- from Ann Arbor, Michigan

      to Los Angeles, California

      to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    - visit 19 national parks/memorial

    Jul. 3, 2005 ~ Jul. 31, 2005

        After defending my PhD thesis in late June, I took one month off for this road trip as my   relax/recharge vacation before starting my postdoc position at UPenn. In the past Shu-Wen and I always went backpacking as our special way to celebrate graduations. This time we decided to do this in an American style to celebrate probably our last degrees in our life time. Though road trip doesn't seem to exactly match our travel style, we thought after 5-year stay in US we should at least experience some spirit of it. By combining the road trip with favorite visits to national parks, this trip actually turned out to be a sweat, wonderful and unforgettable memory of our lives.