This morning we got up and looked at the weather for Yosemite, it looks alright today but then will be raining-snowing tonight and tomorrow. We made the decision to alter our plans. Instead of 2 nights there we are going to death valley today and then San Luis Obispo tomorrow to drive up the coast to San Francisco the next day. We’re almost at Death Valley now so I’ll sign off to go enjoy myself. Hopefully we can find some nice hot springs and things to do here and just generally take it easy. I think we’re in need of some relaxation. Until later….
Jess and Dan
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Las Vegas
We got to Vegas and check into the Monte Carlo. The hotel was nice. Our “strip view” room gave us a view of the back of New York, NY and the rollercoaster, which was cool but definitely not a strip view. We had showers to wash off the camping/travel grime and then set out to see what we could see. We walked the strip and got a “Yard dog” of daquiri. Dan got pina colada and something like turbo 190 (grain alcohol with citrusy stuff) with a shot of something in it and I got a combo of the 190 and hurricane. In retrospect we should have opted for a smaller size but usually things like that don’t really have alcohol in them. We walked the strip with our enormous drinks that we couldn’t even finish (well, maybe we could have but both of us would have been pretty drunk, and that wasn’t what we were looking for). We stopped at the Bellagio and saw the fountain display which is even cooler than I thought it would be. The song we saw was from Rodeo from Appalachian Spring, which is a song that I like a lot in the first place that was even cooler with a fountain performing in time to it.
We walked through a couple of the resorts and casinos. We saw the rainforest in the Mirage and tried to go see the Tigers and dolphins but had gotten there after it had closed. In our search for dinner we ended up at Hard Rock café where we had some delicious burgers. We then wandered through NYNY and headed back to the Monte Carlo. Our gambling experience consisted of two $1 plays at slot machines. The first was jaws and the second an actual one-armed bandit where you could pull the handle down (and bet less). That one was a lot more fun, needless to say we didn’t win anything.
Drive to Las Vegas
Per an idea from Caleb we went to Vegas via Zion National park. This turned out to be pretty awesome for a few reasons. Reason 1) The drive up and around the Grand Canyon was amazing. We went through some pretty high mountain passes where there was still a good amount of snow (probably about 7000 feet though they didn’t have a sign at the top). These were forested with some tall red pines. Quite windy and pretty. Then when we came out of the mountains the landscape changed dramatically. We found ourselves driving through bright orange/red mountains that were really stunning. The wound through a valley then out. I have way too many pictures of them.
The highlight of the day, thought, was Zion National Park. It is amazing. I think visually the most spectacular scenery of the trip. The park didn’t take too long to drive through (probably about half an hour) but it was amazing. The mountains and scenery there was like nothing else. You’ll have to check out my pictures to see what I mean. At every turn I was wowed. There was a shuttle bus that you could take that went further in, I believe, but unfortunately we had places to go. Someday it would be great to go back and do that as well as some hikes.
The highlight of the day, thought, was Zion National Park. It is amazing. I think visually the most spectacular scenery of the trip. The park didn’t take too long to drive through (probably about half an hour) but it was amazing. The mountains and scenery there was like nothing else. You’ll have to check out my pictures to see what I mean. At every turn I was wowed. There was a shuttle bus that you could take that went further in, I believe, but unfortunately we had places to go. Someday it would be great to go back and do that as well as some hikes.
The Grand Canyon
The drive to the Grand Canyon was very nice. It wasn’t long which was already a big plus. We stopped in Flagstaff to get gas and some lunch food and ended up at a Safeway where they were matching any $$ people donated to a disability charity. Every time someone donated at a register they’d go on the loudspeaker and say “$___ donated on register ____, woo hoo!!” At first we had no idea what was going on but figured it out when we got to the checkout. We got bread, meat, cheese and a 6 pack of some interesting beer from Sedona. This became our dinner later at the campsite which was great.
Along the drive to Grand Canyon National park we saw stall after stall of Indian jewelry and trinkets. Most of them didn’t have any people or things for sale in them, I assume they are full during the summer but it’s probably too early in the sesason to be worth their while.
This week turned out to be free entry to the Grand Canyon week so even though we had the pass we wouldn’t have had to pay anyway. We started at the east entrance and made our way back to the visitor center side which turned out to be the best way we could have done it. The canyon was stunning. It really doesn’t look real at first. There is no way that the photos we took can capture the enormity and beauty of the place. We stopped at all the points along the way to get photos of different parts from different angles. I’m sure there will be some good ones in there.
At the end of it we went to our campsite and set up camp before heading off to do the rest of the things we had planned. We set up our tent and sleeping stuff in a great little site. The campground was pretty nice. Then we headed over to do a little bit of the bright angel trail. We were both surprised by how many buildings and amenities there were over by the trailhead. Lots of lodging and a train (not sure what the deal with the train was or where it went from/to) and a gift shop.
Going down the trail was amazing. We came across people who had gone down to the bottom that morning and then had come back up. We also saw people that had camped down there. There were signs warning you against doing the whole hike in the same day. We only did about half an hour down and then came back up but I was really glad that we had. Going down into the canyon, even that little bit was really cool. It gave you much more of a perspective on the hugeness of the place. The trail was very well maintained though it was a bit muddy with the melting snow. That’s something I haven’t mentioned yet. There was snow in a lot of places at the canyon, including a chunk at the beginning of our campsite. We were surprised to see it there at all, let alone in a lot of different places.
The evening we had our dinner, listening to music, made a fire with a small bundle of expensive wood and hung out with a couple beers around the fire. It was a nice relaxing day of seeing some pretty cool things.
Towards the Grand Canyon
We made a stop in Texas to get some lunch. We had been looking for some nice little place in a small town but the towns that we were going through were too small and didn’t really have anything to offer. We ended up stopping at the Big Texan in Amarillo. If you ate the 72 oz steak you got it free! I got a steak and Dan got BBQ. I liked mine a lot but I guess his was just ok. We also got a beer sampler and each tried a beer we hadn’t had before. One texas amber lager and one “light” dark beer. Both pretty tasty.
The rest of the drive was through New Mexico then Arizona. We saw more Indian rest stops than we could count all of which had the best prices and selection of products. Dan describes the landscape as roadrunner and Wile E Coyote (we just had a discussion about how to spell this and neither of us really knows). It was all very interesting and quite beautiful. There all were different textures and colors. A great thing about driving through this whole area was the speed limit on route 40 is 75mph which means that it’s commonly accepted that you can go 85 without a problem. The road was so flat and straight for the most part that sometimes you found yourself going even faster. Luckily this car doesn’t mind. I guess if it did we probably wouldn’t have gotten that fast.
We ended the day in Holbrook, AZ. An arbitrary stopping point that only put us a couple of hours away from the Grand Canyon the next day. The hotel was fine we showered and planned the next few days of accommodation for our trip (which in hindsight I kind of wish we hadn’t but more on that later). We had pizza hut because there weren’t really a lot of takeout choices and we didn’t feel like going to a restaurant. We got there to pick it up and the person had forgotten to put in our order so we got free breadsticks out of it and also a chance to go to the dollar store nearby. It was really the only store in walking distance. We got bugspray and some cans of food for our camping in the next few days.
The rest of the drive was through New Mexico then Arizona. We saw more Indian rest stops than we could count all of which had the best prices and selection of products. Dan describes the landscape as roadrunner and Wile E Coyote (we just had a discussion about how to spell this and neither of us really knows). It was all very interesting and quite beautiful. There all were different textures and colors. A great thing about driving through this whole area was the speed limit on route 40 is 75mph which means that it’s commonly accepted that you can go 85 without a problem. The road was so flat and straight for the most part that sometimes you found yourself going even faster. Luckily this car doesn’t mind. I guess if it did we probably wouldn’t have gotten that fast.
We ended the day in Holbrook, AZ. An arbitrary stopping point that only put us a couple of hours away from the Grand Canyon the next day. The hotel was fine we showered and planned the next few days of accommodation for our trip (which in hindsight I kind of wish we hadn’t but more on that later). We had pizza hut because there weren’t really a lot of takeout choices and we didn’t feel like going to a restaurant. We got there to pick it up and the person had forgotten to put in our order so we got free breadsticks out of it and also a chance to go to the dollar store nearby. It was really the only store in walking distance. We got bugspray and some cans of food for our camping in the next few days.
Friday, April 16, 2010
To Arizona
At the moment we are driving through the rain in Oklahoma. This is the first rain we’ve seen. Not the best driving but I’d rather have it on a driving day than one where we’re out trying to see things. This morning we realized that we’re losing tracking of what day it is. We have also been arguing with Lee (our GPS). He is a tumultuous young GPS who doesn’t always do what he is told. It’s hard to know who to trust, TripTiks or the GPS. Yesterday there is a point that I wish I had listened to Lee but today it looks like TripTik may have had the better route (I guess that is yet to be seen). We reached a point where an exit was closed and when we went back to it from the other direction he had “ruhcalculated” to add another half hour onto our time. Enough for now 11:11 am (east coast time which computer still has). Bye!
So, we made it to Holbrook, AZ and spent the evening booking/planning the next few days. Kind of wish I had more time to plan things but we went back 2 time zones today so what it technically 10:30pm here feels like 1:30 Boston time. Anyway off to the Grand Canyon tomorrow! Hopefully in Vegas we can post some pics and more blogging
Chickasaw National Recreation Area
This day was spent in the car. As Dan put it the driving wasn’t as interesting as it had been going through Tennessee, for example. Dan went up and got some breakfast pastries, fruit and cereal for us to bring with us and we set out. The drive through Lousisiana seemed to last forever, then Texas even though we only went through the corner. Coming out of New Orleans was pretty cool. Caught a tiny bit of the commuter traffic. There were miles of bridges through bayous which gave us nice green views with lots of water.
Other than that we stopped and got a lantern and a few food products (unfortunately not grocery store). We ended up stopping at this bread place with very slim pickings and came out with bread, tortillas, “chili topping” and salsa con queso. You can probably figure out our dinner from there. The only other stops were gas and wal-mart (happened to be next to the gas station and it had a bathroom, and fruits and veggies!). Got some apples, bananas, carrots and green beans to fulfill our fruit and vegetable cravings.
Finally got to the exit for Chickasaw National Recreation Area and I was pretty excited that we were almost there. We almost stopped at an RV park just off the highway but I’m glad we didn’t. We made a split second deision to go to “the Point” camping area and for a little while I was getting worried that we had missed it (the road was a lot longer than I had anticipated). The point was on a big lake with a fishing derby going on. Every so often we’d hear a boat roar past. The lake was quite pretty and the water felt warmish.
Finally got there and chose a campsite, walked down to the lake, set up camp and paid at the front for the site. On the way back from paying we met Jeff and Tank (the very small dog). Tank came out to greet us and Jeff followed. He is the campground host. Him and his wife have been doing it for the past 3 years from March-November and they had quite the set-up. We talked to Jeff for a little while and heard about what it’s like out there, the occasional fish-fries that he hosts at his site and the impending brisket-smoking (someone had lent him a smoker that he was yet to use). He also told us about the cedars. All over the campground were piles of cedar trees. I guess a full grown cedar drinks upwards of 140 gallons of water a day and take the resources from the native trees.
We ate our dinner of tortillas with salsa con queso and chili topping, tried to make a fire out of the too-green cedar that was everywhere and retired for the evening.
Other than that we stopped and got a lantern and a few food products (unfortunately not grocery store). We ended up stopping at this bread place with very slim pickings and came out with bread, tortillas, “chili topping” and salsa con queso. You can probably figure out our dinner from there. The only other stops were gas and wal-mart (happened to be next to the gas station and it had a bathroom, and fruits and veggies!). Got some apples, bananas, carrots and green beans to fulfill our fruit and vegetable cravings.
Finally got to the exit for Chickasaw National Recreation Area and I was pretty excited that we were almost there. We almost stopped at an RV park just off the highway but I’m glad we didn’t. We made a split second deision to go to “the Point” camping area and for a little while I was getting worried that we had missed it (the road was a lot longer than I had anticipated). The point was on a big lake with a fishing derby going on. Every so often we’d hear a boat roar past. The lake was quite pretty and the water felt warmish.
Finally got there and chose a campsite, walked down to the lake, set up camp and paid at the front for the site. On the way back from paying we met Jeff and Tank (the very small dog). Tank came out to greet us and Jeff followed. He is the campground host. Him and his wife have been doing it for the past 3 years from March-November and they had quite the set-up. We talked to Jeff for a little while and heard about what it’s like out there, the occasional fish-fries that he hosts at his site and the impending brisket-smoking (someone had lent him a smoker that he was yet to use). He also told us about the cedars. All over the campground were piles of cedar trees. I guess a full grown cedar drinks upwards of 140 gallons of water a day and take the resources from the native trees.
We ate our dinner of tortillas with salsa con queso and chili topping, tried to make a fire out of the too-green cedar that was everywhere and retired for the evening.
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