Day 59-61 - New Mexico

Guilt is a powerful thing...we both couldn't sleep after our decision to junk the Jeep.  So, in the middle of the night, we left a message for them not to junk it but to put in a new transmission.  We will head back to Flagstaff in a week or so to pick it up.  Hopefully nothing else is wrong with it!  

On route to Sante Fe, New Mexico is the largest Indian Reservation in the country.  We went through some not so pretty country...desert landscape (albeit it was cold and rainy...go figure), with mostly run down houses and at least a billion billboards begging you to turn off to buy some great handicrafts or go to a casino (which I resisted...probably because I'm not driving).  

Mostly the route was part of the old Route 66, with some campgrounds actually having dinner you could order and brought to your RV...we had to try it out with some beef and beans and some fruit pie!  Quite tasty - however, we are used to my cooking which could have had some bearing on our opinions.

In Albuquerque, there wasn't much to be seen so we spent a very nice relaxing day at the zoo.  Jack enjoyed it and we did as well...a few animals like zebras, rhinos and polar bears to make it a bit different than home.

We enjoyed the downtown Plaza in Santa Fe...lots of people, music, street vendors, shops.  Lots of people with their blankets out on the sidewalk selling jewelry and crafts.  Everything about Santa Fe is about art or food.  John and Jack hung out in the park/plaza while I did a bit of shopping.   We snacked at the food vendors (Jack loves corn on the cob!) and then ate once again at a great Mexican restaurant with Coronas & Margaritas of course!   

We then made our way to Los Alamos and took in a science museum (it was actually quite interesting).  Los Alamos is the place where the US compiled all its brain power in one remote location and built the atomic bomb.  It was chosen because it was remote (the Beast had to climb to high altitudes on this journey), had good weather all year around, and had services/utilities.  It is still a working laboratory for super secret national security stuff,  energy, environment, scientific discovery and who knows what else - and not a small one!  It employs 15,000 people (I was surprised that the town has that many people) and has an annual budget of $2.2 billion!!  We had to go through crazy security gates in the middle of town to get to the road to our campground...we turned around a few times thinking we were not on the highway at all but in the end, we were on the correct road, and the security guards must have got a good laugh watching us turn the Beast around a few times before finally asking them where the heck we were.  

The landscape changed significantly for the better.  It is pine forest and felt somewhat like home.  After hiking to some falls near the campground, we went to an ancient 13th century village of the Pueblo people - their homes were in the cliffs of a Canyon.  You can climb the ladders and see the caves where they lived.  

We continued north to Taos which is where we are now...a small town surrounded by mountains and just east of the Rio Grande.  The gorge carved by the Rio Grande is quite incredible - flat flat ground all around and then this incredibly deep gorge.  Very cool...we went and saw the second largest suspension bridge in the US that crosses it and it reminded me of the scene in Thelma and Louise...there was even a smashed up jeep at half way down to complete the scene.  

All the buildings here are the adobe style...sand colored with flat roofs -and I mean all the buildings...gas stations, grocery stores, McDonalds, all of them!  Very pretty.  This town has everything from river rafting to tons of skiing and lots of galleries.  We also visited an ancient pueblo village (they came to these villages after the cliffs - there are about 19 of them in New Mexico) where some people still live - without electricity or water.  We ate Fry bread cooked in their outdoor ovens (basically fried dough - yuck) and wandered the shops where they sell their handicrafts.

Tomorrow, we are heading to Lubbock, Texas to visit friends...this is as far East as we will go as we are over 2/3 finished our trip already!

Day 58 - Getting Kicked on Route 66

We certainly didn't get our kicks on Route 66...the billowing smoke...the tow truck...the write off of the Jeep (the cost to replace the transmission was more than the value). 

After a day in the beautiful confines of the Flagstaff Jeep dealer, we all waved good-bye to the Jeep.  It will spend its final days at the Flagstaff Vehicle Wrecker.  Off we went without the Jeep (the inside of the Beast now overflowing with the chariot and the stroller), passed the big oil slick we put on Route 66 the day before, and headed towards Sante Fe.

Moral of the story, don't lend us your car, we may not return it.  Sorry PJ.

Day 55-57 - Grand Canyon & Route 66

The Grand Canyon was just that - Grand.  We didn't expect the terrain to be so green.  There are lots of trees in the areas surrounding the canyon.  The view is absolutely incredible.  Even Gus enjoyed the view.  We were also able to see it as the sun set and a full moon to boot!  It is too bad it is so busy with people.  There are a couple old hotels on the rim...one of which is so ugly - it looks like a 2 storey government building.  You can only get down to the bottom by hiking (it takes a full day - and you have to register over a year in advance to camp at the bottom) or by mule which Jack couldn't do - and this option is also a few month wait.  

We saw hikers come up at the trailhead who had just stayed at the primitive lodge at the bottom the night prior and hiked up - I was more than jealous.  I felt like one of those tourists... drive up to the canyon, take a picture and then we're off.  One day we want to hike down (or I do anyway) and we'd like to raft the Colorado.  Much more planning and older kidlets required for that.  Ah well.  Still great to see.  The campground we stayed at was just outside the park gates and was so ugly in such wonderful surroundings.  John and I had many conversations about what we would do to make it a great campground...hmmm...there's a job we'd both like! 

In keeping with our Tourist Trap day, we went to Bedrock City.  Home of the Flintstones of Grand Canyon, Arizona.  It was on Native Lands and homemade.  But it was only $4 to get in and we had to introduce Jack to Fred, Barney, Pebbles and of course, Bam Bam.  The picture is for Auntie Kathy who has fondly nicknamed Jack  "Bam Bam".  By the way Kathy, he is still living up to this nickname!   Nice parents, we even woke him up to go to the park.  It's all about us anyway, isn't it?

Yesterday we took our happy Jack to Happy Jack, Arizona which consists of a Ranger Station on a forestry road and apparently a campground/post office which we couldn't find unfortunately.  So we headed off along historic Route 66 to our next destination (or at least we tried to).  About 4 miles out of Flagstaff, the Jeep was billowing smoke.  After John calmly says as we look at it in the rearview mirror, "I wonder if its on fire" (it wasn't), we called AAA got it towed into town and are currently awaiting the repair and the bill.  If you don't have AMA, get it.  Great service - the tow truck was there in half an hour. 

Hopefully we will be again on our way to Sante Fe, New Mexico today.

On a personal/political note, it is national Infertility Awareness week.  You all know what we had to go through to be able to bring Jack into our lives.  Please take a minute to sign the petition to get the government to fund fertility treatment and realize what a problem this is for so many. 

http://www.regionalfertilityprogram.ca/fertilityfund6.php

Day 51-54 - Sedona, Arizona

We are in beautiful Sedona.  Neither of us had even heard of Sedona but wow, is it nice!  The red rock formations are incredible.  The town is very quaint, with most buildings and houses in the red sand color of the local terrain.  Yesterday we took a very rough Jeep tour up into the hills (it is absolutely incredible what kids can sleep through!) and visited national monuments where Native Americans built incredible houses high in the rocks (incredible engineering).

Today we saw more canyons and red rock formations...they name all the formations (better for tourism that way I'm sure)...there is Coffee Pot rock, Cathedral rocks, Snoopy, etc.  John sees quite different things in the rocks and usually can't figure out why they were named what they are.  I think he has sun stroke or something else! I usually get a good laugh trying to figure out how he sees what he does! 

We also did a bit of a risky adventure today.  We went on a helicopter ride of the canyons and formations.  It wasn't risky because it was a helicopter - it was risky because poor Jack Jack still has diarrhea...I won't get into it.  But the ride was uneventful on that side of things (thank goodness) and super cool on every other side of things.  We all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Came back early to enjoy some relaxing time in the campground (and we ran out of diapers in our daypack for the second day in a row!).

Heading up to the Grand Canyon area tomorrow but we will be taking it slow in hopes that Jack feels better soon.

Day 43-50 - Mesa, Arizona

Jack is ready to head to Mesa.  All the trucks he owns have to be on his lap!  

Jack's best buddy, Oliver, and his parents Joanne and Dave, have a condo in Mesa and we spent 5 days or so hanging out with them while John took a flight back to Edmonton to surprise his mom for Mother's Day (it worked - she was surprised and happy to see him).  It was also a good break for us!! 

We parked in the parking lot of the condo and therefore didn't have any services but we spent most of our time in the condo anyway.  Jack loved his playtime with Oliver and we had lots of fun in the pool, fighting over cars, shopping, amusement centers (they are the coolest dancers on "Dance, Dance, Revolution"), and eating out (cheers! - do not teach your child this...you have to do it 50 times in one sitting).  It was wonderful to be able to spend time with the Meyers and we were spoiled by them - thank you so much you guys!              

John returned & went golfing with friends and Jo and I had a pedicure and manicure for $28!!  You have to love those spa sweat shops!  Jack finally had a haircut (and now looks even less like my baby and more like a little boy). 

Camping in the city in the heat with a dog is more than difficult so we are off to Sedona's red rocks with a wild dog and a little boy with a fever and diarrhea.  And so starts the second half of our trip!

Day 39-42 - Southern California Beaches to Palm Springs

After Disney, we all needed a day of recovery...and where better to that than in the water!  We spent the day in the pool and at the beach!   Then had pizza and beer with our friends and I think Jack enjoyed this more than disneyland...2 "big" kids (5 year old boys) playing with him in a hotel room.  You couldn't wipe the smile off this face!

After picking our last oranges from the trees in the campground, we left Anaheim and headed to Palm Springs and cruised the town a bit but mostly just had a couple days of pool time.  Our campground had a great pool and mineral hot springs right there!  Palm Springs is very clean, full of gated retirement communities and a good place to go if you like sun, golf, and relaxing and wind.  Miles and miles of wind turbines.  The wind at night was so strong, we weren't sure if the Beast would remain on its wheels!

Heading to Phoenix/Mesa area for a few days.  John is heading home for the weekend to surprise his mom and Jack and I are going to hang out with friends who have a condo in Mesa.  

Day 35-38 - Disneyland & Santa Monica

We had a nice relaxing morning after Death Valley...a swim, a shower and some laundry.  The luxuries of civilization were enjoyed by all.  Then a couple hours driving through the freeways of southern California made us think that death valley and its one road isn't so bad!  You feel like a "hick" when you are shocked at the road systems but 14 lanes!  7 lanes each way for a few hours driving 100km/hr!  2 of the lanes you have to pay to use - so you can go even faster!  And there's more of the same going in every direction.  Wow there are a lot of people here.

Decided on the 2 day pass to Disney since its been almost 20 years since I've been and 40 since John has been!  It takes a day to figure out where you are going!  It didn't start off well...a late start put us in a half hour line up to park and then just as we were boarding the tram from parking lot to the park, the one in front of us crashed into the hedges and billboards!  So everyone had to walk - we felt like cattle.  This shaky start made me worry that John would hate it and not want to stay long.

Well, things drastically improved from there.  We spent the day wandering...meeting characters - although Jack was not impressed at first!  Pluto was our first character - even a game of peek-a-boo didn't change his mind!  He has never seen any of these characters because, even though I have most of the Disney movies, the crazy kid won't watch TV! (much to my chagrin some days).  It was hot, lots of people and tons of fun!  We started with the Carousel to get in the mood and then left the crazy line ups of the kiddie rides and took Jack on the Astro rockets...like Dumbo but way faster!  I even found myself screaming but Jack took it in stride and we continued on to the favorites...Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle cruise, etc.   I was excited when half way through the parade, Jack finally took interest and pointed up at what I thought was a character...nope.  It was a plane flying overhead.  How in the world he heard it over the music, I will never know.  I entertained myself by testing John as to who all the characters are in the parade.  Mr. Master of Pop Culture thought the float of the Little Mermaid was Nemo!  At one point in the day, he commented:  "I guess it helps to know who all the characters are" - do you think?

Leave it to Disney to think of everything...there is a dog kennel at the front gates.  Gus wasn't a big fan but we just go out and walk him every so often and it works.  But I don't recommend bringing a dog to Disneyland!  

The biggest hits of Disney for Jack were the birds, the planes overhead and the pushing his stroller into the crowds of people.  But we enjoyed watching him take in all in and the little trouper lasted until 9:30pm and didn't fall asleep until we got home.  

 

The next day the we took a break and went up to Santa Monica, Malibu, and cruised Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive (not as exciting as I had hoped).  The beaches though were amazing - huge - set up with tons of volleyball nets and lifeguard stations - very much like Baywatch!  Yet the Clampetts arrived at the beach somehow without a dog leash.  So,  we ended up walking Gus on an electrical cord!  All the cars are Jags, etc. and we have the 10+ yr old Jeep (no offense meant PJ) and the electrical cord dog leash.  We couldn't do much but laugh at ourselves.  We finished off the day with a crab dinner on the famous Santa Monica pier (they even have amusement parks on the piers here!).

Today was another long day at Disneyland but we knew the ropes so John and I did some roller coasters (you can't go to Disney without going on Space Mountain)...using the great new invention of the fastpass system and single rider lines...we barely had to wait in line but we did have to ride by ourselves while the other one played with Jack.  We had lunch with our friend Dan and his family at Goofy's kitchen and enjoyed the day.  Jack is now a fan of these crazy characters we see everywhere.  Both John and Jack like Disney.  Job completed!  We are all exhausted!

Day 33-34 - Death Valley

The Manson clan has again entered Death Valley!  This time it’s the good ones! High in the mountains surrounding Death Valley is the place where Charles Manson hid away with his “family” and was finally caught.  A few days ago we passed the prison where he is being held.  I think that is enough of following “cousin Charlie” as John calls him!

 Death Valley has a hellish entranceway.  We passed through a few more sad sad dusty dilapidated towns (I had to include a picture of the school yard with what I think is the baseball diamond).  Everything is dust…not a spec of green to be seen!  Cuts back on the job of cutting the grass I guess.   Then over yet another mountain and into the valley (we had to disconnect the Jeep for this one and drive separately because it was so steep and it was 107 degrees today). 

 Getting out of the Beast we were overcome with the hottest strongest wind you can imagine.  If Jack wasn’t steady on both feet, he would fall down from the blowing wind.  I believe it is the hottest I have ever been.  There are a couple of villages within the national park.  The first was Stovepipe Wells consisting of a store/gas station, motel, saloon, campground (closed for the off season – high season is Oct 15 to Apr 15 as it is too hot the rest of the time.  I can attest to that) and the motel pool.  Since the saloon was not yet open, we were thankfully able to pay to use the pool.  What a great treat! The campground didn’t look much different than a dust/gravel parking lot surrounded by more dust/gravel parking lots!!  Not a green bush or tree in sight.

 This is the hottest and driest place in the world and has the craziest landscape I’ve ever seen.  Miles and miles of dust/gravel with a sprinkling of dried up bushes  surrounded by beautiful mountains.   John figured we were driving on the moon. We drove on to the only other village, Furnace Creek and set up camp.  This campground had a couple of green bushes and a beautiful view of the mountains!  But no other services (or even cell coverage!)…107 degrees and no air conditioning.  Needless to say it was difficult to sleep.

 Up early since we wanted to do a few hikes before we melted.  Death Valley has the lowest point in North America (282 feet below sea level)…that part of the valley is crusted up salt.  Another few hikes and view points…someone here had a sense of humor…we expected the golf course was named Devil’s Golf Course and you can see what we came to – doesn’t look fun!  Then we went to check on the 2 hotels in the valley.  One is exceptionally nice.  Such a contradiction to the rest of the valley – a beautiful garden and pool as well.  I’d like to stay here sometime…its only 125 miles from Vegas…hmmm.  The other one is more casual and actually has a real golf course (the lowest elevation golf course in the world).  Too hot to play but the beer and burger here was exceptionally good and the drive thru (golf carts only)19^th tee café was quite cool. 

Sprinted out of the valley to get out of the heat.  Jack was happier when we got on the main freeway – so many trucks he was squealing in delight but it was so windy – even John was white knuckled at the steering wheel.  He kept commenting that this is a disgusting part of the country and why would anyone live here!?  I tend to agree.  I would have given up on driving in this wind long ago – we were blown all over and with every second car being a semi – I thought we were going off the road for sure. We are now a couple hours away from our next destination…Disneyland.  Yay!  From one extreme to the other.  The lowest and driest place to the happiest place!