First Day!
Friday, June 20th:
On our way and boy, are we packed in this car - trunk and inside the car too! We stopped twice, before getting out of town, to get in the trunk for stuff we forgot to get out.
We stopped in Wichita Falls at the Cracker Barrel (this will place will show up frequently in our travels). We left the Cracker Barrel at 1 pm.
At 3:30 pm we stopped in Claredon, Texas - Vane had to take a picture of the courthouse. Have to admit it was beautiful. Then back on the road...Mom opened a folded window shade to try and block the sun in the back seat and it was too big for the area. We spent many wasted moments trying to fold up the shade while we laughed our heads off!! Vane finally had to pull over and fold it for us because we were too stupid to fold it back up.
5:06 pm - Stopped in Amarillo at the Cracker Barrel (CB, from now on) to use the bathroom. We now refer to CB as the Stop and Pee!
5:10 pm (6:10 CST) Stopped at the visitors center in New Mexico. It had just closed but we got a map.
5:50 MST - We stopped in Santa Rosa, NM at the McDonald's (no Cracker Barrel around). We went to the bathroom and Vane got a snack wrap and Coke. When we left, a light was shining on the steering wheel and I mentioned it to Vane (he couldn't see it). Joan said, "Hey, that light is coming from the little hangy down thing (rear view mirror!).
It is now raining and lightning a lot. On our way to Santa Fe...
7:40 MST - Stopped at Cline's Corner for gas ($4.39 a gal). Vane went to the bathroom and said the bathroom had urinals that were six inches off the floor! (You can come up with your own explanation for that!!)
8:17 MST - Almost to Santa Fe...
9:00 pm MST - Tried to check into the wrong hotel! Finally found the right hotel, checked in and SAT DOWN! (After 12 hours on our butts).
Went to a very New Mexico style place to eat...Sonic!
We went to bed and got up around 6:30 AM. Dressed and it is now 7:30 AM and we are going to breakfast at the hotel.
On the Way to Santa Fe
We finally made it to the hotel and spent the night. The pictures are of Joan and Mom getting ready to go to breakfast in the hotel.
We went to the San Miguel Chapel... was beautiful. It is located in old downtown Santa Fe and is the oldest chapel in America. It was built in 1610 and is awesome!
We then walked over to the Loretto Chapel and tried to go in to see the miracle staircase but they were having two weddings and would not be open until after noon. So we went back to the hotel, got our stuff and checked out. We went back to old downtown and parked across the street from Loretto Chapel in an art galleries parking lot. To keep from being towed we went in and looked around... it was awesome! You can see some of the art work that was outside but the paintings and sculptures inside were amazing (we couldn't take photos in the gallery). After visiting the gallery, we walked across the street and saw the miracle staircase. It is really breath taking and the story behind it is so amazing.(see the link section for a link to the story) I told Mom and Joan that it was so beautiful that we were considering converting! Thankfully, I was able to keep Joan away from the confessional. Thank God, we would have been there for hours!
Leaving Santa Fe & Hyde Park Mountain
We started to leave Santa Fe and decided to stop and eat at the Olive Garden. Our waiter, Justin, was a transplanted Texan and was in town to attend film making school. He was very funny. Joan wanted to pay a $14 tab with a $100 bill and he gave her a hard time about it. When he returned with her change, he brought it (approximately $86) all in ones with a paper band around it! Joan put his tip in the wine glasses that were in a row down the middle of the table! He thought that was a hoot. Justin told us about this Hyde Park Ski Resort that was a beautiful drive, so we went. All the way up we hoped that Justin was not just pulling another trick!
3:40-5pm - Well...the ride up the mountain was curvy to the max! I was still debating whether our waiter liked us or was still laughing about sending us up there. Actually, the ride was beautiful but when we got to the top lookout...it was raining. You can see our beautiful view in the picture!
5:30 pm Finally got out of Santa Fe and on our way to Flagstaff, AZ.
On the Way to Flagstaff
6:00 pm - Stopped at...you guessed it...CB!(now stands for clean bathrooms HA!). Joan is now driving and we are on our way to Flagstaff. Looks like it will be another late arrival at the hotel.
The scenery is awesome...maybe we aren't crazy for going on this trip.
6:55 pm - Going through Grant, NM and there were lots of black volcanic rocks everywhere! It was piled up all along the road, weird looking. Vane said I wonder where the volcano is. Mom said we are probably driving right over it! Now there is a comforting thought...Drive faster!!!
8pm - Tried to stop at the Gallap, NM CB but Joan, apparently unable to follow direction, missed the turn off and ruined our record of hitting every CB between Texas and Arizona! We ended up at a Indian Souvenior Shop and their "extremely clean" restrooms. They are certainly no CB! Vane took over driving at this point, we got gas and are heading west.
We stopped outside of Flagstaff to look at the stars. We haven't been able to see the Milky Way in years but the stars out in the desert are amazing!
10pm - Arrived at the hotel and went straight to bed. Slept like a rock.
Grand Canyon
11:00 AM - On our way to the Grand Canyon. We just realized we are not on Daylight Savings Time! Makes it easier to operate around here if you are on the same time as everyone else!!
The drive to the Grand Canyon is usually beautiful but it is so dry here that a lot of the trees are dead and dry. SAD!
11:55 AM - Stopped at a gas station/convenience store just outside Grand Canyon. Got gas and bought food for sandwiches and drinks for a picnic in the park.
12(noon) - Entered the gate to the Grand Canyon. We were able to get in for $10 instead of $25 because Mom is over 62! Mom said "Well, finally it pays to get old!"
Stopped at the first viewing area so Mom and Joan could see the Canyon for the first time...they were awe struck!
After that we drove to Bright Angel Lodge. This is where they filmed Vacation (the Chevy Chase movie). The scene of them looking at the Grand Canyon and the scene in the Lodge bar was filmed at this location.
The picture of the steam engine is one that Vane took. It brings people from a little town outside the Canyon and lets them off at the Lodge.
We stopped at Yavapai Point (an observation point). We went from there to Mather Point, Yaki Point, Grandview Point and Moran Point. As you can tell, Vane stopped at every "Point" along the road!
After Moran Point, we pulled off at a viewing point and made the best turkey sandwiches we had ever eaten (we were starving). After lunch we went to Lipan Point and Navajo Point, after this we all made the "point" to Vane that we wanted him to "point" the car toward Flagstaff and our hotel...he got the "point"!!
We came out the East Entrance through Cameron, AZ and drove through multiple Indian reservations. There was some awesome scenery.
We drove past the Sunset Volcano Crater...beautiful! We stopped at the side of the road and took the pictures of it. We got back to the hotel about 5pm and Joan took a picture of the outside of our hotel (?). Oh well, once you get an addiction to taking pictures everything is fair game.
Lowell Observatory
We had planned on going to the Lowell Observatory after we went to the Grand Canyon. We went back to the hotel and rested until just before dark and then got into the car headed for the Observatory. When we arrived I noticed that the only people walking around were wearing fancy dress clothes! I thought, "Wow, are we undressed!". It turned out that they were having a banquet (invitation only). Oh well, having no invitation we left...
As we drove out of the grounds, we noticed that they were closed on Sunday...it was Sunday! We didn't even realize what day it was!! We really felt stupid.
It wasn't a total waste to go to the Observatory. The view of Santa Fe from the top of the mountain was cool.(see our pics of that)
We decided to drive out of town and look at the stars in the country. WOW, what a light show! As we got out of the car, a moose let out a bellow that like to scared us to death. Vane got out of the car and contributed his own sound effect to the evening, complete with odor! Not to be out done, Joan got out and ripped a big one too! They said it was to keep wildlife away. I said it might resemble a mating odor. Mom and I decided to let Joan and Vane look at the stars and risk getting run over by the wild life! We waited in the car...but seriously the sky's were awesome!
We went back to the hotel and went to bed dreaming of stars, wildlife and that the morning would bring the next day...Monday (is that right??)
Meteor Crater and the Painted Desert
8:30 AM - On our way to Meteor Crater (about 35 miles west). Wow, what a hole! HA! This thing is out in the middle of nowhere. We arrived at 9:30 am and it is already 95 degrees (HOT!) We watched a 15 minute movie on meteors. It was very interesting...only where is the popcorn?
After the movie, we went out to the observation deck and looked at that big hole. WOW!
Vane and Joan took a bunch of pictures and Vane got out on a rocky ledge and like to scared us to death! Joan took a picture of him just before he came to his senses and got off that rock! It was really windy out there, there are no trees or anything to act as a wind break...windy and hot.
We stayed at the Crater for about 2 hours and then headed to the Painted Desert.
At the Painted Desert we drove through more rocky landscape and took more pictures of rocky trees! Seriously though, it was really cool.
There were striped mountains in colors of red, yellow, blue, purple, gray and white. Vane stopped at every view point, once again!
It is a really awesome place and almost looks like another planet. Cool!
We stopped at the Painted Desert gas station for gas and to pee (boy, we pee a lot!). We are now on our way to Bernalillo, NM to spend our last night on the road...
Last Night
We next stopped for dinner in Gallup, NM at, you guessed it, Cracker Barrel! The food was good but we were too tired to eat much. We had about 3 hours to go to get to the hotel. Joan was driving now and we tried to play Car Bingo, that she bought at CB. We found out that New Mexico didn't have any of the normal things on the bingo board! No lakes, police cars, schools and etc. The game was impossible. We decided they needed one just for New Mexico that had rocks, rocks and more rocks!
We then asked Vane to tell us some more useless bits of info (this evidently was his job for the whole trip). He was happy to oblige. Our only restriction on him was...no info about any rocks. We were "rocked" out!
8 pm - Arrived at the hotel. After encountering the world's most incompetent desk clerk we finally got our room and laid down and watched our pics on the TV. The pictures were great and Vane and Joan took some fantastic shoots. We all told Joan she needed to take a photography class, she has a real eye for composition. We went down to the pool and hot tub. Joan and Vane both got in for a little while. We went back to the room and crashed!
Our room had an open closet (no doors) by the bathroom. When you got up at night in the dark and used the wall to get you back to the bed - there was no wall! Mom, Joan and I all fell into the closet at different times in the night. So I guess you could say we all came out of the closet on this trip! HA!
We left the hotel around 8 am and headed for Santa Rosa, NM and Texas!
Almost Home!
The ride was kind of quite this last day. We were partied out!
We finally reached Texas and stopped just outside of Amarillo. There is a very "Texas" thing there. The Cadillac Ranch. This consists of a piece of land in the middle of nowhere that has Cadillac's buried and sticking up at a angle in the dirt! We took pictures of them(there's a shock!). It was so weird. Only in Texas...
We arrived in Mansfield in the early evening and Joan and Mom dropped us off and went on to Arlington. After 12-14 hours in the car, on our butts, we came into the house and SAT DOWN!
We had a great time but we all agreed that the next "road trip" would require a van!! We came home tired but the trip was, "...action packed, Pee Wee!".
Friday, June 20th:
On our way and boy, are we packed in this car - trunk and inside the car too! We stopped twice, before getting out of town, to get in the trunk for stuff we forgot to get out.
We stopped in Wichita Falls at the Cracker Barrel (this will place will show up frequently in our travels). We left the Cracker Barrel at 1 pm.
At 3:30 pm we stopped in Claredon, Texas - Vane had to take a picture of the courthouse. Have to admit it was beautiful. Then back on the road...Mom opened a folded window shade to try and block the sun in the back seat and it was too big for the area. We spent many wasted moments trying to fold up the shade while we laughed our heads off!! Vane finally had to pull over and fold it for us because we were too stupid to fold it back up.
5:06 pm - Stopped in Amarillo at the Cracker Barrel (CB, from now on) to use the bathroom. We now refer to CB as the Stop and Pee!
5:10 pm (6:10 CST) Stopped at the visitors center in New Mexico. It had just closed but we got a map.
5:50 MST - We stopped in Santa Rosa, NM at the McDonald's (no Cracker Barrel around). We went to the bathroom and Vane got a snack wrap and Coke. When we left, a light was shining on the steering wheel and I mentioned it to Vane (he couldn't see it). Joan said, "Hey, that light is coming from the little hangy down thing (rear view mirror!).
It is now raining and lightning a lot. On our way to Santa Fe...
7:40 MST - Stopped at Cline's Corner for gas ($4.39 a gal). Vane went to the bathroom and said the bathroom had urinals that were six inches off the floor! (You can come up with your own explanation for that!!)
8:17 MST - Almost to Santa Fe...
9:00 pm MST - Tried to check into the wrong hotel! Finally found the right hotel, checked in and SAT DOWN! (After 12 hours on our butts).
Went to a very New Mexico style place to eat...Sonic!
We went to bed and got up around 6:30 AM. Dressed and it is now 7:30 AM and we are going to breakfast at the hotel.
On the Way to Santa Fe
We finally made it to the hotel and spent the night. The pictures are of Joan and Mom getting ready to go to breakfast in the hotel.
We went to the San Miguel Chapel... was beautiful. It is located in old downtown Santa Fe and is the oldest chapel in America. It was built in 1610 and is awesome!
We then walked over to the Loretto Chapel and tried to go in to see the miracle staircase but they were having two weddings and would not be open until after noon. So we went back to the hotel, got our stuff and checked out. We went back to old downtown and parked across the street from Loretto Chapel in an art galleries parking lot. To keep from being towed we went in and looked around... it was awesome! You can see some of the art work that was outside but the paintings and sculptures inside were amazing (we couldn't take photos in the gallery). After visiting the gallery, we walked across the street and saw the miracle staircase. It is really breath taking and the story behind it is so amazing.(see the link section for a link to the story) I told Mom and Joan that it was so beautiful that we were considering converting! Thankfully, I was able to keep Joan away from the confessional. Thank God, we would have been there for hours!
Leaving Santa Fe & Hyde Park Mountain
We started to leave Santa Fe and decided to stop and eat at the Olive Garden. Our waiter, Justin, was a transplanted Texan and was in town to attend film making school. He was very funny. Joan wanted to pay a $14 tab with a $100 bill and he gave her a hard time about it. When he returned with her change, he brought it (approximately $86) all in ones with a paper band around it! Joan put his tip in the wine glasses that were in a row down the middle of the table! He thought that was a hoot. Justin told us about this Hyde Park Ski Resort that was a beautiful drive, so we went. All the way up we hoped that Justin was not just pulling another trick!
3:40-5pm - Well...the ride up the mountain was curvy to the max! I was still debating whether our waiter liked us or was still laughing about sending us up there. Actually, the ride was beautiful but when we got to the top lookout...it was raining. You can see our beautiful view in the picture!
5:30 pm Finally got out of Santa Fe and on our way to Flagstaff, AZ.
On the Way to Flagstaff
6:00 pm - Stopped at...you guessed it...CB!(now stands for clean bathrooms HA!). Joan is now driving and we are on our way to Flagstaff. Looks like it will be another late arrival at the hotel.
The scenery is awesome...maybe we aren't crazy for going on this trip.
6:55 pm - Going through Grant, NM and there were lots of black volcanic rocks everywhere! It was piled up all along the road, weird looking. Vane said I wonder where the volcano is. Mom said we are probably driving right over it! Now there is a comforting thought...Drive faster!!!
8pm - Tried to stop at the Gallap, NM CB but Joan, apparently unable to follow direction, missed the turn off and ruined our record of hitting every CB between Texas and Arizona! We ended up at a Indian Souvenior Shop and their "extremely clean" restrooms. They are certainly no CB! Vane took over driving at this point, we got gas and are heading west.
We stopped outside of Flagstaff to look at the stars. We haven't been able to see the Milky Way in years but the stars out in the desert are amazing!
10pm - Arrived at the hotel and went straight to bed. Slept like a rock.
Grand Canyon
11:00 AM - On our way to the Grand Canyon. We just realized we are not on Daylight Savings Time! Makes it easier to operate around here if you are on the same time as everyone else!!
The drive to the Grand Canyon is usually beautiful but it is so dry here that a lot of the trees are dead and dry. SAD!
11:55 AM - Stopped at a gas station/convenience store just outside Grand Canyon. Got gas and bought food for sandwiches and drinks for a picnic in the park.
12(noon) - Entered the gate to the Grand Canyon. We were able to get in for $10 instead of $25 because Mom is over 62! Mom said "Well, finally it pays to get old!"
Stopped at the first viewing area so Mom and Joan could see the Canyon for the first time...they were awe struck!
After that we drove to Bright Angel Lodge. This is where they filmed Vacation (the Chevy Chase movie). The scene of them looking at the Grand Canyon and the scene in the Lodge bar was filmed at this location.
The picture of the steam engine is one that Vane took. It brings people from a little town outside the Canyon and lets them off at the Lodge.
We stopped at Yavapai Point (an observation point). We went from there to Mather Point, Yaki Point, Grandview Point and Moran Point. As you can tell, Vane stopped at every "Point" along the road!
After Moran Point, we pulled off at a viewing point and made the best turkey sandwiches we had ever eaten (we were starving). After lunch we went to Lipan Point and Navajo Point, after this we all made the "point" to Vane that we wanted him to "point" the car toward Flagstaff and our hotel...he got the "point"!!
We came out the East Entrance through Cameron, AZ and drove through multiple Indian reservations. There was some awesome scenery.
We drove past the Sunset Volcano Crater...beautiful! We stopped at the side of the road and took the pictures of it. We got back to the hotel about 5pm and Joan took a picture of the outside of our hotel (?). Oh well, once you get an addiction to taking pictures everything is fair game.
Lowell Observatory
We had planned on going to the Lowell Observatory after we went to the Grand Canyon. We went back to the hotel and rested until just before dark and then got into the car headed for the Observatory. When we arrived I noticed that the only people walking around were wearing fancy dress clothes! I thought, "Wow, are we undressed!". It turned out that they were having a banquet (invitation only). Oh well, having no invitation we left...
As we drove out of the grounds, we noticed that they were closed on Sunday...it was Sunday! We didn't even realize what day it was!! We really felt stupid.
It wasn't a total waste to go to the Observatory. The view of Santa Fe from the top of the mountain was cool.(see our pics of that)
We decided to drive out of town and look at the stars in the country. WOW, what a light show! As we got out of the car, a moose let out a bellow that like to scared us to death. Vane got out of the car and contributed his own sound effect to the evening, complete with odor! Not to be out done, Joan got out and ripped a big one too! They said it was to keep wildlife away. I said it might resemble a mating odor. Mom and I decided to let Joan and Vane look at the stars and risk getting run over by the wild life! We waited in the car...but seriously the sky's were awesome!
We went back to the hotel and went to bed dreaming of stars, wildlife and that the morning would bring the next day...Monday (is that right??)
Meteor Crater and the Painted Desert
8:30 AM - On our way to Meteor Crater (about 35 miles west). Wow, what a hole! HA! This thing is out in the middle of nowhere. We arrived at 9:30 am and it is already 95 degrees (HOT!) We watched a 15 minute movie on meteors. It was very interesting...only where is the popcorn?
After the movie, we went out to the observation deck and looked at that big hole. WOW!
Vane and Joan took a bunch of pictures and Vane got out on a rocky ledge and like to scared us to death! Joan took a picture of him just before he came to his senses and got off that rock! It was really windy out there, there are no trees or anything to act as a wind break...windy and hot.
We stayed at the Crater for about 2 hours and then headed to the Painted Desert.
At the Painted Desert we drove through more rocky landscape and took more pictures of rocky trees! Seriously though, it was really cool.
There were striped mountains in colors of red, yellow, blue, purple, gray and white. Vane stopped at every view point, once again!
It is a really awesome place and almost looks like another planet. Cool!
We stopped at the Painted Desert gas station for gas and to pee (boy, we pee a lot!). We are now on our way to Bernalillo, NM to spend our last night on the road...
Last Night
We next stopped for dinner in Gallup, NM at, you guessed it, Cracker Barrel! The food was good but we were too tired to eat much. We had about 3 hours to go to get to the hotel. Joan was driving now and we tried to play Car Bingo, that she bought at CB. We found out that New Mexico didn't have any of the normal things on the bingo board! No lakes, police cars, schools and etc. The game was impossible. We decided they needed one just for New Mexico that had rocks, rocks and more rocks!
We then asked Vane to tell us some more useless bits of info (this evidently was his job for the whole trip). He was happy to oblige. Our only restriction on him was...no info about any rocks. We were "rocked" out!
8 pm - Arrived at the hotel. After encountering the world's most incompetent desk clerk we finally got our room and laid down and watched our pics on the TV. The pictures were great and Vane and Joan took some fantastic shoots. We all told Joan she needed to take a photography class, she has a real eye for composition. We went down to the pool and hot tub. Joan and Vane both got in for a little while. We went back to the room and crashed!
Our room had an open closet (no doors) by the bathroom. When you got up at night in the dark and used the wall to get you back to the bed - there was no wall! Mom, Joan and I all fell into the closet at different times in the night. So I guess you could say we all came out of the closet on this trip! HA!
We left the hotel around 8 am and headed for Santa Rosa, NM and Texas!
Almost Home!
The ride was kind of quite this last day. We were partied out!
We finally reached Texas and stopped just outside of Amarillo. There is a very "Texas" thing there. The Cadillac Ranch. This consists of a piece of land in the middle of nowhere that has Cadillac's buried and sticking up at a angle in the dirt! We took pictures of them(there's a shock!). It was so weird. Only in Texas...
We arrived in Mansfield in the early evening and Joan and Mom dropped us off and went on to Arlington. After 12-14 hours in the car, on our butts, we came into the house and SAT DOWN!
We had a great time but we all agreed that the next "road trip" would require a van!! We came home tired but the trip was, "...action packed, Pee Wee!".
