Upscaled Lunch Spot

 In Julesburg Colorado. At a rest stop. A fancy one.

Lunch spot

XL wishies 

Pony Express selfie 

Teepee and metal buffalo 

If you can read this, you’re drunk 

It sounded like a good idea at the time

Today is a long day of driving after a mediocre sleep. This long day was planned and it seemed like a good idea when I charted it out months ago. Today, the only day that really matters, I’m not feeling it. But the good news is that we are staying above an ice cream shop that night! Also I have a request for a t-shirt for Natalie and that will be fun!

Arches

 I took so many pictures. Here are a few

Off the grid

Today we drove from Sedona to Grand Junction with some stops along the way. Most of the day we had no cell service, and it’s too bad we forgot to download music and maps last night. Oh well. 

Onward toward north east. Shortly after we turned onto the Navajo Trail, we saw a sign. When you see a sign like this, you just gotta take it 

And hot dog! We saw dinosaur tracks!

There was a smaller sign for elephant feet, so we didn’t go for it. But I was able to get this picture from the car.

Anyway, we drove on and soon it was getting close to lunchtime, so we found a deserted park (not by preference but happenstance). We were in for a treat! Not long after we got out our picnic supplies, a big dirt devil / mini tornado was headed right for us. It actually came within a few feet of us and we had to hang on to the food, or it would have been swooped away. Not a fan of this type of picnic, would not recommend. 

Continuing on through lots of beautiful landscape and before you knew it we were near to Utah. 

Ha, then we turned off to Monument Valley and was in Arizona again. I think. But this was an amazing view. 

And here’s a selfie to ruin the view. 

Not too long later we were on “Forrest Gump highway” or at least the stretch that the used in the movie when Forrest was running at dawn or maybe sunset, I’d have to rewatch (or google it) to be sure. I did the thing and got out and snapped this picture. 

This is the tourist trap right before the rest stop we stopped at. 

We continued on toward Arches and we got a preview a bit in advance. I’ll post pictures on Arches in its own post.

Detour

We hit a detour, coming out of Sedona we wanted to get to the popular hiking trail called west creek trail. Just barely on the road, we hit a barrier. The 89A was closed for 1000 feet and the only way to the trailhead we wanted would have us cut across southeast to the 17 then drive north to Flagstaff then go back down the 89A. We found a different trailhead, Bellrock Trail, and even some shade. Heading toward Grand Junction Colorado now, with hope to see Monument Valley, Forrest Gump Highway and Arches.

Hello Sedona

It’s distractingly beautiful here. Hot though. But beautiful. But hot. But beautiful. 

We are staying in this really cute Airbnb! It’s so peaceful here. After unloading the car, we went for a hike (see below) then walked to the grocery store to pick up some protein to have for dinner. We like to cook in, so we made a nice pasta dinner with chicken — after hiking in a tad hotter and more arid condition, I scarfed it down. It is hot here (did I mention that?)

We walked from the Airbnb to the Thunder Mountain Trail and did a short-ish hike. I think we got 3.5miles in total. I was a little bit nervous about doing the uphill in the heat. But somehow I forgot about the heat and was just totally immersed in the hiking.

Roadside Attractions

You got to keep your eyes peeled for interesting roadside oddities and places of interest. 

We saw this Hotshots memorial and decided to pay it a visit. 19 men lost their lives fighting a fire, and they built this amazing memorial. They placed a memorial for each man alongside a trail. We didn’t walk the trail because it was well over 90 degrees out. 

San Diego to Sedona

We will be rocking a Chrysler Pacifica on this trek, a rental obviously. 

This vehicle has a very large sun roof. I might need to wear a hat.

The first leg of our journey takes us out of San Diego, through Julian, around the northern part of the Salton Sea, through Mecca and heading into Arizona after passing through Blythe. We don't expect to see many sites on this 8.5 hour stretch of driving, but anticipate some evening hiking in Sedona. 

Road Trip 2023

Everyone Loves a Roadtrip

Part 1

Heading to Michigan again. Our route is Sedona to Grand Junction, over to Lincoln, a little place called Tonica and then into Ann Arbor. 

Part 2

Way back is through Ozark Missouri, Amarillo Texas, and Flagstaff. 

The plan is to see as many strange things as possible. But will not be visiting that terrifying place in Kansas Truckhenge where they have a bunch of bones in a camper. Nope.