The Grand Western Tour, aka the Great American Vacation

The big picture: thirteen days, fourteen states, two drivers, one car, 5,000 miles.

When Ali and I set out on this journey, it was simply a trip during which we'd visit friends and family on the west coast, seeing a few sights along the way. We'd swing by Mt. Rushmore, we'd cruise through the Redwoods, we'd stop in at San Francisco, Las Vegas would flash by one afternoon. But, inspired by the proximity of some other great sights as we looked at our map during the first exuberant hours of driving on the open road, a tour of the West Coast soon morphed into "the Great American Vacation" during which we would also see the Grand Canyon and Four Corners, classic stops required to make that leap to American road-trip greatness.

The highlights of the journey follow.