Road Trip – You Can't Get There From Here

Trip selfies

So we like to take selfies when we go places. Yes it’s silly but we like to laugh later. If we have no hats it’s windy. If we have lots of hats and jackets it’s cold. If I’m wearing sun glasses it’s bright. If she is laughing I am doing something right. So here are a minute of selfies. And please. Feel free to look at the blog and the you tube page. It will show you any movies you missed.

Mesa Verde

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.

Hanging out in Utah…

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.

https://share.newsbreak.com/c7w6cyhz?s=i4

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.

Valley of the gods drone flying

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.

Mexican hat rock

I flew my drone around the rock at Mexican Hat a bit. You can see why the town is named after it.

Going on an adventure

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!!

Don’t mind him he’s taking a pic of a cactus.

Suffice it to say, we are having a blast and just doing our own thing. Meandering and stopping when we get the urge.

Last two days.

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.

Death Valley and places.

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.