Day 6 - Phoenix

A little bit late, but here it is:

There's a tiny visitor waiting for me on the deck when I wake up

We have a quick breakfast with homegrown fruit, then head out towards Tortilla Flat. Our first stop is an unplanned one that we happened to see at the side of the road. Apache Land is an old, western movie set that once hosted famous actors like (ex-President) Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Elvis Presley. Here is the actual Apache Land barn

The Elvis Presley Memorial Chapel.

Those are the only two authentic buildings left. The others were destroyed in a fire, but they have very nice replicas

Hey! Don't leave me here!

Now a picture for my dad: an old fashioned washer

The whole place was filled with cute signs like this one

Our next stop is another ghost town. Goldfield is the complete opposite of Rhyolite - the ghost town we visited on our first day here. Where in Rhyolite all the buildings are authentic and in state of decay, in Goldfield the buildings are well-preserved, but not originally built there, or even fake.

Overview of the town

There is a lot to see and do in Goldfield and you can easily spend hours wandering around. They offer mine tours, horseback rides, a restaurant, photo sessions, and even a couple of small museums. We decided to check out the reptile exhibit. Neither of us is really into reptiles, but the one room museum is well worth the $3 admission fee. My favorite snake was the Sonoran sidewinder rattlesnake.

It played hide-and-seek with me from behind his glass window. He wouldn't sit still for his picture so his head is a bit blurry.

My second favorite was the brown vine snake. His little body is only as thick as a pinky finger! He sat perfectly still for his picture, or maybe he was asleep ... we learned that snake eyes are nothing like our own. They have a clear skin cover that protects their eyes and they cannot close them. Snakes sleep with their eyes open.

After picking up some goodies in the village gift store we continue on our way to Tortilla Flat. The road is starting to vaguely resemble historic 66 once again, but luckily there aren't as many cliffs, or 180 degree turns this time. We pass by tranquil Canyon Lake.

Like Lake Mead, Canyon Lake developed after the completion of a dam.

We also pass Lost Dutchman State Park, but decide to save it for the way back. To our surprise we see a sign welcoming us to Tonto National Forest shortly thereafter. We had no idea we were so close to the park! We stop for a short hike into the desert by the Weaver’s Needle outlook.

Pretty lush for the desert! (Weaver’s Needle not visible in picture)

It is unbelievably crowded when we reach the small village of Tortilla Flat. It is home to only 6 permanent residents, but there are easily 200-300 tourists crowding the small strip that houses the restaurant, the ice cream parlor, the gift shop, and the museum.

We park on the hill and get another glimpse of the flooding caused by all the rain that’s fallen in the last few days. A large section of the road actually got washed away. There is a sign warning people not to drive through the water, but of course nobody pays any attention to it.

Tortilla Flat is probably one of the quirkiest towns you will ever see. This is me at the bar of the infamous Superstition Saloon.

Check out the funky bar stools! Also, note how everything is covered with dollar bills. It is custom for visitors to leave a dollar bill with their name on it to place on the wall. It’s estimated the walls are now covered with more than $100,000. Of course we left one too!

The bathrooms are quite an experience also.

Lunch was excellent and we followed it up with a stop to the ice cream parlor where I tried their famous prickly pear ice cream. Very tasty!

Even the mailbox is a little unusual

Just a random scenery picture I took while we were there.

Another view of Canyon Lake on our way back.

Time to go see Lost Dutchman! As a Dutchie, visiting anything with Dutch in the name is a must, although of course the lost Dutchman was really a German.

Background information: There are several stories circulating about the legend of the lost Dutchman mine. One speculates that the mine was initially found by the suitor of a young woman, after her father sent him scrambling up the hills when he found the two of them together. When he learned of the hidden gold mine his anger turned to joy. They made several trips bringing back large amounts of gold with them, but the journey was perilous and not many who left for the mine lived to tell the tale. Sometime later a German pioneer came upon three naive Mexican who showed him the mine. He repaid them for their generosity by killing them all and keeping the location of the mine a secret. Many people have since tried to find the location of the mine ... without any luck of course!

The trails are marked with small rocks on each side

We spent a long time watching the birds at their feeding station. We saw desert quail, Gila woodpeckers, and many other birds. We also saw this adorable ground squirrel.

I thought it would be fun for you all to see the inside structure of one of the Saguaros. I’m not sure what happened to it.

Even a cactus needs a little lovin’!

Initially we’d planned to pay a visit to the Arizona state capitol building and St Mary’s basilica, but we spent so much time at all our stops that it would be dark by the time we got back to the city and so we decided to spend some more time at the park. The saguaros against the setting sun are really cool.

Superstition Mountain basking in the evening light

We had planned to do a short hike in Lost Dutchman, but we chanced upon a gate that led to Tonto instead. The parks are really very similar so we decided to just follow that trail.

A view of the another mountain range in the distance

Beautiful sunset

Lost Dutchman is sadly one of 13(?) Arizona state parks set to close within the next couple of years due to budget constraints. There is some talk of annexing it with nearby Apache Junction, but the ranger was unable to tell us if they’d be able to realize this in time. :-(

On the way back to the city we stop by the airport to trade JC for another rental car. It was cheaper to rent two different cars than to keep the same car, but in hindsight it was probably not worth the hassle. In the end we put 983 miles on the car in 6 days. Not bad!

Bye JC!

Back at the bed & breakfast there is one thing left for me to do; try the saline pool. Supposedly it does not burn your eyes and you’re slightly more buoyant than in a chlorine pool. I say supposedly, because it was so incredibly cold that I immediately bolted out of the water ... all I remember is how cold it was. Brrr!

Mileage for today: 124 miles

Day 5 - Kingman to Phoenix

Boring! That's the only thing there is to say about the drive from Kingman to Arizona. The scenery did change a bit as Arizona is a lot greener and we're starting to see Saguaro cacti now.

Our only stop along the way was a town called Wickenburg. They have a walking tour of the city, but nothing of great interest. I did like this strange cow statue on top of one of the stores

And here's me with a big Saguaro by the visitors center

Phoenix is not supposed to be one of the major tourist cities in Arizona. In fact, our guide book goes so far as to say "it is short on must-see attractions" and "you could easily choose to bypass it altogether." Still we've decided to spend two days here.

Before going to our hotel for tonight we drive straight to South Mountain Park. After doing some reading Sandy decided our best bet was the Bajada trail, but we take a wrong turn and end up on a steep curvatious road to the summit. Yikes! We're both having flashbacks of yesterday's hair-raising, heart-pounding drive along historic route 66 and so we turn around as soon as we can.

The city in the distance

Armed with my GPS we leave the car at the parking lot in the valley and head for the nearest trail we can find. Surprise, surprise ... it's the Bajada trail! It's a bit rocky, but not very steep.

Another view from the trail.

I forgot to take pictures of the bed & breakfast we'll be staying at for the next two days, but if I think about it I'll take some tomorrow. It's a really cute place and we have a private patio with a hot tub and a fountain. There's also a saline pool. The water is cold right now, because of all the rain they've had, but I'm definitely going to try it later.

After putting our luggage away, we went hiking again; this time in Papago Park. This is the famous hole-in-the-rock

See all the people standing in it?

Walking up to the hole from the back

I climbed another mountain. Sandy says I need to get real hiking boots if I'm going to keep climbing on rocks. Haha.

The view towards the Phoenix sky line.

There are also a few ponds in the park. You can go fishing there.

 I liked the ducks. They must get fed a lot, because they came to see if we had some food for them right away.

The Desert Botanical Garden and the Phoenix Zoo are both within Papago Park. We decided not to bother with the zoo (there are no polar bears after all) and visit the botanical garden instead.

A random cactus that amused me

A bunch of different cacti

The whole wildflower section of the garden was filled with bunnies. There must be nice plants for them to nibble on.

The sunlight hit the spring flowers and made everything light up

My favorite flower: the baja fairy duster.

The sun is starting to set

I think this is a prickly pear cactus.

Unknown bird on an octopus cactus.

Finally a picture of several different kinds of cacti silhouettes at dusk.

It got really cold after the sun went down, so even though part of the trail is lit, we decided to grab something to eat instead. We went to a very hip, mostly Mexican restaurant called Ticoz. Great food, especially the passion fruit cole slaw and my favorite: churros with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce.

Mileage for today: 203

Day 4 - Las Vegas to Kingman

When we wake up the rain has stopped and the Wynn is glittering in the sunlight

We go back to TI for breakfast and boy is it good! The cook whips me up a scrumptious bacon, egg and cheese omelet and their yogurt parfait is to die for!

Our first stop today is the Hoover dam.

It was built to control the Colorado River and generate energy in the process. The view of the water before the dam:

You can tell how high the water has been by color of the rock.

A view from the other side as well. It's not really pretty, but it was really interesting. We went to the visitor’s center and they had exhibits that explained how and why the dam was built, and how it helps supply power.

Next we stop at one of the Lake Mead overviews. It was created by the rise in the Colorado River when they Hoover dam was completed.

I've been really looking forward to our next stop, but we don't have clear directions and the GPS can't find it either. We decide to head in the general direction and see if we can find it. We pass through a small town called Searchlight on the way, where I saw this nice mural

Suddenly, I spot a sign for Christmas Tree Pass and even though it's a lot closer than I thought it'd be and it's off the wrong road (I didn't realize that at the time), we decide to give it a try. After two miles of bouncing around a washed out dirt road we realize that we're going the wrong way. Ugh! We can only go 10 miles an hour, plus we're a bit afraid of JC getting stuck in the sand in the middle of nowhere. But we make it back to the road in 1 piece!

Some time later Sandy sees another sign for Christmas Tree Pass and after turning down the road there's a sign that says Grapevine Canyon 2 miles. Yes! Turns out we must have turned down the wrong end of the road. This side is unpaved also, but the sand is packed tighter. The mountains here a very different from the ones we have seen so far

You're probably wondering what's so exciting that anyone would want to drive for 2 miles down a dirt road? Well, this is why

The petroglyphs are believed have been created in 1100-1900AD by the Mojave Indians. The whole canyon is filled with them. I have no idea how they did some of them, because a lot of them are very high on the rocks. The "sheep" are my favorite

Picture taken near the mouth of the canyon, facing the other direction

There were several large openings in the rock too. I love climbing things so I made my way up there and had Sandy take a picture as proof.

Another amazing view at Grapevine Canyon. Definitely one of the highlights for the trip for me. The view was amazing no matter which way you looked, and of course the petroglyphs were fantastic.

A teddy bear chollo.

I'm a bit disappointed that we have not seen any animals yet on this trip. There are signs everywhere; watch out for cattle, sheep, rattle snakes, donkeys, even turtles! I've been on the lookout every single day, but so far no luck.

Oatman, Arizona is a living ghost town, famous for its semi-wild burros. Burros are descendants of wild donkeys that were left behind/got away from early settlers.

Before we even reach the Oatman city limit we spot our first donkey. A little grey mare is lying down in a gulley behind some bushes.

She gets up when I approach her and I immediately notice that she has a bad limp. I grab an apple from my backpack and start feeding her pieces of apple while I check out her leg. There are no outward signs of trauma and she allows me to bend her leg and check her hoof, but I can't find anything wrong with it.

Sandy feeds her some apple too.

We head down to the visitor center and tell the woman at the desk that one of the burros is hurt, but unfortunately they can't do anything for her. The burros are managed by the Bureau of Land Management and they don't provide veterinary care for them; they just manage the size of the herd and let nature take its course. Hopefully she will be OK.

Entering Oatman

All of the shops on Main Street are closed because today is Super bowl Sunday (the most important game in football). We wander around the deserted town for a few minutes anyway.

Another cute little store

When I reach the end of the street one of the dogs starts barking furiously. I'm about to turn around when out of the corner of my eye I see something bolt through the bushes. A second later I see him running across the road

I watch as he runs up the hill then disappears from view. I feel so lucky that I got to see a real coyote!

Walking back to the car I find this mural protesting the closing of the mines. Really neat!

We leave Oatman and after a few minutes another coyote runs across the road. Sandy slams on the breaks and I ran in the direction he disappeared him. He's running up a hill when I round the corner so I try to stop as quickly as I can so I don't startle him, but the gravel is loose and my feet keep sliding. It makes quite a racket, but instead of running away he stops and turns to look at me.

He seemed more curious than afraid.

On the way out of town there's a sign indicating sharp turns for the next 9 miles. We've been on roads like this before in California ... or so we thought! .We're up high in the mountains and the turns are incredibly sharp, frequently without a guardrail to stop you from falling over the edge of the cliff. Some of the turns are 180 degrees and the speed limit in some places is 10 miles per hour. After we stop for pictures on a slight angle (we thought the road was flat, but obviously we were wrong) the car actually rolls backwards for a few second, before it lurches forward. Yikes! That was the scariest drive of my life ... never again!

We run into these three little burros a little while later. The baby is so cute! Total burros for today: 5.

The sunset was pretty nice!

As it turns out there's a Sonic close to our hotel and even though we'd planned not to eat at chain restaurants while on vacation, I'm hopeless when it comes to Sonic. We spend the rest of the night eating our Sonic in front of the TV. Have to at least watch part of the Super bowl right ;-)

Total mileage for today: 197 miles.