My Cross Country Roadtrip #2 and Tips > DC > Providence > Lake Erie > Chicago > Badlands National Park > Yellowstone > Crater Lake > SF

I have done four cross country roadtrips in my life, and this is the journey of my second one...

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I had just finished my semester in DC and drove up to Providence to pick up my friend Kamille, who was attending Brown University. We set off into the summer, singing some Lauryn Hill and jamming out to Alt-J. Our first stop was Lake Erie, Ohio. We drove into Ohio at nighttime, and unknowingly headed straight into a massive thunder and lightening storm. Us two California girls were scared shitless when we saw a lightening bolt crack down 10 feet infront of our car. Ohio was greeting us with a Bang!

The storm passed, we made it to the cottages, and woke up to this lovely site pictured above. We spent the whole day by the lake practicing yoga, reading, singing, and gawking at these sweet chairs. During the night we set out to the one town bar, where it happened to be karaoke night. We met some locals, and it turned out to be one of their birthdays along with Kamille's birthday, so of course they had to sing a song together.

We set out the next day to the "Windy City", Chicago, where we met up with some friends who were going to University of Chicago.

We became acquainted with another of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan, and went to a comedy show at the famous Second City. It was hilarious, if you are in Chicago it's a must.

We were ready for some peace and quiet, so we sped out of Chicago and entered into the state of expansive skies and forgotten lands. The drive itself into South Dakota was pretty boring, as it was flat highway as far as you could see. However, Badlands National Park was a surprise. We rolled in right before sunset and hopped out for the view pictured below.

However, while the buttes and hills of the 244,000 acre park was magnificent, the sunset won our hearts.

The next morning we set off for the highlight of our trip : Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. If you have not yet been to this area of the U.S., all I can say is that it is magical. There is a feeling of wildness out there that many of us have forgotten about.

On our first day we explored the geothermal activity of Yellowstone:

And of course we had to witness Old Faithful doing its thing:

The next day we hiked around and ran into a moose and a fox on the trail. We also saw a mama grizzly bear with her two cubs, thankfully when we were just getting into our car.

The pine trees, waterfalls, chirping birds, melting snow, and multiple animal sightings matched our perfectly content and present states of being. And boy were we glad to get out of the car for two days and stretch our legs.

We obviously hadn't been to enough bodies of water on the road trip yet, so we set off to Crater Lake in Oregon. This lake was formed by a collapse of a volcano, and is the deepest lake in the U.S. When we first arrived we couldn't believe how deep blue the water was, and spent a whole day walking around marveling at its beauty.

The next day we drove 7 hours south and made it back home to the beautiful city of San Francisco!

A few roadtrip tips

• Stop in places where you can hike around. After all of the driving and sitting in the same seat for hours on end, your legs will love you for the stretch and workout.
• Always carry an extra tank of gas in your trunk in case you accidentally over estimate how far your car will take you.
• Give yourself at least a day at each stop, so that you see more than just the highway :-)
• Try to minimize night driving as it is more dangerous, you may be missing out on some sweet scenery, and hours of night driving is ridiculously boring (and it could put you to sleep)
• Take pictures to share on Steemit ;-)