Don’t Spend The Night In Holbrook

I’m not sure why we stopped here, but I’m guessing it was because I was tired.  I’m sure there’s something good in this town.  We just didn’t see it.  Instead we got the most expensive Best Western of the whole trip, mediocre food and no fridge magnets for sale.  Good lesson for the future:  if there’s light in the sky, keep driving.  The following is not where we stayed, but a place next door I thought was abandoned until the lights came on as we past.

You’d think I’d be ready to hit the road and leave this place behind, but even here I managed to sleep late.    More one the highlights of day three later.

Day Three Video

Day Two – Sedona

Road Trip, Day Two – Sedona, Arizona
By Clueless Dad

This was a great day because it was very representative of the situations we’d have in the days to come. (not sure if that’s grammatically correct, but I’ll press on.) We left Kingman, our first experience at a Best Western, and I have to say, a very pleasant one. (No, I am not a paid spokesman for Best Western, though they will come a half dozen more times as I we drive.).

I was really looking forward to this day, because we were headed to one of the most beautiful spots I’ve been to – Sedona, Arizona. I’d been here two times before, but for Jane and Samantha, it was their first. I’d been talking it up quite a bit and I was anxious to see their reaction.

First big disappointment, the main road 89A south from Flagstaff, one of the most amazing drives you can take, was closed. Long, not very interesting detour. But once we did hit town, it was amazing. And it was a way I hadn’t gone before so I got to see a new part of town. This ‘silver lining’ theme would repeat over and over again throughout the trip.

It was difficult not to stop at every single ‘view point’ or ‘scenic outlook.’ But it was the first time testing out my father’s day present, a new Canon Rebel EOS T5i. A DSLR is something Jane and I had talked about for years, and, knowing what we were going to see on this trip, now was the right time. Costco had the best deal. I probably could have gotten a better deal through B & H, but procrastination has eliminated any shipping options.

So I took the camera from the bag and promptly went nuts. I think my picture count was round 300 – in two hours. Talk about a kid in a candy shop. The landscape is so dramatic, so varied, most of your time is spend staring with jaw hanging open.

The photos don’t do the place justice. Truly spectacular views everywhere you turn. I can’t say for sure that I experienced any vortexes (vortexi?) But there is something magical about this place.

Soon, of course, it was time to eat, and I turned to Trip Advisor. it was one of the most helpful things to have. if you’re going anyway, get this app. Even if not, get it.

Trip Advisor help me find The Sedona Pizza Company. Fantastic, superthin crust pizza, great pasta, delicious, fresh salad.

The meal was delicious, strolling though town was great. Sam and I had the same thought as we saw all the hotel signs dotting the main drag: ‘this town is great, let’s stay here tonight.’ But luckily, Jane was the practical one, who mentioned that we really hadn’t travelled that far and we’d be happier later if we moved on now. So a quick ice cream, a fridge magnet, and we moved on. But we have plans to go back for a longer trip (something we said several times as well). So often you’ll hear me say ‘we could have spent a week here.’ But the point of this trip was cover some ground and make notes on places we’d like to see more in depth on another trip. So until next time…

Happy Travels.

Week one happy recap.

WORST BLOGGERS EVER

How many days can we avoid blogging? How many excuses can we come up with? How many times can we promise ourselves we will “get on it tomorrow”? The answer to all these questions is…a lot! It’s July 5th. We’ve been traveling since June 8th and posted on one day. Turns out you are really pooped after driving or having fun all day. I think blogging is for people with desk jobs.

Blogging is a skill and we are novices, but posts are coming. Travel was done. Fun was had. Photos were taken. No really. I have “week one” almost all ready to post. The problem is there are so many more interesting things to do (like the Surly Brewery tour – but that’s week 3 and we’re nowhere near ready for that). We need to be on someone else’s payroll and avoiding work to actually blog. I’m posting Week One tomorrow on the first day of week 4…I swear.

Leaving Los Angeles

Day One, Mile Zero

More From Day One

View from the road

Need A Migraine? Visit the In-And-Out in Victorville

So we’re a good four hours into our trip, and we decide to stop for food.  In retrospect, this should have happened an hour earlier (that means my blood sugar is crashing, and even more cranky than usual).  It’s also about 230 degrees in Victorville, and the people are melting as the try to get from their car to their house.  The gods smile on us and we find a space in the shade.  We enter the largest — and loudest — In-And-Out burger I’ve ever been do.  The volume on the speakers calling out order numbers is loud enough to loosen fillings.  The registers are so close together, it’s impossible for more than one person to order, it’s impossible for anyone to hear the person behind them, it’s impossible for anyone who’s ordered at another register to get by you.  It’s a disaster.

As we wait for the food, I attempt to download the Go Pro footage into the computer.  It’s never a good idea for me to attempt anything technical.  And when I’m hungry and tired, well, you can guess the rest.

ROAD TRIP TIP:  If you’re taking a Go Pro and want to do a time-lapse, A) read the manual and adjust the settings, because the default on the time lapse is one picture every second, which will fill up the camera with more than seven thousand pictures in a few hours.  B) download the Go Pro Software onto your laptop.  It’s free.  If you don’t, iphoto will want to import all 7000 photos into your laptop, which will take much longer than ordering and eating a double double.   And it will frustrate you enough  not to figure it all out til you get to chicago.

For those of you that are dying to see a time lapse of Park La Brea to Victorville, we will have that up shortly.

I Was Promised A Blog

So the plan was to post photos and notes from our cross country trip every day on this site so everyone who cares could follow along with our adventures.  That didn’t really happen, but, just like on our trip, we’re adjusting.  Going with the flow.  So over the next few days as we take a rest in New Jersey, we’ll be doing our best to catch up on our adventures.  Thank you for your patience.