They (meaning the citizens of Texas) famously quote, “Everything is Bigger in Texas”, and that is true in many regards. From the excessively large white pick-up trucks, to the portions of food, and even the people themselves, everything is bigger in Texas.

Our first night in Texas we stayed in the Sonnora Caverns area as a half way point en route to San Antonio. The campground had lots of deer at dusk munching on the large variety of grasses. Along with one other camper we had the grounds to ourselves and ate leftover mexican food while reading our respective books. Myself, still diligently making my way through Michael Pollan’s, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Jack reading an Edward Abbey novel he picked up in Utah. The night was absolutely gorgeous. A pleasant change from the cool weather we had been experiencing in Colorado and New Mexico. The sunset created a silhouette of a single tree in front of our tent with blending hues of orange, yellow, red and purple.

San Antonio is quaint tourist town with a mixture of American/Mexican History and modern urban living. The Alamo offered a good amount of history and exhibits for free and is located in the heart of downtown. River Walk is a nice area of the city which offers shops and restaurants along a man-made river. Also, boat ride tours are available.

Jack and I were both very excited to get to Austin. It was on our list of “places we might want to move to”.  We wanted to find ourselves lazily walking down sixth street and absorbing all of the live music and maybe go for a stroll around downtown experiencing as much as we can.  We spent our first night dining at Veggie Heaven…for those of you who don’t know Veggie Heaven is also the name of one of the best vegetarian restaurants ever located in New Jersey, so of course we had to go and compare the two. The Austin Veggie Heaven had decent food but paled in comparison to the one in NJ! We took our lazy stroll down sixth street which on a week night was rather dull. The scene is devoted to rowdy college kids and we felt we really had no place there. There was an abundance of live music though which is always good.

Before leaving Austin we stopped and grabbed breakfast at a small cafe and had breakfast tacos which were amazing! Simply potato, cheese, and egg with spices filled the warm flour tortilla which was dipped in a small cup of salsa. Afterwards we went to the flagship Whole Foods which (unlike Whole Foods in NJ/NY) offered a ton of local organic products! Thankfully.

We camped at Brazos Bend State Park where we got to see a bunch of Alligators! One of them began to follow us with the most evil (or hungry) glare I’ve ever seen and we decided to go back to the camp where (once the sun went down) we got attacked by mosquitos and … raccoons. A raccoon came literally out of nowhere and tried to steal our bag of jasmine rice! Luckily Jack went after him and we salvaged our beloved rice, but not without a fight.

In Houston we stopped at the Space Center where we got to touch a moon rock, see models of the interior of space shuttles, and watch a movie on a five story screen. The space center is a pretty educational experience but its exhibits are geared more towards children, even so we still had fun.

Jack and I were both disappointed by Austin which is sad to say. The downtown area was small and didn’t offer much. Also, it didn’t help that in October the weather was 92 degrees and very humid. And the search continues for a place to call home…please view our full set of pictures here!

Our first stop in New Mexico was the hippie ski-resort, spiritual town of Taos which was recommended to us in Boulder. Jack read an article that the citizens of Taos often hear a humming noise and blame this on the governments disposal of nuclear waste within the region. I would like to think the town is an epicenter of energetic fields like the Native Americans believe. Regardless, we did not experience anything strange.

Taos boasts a small downtown area which is basically a narrow street with tight adobe style buildings sporting gifts, jewelry and clothing. One of the redeeming qualities of the town and a major tourist attraction is the thousand year old Taos Pueblo on the outskirts of town. Unfortunately for us the Pueblo was closed for the day so we went to the San Francisco de Asis Church also within the city limit. The church is one of the most photographed in America. Artists such as Ansel Adams and George O’Keefe have been heavily inspired by the churches’ architecture which dates back to the 1700’s. Another structure which is famous in Taos is the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge which stands at 650′ and crosses over – you guessed it – the Rio Grande river.

The next day we headed to Santa Fe where we browsed the outdoor art displays and had delicious huevos rancheros at the Burrito Co. Santa Fe is known to artists and history buffs for its unique community of electic artists and ancient buildings. It houses some ninety art galleries and has both Americas’ oldest house and oldest church, the San Miguel. The city is also home to the Loretto Chapel which was built in 1872 and houses a spiral staircase with no visible support and is now a museum.

Roswell has always intrigued me. I guess thats because I watched too many shows on the discovery channel growing up about UFO’s  which all seem to relate back to this humble town which is literally in the middle of nowhere. Roswell offers limited food and is now home to most chains (ie: Pizza Hut, KFC) so vegetarians be prepared. Other than the UFO museum the city doesn’t offer much except alien themed gift shops oh and of course the UFO themed McDonalds. The UFO museum itself houses artifacts relating to the famous Roswell Incident and teeters on the fence of outright blaming the government for a cover-up or blaming a government experiment for of all the hype. Either way the museum has a “hush hush” attitude about it and the mystery still remains. Roswell for those of you who don’t know also happens to be the dairy capital of New Mexico and the smell of waste lingers heavily in the air.

Our last stop in New Mexico was Carlsbad Caverns National Park where the most popular bat in the world, The Mexican Free-Tail resides. We got to see the bats in their migratory stage and for forty minutes witnessed hundreds of thousands of bats exciting out of the cave in a swirling motion to build up momentum before shooting for the skies in elaborate formations and going for their evening hunt. There were so many bats that evening that the next day when we tried to hike down into the cave the park rangers had closed it off because many of the bats were still within the entrance. Did you know that bats always leave caves and head to the left? I didn’t either! Because bats use supersonic waves and frequencies to communicate and navigate cameras, cell phones or any electric device is not to be used when they are exiting the cave.

The next day Jack went down into the cave while I stayed in the car and read a book. I might have gotten over a lot of fears on this trip, but dark scary enclosed places are certainly not one of them!

Full New Mexico Pictures here!

Utah offers a vast and spectacular view of America’s finest landscapes nestled into five national parks. Two previously mentioned parks, Bryce and Zion were the first on our list and offer otherworldly rock formations. To avoid boring you with the copious amounts of detail found at each of these parks I’ve gone ahead and broken them down highlighting what we saw…

Zion National Park

Checkerboard Mesa is one of the first stone monuments we saw upon entering the park and is created out of slickrock. The mesa was once sand and over time has been petrified into solid rock, the lines which are deeply carved into the stones surfaced were created by wind and other types of erosion.

A main attraction at the park is the impressive tunnel which was built to allow cars to enter into the heart of the canyons.

Zion Natl. Park offers a free shuttle bus which we were happy to partake in and which takes visitors to all of the parks main trail heads and sights such as: the Three Patriarchs, the Lower, Middle and upper Pools, and the Narrows. We did hikes to see the various pools and followed the Virgin river until the canyon itself got so narrow we could not continue without walking in the river itself.

Zion does not offer many campsites and regardless they fill up by early afternoon. We opted to stay in a private campground located just outside of the park and got to stay in a tent site right along the Virgin river, which is responsible for carving the canyon. Some of the water coming out of the canyon walls has been estimated at 4 million years old!

Bryce Canyon

A small National Park which offers outstanding views of odd rock formations known as Hoodoos. Hoodoos are formed when faced against erosion whether it be from water or wind. Since they are primarily comprised of sandstone but also contain other elements such as calcium carbonate, they erode at different speeds in certain sections. Hence the narrow and tall rock formations often forming arches or bridges.

We were able to secure a site within the park and we were located directly underneath the rim trail. In the evening we got to see the moon rising over the canyon on one side with purples and blues and on the other the sun setting in brilliant reds and oranges.

During the day we drove the entire park and made sure to stop at each viewpoint to get a good perspective on how the rocks are formed. Some of the more well known formations are known as Wall Street, Inspiration Point and The Silent City.

Capitol Reef National Park

Taking a scenic route towards arches allowed us to drive through Captiol Reef National Park. The Park is small but packs a punch with its unique rocks and pre-historic cave drawings by indigenous indians known as the Freemont People. Fruita, a former Mormon community is located in the area and has a small bakery where I bought myself a vintage apron (for all the cupcake baking I want to do when I get home!) and a mini blackberry pie which Jack and I ate for dessert that evening.

Finding a campsite in this park is very tricky! The park only has one campground so be sure to get there very early in the morning in order to secure a site. We ended up getting a campground at Slickrock Campground located in Moab. The sites were well kept and offered a shelter for our tent to protect it from wind and rain which was of course nice. However, there is a bar located not too far from the grounds which has live music until all hours of the night. So be prepared to either toss and turn a lot OR save yourself some frustration and bring a pair of ear plugs.

We faced some windy and rainy weather in the desert (go figure) at the park. We did however get to drive around and get to see some of its famous rock formations such as The March of the Elephants, Landscape Arch, and Delicate Arch (the unofficial state symbol for Utah). Even though it was raining it did not deter us from soaking up all the beauty that this park has to offer!

After visiting Moab, Conor Oberst sang “There is nothing that the road cannot heal”, in his aptly titled track, Moab. While Moab itself doesn’t offer much, it’s more the towns unique proximity to so many beautiful places that really draws someone in. Who doesn’t want to live within driving distance of desert landscapes, the Colorado River and thousands of miles of intense hiking or white water rafting? And despite the towns under-whelming “Main Street”   it still has a unique charm that only a southwestern town could possess leaving it a force to be reckoned with.

Utah pictures here!

If you ever wanted to get a better perspective on the world on and how small you are in the grand scheme of things then try standing on a 7,000 foot peak overlooking the orange and yellow rock cliffs at the Grand Canyon. With an absolutely breathtaking view we stood at sunset and overlooked one of the seven natural wonders of the world and it’s no wonder. While it’s not the deepest canyon, its extreme vastness allows one to look out some forty three miles over the Colorado Plateau, where the canyon resides. We hiked to Ooo Aah point which is a very small part of the ever-so-popular Bright Angel Trail. The Park and its Rangers take hiking and preparedness very seriously (and they should) as each year dozens of people are injured by heat exhaustion or even killed. Hungry after the hike we decided to go to the cafeteria which had the most delicious vegetarian chili in a bread bowl! Yay for National Parks offering veggie options. Later on we drove the length of the park to an old lookout at desert viewpoint which offers an unparalleled view of the Canyon.

The Grand Canyon is part of the Grand Staircase also including more northern national park areas: Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park – each known for their individual landscapes. And while the park allows people to get a good glimpse of the richness of the American landscape, we felt that much more was to be seen in it’s more northern “sister parks”. Which you will get to see in our Utah post!

Anyway, after staying at the South Rim we headed to Jacob Lake, a small town more towards the Northern Rim of the canyon…where we had our COLDEST night on the trip so far at 27 degrees. I must admit that this was not a fun night for me as I wasn’t prepared for temperatures that cool and in attempt to keep myself warm I continually woke Jack and myself up. It was certainly a lesson to be learned…and that is to be prepared for any type of weather.

Please view our entire Arizona collection here!

One hears all sorts of stories about Vegas and how what “happens there stays there” and I have to admit that I was a bit trepidatious to go there especially with a boyfriend in tow. The best thing about Vegas in my opinion is the extremely cheap accommodations all ranging in the mid-twenties per night. We stayed at the Sam’s Town Hotel & Casino about six miles from the strip and headed into downtown to check out some of the more popular hotels; the interiors of Caesars Palace and the MGM Grand and of course the fountains at the Bellagio. At the Bellagio they also had an autumn decorated lobby with amazing glass work trees and a waterfall made out of oversized leaves. I’m upset that I did not bring my camera out with us but I didn’t want it to get in the way / stolen.  I had never gambled before because it never interested me but I did get really into the nickel slots (don’t judge me joe schaub) in which I won $16 and then lost it all within a matter of seconds. I can see why Las Vegas would be fun with a group of friends and a whole lot of money but after seeing it glorified in films I found the whole city to be rather anti-climatic.

The next day we headed to the Hoover dam to check out the structure. Parking is $5 on the Nevada side but if you drive across to Arizona and an eighth of a mile up the road you can park for free. The tours at the dam are expensive and lengthy so we walked across and viewed Lake Mead and the Colorado River. The Hoover Dam weighs 6.6 million tons but is only the 35th largest hydro powered facility in the world!