Through Palm Springs to Anaheim

Jane Reporting for 16th October

Another day (16th October) with a short distance to travel so a late (later than usual) check out from the motel.  I was able to catch up on some blog posts so it might be worth checking back a few days or so to see if there's anything new.

After leaving Blythe

We pulled off the road at the General Patton Memorial Museum, more to stretch our legs and (in the case of Gary and Jane, take a few photos for Dad of what we drove right by on the last trip):

At the General Patton Memorial Museum

And no dusty, outdoor museum in this part of the world is complete without warnings about the wildlife:

More interesting warning signs

Our stop in Palm Springs this year (in mid-October) was rather more pleasant than our stop there last year (early September) as the temperature had dropped nrealy 20 degrees F from 100 degrees (38 C) to 81 (30 C).  Last year we slunk to an air-conditioned restaurant; this year we sat outside in the shade.

Gary at lunch

We decided to eat at an Italian restaurant and Gary and had very nice pasta dishes:

Jane's lunch

Gary's lunch

As we left Palm Springs we passed the very, very large wind farm.  Here's a photo of what Gary saw:

The wind farm

This rather puts our 200+ turbines on the hills behind Palmerston North to shame.  It was interesting to note that some sections of turbines appear to have fallen into disuse and at least one other appeared to have burnt out.

The wind farm

State Quarters
I'm now having a bit of trouble remembering which I have included and which I haven't.  The muddle in my brain is made worse by having poured over them all as Lyn has added them to the collection, so sometimes I can remember seeing the coin, rather than adding it to a post.

Iowa (which I think we did visit this trip) celebrated education on their state quarter, and includes a picture of a one-room school:

State Quarters: Iowa

South Carolina (which I don't think we've visited) is the Palmetto State, and apprently the palmetto is the palm-y looking tree depicted on the coin:

State Quarters: South Carolina

Phoenix to Blythe: A short drive

Jane Reporting for 15th October

This morning (15th October) we hung around at the motel in Phoenix until check out time of 11am.  Gary was busy backing up Lyn's photos onto the ridiculously small memory stick (it's a USB plug and Very Little Else) and I read my book only taking a break for one last stroll through K-Mart.

Interesting thing (actually not that interesting) but pain killers only come in bottles here, not in flat packs.  Even the smallest round rattling bottle seems a little less convenient to me for travelling but I'm sure I'm manage.

We headed off through the western side of Phoenix (which is a city with incredible sprawl-ability) and stopped at a shopping centre to grab some lunch before heading off on the 2-hour drive to Blythe.

What Gary sees: Driving out of Phoenix

Not only was it a short drive, it wasn't a very interesting one and so I ... went to sleep.  Again.  Woke up only long enough to take a couple of photos:

Black rocks on the hills

It was a trip through a low scrub kind of desert but everybody was zooming along, including the trucks, overtaking at 75+ miles per hour.

What Gary sees: Fast trucks

The hills (mountains) in the distance were pretty and we'll be travelling through them tomorrow:

Pretty mountains

Off to tea, now.

Back from tea at the local Chinese restaurant.


State Quarters
Lyn is still short a couple state quarters to complete her collecting (the Virgin Islands and Samoa, I think) and needs upgrades for a few (including Texas).  Here is New Mexico, a state we haven't visited on this trip but apparently it is the Land of Enchantment. 

State Quarters: New Mexico

Photos from Home
The cat news continues to be better than simply reassuring thanks to our wonderful cat sitters.  Sam and Mocha now quite regularly sleep on the same bed during the day - something they wouldn't do for us:

Sam (foreground) and Mocha

Anne plants out my garden with the help of neighbour Marilyn:

from left: Anne, Marilyn, Mocha

Lloyd enjoys the (apparently infrequent) sunshine in Palmerston North with Sam:

from left: Sam and Lloyd

If Anne and Lloyd weren't there, we wouldn't be here. :o)

The Apache Trail - Part 2

Jane Reporting for 14th October

Once driving the Apache Trail, even though still on tar-sealed (paved) roads, I discovered the narrow, winding road did not suit me particularly well! :o(  There was only one thing to do, and I did it. Zzzz zzzz zzzz I went, and Lyn took over my camera.

Canyon or Apache Lake?

I'm not sure about the name of the lake above; most of what we saw was Apache lake (formed by two dams at each end of the canyon) but there was one we passed before Apache Lake, which was Canyon Lake.  It may always be a mystery.

The others walked down to a view point to get past the power lines across their view of the lake and Geoff provided the entertainment:

Nearly lost him!

Sometimes I include the information boards in the posts since they contain most of the relevant information but the following one is included for a very different reason - Lyn was quite taken with the bullet holes!

Bullet holes

Dams on the Salt River formed the three lakes we saw on this drive; Canyon Lake (Mormon Flat Dam); long, thin Apache Lake (Horse Mesa Dam); and Theodore Roosevelt Lake (Theodore Roosevelt Dam).  (There are six dams in the Salt River Project which is for irrigation and provides electricity as a secondary function. Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_River_Project)

The dusty road

Narrow bridges

Gary at Apache Lake

Theodore Roosevelt dam was built between 1905 and 1911.

Theodore Roosevelt Dam

Most of our drive was through Tonto National Forest and at a couple of places the drives to the lookouts were closed due to the government shut-down.  The only one that actually stopped us was the barrier on the road to the Tonto National Monument which apparently has an impressive view over the lake.

Lake Roosevelt Bridge

We drove over the Roosevelt Lake Bridge, took some photos and then headed back across it for the quick and easy drive home on the paved roads. 

Theodore Roosevelt Lake

This lake had the same 'bathtub ring' of white what we saw at Lake Mead (the lake formed by the Hoover Dam).

The Apache Trail - Part 1

Jane Reporting for 14th October

We had decided to drive along the old stagecoach road, the Apache Trail today (14th October).  There was a ring road in the brochure we were working from and so the only decision was which way to go - did we want to do the easy drive on paved roads first, or the winding unpaved but graded road?  In the end we decided to do the dusty stuff first because there were more interesting things to stop and see on that road.

There is a helpful website for those who would like to know more: http://apachetrailarizona.com/

First we had to drive across the sprawling city of Phoenix and almost as soon as we got out of town and up to the Superstition Mountains we came across the Superstition Mountain Museum, which we would certainly recommend.  It's got an excellent gift shop (probably the best we've visited in the entire trip and Lyn and I are something of gift shop connoisseurs by now) and a lovely wide verandah for sheltering under out of the sun.

Little pink birds

While the others toured the buildings I sat on the verandah and took photos of the birds which were getting their morning feed at the bird feeder.

Larger birds with hook-y beaks

This may have been why I was a little reluctant to wander the extensive paths and visit the out buildings:

Warning notices

But the view from the back verandah was spectacular enough for me not to mind whiling away a bit of time in the shade, photographing the birds:

The view

Here's a photo Lyn took of Gary in the stagecoach:

Ready to travel the Apache Trail

A short drive up the road we came to the Goldfield Ghost Town which gave us another good reason to stop.

Shopping at the Goldfield Ghost Town

There were heaps of tours we could have done but we were concious that we had yet to really get going on our drive along the Apache Trail and so we just wandered around the buildings and checked out all the shops that were in them.

I shop!

It's not that I wasn't tempted to buy from this shop - especially this rattlesnake cleverly made from a bike chain but, in the end, the thought of more clutter at home made me see sense.  (I can hear the house sitters now, informing me that the Palmerston North climate wouldn't suit a rattlesnake ... or an Aucklander.)

The metal sculptures I'm looking at

There were some wonderful old buildings, a lot of decoratively placed rusty old machinery, and the best cactus I've seen to date:

The saloon and a mighty fine cactus

There were walking tours, train tours, and riding tours:

One of the tours was by train

All along the front of the buildings were wooden walkways, all nicely rough and weathered.

The Blue Nugget

It was a fun place to stop but time was moving on and we had ... not.  It was time to get back in the car and drive.

Lazy Day

Jane Reporting for 13th October

We've had a bit of a day off today (13th October) only heading out to the local shopping centre for lunch and a bit of shoe shopping.  (Three out of four members of the party bought shoes.)

Before we went, though, I toddled through the car parks to K-Mart (my Christmas shopping Mecca - if that's not some sort of religiously muddled concept) to buy a plastic bin to protect my growing collection of Christmas ornaments.  While I was there I took a couple of photos of the Christmas display.  I'm quite taken with the mauve theme - even bought a decoration to start me off in case I get bored with my lime theme:

The mauve tree

And this primary colours theme on the white tree is very effective:

Kids' colours

There was nothing I particularly wanted from the 'bow aisle' but it certainly looked impressive:

Christmas bows

At about 11am we set out for a local shopping centre, located next to a small fun park, complete with roller coasters.  We were rather surprised at the emptiness of the car park before we realised that the shopping centre only opened at 11am.  Not sure why they open so late - perhaps a Sunday thing?  (Every day is a shopping day at home.)

Gary and I both bought shoes (Crocs jandals for me and running shoes for him) and then we went off to have lunch at the food court.  Chinese meal, followed by gelato from this selection:

Gelato

As we strolled around I found a hair salon and popped in there.  My hair, being a bit longer and bulkier than usual, felt perfectly fine at Flagstaff (in the Big Frost) but in the Phoenix heat has been driving me crazy.  No problem, Anthony was on hand to save the day:

Hair stylist, Anthony

It was 84 degrees F (29 degrees C) here this afternoon and Gary found a shady spot down by the pool where he could catch the best of the very small breeze.  It must have been the perfect spot because I think he had a bit of a snooze ...

Sleeping by the pool (to the tune of Twisting by the Pool?)

And in case one snooze wasn't enough he was still there when I went out a little later and took more evidentiary photos:

And snoozing some more

He's off with Geoff and Lyn now (7.30pm), touring K-Mart again for some after dinner entertainment.  It's till 75 degrees F (24 degrees C) here, and pitch black already.


State Quarters
A rather worn Tennessee quarter, this time, celebrating musical heritage:

State Quarters: Tennessee

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that some of the fuzziness in the photos of the quarters has been my fault (and not wear on the coins) because I have only just discovered the macro setting on my clever little camera.  It handles close-ups quite well so I've never needed to hunt it out before but the coin photos do seem to do better with that setting on ... if only I could remember to turn it off before we go touring the next morning! ;o)

More Cat Research

Jane Reporting for 12th October

It was another afternoon of cat research for me so nothing significant in the way of sight-seeing was planned.  Nevertheless I was up early taking photos of the sunrise, as I had been a year before:

Sunrise over the car park

We walked around the corner to the petrol station to grab some lunch and then Gary and I headed off to take a 'few' photos of documents ... and one of the resident cats.  This is April:

April

April is very fond of footwear and took a shine to Gary's jandals:

April loves shoes

When I say a 'few' photos, Gary ran his battery out taking 300+ and my good little camera was starting to run low on battery with my 600+ photos.  We take a photo of each document (though some get extras taken if they are very significant documents) so that's another 900 documents for my research.

As well as documents we sometimes take photos of photos; not as good as scanning but far, far quicker.  Here's a gem:

An early litter (Aug 65 or earlier)

Awesome day!


State Quarters
The bird is a peregrine falcon which has no particular significance to Idaho.  Odd.  Interesting slant of the choice in this article: http://coins.about.com/od/uscoins/a/idaho_quarter.htm

State Quarters: Idaho