The West Coast

Florida to California 
And Everything in Between

I guess we can just consider this an intro post.  In January, I took an eleven-day trip, driving to the west coast from Florida to California!  Seven of the days were spent driving and the following four were spent in California.  The trip was originally planned as a "get there as soon as you can" kind of deal- but we decided to take a much more scenic route- stopping at all the famous stops along the way.  This trip allowed me to see more of America than I've seen in my entire life.  I'm going to make each state a separate post, including the food and activities we came across.  This trip wasn't a foodie based trip so most of the restaurants will be fast-casual style.  With that being said the posts will be focused more on the travel itself, and how much you can see in a short amount of time.

 Florida: The trip began in Florida where we ate a "Whataburger" for the first time in the panhandle. 

 Alabama:
This was the only state that we neglected to actually drive into, we just passed through as we furthered to Mississippi.  

 Mississipi: 
The first night, we reached Biloxi, Mississippi.  Now I can't tell you why, but Mississippi is literally my favorite state and always has been since I was a kid.  I had never been there until this trip.  I think I really just thought it was spelled cool?  Anyway- Biloxi can pretty much be described as mini Vegas.  Bright lights and tons of casinos.   Here we ate the best Gumbo I'd ever had.
Louisiana:
The next morning we got up and continued our journey by heading towards Louisiana.  This meant taking a small detour to New Orleans for Chicory Coffee and beignets.  We wanted the full experience which meant going to Cafe Du Monde!  We also took a quick walk down bourbon street before hopping back in the car.


Texas:
We finished this day late in Texas.  We had been warned that Texas goes on forever and feels like you'll never get out.  For us, forever was actually three days.  Within those three days, we got the staple Texas foods; steak the first night and BBQ for lunch the next day.  We also made a brief stop to grab some cookies and cupcakes from "Hayley's Cakes & Cookies."  The food in Texas was incredible and I would love to go back for a more foodie focused trip.  

 New Mexico:
From Texas, we headed right into New Mexico where we drove through Alberquerie, stayed the night and woke up early the next morning to make it into Roswell.  This meant the alien invasion was on!  We stopped into the town and visited many different alien attractions that I'll include in my more detailed post! (P.S. The aliens are real. Period.)

Arizona:
The next state we would travel too is Arizona, where I saw the dessert for the first time.  Of course, we had to visit the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Painted dessert and lastly the hoover dam and we crossed into Nevada.  These were all incredible experiences that basically made the whole trip worth it!  

Nevada:
From the Hoover Dam, we headed into Las Vegas, which just happened to land on New Year's eve!  So we grabbed dinner at an Italian restaurant and hit the strip where we experienced the countdown and fireworks!  We stayed the night in Las Vegas before completing our journey into California at dawn the next morning.  

 California:
On January 1st, we finally made it to California!  We spent the remaining four days of the trip in Los Angeles and Long Beach.  We also made a stop at Malibu and several different California beaches!  We saw the astonishing Hollywood sign, Redondo Beach, Hollywood walk of fame, among other several other attractions. I also got to eat at an "In-N-Out" for the first time! 

This trip was incredible and quite eye-opening to all of the parts of the US that I hadn't seen before or quite honestly, I didn't know existed!  Everything was breathtaking and I feel so lucky to have gotten to experience a true road trip like this.  This experience was so much better than taking a plane to California, even just driving through these states allowed me to see so much of the world in just a week.  

 Be sure to subscribe, and follow me on social media to be updated as I post our adventures in each state! You can subscribe at the top of the post or on the left-hand side by entering your email! I'm so excited to have so much content to share with everyone!  Thank you so much for reading!
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From my kitchen to yours, 
MallaryMade

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