road trip – Page 8 – thosecoolkims

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?

We started off with a few cocktails, naturally…

The restaurant turned 100 years old in 2005, as these plates show.

Carrie had a New York Strip while I went all old school and ordered Chicken Cordon Bleu. Seriously, who gets that anymore? It was delicious…

Wonderful and awe-inspiring day. And still so much more yet to come! Tomorrow, we hit the road again, so stay tuned!

Southwest Roadtrip Day 2: Route 66 Roadside Towns

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Today’s leg of our trip focused on all things Route 66! There was plenty to see and do – and we couldn’t wait to hit the road!

But, first things first – keeping in line with our kitschy theme, we had to hit up The Pioneer in Laughlin for breakfast before starting our day. What can we say – the Pioneer was a goldmine of kitsch, and we thoroughly enjoyed the Old West theme!

In Ed’s words, “When you’re in a gamblin’ kind of place, you gotta have a shrimp cocktail, no matter how early it is” – so here is my happy guy with his Shrimp Cocktail:

I chose to stick with coffee and pancakes. :)

Route 66 Roadside Town #1: OATMAN

Oatman is quite a place – and yes, you read it right – the sign mentions Wild Burros. As you walk through the main drag in town, there are tons of donkeys just cruising around unattended! They are descendants of all the pack animals brought to the tiny town by miners back in the day. You can buy a bag of carrots to feed them for $1, so of course we did!

Another big claim to fame for the town is the Oatman Hotel – where Clark Gable & Carole Lombard spent their honeymoon! The actual suite is undergoing renovations, but here is the entrance:

Oatman is a cute little old west town, and it was fun to take a few shots of all the old signage.

After leaving Oatman, we made a few stops along the way to take in the scenery. A man was even nice enough to take a picture of the two of us! Here are a few shots, but man – it really doesn’t do things justice! One thing we both agreed on was that it was during this stretch of the road that definitely seemed the loneliest, and definitely most forgotten …

We even drove by the infamous Cool Springs Mobil Gas Station, which is an icon of stops along The Mother Road:

Route 66 Roadside Town #2: KINGMAN
We got into Kingman, which is one of the better known roadside towns. It was home of the Route 66 Museum, so we had to make a stop inside to check out all the memorabilia.

Also in Kingman is Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner. We were holding out for another place to actually eat at which was a few towns away (more on that later!), so we settled on a milkshake at Mr. D’z.

We didn’t have too much time in Kingman, because we wanted to make sure to get to the Grand Canyon Cavern in time to check it out before it closed. On the way, we passed through a TON of open road, some Hualapai Indian Territory, and the teeny tiny town of Peach Springs.

Route 66 Roadside Attraction: GRAND CANYON CAVERN & CAVERN INN

The Cavern was so awesome! We were glad to make it in time for the last tour of the day (they don’t let you go down there unattended). We took an elevator 21 stories down underneath the ground with 4 others and our tour guide, Johnny. Tough to capture – but here we are in the Cavern!

Also on site is a ton of other fun stuff, like dinosaurs & the groovy old sign at the Inn!

Route 66 Roadside Town #3: SELIGMAN

We hightailed it out of the Cavern as soon as the tour ended en route to Seligman – where the fictional town of Radiator Springs (from the Pixar movie Cars) is basically inspired from. There were promises of a pretty extensive (and wacky) mega gift store, as well as the diner we’d really been holding out for all day – The Snow Cap Drive-In. We are bummed to report the Snow Cap was CLOSED by the time we got there! However, they had lots of pictures of cars just like the ones in the movie Cars – so these pics are for you, Facey family! :)
Look at the eyes they put in the windows:

We were really disappointed, the Snow Cap just seemed like the ultimate place to stop … SO old school!

They’re most famous for their “Dead Chicken” – and we didn’t get to find out what it was all about!

Route 66 Roadside Town #4: WILLIAMS
By the time we got to Williams, the sun had already gone down – but this was the most bustling of the roadside towns. Don’t get me wrong – its still teeny & quaint – but the lights were on, the Old West vibe was strong, and there were lots of people milling around. This is the Route 66 town before we left the Mother Road to head to the Grand Canyon.

To finally quench our ultimate Route 66 diner quest, we had a bite at Cruiser’s Cafe 66.

That wraps things up for day 2. We gotta get some rest – we’re planning a big day of hiking at the Grand Canyon. We both can’t wait to see it, we’re getting up early!

Southwest Roadtrip Day 1: Laughlin, NV

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So, our long awaited road trip is finally here! Carrie and I decided this year for our annual anniversary vacation that we’d take in some of the amazing sights we’ve got within our own border. And how best to do that? Road trip!!

We will be spending the next nine to ten days driving around the Southwest, primarily Arizona. We won’t give you spoilers as to where – you’ll just have to keep checking back over the next ten days to see where we’re at!

Anyways, we started off our trip literally during rush hour after work. We packed the car the night before and went to work this morning. After work, I drove to Carrie’s office and picked her up, and off we went towards Arizona. And where did we spend the night tonight before our “real” journey starts in the morning? Laughlin, Nevada.

Neither of us have been here before. Think of it as a “Vegas Lite”, but with more kitsch. As you can see in the pictures below, kitsch is the name of the game here. We are staying overnight at the Colorado Belle, a hotel shaped like a steamboat on the bank of the Colorado River. Hey, for $22, we’re in.

After checking in, we went downstairs for a little video poker action. After losing our $20, we walked around the facilities and found that the Colorado Belle sure loves its murals. Here’s me picking an argument with two gentlemen:

Tomorrow morning, the real journey begins as we hit Route 66 eastward and explore a wonderful, bygone era. Stay tuned!!

Snowy Cabin Weekend!

Friday was a “Free Day” for Carrie, and Ed doesn’t go back to work until January 5th, so we decided to head up the mountain to Green Valley Lake to hang out with our friends Danna & Jarod. They’re going on their 2nd winter as “mountain folk”, and they have turned their cabin into a wonderful cozy place! It’s literally nestled in the snow – after a big storm 2 weeks ago, Danna says they have more snow right now than all of last winter combined!

Apparently, everybody had the same idea as us, to get away over the long weekend now that Christmas is over … and those who didn’t come up for the relaxing came up for the snowboarding & skiing! It’s bustling up here … and it took Ed & I over 3 hours to just get up the mountain. It was worth it though, we are surrounded by beauty, good friends, and kitty cats! We couldn’t be happier!

On our way up (I had to take pictures to keep myself entertained!)