Savannah, Georgia

I arrived at the Savannah visitor center soon after noon, and took the cheaper trolley tour of the historic district. Savannah’s designer had the idea of setting squares at regular intervals, instead of the usual city grid. I don’t how much sense that makes in terms of traffic, but the squares were very picturesque.

The trolley guide claimed that his grandparents’ historic house was heavily haunted, and in fact most of the historic Savannah homes are haunted. I didn’t stay long enough to find out, though. I got off the trolley a little before it got back to the visitors’ center so I could walk along the waterfront a bit and walk back through the historic district.

This portion shall be know as: Driving

From Santa Fe, I just took the fastest route to Savannah, Georgia. As I previously learned, it is not a good idea to spend all day driving all the time. So, I planned mid-day stops. In Albuquerque, TX, I stopped for a movie (The Game Plan, starring the artist formerly known as The Rock and some cute-as-a-button little child actress). That night I stayed in a hotel not far over the border into Oklahoma, and was ignoring the commercials on TV, when my attention was caught by crew shells (it’s the weirdest thing – I always look up for those cell phone commercials, darn it). It was an advertisement for the Head of the Oklahoma. As my jaw dropped at the realization that even Oklahoma City gets to row (there is a river, after all), I paid rapt attention for a mention of dates. I was sure it was probably next week or next month when it would do me no good, but wonder of wonders, it was going on that weekend. Thus, my stop for the next day, a Saturday, was in Oklahoma City for a regatta! I got to see a terrific crab, a pair going completely off the racecourse for no apparent reason, and a single flip! It was all very exciting and nostalgic for me.

Since my route took me right through Memphis, I decided to make one of my stops Graceland. I made sure I was listening to Al Green’s “Graceland” as I drove up, which made me very happy. The ticket for a basic tour was rather expensive, despite a modest AAA discount, but I figured it would be worth it to tour a national landmark like Graceland. As I got in line for the tour bus, I noticed some people had little players and headphones. I figured they were some extra cost item you could purchase, though I hadn’t seen where. Once we got to the mansion, though, everybody else was listening to their headphones. Still, I thought if they were part of the tour, surely I would have been given one. I don’t know what happened there, but it was rather eerily quiet walking through the whole house, crowded with people all listening to something I couldn’t hear. Oh well, I’ll just say the silence allowed me to better commune with Elvis’s ghost in his living room? The manse was a mixture of preserved rooms and rooms converted to house memorabilia and other We Heart Elvis items. The only song they played out loud so that I could hear was Johnny B Good, which really disappointed me. Out of all Elvis’s songs, they had to show us a cover?

Santa Fe

Santa Fe was not at all what I was expecting. I thought it was a city. I was already in it before I realized I was in the city proper. I didn’t see any buildings over 2 stories! Maybe it was because I was still miserable with allergies, but I was not impressed. I toured the Palace of Governors, which is the oldest continuously inhabited official building in the US, and now a museum. Meh.

Then I saw some old churches. These and other churches were the tallest buildings in town. Then I left.

Taos, New Mexico

It was fall in Colorado as I drove through on my way to Taos, New Mexico. Unlike Pennsylvania and New England, all the leaves were one color – a lovely golden yellow. A little while after crossing the New Mexico border, the landscape grew more barren again, and I was once again surprised by a huge gorge. This time it was the Rio Grande. I had felt pretty lonely on that 2-lane highway until I got to this river. Suddenly, there was a rest stop, many cars in a parking area right after the bridge, people walking on the bridge, and Natives selling stuff. I walked out on the bridge to gape and take pictures, and I again felt the unsettling sensation of the bridge moving beneath me!

I had heard that Taos was an artists’ colony. Also, there’s a Pueblo village just outside town where Pueblo Indians still live. At this point, however, I was rapidly becoming miserable with either allergies or a cold. I decided I didn’t want bug those poor people in their homes by gawking and sneezing at them. I parked in town (metered, but at a reasonable rate) and did a little shopping – well I wandered around in a few stores and purchased a book at a pleasant local bookshop.  I also stumbled onto an art show, where I gazed at local artists’ works and snuffled a lot. There were some pieces I really liked, but didn’t come close to being able to afford any of them.

It’s amazing how tired constantly blowing one’s nose can make one. It was still afternoon when I decided to head out to the hostel I planned to stay at. It wasn’t easy to find. I ended up stopping at the casino, and since I’d seen the ads declaring it to be 100% smoke-free, I went inside to recklessly gamble away $3 at the slot machines. A casino worker actually came up to me and tried to pressure me into betting on all the possible combinations at once, but I would not be swayed. After calling the hostel and getting directions, I did eventually make it there. It wasn’t my favorite hostel at all, but I was so tired, I went to bed early and slept really well.

The next morning, I parked in Taos Square (for free!) and wandered around in some of the shops. I stopped for a delicious pastry at a coffee shop (“We proudly serve Starbucks coffee!”), then walked over to the Kit Carson homestead. I wasn’t sure exactly who he was, but I recognized the name from a sci-fi book I read as a teenager, so I thought I’d find out about that character’s namesake. He left his poor Hispanic wife with the (many) children to go off trapping and leading expeditions. I kinda thought his wife was the hero. The museum’s movie claimed Kit Carson is the most famous American pioneer. I’m like, really? Did you guys know who he was? Then I thought maybe Pennsylvanian schooling is biased toward Davy Crockett. I dunno.

Mesa Verde

 

My only target in Colorado was Mesa Verde, which is a collection of sites where ancient Pueblo Indians used to live. These sites vary from pit houses . . .

. . . which evolved throughout the years, to elaborate cliff dwellings.

I took a tour of Balcony House, which was advertised to be the most “adventurous” tour the park service offered. It involved several ladders, a tunnel (which my vertically challenged self just managed to traverse walking, albeit bent over like the number 7), and other places that were a little tricky. Despite this, one young family took their toddler and baby along. I couldn’t watch. However, this was nothing compared with the route the dweller had to take. No ladders for them – a series of hand and toe holds carved into the cliffside was apparently sufficient. These houses were very secure, but not someplace I’d want to raise an adventurous child!

It was fall in Colorado. I saw a lot of yellow trees, which for some reason surprised me. I spent the whole drive from Mesa Verde to New Mexico (with an overnight stop in Durango – the Eighth Wonder of the World, or so I was informed upon checking into my motel) with John Denver in my head. I’m so glad I got to see the Colorado Rocky Mountains for myself. I’ll have to go back sometime and see the rest of Colorado.

Monument Valley

After Arches, I headed down to the Arizona border to drive through Monument Valley, of road trip movies fame. I kept thinking of Easy Rider, even though I don’t remember for sure if they rode through Monument Valley in that one. The whole area is part of a Navajo reservation.

Aside from driving straight through the area, there are two diversionary routes to take in the Monument Valley area. Going south, there’s an intersection where you can either go right to a town, or you can right to the Navajo Nation park. I thought I’d get a better experience going to the park, but I’d recommend taking the right fork. I highly doubt the formations were any more striking in the park area, and there is no way the road could be worse. I know I keep saying this, but the road into the park was the worst road ever. There weren’t just large potholes, rocks, and ditches. There were also actual ledges that I was terrified would rip up the Insight’s tender underbelly. I knew it was unpaved, but once again, that’s not what I would call an unpaved road. I don’t know why I didn’t just drive off the road. It was worse than no road at all. I’m not sure why the Navajo Nation can’t have used some of the entry fees to do a little work on that road. They don’t even have to pave it – just . . . smooth it out a little. Geez. It also didn’t help that it was again extremely windy that day, so little dust storms would swirl up occasionally and obscure the road ahead. Okay, enough ranting. Aside from that, the formations were cool.

Arches National Park

Erm, I’m very behind now, but I’ll try to catch up eventually. Anyway, Arches National Park was another section of amazing natural beauty. It was extremely windy the day I went, and early on, the sky was competing with the landscape.

Does anyone else see George Washington in this picture? As the day went on, the wind got windier as dark clouds rolled in, so I had to hurry the last section of the park, and lost my chance for camping in the park.

After reading the helpful placard at Balanced Rock that informed me that someday the rock will fall, I thought to myself that it would probably be on a really windy day like this one. I walked around the precarious rock with a wary eye on it after that.

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon was cool. Even driving to Bryce Canyon was cool. The highway went right by some neat rocks and beautiful scenery. Southern Utah is geologically very strange.

There are many national parks to visit in southern Utah, but with a limited amount of time (read: money), I had to choose just a couple. My first was Bryce Canyon, so highly recommended by Uncle Mark and a random traveler I met at a hostel. The park consists of an 18 mile-long road that dead-ends at a look-out. All the look-outs and parking areas are on the left-hand side going in, so I went all the way to the end first.

For my hike, I chose the Navajo Trail, which is a convenient loop. First it goes down through “Wall Street”, which is way more impressive than can be captured in any of my puny photos.

Then you come out at the bottom of the valley and can see trees and more than a sliver of sunlight again. I took pictures like crazy through the whole thing. The trail went up and up again, going by two natural bridges and “Thor’s Hammer”, which is just a big sliver of rock poking up at the sky.

Going back through the rest of the park, I believe I hit my highest point of the trip, 9,115 feet at Rainbow Point, as well as many other viewpoints. From a distance, the rock formations kind of look like a castle city. After leaving the park, I drove back over and up to the interstate in the direction of my next destination, Arches. I stopped in Richfield at the Apple Tree Inn, which I just have to mention because they had the fluffiest pillows on which it has ever been my head’s privilege to lay. I slept really well that night, and was tempted to stay there another day just so I could enjoy those pillows again. Alas, a cold front was coming in and I didn’t want my journey mired in snow.  I walked to the Tomato Vine for dinner and ordered a chicken sandwich that had a strange sauce – but I actually really liked it!

Sedona, Arizona

Sedona isn’t far from Flagstaff, but to get there one must drive through Oak Creek Canyon, which, although it has nothing on the west coastal roads, is rather winding and a little slow, but pretty. This partially explains why everything in Sedona is so expensive.

Sedona was voted the prettiest town in America in USA Today or something like that. That’s mostly due to the red rocks surrounding the town, but also the town seems to have an ordinance on the appearance of all buildings. They seem to be limited to shades of red and green, which has the buildings kind of blend into the scenery. Even the McDonald’s arch was a sage green instead of the usual cheerful yellow. I wandered around the town a bit, but I wasn’t in a shopping mood, and didn’t need anything, so I didn’t spend too much time there.

I decided to do the Chimney Rock Loop, a moderate 1 mile loop for my hike, so I wouldn’t have to retrace my steps. The trailhead was in a suburban section of Sedona, but I soon left civilization behind. What the trail map failed to mention was that there were two trails, Lower and Upper. I mistakenly thought the signs just referred to different sections of the trail, and ended up hiking quite a bit farther and on more steep and dangerous terrain than I expected. Well, no harm done. It worked out fine. I learned just how wicked those cacti are; I thought if I was really careful I could touch the skin of a cactus without getting poked by the spikes. However, it seems the big spikes aren’t the ones to worry about – it’s the little spikes that you can’t see until they embed themselves into your skin. I’ve found a new appreciation for the people in movies who fall on a cactus. Just two of them really hurt!

Mojave Desert

After staying the night just south of Hearst Castle at a hostel in Cambria, which seemed more like a B&B with bunk beds than a hostel, I turned East. This marks the geographical extreme and halfway point. *Sniff*

Then came the Mojave Desert. It was actually rather nice; after weeks of navigating countless miles of switchback roads hugging the coastline, to just go straight ahead and flat for the most part, was a nice change of pace! I was listening to a book on CD for a few hours (interspersed with music from my MP3 player and the radio), but the sight of my first Joshua Trees sent me scrambling through my CDs for U2′s The Joshua Tree. That music really does fit the scenery so well, the synergy had me pounding my fingers on the steering wheel ’til they hurt and singing along ’til my voice got hoarse. I really enjoyed that. I stopped for the night at Barstow. I had a TV there for the first time in a while. I was flipping through the channels for a bit before bed when I saw Mojave and the oil wells I had just driven by that day. I was so excited I decided to stop and watch for a while. It was 24 and I can now see why so many people are addicted to it!

The next day I drove into Arizona. I stopped in the middle of the day for a movie to give myself a break. It was only $2.50! A bargain in my view, apparently it was too much for some kids; near the beginning of the movie, some pre-teen boy opened the door to the outside, completely washing out the screen, and let several of his friends and their bikes in. They weren’t even being sneaky about it – I don’t know how they got away with it. It was so rude; I completely missed a minute or two of the movie because of them. Anyway, I then drove onto Flagstaff, where I got a cheap room for a couple of nights so I could see Sedona the next day without paying through the nose.