SOUTHWEST TRIP
April 7-18
First to Richland for an early dinner with our Daughter Margaret.
Then drive on to stay in Baker City, Oregon.
It's a long drive then to Bountiful, Utah and a short stay with Cousin Audrey.
We have a great visit and enjoy dining with Carol and Reed, and Ruth and Rex.
We stay in Salina, Utah that night and start our time of touring the next morning
On our way to Capital Reef National Park
We take a dirt road in the park into the canyons - then a walk. Petroglyphs in some places...
You may have to click on this one to see them better.
Flowers blooming
Force of flash floods seen in the bent over roots of surviving plants
Many different angled layers along the walk - punch card rock?
Old graffitti, closeup shows some dates
Look before you reach!!
Jean in the distance on our walk back
Off we go East and then South towards the Colorado River on Highway 95
Overlook view - Colorado river below
Far distance is the bridge across the Colorado River - click to see if you can find it...
Next a stop at Natural Bridges National Monument
It's a loop drive with overlooks at some of the bridges - Hikes can be done into the canyons
There are three main bridges, this one Katchina Bridge
Owachomo bridge in the distance - there are hikes to the bridges, however our time schedule is limited.
We take the shorter route south on Highway 261 and speed along until:
At Mokee Dugway the road turns to gravel
5 MPH - 1100 ft drop in 3 miles with six hairpin turns
Web photo
Lizard rock?
Ranch house far below
RV on the way up
Falling rock?
Near the bottom
Mexican Hat Rock
Our goal was to get to Monument Valley and do the drive there before the road was closed
Monument Valley is in the Navajo Nation Reservation
We were here once before but had no time to take a tour or drive the road
It's 8 miles but it takes over two hours to drive
Elephant Rock
On a previous visit we ate at Goulding's Lodge Resturant - we enjoy it this time also
Views from the Lodge area
Sunset as we leave Gouldings to head South into Arizona
We enjoy a visit with Darlene and her family at Prescott, seeing most of her family during our visit.
We attend a Suzuki concert at a retirement home with cousin Peyton performing (blue dress)
With Darlene
On down to the Phoenix area, first to the Heard Museum Kachina once a year sale, then visit a Richland friend in Mesa, East of Phoenix
Then we start a two day visit with Jean's classmate Elaine in Sun City West
Joel picking some of their grapefruits - they have thick rinds, and very sweet juice
Elaine with the current picking
We take a drive to Scottsdale for shopping and a dinner
We watch the April 15 Lunar Eclipse from their patio
Next to the Moon is the blue giant star Spica, and above and much closer is our neighbor Mars
Moon & Spica - not quite mid-eclipse (12:47 am)
It's not far the next day to Peoria, another suburb of Phoenix where we visit Tom's classmate Larry and his wife Jill
They live right on the golf course and keep very busy
The area is well landscaped
Our car at their house
We stop in Prescott for lunch with Darlene, and then on towards Las Vegas
The new highway and bridge across the Colorado at Hoover Dam
Jean in the distance, we walk over most of the bridge
The view Northeast from the bridge
Below, we park near the dam and do another walk
Water level behind the dam
Women's Restroom - (not open) with Art Deco style that was used across the dam
View Southwest towards the bridge
Self portrait of Tom
Edited photos of two bas reliefs on the structure - again Art Deco style
Fading light, time to head towards Vegas
Entering Henderson, Las Vegas distant left. Highway reader board message a warning... stayed overnight in Henderson.
(OK, I did a little editing - click to see larger)
To avoid 16 individual road panoramas, just click this to see mostly Utah and Nevada wide open spaces.
Hoover Dam bridge a duplicate, and one Oregon vista at the end.
We avoided taking the left onto Highway 375, 74 more miles away.
That passes near the mysterious Air Force Area 51, but we continue on US 93.
Flying saucers in the upper right of the photo??
We go through Caliente, up past Panaca on the Great Basin Highway until we go East and North around Great Basin National Park and Lehman Caves 13,063 ft Wheeler Peak
Small town, large rail station in Caliente
Cattle ranching - dirt road leads to farm in distance
Ranches few and far between
Never have observed a jet contrail shadow on the ground - watched it long enough to see it was a moving shadow.
Difficult to see so added dotted line
Wider angle view showing the contrails - shadow still visible on the lower slope
Wheeler Peak - 13,063 ft in Great Basin National Park - we continue North to go around to the park entrance on the other side of this range.
Pronghorn Antelope - and wind farm
Now looking Southwest towards Wheeler Peak
At Lehman Cave in the park, we get there in time to take a 90 min tour
Fruit blooms in an old orchard
Identical twins walking near the visitors center
Very nice visit to the cave, discovered in 1885. Early visitors had to use candles and had to crawl - took 5 hours to visit.
The cave is noted for many disk shaped (slanted with stalactites) formations.
We drove up into the park to 8,000 ft. where the road was closed due to snow.
Jean & the Forester on the way down
In Baker on our way back, an interesting restaurant we think...
Short side trip to see Baker Village an archeological site dated to 1300 AD
Very winding road as we pass Mountain City and on to Owyhee at the northern boarder of Nevada.
It is in the Duck Valley reservatio.
Speed limit drops from 25 to 15 at the school... and
...we immediately see a Federal Police car pull over a pickup. Bureau of Indian Affairs territory.
Now in Idaho, the drive gets very boring... you are viewing the entire town of Grasmere, a stream nearby is named Louse Creek. There is no leaving Grasmer sign.
It's open range land
After a stop in Richland for haircuts from our daughter, we cross Snoqualmie Pass...
... with a hint of a different kind of weather than in the Southwest!
