Category: United States

Finally hiking! Day 5 had us checking out the nearby Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument.

The tent rocks, or ‘tepees’ as Michael referred to them were an unexpected delight. They are amazing rock formations and the current weather had us scrambling through them having to navigate through patches of snow and ice. And coming from our low lying home, we could certainly feel the altitude. We needed to wind our way through wind formed channels in the rock – sometimes no wider than your shoulders with the walls towering to either side.

The views from the top of the peninsula were spectacular, and the tops of the ‘tepees’ were very interesting – many with their protective cap rocks on. The holes in the sides are a result of bursts of volcanic steam (fumaroles) early in their formation. At the site we also visited a local cave dated back as far as ~1200 which early Native Americans had further carved out and lived in (indicated by the fire soot on the ceiling).

We took some time in the late afternoon to relax and I checked out the local ‘Hobby Lobby’ shop. We had dinner at the adjacent Applebee’s where we played trivia and did quite well. We had a very cheap $27 deal for 2 with 1 appetizer, I had ribs (quite good) and Michael had chicken/seafood combo (not so good).

And today was just a glimpse of the geological wonders to come.

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To escape the Canadian winter, we had left a couple days earlier than originally planned with the thought of taking more time driving down. At some point we decided that we could push through the early driving to get out of potentially poor driving weather, and take a couple days at the Grand Canyon. In hindsight, this was a fantastic decision! Covid stopped us from any return adventures at all.

Day 4 had us push from Oklahoma to New Mexico. The old ‘Route 66’ wound its way back and forth across the new highway 40, and we were drawn to pull off a couple of times for the irresistible sights. Michael captured many of the historic buildings and surrounds with their vibrant graffiti – and yes, they were that colourful!

We popped up to Santa Fe for 2 nights with the hopes of checking out their local artisans and to visit the ‘Tent Rocks’ which Michael had discovered on his photo op research. Unfortunately, it was off season and we arrived too late in the day to check out very many of the artisanal offerings, and the next day was slotted for hiking at a nearby site. Santa Fe was unique, amazing – and COLD! It went down to -10C that night. So walking around town was very chilly with empty streets due to the 5:30pm ‘off season’ shutdown of shops. As luck would have it, the local food promo was in full swing, so there were several dining options for good prices. We passed on the Coyote Café as we were not overly hungry, so could not do it justice. This was a restaurant George & Marucia had visited and met the chef many years back – and I now own the signed cook book which Marucia kindly passed my way. Instead we opted for the $25 option at the Apothecary. We skipped the Oxygen Treatment but enjoyed the ‘Weary Traveler’ tea and fusion food offerings (Pad Thai for Michael, Green Curry for me) which was rounded out with appetizer and dessert – great food and a very good deal!

On to the next day when we finally had a chance to stretch our legs!

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Sat Feb 23 & Sun Feb 24, 2020

Not much to say except we drove, and drove, and drove! On Saturday after a quick bite at the hotel we were on the road by 8:15am. A quick fill-up stop at Wendy’s for a salad and gas for the car we pushed on to West Memphis, Arkansas just over the border from Memphis Tennessee. Our only screw up of the day was using Hotel Tonight to book a hotel which incorrectly was marked as being in West Memphis but in fact was in Texas. They do not make it easy to resolve incorrect bookings on their website – no human interaction is intended! After much frustrating communication which was compounded by our sh*!#$ phone card, I was finally able to get the phone number for the booking site from the hotel staff. I could not get a refund, but managed to at least get a credit for a future booking. In the meantime we landed at a Quality Inn which was not great but just fine. Had dinner at a local Mexican chain where the meals were also quite fine. The $0.99 Marguerites certainly helped.

Sunday was another drive day with a quick breakfast and we were on the road by 7:30am. More drive thru’s at Wendy’s and McD’s along with gas stops filled the day. We did pass a few interesting sites including out of commission oil rig and many cattle, not to mention a surplus of casinos on native lands. The day wrapped up with another Mexican meal which was very good and very affordable.

Our phone frustrations continued. It was quite ‘fun’ to start receiving US election spam as soon as we crossed borders though (check out the photo)! After endless drops from Michael’s 6 year old phone, we switched the phone card to my phone which improved reception marginally.

By end of Sunday we had travelled 1,670 miles (2,688 km).

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So one year later, I am going to attempt to post our truncated vacation experience to Joshua Tree. I started to create the postings upon our return, but never did get it done for many reasons. So time to get down to it!

We were unable to complete our wish list of sites to see, and hope to return someday to experience it all. But as this article describes, even if we return, it may never be the same. Just as Canadians are flocking out of the cities with the pandemic, so are the Hollywood crowd to Joshua Tree and surrounds. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/were-getting-out-of-l-a-and-going-to-joshua-tree-why-the-desert-area-is-booming.

So here it is, one year on.

Friday February 21, 2020

Little did we know this would turn out to be a less than routine vacation! We could not have dreamt this type of Californication! But that all happens later….

Our journey actually started on day 0 with the 276 km drive to Burlington for a pre-trip visit with Mike’s parents and a birthday book delivery to Dan (finally!!). We rose early on Friday, Feb 21 (day 1) and were out the door before 7 am, without even waking George & Marucia. As was to become our pattern, Michael drove the first couple of hours, then we switched drivers. I crossed the border smoothly into Michigan which took about 10 – 15 minutes. It was a perfect driving day with lots of sun and light traffic. We did manage to hit Cincinnati about 3:30 pm for Friday rush hour but even that was mild.

We purchased a ROAM mobility card for use in the states – and it seemed to suck! We had very poor reception using Michael’s One-plus (which is now 6 years old, so that is a bit suspect). Unfortunately despite my research, the reception was quite spotty. I’m not sure what provider may be better??? At this point it was ‘ok’ for navigation, and luckily our route was straight forward. But internet communication is not dependable. Wifi at accommodations will be necessary!

We lunched in Dayton, Ohio just past Toledo where we found a great Pho spot. We filled up with diesel and after another driver swap we were on to Cinci’ where we swapped again. We almost stopped at the Armstrong Space Museum there (Neil Armstrong’s home town), but it was 3pm so we decided to skip as the museum would likely close and we wanted to push on.

Our ‘in flight entertainment’ consisted mostly of podcasts which we had previously downloaded. I had selected ‘Habitat’ the Mars simulation in Hawaii, and Michael ‘The Office Girls’ re-watch podcast by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. Both were engaging and entertaining. Our driving did take us through some weather with interesting skies including rainbow entertainment also (see next post for the photos).

We used HotelTonight the app Michael had found for last minute hotel bookings to book our first night. It was $100 Cdn+tax for a King room with breakfast, so reasonable – but the same price as other sites. The staff were great and very helpful – especially in picking our dinner spot.

We went to the local favourite, Greyhound Tavern which was a splurge. The onion rings were insane! 5 inches around and 2 inches thick monsters! The pecan crusted chicken was excellent and the spinach salad was well done. We added a couple of local draft beers which were also very good. It was a nice dinner binge, but we can’t keep this up for both the waistline and the pocketbook!

Heading back to the hotel, we decided to skip a stop at the PEECOX bar across the street and opted instead for some TV time with cookies from the lobby.

757km under our tires today…. more tomorrow so early rise on the alarm.