When I agreed to set out on a road trip from Seattle to Chicago a few months ago, I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into. I quickly assessed that my companion's definition of a road trip clashed severely with my own. They were both excited about stopping at these places called National Parks. Nature, ok, fine, I don't have a problem with it, but I couldn't help but conjure up ideas of sleeping on the ground and getting eaten alive by mosquitos. My childhood memories of scenic beach towns, cones of ice cream, and window shopping quickly dissipated. Rather than protest, I put my faith into the hands of these two nature zealots and I wasn't disappointed. The beauty of the West blew me away, from the stunning nature to the kindhearted locals, I quickly fell in love with America's West.

Animals

Buffalo! Did I mention buffalo? I naively didn't realize that I would be seeing these creatures until a day or two before I got in the car. I quickly became buffalo, shall we say obsessed, and am still complaining that I didn't get to see one close enough. (I also keep seeing rocks and thinking they are buffalo.) Forever seared in my memory, however, is the old, shaggy square-jawed buffalo that was hiding around a bend in the road at Teddy Roosevelt National Park. The flip side to these anti-social antics are the prairie dogs, you can't enter a National Park without seeing one. And they instantly charm you with their yip, yip and jump out of the hole routine. It's like whack-a-mole, only less violent.

Scenery

From beautiful vistas, tranquil lakes or the patterns of an open field, the natural beauty of the West is a constant pleasure. And the clouds, wow. Who would have ever thought I would have gotten excited about clouds? I was glued to the window for two weeks straight, I did not for once get bored.

Monuments

The West is full of must see monuments, manmade or otherwise, famous or unfamous. From the four guys at Mt. Rushmore to the world's largest buffalo or the natural attractions of Old Faithful or Devils Tower, everything is bigger, better and more dramatic. I even swoon at the majestic wind turbine. There's nothing more amazing than a cluster of them on the horizon.

Breakfast

The roadtrip meal of choice, breakfast. There are three reasons why you can't go wrong with breakfast on your next trip: there's always a local joint, it's always cheap, and bacon. We ate so many breakfasts that I have superlatives. Best sausage gravy: Minnie's in Thompson Falls, MT Best "fancy" breakfast: Pork Chile and Polenta at Lisa's Greybull, WY and Cheapest breakfast: Betty's in Mitchell, SD. (Also, new rule of thumb...when in doubt, head to the breakfast place named after a woman.)

Color

Maybe it was the light, maybe it was the fact it was summer, but your eyes feast on some amazing color when you travel across the West. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

People

Best of all, we met some amazing people along the way and our favorites by far were the people we met via Twitter. Thomas Ritchie( who we wished we met before we went through South Dakota) and his infatuation with his home state of Iowa, made us love it even more. Leif Pettersen touted the wonders of his hometown of Minneapolis, explained the mysterious skyways, and why he loves to come home after traveling the world. Kathleen Perry's quick tour around Madison made us want to come back Wisconsin, just not in the winter. And at her insistence, we tried those deep fried cheese curds.

I'll be breaking down all the great places we saw in the coming weeks. A roadtrip is a blessing and a curse, however, so much diversity, visual stimulus and not enough time to do anything. I want to return to each and every place I've been. (Even to Fargo, which admittedly was depressing at first glance, but they have a Balkan fast food place, with cevapcici that was closed when we drove through. How awesome is that?) And if you didn't get your fill of photos, peek at my ever growing Flickr set here.