After finishing my freshman year at Stanford and submitting my last assignment of the year, an essay about road trips, I figured it was time to take a road trip of my own. My friend Shivonne, also a rising sophomore at Stanford, and I had been planning an adventure for some weeks: a drive up and down Northern California and Oregon in my 2003 Corolla. With this road trip through Palo Alto, Healdsburg, Eugene, Portland, Ashland, and Pinecrest, we finished off our first year of college and kicked off the summer.
My freshman year was punctuated with several other memorable car-crazed adventures. My dorm friends and I took day trips to Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay and road trips to Big Sur and the Grand Canyon. But this road trip along the West Coast was the longest excursion I’d been on since my Eurail trip last summer. During the trip, I found myself reflecting incredibly yet unsurprisingly often upon my recent travels, as well as looking forward to my upcoming two-month visit to Shanghai.
Along our route, we experienced the epitomes of West Coast and road trip culture, from small towns to fruit stands to always-too-few bathroom stops. Although we rolled on a budget, we we found some of the most delicious eats and treats and the most beautiful sights. We hit up Powell’s Books in Portland, Multnomah Falls near Portland, the Saturday Market in Portland, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Pinecrest Lake near Yosemite, and Nature’s Country Corner in Manteca as planned, but we encountered plenty of other wonderful stops along the way, thanks to help from our hosts and to good luck. Hopefully someday I’ll return to the green forests of Eugene, the Columbia River Gorge, Salt & Straw, Jackson WellSprings, and the trails of Stanislaus National Forest.
I’d like to thank Aida, Anika, Cheryl, Chris, Kat, Todd, and Judy for their kindness and hospitality in hosting us in our various destinations during the road trip. And of course, I’d like to thank Shivonne for sharing these fun times, taking amazing photos, scouting out the best restaurants, driving hours on end, sharing her cabin with me, putting up with my weird food preferences, and being my partner in crime 24 hours a day for over a week. I had a great time and am looking forward to taking a similar trip the next time I get a chance.
My freshman year was punctuated with several other memorable car-crazed adventures. My dorm friends and I took day trips to Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay and road trips to Big Sur and the Grand Canyon. But this road trip along the West Coast was the longest excursion I’d been on since my Eurail trip last summer. During the trip, I found myself reflecting incredibly yet unsurprisingly often upon my recent travels, as well as looking forward to my upcoming two-month visit to Shanghai.
Along our route, we experienced the epitomes of West Coast and road trip culture, from small towns to fruit stands to always-too-few bathroom stops. Although we rolled on a budget, we we found some of the most delicious eats and treats and the most beautiful sights. We hit up Powell’s Books in Portland, Multnomah Falls near Portland, the Saturday Market in Portland, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Pinecrest Lake near Yosemite, and Nature’s Country Corner in Manteca as planned, but we encountered plenty of other wonderful stops along the way, thanks to help from our hosts and to good luck. Hopefully someday I’ll return to the green forests of Eugene, the Columbia River Gorge, Salt & Straw, Jackson WellSprings, and the trails of Stanislaus National Forest.
I’d like to thank Aida, Anika, Cheryl, Chris, Kat, Todd, and Judy for their kindness and hospitality in hosting us in our various destinations during the road trip. And of course, I’d like to thank Shivonne for sharing these fun times, taking amazing photos, scouting out the best restaurants, driving hours on end, sharing her cabin with me, putting up with my weird food preferences, and being my partner in crime 24 hours a day for over a week. I had a great time and am looking forward to taking a similar trip the next time I get a chance.