Following my drive from California to Florida, Diana and I spent a week packing various items, mostly clothing, into the 4Runner and then we set off back to California. My drive out had been mainly a direct route, on the way back we were going to take our time and see the sights. We eventually got on the way on Friday morning, a week after I arrived. We were on the road by 9:30 and drove north on the toll road out of Tampa towards Tallahassee. The toll road ended halfway up the state and we took lesser roads through rather nondescript towns for the rest of the way north.
After leaving the toll road, the weather turned dark and grey and it started to rain, often quite heavily. Being in need of some coffee to keep us going, we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts - a first for me. Of course, we couldn't just have coffee, we had to partake in a couple of Boston Cream doughnuts as well.
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| Tallahassee State Capitol |
In Tallahassee we stopped at the REI store to acquire some waterproof clothing for Diana. We then drove through the town, to explore what the State Capital of Florida had to offer. It is a rather small town as State Capitals often are. There were some nice homes, some grand homes, many many churches. The Capitol building was not very impressive and also a little strange with weird red-striped window sun shades. The Scottish Rite Temple was perhaps the most impressive building that we saw in Tallahassee.
We continued west along Interstate 10. The rain continued, off and on but after getting gas near Blountstown, the skies to the west brightened and the rain stopped.
By the time we arrived in Pensacola, our stop for the night, it was a beautiful summer evening. Our hotel was in the center of town, near the harbor. We walked over to the harbor for dinner at Jack’s restaurant. A very nice meal with a great view of the sunset.
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| Pensacola Art Museum |
In the evening we walked around the old town area. It was most interesting and there was quite a lot going on. An art museum with mysterious hologram characters appearing at the upper windows, a saxophonist playing wonderful wailing tones in the square, lots of busy bars and restaurants.
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| Pensacola Old Town |
The next morning we drove around the town. There was a market setting up in the middle of town selling all manner of arts and crafts stuff - not my cup of tea. There were some nice older homes with wrought iron balconies - very New Orleans French Quarter looking. Some had gas lighting and the gas lights were burning 24 hours a day (something we would see much more of in New Orleans).
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| Pensacola |
We stopped to look at an amazing modern house. All white plaster with an elevated living section and beautiful artwork.
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| Pensacola Beach |
We then drove over the bridges to Pensacola Beach. This is where the tourists go - cheesy strips of restaurants and bars - not at all attractive. We drove further down the low sandbar island on the Gulf side. Beach houses one after the other - the safe ones elevated on stilts, the risky ones at ground level.
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| Pensacola Beach UFO House |
We found an interesting UFO looking home.
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| Pensacola Beach beach |
The beaches here were truly amazing - fine white sand and at the time we were there they were quite deserted. It was hot and humid however and I bet the water was warm enough to be not at all refreshing.
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| Mobile, Alabama |
Leaving Pensacola, we drove west on I-10 out of Florida into Alabama stopping for a look around Mobile. Mobile was surprising to me - it is a significant port and it is also a cruise port. There once was a shipbuilding industry but I don’t know how big that is today. It does not look like the kind of place a cruise should start or end from. It is not a particularly attractive place. Little of the city center was particularly high rise but there were a couple of extremely tall skyscrapers. What are the economics of building such tall buildings in a place like Mobile. Perhaps there is more to Mobile than meets the eye.
We parked almost incidentally outside the Mobile History Museum and so we looked inside. It was very interesting. The history of its early growth in the 17 and 18 century is fascinating. It is known as the city of five flags for the five nations that have ruled it - the Spanish, the French, the British, the Confederate States, and the USA. Google also tells us that Pensacola Florida is also known as the city of 5 flags. The early Spanish, French and British settlers were mainly involved in trading with the Native American tribes, it wasn’t until the USA took over that they were all pushed out to less desirable territories.
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| Mardi Gras Statue, Mobile |
Mobile has a Mardi Gras celebration (competition for New Orleans) and in the square in front of the museum there were a series of colorful Mardi Gras character statues. As we found in a lot of places in the south, there is recognition of the history of slaves and the poor treatment of African Americans. In Biloxi there was a historical marker for some poor African who was lynched just because he was black and he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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| Biloxi, Mississippi |
After a few photos, we were on our way to the next city, in the next state. That was Biloxi, Mississippi. Biloxi also didn’t appear so appealing to us. We drove around the town and all we noticed was the large number of casinos. There are beaches but we didn’t see them - just the casinos. We did stumble across a really nice coffee shop, the only cool looking place we saw in Biloxi.
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| Cheap Gas - Biloxi |
We filled up with what was likely the cheapest gas in the USA at $2.60 per gallon.
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| The Mississippi River from Hotel, New Orleans |
We then had a long drive to New Orleans. Because there had been a hurricane passing through the area a few days before (Hurricane Francine), New Orleans was not as busy as usual and we got a great deal on a hotel - the Westin by the French Quarter. We had a room on the 22nd floor with a view of the Mississippi and the French Quarter below.
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| Jackson Square and St Louis Cathedral |
We walked over to the French Quarter and browsed around for a while. It was a bit disappointing as it all appeared a little scruffy and down at heel. Bourbon Street was particularly bad. Too many people, nearly all of them carrying an alcoholic beverage and the street was very noisy.
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| Tujacques Restaurant |
In the evening we dined at Tujacques, an old New Orleans restaurant I had dined at some 30 or so years before. It was ok but not outstanding.
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| Jazz Band outside Cafe Du Monde |
The next morning, a Sunday morning, we got up reasonably early to go to the Cafe Du Monde for coffee and beignets. This is a New Orleans standard that everyone must do. I had been there before of course but this time it wasn’t quite as good. The service was really poor, the coffee was served in a styrofoam cup and the beignets were a little under done in the middle - so sad. Still the jazz band on the street outside made it all worthwhile.
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| Bourbon Street Sign |
We walked to the end of the French Market and then turned down Esplanade to Bourbon Street and walked back the length of Bourbon Street. It was quieter on Sunday morning. The houses at that end of the French Quarter were a little dilapidated and derelict. The big old houses take a lot money to keep them well maintained and, looking at some of the decaying beauties, one wonders if the owners are sometimes giving up on them - especially when every now and again there is the risk of serious flooding.
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| Bourbon Street |
It was interesting to find that there were lots of gas lights in the French Quarter and they burn 24 hours a day. Gas must be so cheap that it doesn’t matter that they burn all day. There is an environmental cost however. Further down Bourbon Street, we passed a light shop that specializes in gas lighting, Bevolo. They seem to be the go to place for a gas lantern.
After recuperating in the room for a while we ventured out to get lunch at Napoleon’s in the French Quarter - a New Orleans speciality, the Muffaletta sandwich and a cup of Jambalaya. It was a beautiful old restaurant/bar but the muffuletta, as a sandwich, is a bit over the top for me.
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| New Orleans Streetcars |
We walked down to Canal Street to catch the St Charles streetcar out to the Garden District. The tram rides are ridiculously cheap, especially for an old person - 75c I think. We traveled out the entire line to Carrolton past Audubon Park and Tulane University. There were some very impressive homes along the way. At the end of the line we got on the next tram back to town, this time getting off by the Garden District. There we walked around admiring the wonderful old homes.
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| Garden District Home, New Orleans |
There was a fine restaurant, the Commander’s Palace that we had been recommended to try. We weren’t ready for a meal but a drink would have been nice. Alas there was a dress code and my shorts and T shirt would not cut it. Instead we crossed the street to a photo gallery. The photographer, David Spielman, chatted with us. All his work was black and white and he had some great photos.
He told us about his chance as a student in ???where he had the opportunity to photograph Lord Mountbatten. He was asked by Mountbatten what he was studying, and after he told him, Mountbatten said he had a nephew the same age at university. David asked what he was studying and Mountbatten said - “To be King”.
Another great story he had was when he photographed Gorbachev in the same location where Churchill coined the term Iron Curtain. He got Gorbachev to sit in the same chair as Churchill had used and give the Churchill V for Victory sign, When he asked Gorbachev for an autograph, the pen didn’t work that well, so Gorbachev asked for another pen and gave him another autograph, leaving him with two. Gorbachev said that the spare autograph would be worth something one day. David said, I see you have grasped the Capitalist way of thinking, and Gorbachev said “Certainly”.
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| The St Charles Streetcar |
Catching another streetcar into the city we went to the hotel for another rest - it was hot and humid and very tiring being a tourist in New Orleans.
In the evening we went to another old established restaurant in the French Quarter - Galatoire's. There was a dress code and men are required to wear a jacket. I didn't have one, who would in that heat and humidity, but they provided me one from their collection. It was another 100 year old restaurant that was ok but not great.
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| New Orleans from the Algiers Ferry |
The next morning we decided to cross the Mississippi to the Algiers neighborhood. The ferry runs every 15 minutes from the end of Canal Street and again it is very cheap - a couple of dollars.
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| Algiers |
In Algiers it felt like a different part of the world - quiet, little traffic, beautiful homes but none too extravagant. We walked along the levee for a while and then went down into the residential streets. Again here there were lots of gas lights burning in the daylight.
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| Ferry from Algiers to New Orleans |
We found a great little coffee shop for breakfast and then wondered back to the ferry to cross back.
We checked out of the hotel and walked to our car in the parking lot across from the hotel only to find that it had been booted. I had paid for the parking so I was really surprised. It took about 20 minutes for someone to arrive and I was ready to read them the riot act but no - I had mis-entered my registration number into the ticket machine. Just one digit off but that was enough. They realized what I had done and unbooted me and we were on our way.
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| The Greenwood Cemetery |
We drove to the north end of Canal Street and visited a cemetery there. In New Orleans because the water table is so high everyone is buried in above ground crypts and the cemeteries are quite interesting.
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| Beignets and Coffee at the Morning Call |
We wondered around the cemetery for a while and then adjourned for coffee and beignets at The Morning Call, a coffee shop recommended by our photographer friend. The beignets were wonderfully light and fluffy, way better than Cafe du Monde’s. Our waitress referred to that establishment as the Cafe du PooPoo.
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| Baton Rouge |
Our next destination was Natchez, back in Mississippi. We headed west on I-10 to Baton Rouge then turned north on lesser roads to Natchez. Natchez is famed for having many fine ante-bellum mansions. In the pre-Civil War era, there were many cotton plantations in the area, all worked by slave labor, and rather than live on the remote plantations many of the plantation owners preferred to live in Natchez where they had a better social life amongst their fellow owners. Natchez therefore grew in size and was once the 4th largest city in the USA. Today it has a tourist industry around viewing these beautiful old homes.
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| The Mississippi at Natchez |
Natchez sits on a bluff above the Mississippi River with great views towards the west over the river. We visited the Tourist Information Office and received maps and guidance of where to stay. We found a nice room in an old home and settled in before going for a walk around town.
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| The Stanton House, Natchez |
One particularly impressive home was the Stanton House. A huge home with a columnar entry standing on a large lot surrounded by beautiful old trees in the middle of town.
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| The more modest side of Natchez |
To cover more ground we drove around the area and soon found out how quickly the neighborhoods change. We were very quickly in a very poor neighborhood, mainly black as far as we could see. The inequalities and injustices of the past are still visible today.
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| Sunset over the Mississippi, Natchez |
We parked in a park on top of the bluffs with great views of the sunset over the river. On the river bank below there were a couple of oil pumps (nodding donkeys) working away.
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| In need of a little attention, Natchez |
There were more old houses on the bluff, most of them renovated and still lived in. One poor specimen was derelict and it was painfully apparent how expensive it must be to maintain one of these gems. The columns were rotting, pieces of trip were missing, signs of rot were everywhere. This home should not be lost but it would take an absolute fortune to fix up.
Dinner that evening was in an Italian restaurant. Being a Monday many of the other restaurants were closed.
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| The Longview House, Natchez |
The next morning we visited one of the two homes in town that could be toured, the Longwood House.
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| Dining Room, Longwood House |
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| Upper Floor, Longwood House |
This home was the grand dream of a plantation owner who started the construction just before the Civil War. He moved into the ground floor while work continued on the floors above. Along came the Civil War an the work stopped. The owner died leaving his wife and family in a difficult situation. They were unable to complete the house and so it has remained. A furnished ground floor and the upper level interiors just a wooden and brick framework - no finishing at all.
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| Fingerprints in bricks, Longwood House |
Interestingly, the bricks for the house were all made locally by slaves. There were thumb and finger prints of the workers showing in some of the bricks in the pavement outside.
From Natchez we drove on to Houston. It was a long drive of over 300 miles, down into Louisiana, to I-10 near Lake Charles and over west to Houston. The east side of Houston through Baytown and the refineries is not the best view of Houston.
We stayed with my friends Tim and Hilary. They have lived in the same house since the 1980’s in a nice suburb on the west side of town and I have been visiting them there nearly every time I have been over that way. There are few people in my address book with the same address as it was in the 1980's.
We decided to stay in Houston for another day so we could visit the Museum of Fine Arts. This museum is a wonderful space and they have a great collection. It is nice to have a lot of rich patrons from the oil industry and Houston certainly have a lot of those.
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| Steve, Paddy, Debby, Tim, Hilary |
In the evening we met with more friends from my early Exlog days in Sacramento, Paddy and Debbie.
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| Royers Round Top Cafe |
The next morning, after a hot and sweaty walk along the Buffalo Bayou and a cooling swim in Tim and Hil’s pool, we set off for our next destination, Austin. We had a couple of stops along the way. The first was in Round Top, a small town in the Texas Hill Country that has become a center for antique shops and other tourist shopping. The top draw for us in Round Top was Royer’s Pie Shop. A dilapidated old cafe that specializes in pies. We indulged, it was great and we purchased a pie to take to our next host in Austin.
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| Cotton Gin Museum, Burton, Tx |
We also stopped at the Cotton Gin Museum in Burton. An old cotton gin that is preserved along with a small museum telling the story of Cotton Ginning.
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| Carol and Diana, Lake Travis, Austin |
In Austin we stayed with my friends, Dave and Carol (Dave was away but Carol was at home). They have a fine home on the shore of Lake Travis. Unfortunately the lake is a little low in these dry times.
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| A List of LBJ's Achievements |
The next morning we went into the center of Austin to visit the Johnson Presidential Library. I had visited there before and, as in my first visit, I was so impressed with the achievements he made during his presidency. What a powerhouse - not always a nice guy, he could be a bully, but he got a lot done. I couldn’t help thinking about what a dismal and disturbing library Mr Trump’s library would be.
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| Magnolia Store, Waco |
Moving on from Austin we drove next to Waco, a town between Austin and Fort Worth, This town has become famous or rather notorious after a couple of residents (Chip and Joanne Gaines) started fixing and decorating homes in the area and documenting it as they did. I guess their style caught on and they have become something of a phenomenon. They have a pretty slick marketing for their company, Magnolia, and they have developed an industrial area of Waco with several old silos into quite the destination for their fans.
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| Baylor University, Waco |
Waco is also the home of Baylor University. A prosperous looking campus in the heat of West Texas.
We continued on to Fort Worth where we spent the night. We stayed in a modern area of town and walked to dinner at a nice Tapas restaurant not far from our hotel.
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| Fort Worth Stockyards |
The next morning, Saturday, we went to look at the Fort Worth Stockyards. That is the thing to do there if you are a tourist. There were lots of shops selling cowboy/western gear. You could buy a nice pair of custom designed cowboy boots for $6,500 or perhaps a nice Stetson Hat for a little less.
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| LongHorn Cattle |
What was impressive there was a corral with a herd of LongHorn cattle. I had never realized how long the horns were on these cattle - a serious span of 5 or 6 feet?
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| Leddy Boot Shop. Fort Worth |
It must have been quite an operation in its day - there was a major meat packing plant, a railway into the area. After our fill of western wear shops we left the area and went over to the Museum of Modern Art. A very nice museum space. Not too big, not too small, just right. It is next to the Kimball Art Museum that has a collection of older art. A museum I had visited in one of my previous trips to the area.
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| Will Rogers Center, Fort Worth |
As we left town we drove by the Will Roger’s Center. There is a monumental huge tall tower on this complex. Something that I would not equate with Will Roger’s.
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| Creation Museum, Abilene. Tx |
We drove on to Abilene, Texas (there is a Kansas Abilene too). Here we stopped at the Creationist Museum - the so called Discovery Center and Truth Bookstore whose purpose is “a creation museum that exists primarily to provide scientific and historic evidence for the truthfulness of God's word”. It was a modest place, in a house more than a purpose built museum. The lady that welcomed us was so sweet and helpful it was impossible to tell her what a load of lies she is perpetrating on the public. We walked around biting our tongues. The museum was also very pro-Israel and had a whole section on the promised land. Since the person who discovered the location of the wreck of the Titanic was from Abilene, there was also a section of the museum devoted to the Titanic that housed all of his artifacts about the Titanic. A strange combination for a creationist museum.
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| Dr Seuss in Abilene, Tx |
Abilene also has a thing about children’s story characters and all over town there are statues of various storybook characters - mainly Dr. Seuss’s characters where we were.
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| Post, Tx |
We drove on through Sweetwater and Post (named after the Post cereal magnate) and then Lubbock. The weather started to look ominous in the distance and as we got closer to our destination of Canyon the clouds got darker and the lightning started. It was a most impressive storm - the lightning was mostly sheet lightning and every 2 or 3 seconds it was lighting up the entire sky. Just south of Canyon the rain started and it turned into the most serious rain either of us had ever experienced. Visibility was near zero and all I could do was look out the side window to see the lane marking in the road. Fortunately we were close to a freeway exit so we crept off onto the side road and parked under the freeway bridge until things quietened down.
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| Ominous Skies near Canyon, Tx |
What a crazy storm it was and how lucky we were to find an exit. Just after the exit there were road works and the cones and lane markers had been blown all over the road. There is no telling what a mess that might have been. We drove into Canyon quite late but we were able to find a restaurant open for dinner before going to our hotel.
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| Palo Duro State Park, Tx |
The next morning we drove over to Palo Duro State Park. Palo Duro is an impressive canyon, one of the great US canyons but little is heard of it being in a remote corner of Texas and not being as dramatic as the Grand Canyon. We drove around as much of the park as we could. Everywhere there were signs of the previous night's rainfall - muddy trails, a water crossing, mud washed across the road.
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| Route 66, Amarillo, Tx |
After Palo Duro we drove north to Amarillo. There we drove through the center of town and saw many large buildings boarded up or empty. It did not look like a prosperous city. In an older part of town we found where the old Highway 66 passed through town. As with elsewhere on Highway 66, it has been converted to a tourist destination. Lots of antique shops and murals and bars. It’s sad to say but we visited a few antique shops where I purchased a few things - notably an old bottle labeled X% morphine with a dosage for children.
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| Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo |
We left Amarillo and drove out to the west where there is the art installation of Cadillac Ranch - a series of some 10 cadillacs planted in the ground. The cars have been seriously graffitied and are covered in paint. People still bring their own aerosol cans of paint to leave their mark. After the rainfall of the previous night, the cars were surrounded by a lake of water.
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| Tucumcari, NM |
We continued west on Interstate 40 into New Mexico and to Tucumcari where we stopped to explore this old Route 66 town. There were lots of old hotels and coffee shops from its heyday, most of them derelict. A few were still hanging on by emphasizing their Route 66 heritage - it has become a thing to follow the route of old Highway 66 from Chicago to LA - more than 2,000 miles all the way.
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| Tucumcari, NM |
We drove on further into New Mexico and to Albuquerque. We decided to enter the city on the old Route 66 road. This took us through a sketchy part of town. Lots of homeless hanging around the streets, lots of bars on windows - it went on for quite a while. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express near the old part of town.
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| Tango Club Dance, Albuquerque |
In the evening we walked around the old town. A nice old square where the locals were cruising their lowrider cars. Lots of expensive paint jobs and hydraulic shocks making the cars bounce. The local Tango Club was also having a meet and were dancing in the old bandstand in the middle of the square. A nice meal at a nearby restaurant called Seasons.
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| Rio Grande in Albuquerque |
The next morning we drove over to a park along the banks of the Rio Grande. It was already quite warm when we arrived - uncomfortably warm. We walked through the trees to the levee and down to the Rio Grande. Not a huge river at this point, it looked quite shallow, but there was plenty of evidence of how wide it could get in a flood situation.
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| Breaking Bad Store, Albuquerque |
Back in Old Town Albuquerque, we visited the Breaking Bad gift shop. You can do Breaking Bad tours in the city and here in the shop you can buy every imaginable item branded with a Breaking Bad name or character. I bought a couple of coasters - “It’s Science Bitch” and a couple of tea towels - “Let’s Cook”.
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| Hotel Sign Graveyard, Albuquerque |
We walked around the square and visited the small church. We then drove around the more modern part of the city. Not overly attractive but we did find a parking lot full of old hotel signs from Route 66 and the like. I am a big fan of old hotel signs.
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| Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe |
We drove on to Santa Fe and paid a visit to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Georgia is quite popular these days and the museum was quite busy. I like her work too and so this was a most enjoyable museum.
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| San Miguel Church, Santa Fe |
We then walked on past the La Fonda Hotel, a beautiful south western building, to the San Miguel Church. The interior was quite simple but very beautiful.
We then drove up to visit and stay with my friend Barb, who was renting a house in Santa Fe for the month. Her house was a little way out of town, through an area that was simply full of art galleries. There must be hundreds of galleries in Santa Fe - how do they all stay in business with all that competition?
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| Replica of Fat Man (the Nagasaki Bomb), Los Alamos |
The next morning we bade farewell to Barbara and headed on to Taos. On the way we stopped off in Los Alamos and visited the Bradbury Science Museum which has a very good exhibit about the research that went on in Los Alamos to create the first nuclear bomb. Los Alamos is still a center for research and there are a lot of highly educated scientists in this little small town.
We then drove on to Taos where we were staying that night. After a brief look around Taos we drove out to Taos Pueblo, the Indian town a mile north of modern day Taos. Unfortunately there was a Native Indian ceremony going on so we could not enter the community. We went back to Taos and wandered around the shops and galleries. In the evening we dined at a nice Mexican restaurant, Orlando’s, just outside town, that was recommended by my friend John.
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| Taos, Pueblo |
The next morning we were the first visitors inside the Taos Pueblo. There are some wonderful multi storey red-brown adobe residences that were built between 1000 and 1450. It is still lived in today though most of the residents now gain a living from tourists visiting the site. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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| The George Bridge, Taos, NM |
Our next destination was Four Corners where the states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona all meet. Along the way we stopped at the George Bridge, an impressive bridge over the Rio Grande canyon. Nearby the bridge were a herd of LongHorn sheep who posed for photographs for us.
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| Greater World Earthship Community, NM |
Just west of the bridge is the Greater World Earthship Community, a group of residences or earthships that are off the grid, self-sustainable homes. The community started back in the 1970’s and has been growing slowly since then. The homes are built from old tires and rammed earth to provide a relatively low cost and insulating building that can be sustained in the hot desert scrub landscape. We toured the small visitor center that showed how cool the homes were and how they captured rainwater and used recycled gray water to grow plants. An interesting community indeed but it is quite a way from anywhere in the middle of the desert. There are indications on their website that things aren’t all harmonious in the group.
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| Highway 64, near Chama. NM |
We continued westwards on Highway 64 through some beautiful mountains. The Aspen trees were just starting to turn color and the air was so cool and fresh after being in the lowlands and all the heat for so long. Parts of the way were over 10,000 ft there.
After lunch in Chama we drove on and I got a speeding ticket from the Apache Nation Police. It was only for 65 mph in a 55 mph area, so it wasn’t too bad - $35 and if paid in 30 days it wouldn’t go on my record or be reported to my insurance.
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| Shiprock |
We passed by Farmington, where there were quite a few pump jacks extracting oil. We saw signs for a place called Shiprock and then we saw the rock - an immense outcrop of rock, a monadnock or inselberg or kopje, sticking out from the flat plain.
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| Four Corners |
The Four Corners site is on Navajo land, so we paid entry fees to the Indian community. The monument is at the precise location where the four states (UT, CO, NM, AZ) meet. There is a marker there and everyone likes to get photos of themselves with a leg and an arm in each state.
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| Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde, Co |
In the late afternoon we drove over into Colorado to visit Mesa Verde National Park. It was getting quite late when we arrived and the sun was setting. We did a relatively fast drive to the southern end of the park passing but not stopping at some incredibly beautiful views. Our destination was the Cliff Palace. We didn’t know quite what to expect at the Cliff Palace, only that its name sounded like it would be something significant. We were totally blown away when, in the last rays of the sun and with no one else around, we came across this wonderful site. It is the largest cliff dwelling community in the US, built from 1190 to 1260. I believe this was perhaps the most epic moment of our trip across the country - such unexpected grandeur.
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| Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park |
We drove out of the park in the dark and into Cortez, the town in Colorado near the entrance to the park.
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| Mexican Hat, Utah |
The next day we drove on into Utah to Monticello and then to Moab. On the way we ventured a little way into the Valley of the Gods and passed through the San Juan River Canyon. In the town of Mexican Hat we saw the rock after which the town was named.
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| Arch Rock, near Monticello, Utah |
We stopped for coffee in Moab, a busy little town, before driving on to the nearby Arches National Park. Alas when we reached the park we were informed that we needed reserved time slots for entry and that they were sold out for the day. A bit of a shame but there is plenty more to see in that area so we headed south to Monument Valley. And who needs a National Park when there are magnificent arches on the side of the road.
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| Forrest Gump Hill, Utah |
The road south-west towards Monument Valley, Highway 163, then runs up towards a group of sandstone buttes. It is here where a famous scene from the movie Forrest Gump was shot. It has become so popular that there is a road sign for “Forrest Gump Hill” and parking areas so that you can risk your life in traffic recreating the shot of Forrest running up the hill. Of course we had to do that.
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| Monument Valley, Utah |
Monument Valley is another site that is on Navajo Indian land. They control and charge for access. It is truly remarkable. So many sandstone buttes stick out dramatically from the Colorado plateau. We drove around the area on a well defined dirt road with one spectacular view after the next. It was a couple of hours of picture taking as each view looked better than the last.
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| Monument Valley, Utah |
Leaving Monument Valley , we drove over to Page, AZ where we stayed for the evening.
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| Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell |
In the morning we drove out of Page to look at the Glen Canyon Dam, and Lake Powell behind it.
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| Horseshoe Bend, Colorado River |
Then it was on to the Horseshoe Bend viewpoint over the Colorado River Canyon.
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| Navajo Bridge, Lee's Ferry, Az |
Then to the Navajo Bridge over the Colorado near Lee’s Ferry.
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| Cliff Dwellers Stone House |
Another stop on the way at the Cliff Dwellers site where shelters were built beneath large rocks that had fallen down from higher and then the surrounding ground had eroded away leaving these top heavy mushroom-like structures.
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| Vermillion Cliffs, Az |
We drove past Vermillion Cliffs, another National Monument along the Arizona Strip (the Arizona Strip is that part of Arizona north of the Colorado River). They were going to release captive bred condors in that area the next day, but we didn’t have time to wait for that.
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| Kanab, Utah |
The road then rises from the bare desert floor to forested land. We passed through Fredonia and Kanab where we stopped for lunch. Kanab is the Western Movie capital of Utah - a lot of cowboy films were made there.
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| Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah |
We drove on to Bryce Canyon National Park, always one of my favorite parks. I like it because you feel like you are so close to the hoodoos and other sandstone formations and they just stretch out below you in a most magnificent array. We drove around visiting all the lookout points. Just like in Mesa Verde, we found ourselves rushing to capture the last of the light. The sun had set when we reached our last point, Sunset View, but the colors were quite spectacular.
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| Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah |
After an unsuccessful attempt to get a table at the Park Lodge Restaurant, we dined at Ruby’s Restaurant just outside the park. A major operation that serves many, many diners with buffet style food. Pretty mediocre but that is about all there is in the area. We drove on to Cedar City where we lodged for night.
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| Zion National Park, Utah |
The next morning was a Saturday and a free day for entry into National Parks. Not the best of times to visit Zion National Park as everyone and their mothers were there. Miles before the park people were parking and walking to catch buses into the park. We drove on in bumper to bumper traffic until we got into the park itself. There are some truly amazing rock formations there and some people say it is the best park in the National Park system. It’s ok but it isn’t no Yosemite.
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| Zion National Park, Utah |
We drove through taking many, many pictures. Diana opened the sun roof and sat up with her head out of the top of the car for most of the way. There are many parts of the park that were only open to park system buses so all we could really do was drive the road from the West to the East entry. There were a group of brightly colored expensive sports cars (Lamborghinis and the like) driving through the park. Lots of engine revving, not really what you need in a National Park.
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| Mt Carmel Junction, Utah |
After exiting the park we drove through Mt Carmel Junction and didn’t have the patience to wait for a table and Ho Made Pie.
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| Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park |
We pressed on south and visited Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park. This is an area of sand dunes deposited by winds blowing up from the south through a gap in the hills. It was blisteringly hot but worth the visit.
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| Water Canyon, Az |
We had been told of a nice area away from the crowds near Colorado City, Arizona called Water Canyon so we decided to take a look. Colorado City is a nice enough looking town but it has disturbing undercurrents. It was the home of Warren Jeffs the polygamous leader of an Orthodox wing of the Mormon Church. He is now in jail and the sect is not as strong as it once was, but it continues. The hike up water canyon was quite a nice break from all the crowds in the National Parks.
From Colorado City we drove up to St George, Utah. We stayed there for the evening and had a better than average meal in a rather fine restaurant that evening (Aragosta Restaurant).
On Sunday morning, Diana had to participate in a Zoom call so we had a bit of a late start. We left St George and drove west into Arizona for a short while before entering Nevada. We skirted around the northern edge of Las Vegas and headed north towards Death Valley.
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| Area 51, North of Las Vegas, NV |
At a stop to refuel north of Vegas the gas station and shop there had really bought into the Area 51 program. There were billboards with aliens all around, the shop was named the Area 51 Alien Center and had every manner of tchotchke that could be linked with aliens - T shirts, hats, key rings, toys, mugs. We bought an alien shaped vial of vodka.
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Sign for Marta Becket's Performances
Amargosa Opera House |
We drove on towards Death Valley, stopping in Amargosa to look at the Opera House. Unfortunately we could not go into the Opera House but we looked at the small museum area in the hotel lobby. The poor place is in need of some serious investment and it is a shame no one has stepped up to fund a restoration. I did buy another Marta Becket DVD so I could refresh my memory of her work. I loaned out the last one.
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| Dante's View, Death Valley |
We drove on into the park. The first stop in the park was Dante’s View, an overlook of the valley from high up on the eastern side, the Black Mountains. It is a spectacular view of the salt flats in the valley floor and Telescope Peak and the Panamints to the west.
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| Zabriskie Point, Death Valley, Ca |
Driving on we stopped at Zabriskie Point. It was dangerously hot, around 108 degrees. Not a heat you need to hang about in.
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| Badwater, Death Valley, Ca |
Down on the valley floor we drove to Badwater, the lowest point in the USA, some 300 ft below sea level. We walked out onto the salt for a while - again it was blisteringly hot.
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| Artist's Drive, Death Valley, Ca |
Driving back we took the Artists Drive loop. Beautiful pastel shades of rock.
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| The Ranch at Death Valley |
We were staying the night on the valley floor, at the Ranch at Death Valley. It is quite the oasis in this barren desert area. Lots of trees and, of all things, a golf course.
We dined in the lodge’s restaurant that night. Not gourmet but adequate. I noticed that many of the wait staff were older middle aged men. Unusual and I am sure there is a story there - perhaps rehab or the first job out of prison?
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| All that remains of the Death Valley Rail Road |
The next morning we were up reasonably early to get a start on the day before the heat got too much. We first had a quick look around the small museum on the grounds of the lodge - a steam engine, a steam tractor, borax wagons. It is quite remarkable to think that there was all this industrial production of borax going on in the valley in the late 1800’s and that there was a train line bringing workers to the valley and carrying borax out of the valley. As far as I know there is no sign of the rail tracks today.
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| Harmony Borax Works, Death Valley |
On our way out of the valley floor we stopped at what remains of the Harmony Borax Works. Workers scraped the borax rich evaporites off the valley floor and processed it by boiling it with carbonated soda in large vats, the borax dissolved in the liquid and was siphoned off and crystallized in large cooling vats. The business in Death Valley didn’t survive long when borax was found in more convenient locations.
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| Ubehebe Crater, Death Valley |
We drove to the north end of the valley to the Ubehebe Crater. This spectacular crater was created by a phreatic eruption (water flashing to steam in the presence of hot magma) that projected ash and debris into the air and formed the crater.
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| Tea Kettle Junction, Death Valley |
We then pushed on towards Tea Kettle Junction and the Sailing Stones on the Racetrack Playa. This was a longer and rougher drive than I remembered. Tea Kettle Junction is just a sign post where people have hung kettles. Whether the name came first and the kettles came later or the kettles were hung before the naming of the junction, I do not know.
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| Sailing Stone, Racetrack Playa, Death Valley |
The Racetrack Playa is a dry lakebed known for its moving stones. I had visited a couple of times before and was very impressed at the large rocks that carved long trails across the playa as they were driven by the wind when freezing conditions were just right. Alas this time, the tracks were almost all gone. I imagine a more significant and longer lasting rainfall had washed out the earlier rock tracks. The windblown rocks are still present out on the playa but little remains of their tracks.
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| Rhyolite Railway Station |
We drove back out to the tarmac road and back into the valley before turning up towards the ghost town of Rhyolite. There is little left of Rhyolite now - the railway station, a bank, a glass bottle house and a couple of other buildings. Once it was a thriving mining town with three rail lines servicing it.
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| The Last Supper, Rhyolite |
A Belgian artist had created an art installation next to Rhyolite. A series of white cloaked ghostly human forms - one with a bicycle, one with an artist’s palette, and a series of 13 called the Last Supper. We talked with the volunteer in the small museum - an ex Las Vegas cop who had retired after being injured on the job and moved to Beatty where he had taken up art as his therapy.
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| Casino in Beatty, NV |
We stopped for lunch and gas in nearby Beatty. The casino there is a work of art - steampunk metal sculptures adorn every aspect of the building’s exterior.
Driving further north, we passed through Tonopah and Minah before stopping for the night in Hawthorne
The next morning it was a relatively short 4 hour drive home to Sacramento. The only remarkable thing was the incredible amount of new industry coming into the area east of Reno/Sparks. Tesla’s battery factory and many other businesses are making it quite the booming area.
We arrived home around lunchtime - 4900 miles in 19 days.
