We wish the best to you and yours in 2009.
Special Happy New Year wishes to all our veterans, our wounded warriors and active members of the Armed Forces and their families. God speed in the coming year.
The Bear Lair
This is the very first time we have taken Bear, our 10-year old Shepard/Lab mix, on a vacation with us. At first, we worried how she would take to the motion and the ever-changing environment. Our worries were quickly dispelled when she adopted the spot between the driver and passenger seats in the cab of the motorhome. She rode there, slept there and ate there the whole trip.
She was especially good at taking care of business at the dog walks and seemed to enjoy exploring all the new sights, sounds and smells. We’re already planning our next trip to include our old friend and new traveling companion.
Home Again, But the Memories Linger
Last night, we stayed fairly close to home in the Mojave Desert, at a little town called California City. It was just another small, but nice campground, away from the ‘burbs. We went through some of the photos from this trip while we were relaxing on our last night out, and decided that we would always remember the frosty trip to the Grand Canyon as a highlight of our winter ’08 vacation.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Lows and Highs
When we got up this morning, we were in Pahrump, Nevada, near the eastern gateway to Death Valley National Park. We drove from there to Furnace Creek, near the lowest point in the continental United States. The elevation here was about 190 feet below sea level. The actual low spot is about minus 282 feet at Badwater Basin. We stopped at the village and took this picture of the wagons that were hitched to the famous 20 Mule Teams that hauled borax from here to Mojave, a considerable distance to the southwest. We then went from Furnace Creek to Scotty’s Castle, another interesting historical landmark in the park.
After we finished touring Death Valley today, we headed westward along California State Route 190, which took us over two mountain passes with winding and narrow roads. We went over the first pass and descended to Panamint Valley. Then over the White Mountains to descend into the Owens Valley, just east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where the highest point in the continental United States, Mount Whitney, looms at 14,491 feet above sea level. Mount Whitney in the picture to the left is not the one that looks tallest, since the linear perspective makes the peak to the left look taller. Mount Whitney is the peak among the very jagged peaks near the center and just to the right – it’s the one that looks tallest among those jagged peaks.
Click on either image to enlarge. Photo credits – Damsel.
Art Deco Angels at Hoover Dam
We drove up US 95 from Kingman, AZ, toward Las Vegas, today. We crossed from Arizona to Nevada at Hoover Dam. These art-deco angels were acting as the color guard for the flagpole that stands at the West end of the dam. The inscription is a very nice one, telling how fitting it is to place the American Flag at this site.
Click here to see the inscription.
Winter Canyon from Lookout Studio
As promised, here is one of the photos I took this morning at the Grand Canyon Village. This is looking northeast near Bright Angel Trail Head. The icicles are hanging from the famous Lookout Studio near Bright Angel Lodge.
Click the image for large view.
The Polar Express
When we pulled into Grand Canyon Village today, the snow was everywhere. When we saw the train at the station, it reminded us of the Disney Polar Express movie. In the background is the towering El Tovar, one of the oldest lodges in the Village.
We will post some images taken from the South Rim tomorrow. We were sidetracked today and did not get to the rim itself – but that’s another story.