To kick off Katy and Mike's spring breaks (and Brian's vacation and my general tagging along), we took a grand tour of Mohave County. We started with a drive to Oatman, where the burros were out in large numbers, including several babies (which we've taken to calling burritos) ranging from three weeks to about three months. We even caught the daily gun fight for once!
We took Old Route 66 to Topock on our way to Lake Havasu, where we stopped to see the London Bridge, walk along the water, and visit Barley Brothers. It was a lovely drive through the desert. It has "rained" (mostly been overcast and damp, more so than downpour, although the last time the skies deluged on Mohave County) all of three times since I've been here, which has lead to a lot of weird desert grasses growing, and all of the cacti and brush looking less dead, and... a rainbow of wildflowers have sprung up!
After a grand tour of where Mike's been living for the past nine months, we headed east to the Grand Canyon. It had snowed all weekend until we left Bullhead City, so we were greeted with a glorious, heavy, wet snow hanging onto the ponderosa pines in Kaibab National Forest (and thankfully, clear roads!). It was pretty cool to see the difference between summer canyon and winter canyon. The snow made everything very pretty, and it wasn't too cold out to walk around a bit. We mostly strolled along the south rim trail, catching sunset at Yaki Point, which was new for me.
On Monday (March 11), we went to Sunset Crater and Wupatki. Mike and I visited Sunset Crater Volcano in January, but this time we hiked a bit more and also explored the pueblo ruins. This pair of national parks was nuts. It was snow covered at Sunset Crater, but not the slightest evidence of snow up in Wupatki. The views were incredible, as were the hikes-- a very steep stroll up the side of a volcano cone, and a repeat of the good loop around the a'a.
The next day, we took all of Mike's people to Sedona. Katy, Brian, Mike and I hiked the perimeter of Red Rock State Park, like Mike and I did in January. It's such a beautiful park with great views. Hiking all of the trails is just the right amount of challenging-- a good workout, but not so hard that you can't do anything else for the rest of the day. It was nice to repeat this park, too, but we also managed to get in one more trail than we did last time (the Kisva trail along the creek).
It was so cool to show Katy, Brian, and Mike's aunt and uncle around these parks that we liked so much. I never get sick of looking at these crazy rocks, either. It was nice to be able to add new elements to things we already enjoyed, too. This all served as a good foundation for the rest of the week in Utah!
Showing posts with label The Mother Road. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Mother Road. Show all posts
22 March 2013
21 February 2013
Won't you get hip to this timely tip:
Get your kicks on Route 66!
I've been meaning to take one of the "primitive roads" in the area for a while, just to explore the desert a little. I've also been curious about more of Old Route 66, so it was all too perfect when my Grandma Day mailed me an article that she thought I'd like (I love when she does this): The Mystique of Route 66 from Smithsonian Magazine. (That article is really great, and I've been to most of those places in Arizona.) Consider me inspired.
I've driven some of Old Route 66 before, up to Peach Springs and the entire length of it in Illinois. I definitely dig it as a slice of Americana, but I think today's adventure really kind of solidified my affinity for this road.
Today I took a primitive road from Bullhead City to Oatman, and hopped on Old Route 66 (a BLM Backcountry Byway!) for just about 30 miles of hairpin turns and switchbacks through high desert and desert valley. It was a really pretty drive, and I barely saw anyone until the road paralleled the Santa Fe Railroad and wound into Kingman. There's not much out there-- a little general store about halfway along that advertised sodas and souvenirs and had a port-a-potty in the parking lot, an assisted living home (really just a small ranch house), several long lines of mailboxes with no homes in sight, countless "primitive roads", and a lot of desert plants thanks to the recent rain (or snow, depending on the elevation).
I actually came back to town via Old 66 too, but it felt way shorter despite stopping more. There were a few pullouts along the way, including one that had some old steps carved into the side of a stony hill-- I clearly stopped to climb up and check the view (it was lovely). Back in Oatman, the burros were down from the mountains, and I enjoyed seeing them again, especially the little baby guy, who's bulked up a lot! I paid a little more attention to the rest of Oatman now that I've been there a few times. I have a new favorite road--
View Larger Map
You probably can't read that sign, but it says Snob Hill Road. Really. In a tiny, sparsely populated village with mostly rundown trailers, Snob Hill. I laughed.
Now I really want to drive more of Old Route 66, The Mother Road. Obvious short-term solution: from Oatman to the California border (Needles), which would include driving through the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge. I felt pretty darn American, driving down the road, Coca-Cola in hand, listening to Ray Charles sing "America the Beautiful".
I've been meaning to take one of the "primitive roads" in the area for a while, just to explore the desert a little. I've also been curious about more of Old Route 66, so it was all too perfect when my Grandma Day mailed me an article that she thought I'd like (I love when she does this): The Mystique of Route 66 from Smithsonian Magazine. (That article is really great, and I've been to most of those places in Arizona.) Consider me inspired.
I've driven some of Old Route 66 before, up to Peach Springs and the entire length of it in Illinois. I definitely dig it as a slice of Americana, but I think today's adventure really kind of solidified my affinity for this road.
Today I took a primitive road from Bullhead City to Oatman, and hopped on Old Route 66 (a BLM Backcountry Byway!) for just about 30 miles of hairpin turns and switchbacks through high desert and desert valley. It was a really pretty drive, and I barely saw anyone until the road paralleled the Santa Fe Railroad and wound into Kingman. There's not much out there-- a little general store about halfway along that advertised sodas and souvenirs and had a port-a-potty in the parking lot, an assisted living home (really just a small ranch house), several long lines of mailboxes with no homes in sight, countless "primitive roads", and a lot of desert plants thanks to the recent rain (or snow, depending on the elevation).
I actually came back to town via Old 66 too, but it felt way shorter despite stopping more. There were a few pullouts along the way, including one that had some old steps carved into the side of a stony hill-- I clearly stopped to climb up and check the view (it was lovely). Back in Oatman, the burros were down from the mountains, and I enjoyed seeing them again, especially the little baby guy, who's bulked up a lot! I paid a little more attention to the rest of Oatman now that I've been there a few times. I have a new favorite road--
View Larger Map
You probably can't read that sign, but it says Snob Hill Road. Really. In a tiny, sparsely populated village with mostly rundown trailers, Snob Hill. I laughed.
Now I really want to drive more of Old Route 66, The Mother Road. Obvious short-term solution: from Oatman to the California border (Needles), which would include driving through the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge. I felt pretty darn American, driving down the road, Coca-Cola in hand, listening to Ray Charles sing "America the Beautiful".
30 August 2012
AZ hot as I thought...
So, I'm in Arizona. That makes 15 states and 4 provinces since June, 4 states and 3 provinces of which were new for me. And I thought I wouldn't get to travel much this year...
This is my first time to the southwest. I've had a layover in Las Vegas before, but that only counts so far as running through the slot machines at the terminals to make my next flight and seeing nothing but darkness surrounding all of the lights of Vegas as we landed and took off.
I landed around 10:30 PM local Friday/1:30 AM EDT Saturday after spending a sweet day in Philadelphia with a few friends. Mike kindly watched my flight status and was there waiting for me at baggage, even though I was half an hour early. We left the airport for our hour and a half drive back to where he's now living in Bullhead City, AZ, and I swear I felt like I was on the moon (a little bit tired, but really the landscape with nothing but headlights on it looks like the moon, hilly and rocky and sandy).
Mike had a blood-borne pathogens test to take at his school on Saturday morning, so I got to see his classroom and his school (there is NOTHING around it but desert and some far-off looking mountains) and met a few of his fellow faculty members. Other than that, I admittedly spent most of the weekend napping. I find it remarkable how much I love traveling, given the fact that I am terrible at time zone changes (not to mention excessive car sickness, which thankfully hasn't been an issue so far this trip). We did have dinner with a woman he teaches with and her husband, who live at the edge of a country club-- it's very weird seeing grass, but there are quite a few golf courses here in the desert (Mohave County at least borders the Colorado River, so they aren't pumping water too terribly far...)
While Mike goes to school, I've mostly sat around working on my Soil Science course online, or my syllabi for the three courses I'm teaching at William Paterson and Rutgers this fall. I have spent two days this week volunteering with the local NRCS office, which has allowed me to get out and adventure a little bit. I've mentioned once or twice on here that I've been volunteering with them since April, and I LOVE IT. Seriously. I just adore the things I've been able to see and learn about in the name of conservation all over New Jersey, and now in a small part of Arizona.
On Tuesday, I drove from Bullhead City through Union and Coyote Passes (~3500 and 3700 feet, respectively), through the Golden Valley and into Kingman to meet up with Erin, a rangeland specialist with NRCS. She took me to Peach Springs, in Hualapai Territory, via Old Route 66 for a meeting with some producers and conservationists about concerns and conservation practices in the area.
View Larger Map
It was a long day, but I got to see a lot of upper desert, into the mountains and across a plateau. I asked poor Erin about a million questions about Arizona vegetation, landforms and conservation, but she didn't seem to mind (she chose this as her career, after all). It has rained a little bit recently, so there are a lot of new grasses popping up all over the place, making the desert a lot greener than I expected.
Yesterday, I got to help Erin with a Natural Resource Inventory, which is basically taking note of every soil, rock and plant (and animals, which there weren't really any where we were) in a circle 150 feet in diameter. It took us about five hours, and we finished measuring and sampling just before noon. I was very grateful that there were some clouds and it was cooler at the higher elevation in the Kingman area, but it was a very cool experience getting to know the ecosystem pretty closely. Hopefully my Soil Science course will land me a job with these people in the future.
In the meantime, having a wonderful stay in Arizona!
This is my first time to the southwest. I've had a layover in Las Vegas before, but that only counts so far as running through the slot machines at the terminals to make my next flight and seeing nothing but darkness surrounding all of the lights of Vegas as we landed and took off.
I landed around 10:30 PM local Friday/1:30 AM EDT Saturday after spending a sweet day in Philadelphia with a few friends. Mike kindly watched my flight status and was there waiting for me at baggage, even though I was half an hour early. We left the airport for our hour and a half drive back to where he's now living in Bullhead City, AZ, and I swear I felt like I was on the moon (a little bit tired, but really the landscape with nothing but headlights on it looks like the moon, hilly and rocky and sandy).
Mike had a blood-borne pathogens test to take at his school on Saturday morning, so I got to see his classroom and his school (there is NOTHING around it but desert and some far-off looking mountains) and met a few of his fellow faculty members. Other than that, I admittedly spent most of the weekend napping. I find it remarkable how much I love traveling, given the fact that I am terrible at time zone changes (not to mention excessive car sickness, which thankfully hasn't been an issue so far this trip). We did have dinner with a woman he teaches with and her husband, who live at the edge of a country club-- it's very weird seeing grass, but there are quite a few golf courses here in the desert (Mohave County at least borders the Colorado River, so they aren't pumping water too terribly far...)
While Mike goes to school, I've mostly sat around working on my Soil Science course online, or my syllabi for the three courses I'm teaching at William Paterson and Rutgers this fall. I have spent two days this week volunteering with the local NRCS office, which has allowed me to get out and adventure a little bit. I've mentioned once or twice on here that I've been volunteering with them since April, and I LOVE IT. Seriously. I just adore the things I've been able to see and learn about in the name of conservation all over New Jersey, and now in a small part of Arizona.
On Tuesday, I drove from Bullhead City through Union and Coyote Passes (~3500 and 3700 feet, respectively), through the Golden Valley and into Kingman to meet up with Erin, a rangeland specialist with NRCS. She took me to Peach Springs, in Hualapai Territory, via Old Route 66 for a meeting with some producers and conservationists about concerns and conservation practices in the area.
View Larger Map
It was a long day, but I got to see a lot of upper desert, into the mountains and across a plateau. I asked poor Erin about a million questions about Arizona vegetation, landforms and conservation, but she didn't seem to mind (she chose this as her career, after all). It has rained a little bit recently, so there are a lot of new grasses popping up all over the place, making the desert a lot greener than I expected.
Yesterday, I got to help Erin with a Natural Resource Inventory, which is basically taking note of every soil, rock and plant (and animals, which there weren't really any where we were) in a circle 150 feet in diameter. It took us about five hours, and we finished measuring and sampling just before noon. I was very grateful that there were some clouds and it was cooler at the higher elevation in the Kingman area, but it was a very cool experience getting to know the ecosystem pretty closely. Hopefully my Soil Science course will land me a job with these people in the future.
In the meantime, having a wonderful stay in Arizona!
20 September 2011
getting our kicks
Monday 12 September. Day Seven.
We woke up slowly and took our time getting on the road, although the road du jour was a special one: Historic Route 66 (now mostly Interstate 55). A few of us had different ideas of what was important to stop and see in Illinois--
First, Springfield. Jakub really wanted a picture of a Springfield sign (Simpsons reference) but also to see Lincoln's tomb. We stopped in the state capital to pay our respects to Mr. Lincoln and his family.
Next, Pontiac. The guys were excited about the Route 66 Museum and this big mural of the Route 66 sign. We spent some time looking at old cars and Route 66 paraphernalia before...
Joliet! This was clearly my idea, although Jozef is a fellow fan of The Blues Brothers so was also pretty excited. We actually drove right through town--and right past the prison-- on our way to where we'd be staying outside of Chicago for two nights, with the aunt of a friend of Maciej's. After meeting her and her husband, we wandered around Joliet for a while, getting lots of pictures of the jail and figuring out the best way to get to Chicago the following day.
We woke up slowly and took our time getting on the road, although the road du jour was a special one: Historic Route 66 (now mostly Interstate 55). A few of us had different ideas of what was important to stop and see in Illinois--
First, Springfield. Jakub really wanted a picture of a Springfield sign (Simpsons reference) but also to see Lincoln's tomb. We stopped in the state capital to pay our respects to Mr. Lincoln and his family.
Next, Pontiac. The guys were excited about the Route 66 Museum and this big mural of the Route 66 sign. We spent some time looking at old cars and Route 66 paraphernalia before...
Joliet! This was clearly my idea, although Jozef is a fellow fan of The Blues Brothers so was also pretty excited. We actually drove right through town--and right past the prison-- on our way to where we'd be staying outside of Chicago for two nights, with the aunt of a friend of Maciej's. After meeting her and her husband, we wandered around Joliet for a while, getting lots of pictures of the jail and figuring out the best way to get to Chicago the following day.
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