12 States, 2 Countries, 6 days.

Today is the day! I am headed out to LA to enjoy the weekend on the beach before I head cross-country for an epic road trip adventure! I am soooo excited!

My friend Heather has been living out in LA for the Summer bought a car out there, and now needs to drive it back to upstate NY where she's from. I was lucky enough to get the invite to come along for the ride. The plan is to go from LA, back to Phoenix, to Boulder to Mt. Rushmore/South Dakota, to Minneapolis, to Chicago, through Ann Arbor, up to Canada, to Niagara Falls, to Buffalo then ending up in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate NY. Yeah- quite the venture! It's nice because between myself and Heather, we have planned our trip according to places we have to stay. Shacking up with friends, family and old co-workers. We're staying with a friend I worked in Texas with at a summer camp in Boulder is sure he'll show us a good time. We are making a pit stop in SD and getting a cheap motel so we don't have to make the 18 hour drive straight through to Minnesota. Heather has friends in Minneapolis and Chicago we're staying with. Umm, Mall of America in MN and Lollapalooza weekend in Chicago- I'm sure it won't be hard to have fun in either of those places! (I am probably most excited about Chi-town... I've always wanted to visit- and yes I just called it Chi-town like I'm Jay-Z.)

Image via Weheartit.com

From there we're passing through Ann Arbor where I will hopefully get lunch with my roommate and check out Ann Arbor for an hour or so, I've heard it's just amazing there! We'll drive straight up through Canada, eh? Get another stamp on the passport (I think? Do they do that when you drive through? We'll see!). Going to see Niagara Falls from the Canadian side, at night, which is supposed to be the best side and time to see it. So pumped! There's supposed to be a really cool night life in Canada, by Niagara Falls, so her cousins who live right there are gonna take us out before we spend the night at one of Heather's many relatives in Buffalo, NY.
We will wake up in the morning Saturday and head to the Finger Lakes for Heather's family reunion, where I am going to be a reunion-crasher and adopt myself into their family for some wine-tasting, the "Death March" hike, and some swimming and tubing in the lake. Sounds like the definition of a perfect summer weekend, right?! (Okay, except for maybe the "Death March" but she says it's not that bad!)

Well I'm off to LA in a few hours for some jet skiing, Universal Studios, vintage shopping and beach bonfires! I will try and keep you updated on my travels as I am passing through, but follow my Twitter or Instagram for updates if I don't get the chance to periodically update here!

Enjoy the last few weeks of Summer, loves!
Here's to making the most of my final weeks of Summer!
xoxo
Alex