3/20/25
I loved Mesa Verdi forever. We had a pictures of it hanging on the wall as a child and it has always been on my list to visit.
The drive up involved lots of cliff edges and was not pleasant but we had a blast going to the sites. We did no hiking but we still saw most of what we planned to. Here is a movie of my pics.
3/16/25
We took a lot of pics, and even had pics taken of us. The ones we took are better.
I am not happy with falling to my death. Turns out looking 4000 ft down thru a glass floor is a trigger for me. I was not pleasant.
Here are the pics. Way better if you watch em on you tube not here.
When Chuck and I decided to do this travel blog, I intended to post every day. But honestly by the end of the day I’ve been too exhausted and well I’ve really been just staying in the moment. All that being said, I felt like instead of summarizing what we have been up to, the Grant Canyon really deserved a post all its own. If you have never been, it is truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Don’t get me started on just the geological aspect, because that in and of itself is truly amazing.
Our first stop was on the West Rim. The West Rim, which includes the Grand Canyon skywalk, is owned and run by the Hualapai Tribe. The skywalk is a horseshoe shaped glass bridge. The views are amazing!
We asked to have our picture taken while we were out there, they provided photographers, and Niko was great and put up with Chuck trying to rush him along. Needless to say, Chuck was not a fan of the sky bridge.
We spent two days there. And the next day we woke up and it was snowy with no view. But if you waited 20min the clouds broke long enough for us to see some breath taking views of the canyon.
There was a tour guide there with his group who said it was extremely rare to be there with the clouds because it could show the depth of the canyon.
I have tons of pictures because it felt like every time I turned around there was another view I wanted to capture. But I mostly tried to stay in the moment. If you’ve never been, go. If you have gone before, go again. It was amazing and all I was hoping for.
Chuck has a ton of pictures too. No idea what we are going to do with them all. But just wow, totally worth it. Also, Chuck bought an America the Beautiful Park Pass and we have been able to use it to get into any of the National Parks as well as not have to wait in long lines to get in because they usually have a separate line for pass holders. So if you are planning a trip that may include some National Parks, this is worth the $80 annual fee 🙃
Arches NP was ok, but was a long drive day. And it was a bunch of arches. But since most of the stuff is stuff I like doing only fair we do some of her stuff too.
After Arches NP we wandered through the first desert that did not rain on me in and then down to eventually Parowan Gap. A very cool gap that was used by dinosaurs and then people. Lots of dinosaur tracks and petroglyphs.
Here is my pics and drone pics of the petroglyphs
More info is here.
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Then we hit Bryce Canyon NP and got some sunrise pics and then many more. Here is a pic dump.
Then we trundled off to Zion NP
But first a stop in RedCliffs
Then we were off to Zion NP
The pics from Zion are mostly Lauren. I was holding on the wheel tightly and trying to not look down over the cliffs we drove along.
Last but not least on this video and picture dump.
A petroglyphs site in a residential neighborhood.
I love being able to get up close to the high ones with the drone. So awesome. Here are a few
Kinda fun though I think I upset the climbers at the end… once I saw it was people I went away but he was not pleased. Then again tossing rocks from the top of a butte doesn’t seem like the best idea.
I flew my drone around the rock at Mexican Hat a bit. You can see why the town is named after it.
Wednesday we started making our way west. When I say my husband is a man with a plan it means that he has the book of maps out with everything highlighted, marked and circled. Me? I’m more the passenger princess/goblin type. I’ve got the map but I’m pretty sure we just passed our exit, but as long as I have my book, snacks and a drink I’m good to go. Our destination? Death Valley.
Now I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Yes we had watched YouTube videos etc but honestly I was just along for the ride. Nope nope nope. Could not be more wrong. The views were absolutely spectacular. Breathtaking.
Once we drove up the east side of the valley we went to Dante’s view to look down where we had just been.
I even found a Doodle to love on!
Once we tired ourselves out we made our way to our hotel. Gorgeous views all around us!
On Thursday, Chuck spent some time in the Tecopa Mine with its owner Ross. He was beyond thrilled and since I don’t do small dark enclosed spaces, I sat in the car reading 🙃 After that we drove to Furnace Creek in Death Valley for more gorgeous views and we drove through daylight pass where it started to snow on us. Now Chuck thinks he controls the weather hahaha. On our way to see Ryolite, an old mining ghost town, we found donkeys!
We drove through Beatty on our way back to our hotel in Pahrump and visited their mining museum.
Friday meant we were up early to head south to Victorville and start our trek east on Route 66. (I think it’s because you know who figured out how close we were to the San Andreas Fault.)
You know they are out there.
We drove across DV to the other side and after some squirrely hair pin curves we ended up on Darwin’s Plateau. Again the views! THE VIEWS!!
Suffice it to say, we are having a blast and just doing our own thing. Meandering and stopping when we get the urge.
Start off yesterday I was able to spend a few hours touring a mine at the tecopa mines. He has 4 and they are fascinating.
I was mega amused with his Cacti on the road to and fro
Then we wandered over to Furnace creek and then a big circle back to our hotel in Pahrump.
Left first thing this morning and went to Area 51 cause, why not.
Then we went to some dunes and explored.
We then went to Cero Gordo and that was interesting.
Then we went up to Lone Pine and the western movie museum and that was very cool.
Then we headed down to Victorville and started on the Rt 66 adventures.
Tomorrow more wandering on Rt 66
Oh we also looked at 100 other things I didn’t mention.
Most of our pics are boring if you aren’t us, so only sharing a few
Random mine on side of hill with some Joshua tree love.
Today was incredible. We drove prob 400 miles in deserts and mountains. Went through Mojave, and then into Death Valley and then went up to Dante’s view.
So we were 280 feet below sea level and then 1 mile up looking down on where we were before.
Please ignore the snow on the ground. It is in fact salt. Very soft to walk on.
We did some wandering around the Artists Pallet area where the colors are incredible
Then we climbed up and looked down.
There was more and some movies I’ll add later maybe but we are tired so bed is more important. 3 hr time shift is a killer some days.