Archive for category Travel
Sedona Touring by Jeep and Segway
We were up early to take a morning tour of the famous red rocks by Pink Jeep Tours. The weather was perfect and we were treated to wonderful vistas in addition to some amazing off-road gymnastics by the jeep and driver.
Lunch at the Cowboy Club featured Nopales cactus fries. After lunch, I joined Tessa, Katie and Will for a Segway tour. What a hoot. It was incredibly easy to learn to balance and navigate the Segway and what a joy zipping along the sidewalks in the crisp afternoon air. The halfway point of the trip was the famous Chapel of the Holy Cross, a small Catholic church built into the rocks with a stunning view of the red rocks to the west.
A Leisurely Day in Sedona
We had no planned events today so we had an easy day driving just a few miles south on Hwy 179 to take in the views of the fabulous red rocks. Along the way we stopped in at a few galleries then visited the Tlaquepaque village with its dizzying array of art galleries.
In the afternoon, we drove south to Tuzigoot National Monument.
Tess and Trisha at Tuzigoot National Monument, AZ
Ironically, perhaps the best vista of the day was the nearly full moon over the red rocks seen from our hotel room balcony.
Sunset from our hotel room balcony
Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater and Sedona
Today we made our way from the Grand Canyon to Sedona with a side trip to Meteor Crater, east of Flagstaff. We made a final stop at the Watchtower, at the east end of Desert View Drive, then said goodbye to the incomparable Grand Canyon.
Tessa and Trisha at the Grand Canyon
Hermit Road and Helicopter Tour
View from South Rim near Hopi Point on Hermit Road
Oct. 4 – Tuesday – Grand Canyon National Park
We began the day taking the park shuttle along the Hermit Road and then hiking a 1.5-mile segment right along the Canyon’s edge. Every vista seemed more stunning than the last one. A brief rain squall blew through while we waited for the shuttle at the turn-around point and we thought our afternoon helicopter trip would surely be cancelled.
However, the weather around the helicopter tour route cleared and by 3:00 we were in the air. What a fabulous experience. Seeing the amazing canyons, cliffs, and mesas from above truly completes your appreciates of the beauty and grandeur of the topography. I could finally see the patterns of erosion and formed the Canyon over so many eons.
Colorado River from Helicopter
To the Grand Canyon
Oct. 2 – Sunday – Palm Desert, CA to Tusayan, AZ
Today’s short drive of around 400 miles gets us to the Grand Canyon where we rendezvous with Trisha sister, Tessa, and her daughter and son-in-law, Katie and Will. We’re staying at the Grand Hotel in Tusayan, AZ (not nearly as fancy as the web site makes it look).
Joshua Tree National Park
Oct. 1 – Saturday – Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park
We were up early to rendezvous with our Hummer Tour of Joshua Tree National Park, an area the size of Rhode Island encompassing two different desert ecosystems and a portion of the San Andreas Fault. The tour took us from the scrub of the Colorado Desert to the higher and cooler reaches of the Mojave Desert where the Joshua Trees proliferate. The terrain is eerily beautiful but also very repetitive and less interesting than the other parks.
We spent the afternoon recovering from our first week on the road, having covered over 1,800 miles and four national parks in six days. We did laundry, picked up an additional audio book at Barnes and Noble and had an early dinner at the food court of the Westfield Palm Desert Mall before packing for tomorrow’s drive to the Grand Canyon.
Palm Desert, CA
Sept. 30 – Friday – Visalia to Palm Desert, CA
Palm Desert & Coachella Valley from Tramway
Today was a relatively short drive of just over 300 miles through some lush agricultural country north of Los Angeles. We couldn’t resist stopping to purchase some fresh nectarines, apples, and peaches. The change in temperature from the mid 60s at Sequoia to 102 in Palm Desert was pretty dramatic. After an early arrival at the Homewood Suites, we took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway to the upper slopes of San Jacinto Peak, some 8,500 feet above the desert floor. Once there, we experienced another shocking temperature change to just 47 degrees. Dinner at the much-hyped Peak’s Restaurant was mediocre but worth the dramatic vistas.
Kings Canyon and Giant Sequoia
Sept. 29 – Thursday – Oakhurst, CA to Kings Canyon& Sequoia National Parks to Oakhurst, CA
General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park
The goal today was to visit two additional national parks, Kings Canyon and Sequoia. After a two-hour drive our first encounter of the day was at the majestic General Grant tree, at 267 feet in height and neatly 29 feet in diameter, the second largest tree in the world. But the entire grove is astounding. In addition to the gigantic General Grant specimen there are dozens of “smaller” companions in the area. Being late in the season and early in the day, there were few other visitors and the Forest Service was doing a controlled burn of underbrush so the whole area had the wonderful scent of incense cedar. We abandoned our drive on the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway after about 45 minutes to save the rest of the day for Sequoia NP.
It’s really impossible to describe the scale and majesty of giant sequoias. The displays at Giant Forest Museum and other visitor centers are informative but the site of so many of these enormous, 2,000 year old trees is just breath-taking. Seeing the world’s largest tree, the famed General Sherman, is thrilling bit I think we enjoyed as much or more the drive south of the Giant Forest where scores of these stately, serene trees line the road sometimes with just enough space between for two narrow lanes. Trisha says she likes the Sequoia forest even more than Yosemite.
The frequent stops and numerous road repair delays made for a long day but still it was an immensely satisfying visit. We spent the night at a very nice, comfy Hampton Inn in Visalia, CA.
On to Yosemite
Sept. 28 – Wednesday – Yosemite National Park
Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point
What a day! More beautiful weather, a leisurely drive northwest from Mariposa and then the awesome splendor of Yosemite. Our first vista was the magnificent El Capitan illuminated with the morning sunlight and decorated with a handful of rock-climbers. We meandered around Yosemite Valley Village and bought carry-out sandwiches for lunch. We headed out on the Tioga Road drive but gave up after an hour of endlessly winding roads before reaching the goal of Tuolumne Meadows. After lunch in a secluded pull-out we headed back toward the Village and drove to Glacier Point. From this vista we could see the whole Valley from above: the Village, El Capitan, Half Dome…. It’s a wholly different perspective than what you see from the Valley floor and really accents the incredible scale of the rock formations. We ended the day stopping at Mariposa Grove to see the Grizzly Giant sequoia.
Our hotel this evening was another Best Western in Oakhurst, nestled on a nicely-landscaped hillside. Take-out pizza for dinner again, this time from the local Round Table Pizza shop.
California-Arizona Trip: Day 2
Posted by nbdog in Photo albums, Travel on 27-Sep-2011
Sept. 27 – Tuesday – Medford, OR to Mariposa, CA
Lake at Lassen NP
Today turned out to be a little longer than planned. After leaving Medford at 8:15 we made such good time that we decided to take a side trip off I-5 to Lassen Volcanic National Park, east of Redding, CA. This gave us a chance to check off another National Park in our quest to visit them all. Lassen was beautiful and fascinating but it did add a few hours and quite a few miles (564 for the day) to our day and we didn’t arrive in Mariposa until 7:30. We stayed at a well-worn Best Western motel and ended up getting take-out pizza for dinner from the local Pizza Factory. The highlight of the day was probably enjoying a quiet lunch at this impossibly blue mountain lake in Lassen.
Here are just 6 photos of Lassen.
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