Scottsdale to Flagstaff, Arizona

Our second day of the drive started with a great breakfast in the hotel where we were joined by Fred and Ernie. It was a chance to say goodbye to them and to thank them for coming to Scottsdale to see us. We must make sure it's not such a long time before we see them again.

Before we left I took a few photos of the Scottsdale Fairmont. It is a typical huge resort hotel and not a very beautiful one at that!!

Looking down on to the pool.

The jacaranda trees in full bloom

The rather stark main entrance.

We left the hotel at around 10.30am and headed north towards the town of Payson. We had to buy diesel and it was interesting to see how much cheaper it is in Arizona than in California - about 10% less.

The drive up Highway 87 was simply magnificent. A beautiful winding road through wonderful desert scenery with towering cacti for much of the first half of the drive.

 

 

From an altitude of 1,600 ft in Scottsdale, we rose to over 5,000 ft as we reached Payson. We all met up in the town to decide on the route to take to the Painted Desert region. Looking at our maps, we found an unpaved back road that would take us through a large National Forest to the town of Winslow on the southern edge of the Painted Desert.

Before we left Payson we HAD to go to a Dairy Queen, so that Thelma could have her usual large -  no, very large - strawberry milkshake. I'm not sure what Kenny and Dee Anne had, but whatever it was, it looked very unhealthy!!

We left Payson at about noon and took the small road off the main highway. It was called Rim Road and very aptly named as, after a few miles, we came to this breathtaking view.

Bob and then Kenny posed on the edge, with Kenny being urged to do a sky-dive!!

 

The road then became gravel for the next twenty miles, winding through lovely pine forests with campsites along the way. As we exited the National Forest, the scenery changed completely and became wide open flat lands stretching as far as the eye could see. What a contrast!

 

We reached Winslow and then crossed the I-40 to the southern side of the Painted Desert. Unfortunately, time was running short and we decided that, rather than going into the desert, which we have been to before, we would head for a place called Sunset Crater, just north of Flagstaff.

First, we took another dirt road which went across Navajo Indian Reservation land. Here we are following Kenny, with the wind fortunately blowing the dust away from us!

 

We reached Sunset Crater at about 4.30pm, which gave us plenty of time to look at the area around the mountain. Sunset Crater is the result of a volcanic eruption in the 12th century and the 1,000 ft high mountain stands starkly above the surrounding countryside.

 Huge larva flows run through the area and remind me very much of those we have seen on the Big Island of Hawaii. It was amazing to see how quite sizeable trees had managed to grow in the middle of such a desolate, unforgiving landscape. Nature never ceases to amaze me.

 

There was a view point from which you could see, in the very distance, the hills of the Painted Desert.

We stayed until about 6.15pm to watch the sun start to set and to see the changing colours of the mountain. It was a bit of a disappointment as the colours were very muted, perhaps because of the hazy sunshine.

We then had a twenty mile drive into Flagstaff to our hotel, the lovely Monte Vista, which opened on 1st January, 1927.

Driving into Flagstaff.

All the hotel rooms were named for Hollywood movie stars. Ours was called Gary Cooper, after the star of the Western, "High Noon".

We unpacked and then went, on Wendy's recommendation from the AAA road book, to Brix, a restaurant a short walk from the hotel. We had a lovely meal and it was a fitting way to end the second day of the drive. If all the days are like the first two, we will be very happy indeed!

Malibu to Scottsdale, Arizona

So, finally our drive has started. A very, very early rise to enable us to leave the house by 5am for the 450 mile journey to Scottsdale.

We left Malibu in the dark and, as it was a Sunday, we had very little traffic as we took the I-10 freeway due east across Los Angeles.

After about an hour's driving, we had a magnificent sunrise over the mountains.

We reached Palm Springs at about 7am and passed the huge wind farm that defies belief. It is simply enormous, with hundreds of wind turbines. The beautiful desert landscape is scarred by so many turbines scattered across the foothills and the valley where the freeway runs.

After about two hours, we stopped for breakfast and then continued our drive east reaching the Arizona state border at about 10am.

 Arizona is celebrating its centenary this year.

We were now going from Pacific time to Mountain time, which meant we had to put our watches forward one hour to 11am.

All along the road there were giant cacti, many of which are starting to flower. They look like giant sentries standing to attention.

Shortly after crossing into Arizona, we went through this town. The photo is especially for our daughter-in-law, Kate, a mad keen Buckeyes fan!!

We reached Phoenix at about noon and skirted round the centre on our way to Scottsdale.

Can someone tell me what this stadium is called near downtown Phoenix?

We reached Scottsdale at about 1pm and tried to check in, but our rooms weren't ready. We decided to have a snack by the pool and then go and visit Taliesin West, the home of Frank Lloyd Wright. It was a short drive to the house, which is located in the foothills above the Arizona desert. As we were buying our tickets, we learnt from the cashier that Arizona does not have summer time and, as a result, we shouldn't have put our watches forward. Suddenly we had gained an hour!.

We did the 90 minute tour of the house. Our guide, Peter, was very knowledgeable and we learnt a lot about Wright and how Taliesin West has become a centre for architectural education. Below are some photos of the house.

 

We returned to the hotel. By now the rooms were ready and we were able to unpack our bags and have a well-earned rest.

This evening, we are meeting up with our Texan friends, Kenny and Dee Anne and also Fred and Ernie. It will be a great reunion.

Tomorrow we start the long drive north which takes us to northern Arizona and then, the day after, into Utah.

Post Script

A fun evening was had by all and here is the photo to prove it.

Malibu

T minus one and counting!

Less than twenty-four hours until we set off on our latest adventure. Bob and Thelma flew in yesterday and we picked them up from LAX. So now we are all set to start. 'Thirteen to go'.

Tomorrow will be the longest day's drive of the whole trip, nearly 500 miles across southern California and Arizona, to Scottsdale. We aim to leave around 5am as we want to get to Scottsdale in time to do a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's famous house, Taliesin West. The last tour is at 4pm and because we move from Pacific time to Mountain time, we lose an hour, which doesn't help at all.

I thought I would post a couple of photos of the cars parked here at the house.

 

Here's a shot of the new route sticker, with one on each of the rear side windows of the car.

London to Malibu, California.

Our taxi arrived at the house at 6.30 am to drive us to Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport to catch the BA flight to Los Angeles.

We arrived just after 7.15am and so had plenty of time to spend in the BA Lounge rather than the airport, courtesy of Wendy, who has just qualified for Silver Membership of BA's Executive Club. So, while I remain 'only' a Bronze Member, I will have to keep in her good books, if I am to be 'invited' as her guest to the BA lounges!

The flight today was scheduled to be about 10 hours thirty minutes, as we were flying on a Boeing 777, as opposed to the usual 747's that BA flies to LA. Still, a good thing we discovered about the 777 is that the seats in Premium Economy are a great improvement on the seats in the 747's. They give more leg room and a greater recline of the back of the seat, so that you are able to achieve a reasonably comfortable position when you want to have a sleep. Another plus is the size of the video screen in the seat back, which is 50% bigger than those in the 747's.

We both watched The Iron Lady, with Meryl Streep. It was a much better film than we were expecting and we can see why Streep got the Oscar for Best Actress.

A brief explanation about our short stay in Malibu before we leave on Sunday for Scottsdale, Arizona. My first priority will be to make sure the car is all set to go. It's been parked in the garage since early November and will need a full check-over. Then, we have to go to the AAA Club to get all our maps and guide books for the states we are driving through. The Triple A issue members with excellent books and we have used these on all our drives in North America to find hotels, restaurants and places of interest to visit. On Friday we drive down to LAX to pick up Bob & Thelma and then we have Saturday to pack the car ready for a very early start on Sunday. The drive to Scottsdale is the longest of the whole drive, just under 500 miles.

We arrived twenty minutes ahead of schedule, which was very welcome after a ten and a half hour flight. Our daughter-in-law had rearranged her work schedule so that she had the day off, especially to meet us and take us up to the house. Thanks a million, Kate!

We reached the house at about 3pm, 11pm London time. Let's hope we have a good sleep tonight and get over the inevitable jet-lag of an 8 hour time difference.

I'll post again before we leave on Sunday with all the latest news.

London

The latest news is that I have heard from our Texan friends, Kenny and Dee Anne, that they will be joining us for the first half of the drive. They will drive up from their home in El Paso and meet us in Scottsdale, Arizona, our first night of the drive. They will then drive with us as far as Oklahoma, where they will be staying with their daughter in Oklahoma City before returning to Texas.

Looking at the route schedule I have done for the drive, they will be with us for seventeen days and cover about 3,500 miles of our 5,700 mile trip.

On the hotel front, we have booked two of the Yellowstone National Park hotels, Snow Lodge and Mammoth Hot Springs, and then, near Mount Rushmore, we are booked at the Presidents' View Hotel, Keystone, South Dakota. Apparently, there is quite a lot of snow in Yellowstone and the southern park entrance we were hoping to use will not be open when we get there at the beginning of May. So, we are taking a longer route through Idaho and entering the park from the west.

That's it for now, but I will post again before we fly out on the 23rd April.

London

It is just over two weeks to go before we fly out to California to start our latest drive.

Once again, we are heading from the west coast of the United States and finishing on the east coast. We did a similar drive in 2007, but this time we are intending to visit the thirteen states we have not been to before. It will be another 'tick in the box' when we can say we have visited all fifty states!

Our good friends Bob & Thelma will be accompanying us in their Landcruiser, as will Kenny and Dee Anne, who will be driving up from their home in El Paso, Texas to meet us in Arizona.

We should start the drive on April 29th and end it around May 25th in Savannah, Georgia. Well that's the plan at the moment.

Once we arrive in the US, I'll start posting to this blog on a regular basis.