Neither Kit or I had ever done a ‘classic’ road trip, so in May we packed up the Yaris and hit the road, bound for adventure!

We drove through the western United States in a circuit that took us across the southwest on Route 66, up past the Rockies to Yellowstone National Park and down from Oregon through the redwoods of the Pacific Northwest.

All in all we visited nine states, explored seven national parks and logged nearly 5,000 miles driving over dirt, gravel and asphalt.

We went from -282 ft below sea level in Death Valley to nearly 9,400 ft in Yellowstone National Park, ate at no less than four roadside diners on Route 66 and drove by 31 concrete dinosaurs in the southwest.

We may have also sang “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” by Journey with the windows down at least a thousand times. Reports are sketchy.

Flickr collection:

USA Road Trip 2009