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Kathy and I both like the American Southwest so we decided to fly to Las Vegas, rent a car and see some of that area. My back was giving me problems at the time but nothing will stop me from seeing new places. What a great trip it turned out to be!
It had been five years since Kathy had been to Las Vegas and only one year for me. There were many new hotels since Kathy was last there and since neither of us are into gambling, we just decided to check out all the newest hotels there. We saw the Bellagio, Paris, Venetian, Caesar's Palace, Aladdin, Mandalay Bay, Rio Suites, Palms (just opened and owned by the Sacramento Kings owners), and the Hard Rock Hotel. We happened to go to the Hard Rock while they were taping the Howard Stern show there. The place was packed and I could see Howard Stern and his sidekicks over people's heads but Kathy could only hear what was going on.
We stayed at the Mirage Hotel. They have a great pool area that looks like a tropical rain forest and one of the few Las Vegas hotel pools open in February so we relaxed by the pool and I tried one of the water slides - bad back and all! We also saw the Fremont Street Experience, which is a computerized light and music show on a canopy that is about 2 blocks long downtown where the older casinos are located.
Two days was enough of Las Vegas so we headed out to see the great Southwest scenery. Our first stop was Zion National Park in Utah. I would have to say that it is very close to Yosemite for being my favorite National Park in the U.S. It is spectacular! We hiked several miles but the one trail where you go through a real narrow gorge was too icy so we didn't get to go too far back. In the summer you have to beware of flash floods on that trail as it's so narrow, there is nowhere to escape the water. We also visited the famous Zion Lodge and saw several deer and wild turkeys in the Park.
After spending all day at Zion, we drove to Page, Arizona and checked in to the Wahweap Lodge on Lake Powell, which traverses the Arizona-Utah border. Ever since I saw the original Planet of the Apes film, I have wanted to see Lake Powell. Lake Powell was formed by the 710-foot-high Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. It was completed in 1962 and took 17 years to completely fill! The lake is 185 miles long, has nearly 2,000 mile of shoreline and is 600 feet deep in some places. The Glen Canyon National Recreation Area surrounds Lake Powell.
| We really wanted to see Rainbow Bridge National Monument, the largest natural bridge in the world soaring 290 feet above the bed of Bridge Creek and measuring 275 feet across. The only way to see it today is by hiking a very long distance or taking the boat trip from the Wahweap Lodge. We purchased space on the boat trip and got a free room at the lodge since it was the off-season there. The weather was cool but very clear and the 40-mile boat trip to Rainbow Bridge was great - we even saw some bald eagles along the way. |  Rainbow Bridge National Monument |
After docking the boat, it was a short hike to Rainbow Bridge. It was an amazing site. It sits on Navajo land so you can't walk under it but you could get close enough and it was great just sitting there and gazing at such an amazing natural wonder.
After we checked out of the Wahweap Lodge, we headed for Cameron, Arizona stopping to check out Glen Canyon Dam along the way. Unfortunately, Osama Bin Laden and his gang have ended tours inside major dams but we could still see the museum there. We had to make about a 100-mile detour to get to our next destination as they had the highway closed for a high-speed chase of bad guys but we finally made it to Cameron, Arizona and spent the night at the Cameron Trading Post Motel. The rooms there are decorated in Southwest Native American style and they had a great Native American shop. This was a great place to stay near Grand Canyon National Park, which we visited the next morning.
 Grand Canyon National Park |
It was very cold and windy at the Grand Canyon and there was even a little snow on the ground but the sky was clear so we could enjoy the incredible vistas from the South Rim. Photos can't do justice to the Grand Canyon. Video helps but you have to see it in person to take in just how massive and awe- inspiring it is. |
From the Grand Canyon, we headed to Flagstaff, Arizona stopping at Wupatki National Monument and Sunset Crater National Monument along the way. Located in Wupatki National Monument is a pueblo where Native Americans lived up to about 700 years ago. It reminded me of a condominium. We also saw petroglyphs near the pueblo. Sunset Crater National Monument is a volcanic area containing lava flows and cinder cones. Sunset Crater is actually a 1,000 foot-high cinder cone. We braved the cold wind and hiked around the base of Sunset Crater but hiking on the crater itself is not allowed.
After spending the night in Flagstaff, we headed out to Meteor Crater about 50 miles to the east. Meteor Crater was formed 50,000 years ago by an iron-nickel meteorite or dense cluster of meteorites, estimated to be about 150 feet across and weighing several hundred thousand tons. It struck with a force greater than 20 million tons of TNT throwing debris up to several miles away. In less than a few seconds, a crater 700 feet deep and over 4,000 feet across was formed. We saw a film/lecture but the museum was closed as they were remodeling it. We hiked along the rim to the highest point and I took a panoramic series of photos that I put together to show how big the crater is - quite impressive. They have a life-size fake astronaut standing in the middle of the crater that can only been seen through a telescope just to get a feel for the size of the crater.
Next stop was Petrified Forest National Park/Painted Desert. On the way there we drove along the original Route 66 through Holbrook, Arizona and saw one of the famous kitschy landmarks there - the Wigwam Motel. The motel was built in 1950 and the concrete rooms are shaped like teepees. More about Route 66 later.
| We hiked several trails in the Petrified Forest National Park where petrified wood is scattered all over the ground. Petrified wood was formed when about 225 million years ago, give or take a year, the tall trees of the area were washed by swollen streams into the floodplain. Silt, mud and volcanic ash then covered the logs' decay. Gradually, silica-bearing groundwaters seeped through the logs and, bit by bit, replaced the original wood tissues with silica deposits. |  Petrified Forest National Park: Tree Stump |
As the process continued, the silica crystallized into quartz, and the logs were preserved as petrified wood. Later, the area sank, flooded and was covered with freshwater sediments. Then the area was lifted far above sea level and this uplift created stresses that cracked the giant logs. Over time, wind and water have worn away the layers of hardened sediments, exposing the remains of ancient plants and animals.
OK, enough of the geology lesson. The petrified wood is colorful and looks beautiful in the sunlight. You can hike through areas covered with it. In some places, whole fossilized tree trunks are laying on the ground. It is a crime to remove even the smallest piece of petrified wood from the Park and your car is subject to search upon leaving but unfortunately, people still get away with many tons each year. There are also pueblos and petroglyphs in the Park.
Painted Desert is located in the northern half of Petrified Forest National Park. Painted Desert gets its name from the various colors of sand that is located there which makes for very scenic landscapes.
On the way back to Flagstaff, we stopped in Winslow, Arizona, which was mentioned in the song Take it Easy written by Glenn Frey and Jackson Browne and recorded by the Eagles. Kathy had learned online that there is a Standing on the Corner Park in Winslow that was erected as a tribute to the song so we asked a Subway employee where it was and with his directions and a little luck, we stumbled upon it. The "park" is about a 200 square feet plot of sidewalk located on a corner of downtown Winslow right off of Route 66. There is a statue of a guitar player, engraved bricks and a wall mural of the girl in the flatbed Ford from the song. Pretty tacky, I must say but I videotaped it with Take it Easy playing in the background on the car CD player.
 Sedona, Arizona |
After a very full day, we spent another night in Flagstaff and got up early to take the scenic drive through Oak Creek Canyon to Sedona, Arizona. Sedona is an upscale "New Age" town known for its beautiful red rock monoliths and buttes and also several vortexes, electromagnetic fields of energy thought to energize and inspire visitors. I thought maybe I could heal my back but we gave up trying to locate one of the vortexes. We also visited the unusual Chapel of the Holy Cross built in 1956 on the side of a mountain. |
From Sedona, we drove along some more of the old Route 66 stopping in Kingman, Arizona. Kingman was the last town on Route 66 to be bypassed by an Interstate (I-40). Some people from there formed the Arizona Historic Route 66 Association in 1987 and now the remains of Route 66 are being marked with "Historic Route 66" signs. There is even a Route 66 magazine.
The next stop was Oatman, Arizona, a small silver mining town located in the mountains on Route 66. It reminded me a little of Virginia City, Nevada except there are donkeys walking around the main (and what looked like the only) street. We watched a gunfight on the street and visited the Oatman Hotel, which was built in 1902 and is haunted. It also has a room where Clark Gable and Carol Lombard spent their honeymoon.
| From Oatman, we continued on to Lake Havasu, which was
formed by yet another dam on the Colorado River. Lake Havasu's claim to fame is
that the original London Bridge built in 1831 was taken apart brick by brick,
shipped and reassembled there in 1968. It is also a haven for retired people
and college spring breakers. After an overnight in Lake Havasu City, we drove to Laughlin, Nevada, which is located on the Colorado River. |
 Lake Havasu, Arizona: London Bridge |
Laughlin is a mini Las Vegas with several casinos. I played one hand of Blackjack there, won and walked away a winner. A month or two after we were there, three bikers from rival gangs (Hell's Angels and Mongols) were shot and killed in one of the casinos during a big annual biker rally held there.
From Laughlin, we drove through Needles, California (made famous in the Peanuts cartoon strip) where there was a dust storm going on, and back into Nevada to Las Vegas in time to catch our 75-minute flight back to Sacramento.
We ended up driving 1,442 miles on this trip. The winter weather was mostly cold and sometimes windy but it never rained or snowed. This trip left us wanting to see more of the Southwest deserts, National Parks and Monuments and Native American lands, and little did we know then that we would be back near this area just nine months later.
A little more on Route 66: It was formed by joining many existing highways that were constructed before the Interstate system came into being. Construction was started in the 1920's and it wasn't completely paved until the mid-1930s. It stretched 3,389 miles (5,457 km) from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California. There were many tacky (now the popular term is kitschy) landmarks along the way as well as unusual motels and diners where you could get a blue-plate special served by a waitress in a starched pink uniform calling you "Hon". It was celebrated in more stories and books such as The Grapes of Wrath, songs, and television shows than any other highway in the United States. It was finally decommissioned as a U.S. highway in 1985, replaced by five Interstate freeways.
 Heading West on Route 66 |
I first located some of the old highway sections in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma a year prior to this trip. To me, Route 66 epitomizes America's love affair with the automobile and the open highway. As I usually do when something piques my interest, I purchased and read a large book about Route 66 when I got home from this trip. Even though some of the original Route 66 is abandoned road with weeds growing out of it, it is still possible to travel on most of it. |
I have decided that one of my trips when I retire will be driving the complete length of Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica. In the words of Willie Nelson: "I can't wait to get on the road again".
