It was the best of times...

Here we are in Blanding, Utah. After locating lattes, we'll head home to Albuquerque via 4 corners. I thought I'd take a moment and wrap up a synopsis of our trip.

By the numbers:
Miles driven: about 4300
States visited: 6
Magnets collected: 7
Triathlons raced: 2
National Parks Visited: 7
Highest altitude reached: 8000
Most hours driven in a day: 15
Highest temperature reached: 110 F
Mileage on the Honda FIT: about 38 mpg
Number of new "Roadside Geology" books purchased: 3 (Utah, Oregon, Central/Northern Calif)

Best and worst:
Best place to hear trains: Flagstaff, AZ
Best place to do a training run: Forest Park, in Portland
Best East Indian food I've ever had, in my life: Carson City, Nevada. We were the only people in there, and it was in an old Bananza steakhouse building, and it was to die for.
Worst place to be a certain species of chub: Bend, Oregon. They are getting ready to net over 100,000 of these fish, kill them, and then poison the entire lake in order to eradicate them, mainly because they are "invasive" and make the fishermen unhappy.
Worst place to do a training run: Needles, California
Worst place to buy gas: Needles, California
Best place to buy gas: Oregon. By law, you must allow the attendant to pump your gas. Creates jobs and contributes to the local economy.
Best place to throw a snowball in July: Lassen Volcanic National Park.
Best place to visit an old ghost town: Bodie, California
Best place to see the "other" great salt lake: Mona Basic, California
Clearest, prettiest water: Crater Lake, OR
Best place to fake a moon landing: Four Corners, Utah
Best place to be a cycling activist: Portland, Oregon
Least drinkable water water: Mono Lake, Ca. (3x salinity of sea water)
Best place to splat onto a windshield: Oregon
Worst place to be a plant: central-eastern Utah (things that occur naturally here include uranium, selenium, hot geysers, clays that severely expand and contract, and asphalt--did you know asphalt occured naturally in the earth? neither did I--and it gets 5 inches of precipitation annually)
Best place to see "Othello" or any other Shakespeare play: shores of Lake Tahoe, at the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare festival.
Best energy drink I can't find at home: "Go, girl!" Sugar free, with 150 mg of caffein. They don't sell it here. Yet.
Most breathtaking scenery: (Tie) Western oregon, North and South eastern Utah
Best Geological Features: another tie, either incredibly volcanic Oregon or Utah, which likes to label strata with the epoch, era, and name of the formations.
Worst place to find a bookstore: Pocatello, Idaho
Best place to have the locals stare at you, intently, for no reason: Pocatello, Idaho
Best place to do an open water swim: Bend, Oregon
Worst place to live if you're a Vegan: Green River, Wyoming
Best place to be a Vegan: Portland, Oregon
Best place to live if you sell gas for a living: Green River, Wyoming. We saw customer after customer put nearly $200 in gas in their boats. In their boats. That doesn't count what went in their giant 6-wheeled pickups and Winebagos.
Worst place to be the head on any trophy animal: Green River, Wyoming.
Worst place to try to get a decent espresso: Blanding, Utah