Summary

The author recounts a family road trip across the Southwest United States, reflecting on past experiences and creating new memories with their daughter and parents.

Abstract

The author, an experienced driver since 1984, embarks on a road trip across the Southwest United States with their daughter and parents, despite the challenges of driving in Spain where they live. The trip begins with a multimodal journey from Spain to Los Angeles, where they explore iconic locations such as Hollywood Boulevard and the Santa Monica Pier, and visit Universal Studios. The author contrasts the current experience with their memories of the 1970s and 1980s, noting changes in both the environment and the attractions. The journey continues through Arizona and Utah, with stops at natural landmarks and family visits, highlighting the beauty of the Southwest and the importance of family connections. The author reflects on the impact of forest fires on the local landscape and the significance of reconnecting with their roots after years of living abroad.

Opinions

The author finds driving in Spain to be a stressful experience, akin to playing Russian roulette.
The author is critical of the Spanish driving test process, viewing it as a money-making scheme.
There is a sense of nostalgia for the Universal Studios of the 1980s, which the author feels has lost its interactive movie experience focus.
The author is disappointed by the decrease in marine diversity at the Palos Verdes tide pools compared to the 1970s.
The author appreciates the charm of Redondo Beach, noting that it has remained largely unchanged over the years.
The author values the safety culture in the US, despite the initial surprise at the strict enforcement.
The author enjoys the open road and the freedom of driving in the US, contrasting it with the constraints of driving in Spain.
The author is awed by the natural beauty of the Southwest, particularly the red cliffs and the diverse colors of the rocks.
The author emphasizes the importance of preserving natural and historical sites, advocating for leaving them undisturbed.
The author expresses concern about the environmental impact of forest fires in the Flagstaff area, which has led to flash floods.
The author cherishes the opportunity to share their past with their daughter and to reconnect with family and friends in the US.
The author does not regret their decision to live abroad but acknowledges the emotional significance of their US roots and the beauty of the American Southwest.

Southwest Road-trip: Driving Though the Past and the Present

Sharing and creating memories on the Road

Photo by Author — Roadtripping with my parents

My life in Spain is largely carless as I don’t have a car or a driver’s license there. This is not to say I don’t know how to drive; I have been driving since 1984 when I was 14. It is also not to say that I don’t drive in Spain, I do, but every time I do, it is like playing Russian roulette. The cops could get me at any moment. This does add to the adrenaline level but is not conducive to long road trips.

I have vowed to get my Spanish drivers license this year even though I have been warned that the test is more geared to trick me so I have to take it more than once and spend more money because I will get charged every time I take the test and I can’t take the test without shelling out about 500 Euro for driving lessons. Wish me luck!

So, in Spain I don’t take many road trips, but this month I am back in the good old U S of A and here my driver’s license is valid. So I am off to show my daughter a bit of America and share with her what my parents used to do with me. As an added bonus, my parents are on this trip too!

The beginning of this trip is not a road trip as it started when my friend gave me a ride to the bus station where I bussed it from Granada to Madrid. Then I met up with my daughter, we got a train from Madrid to Barcelona, a taxi to the airport and a plane all the way to Los Angeles where my parents and niece picked us up and our road trip began.

I love Los Angeles. I lived there in the 70s until I was about 6 and then I spent most of my summers there working when I was a teenager. My mom used to take us to the tide pools off of Palos Verdes, the beaches in Torrance and Redondo Beach and I absolutely loved the amusement parks.

I let my daughter pick much of the itinerary on the first days because she had been researching LA and had some things she wanted to see.

We started our adventure on Hollywood Boulevard looking at the stars. We made it all the way to Mann’s Chinese Theater. My dad had forgotten his hat so our first stop was to buy one. He picked one out with a pot leaf on the front. He is 80 so this made quite the splash on the Boulevard and many guys offered to hang out with us.

Photo by Author: First stop Hollywood Blvd. My daughter laughing at my dad’s hat choice

Then it was back to the car to check out the Santa Monica Pier. It did not disappoint. So many people, so many attractions and the start of the famous Route 66.

Photos by Author: The Santa Monica Pier in all of its glory

Just to make sure we had the full experience, we took the freeways and spent at least an hour in bumper to bumper traffic on that first day.

Then the next day we got an early start because we were spending the day at Universal Studios. We got there at opening and stayed until closing, riding all of the rides and going on the studio tour. My daughter loved it. I enjoyed myself but couldn’t help but compare it to the Universal Studios I had loved in the 80s.

Back then it was much more about the movie experience and had lots of things you could volunteer to act in. Now it is much more of an amusement park based on movies, but there is nothing interactive. There are so many more people now, I guess it is just not practical any more. Oh well, it was all my daughter had dreamed of, so that is enough for me.

The following day we went to the tide pools in Palos Verdes, one of the richest areas of Los Angeles, with impressive cliffs and rolling hills. My daughter said it looked like Greece and was underwhelmed. My mother and I were disappointed at how little marine diversity there is now compared to when we used to explore back in the 70s.

Photo by Author: Just before the lifeguard started yelling at my family to get away from the edge because it was dangerous. I had forgotten how rigorous the safety culture is in the US

After that we visited Redondo Beach where I had my first, second and third jobs on the pier as a teenager. Very little had changed, I found it charming.

Then, it was on to Arizona where my parents live now. My father finally relinquished the wheel and let me drive, something he rarely does and we hit the open road, destination Barstow.

Photo by Author: My dad rarely gives up the wheel if he can help it.

We stayed in a roadside hotel this time unlike in my childhood when my parents would pull over to the side of the road and we would sleep in the car. Of course back then, we had a station wagon with fake wood paneling. We had a mattress in the back of the car where my brother and I would read, sleep and argue while my dad drove. Now we had to all be buckled up so, no mattress.

In the morning we were off to Flagstaff where we were welcomed in with a torrential thunder storm. After a few relaxing days among the pine trees where the temperature rarely gets above 85 even in August, we were off again to visit my aunt and uncle in Bluff, Utah.

Along the way we passed the Cameroon Trading Post where I have often stopped to eat a Navajo taco, but this time we kept on driving past dinosaur tracks and roadside jewelry stands.

We also saw hills so unusual looking that my daughter requested a stop for a photo opp.

Then it was on through Monument Valley where we couldn’t resist stopping to take more pictures.

Photos by Author: We had to wait in a bit of a line to take these as apparently we were not the only ones with this idea

When we arrived in Bluff, opening the door was accompanied by the realization that it was hot! It was also spectacularly beautiful.

After a good night’s sleep, we spent the day on the river as river running is one of my aunt and uncle’s passions. It is hard to overstate the beauty of the Southwest. Red cliffs tower above the cottonwood trees that line the river. When we got out to hike, the rocks were so many different colors they looked like jewels and scattered among them were ancient pottery shards. We marveled at them as well as the hieroglyphs and were careful to leave everything just as we had found it.

Photo by Author: on the river for a day, dad still has his hat on

The next day we returned to Flagstaff and were almost there when we were stopped dead in the middle of the highway. We could see that the traffic was stopped ahead but couldn’t see what the problem was, so my mother and daughter got out of the car and walked up the shoulder of the road until anther stopped motorist told them that there was a flash flood ahead so we were going to have to wait an hour and a half until they got everything cleared up. We felt fortunate when a half an hour later we were allowed to move along.

Flash floods have been a problem in the Flagstaff area this summer because of recent forest fires. The soil can no longer absorb the water from the monsoons and runs down into the neighborhoods where people have stacked sandbags around their houses in an attempt to keep the water out.

I am so glad to have been able to show my daughter a bit of my past and make new memories with her. Visiting friends and family has always been a motivating factor for my family’s road trips and after so many years of living abroad, seeing them again makes me feel connected to this land I gave up in order to know more.

I do not regret moving to Japan, Turkey and Spain and would not give up the wonderful life I have in Spain now, but I am reminded of how lovely it is here too, and how many beautiful memories I have of this remarkable place.

If you could take a road trip through your past, where would you go? What would you do? Who would you visit?

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