Back to California

We dragged ourselves away from Las Vegas and heading west entered the Mojave Desert; sandy, dry and dotted with the bizarre Joshua Trees looking like they had come out of a Dr Seuss book.  The few houses that were scattered around had no worries about lawn mowing….their yards were dust.  From the highway we saw the large aeroplane graveyard full of Boeings, small jets and military planes….there were hundreds of them.  We drove through Barstow, a town on Route 66 where the old motel signs still sat fading in the desert sun.
Coming over the Tehachapi Mountain pass we rolled on through the golden hills where cowboys on horses were rounding up cattle and then dropped into California’s central valley area, one of the main agriculture belts of America.  The orchards, farms and vineyards went on and on mile after mile and we passed the Sunmaid Raisin company and almond and pistachio roadside stalls.
We have hung out in this area for the past few days enjoying the last of our holiday and swimming in the pleasant 37C temps.  Keeping hydrated is not a problem as we can buy a tray of 35 x 500ml bottles of water for $2.50!  America celebrated Labour Day last Monday, their official last day of summer so the shops were in full sale and we joined the crowds.  Now they are beginning to fill up their shelves with ‘Fall’ items; decorations, camo hunting gear and Halloween costumes.  We also gave the visa a workout at the Bass Pro Shop, an outdoor sportsman’s paradise with amazing interiors full of huge displays of stuffed wild animals, 2 storey high waterfalls; mountain sheep at the top, bears and cougars half way down, then all the small rodent type animals at the base and finally the trout and bass in the pond.  These displays go on throughout the 2 storey, 2 acre sized store.  The sign out the front says Welcome Fisherman, Hunters and Other Liars!  It’s better than a wildlife museum and you can easily spend an hour or two just looking at all the interesting things.
By the time you receive this we’ll most likely be getting sore bums on the plane. Our 5000 mile road trip has been fantastic and we have seen so many awesome sights, each state being so different to the next.  We hope you have enjoyed reading some of our adventures.

Las Vegas

Making our way west through the Arizona desert the heat began to increase and the cacti grew along the road sides.  Down went the windows so we could take it all in and we were blasted by the warm wind.  We stopped at Hoover Dam to marvel at this engineering feat constructed in the depression days of the early 1930’s and were greeted with a 40 degree Celsius afternoon…..it was HOT!  After walking over the top of the dam and switching between Arizona and Nevada and their different time zones, we had by then nearly melted so we headed back to the air con of the Landcruiser and carried on with the remaining half hour drive to Las Vegas Nevada.
The 12 lane freeway greeted us as we made our way to the New York New York hotel where we had scored a room with a view of the strip for 2 nights for $190.  The bright lights of the casino sparkled and we headed to the arcade level and the roller coaster on top of the building for an afternoon of fun.  As the sun began to set and the air became a more manageable 35 C we took an open top double decker bus tour of the city.  The dazzling lights on the Strip were fantastic, where else in the world can you see a Pyramid, the Eiffel Tower, an erupting volcano, the Statue of Liberty, dancing fountains, the Roman Coliseum and Elvis in the space of a few miles?  We travelled downtown and stopped at the Golden Nugget casino to view the world’s largest gold nugget and a Gold dispensing ATM machine.  In the Fremont St area we watched street artists, listened to Elvis and enjoyed a light show on the covered ceiling which had an amazing sound system.
The next morning we went on the Shelby American factory tour and saw where our Shelby was ‘Shelbyrized’ before making her way to NZ.  In the afternoon we headed to Harrah’s casino to Mac Kings Comedy & Magic Show.  He was one of the best entertainers we have seen, very funny (until I caught the magic rope he threw from the stage and then had to go up and help with the next trick…not so funny then!)  So after 10 minutes up there under the bright lights I ended up finding the card I had put my name on sealed inside a cereal packet.  He was very clever and we had a great time. 
Later we attempted to win some money from the casino and after inserting $10, and winning all the way to $180, I came away with 1cent!  I kept the voucher as it was a little embarrassing to take to the cashier.  Now we know why the USA still has pennies……so it can pay out the losers!  Craig doesn’t want to share his experience.......…he has renamed Las Vegas as Lost Wages.
It was a fun couple of days; we filled up at the buffets, loved the complimentary valet parking and enjoyed people watching.  Can’t wait to come back!

The Grand Canyon

Across to the middle of Arizona and again on lonely roads in a vast, barren landscape we were Grand Canyon bound and very excited to be seeing this natural wonder.  The Painted Desert was very colourful with many shades of russet and pumpkin in the rocks, the silvery green of the sagebrush bush and dusty red sand.  We stopped to view the Little Colorado River as it cut through its gorge before it meets the Colorado River deep in the Grand Canyon.  The railing which was located fairly close to the edge made us a little hesitant about peering over the side but it was safer than the areas that just had plastic tape as a barrier! 
Our first stop in the Canyon National Park was at Desert View on the eastern side of the rim.  It had been a rainy evening in the area and the mist hung low in some places in the canyon.  Nothing had prepared us for the sheer awe inspiring view before our eyes.  This powerful landscape displaying beautiful rock layers was stunning and we were blown away.  At 29km wide and 1.6km deep with the bottom rocks being nearly 2 million years old, the processes played out over unimaginable time spans to expose these unique combinations of size, colour and dazzling erosional forms was amazing.  Earth’s history was truly a gorgeous sight.
As we moved along the rim to the southern viewpoints we were lucky to see elk and their calves grazing in the woods along with plenty of cheeky squirrels.  The Colorado River (446km long) continued to wind its way out to Lake Mead, the reservoir for the Hoover Dam. 
Unfortunately our photos don’t really show the colours we saw but they will give you an idea of this remarkable canyon.

Monument Valley Utah

Still heading southwest through remote desert we came to the Four Corners, the only part in America where 4 states touch; these being Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.  We were now in Navajo country and as we drove through this Indian reservation there were many roadside stalls selling beautiful pottery, beads and baskets.  The rocks became redder and as the area had had a thunder storm the night before, small creek beds were flowing fast with reddish/brown water.  As we approached Monument Valley the stunning rock formations appeared that we have seen in cowboy movies and we were hypnotised.   After a quick lunch prepared on the tailgate in the car park we headed for the Wildcat Trail that led us through the park.  Because of the rain the road had become a 4WD track and looked similar to Baypark Speedway in colour which of course gave Craig a chance to have a play.  We smiled politely at the people in their rented Mustangs knowing they wouldn’t be going to half of the places we would see.  The beautiful sandstone sculptures we viewed from the valley floor were created by millions of years of erosion, each one with its own name and many having a special meaning to the Navajo people.  These absorbent sandstones hold underground aquifers which give moisture to crops and provide adequate grazing for livestock.  On the south side of the Rain God Mesa in the centre of the park we could see dark painted streaks from the natural aquifer that seeps out of its base.  The colours and markings were fascinating.  This was another special place that was hard to leave, the giant creations left us in wonder.

 

 

Colorado Rocky Mountain High

From Colorado Springs we headed southwest through beautiful grasslands full of wild sunflowers until we reached the Arkansas River that made its way through a stunning gorge.  The river was busy with trout fisherman and white water rafters and small campgrounds lay beneath the tall pines along the banks.  The mountain range we drove beside held some of the state’s 54 fourteeners (mountains 14,000 feet or higher) and it was easy to locate the different life zones up the sides after learning about them the day before at Pikes Peak.  As we drove on and cut through the ranges we entered the perfectly flat San Luis Valley where farmers harvested wheat and hay.  Nearing the south we travelled over the San Juan mountains, steep winding roads climbing to high altitudes before dropping us down again through a series of switchbacks to place us on the Trail of the Ancients and past huge mesas (flat topped hills or mountains with steep sides) and buttes (bee-utes are small rock formations left once a mesa has eroded).   We were in Ute Indian country and visited the well-preserved archaeological ruins at Mesa Verde National Park, a world heritage site.  About AD 550 the Ancestral Pueblo people built entire cities inside caves on the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls.  The cliff dwellings were amazing and we spent half the day here visiting and learning about their lifestyle.  Colorado has so many diverse landscapes; we have been trying to imagine the snow covered peaks of the Rockies and wish we could stay longer.

Pikes Peak

After our flight back to Denver Colorado we ascended the famous Pikes Peak, also known as America’s mountain because the words for the song ‘America the Beautiful’ were inspired by the spectacular summit views.  It is also the course for the Race to the Clouds hill climb which kiwi Rod Millen has done many times so we just had to drive it as well.  The narrow, winding highway began surrounded by red rocks, aspen and fir trees and climbed through to the sub alpine areas where the oldest trees on earth, the Bristlecone Pines grow.  They are only found in 6 western states of the USA and the current oldest living tree is 5063 years of age.  They are multi-trunked trees, gnarled and twisted by the elements.  Much of the pine is dead wood which is actually a clever survival strategy.  After the tree is damaged by fire, drought or storms it dies back and this reduces the nutrients the tree has to supply.  The remaining parts are very healthy.   The wood of the bristle cone is very dense, and trees can remain standing for hundreds of years after dying. 
We then crossed the timberline where the trees stopped growing and travelled into the Alpine Tundra area full of dry meadows, rocks and shale.  Every 1000ft in elevation you go up is like travelling 600 miles to the north.  In the tundra the marmots (large ground squirrels) sunbathed on the rocks and small alpine daisies grew out of the cracks in the stones.  The 19 mile drive took us to the summit of 14110ft (nearly 2000ft higher than Mt Cook) where the temperature was near freezing.  The views were outstanding although the skies were hazy.  We looked hard for the big horned mountain sheep and elk but didn’t see any.  Bigfoot didn’t make an appearance either so we had to settle for a statue photo with him.
On the way down, we stopped at the park ranger’s booth at 11450ft for a mandatory brake temperature check and discovered he had visited the Coromandel Peninsula last year.  Our new best friend then asked if we had seen the fake trees, rocks and machinery further up.  He proceeded to tell us that his lips were sealed but that it was all movie props for the upcoming filming of Fast & Furious 7.  We are looking forward to seeing their cars on the tight switchbacks!
From here we are continuing southwest towards Utah and Arizona, the desert states.