Day 25: Los Angeles, CA to Boston, MA

We got a productive start in the morning, having eaten breakfast and in the car ready to go shortly after 9am. A trip to the local post office to sort out some mail forwarding issues was abandoned when the post office turned out to not be open yet, and so we instead proceeded straight to Coffee Bean so that Abe could get his precious ice blended chai before abandoning the west coast for a week. We hit virtually no traffic and arrived at the airport in plenty of time. Abe, a Gold Medallion Delta SkyMiles member for the first time, proceeded to the Sky Priority line and checked in our bags. After breezing through security thanks to our participation in TSA Pre-Check, Arielle went straight to the Delta SkyClub, which she has individual access to as a result of one of her credit cards, while Abe sat down by the gate to catch up on some TV watching. When Arielle arrived about 45 minutes later with soup to share, she informed Abe that he had been sitting by the wrong gate. Fortunately, it wasn’t too late for Abe to get in line to talk to a representative about our seats. Since Gold Medallion members have complimentary access to Delta Comfort + seats three days ahead of time, Abe had selected one, but since Arielle had booked a Basic Economy ticket, which was $25 cheaper, she hadn’t been upgraded with him. As Arielle, quoting her mom, always says, it never hurts to ask, and Abe was both surprised and delighted when the desk agent quickly and kindly moved her up from her aisle seat thirteen rows back to the middle seat right next to him. Twice as much legroom (and free alcohol) are well worth it on a cross-country flight! It’s also great that Delta continues to offer complimentary meals to everyone on the plane on cross-country flights. Our usual selection of the cheese and fruit plate continues to be reliable even if the cheeses are far too smoky. The new peanuts they have are great though! Arielle asked if she could get two drinks (she actually got three) and ordered a coffee with Bailey’s and a ginger ale. Abe got Bailey’s on the rocks and apple juice, drunk separately, of course. Ed, the very nice flight attendant, even gave us two extra bottles of Bailey’s but jokingly warned us that we better not get too rowdy. The other flight attendant, Heather, was also fantastic, and she and Ed helped make a five-hour flight fly by.

Going through a proof of our wedding album (only four years late) also made it enjoyable! Abe also watched some movies and TV and Arielle finally watched Coco, which she loved, despite crying through and after the film, which was especially emotional after the year we’ve had. We landed about half an hour early and our bags were already waiting for us at baggage claim by the time we arrived at the carousel. Our friend Julia was nice enough to come pick us up at the airport and drive us to her East Boston apartment. Her fiancé Frank picked up a box of Santarpio’s Pizza to have as a late night dinner on their roof, which was lovely. We chatted for a while and had a great time catching up. We give them a 10/10 rating for hospitality and accommodations - their dogs even steered clear of Abe! We look forward to celebrating their wedding in Boston in October! We got to sleep around midnight, preparing for a big day of driving the next day.

Approximate number of miles covered: 3000

Day 24: Los Angeles, CA

We got to sleep in little, and Arielle cooked French toast for breakfast for everyone before heading out with her mom for the afternoon to run a few errands at the mall. They went into See’s Candies for a free sample and walked along the entire counter before accepting the samples. When they turned around to leave, they saw a shiny 2017 penny sitting on the counter, and could not have been more certain that it wasn’t there seconds earlier. Arielle and Brenda believed that this was just another sign that Arielle’s grandmother, who passed away in 2017, was looking out for them.

They returned to join the boys for a late lunch of kosher BLT sandwiches, made with beef fry instead of bacon. We left around 3:50pm to drive to Beverly Hills to attend an advance press screening of Operation Finale at the Rodeo Screening Room. Thanks to 42West for allowing us all to attend! The film, which stars Ben Kingsley as Adolf Eichmann and Oscar Isaac as the Israeli operative sent to retrieve him from Argentina and bring him to Israel to stand trial, was great, and you can find a full review over at MoviesWithAbe.com.

We finished off the night with dinner at Lamonica’s NY Pizza, Arielle’s top pick for pizza on both coasts which is made spectacular by their shipping in of dough made with New York water (they also make the dough for Costco pizza everywhere). We returned home to pack once again, this time bringing with us just a suitcase and a backpack apiece for our next big adventure.

Approximate number of miles covered: 13

Day 23: Brian Head, UT to Los Angeles, CA

We woke up at 6:45am and cleaned up the condo before we hit the road to make it all the way to Los Angeles. We wanted to make it as far as possible without stopping, and ended up crossing briefly through Arizona and then Nevada before entering California, three states we had both been to before.

We chose a gas station that would get us far enough - more than halfway - so that we wouldn’t have to refill gas another time on this leg. Fortunately, they had local date milkshakes available and Abe got a banana one, which Arielle ended up liking more even though she doesn’t usually like dates. Unfortunately, our horror at the $4.79 per gallon price tag was made even more horrific upon realizing that this one station was not emblematic of California gas prices quite that high but instead a full dollar more per gallon than every subsequent station we passed. Our misery subsided when we got to Barstow, CA and picked up a meal that Arielle had been craving the whole trip - a grilled cheese animal-style from In and Out. Abe got black pepper chicken and mushroom chicken from Panda Express, which was right next door.

We drove another hour or so to Monrovia, CA, where Abe got what he had been craving the whole trip - an ice blended chai latte from Coffee Bean.

Our welcome back to California didn’t include nearly as much traffic as we had expected, which was great, and we pulled in to Arielle’s parents’ home before 5pm, making the whole trip, including stops, about nine hours. We promptly unloaded every item from our trunk and backseat into a bedroom in the house, rendering it completely unusable due to the large volume of items now on the floor. We enjoyed a lovely and delicious dinner of beef ribs prepared by Arielle’s mom for dinner, and Arielle was thrilled to have kosher meat for only the third time in three weeks. Though we hadn’t planned to stay up late and adjust to Pacific Time, we did end up chatting for a while with Arielle’s parents and her sister Cindy, getting to bed after midnight.

Approximate number of miles covered: 487

Day 22: Brian Head, UT to Zion National Park

We woke up at 6:45am and set out for Zion National Park. This drive, which took about an hour and forty minutes, took us a completely different direction, allowing us to see some new mountain views and some puzzling signs for the Grand Canyon, which we confirmed via some quick phone research was still a good four hours away.

Upon arrival into the town of Springdale, Utah, we saw notices that indicated parking in Zion was full but decided to ignore them, which proved to be a good decision when we found a perfectly decent spot in the Visitor Center parking lot, which was both huge and, admittedly, mostly full. We spoke to a ranger who highlighted the three most popular sites, the Riverside Walk, Weeping Rock Trail, and Lower Emerald Pool Trail. Though she said that all three could take us six hours due to congestion and the speed of the free park shuttle, we asked for a more moderate hike to consider also. We started immediately on the Watchman Trail, a 3.3-mile trek that took us up to see sweeping views of the Towers of the Virgin, lower Zion Canyon, and Springdale. We had the trail mostly to ourselves for a while and then met more and more people on their way down as we experienced our first day of true heat in the 90s. When we reached the top we opted to take the short loop trail to see a bit more before descending. When we reached the bottom, we accidentally veered off the trail and ended up walking for about five minutes in a dried-up creek filled with sand. We eventually reunited with the trail and headed straight onto the bus when we arrived back at the Visitor Center.

We rode about forty minutes all the way to the ninth and last stop, which was the Temple of Sinawava. The Riverside Walk was 2.2 miles roundtrip and listed as a 1.5-hour easy hike with mostly paved (and mostly accessible) trail. It did feel a bit longer than we expected, given how quickly we had done our earlier, certainly more strenuous hike, and it’s possible the crowds also made it feel longer. When we reached the water at the end, we got a peek at what hiking The Narrows would have been like, though we would have required waterproof hiking shoes, walking sticks, and considerably more time to confront this more arduous adventure. There’s always next time! We got back on the shuttle and rode two stops to Weeping Rock, where the 0.4-mile hike was described as short but steep. While it did look intense and formidable, we only had a bit of uphill climbing to do before we reached our destination in about ten minutes. Arielle enjoyed looking at the water falling from this rock and standing under it to get a bit of a shower. The view of the mountains was mesmerizing from behind where the water was falling, and it was difficult to pry Arielle away. We made the next bus and rode to Zion Lodge, where the 1.2-mile hike to the Emerald Pool again proved to be slightly more involved than we had expected for such a crowded and popular hike. The views weren’t quite as worthwhile on this one but it was still decent as our final hike on this trip. Returning to the bus, we rode back to the Visitor Center and departed the park, having checked off everything we were equipped to do that day.

We drove about five minutes to Zion Park Gift and Deli, where we recognized the same ice cream flavors we had seen the last two days in Bryce Canyon City, discovering that their brand was the same as the other despite having a different name. We shared a double scoop of Brownies on the Moon and Mint Chip, which were both delicious.

We got on the road towards Brian Head and stopped at a Smith’s supermarket, where we purchased some canned soup and frozen mac and cheese and fish sticks to heat up for dinner, as well as some quality plums. We stopped in Parowan, right outside Brian Head, for gas, and then returned to the condo to eat and pack, a task that proved difficult for Abe since, somehow, three weeks into the trip, his suitcase was just as full as at the start. Next time you see us, ask us if you’d like to see a hilarious video that we opted not to post here but are happy to share privately. We eventually got everything together and went to bed in preparation for the fateful day when we would finally cross into California.

Approximate number of miles covered: 150

Day 21: Brian Head, UT to Bryce Canyon National Park

We were off to a productive start waking up at 6:45am, bringing oatmeal in the car with us and pulling in to Bryce Canyon National Park at 9am on the dot. We were concerned that we were going to be held up by the giant herd of sheep crossing the road about 10 minutes from where we were staying, but luckily it only caused a minimal delay.

We parked at the Visitor Center in the park, got our recommendations from the ranger, and took the free park shuttle to one of the top lookouts, Bryce Point. We took a few pictures and then opted to add on to the itinerary we had been given, hiking 1.5 miles along the Rim Trail to the next lookout, Inspiration Point. We made quick time and continued along 0.7 miles to Sunset Point, and then another 0.5 miles to Sunrise Point. There, we descended the Queen’s Garden Trail, which took us into the hoodoos (spire-looking rock formations) that we had seen from above. This was a really cool route to take, and the views only got more spectacular as we traveled more of the 2.4 miles and connected with the Navajo Loop Trail. We couldn’t have imagined how intricate and wondrous the inside of those structures were from above, and it was truly breathtaking to get to experience it from below, even if the final hike up back to Sunset Point was pretty strenuous. The entire hike was supposed to be a 600 foot climb, but it seemed like 550 of those feet came in the last 0.2 miles of the Navajo Loop.

Feeling thoroughly accomplished, we took the shuttle bus out to Ruby’s Inn, where we ate burgers (garden for Arielle) and fries at the diner. This was hardly our most exciting meal of the trip, but we were hungry and needed some fuel. The only thing we hadn’t done yet that was recommended by the ranger was drive the length of the 17-mile scenic road to Rainbow Point, stopping at Natural Bridge, which is actually an arch, along the way. The view was impressive, but didn’t compare to actually being down in the canyons and hoodoos.

The same was true for the Natural Bridge on the way back, which is actually an arch. We drove out of the park and stopped at the same ice cream place we had the day before, this time opting to split a single giant scoop of the Orange Cremo flavor.

We bought a few groceries from Ruby’s Inn, watching with amazement as one man purchasing beer screamed at the cashier who tried to put his case in a plastic bag because he hated plastic. He wasn’t getting that the cashier was simply trying to follow Utah law that alcohol can’t be carried openly, and his dramatic reaction was a bit much. We got on the road to make the hour and twenty minute trip back to Brian Head, which was similarly slowed briefly when we ran into that same herd of sheep again grazing in the same spot and taking ownership over the road. We stopped just a few miles from the condo to look at Cedar Breaks National Monument, which was just off the main road and provided similarly magnificent views to what we had been seeing throughout our time in Utah.

We had a low-key evening, cooking frozen cod fillets and carrots for dinner and getting to bed early again for our final National Park of this leg of the trip the next morning.

Approximate number of miles covered: 159