California Here We Come, October 21, 2011

I’ve learned something about us and hotels.  I can do basic, ordinary hotels for awhile, but then I want a nice room with a fast internet connection and an exercise room.  And, those rooms are not available just everywhere.  Our stay in Williams AZ was fine but not great.  I told Dennis that I needed a nice room on Friday.  So we looked at our route to plan where we would be most likely to find a nice hotel room.  My choice was Kingman AZ, but Dennis wanted to go into California so we agreed on Needles, which is right across the state line.

We took a walk in the morning and appreciated Williams. We stopped at Ed’s Tires to say that we needed our tire fixed and agreed to bring the car by in one hour.  We showered, packed and took the car in to have the slow leak repaired in the tire.  They were nice folks and took the tire, repaired it, and put it back in a very short time.  We stopped for breakfast – an awesome breakfast at the Rte 66 Diner – and hit the road.  California here we come!

We had chosen to take historic Rte 66 and avoid I-40 once we got to Kingman.  We stopped at Kingman to see their wonderful Rte 66 museum.  It was a really nice walk through history from the earliest days of “a road” through the current days of the Mother Road.  The murals and artifacts illustrated the struggles of the original settlers and the conflict with Native Americans through the development of the highway.  It was enlightening and interesting – yet another example of how history can hold a person’s attention when it is done right.

As we drove along today we were looking at the amazing and beautiful mountains and I started to chuckle.  Really, folks from this part of the country would just burst out laughing at things like “Mount Brighton” and “Iron Mountain.”  Really?  Those are no more than goose bumps compared to the real mountains all around us.

We left I-40 and took the Oatman Highway.  Dennis was driving and it was one exciting trip!  “Hairpin turns” is a phrase that does not even come close to describing this road.  The road appeared to be exactly twice the width of the Honda – no room here for mistakes.  Around the very first blind curve, we encountered a little car speeding along well into our lane – yikes!    We’ve included some pictures but the reality is much more shocking.  We had noticed road signs that warned about the presence of wild burros.  When we reached Oatman, we finally saw them standing in the middle of the road.  Between the burros and the very narrow small town streets, Oatman was a real trip.

 Looks innocent enough!!

 Yep ... we didn't fall off!!

 Had to wash off the tires after driving through town!

After we came down out of the mountain road, we were on the other side and the terrain was cactus country.  We had been in the desert for a couple of days, but the plant life now changed from piñon to those punk-haired cacti, some variation on barrel cactus.  The terrain as we approached the state line was also more green.  It was because we were also approaching the Colorado River.  We crossed over the river into California and drove to Needles in search of a hotel.

Much to my disappointment, there were no suitable hotels in Needles.  Our only choice was to drive for another 3 hours to Barstow.  Between Needles and Barstow there were no towns with more than one motel.  So we hopped back on to I-40 with me driving and headed out for another few hours.  The landscape changed again as we got into California.  It turned to sand desert, like the Sahara, with big sand dunes capped in scrub brush taking the place of the foothills and mountains.

The drive was uneventful and we found an acceptable room.  We will reach Santa Monica tomorrow.

Since Dennis did most of the driving, I had time to think about things.  So, I noticed a sign that directed drivers to Anvil Range Road.  A snippet from an Animaniacs cartoon popped into my head: a Perry Como caricature was singing “Anvi-lan-i-ahh.”  It made me chuckle – and then I had to sing it for Dennis.  As travelers we are easily amused.  I also noticed lots of signs saying “Do not enter when flooded.”  I’ve heard about flash floods and arroyos and washes, but it didn’t really sink in until we were driving through all of these huge mountains.  All of that rock – if a steady rain came down, even for a short time, the water would come rushing down with no place to go and it would rapidly flood these areas.  This terrain is not like Michigan, it cannot soak up the water.  The reality must be very scary and the resulting desert bloom must be wonderful to see.

A Grand Side Trip, October 20, 2011

First, a postscript from yesterday: the Ramada Limited in Holbrook AZ was a good choice.  The price was incredible - $55.00 including taxes – and the room was clean and quiet.  They have a fitness room with a really nice treadmill and elliptical.  I want people to know that there are good rooms for not much money out there!

Today we did not travel very far west on our trip.  That is because we traveled north – to the Grand Canyon.  We filled the gas tank for $3.39 a gallon and drove west a short distance to Winslow for a touristy photo-op.  Yes, they have a statue of a guitarist “standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona, such a fine sight to see…”  As part of the display there is a wonderful mural of the “girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowing down to take a looks at me.”  There is also a beautiful red, flatbed Ford parked near the corner.  As you can see by the photos, we had fun with this.

Then we drove on west through Flagstaff and then headed north on state highway 180 and state highway 64.  The highways took us through miles of National Forest land and into the mountains.  At first the mountains were heavily forested with tall, straight pine trees.  This gave way to grassy stretches of land with piñon bushes and that gave way to mountain desert land.  It was soothing and beautiful and we saw some fortunate folks who lived in lovely homes on lots of land with great views.  We also saw homes of people who had settled in very remote land and seemed to be providing their own electricity with solar panels.  There is certainly enough sun to use solar power for most needs.

Yesterday and this morning Dennis did not seem too enthusiastic about this side trip, but I could not get this close to the Grand Canyon without a visit.  I suspected that movies, videos, photographs and paintings did not show the “real” canyon and its power.  When we reached the park, our new senior lifetime pass saved us the $25.00 admission fee (yay!).  We found a parking space and got out with the camera, wearing walking shoes and ready to walk part of the rim path.

When we reached the rim path and got our first glimpse of the Canyon, we stopped in our tracks, awestruck.  Dennis said, “I hope you are happy to know that I am glad, now, that you made me do this side trip.”  I stood for a few minutes in silence just breathing it in.  The Grand Canyon wears its age like a solemn, coat of many colors, just waiting for us puny humans to begin to appreciate our relative insignificance.  It brought tears to my eyes to see such powerful beauty and to try to imagine what it took to form this natural wonder.  I usually think of our planet as a finished product, but here as we have driven through so many changing landscapes and especially today, it has become clear that our planet is a living, changing entity.

We took many pictures, but we agreed that no photo can really do it justice.  We wanted to try to capture the many faces of the canyon.  There were many overlook sites that became crowded with other tourists – all of us with cameras and taking different pictures for different reasons.  We were surrounded by people speaking a wide variety of languages.  We easily identified German, French, Spanish, Japanese and several variations of English.  It was great to see people from all over who were awestruck by the natural splendor of this great National Park.

We tried to capture the colors, the layers of antiquity, the fabulous rock formations, the gaping chasms, and the scale.  We are including a few examples with the understanding that it simply cannot convey what we saw and felt.

 

We walked the half mile to the Geology Museum, stopping for an occasional picture.  The museum helped me to understand a little more about the formation of the Grand Canyon and the ineffable time scale.  We walked around and read the displays and thought about what we were seeing.  I would like to do a hike into the Canyon at some point, but I have to admit that it looks pretty intimidating!  I bought a book to begin to learn about the preparations I need in order to be able to do a hike.

I have to give a big shout out to Lisa G. today.  As we were walking the half mile back to our starting point, she texted and sent a picture of Pearl to let us know that Pearl is OK.  Thanks Lisa!  It was great to see our kitty and know that she is still doing her kitty best to guard the house.

We drove back to Williams AZ and found a motel room.  Tomorrow we will cross the state line into California for more Rte 66 adventures.  This was a grand side trip and we want to return.  (I am secretly planning a luxury land cruise!)

To Arizona by camera

The painted desert .... the size is beyond any representation photographically!!



Cool Welcome To AZ sign


See that black smudge in the sky? That's from a burning semi that put a major slow down on our progess.


The following are some images of the petroglyphs. Very interesting!!!