{"id":1025,"date":"2012-09-15T22:32:20","date_gmt":"2012-09-16T05:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel\/?page_id=1025"},"modified":"2016-08-25T06:49:33","modified_gmt":"2016-08-25T13:49:33","slug":"highlightlowlights","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel1\/highlightlowlights\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlights\/Lowlights"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Arjan&#8217;s Famous Highlights and Lowlights!<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Total Days on the Trip:<\/strong> 63<\/li>\n<li><strong>Places Visited:<\/strong> 22 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces<\/li>\n<li><strong>Total Miles Driven:<\/strong> 12,631 (20.323 km)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Average Speed:<\/strong> 46 mph<\/li>\n<li><strong>Average Mileage:<\/strong> 49.8 mpg (according to Prius trip meter&#8212; my experience tells me it was probably 48 or 49 mpg, but still &#8230;)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Absolute Highlight:<\/strong> Glacier Bay, Alaska<\/li>\n<li><strong>Highest Altitude (by Prius):<\/strong> Wolfcreek Pass, Colorado: 10,856 feet (3,309 m)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Highest Altitude (by Arjan):<\/strong> Top of the Pancake Rocks trail, Colorado:\u00a011,100 feet (3,383 m)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Biggest Surprise:<\/strong> Grand Coulee (not the Dam) and the Dry Falls in Washington State. Impressive scenery and fascinating geology, not widely known or visited.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Special Recommendation: <\/strong>Antelope Canyon, near Page Arizona. It&#8217;s a guided tour for $35 per person, but well worth it. Unique natural artistry. <a href=\"http:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel1\/2012\/09\/14\/\">See September 14 post pictures!<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Most Tedious Experience:<\/strong> Going through customs in and out of the US and Canada. Total wait time for three entries into the US (we timed it): 2 hours and 10 minutes. Getting into Canada three times: less than an hour.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Towns You Least Want to Visit:<\/strong> Williston, ND. Due to a recent oil boom, it is full of trucks, diesel fumes, gravel and dust, traffic jams, and seedy and\/or ugly roadside &#8220;attractions&#8221;. Barstow, California is a close second.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Towns You DO Want to Visit:<\/strong> We saw many attractive places, but the biggest surprises were Bayfield, WI, on beautiful Lake Superior; and Williams, Arizona, (Affordable) Gateway to the Grand Canyon.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Days Without Any Sun: <\/strong>Three (August 26, September 11, October 2)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Most Rain:<\/strong> September 11, in the high desert of Arizona<\/li>\n<li><strong>Most Overpriced Meal:<\/strong> Trattoria Rustica, Pittsfield, MA<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cheapest Dinners:<\/strong> Zellar Village Inn, Newberry MI: $33.68 for two, including two glasses of wine; Aroma Cafe and Restaurant, Emporium, PA:\u00a0$26.42, no wine.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Worst Dinners:<\/strong> Carmen&#8217;s in Cloquet, Minnesota; The Duck Inn, Havre, Montana; Quigley&#8217;s Family Restaurant, Barstow, California.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Best Lunch:<\/strong> Minnesota made up for Carmen&#8217;s the following day at an outside terrace at the Green Mill Tavern overlooking beautiful Lake Bimidji<\/li>\n<li><strong>Best Meals for the Money<\/strong> (aside from the delicious, free lunch at the Ramsey&#8217;s): McGlinn&#8217;s in Wenatchee, Washington, and 42nd Street Cafe, Seaview, Washington<\/li>\n<li><strong>Best Dinners:<\/strong> Cafe de la Presse in San Francisco for best food; Bali Hai on the San Diego harbor for best view and ambience (the food was good too).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Best Restaurant Service:<\/strong> Sunset Restaurant, Cody, Wyoming.\u00a0 After we ordered the buffet, the waitress only charged us for one senior and one kid meal because &#8220;we ate like birds&#8221;.\u00a0 Besides that, she was a character (orginally from Connecticut).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cheapest Gas:<\/strong> Massachusetts (!), but that was because we left before gas prices went up<\/li>\n<li><strong>Most Expensive Gas:<\/strong> Klamath, California: $4.39<\/li>\n<li><strong>Worst Accommodation:<\/strong> (1) Outlaw Hotel, Kalispell, Montana. When their reservation system went down, they did not know which rooms were available. Key cards did not work, Internet crashed; (2) Best Western in Barstow, California: Road noise, train noise.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Best Accommodation:<\/strong> Bette Ludden&#8217;s house in Ocean Park, Washington<\/li>\n<li><strong>Best Deal:<\/strong> Our Golden Age National Park passes. All national parks are free, and we can come and go as we please.<\/li>\n<li><strong>National Parks Visited:<\/strong> Between 15 and 20 national parks, forests, and monuments<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arjan&#8217;s Famous Highlights and Lowlights! Total Days on the Trip: 63 Places Visited: 22 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces Total Miles Driven: 12,631 (20.323 km) Average Speed: 46 mph Average Mileage: 49.8 mpg (according to Prius trip meter&#8212; my experience tells me it was probably 48 or 49 mpg, but still &#8230;) Absolute Highlight: &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel1\/highlightlowlights\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Highlights\/Lowlights&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":40,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1025","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1025"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1880,"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1025\/revisions\/1880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}