Tucson, Arizona to Palm Springs, Ca- Day 3

When you are traveling and have to get a lot of road behind you, it is usually necessary to get up earlier than one desires to.  5:05am came earlier than I wanted it to.haha

The good thing is that depending on how far you have to go, you just might get their earlier than expected.  That was my motivation after having spent 3 days and a minimum of of 7 hours every day in the car.  So, early as it was, we got up again and did our morning routine.......

French press coffee with milk......:-)......ahhhhhhhh, yes.

pack up and load the car.......

thank you, Scootard.....:-).

head toward the breakfast room and see if there is something we can actually tolerate.......

Eat "it".......

and then try to wake up! ha

after a quick breakfast sandwich, we hit the road realizing that today would be a shorter travel day which leave room for some possible adventure.....:-).  Even my camera was still "blurry eyed".....

the farther we went, the more of these we saw.....I'm amazed at how much sand is in the West....

Day was starting to break behind us and I had to put the camera in a wierd position to get this shot...

We came upon the famous "Red Rock" canyon place where there have been some magnificent concerts held.  But, we didn't go over to see it. I took this shot quite a ways back from the sign itself.  We were sitting at a light and I had to really zoom in with my little pocket camera to get this.

We passed a very long train which to me was the most exciting thing that I saw for a while.....

and the closer we got to Phoenix, the more artistic the walls along the highway became......

Now that we were fully awake, we decided it might be a good idea to stretch our legs and walk around at the next available rest stop.  The sun was beautiful between the trees...:-)

and of course, we had better take advantage of the "potty" since we didn't know how long we would have to wait between rest stops.  That's my Christo  (Scootard) still wearing sandals at the end of January...haha.  A true Canadian!

I spotted this sign on the way back to the car and thought it was interesting.......

Since it can be a challenge to get "stuff" we may want or need from the back seat, we try to do it once we are stopped.  I decided some pistachio nuts and ice cold water were in order.  Thank you again, Scootard.....:-).

And down the highway we went.  

We were coming up on my children's old stomping ground where they took some of their college courses......:-)

strangely enough, it was very chilly outside and we had also heard that there were tornado watches in Oklahoma.  I hoped that California would prove to be warmer than Arizona was.  I only had two sweat shirts with me and I was rotating them! haha

and on we went....strangely enough

Canada has one highway.  They named it highway 1.....haha.  I wonder why???  So, whenever we come to the states, Scootard likes to take pictures of our highways here.

We had a difficult time finding WiFi and knew we could probably get a reliable signal in
 Mc Donald's and catch up on e-mail and phone calls by way of Skype.

I saw the biggest cactus I had ever seen in my life!   I mean these things were taller than some of the trees.....

 
I mean, really.....look at the size of that thing!  And I'm told that the more arms they have, the older they are.....

When we came upon this thing, I wondered what it was and Scootard informed me that it was a Nuclear power plant......sheesh....  that was unnerving....especially with all of that "stuff" going into the air.....???

Needless to say, I was glad when we got it out of our view....:-(.  this view was better.  It was starting to look like the surface of the moon.....haha

and I noticed that the sand was white, but not nearly as white as in White Sands, New Mexico yesterday.....:-).

I was begining to wonder which desert we were crossing.  I thought it was the Mohave, but Christo thought it might have been the Senoran.  It seems he was right....(again)...:-).

I didn't see any animals, but we had already learned that the ones that live in the desert take on the colors of the desert to protect themselves from predators.

At the next rest stop, there was this sign to remind us of how dangerous the desert can be......

then it was time to get some gas for the last time as we were getting closer to our destination......

the closer we got to Palm Springs, the larger (it seemed) the trees became.....

TADA!!......We have arrived......:-).  Now, we have a ways to go before we actually get to the part of California we are going to.  In the mean time, this song kept playing in my head:  "Welcome to the hotel California....Such a lovely place, such a lovely place..."......la la la la.....well, you know the melody....:-)

and the mountains were snow capped.....:-)....it looked like British Columbia....

Not long now and we will be at our hotel for the night......:-).  Here is a shot of one of the main streets. It's called E. Ramon Drive..

We have arrived in Palm Springs after 6 hours of road time......:-).

When I started seeing things like this, I knew I was in California....haha.  And all this time, I thought it was Frank Sinatra that did it "his way"....get it?  ha

 We reached our hotel and was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful fountain and flowers.....in January!  A girl could get used to this......:-).

See?  I think these are Bogainvellia....or something like that.  They kinda look like Azalea ....

and all manner of cactus....after all it is California.....:-).

the car looked strange pulling a trailer without "Ms Vickey" and "Maj" on it.  But we have other uses for the trailer when we get back to BC.  This is the view from our room...

and this is the view from the corner of the street.  We decided that after we got checked in, we would go for a walk and find some dinner.   And early one since it was not even 3:00pm.

And Christo was happy that he was about to embark on yet another adventure with me....:-).

This shot reminds me of a television set for some reason.....

and this strange looking thing was some kind of succulent.  The leaves were thick like a Jade plant, but long and skinny....

All of the old downtown area; which is where we decided to spend out time was decorated with flowers and dotted with Bistros....

Kinda pleasant to see this in January since there isn't anything growing in BC this time of year except the Evergreen trees.....

There were several shops in the area with interesting names like.......

with Mascots!  hahah

and this.......haha

And France thought they had it going on!  hahaha

and various fountains of all shapes and sizes.......

to my surprise, Palm Springs has its own walk through the stars........

Remember this guy?

And this guy?

yep, that's Sonny Bono in a brass image.  He used to be mayor here many moons ago...

and this guy who did things "his way"......

And this lovely lady......:-).

this is not a good likeness of Marilyn Monroe, but it was certainly the largest I had ever seen......

and all of the trees had "beards".....Scootard said they were dead leaves that had not fallen off.....

oh...

We needed to get something to eat and check out the menu at this place.  But it was more of a diner type setting and we wanted "something else".......

So, we decided to keep walking through the streets until we found something to eat.  The choices seemed to be Italian (which we had last night) and Mexican.  We met this little fellow along the way..:-).  I mentioned how cute he was.  I think he must have understood me........

because he turned around to show me his "hinder parts"......:-)

Still walking looking for a "different" type of place to eat......I liked this shop and thought to get a picture of it....:-).

and then, we found it!  Dinner at last; if you can call it that at 3:00pm.

Scootard taking in the menu......:-).

while I was taking in the scenery around me.  this is the view from our table looking to my left.....

and this is the view from our table looking to the right inside of the resturant.....

I ordered the Carpaccio with white truffle sauce......I had no idea what it was...hahaha....

Scootard ordered some fried oystes with some kind of sauce that had  black caviar in it......

 and then I ordered some fries with these different kinds of sauces with some truffle oil on them.  Not bad....:-).

and then Scootard ordered a Kobe beef sandwich on Ciabatta bread.......

We ate our meal...paid the (hefty) bill and took a stroll down the street and took in an art gallery.  Once we left there, we passed another one that had closed already, but had this hanging from their ceiling.......cool- eh?

We were both getting tired and decided to head back to the room for the night.  I couldn't pass up this shot along the way......:-).  I have a thing for doors and windows........

I like the feel of Palm Springs and how it seems that the people who live here take pride in their surroundings......

when we came upon this courtyard of the Best Western, I had to ask myself why we didn't stay here.....:-).  Very nice indeed..

 We finally made it back; tired and full.  Scootard started immediately on his blog.  I on the other hand began to get organized for tomorrow.  And then I did my "travelogue"........:-).

tomorrow?.........Fresno, California.

See ya then!

Roswell, New Mexico to Tucson, Arizona -Day 2

For whatever reason, I had trouble sleeping yet again last night.  So, when 5:00am rolled around, I decided to get up and start getting our French Press coffee stuff out and ready.  Scootard decided that after my turning on two lights, that it was time to get up as well.  We managed to get a decent breakfast and head out early again.

there is something to be said about a sky that does not have the challenge of "light pollution" like we have in big cities and towns.

The colors are brilliant and ever changing.....

And it always makes me feel so blessed to see the magnificence of it all....

You have to take the shots quickly because everything changes so fast and is never the same twice...:-).  There are lovely skies in the west where the land seems to be so unmolested by humans and "progress".  The moon was slowly dissappearing giving way to the day....:-)

As the day began to break, we continued on toward the town of Tularosa, New Mexico where we had hoped to get some lunch.  the road went on FOREVER.....

but it was a great view although very chilly when we would let the windows down to get the pics we wanted....

The whole area was dotted with various characteristics that would slightly resemble somewhere else; but not really.....

 
I was fascinated with the occasional "tumbleweed" that would come rolling toward our car. But they always came and went so quickly that I could never get a shot of one.

  

We finally came upon a gas station and decided not to press our luck by traveling on these "endless highways" and playing it to close to "E".  This time we filled up at 3/4 tank full...haha.  I know it sounds paranoid, but hey.... I got a thing about being stuck in the middle of the desert; with tumble weed!

Made it to Tularosa, New Mexico and was astonished that the people there must have been on a perpetual fast!  The place was so small that this is the only shot either of us have...haha.  No lunch here!

We decided to keep going and see what happened down the road.  And what do you know!  We came upon the US Army Military firing range called "White Sands Missile Range" in White Sands, New Mexico.  When I was in the military, some of my friends who were stationed in Oklahoma had to come here every year to fire practice rounds as well as a live missile for training called a "Lance Missile".  I had not personally been here before, so this gave me a slight view of what they came to every year.

And when we pulled up, the white sand dunes were very prominent and striking.

It was beautiful, and there was a whole history has to how they became so much whiter than the sands around them.....

of course, we were not allowed to go there, but here is a sign of the direction of the missile range.

 there was a visitor's center that we took advantage of and decided to go inside to see what was what and to use the rest room, of course...:-).  This is a shot of what seemed like a small courtyard in the middle of the facility.  Scootard has often mentioned that he likes the Southwestern design and wouldn't mind living in a house that was made like this.  - Uh, me on the other hand; not so much....:-(.  Nice to visit, but I surely wouldn't want to live in it.

the visitor's center was quite small with a tiny gift shop and a movie theater inside that showed a 17 minute film of the history of the "whiteness" of the sands.  How they start out brown, but through the shifting of the sands and the wind, they turn white over a long period of time.  There are 275 square miles.

The sands get so fine at times that they take on the texture of talcum powder....you can even rent sand sleds to go sledding as if on snow.  If you can see the person in the third picture, you will notice the big saucer like thing that they are using for a sled. ....:-).  I'll be the "clean up" after is horrific for the person who dared to do it!

 

these building (I think) were being used by the workers out there.  The place is very remote even though it is off the main highway.  There were porta potties every couple of miles.  That ought tell you something about how remote everything is out there in the desert.

This is a Yucca plant.  The desert is scattered with them.  We learned that what you see is a very small part of the plant.  There could be as much as 30 more feet below the sands!  Wow!

ok, time to go!  We STILL have not eaten yet!  ugh!!  By now, we are starving...haha

When we got into the city of Las Cruses, we were surprised to see how large it was.  I have no idea why we didn't stop to eat here, but we didn't.  It was an interesting place to pass through....

We saw a Subway sandwich shop and decided to pass on that......

so, away we went once again......."blue skies...smiling at meeeeeeee.  Nothing but blue skies...do I seeeeeeee......do- do- do- la - laaaaa- ladi- dah- dah--ladi- dee- da -da -da...from now on!"

and then it happened!  We were coming upon what was supposed to be a weigh station for trucks, but it has been diverted (converted) into a check point by the US Customs and Border Patrol.  I was shocked as I was sure we were in "New Mexico" and not Mexico!  AND I had grapes and cheese in the car....haha.  Scootard said; "you might lose those grapes".  So, I prepared myself for the guard telling me that I had to throw them away.  I was still reeling from the confusion of having US Customs at a weigh station for trucks.

Anyway, the guy asked if we were both US citizens.  I said "yes"!  Not remembering that Scootard is actually Canadian!  Sheesh....and then he said "No"! hahaha......oh boy.  then I gave Chris the passports and decided to keep quiet in my confusion....haha.   Good golly.  What a moment.  The guys looked at both of us and said, "your're alright.  Have a good day.  I guess we didn't look Mexican...???

We traveled on through town and I spotted this on the way....this place was so tiny that they had to "make a town" to make it look like a town was really there....hahaha

Finally, we made it to this little place.  And it lack anything interesting to eat as well......:-(.

I began to wonder if anyone ever ate anything any more besides us! And I really don't like buying food from gas stations......YUCK!  We decided to get some gas and keep moving through the town to see what was what.....

 

this is the main street of Deming, New Mexico.....

and this is their court house.  At first glance, I thought it was a church......

and they had this cute little gazebo and a little park in the middle of town.....:-).

and the next thing you know, we were headed for the Continental Divide.....with NO LUNCH!

thank God for snacks that we had in the car.  We still had grapes and cheese in our cooler from the day before as well which came in handy.....
 

Scootard was happy now.....:-).  I was happy too.  I was sure I starting to feel my stomach touch my backbone!

Several minutes later we hit the state of today's destination......yay!

we jumped out at the rest stop to stretch our legs and get some air.  It was cold outside and very windy......

here was a little write up of the area that I didn't take time to read....ha.

and they had a nice sitting area outside, but it was much too cold for that and WINDY!

and to my amazement, not long after entering Arizona it began to rain......

and rain........

and then a few miles later.....we saw this......

and then I was sure I was seeing dinosaur poo!  Look!

We saw a gas station a little ways down the road and decided that we would get some gas for the last time today so that we would not have to do it in the morning....

Scootard is such a good "gasser"  ...hahaha.....

uh huh!!  I knew it!  Here is the culprit......ha.  See him?  trying to hide in the trees.....

 Well, we were at our destination and was glad to be there after a long day of travel.  We were greeted by palm trees and cactus....

looks like an over grown pineapple thingee- eh?

When we got to our room, we were pleasantly surprised by this view outside of our patio area......

They even had "bigfoot".......:-).

we settled in for the night with great anticipation for our road adventure tomorrow.

Stay tuned for the road trip from here to Palm Springs, California!
Goodnight..