Go on a road trip with your best friend

“We titled our trip “Lauren and Avalon’s Great American Adventure,” but to say it was an adventure is an understatement. We got lost on a sketchy part of Route 66 at night when we were almost out of gas, almost got stuck on a dirt road in the rain, set up our ENOs on the rim of the Grand Canyon, and jumped off of a cliff into the Blue Hole of Santa Rosa. We spray painted old cars at Cadillac Ranch, belted out “Beverly Hills” by Weezer while driving through Beverly Hills, had an ostrich stick its head in our car, and drove on the beach. None of this would have been nearly as amazing without Avalon by my side. Even though Avalon and I are now 1,940 miles apart, the memories of our amazing summer together will always keep us bonded. Whenever I am sad or homesick, I look at pictures and watch videos of our adventure, and remember how incredibly joyful I was in those moments. Whenever someone asks me what the coolest thing I have ever done is, I answer, without hesitation, driving across the country with my best friend.”

“Eleven years later, here we are in a car with a week full of stuff Googling cool places to see in Colorado. We weren’t completely unprepared though, we had Facetimed a few days prior and decided that we at least wanted to see Salt Lake City, after becoming obsessed with The Book Of Mormon The Musical. Besides wanting to see state capitols and mountains, there wasn’t much else on the agenda. When we hit a bigger city like Denver or Lincoln we would just decide there what to do. Much of this trip just consisted of exiting the interstate when we saw a cool attraction sign or endlessly walking around a city sightseeing. Highlights did include though; going mythical hunting for Big Foot in Colorado and alien hunting in Nevada, getting lost in a lincoln log maze in Lincoln, discovering a haunted old west town, playing with baby goats, hiking to the top of a mountain in Salt Lake City and in returning, admiring an amazing view and numerous chocolate-covered apples. As I look back on the trip though, it was not a snooze fest with nothing to do or regrets for places we didn’t go. Every state from Iowa to California (yes, somehow we ended up in Cali) had amazing scenery, people and experiences to offer, but the trip wouldn’t have been the same without my best friend with me.”