The Journey 2008: Day 17

Day 17, the final day of the journey, begins at the Grand Canyon.

We walked along the south rim to see some beautiful views.

The lighting was not the best and the photos cannot capture the amazing beauty of God's creation.

On the right side of the photo, if you look at the bottom of the canyon you can see a green patch which is Phantom Ranch. You can stay there and rest up at the bottom of the canyon if you are up for hiking all the way down and back up again. Anyone want to go?

You can see one of the trails leading down into the canyon below.

Cruising more of Route 66.

Had to stop at the old 50's diner, Mr. D'z, along Route 66 in Kingman, AZ for some good burgers and shakes.

Back in Cali.

Oh to be back in California.

Oh ya, score I guess, we found some cheaper gas.

We had decided to take the road trip and then it just happened to be during the time that gas pricing spiked in the summer of 2008, lucky us.

You know gas is expensive when during the road trip we were exited to find gas for $3.79 per gallon.

We met up with a few bugs along the way. I guess 6,400+ miles will do that.

Cruising across the California desert, and back home.

Guess I need to get back to work sometime after all the travel fun.

17 days and 19 states, what an adventure - The Journey 2008.

Where will our next journey be to? Road trip anybody?

The Journey 2008: Day 16

Day 16 begins wandering the streets of Santa Fe, NM.

We found the oldest church structure in the USA.

It was an interesting building to explore, and the thick adobe walls kept it nice and cool in the summer.

We also found a R2-D2 mailbox. Not sure if this goes with the whole decor of Santa Fe, but I guess its about time for Santa Fe with all of its older adobe buildings to step up their technology a little bit.

Next onto Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, NM.

It was interesting to wander around this open area directly next to housing tracts and see petroglyphs all over the rocks.

We headed out of Albuquerque along Route 66.

Along the way it was time for happy hour at Sonic, so of course we had to find one and grab some drinks.

While cruising Route 66 we crossed back over the Continental Divide, and I guess Morgan and Amy decided they wanted to ride their way across like people did back in the days of the wagon trains.

Back into Arizona, the last state before we are back in Cali.

We drove through the painted desert which was full of beautiful colors.

The picture does not do it justice.

We also went to Petrified Forest National Park as we cruised through Arizona.

It was crazy to see all the pieces of petrified wood.

It looked a lot like wood, but was completely stone.

The landscape as we drove around the Petrified Forest National Park was beautiful.

Here are a couple of pieces of petrified wood all polished up.

It is crazy that these beautiful polished stones were trees at one time.

Heading across Arizona into the sunset.

Still cruising after dark, and making our way to the Grand Canyon for the night.

Tomorrow we wake up at the Grand Canyon, and make our way back into California and home.

The Journey 2008: Day 15

Day 15 begins in Amarillo, TX driving by an extra large cowboy and cow. I guess everything really is bigger here in Texas.

Even the steaks. Free 72oz. steak...all you have to do is eat it along with some sides in under 1 hour...anyone hungry?

Heading out of Amarillo I saw the street my family is named after.

Cadillac Ranch just outside of Amarillo.

I guess a rancher in Texas thought burying Cadillac's would be a fun thing to do. Don't know if he was trying to grow some newer Cadillac's or just wanted to give kids a place to put their graffiti so it did not end up other places in town. Either way, when on a road trip you have to stop at random places like this because what would road trips be without pictures of random things from around the country?

More time on Route 66 today, and we found the midpoint between Chicago and Los Angeles.

Midpoint cafe...heard they have good pie and cobbler so of course we needed to try some.

Morgan approved of the cobbler, in her own words "soooo good"

Heading in to New Mexico to give the "Land of Enchantment" a little more time than we did playing twister at the four corners earlier in the trip.

Pecos National Historic Park to explore an old pueblo

It was fun to see how they built structures, especially this large one, with the thick walls which help a lot with the heat and cold to keep the inside comfortable...anyone up for using thick mud walls on their next house?

We made it to Santa Fe for the night, and found great place to eat some good New Mexican food which also happened to brew its own beer, so of course we had to try some. The food had a good kick to it, but it was a good kick mixed with great flavors.

We ended the night walking around Santa Fe.

A day filled with a lot of driving, a lot of fun and of course more good food.

Tomorrow more of New Mexico and back into Arizona for the next to last leg of the trip.