That Canyon is Pretty Grand

The Grand Canyon is so big and there is so much written about it that we felt like we didn't even know where to start with visiting it.  So, we just decided that we were going to get up early, and like a lot of this trip, figure it out when we got there.

Upon driving through the entrance we were greeted with a good amount of pebble sized hail and a lot of rain.  Once we got in we ducked into the visitor center to watch the introductory movie and wait out the rain.  The movies at places like the Grand Canyon are pretty boring because it ends up being a lot of pictures of something you could just walk outside and see, but it did allow us to successfully wait out the rain.

Chrissy enjoying the view.  It is a pretty impressive sight.  While Grand Canyon is one of the most popular parks in the country, we were pleasantly surprised with how much of the trail around the rim we had to ourselves.  It will probably pick up once school let's out and the summer season starts.

We managed not to get caught in any more rain while we were visiting, but there were some pretty ominous clouds from time to time over the canyon.  The way you can watch the weather and clouds and shadows change is one of the cooler parts of the place.

Obligatory shot of us together.

Something that's not the giant hole in the ground.

We walked about 600 feet down into the canyon which is only a portion of the mile or so all the way to the bottom, but it was still a pretty steep hike.  We met some people on their way back up that hiked all the way down and slept at some of the campsites at the bottom which was cool.

In our opinion the views that have the Colorado River (that created this whole thing) are the nicest.  Our camera has a setting called "super vivid" that sometimes creates cool shots that make the color pop more.

With the rain in the area we did eventually catch the full arc of a rainbow.

Before we left we decided to stop at desert view which is about 25 miles along the rim from the main visitor center.  It has this 70 foot tower built in 1932...

And our favorite view of the entire canyon that we saw.  However, the lighting wasn't the best for a picture at that point.  All in all the Grand Canyon has a lot of hype but it is definitely a place that's worth the visit at least once.

New Mexico

From Oklahoma to New Mexico  with about a 10 degree temperature drop. First stop, Tucumcari,  on old historic Route 66. Tucumcari is a small town, with probably a mural for every 10 people in town, check these out:

From Tucumcari to Pecos National Monument,  a historic Pueblo just outside Santa Fe

Junior Ranger Badge #4

In Santa Fe, we had the chance to take a cooking class at a school that Jim has been following for years, since he bought the Red Chile Bible cook book in Sand Diego. This live demo cooking course included fresh flour tortillas, Chile rellenos, calabacitas  (a delcious corn , squash, and green Chile side dish), marinated pork, beans, and sopapillas (New Mexican Fried dough with honey). Delicious. 

On to Bandalier National  Monument  to explore more pueblos, and practice our squirrel impression

The Bandalier pueblos are built into cliffs out of tuff, a soft volcanic rock. You get to climb over 140 feet of ladders to explore them

Almost to the top, pause to take a breather and admire the view 

The views while driving the American southwest  are just so different from what we're  accustomed. BIG sky, weather in 3 dimensions. We called this one "Clountain"

Posing in a hot air balloon basket at the Albuquerque Abruzzo Hot Air Balloon Museum

Not very far from downtown Albuquerque,  Petroglyphs National  Park. This volcanic landscape is full of vesicular basalt that has been corroded by atmospheric elements. Ancient Puebloans  scratched different pictures, or petroglyphs into the surface. They had now written language, so the true meanings of the petroglyphs is unknown, but they are everywhere in this peculiar landscape.

Senior Ranger badge and patch... Petroglyphs thought I was too old to be a junior ranger.

Oklahoma, Okay!

Trepedaciously, but informed, we headed into Oklahoma. We had to work and try to stay in between two big storm systems whipping through tornado alley. When we crossed the border  from Arkansas into Oklahoma,  the sun was shining  and we listened to Surrey  with the Fringe on Top (from the musical Oklahoma!). I did not remember all the words.

This is what it looked like by the time we got to Oklahoma City. We only had to pull over once to wait out some epic rain, and luckily, no tornadoes developed from this system, though watching OK weather men and their radar systems in fascinating. We bedded down for the night and then headed out early to see a few things before getting out of the way of the second round of storms.

We started at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, which is massive. Things are definitely bigger the further west you get. One of their special exhibits this month  is Madonnas of the Prarie. Fabricated images of women in the west as advertisements for people to homestead from the mid-1800's on.

They even have a replica side saddle so I could pose. Christiana of the Prarie.

As the museum is massive, it has a full replica of a wild west town. Here's Jim at the saloon.

One of the saddest pieces of art we've seen in a while, this is named the end of the trail, a heart wrenching reminder of how the west was won and who it had to be won from.

On to nearby El Reno for the local quisine, fried onion burgers. A culinary tradition dating back to the great depression  when stretching beef rations was the only way to stay in business,  the thin beef patties are served on a tasty bun, with about equal weight of griddled onions, delicious.

Though Route 66 is now defunct, thanks to the Eisenhower Interstate system, you can still visit kitschy stretches in this part of the country (OK, NM, AZ). The original Route 66 connected Chicago and LA, and enjoyed it's hay-day back in the 20's. Here we visit the Elk City National Route 66 Museum Complex.

Arkansas

We had a brief but very nice time in Arkansas.

Hot Springs National Park is probably one of the only parks that is a row of houses on one side of the street in a town.  In fact, you could argue that it is the oldest national park period since it was claimed as a reservation by the government in 1832 forty years before Yellowstone.  It wasn't renamed as a national park until 1922 though.  It is also the smallest national park by area in the country and a fun place to spend an afternoon.  There are seven old bathhouses still standing that were used to treat any and all ailments with the natural hot water that is 143 degrees Fahrenheit at the source.  Famous people and gangsters regularly came to relax.  Baseball players often came and the tradition of spring training is claimed to have started in Hot Springs.

How would you like to poke your head through one of these and steam?  This is in the Fordyce bathhouse that is preserved as a museum.  There is one that is still a working bathhouse (basically now a spa), one that is a gift shop, and one that was turned into a brewpub.

Hot springs!

Of course Christiana earned her junior ranger badge and I am the proud husband.

The Old Mill (featured in Gone with the Wind).

Special thanks to Andrea and Tony (and Carolina and Macy) for hosting us.  It was great to see you.

Do I Really Feel The Way I Feel?

We did some walking in Memphis and it's a cool city.

This gate at the entrance was actually the coolest thing at the metal museum.

There's a nice Triple A ballpark right downtown and we decided to catch a game (plus it was one dollar hot dog night).

Of course it was also Cinco de Mayo so Pancho (who apparently has a cheese dip) threw out the first pitch.

He was not too important, however, to pause for a photo op with Chrissy.

The best was the sombrero all the players got to wear on the Jumbotron.  It fits a little more on Rafael Ortega than it did on Donnie Murphy.

The cheap tickets are just grass sections down both of the baselines.  We brought a blanket and enjoyed the beautiful night.

Historic Beale Street at night.  Blues was basically invented here and Memphis has a long and fascinating musical history (and some neat museums to tell it).  There is always music coming out of the clubs and restaurants and we popped into BB Kings to listen to some tunes.  

Memphis is one of the places Gibson manufactures guitars and the factory tour is really interesting.  Here they make their hollow and semi-hollow body electrics and a large part of it is still done by hand.  You can walk right through the factory and see it all being done.

Clearly Chrissy would have to sign up with the captain.

This giant pyramid used to be an arena but it wasn't good enough for the Memphis Grizzlies and I believe ended up sitting empty for a number of years.  Why someone decided to build a giant pyramid in Memphis I have no idea.  Bass Pro Shops leased it and made it into a giant store that actually just opened last week.

Of course after our visit to Memphis it was time to cross the Mississippi into Arkansas.  We did not see the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue or follow him to Graceland.

Adventures in Kentucky

From TN into KY for a day or so.

This is a road trip, so why not spend a little more time in the car, here we are at the drive in movie theater in Franklin KY. Avengers, Age of Ultron.

We primarily bounced into KY to visit Mammoth Cave. With over 400 miles of mapped cave system, it's the largest in the world. This was our awesome tour guide. For 2 hours and 2 miles, he led us through cathedrals and narrow passage ways like...

Fat Man's Misery, a keyhole shaped passageway where our group had to walk single file, and basically sideways.  No flash is allowed in the cave to keep from disrupting the natural eco system (bats), so this is about all you'll see underground.

Insert Plato emerging from the cave joke here

The park is actually much bigger than the cave underground,  82 plus square miles. We had a chance to explore some of the above ground trails too. Lots of wild life can be found. This frog, a snake, and a momma owl finding food for babbies.

Looking at the River Styx, this water flows out of the cave.

Jim climbing the trail

Junior Park Ranger badge number 2!

Then on to Bowling Green, KY for a visit to the National Corvette Museum. Here Jim poses with the last remaining Corvette from the year of his birth, 1983.

The museum houses innumerable Vettes, many of which are displayed in this entry gallery, as a temporary solution to the display space that was lost in the sink hole you may remember hearing about in the news, February 2014. Many of the cars recovered from the sink hole are on display, though hardly recognizable. I didn't take their pictures, it was too sad.