Saturday, November 2, 2013

Road Tripping


I am currently hanging out in Casa Grande, Arizona watching TV with the girls.  Man Friend and his dad hopped in the truck and went to look at Jeeps.  Apparently Man Friend thinks he can fit a new Jeep in his carry on next week? Anyway.... I haven't been at a computer in over a week so Vegas posts will come later. For now I thought I could share a quick glimpse of our road trip from Oregon to Arizona! (Mount Shasta, in California, is the above photo)

I always fly, so in order to survive a zillion miles I came up with a plan.... Roadside attractions! We left Oregon around 2pm on Wednesday, armed with a back of snacks, music and my phone with the app that would help us find random attractions that would appeal to folks like me and Clark Griswold. I couldn't fret photos of most since we did drive-bys versus stops, except for a couple that I couldn't miss!

The first stop had us in Grants Pass at a local pharmacy just like my grandpa used to own.  It was like a blast from the past! Leaving Oregon we got some views some snow capped mountains, before crossing the border into California.

California got us started with corny attractions.  The first one we stopped at was a rest stop with a perfect photo op..... Welcome to WEED!


We were driving as far as possible Wednesday night, but eventually had to stop for dinner. When we pulled off in Redding I saw this restaurant and knew it was our place! What we didn't expect was that not only was the lumberjack outside enormous, but so was the food!! Cheap price, HUGE quantity, great service!

After sleeping in Sacramento we were back on the road. Here is California in I-5 basically until you go over the Grapevine and get into the Los Angeles area.

I freaked out once at the top of the Grapevine. The driving just sort of changed and I was completely tense until we got out if that area,

Leaving LA I calmed down and looked forward to the next stop.  You might recognize it from Pee Wee's Big Adventure.....or Christian Slater fans might remember it from The Wizard! It was pretty cool!


Heading toward Palm Springs we saw a bunch of these:

The drive to Arizona felt quick, but we did have a lot of sing a longs to kill time.  Plus the speed limit was higher than in Oregon so that was a bonus!

This was a very welcome sight:

Immediately upon crossing the Colorado River and entering Arizona we noticed cacti everywhere.  Very cool....but why none in California? Do they charge cacti to live there so they refuse to cross the border?

We made one last roadside attraction stop in Quartzsite to see the tomb of Hi Jolly, a camel trainer. I enjoy visiting cemeteries and this one was certainly unique! 

Thursday night we arrived in the Phoenix area and passed on through to Casa Grande! And here we are! Now I will leave you with this....a photo I took at a gas station north of LA....we don't have papers like this in Oregon!



1 comment:

Thanks for reading my little blog, your comments rock my compression socks!! ºoº