Travel – Page 12 – thosecoolkims

A brief interruption in our regularly scheduled programming …

Well, I think I am finally ready to talk about it …

My laptop was dropped. Yeah, it just fell to the ground. I don’t know who got hurt most by the impact – my dearest machine or my beating heart. I’m really not exaggerating – it’s no secret that next to Ed, my mac is the most important thing to me in the world. But the good news is, after crying for a few hours, Ed found a nice place in Mesa, AZ that we could take it to. It’s gonna be okay – everything is salvageable, my girl just needs a new LCD screen.

Yep, it’s gonna hurt, but not as much as a new laptop would! So, blogging on the road is on a hiatus for now. :( But, I get my laptop back on Saturday when we swing back through Mesa on our way home!

Road Trip Teaser – The Wigwam Motel

Well, there’s no Internet here at The Wigwam Motel, so here’s a teaser from the iPhone!

We have arrived in Holbrook and are absorbing more fabulous old-school Americana! Here’s a shot in front of our home for the night: Teepee #10!

Lots to report on today … more updates later!

Southwest Road Trip Day 4: Sedona

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As Sedona represented such a different vibe compared to the last few days, Carrie and I were really curious and eager to see Sedona’s otherworldy rock formations up close and personal. Sedona, aside from its natural beauty, is considered by many in the New Age community to be a spiritually powerful place, with several “vortices” of energy that purportedly exist near these rock formations. No matter what though, this is one seriously breathtaking place to look at.

We started off the morning to check out the Airport Loop Trail, which is said to host a Vortex and was walking distance from our hotel.

This trail definitely humbled me as it was labeled “easy”; the trail was tilted at an angle with huge vertical drops just beyond it…no thank you! But climbing to the top of the hill above the supposed vortex did afford the most spectacular views.

We then headed off in the car to explore other parts of Sedona. We did a short 2 mile hike inside the Red Rock State Park, too. Beyond the park, there was a lot of really indescribable scenery on such a grand scale. For some of them, you really had to leave pavement for quite some ways, but it was definitely worth it!

We’d thought ahead and packed lunches for the trip, so by the time we were hungry and many miles away from any services, we had lunch waiting for us. Roadside picnic!

Our final stop for the day was Cathedral Rock. It’s something, isn’t it!

Upon returning to civilization, we stopped into the local UFO store, filled with all kinds of alien kitsch, including countless pieces of “evidence” proving their existence. We perused the store to the looped recording of the X-Files theme!

A bonus today. We moved to a room with a spectacular view. And a fireplace.

Southwest Road Trip Day 4: East Rim, Desert View Watchtower, Meteor Crater and Flagstaff

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Today we woke up bright and early and said goodbye to The Grand Canyon. We left the National Park via the East Rim, and boy are we glad we did – the views on the east are really spectacular!

Also on the way out was the historic Desert View Watchtower, which was definitely worth the stop.

You can climb up to the top for really great views and the inside is pretty neat – twisty and Native American inspired.

After leaving the Watchtower, we had a long drive through miles of open nothingness. There were red rocks all around, old shabby Navajo Trading Posts and more picturesque scenery than we could ever describe. It was a quiet drive for the two of us, just trying to take it all in.

However, we lightened things up a bit and headed out to the Meteor Crater – a stop that Ed was especially looking forward to! We had fun checking things out and absorbing the kitsch that goes along with the visitor center there. Here are a few shots:

Ed’s interpretation of the impact!

Say what?

The awesome 80s looking reenactment of the meteor hitting the earth

Happy Ed on site

After leaving the crater, we were headed off to Sedona, where we’ll be staying the next two nights. But we did make a brief stop in Flagstaff for a yummy lunch downtown. We didn’t get any pics unfortunately, but the downtown area is really cute – very liberal feeling with lots of college students. It sorta feels like Davis.

The drive to Sedona via Flagstaff was easily the most scenic and magical yet! It is amazing how the landscape changes here in Arizona – earlier that day we were surrounded by canyons and dust, but this route was cloaked in Pine Trees!

This was our first hint we were about to arrive in Sedona:

This is the view we have about 20 steps outside of our hotel:

Tomorrow will be another day of hiking and taking in the great outdoors. So far, this vacation has been VERY different for Ed & I, but we have to admit we sure are being wowed by Mother Nature!

See ya tomorrow!

Southwest Road Trip Day 3: Grand Canyon

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They always say that nothing can prepare you for the awesome sight of the Grand Canyon. Yes, we’ve all seen pictures of it, but can they really do such a monumentally place justice? Actually, both Carrie and I have been there in our youth, but it had been so long that it was truly like being there for the first time again.

Carrie and I got up this morning, rarin’ to go. We drove on in and parked in the Grand Canyon Village, where the various lodges and eateries are located. We decided from the beginning that we would follow the Rim Trail as that would afford us a great variety of spectacular views. Our first glimpse was no disappointment!

It was hard not to become reflective looking at the view…

We kept hiking the rim until we became hungry. What to do? No worries there as we had prepared a picnic lunch!

Walking further along, we finally caught a glimpse of the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon!

What an amazing day. Well, all that hiking did make us pretty hungry, and we still did need to address the matter of celebrating our third anniversary, so what better place to go within the national park than to El Tovar, the finest dining establishment at the Grand Canyon?