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MY BEST ROAD trip was driving from the desert of New Mexico to the Californian coast and up through the mountains of Oregon.
Who: Scout Mitchell
Route: Albuquerque, New Mexico to Portland, Oregon.
Distance: 3002km
Time: 4 days
When: January 2013
Vehicle: GMC Yukon XL
TWENTY-ONE STATES. 20,000 miles. Infinite memories. Spending my teen years as an expat in America, I embarked on a number of family road trips. Coming from Ireland where it takes three hours to drive from one side of the country to the other, the sheer vastness of the States always fascinated me.
Every summer, my family and I did a road trip as our family holiday. I’ve visited some of the most beautiful places in the country but my best road trip by far was the drive from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Portland, Oregon.
The trip itself was a little bittersweet as we were moving up to the state of Oregon from New Mexico where we absolutely adored. It might have been more practical and less emotionally painful to fly the distance but we saw it as an opportunity to explore more of America. Plus, we had the pet fish Cecilia to be mindful of – her survival eventually became the highlight of the entire trip.
We set off on an icy January morning squashed into a nest of our belongings and snacks, me with Cecilia in a plastic lunchbox on my lap and an iPod loaded with angsty tunes to mark my dismay at having to move yet again and leave all my friends behind.
Our first stop was Flagstaff, Arizona. From the offset, it can be hard to visually distinguish the states of Arizona and New Mexico — both have deserts and blue skies, but Arizona lacks the quirky and charming old-fashioned character of the latter; aesthetically (perhaps seeing as we are becoming closer to California), Arizona it is a lot more modern and cool and there are definitely more well-known tourist attractions than in New Mexico. Flagstaff itself I found unremarkable but I have since been informed the city is the alleged hidden gem of Arizona.
Unfortunately, the fuss escaped me. Flagstaff was just a stopover for the real business: the Grand Canyon the following morning, which is just as stunning as I had hoped it would be. however, it is freezing in the winter, but the warmness of the reds, oranges and browns make up for the discomfort.
So far, Cecilia had survived crossing state lines. We wrapped her lunchbox up in a towel at the motel in order to ensure she survived the night.
After the Grand Canyon, we travel on to Sin City. Las Vegas doesn’t offer much to someone under 21 but I do believe that everyone should visit at least once even if it’s just to enjoy the Bellagio fountain show or, even better, its breakfast buffet. At $20.99 it is obviously quite steep, but the variety is excellent and it’ll be the only meal you eat that day. Or maybe even that week.
Unfortunately, the hotel in Vegas was much too classy to get away with bringing a lunch boxed fish through the lobby so poor Cecilia spent the night in an underground car park, enduring the most ungodly of temperatures. Sadly, even for Cecilia an especially hardy fish sometimes the going is too tough. The next morning, we were greeted by half-frozen slush and an unresponsive fish. Devastated but not very surprised, we travelled on to California.
Just like the Mamas and Papas song, it is indeed safe and warm in the city of Los Angeles. Despite it being the middle of January, the temperatures were roasting. The people there are beautiful and you can spot tourists from a mile away. My family and I must have stuck out like a sore thumb with our three-days-on-the-road aesthetic.
Perhaps it was the warm west coast weather, we aren’t sure, but what happened next we couldn’t believe – Cecilia returned from the dead. We watched on in amazement as our fish thawed out and resumed circling the lunchbox with ease.
As a $2 Walmart fish, the odds were not in her favour but she prospered on and so did we as we hit the road again — not before stopping at the famous Randy’s Donuts (the influence behind House-O-Donuts from the Simpsons), which as an avid doughnut enthusiast I can confirm lived up to all expectations – the sugar-raised donut was a favourite in our car.
We enjoyed a quick stopover in San Francisco and already temperatures began to get noticeably colder. The hills are steep to drive and are plentiful in this liberal city. We made sure to get some snaps of the Golden Gate Bridge before leaving. The foggy mist over the bridge was like something straight out of Hollywood.
Nearing the end of the journey, we drove through the Shasta mountains and Duck Nation, Eugene before reaching our final destination of Portland, the place that would become our new home.
There is something truly liberating about driving out on the open road in America. You feel maybe a little carsick but more importantly, you are more cultured and wiser. You also don’t have to flush the pet fish.
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I am sure that it was Erskine Childers snr and not his son, president Childers that was the author of riddle of the sands. He was also part of the delegation that negotiated the Anglo Irish agreement following the war of independence.
That’s what I thought too when I first read that.
It was actually Erskine Childers’ father who was executed in 1922, that wrote The Riddle of the Sands. Great article tho Sinead and god knows Darby O Gill was the ultimate in paddywhackery !!
It was Erskine Childer’s father who was the writer.
Hillery’s golf handicap sums up his presidency
It’s well known that De Valera,as Taoiseach, went to the German embassy and offered condolences to the Nazis on the death of Adolf Hitler.
I never knew that President Douglas Hyde did the same thing.
Ireland’s best kept dirty secret?
Not a ‘dirty secret’ – as a neutral country, Hyde was acting appropriately as Head of State rather than expressing a personal view
Research fail…
What a horrible Americanism If you are american I forgive you
@fitszpatrick
How is “X fail” an Americanism? I has thought it was more of an Internetism. Fail is the opposite of win and both can be used as nouns.
In other news, what horrible capitalisation and lack of punctuation. If you are under the age of ten, I forgive you.
Like ur fail is the opposite of succeed and lose is the opposite of win. Enough already Eva. If you are woman I forgive you
No mention of the “small joke” which JFK cracked in the Dáil and which so annoyed Dev. What was it?
Hi Pete,
Thanks for your comment. The story was told by Ryan Tubridy in his JFK in Ireland book last year. He discovered that de Valera had wiped the offending part of JFK’s address to the Dáil from the record – quite extraordinary!
The “joke” was a reference to Lord Edward Fitzgerald’s line “Leinster House does not inspire the brightest ideas.”
JFK seemingly meant it as a light hearted quip, as he added, “that was a long time ago, however”. It wasn’t enough to appease Dev, according to Seán Lemass, who heard him tell the young American that “he had done no service to Irish politicians by this quotation”.
The whole story (is a bit longer than this – so wasn’t really suitable for this article) can be read in that book if you’re interested. Hope this answers your question.
Thanks again for your feedback.
Best,
Sinead
It is also ironic that Erskine Childers was executed by the Free State government for possession of a pistol that was a gift from Michael Collins.
Where’s the explanation of the caption under the picture?
Brutal work.
Hi
Thanks for your comment. The story was told by Ryan Tubridy in his JFK in Ireland book last year. He discovered that de Valera had wiped the offending part of JFK’s address to the Dáil from the record – quite extraordinary!
The “joke” was a reference to Lord Edward Fitzgerald’s line “Leinster House does not inspire the brightest ideas.”
JFK seemingly meant it as a light hearted quip, as he added, “that was a long time ago, however”. It wasn’t enough to appease Dev, according to Seán Lemass, who heard him tell the young American that “he had done no service to Irish politicians by this quotation”.
The whole story (is a bit longer than this – so wasn’t really suitable for this article) can be read in that book if you’re interested. Hope this answers your question.
Sinead
Nothing wrong with Darby O’Gills and the Little People.
It’s a fine Cork pub.
“One of the last presidential acts of Douglas Hyde was to visit the German ambassador Eduard Hempel on May 3, 1945. During the visit, which remained a secret until 2005, he reportedly offered his condolences on the death of Adolf Hitler.”
It did not ‘remain a secret until 2005′. It was widely known and circulated at the time and afterwards. It was common knowlege when I was growing up, learning history at secondary school and subsequently at third level. In case you’re wondering I’m no six year old.
Anyone got video of Mary Robinson on the Den? looks like it was in The Best Bits of the Den DVD
Noth
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