Days 7 and 8

After spending Saturday (Day 6) at Grand Canyon, we drove three hours west of there, and spent the night in Kingman, AZ.  I saw on my map that we could drive on Route 66 for about 60 miles before connecting to Hwy. 40.  Since we can't pass up an opportunity to take the scenic route, that's what we did on Sunday (Day 7).  I expected to be driving through some little, old towns with old Route 66-type motels and diners, but that is not at all what we saw on that stretch of road.  In the first place, much of it was barely a road--the blacktop is just kind of fading away, and is hardly more than gravel.  In the second place, there were no towns of any kind for the first 30 miles.  What we saw was landscape that was astonishingly remote and quite beautiful.  

We came to the town of Oatman, and couldn't believe what we were seeing.  The street was gravel, I think; maybe it was blacktop; I couldn't really tell.  The buildings are straight out of the old West.  The sidewalks are even wooden!  There are lots of shops with Route 66 paraphernalia in them.  After that, with about 30 miles left to drive, we came upon a detour; so, unfortunately, we had to leave 66 and drive on a regular county road until we crossed over into California, and got on Highway 40.

On 40, we drove for at least a couple of hours through the Mojave Desert.  It looked exactly like I would expect it to look--miles and miles in every direction of sand and sand and sagebrush, with hazy mountains in the far distance.  We saw several trains.

Eventually, we got to civilization--meaning, California traffic, as we made our way toward the coast.  For a few days, we'll be in southern California, in the very pretty city of San Clemente, where Aunt KeeKee lives. It was important to us that we arrive here no later than the afternoon, because my sister-in-law, Barbara, had a concert scheduled for that evening.  The concert was well-attended and was really wonderful.  I'm always so proud to be sitting in the audience, watching Barbara charm and entertain everyone in the room.  She was a big hit, that's for sure.  

Today is Monday, Day 8.  This is a day for all of us to relax and slow down a bit.  We (Mom, Aunt KeeKee, Chris, Barbara, John and I) went to the nearby town of Dana Pointe, where we spent some time at the lovely marina.  The weather today is picture-perfect--about 75 degrees and completely sunny.

Day 6--Grand Canyon!

About 2-1/2 hours north of Sedona is Grand Canyon, and that's where we played today.  We walked along the South Rim and took beautiful pictures for five hours.  I hardly know what else to say--the pictures are worth a thousand words.

Day 5--Playing in and around Sedona

Sedona, Arizona, is just amazingly beautiful.  The rock formations are outstanding and are in surprising shades of orange, the vegetation is a deep green, and the sky is a stunning blue.  There's a perfect photo op around every bend.  So, we went around every every bend we could find.

                                           

  

                                                                                                       
Early this morning, we drove up to the nearby mountain town of Jerome.  The streets are very narrow and very steep, and there are many, little shops and galleries to wander in.  We were there very early, before the shops were open, which was fine with us, because we aren't really shoppers.

 From there, we drove down a very twisty mountain road to a community called Arcosanti.  It isn't exactly a town--my GPS couldn't find it, but Google Maps did.  Arcosanti is an experimental "arcology," meaning a combination of archaeology and ecology.  It's founder, Paulo Soleri, envisioned a perfect and densely populated city, as opposed to the typical urban sprawl.  He began construction in 1970, and the construction continues today.  It's hard to describe in a few words, but you can check it out at arcosanti.org.  Besides the construction, the community also makes beautiful and artsy bronze bells.

North of Sedona, between Sedona and Flagstaff, is a drive through Oak Creek Canyon.  I highly recommend it.  We drove it today from north to south; tomorrow, we'll see it as we drive south to north.  It might surprise people to learn that the Flagstaff area is very green; in fact, it reminds me of northern Michigan, and has Ponderosa pine trees everywhere.  The Oak Creek Canyon drive is twisty and green and orange and rocky and very beautiful.  In the middle of it is Slide Rock State Park, so named because of the natural water slide formed from the slippery bed of Oak Creek.  People love to go swimming and sliding there.

Slide Rock State Park

 

Day 4--Amarillo to Sedona

We drove and drove on I-40 today, across the rest of the Texas panhandle, across all of New Mexico, and into Arizona.  I think (I hope!) this will be our longest day of driving.  Since I’m the one who schedules our trips, I have only myself to blame.  My goal was to arrive in Sedona this evening, which we did.  Here are a few photos of our travels today. 

 

I love watching the scenery change.  I like it when it’s flat for miles in every direction.  I like it when there are rolling hills.  Mountains and mesas are wonderful.  I like it all.  However, arriving in Sedona and seeing the red rock formations all around is just breathtaking.  We were suddenly surrounded by the most beautiful, deep, orange-red colors.  Quite outstanding!  I’m tempted to whine a bit about our spotty-to-nonexistent wireless internet connection, but I’m not in the mood to be grumpy.  Our room has a little balcony which faces east.  After dinner, we stood on the balcony and watched the bright full moon rise right in front of us.  We took several pictures of it, but none of them were as pretty as the real sight.  

Day 3--The Ozarks to Amarillo

Today, we drove from our cozy mountain lodge room in the Ozarks, then out of Arkansas, all across Oklahoma, and halfway through the Texas panhandle, to Amarillo.  This was a hot and windy day, but we've been riding along very comfortably.  We were remembering the trips we took as children, all crowded into the family car, driving for miles in the summer, with no air conditioning.  So, we have no complaints about the hot weather today.

For some reason, I'm a fan of water towers.  I find them very interesting and often amusing.  I take lots of pictures of them.  I think it's interesting what a town will decide to paint on them.  I also like the ones that look like they're from an old western movie, all rusty and so small.  Here's a water tower I saw today.  It's in Groom, Texas.  Isn't it great?  I found out that it's only decorative, but it is certainly eye-catching, isn't it?  

 

Here's another amusing photo.  These "hot" and "cold" towers are in St. Clair, MO, just west of St. Louis.  I was unable to take a good photo of them, so I copied this one from Wikipedia.  They just make me smile.  

Day 2--Big Plans; St. Louis to the Ozarks

I want to share the overall plans for this trip, because they are quite extraordinary, and took a fair amount of orchestrating to make happen.  Here's the scoop:  During Week 1, John and I are traveling together from Michigan to San Diego.  In Week 2, we'll spend a few days in San Clemente with Aunt Kee (who lives there), my mom, and Chris and Barbara, who will be doing a BBH show in that town.  About mid-week, Mom and C&B and John and I will drive down to San Diego, where my brother,Chad, lives.  The next day, my sister, Susie, will fly to SD to join the fun.  The day after that, my other sister, Kitte, and her husband, Jim, and their daughter, Mary, will arrive.  That day is Chad's birthday.  The day after that, Chad and Kevin are hosting a BBH show at their home.  Amazingly, all 5 of us siblings, plus most of our significant others, plus Mom, will all be together!  In Week 3, five of us will ride together from San Diego to Seattle--stopping to visit San Francisco and the Redwoods of northern California.  Joe will fly out to join John and me for Week 4, during which we'll drive from Seattle to Vancouver, and through the Canadian Rockies.  During Week 5, John and I will be alone together, spending several days in Custer State Park in South Dakota, near Mount Rushmore.  So, that's the big picture of the fun in store for us.  I'll share the details as the days go on.

The drive today was long, but very pretty, with many twists and turns through the hills and forests and fields of beautiful Missouri and western Arkansas.  Our destination was the lodge in Mount Magazine State Park, in the Ozark Mountains.  We were here two years ago, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit again. The lodge sits on the edge of the highest mountain in the state, overlooking a lovely valley.  The weather this evening is hazy, so the view isn't as gorgeous as I know it really is.  Hopefully, tomorrow morning will be clearer.  I took this picture of a framed photo of the lodge that's hanging in the hallway here.

One more thing:  Our drive took us through Springfield, Missouri.  John remembered that the largest Bass Pro Shop on the planet is in Springfield, so we took some time to wander through it.  It's a beautiful store, much like the Cabela's in Michigan.  

Day 1--"On the Road Again," today, from home to St. Louis

We're on the road again! This time, we'll be driving and touring and playing and visiting for almost five weeks.  Here's a map of our route. 

 John and I drove about 8 hours to St. Louis, Missouri.  Nothing eventful--nice weather, no traffic problems, easy drive.  We thought we would stop and take some pictures of Gateway Arch, but when we got there, we decided to just roll the car window down and get a couple of photos the easy way.  

So, we're off on another adventure!