moving on to Kansas City and that's a pit stop too.

We're only staying there for the night.

And then we move on to Nashville.

So Nashville I'm super excited about because it's been like this fad or trendy city that everybody's been visiting lately

and Candy and I have just never made it there.

So, finally, we're going to do it because it's on our way back anyway

and I'm kind of excited for this cool like trendy city everybody's been talking about.

Yeah, I was like, oh man, I wish I had like some cowgirl clothes.

I know! Maybe we can go buy some while we're there.

Or is that something touristy and they're like, Ugh, not more tourists dressing up like cow girls.

I think they're used to it by now.

Then after Nashville, we go to Atlanta, it's kind of a pit stop as well.

And finally Tampa.

So yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun, a lot of days of driving, but a lot of cool places that we've been wanting to check out together, so really excited about this.

♪ MUSIC ♪

Candy's eating some rice balls right now.

We packed some lunch for the first day.

We make this kara-age, which is Japanese fried chicken nuggets with soy sauce and ginger, sake and mirin.

It's super easy to make, so we make it the night before and just put it in the fridge. 

We also make some rice balls. Candy makes her version with Japanese rice seasoning.

It's got seaweed, plum, different types of seaweed...so yeah, it's a very healthy mix.

Yeah, so she puts some healthy Japanese herbs in there.

And I have my version of the rice balls which I have to open.

But this is like the more classic type of rice ball they call it onigiri  and it's just rice with seaweed.

You do sprinkle some salt on there, tho.

Yeah, so it's rice with seaweed, but on the rice you put some salt so it'll give it some flavor

because if it's just rice and seaweed, it's pretty bland so you need some salt on it

but that's what I make. I make little mini ones.

And then Candy also brought some healthy carrots.  

And I brought some chickpeas as well which I gotta find later.

We always pack some lunch on long road trips like this because we  know we're gonna be eating pretty crappy for the rest of the time

so just to have like your version of healthy...

like I know the fried chicken nuggets aren't really that healthy,  but at least it's like home-cooked food too  

so we're not always -- well, we're gonna always be eating out, so having some home-cooked food is nice to have before you hit the road 

especially like a long road trip like we're doing.

♪ MUSIC ♪

We're in Arizona now. We're about three and a half hours away from our first stop in Sedona.

So far the drive has been great.

More cars than I thought there would be, but not that bad. No traffic