That's the map of our trip. We went pass lots of cities but here are the places we stopped by or stayed the night.
Maryland -> Nashville, TN -> Memphis, TN -> Little Rock, AR -> Hot Springs, AR -> Oklahoma City, OK -> Albuquerque, NM -> Phoenix area, AZ -> Grand Canyon, AZ -> Las Vegas, NV -> San Francisco, CA
Each place has its own beauty and uniqueness from the food to the people. I’ve experienced a lot from mosquito bites in Tennessee, lightning striked in front of me in Arizona, driving across the New Mexico desert overnight, and seeing a truck flipped on the way to San Francisco. But most importantly, I get to learn lots of things. It’s definitely a great experience. I would do it again in the future if there’s a chance.
Here are a few photos and highlights:
Nashville, TN
- The Parthenon
- Downtown, convention center, Batman building
Memphis, TN
- Mud Island
- Beale Street
- Graceland, blues, Jazz, and country music
- Barbeque at Rendezvous restaurant is a must (long waiting time)
Little Rock, AR
- Clinton Presidential Library
- Flea Market
- Little Rock Central High School
Hot Springs, AR
- Hot mineral bath at Quapaw bathhouse (good experience, got to relax)
Oklahoma city, OK
- Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial
Albuquerque, NM
- Breakfast in the city and driving across the desert in the morning.
- Wanted to see the Sandia Peak Tramway but didn’t have time.
Arizona
- Meteor Crater
- Phoenix area, nice bbq and pool with friends.
- Grand Canyon
Las Vegas, NV
- We passed by Hoover Dam at night so didn’t see anything. Got pulled over by Homeland Security or Department of Interior for being “suspicious”. They pulled out random reasons like “You ran the STOP sign”, “you take pictures”, “you breath the air” and crap like that. Finally they let us go without any charge.
- Sight seeing and people watching.
- Stayed at the Bellagio, played Black Jack. Word of advice: if you want to gamble in Las Vegas casinos, the Bellagio is the toughest place to win (out of 4 casinos I’ve been to). They have these black box machines to shuffle cards. After several hands, they put the cards back to the machines for shuffling so you can’t really count cards (I don’t). The black box also made it hard to predict patterns because it’s all random after shuffling. Who knows what’s in that black box, they might count the number of players and deal the dealer 21 all the times. I was up and down for several hours but managed to stay on the plus side and quitted. The “easier” place to win is at the Palazzo / Venetian. They have the standard 8 deck cards. It’s more predictable and easier for money management.
- Cirque du Soleil KA show (great stage you have to see it).
- Wynn’s buffet (great food, good price, recommend) and Paris’ steakhouse (good food, too pricey).
San Francisco, CA
- Fisherman’s Wharf (This place looks like the Fisherman’s Horizon in Final Fantasy)
- Chinatown and financial district (Lively culture, good food).
- Golden Gate Bridge
- Russian Hill / Lombard St
- Coit Tower
- Japanese Tea Garden
- The Exploratorium (Good for physics / chemistry experiments. Nice place to bring the kids).
- Pho in San Jose was good. There’s a street with lots of night clubs / bars that’s worth seeing if you're into that.
