After leaving Paris, France, Yun Luo and Yan Chenyu came to the United States. ☆→, what they saw was mostly the hustle and bustle of the metropolis, and what they heard was also the strong voice of the world's largest country. Economy, military, technology, and entertainment are often the first words that people think of when they mention the United States.
However, putting aside all the exaggeration, this piece of land in the American continent is exactly what is most worth savoring. Yunluo's trip will span across the central United States, mainly visiting those unique national parks and natural wonders, and experiencing the strange scenery of different landforms in the American continent.
Therefore, Yunluo wanted to show the most primitive and authentic American continent from the perspective of Yunluo's travel, so that Yunluo could temporarily forget about the world's largest economy, forget about this technological superpower, forget about this military hegemon, and return his gaze to nature, back to the primitive, and back to the naked American continent.
Yunluo did a lot of homework during the early preparations, developed many plans, and finally came up with a set of plans that he thought was relatively reasonable.
The entire self-driving trip will last about fourteen days, starting from Illinois, passing through Kansas and Colorado in the south, heading north along Utah, visiting Yellowstone Park and then returning east, passing through South Dakota and Iowa, and finally returning to Illinois. The entire trip will visit five national parks.
We will also visit some attractions in Page, Arizona. The total trip is about 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers), which sounds crazy. Yunluo has long dreamed of such a trip, and was so excited that he couldn't sleep the night before it was about to come true.
The day before departure, Yunluo went to the airport car rental office and rented a Chevrolet Impala. This large front-wheel drive sedan is really spacious, and the trunk is the largest one Yunluo has ever seen, with no problem for two people to lie in. However, this car, which has not been redesigned for many years, still has many inhumane designs.
For example, the control is not smooth, the driver's storage space is too small, the instrument panel does not display enough data, etc. But for a low price of only $500 for two weeks, there is nothing to complain about. The price-performance ratio is really good. When I first got the car, it had only run more than 6,000 miles. It can be said that it has just been out of the running-in period and the car still has the smell of a new car.
After driving Yunluo's old second-hand car for so long, Yunluo especially enjoyed the feeling of driving a new car every time he rented a car. Although the car was large, after Yunluo and Yan Chenyu stuffed the items they needed this time into it, they instantly felt that the car was full.
In addition to two suitcases and two travel bags, the car was also loaded with a camping tent, a folding chair, a freezer, various blankets, bedding and pillows, as well as drinks, snacks and a bunch of other travel supplies, turning the car into a mobile home.
At 8 o'clock in the morning, carrying the supplies and expectations for the trip, they drove westward on Highway 70. There were no scenic spots arranged on the first day, and the scenery they enjoyed was nothing more than the vast hills and fields outside the window, but the excitement of the beginning of the journey made Yunluo and Yan Chenyu completely forget the boredom and fatigue of the long drive.
In the evening, Yunluo and Yan Chenyu arrived at a small town called Hays in Kansas and stayed at the Super 8 Inn next to the highway exit. There was not a single cloud in the sky that night, and the clear sky was particularly dazzling. Yunluo and Yan Chenyu were staying at the hotel with another family, two parents with three children of similar age. Judging from their equipment, they were also taking their children to experience outdoor life. The happiness exuded by the five people made Yunluo particularly impressed.
It won't take long to drive from Hays across the state border to Colorado. Colorado's altitude gradually rises, and it's uphill all the way. Denver is the capital and largest city of Colorado, and one of the economic centers of the entire western United States. It has a population of more than 600,000 (it can only be considered a small city in China).
Denver is close to the Rocky Mountains. Compared with the surrounding scenery, there is really nothing worth staying in this city for a long time. Yunluo personally feels that except for the world-famous metropolises such as New York and Los Angeles, other so-called "big cities" in the United States are all the same and have no characteristics. The attractions in the city are nothing more than zoos or aquariums with various gimmicks.
Occasionally, some "historical sites" commemorate some minor historical events that happened in the last century and are not worth visiting. Denver is the same. It was built in 1956. It is younger than the capital of New China. It relies on Colorado's rich reserves of oil and natural gas and is a product of the great development period of the American West.
Although there are not many attractions to see, big cities mean that there may be delicious food. There is a Japanese restaurant called Domo on the edge of downtown Denver. From the white lime walls outside, you can't tell that this is a very chic Japanese restaurant, but when you go inside, you will immediately feel like you are in Japan.
There is a tree-lined courtyard in the restaurant. The small bridges, running water, pavilions and terraces in the courtyard are all in pure Japanese style. As soon as you enter, you will have the urge to speak Japanese. The food here is also great. The Japanese noodles and beef rice are very similar to the taste that Yunluo had eaten in Japan. After eating, you will feel very full.
After lunch, Yunluo went to the home court of the Denver Nuggets and took a few photos. This satisfied Yunluo's selfish desire as an NBA die-hard fan, and then continued to head west. In order to have more time to visit Arches National Park tomorrow, Yunluo and Yan Chenyu chose to stay in a place only an hour and a half away from Arches National Park. A small problem occurred: Yunluo's car reminded Yunluo to change the oil. I would like to strongly criticize Budget Car Rental. Before renting the car, Yunluo told them that Yunluo would drive thousands of miles and needed to change the oil in advance. They promised Yunluo but still gave Yunluo a car that needed to change the oil immediately.
It was only two days of driving, more than a thousand miles, and the car couldn't go anymore. Yunluo was very angry. Yunluo immediately called the car rental company, and they said they could find a local budget car rental station to change Yunluo's car for free. Although they were very polite to each other, Yunluo still wanted to curse in his heart: How long will this fucking delay me!
Along the way, Yunluo and Yan Chenyu scolded Budget. But later on, I thought that the unknowns encountered during the journey are also part of the journey. Although the road after Denver has many bends and ups and downs (because it enters the Rocky Mountains), the scenery is really beautiful.
All the hills were covered with tall and neat coniferous trees. The gurgling Colorado River flowed rapidly at the foot of the mountain, accompanied by large patches of snow-white clouds. The whole picture was beautiful. Yunluo and Yan Chenyu stopped at a random viewing point beside the road and took a few photos with their cameras.
The beautiful scenery made Yunluo and Yan Chenyu temporarily forget about the problem with the car. Yunluo and Yan Chenyu enjoyed it for a long time before getting back on the road. It was almost dusk when they arrived. Yunluo and Yan Chenyu were hungry, so they used their mobile phones to find a Chinese restaurant called "Chan Garden" to have dinner.
As soon as he entered the door, the boss greeted him warmly in Chinese: "Where are you from?" "China." "Where in the United States are you from?" "Oh, Illinois..." The boss judged that Yun Luo could speak Chinese based on his feeling, so he asked before Yun Luo opened his mouth.
The boss was very friendly, about 60 years old, of Malaysian descent. When his wife heard that a Chinese-speaking guest had arrived, she quickly came from the kitchen to greet Yunluo and Yan Chenyu. It seemed that they didn't often see Asian compatriots here, and they were very excited to see two Asian-looking travelers.
This is also what Yunluo and Yan Chenyu saw when they just entered the city. It looked like an old industrial city. There were few people in such a large place, and the quiet and empty buildings looked like ruins.
Yunluo has traveled to so many cities in the United States, and this is not the first city that looks like a ruin. The desolate impressions of cities such as Detroit and Cleveland are still preserved in Yunluo's mind. The aging of a country is slowly swallowing up its prosperity. < Airport was prepared to change cars, but to Yunluo and Yan Chenyu's disappointment, this car rental point did not have any ready-made cars, all of them were reserved. The staff asked Yunluo and Yan Chenyu to go to another car rental point in the city center to ask tomorrow morning.
Yunluo was so disappointed. The time was already so tight and he was going to waste the morning. A wave of anger surged in his heart: "I will complain to you when I get back!" They left the hotel early in the morning, with the goal of solving the car problem as early as possible. The most important task today was to travel around Arches National Park - the first national park that Yunluo and Yan Chenyu had planned for this trip. They only had one day to spend in this park, so they had to hurry up to get the car. Another budget car rental point in the city was located in a shopping district in the city center. When they went there in the morning, all the shops were not open yet, but the car rental window was already open. After the staff learned about Yunluo and Yan Chenyu's situation, they told Yunluo that they had just taken back an Impala and could replace it with Yunluo and Yan Chenyu.
Yun Luo breathed a sigh of relief and asked her to confirm again and again that there would be no problems with the car's engine oil, because Yun Luo and Yan Chenyu still had another three or four thousand miles to travel.
It was already past nine o'clock after they got the new car. Yunluo and Yan Chenyu still had to drive for more than an hour to get to Arches National Park. The new Impala was a luxury version of the previous car, but it was a little older than the previous one and had run more than 18,000 miles. The solution to the vehicle problem made Yunluo feel much more relaxed, and he felt that this car was more comfortable than the previous one.
The sun was not visible in the morning sky, and the thick clouds were completely invisible. The weather forecast said that there would be intermittent thunderstorms in Arches National Park today, which made Yunluo very nervous. The park is a desert with no shelter, and encountering lightning is no joke, and rainy weather will also affect the mood of the tour.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
Arches National Park is located in Utah and is one of the most famous national parks in the United States. There are more than 2,000 stone arches in the park, with different shapes, but all are spectacular. After arriving at the park, Yunluo and Yan Chenyu first went to the visitor center. The visitor center of the US National Park is worth stopping at. In addition to souvenir shops and exhibitions, there is also...
There will be explanations about the formation of the park's landforms, and the park's managers will help you make a tour plan based on your schedule. All managers are geographers who have a deep love for the park, and their advice is worth listening to.
Based on their suggestions and Yunluo's previous research, Yunluo and Yan Chenyu quickly planned a tour route. There are two arches in Arches National Park that must be seen, one of which is called "Landscape Arch".
It is the longest arch. There is not much of the top of the arch left and it may collapse at any time, so it is very likely to be gone in an instant. The other arch is a landmark of the entire state of Utah (it is printed on the license plates of all vehicles registered in Utah), called the "Delicate Arch".
Both of them need to be climbed to see. It takes half an hour to walk to the Landscape Arch and nearly two hours to walk to the Delicate Arch. The road is rugged and difficult to walk. Delicate Arch is the best place to watch the sunset. Many photography enthusiasts rush to the evening to take pictures of it being burned red by the sunset, so Yunluo and Yan Chenyu plan to see it last.
The reason for the formation of the arch is quite interesting. Countless years ago, there was an ocean here. A thick layer of salt was deposited on the seabed, and a layer of soft rock and soil covered the salt. Later, when the sea water receded, the salt was slowly piled up due to external forces, squeezing the layer of rock and soil on top into an arc shape.
After the sea completely receded, the land here was eroded by wind and washed away by rain, and all the salt was washed away. What remained was only pieces of arched land, which gradually formed arches of various shapes. Arches are very fragile, because they are not formed by hard rocks, but relatively soft sand, so the life of arches is relatively short.
Among them, the most fragile arch is the Landscape Arch, which is located in an area called "Devil's Garden" in the northernmost part of Arches National Park (Yunluo doesn't know why it was given such a scary name). After getting off the bus, there is a flat path that leads directly to its bottom. The Landscape Arch is the longest arch in the entire park. (To be continued...)