Day 158 to 165 Way out West…completing the Loop

---

We are heading back west to LA nearly completing our California/Oregon/Washington/Montana/Wyoming/Colorado/Arizona/Nevada (phew!) loop.



Leaving Silverton we headed to Mesa Verdi National Park. This park is different from other US parks in that its main aim is to preserve the buildings of the ancient Puebloans, who settled here in the 13^th century, staying only about 75 years. They left behind unique mysterious dwellings built into the cliff face, added to the fact that we had to drive high into these hills that overlook the surrounding plains, building and living in these dwelling must have presented great challenges. They would have farmed food and kept their animals up on the top plains, then climbed down into their dwellings. After stopping at various overlooks and the museum we drove back down the hills for an overnight stay in Cortez.



Making an early start we headed toward the Grand Canyon. Before that though we had a drive through Monument Valley the iconic terrain that has featured in countless western films. Either side of the road are gigantic rock formations. The surrounding land belongs to the Navajo native Americans.



Onwards to Grand Canyon and we stopped at Desert View, a very popular (i.e. crowded) on the western end of the canyon. It had a good lookout tower and gave a great panorama of the canyon. Strangely, we stopped at several lookouts further along and they were really quiet. The increasingly hot Arizona sun was getting to us so we thought we would chill out at the hotel for a few hours. (It was supposed to be a motel but got upgraded). We went back later towards the south rim near the popular visitors centre to watch the amazing strawberry sunset over the canyon, and again many people to accompany us, but it was worth it.



Next morning, when starting the car, the temperature gauge read 100 degrees even at 9 in the morning! Heading off on the main interstate between Flagstaff and Kingman, at one time this would have been the famous route 66, but many interstate highways now cover it. You can do some detective work and find remnants of the old highway. We did just that and turned off north towards Seligman where it still loops towards Kingman. The main street here has several gift shops and old cars and bikes as a testament to the ‘Mother Road’. Apart from us tourists we saw many on their Harley Davidson doing the road trip. To add to our Route 66 experience, we stopped at a 50’s style diner and a museum across the road that told the histories and stories of previous travellers, before the road was completely tarmacked.



Sun beating down we continued to Sin City-Las Vegas. We had pre booked Tuscany Suites and Casino. Nice Large rooms with pool - pretty luxurious by our standard. Although we thought it would be nice to have a flutter either at the tables or machines, we saw too many not very happy people losing their money it was swelteringly hot with daytime temperatures reaching 118 degrees. Even going out in the evening with the streets and the concrete radiating heat it was still be in the 90’s. We strolled the whole of the strip, it would have been nice to see one of the shows that seemed to be everywhere, but just settled for dancing waterfalls. A bit tame compared to the crowds that come here, the hen and stag parties, or the revellers that let their hair down. Maybe a bit of people watching seems a good thing to do.



Because of dragging our feet on deciding how to travel on our next part of our trip, we had two days in LA to fill. Simple as it seems Alamo couldn’t extend the car hire for two extra days so I had to exchange for another one, so back to the airport. Before that I briefly called in the Fender Visitors Centre in Corona where you can order a custom built guitar. It was great to look at their small museum and displays of famous guitars, but nobody seemed that ready to assist us, so that purchase for a new custom made guitar is on hold!



What to do with ourselves next two days was a bit of a quandary. Our bodies felt like holing up in a hotel, but the travellers in us wanted to keep going. A short 2 and a half hours drive down the wonderful pacific road to San Diego seemed a good bet, (but it actually took us over 6 hours!). Heading out again in to the LA traffic we passed Orange County with its Laguna, Newport & Huntingdon beaches then stopped off at a beach on the outskirts of San Diego itself, La Jolla, a pleasant seaside town. I’ve got to say we have travelled 1000’s of miles around the US but the traffic down to San Diego has been the worst. After finding affordable accommodation, (difficult at this time of year) we head down to San Diego’s waterfront. In San Diego there is a large naval base and the retired aircraft carrier Midway docked there is floating museum. We just had time to look at the outside of it as night fell.



One of the main reason for coming here was to see one of the world’s top zoo’s. Alison had missed out seeing Pandas in China. Both Chengdu breeding research station (too far out of our way) or Xian (Panda was sick) was off the agenda. As the Zoo doors opened we dashed down to the Panda enclosure. We weren’t disappointed, there no more than 10ft in front was a Panda, carelessly having her breakfast of bamboo. The great thing about san Diego Zoo is its very natural surroundings. More like a gardens, because of clever design, you can get very close. We had terrific close ups of Gorillas, Hippo’s and Lions and many other animals.



Heading back through busy multi lane highways we drop the car off and bused into LA for a few hours just to visit the small but perfectly formed Grammy museum. Sadly, we only had a half hour in there as they were closing early for a corporate event. But the short time we were there we really enjoyed seeing the displays of singers who have won Grammys.



After the many miles we have driven, we are looking forward to our next leg, two restful nights on the ‘Sunset Limited Train’ across the southern states to New Orleans - non driving bliss….

---

Photos

Into Utah
Notice the shots in the sign

Comments

[Shonz]

Monument Valley
Is it as spectacular as it looks? If so, I really need to go there!

[alikim]

Re Monument Valley
It really is amazing go early or late for best photo opportunities though. We didn't spend enough time here. The RV was rather special.