Thursday, 12 March 2009
Time change
The US changes the clocks a couple of weeks before the UK - right in the middle of our trip as it turned out. This caused Stephen and I no end of brain melting moments as we tried to work out what the hell time it was! I'm sure you're wondering why - surely we just make the 1 hour adjustment and off we go.... Sadly no! Arizona (where we spent a good few days) doesn't observe daylight saving, but the Navajo Nation (a large part of Arizona, where we also spent time) does. To make it even more confusing the Hopi Reservation (which is in the middle of the Navajo Nation) does not. You can see why we were freakin' confused for the last few days!!!
Back to where we started
We got a scrummy breakfast at the B&B, then packed up (again!) and headed off back up Oak Creek Canyon (in MUCH better weather!) then onto Meteor Crater which is supposedly the best preserved and first authenticated crater. NASA used the crater for astronaut training - Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell all did training there.
From there we drove to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert - a drive-through National Park! There were a couple of stopping off points which were worth a quick look. The petrified logs were interesting. Silica had seeped into the logs and turned them to stone. There were beautiful colours of quartz in the logs. The painted desert may have been more interesting if we'd seen it first! It was a bit of a let down after the wonders we had seen. Towards the end of the 28 mile loop it was a "drive-through at speed" National Park!!
It was then a long drive back to ABQ and a final re-pack of the cases before heading over to the Elephant Bar and a last couple of margaritas. We returned the car the following morning 1400 miles worse for wear. A grand journey!
From there we drove to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert - a drive-through National Park! There were a couple of stopping off points which were worth a quick look. The petrified logs were interesting. Silica had seeped into the logs and turned them to stone. There were beautiful colours of quartz in the logs. The painted desert may have been more interesting if we'd seen it first! It was a bit of a let down after the wonders we had seen. Towards the end of the 28 mile loop it was a "drive-through at speed" National Park!!
It was then a long drive back to ABQ and a final re-pack of the cases before heading over to the Elephant Bar and a last couple of margaritas. We returned the car the following morning 1400 miles worse for wear. A grand journey!
Onward to Sedona
From Flagstaff we went to Oak Creek Canyon overlook. Its kind of like the Grand Canyon with trees. It looked nice but its 7000ft up and it was windy and freakin' cold! The little information centre said Sedona was 55F and sunny so we decided not to hang about and head down there next. It was voted the prettiest town in America and I can truly see why! It was stunning, surrounded on all sides by mountains carved into the most amazing formations.
Our B&B in Sedona (or Sonoma/Samosa as Stephen kept calling it!) was lovely. It was only a short walk into town and had stunning views of the mountains. We headed off to Red Rock Loop and Oak Creek Crossing - the most photographed spots in town - certainly by us!! The scenery was stunning!
We walked along and had dinner in the Silver Saddle - the posh bit of the Cowboy Club where John Wayne and other movie stars used to hang out. There were around 80 films shot in Sedona. I guess the rock formations are reminiscent of Monument Valley, just with more water. Oak Creek Crossing is famous from many movies where the cowboys splash across the creek on horseback.
Our B&B in Sedona (or Sonoma/Samosa as Stephen kept calling it!) was lovely. It was only a short walk into town and had stunning views of the mountains. We headed off to Red Rock Loop and Oak Creek Crossing - the most photographed spots in town - certainly by us!! The scenery was stunning!
We walked along and had dinner in the Silver Saddle - the posh bit of the Cowboy Club where John Wayne and other movie stars used to hang out. There were around 80 films shot in Sedona. I guess the rock formations are reminiscent of Monument Valley, just with more water. Oak Creek Crossing is famous from many movies where the cowboys splash across the creek on horseback.
The rim walk photos
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The path around the rim. Note how close the path runs to the drop to certain death!.jpg)
A couple walking round the cliff where we had just been.Its a small drop...
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Well actually, maybe not such a small drop.....jpg)
F Me! That's a LONG way down!!.jpg)
This is the rim we walked around...without a safety net!!!!The Ditch - Day 2
Did I mention the Elk? I don't think I did.... As we were walking back from dinner on the first night at Grand Canyon we passed a family of Elk munching on the grass in front of the hotel! They were entirely unperturbed by us walking nervously past, or by the guy taking flash photos of them. They were back again the following morning and Stephen was taking photos. He said that people didn't notice they were there as they walked by - obviously focused on directly ahead and not looking left or right!
Notice I said Stephen was taking photos. I had been struck down with a little tummy trouble during the night so I wasn't up for taking sunrise pictures...any excuse for an extra 1/2 hour in bed!! I made it out of bed fairly early, enticed by the thought of a latte as promised on the promotional TV channel that had been running. What a HUGE disappointment! My latte was made first, then Stephen's Americano. He said that he knew something was wrong when he looked in his cup and the liquid was light brown as opposed to black. He said to the guy "you didn't change the coffee" and was told that the coffee was changed when it got "old". WHAT?? How often was that? Every hour? Day? Week? He re-made Stephen's with fresh coffee but mine was left. My latte can best be described as a "Vaguely coffee flavoured milk beverage" and the scones were freshly chiseled from the cliff face that morning. What a rip off! It cost us $17!
We did a portion on the Rim Walk round towards the East. It was beautiful. Absolutely stunning views! We were laughing at the total lack of Health and Safety. The path was paved, and at viewing points there were guard rails, but everywhere else it was just a few feet from the path to a very long drop! Given my vertigo and incredible ability to fall over my own feet I stayed well away from the edge.
We went to the nearby town over lunchtime to watch the Imax film of the Grand Canyon. It was great, even if I was beginning to drop off - darkened rooms are not good for keeping me awake! I had the beginnings of a headache so I was glugging water in an attempt to stave it off. We headed back to the Grand Canyon and began the rim walk to the West from Powell to Mohave Point. The first section was paved and an easy walk. The second section was just a well-tramped dirt path. It began as an easy walk around the rim. Granted it was a little closer to the edge than previous trails, but it was okay. It was about 3/4 of the way round that it began to get more than a little scary! It had snowed recently and with typical Spark luck, the only part of the path that hadn't seen the sun and thawed out was the bit that sloped steeply down to a sheer vertical drop!! It was a lovely combination of ice and mud practically guaranteed to tip us over the edge into a mile long free fall. I made Stephen go first... We inched our way down very carefully, knees knocking! By the time we got to Mohave point my head was pounding- probably from a combination of stress and dehydration - so we got the bus back to the village where I slugged another load of water and put my head down for an hour. I was no better after that so Stephen went out to get sunset photos whilst I had another sleep. When he got back I was dying and demanding painkillers before my head rolled off my shoulders. The shop was closed and the front desk told him that all shops in the Grand Canyon village close at 6pm on a Sunday for stocktaking. D'oh! I was going to have to suffer - and I did!!
We were woken at 1am by some woman along the corridor letting out a piercing scream. As we were 10ft from the front desk I thought we'd let them take care of it - and judging by the lack of doors opening I guess everyone else thought the same. Besides, she'd woken me up and made me realise that my head was still pounding and only tenuously attached to my neck! We figured that she'd found some wildlife - mouse, elk, tarantula....
We were still unable to get painkillers the next morning as the shop didn't have any. We were going to go for a walk until we got outside and found out just how terribly cold it was! Instead we packed up the car and headed to Flagstaff which is supposed to be a lovely little town. It wasn't terribly appealing in the howling wind and beginnings of snow so we hung around only long enough to find a Best Buy and buy another passport drive as we'd filled the one we'd taken with photos, and buy painkillers and water.
Notice I said Stephen was taking photos. I had been struck down with a little tummy trouble during the night so I wasn't up for taking sunrise pictures...any excuse for an extra 1/2 hour in bed!! I made it out of bed fairly early, enticed by the thought of a latte as promised on the promotional TV channel that had been running. What a HUGE disappointment! My latte was made first, then Stephen's Americano. He said that he knew something was wrong when he looked in his cup and the liquid was light brown as opposed to black. He said to the guy "you didn't change the coffee" and was told that the coffee was changed when it got "old". WHAT?? How often was that? Every hour? Day? Week? He re-made Stephen's with fresh coffee but mine was left. My latte can best be described as a "Vaguely coffee flavoured milk beverage" and the scones were freshly chiseled from the cliff face that morning. What a rip off! It cost us $17!
We did a portion on the Rim Walk round towards the East. It was beautiful. Absolutely stunning views! We were laughing at the total lack of Health and Safety. The path was paved, and at viewing points there were guard rails, but everywhere else it was just a few feet from the path to a very long drop! Given my vertigo and incredible ability to fall over my own feet I stayed well away from the edge.
We went to the nearby town over lunchtime to watch the Imax film of the Grand Canyon. It was great, even if I was beginning to drop off - darkened rooms are not good for keeping me awake! I had the beginnings of a headache so I was glugging water in an attempt to stave it off. We headed back to the Grand Canyon and began the rim walk to the West from Powell to Mohave Point. The first section was paved and an easy walk. The second section was just a well-tramped dirt path. It began as an easy walk around the rim. Granted it was a little closer to the edge than previous trails, but it was okay. It was about 3/4 of the way round that it began to get more than a little scary! It had snowed recently and with typical Spark luck, the only part of the path that hadn't seen the sun and thawed out was the bit that sloped steeply down to a sheer vertical drop!! It was a lovely combination of ice and mud practically guaranteed to tip us over the edge into a mile long free fall. I made Stephen go first... We inched our way down very carefully, knees knocking! By the time we got to Mohave point my head was pounding- probably from a combination of stress and dehydration - so we got the bus back to the village where I slugged another load of water and put my head down for an hour. I was no better after that so Stephen went out to get sunset photos whilst I had another sleep. When he got back I was dying and demanding painkillers before my head rolled off my shoulders. The shop was closed and the front desk told him that all shops in the Grand Canyon village close at 6pm on a Sunday for stocktaking. D'oh! I was going to have to suffer - and I did!!
We were woken at 1am by some woman along the corridor letting out a piercing scream. As we were 10ft from the front desk I thought we'd let them take care of it - and judging by the lack of doors opening I guess everyone else thought the same. Besides, she'd woken me up and made me realise that my head was still pounding and only tenuously attached to my neck! We figured that she'd found some wildlife - mouse, elk, tarantula....
We were still unable to get painkillers the next morning as the shop didn't have any. We were going to go for a walk until we got outside and found out just how terribly cold it was! Instead we packed up the car and headed to Flagstaff which is supposed to be a lovely little town. It wasn't terribly appealing in the howling wind and beginnings of snow so we hung around only long enough to find a Best Buy and buy another passport drive as we'd filled the one we'd taken with photos, and buy painkillers and water.
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Driving to the Ditch
Exhaustion got the better of me last night and I didn't have the energy to write about our journey from Monument Valley to the Grand Canyon. The first 100 miles of it were pretty ugly as you'll have seen from the photos! Snow was forecast and boy, did we get it! It hadn't reached the valley when we set off, but it had hit a couple of miles away. A few miles further on and we couldn't see anything out of the side windows of the car. There could have been stunning scenery and we wouldn't have had a clue! We did see one unforgettable sight though... We were driving through a town when we saw three horses being herded across the main road by a dog. No sign of a human...but there was another dog watching to make sure they made it across okay!
We came out of the other end of the snow storm into clear blue skies and mercifully clear roads. The lack of caffeine was hitting hard and Stephen and I were niggling each other. I was being berated for making us set off from Monument Valley so early as we were going to get to the hotel before 12. Needless to say I wasn't amused. This was the freakin' Grand Canyon we were going to...surely there was enough to stop and stare at en route?! We came across a trading post in Cameron so we stopped, looked round the gigantic gift shop, marvelled at the Navajo rugs (and their very high price tag) then went in search of their restaurant for coffee. We had brunch as well. My goodness the portions were HUGE! Stephen had the Chili and Navajo Fry Bread - what a plateful! I'd had the Navajo Fry bread a couple of nights before. Its delicious drizzled with honey, but very greasy. I suspect that there may have been some Navajo/Scottish cross-breeding at some point in the past as deep fried sweet/savoury things seem to be popular in both cultures. I bet Fry bread and honey would go down a treat in Glasgow, and deep fried Mars bars could become a new Navajo staple!!
As suspected we didn't make it to the hotel until nearly 5pm as we stopped at nearly every viewing point to marvel and take another shed-load of photos. It was a cracking clear day. Visibility was around 130 miles. Its difficult to comprehend the sheer scale of the canyon. We were looking at peaks that seemed relatively close and were actually 20 miles away.
Sunset was spectacular. We went to Hopi point on the bus (along with many, many others!) and watched as the colours changed from pastel to vibrant reds and orange as the sun made its descent. It was a little bit Disney at the end through - very efficient - as a stream of buses came to pick people up, then there was a stream of headlights as people left the park.
And we're no longer dry! The restaurant makes cracking margaritas!!
We came out of the other end of the snow storm into clear blue skies and mercifully clear roads. The lack of caffeine was hitting hard and Stephen and I were niggling each other. I was being berated for making us set off from Monument Valley so early as we were going to get to the hotel before 12. Needless to say I wasn't amused. This was the freakin' Grand Canyon we were going to...surely there was enough to stop and stare at en route?! We came across a trading post in Cameron so we stopped, looked round the gigantic gift shop, marvelled at the Navajo rugs (and their very high price tag) then went in search of their restaurant for coffee. We had brunch as well. My goodness the portions were HUGE! Stephen had the Chili and Navajo Fry Bread - what a plateful! I'd had the Navajo Fry bread a couple of nights before. Its delicious drizzled with honey, but very greasy. I suspect that there may have been some Navajo/Scottish cross-breeding at some point in the past as deep fried sweet/savoury things seem to be popular in both cultures. I bet Fry bread and honey would go down a treat in Glasgow, and deep fried Mars bars could become a new Navajo staple!!
As suspected we didn't make it to the hotel until nearly 5pm as we stopped at nearly every viewing point to marvel and take another shed-load of photos. It was a cracking clear day. Visibility was around 130 miles. Its difficult to comprehend the sheer scale of the canyon. We were looking at peaks that seemed relatively close and were actually 20 miles away.
Sunset was spectacular. We went to Hopi point on the bus (along with many, many others!) and watched as the colours changed from pastel to vibrant reds and orange as the sun made its descent. It was a little bit Disney at the end through - very efficient - as a stream of buses came to pick people up, then there was a stream of headlights as people left the park.
And we're no longer dry! The restaurant makes cracking margaritas!!
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