Day 20: Home to Nelson

The last leg of the journey. It was a great trip: 9000km's, 100 hrs of driving, 7 National Parks Disneyland, Sea World and Las Vegas. Saw many sites we will have to go back and see individualy with more time.

Day 19: The hunt for shoes

We have arrrived in Spokane, after a successful but long hunt for a specific pair of brown shoes and a purple wallet at Joes Outdoor sports. Gary can now navigate to every Joes from here to
Eugene.

Day 18: Shop till you Drop

Just a day of driving, and shopping in Eugene. Managed to get the BBQ and a few other odds and ends in no Sales tax Oregon. Realized most things would be closed on Sunday so it was a shopping marathon. Off to Spokane tomorrow.

Day 17: Redwoods

Today we headed further up the coast and are now in Crescent City. We enjoyed more scenic landscapes / coastline and the large Redwoods. We got hooked into checking out a Redwood you could drive through. We didn't actully drive through but took a picture with the truck which gives a good idea of size. The tree was 21 ft wide, 315 ft tall and 2400 years old.

Tomorrow we're headed for Portland and shopping along the way.

Day 16: The Coast

Headed for the coast along Route 46, partially scenic but mainly flat agricultural land. Hit the coast and headed north through Big Sur and into Monteray. At that point we decided to head inland to a major highway as it started to get later in the afternoon. We passed through San Francisco and headed over the Golden Gate bridge and are just south of Santa Rosa for the night. Not too many pictures for the day, a few along the coast and a couple inland.

Flashlight reststop is for you Andyman....

Day 15: Death Valley

Today we explored Death Valley and will definitely be coming back. Furnace Creek would make a great base for further exploration. It is an old western town with a little museum displaying old mining equipment and native artifacts. It is also the location of a resort, golf course and campground.

The landscape was amazing and very different from anything we've seen so far. Lots of color in the mountains again but the salt flats in the valley bottom were really something to see. The above panoramic shows an elevation change from -282 feet at Badwater (foreground) to 11,050 feet at Telescope Peak (snow capped peaks in the background).

On the way back to Bakersfield we drove through sections of the Sequoia National forest alongside Kern Creek and enjoyed a more forested landscape. Unfortunately the light was too low to get any good photos. We're in Bakersfield for the night and headed for the coast in the morning working our way north to San Fran.

Day 14: Vegas

This morning we did the Hoover Dam Crawl. At about 4 miles from the Dam, traffic slowed to a 5mph crawl (at least it was scenic). When we finally got there it was worth it. The Dam itself is quite the feat of construction but it was overshadowed by the construction on the new bridge which you can see extends from either side of the canyon reaching out into the middle. On our way back to Vegas we chose to do a scenic drive along Lake Mead.

We toured some of the major hotels in the evening. Each one had it's own shopping area and some type of attraction. We saw the lion habitat at the MGM, the gondolas at the Venetain and the sinking ship at Treasure Island. The best were the botanical gardens and the Fountains at the Bellagio. Of course with only an evening we barely scratched the surface.
We got back to Excalibur at 10 and hit the casino. It's a good thing we didn't get back earlier because those machines really like to eat cash.

Day 13: Mojave to Vegas

On our way out of Barstow we took a quick trip down historic Route 66.
We spent the late morning and early afternoon driving offroad and exploring in the Mojave National Preserve. The landscapes were very similar to what we've seen already with the exception of the large Kelso sand dunes. There was also an area called Hole in the Wall where I decided to poke arund a little.
Vegas is INSANE! I can't believe the size of the hotels/resorts here and the things they contain. We will do some exploring tomorrow and report back.

Day 12: LA Tour

Today we did another tour up through Hollywood and Beverly Hills. We hit Hollywood Blvd to walk the stars then drove down Rodeo Drive. It was 30 degrees so we decided to head down to Venice Beach again this afternoon (along with everyone else in LA) and after driving around for half an hour gave up. We decided to take another drive along Mulholland on our way out and it was more clear today than Friday so we got a few pics of LA from some of the overlooks (check out some of the houses). We are in Barstow for the night and heading for the Mojave Desert and Las Vegas tomorrow.

Day 11: Disneyland

13hrs Disneyland...enough said............ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!

Day 10: Los Angeles

As we headed north to LA we stopped in La Jolla to enjoy some ocean views and a cove of harbour seals and pups. We carried on up the coast and passed Laguna, Hunnington, and Newport Beach. We stopped at Venice Beach to check out the boardwalk and caught the Calypso Tumblers street show. Then we went to Santa Monica Pier to see what was happening there. Continued on and drove along Mullholland Drive through Beverly Hills and ended up here in Anaheim where we are prepping for a crazy day in Disneyland tomorrow.

Day 9: San Diego

We started the day visiting Old Town which is along the same lines as Fort Steele. Our first stop was the candy shop where we got to try fresh pulled Salt water taffy(Breanne/Brenda it was delicious). We walked around for a bit and Gary got some cool photos of the model of the town. The building with the stagecoaches was the best display - I can't imagine having to ride around like that for too long.

The weather was cooler today so instead of touring the beaches we went to Sea World and enjoyed the dolphin show, Shamu and the exhibits. A few more spots to check out tomorrow and it's off to LA.

Day 8: San Diego

Nothing too exciting today.

We arrived in San Diego early afternoon. Explored the beach areas a little and spent a few hours checking out the USS Midway museum. The museum is actually the whole aircraft carrier, which was decommissioned in 1992 after 47 years of service. An excellent Audio tour guides you and lets you explore the whole ship at your own pace.

After finding our hotel, we tried to catch a sunset at Imperial Beach, but it was anti climatic as the pollution dominated the skyline.

Spending the whole day exploring San Diego tomorrow, then heading to LA on Friday.

Day 7: Joshua Tree National Park

Today we left Arizona headed for California (the coffee stop wasn't the same without Breanne's cookies). We spent the afternoon in Joshua Tree National Park strolling through the cholla cactus garden, enjoying the rocky landscapes, joshua trees and other cacti, and getting some sun.

As we drove through Palm Springs we passed through a high wind area that contained hundreds of wind turbines. Further south, we stopped at Salton Sea State Recreation Area (-227 ft below sea level) later than I had hoped but caught an amazing sunset.

Day 6: Coolest Can

Not too much activity today. Just preparing for the next leg of the road trip to San Diego. We went out to Costco and the grocery store so why would we bring the camera? Enroute to Sprout's (a grocery store) Dan suggested we grab lunch at a restaurant they had gone to earlier in the month - Joe's Farm Grill (turns out it is recommended in

the Food Network's Diners, Drive-in's and Dives).

As we got out of the Jeep I noticed a line up at the restroom at about the same time that Marion had commented about there only being two restrooms. I figured it was kinda strange that such a busy place only had two unisex restrooms. Well I finished my lunch (which was really great) and decided that we had a bit of a drive back so.....coolest can.

Photo credits to Jonathan Moore (http://www.flickr.com/people/jonathan_moore/) who posted these photos on Flickr as we did not have our camera.

Day 5: Rattler

Today we went for a 2 hour hike in the Southern Mountains and got to see some of the Cacti close up. Dan had commented, prior to the hike, that he has been keeping his eyes open scanning all nooks and crannies for Rattler's but has yet to see one. Today was the day, near the end of our walk, Dan passed by a small pile of rocks and we heard the sound. We spent a few minutes watching the snake and snapped a few pics.

We came back to the house for lunch and spent the afternoon in Arizona Mills shopping center.

Tomorrow we will stick around home base and plan the next leg of the trip.

Day 4: Market & Cacti

Today Dan and Marion were the tour guides. They have been coming down to Arizona for the past four years and we suggested they show us some of the things they like to do while they are here. This morning we went to the weekend market in Mesa

(photo from the Mesa Market website) - 1,600 booths with just about everything you can think of. We spent a couple hours walking around, picked up a few small things and some great road snacks then hit the road headed for Roosevelt Lake on another scenic drive.

Enroute to the lake the road transitioned from pavement to dirt track and we saw more great mountain landscapes and large variety of cacti. The highlight of the trip was watching a group of mountain sheep running around on a steep pinnacle.

Day 3: Red Rocks – Green Trees

We both must have needed the rest because we woke up at 7:45 this morning. We stayed at a more upscale Best Western (BW) which included a hot breakfast to start us on our way. We had sun all day with temperatures ranging from 20C (although I'm sure it was negative with windchill) to 18C. (Just jumped to 22C as I type this, looks like a shorts day tomorrow).

Anyway, we drove from Page to the Grand Canyon and spent the morning there and then headed south to Sedona which is the reason for the title of today's blog. Of course the Grand Canyon is huge but you can't really imagine how huge until you see it. There's so much to take in you really don't know where to look.

The road to Sedona had the most crazy switchbacks and fastest drop we've ever driven on. We drove though Red Rock State forest which had some amazing topograhy then south into town. The red rocks are coming up everywhere you look. I was so thrilled I didn't know where to point the camera. Sedona has to be the prettiest little town I've seen.

We are now heading down the interstate toward Phoenix enroute to Ahwatukee to visit with G's parents who are lucky enough to spend the month of March here each year.

Day 2: Scenic Tour

Last night as we were going to sleep the Weather Network announced a Low moving in that would basically travel down the same highway we'd planned to head out on, bringing heavy snowfall. We did wake up to snow and as we pulled out on the highway I was thrilled to see the sun breaking through the cloud, then Gary turned the opposite direction. We headed into the snowstorm, slushy roads and crazy winds. Of course we're used to that and were easily able to get past all the slower traffic. As we got further south we saw the sun, then the snow again and finally the sun – YAY! We headed for Zion National Park and toured around there. Gary enjoyed some off the beaten track 4x4 and I was in awe of the landscapes I was seeing. After a good part of the day in Zion, we took our chances and headed north to Bryce Canyon. Back to the wind and the snow, we couldn't see the surrounding landscapes through the fog and the wind was crazy. We decided to take our chances and keep going through the snow, then the sun, then the snow. You can see our first view of Bryce in some of the photos, Gary has what it should like on the dash and I'm standing outside (freezing) hoping to actually get a glimpse. As I was standing there it opened up and the sun shone through for just a minute and then it was gone again. We decided not to bother waiting for another opening and head back south. On our way out of the park I wanted to stop at the visitor center to see what I was missing - spent maybe 5 min looking around and when we got back outside the sun was shining! You can check out the photos to see what we saw.
Feeling pretty psyched we headed south along another back road for the rest of afternoon. We are spending the night in Page, AZ and will continue south tomorrow.

Day 1: En Route

Bit of an epic day, (bringin back memories Andyman) 22.5 hrs total, 1600 km's, 4 hrs of sleep and 4 hrs of shopping. Vic always makes sure we find the shopping. I must admit, I had partial doing on this one, as we spent 2 hrs wandering around Cabela's.

Tomorrow plan (Red line above) is much more scenic and relaxing, but still a long day. Zion, Bryce canyon to Flag Staff. Hopefully the weather gives us a little more visibility than today.

Day one 14hrs in

Just finsished dinner and checking out the huge Cabella's(see Google Earth above). Borrowing wifi from Best western, going to drive south for a few more hours tonight and then get a hotel. Bryce Canyon tomorrow.

On schedule for departure on Wednesday

We are on schedule to get the final details of our year end work done and start getting organized tomorrow for or planned departure on wednesday.