American Girls

American Girls

By Courtney Lund

“Let’s go!” I said. We were off on our road trip around America.

            Kelly, my college best friend, and I were twenty-two and recent college graduates. The real world full of eight-hour days, cubicles, and office meetings was a far off place that we weren’t ready to partake in. Instead of joining the workforces as many of our colleagues did, we set out for adventure in our own backyard. America, the place we called home but knew nothing about. Well we knew it was large and dominant in foreign affairs. We had learned about its history from textbooks. And watched it evolve on the news. However, we wanted our own opinions. We wanted to see it through our own eyes – all the beautiful uniqueness of it.

            So we left our bubble of Southern California where veganism is always trending and you can’t go a block without seeing a surfer or hipster. We borrowed her dad’s Nissan Altima, packed it full of maps, flashlights, Costco sized snacks, sleeping bags, bathing suits, and a tent and took off around the circumference of our nation (well, we passed on the Northeast, and instead headed to Midwest for my grandfather’s 95^th birthday in Minneapolis).

            We passed by screeching red rocks in Utah and hiked glorious green trails in Vail Colorado. We bickered in the long car rides through Nebraska where, for miles on end, we could only see the strands of brittle grass growing next to the highway. Once in Minnesota, we visited the Mall of America and rode one of its childlike roller coasters and celebrated the life of my gandpa. In Milwaukee we attended a ball game at Miller’s field and drank cheap vodka in the parking lot. In Michigan we camped on the sand by Lake Michigan and watched the sunset and the sky turn to a pristine pink. In Chicago we partied with my cousin and his friends, staying up until daylight. In the morning we took picture with the giant Bean and ate thick slices of bacon at The Publican. We snuck into Canada and stayed at a hostel in Niagara Falls for a week, where we worked, so we stayed fro free and were woken by the smell of freshly baked blueberry muffins each morning. We got soaked by the pounding Niagara Falls, and dripped in the glory and wonder of nature. In New York we ate bagels and fine wine and stumbled through the city as if we belonged. Once in Boston, we had a chocolate frosted donut at Dunkin’ Donuts and a beer at Cheers and gave a blessing and prayer at Mother Goose’s grave.  On our way south we battled indescribable rainstorms. In Philadelphia we met with Kelly’s Uncle and had dinner on the Delaware and enjoyed a famous Cheesesteak – mine with no cheese, hers with no meat. The man at the encounter gave us a funny look, and her Uncle replied, “They’re from California.” In Washington D.C. we stayed on a friend of a friend’s couch and relished in all the white, from the White House to the statues.  In the Carolina’s we stayed with her brother-in-law’s mother’s house. She was battling cancer. We laughed and cooked with her and had tea at Edgar Allen Poe’s café called Poe’s. In Florida we felt the heat and understood what the bus driver meant when he said, “Today will be 87 degrees but feel like 115.” In Louisiana we devoured beignets and two-for-one drinks and jambalaya. We peeled the hair from our necks in the heat wave that was the south. We were running out of money at this point and drove fourteen hours to San Antonio, where we toured the Alamo and fed ducks at the River Walk. From Texas we drove through endless desert roads full of san dunes to Arizona, where we spent our last night eating a pizza and watching a movie in a hotel room.

            When we got to my parent’s house in San Diego, six weeks later, it felt like we had just left a different world. We had been clocking ten hour drives and staying at a new place ever few days or so. When we unpacked my things from her dad’s car we hugged and both stared at each other and started laughing. We were so lucky. We had just driven around America.

 Thank you for reading and commenting. Please enter the Inspiration Travel Writing competition and tell your story.