Day 21: Friday, October 5 – Reno, NV to South Lake Tahoe, CA

  • First things first. Last night we tried to see Glenda’s elbow on the CBS show “Elementary” but, sadly, we tuned in too late.
  • Casino breakfast with all of the crazy gamblers so we had to drop a couple of ten spots in the slots after breakfast. We were regretting our missing the Red Light Museum yesterday so we decided to head to Virginia City. And we were not disappointed. This is an old mining town kind of left as it was. Somewhat Disneyesque but the lower, rougher version for sure. So glad we came here! We wandered down the old-fashioned main street to the Mandarin Garden Inn – home, downstairs, of the Red Light Museum. Here was a treasure trove of information and exhibits from the swinging late 1800’s in Virginia City’s boom mining days – prostitution in full swing.

post-breakfast gambling

Virginia City

Bucket of Blood Saloon

museum entrance

Sue with the Old Keystone Head Frame

  • The trip to Virginia City was 7,000 feet up a windy, scary road. Now, back down on the other side, through Silver City, Carson City and, ultimately, to South Lake Tahoe, CA. A new land full of pine trees and the big, beautiful lake.

Lake Tahoe

  • Based on a friend’s recommendation, we headed to Pichetti’s wine tasting on the main drag of South Lake Tahoe. Good wine and our hostess, a former flight attendant, was friendly and chatty, another new BFF.

Pichetti’s

  • Back to our “green” hotel and off to dinner at the local golf course (our flight attendant/wine hostess’ recommendation). Nice outdoor tables with a view of the golf course and the lake. Here is our picture taken by a tipsy, former, 1970’s, casino photographer’s helper (so she said). We think she thought we were a couple (look at the hand pose).
Jersey Junction
Today we bring you three (say it again), three, junctions. First, at the Red Light Museum, did you know that 3 out of the 6 brands of condoms exhibited from the late 1800’s-early 1900’s were made in Jersey? Yes! Circle Rubber of Newark, NJ, Gems of Haskell, NJ and Smithies of East Newark, NJ. Plus, we think more of the brands may have been Jersey based as well. We’ll research and revert.

antique condoms

Second, our happy flight attendant/wine hostess has flown out of Newark many, many times. First thing out of her mouth was, “I like New Jersey! I’ve been to the shore. I love it!” Plus, she was generally cool, we discussed politics and she referred to us as Thelma and Louise, unprompted, and gave us a hug goodbye.
Third, our hotel clerk? From Piscataway, New Jersey. Things are ok here in South Lake Tahoe, CA but he is already looking to move out. The California schools, according to him, not so good compared to … Jersey.

Theme of the Day: Red Light, Green Light

Next Up: Yosemite National Park and a stamp 🙂

 

Day 22: Saturday, October 6 – South Lake Tahoe to Yosemite

  • Mini shopping and gambling before we get on the road to Yosemite.  The road to Yosemite is mostly up and up and down and down and up again and winding all around.  Seemed like it should only take a couple of hours but it’s really more like 6 all told.  As we were crossing into CA from NV there was a checkpoint all cars had to pass through.  They asked us if we were transporting fruits, veggies, plants or pets.  Hello??  We have now been through maybe 12 states or more (and Canada too) and have never been asked this.  What could we possibly be bringing in from Jersey that CA didn’t already have??  If anyone knows anything about this, please let us know.  Stopped for lunch at Nicely’s diner in Lee Vining, CA, a real old school diner.
  • We made it to the East Entrance of Yosemite and wow!!  What huge granite mountains face us!! We wound our way to the middle of the park first and then ultimately to our hotel closer to the South Entrance.  En route we saw many sites:

Their Jackets read: Dykes on Bikes… a happy group had just posed for pics

  • We took in the movie about Yosemite at the visitor center and then drove toward our hotel.  We stopped first to view El Capitan, the big iconic granite rock face.  We saw several groups of climbers scaling the face of El Capitan.  This can take several days we were told and the climbers must carry loads of equipment, food, water etc.  They apparently sleep on the rock face hanging on there somehow.  Sound fun???

Climbers in red along the crevice.

Jersey Junction

We finished snapping photos of El Capitan and walked back to our car where a couple of climbers were packing up their truck.  The husband noticed our Jersey plates and admitted he was originally from Princeton.  He was so nice, filling us in on things to do in the park.  His wife answered Sue’s many probing questions on the details of rock climbing including the climbing up and down plus a short discussion of the bathroom situation and waste removal.  The husband drew maps for Glenda on how to travel through the park and other interesting things to see outside the park.  Such a nice, friendly couple!  Of course he was from Jersey!!!

Theme of the Day: ROCK n Roll

Up Next: Another day in Yosemite!

Day 23: Sunday, October 7 – Yosemite

  • So, who knew Obama’s visit to Bakersfield would affect us? After breakfast, we took the shuttle bus from our hotel to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. We were the only passengers. About half way up, the bus broke down. Apparently all the good Yosemite buses were sent to Bakersfield for the Obama people and Yosemite was left with the dregs. No problem – go Obama! The driver somehow resolved the hybrid’s computer problem and we were back on our way.

on the bus…

  • We arrived at the Mariposa Grove and had a view of a few of the huge sequoias from the bus. We hiked through the grove and saw even more spectacular trees. Glenda’s personal favorite was the California Tunnel Tree and Sue’s was the Grizzly Giant Tree.

California Tunnel Tree

Sue and the Grizzly Giant

Glenda with the roots of the Fallen Monarch

Big tree

More big trees

  • Here are some tree stats:
       – some of the trees are close to 2,000 years old
       – they can grow as high as 300 feet – taller than the Statue of Liberty
       – the biggest (e.g., the Grizzly) can be 96 feet in circumference; the diameter of a branch of the Grizzly is 7 feet – bigger than all of the non-sequoias in the grove
       – the California Tunnel was cut in 1895 as a tourist attraction and it’s still a draw here today. There won’t be any more tunnel trees cut because of current conservation philosophy.
  • We are now pseudo-experts in pine tree bark and cones. Here is a pine cone still life – enjoy!

Pine cone still life

Do you recognize this body part from the TV show “Person of Interest”?

  • The giant sequoia produces the smallest pine cone – who knew?
  • For an afternoon hike, we decided to explore the Wawona Meadow. What poor signage Yosemite people! We were launched up a steep road incline for miles – only to turn around and go back to square one and find the Meadow road, soft and flat, was on our left. We managed to go half way on this path for some wildlife sightings: blue birds, mule deer, yellow-bellied marmots – but no bears or bob cats.

Beautiful blue bird

Buck Mule Deer

Yellow-bellied marmot (okay, his belly isn’t very visible but it was very yellow)

Jersey Junction
So much of this Yosemite reminds us of Jersey (ha ha). From the granite mountains (think “the Rock”), great big lakes (think Hopatcong), to the giant pines (think Pine Barrens). You get it. But especially those giant Sequoias — we have them on the GSP — we call them cell towers.

Jersey cell tower?

Day 24: Monday, October 8 – Yosemite, CA to Death Valley, CA

  • It’s a long way to Tipperary (Death Valley) so we were determined to get up and on the road early. Problem is it takes 2 and 1/2 hours just to exit the Park. Ok. So, we made it out and headed to Death Valley, another national park. Yes – another stamp! Forgot to mention that, of course, we got a stamp at Yosemite, too. Glenda is so happy.
  • Beautiful landscapes along the way – more little towns with nothing in between.

from the road…

not sure what all the black lumps are…

Yikes! Gas is pricey here.

  • As we descended from the 9,000′ height of Yosemite’s mountains to the sea level (and, in some places, below sea level) of Death Valley, the temperature rose as high as 103 degrees and the landscape changed dramatically again. We arrived in the Mojave Desert and all the fantastic colors and all the sand dunes that go with it. Again, it’s a long drive through Death Valley to get to our hotel (which is also in the Park).

Dunes and mountains

Temperature at 4:30 pm (it went up later to a high of 103!)

  • Now we are deep into the Valley of Death and we stopped at the visitor center for the movie and to get advice on where to go next. Our ranger recommended the “artist’s loop” and a view of the landscape at sunset. So, there we went.

Colored mountains

 

Blue mixed into the mountains too

on the ridge at sunset

 

  • The desert is a magical place.  No animal sightings here but we did see a monarch butterfly.  At the visitor center we met a young woman with a William Smith hat on.  She graduated a few years ago and was here with her mother.  They traveled here after attendng a wedding in Vega.  Go Herons!!
  • We are staying at an in-the-park hotel, one of two in the whole 3.4 million acre park.  There are 2 restaurants and 1 bar here so we headed to the bar.  Here we met Joe and Charlie who are on a boys’ dirt bike/motorcycle adventure from the Grand Canyon west to Yosemite and Southern Cal where Charlie lives.  Joe is from Boston, complete with the accent!.  We are heading where they have been and they are heading where we have been so we exchanged travel info.  Here are Joe and Charlie with their dirt bikes loaded on the truck.  Charlie also introduced us to reader glasses with LED lights on the side..perfect for map reading in the dark.  A must have!!!!

Joe, bikes, Charlie

Charlie, Glenda, Joe

Sue looking otherworldy (to match the landscape)

Jersey Junction 

We checked into our Furnace Creek Ranch hotel to be greeted by Cam from Kentucky who, upon seeing Glenda’s Jersey license, said “oh Joizee” with a bit of a Kentucky accent.  He  seemed to know this pronunciation as well as how Jersey people dress from TV.  When pressed, he revealed he had never actually been to Joizee but had once stayed in Phillie overlooking the river to Camden probably.  What is it with everyone knowing Jersey from TV?  We need a new Jersey role model…please!!!!

Theme of the Day: Dirt, dust, sand, pebbles, rocks…oh my!!

Up next: Vegas

 

 

 

Day 25: Tuesday, October 9 – Death Valley, CA to Las Vegas, NV

  • We were looking at only a 3-hour trip today. So we spent the morning at Death Valley – which is surprisingly alive with busloads of tourists, a pool, golf course, a couple of restaurants and the ever colorful and changing scenery.

Swedish biker “chicks”

  • Hiked the Golden Canyon trail – beautiful colors – and then back for a dip in the silky smooth, warm pool. Temps today got up to 103 degrees.

  • Before leaving the Valley of Death, we had to venture to the lowest point in North America – Badwater – 282 feet below sea level. Since we have been living at 3,000 feet above sea level, Sue was very concerned about the bends. Needless to say, we were very careful coming back from our plunge – bends free!

Badwater

  • Back on the road for the 2 1/2 hour jaunt to viva Las Vegas. Our GPS freaked out in the middle of State Line Road, just beyond Death Valley Junction. She (our GPS) would have us take a sharp right into the middle of the desert – no road in sight. Fortunately, Glenda’s (the navigator’s) brain decided not to direct us into a desert field and we pulled over instead to regroup. A minute later a great big tour bus came by. Ok. We followed the bus through Pahrump, NV. Say what?

empty road…

And they make fun of Weehawken???

Pahrump’s greeter

wildlife crossing

  • Viva Las Vegas! Staying at Ceasar’s Palace. Hard to believe earlier this afternoon we were in the desert and now we are in tacky Sin City, just a couple of hours away. People watching here is as good (maybe better?) than taking in the dramatic desert or mountain sites – just harder to take pics. Here are some people/things we saw:

Sue’s shoulder with fake Bono

Busloads of Chinese tourists

Bellagio fountains doing their thing

  • So far, gambling not so successful but we have manana.
Jersey Junction
After 3 weeks eating meat and tater tots, we chose to eat at the sushi bar.  Here we met Rohan from Bridgewater, NJ, originally from Calcutta.  Rohan told us his father got one daughter married off, put one daughter and Rohan through college in the States all on his gambling winnings (mostly lottery).  So although Rohan is not a gambler himself, he sent us his father, Bala’s, good luck.
Sadly, not effective yet, but we have manana.

Glenda, Sue and Rohan

Day 26: Wednesday, October 10 – Las Vegas

  • Since we have been steadily traveling the roads for three weeks, we decided today was spa day.  We indulged in a massage and spa for a couple of hours.  Yay!!  No pictures but we had a good morning–Roman Baths, sauna, steam room and arctic ice room complete with snowflakes falling….ahhhhhhh
  • Ventured out on the Strip first to go shopping but we couldn’t find what we needed within easy access so we carried on and landed at the Flamingo, an older, more tired hotel casino – home of the Donnie and Marie show.  We thought we might try the show but were distracted by the slot machines that we thought might be better for us.  We played them and lost as usual.  We think our money lasted a bit longer here though.
  • Finally dinner back at Caesar’s at Rao’s of NY.  We have never been to the real Rao’s in NYC so we went to the replica here in Vegas.  Here we met Nick from St. Louis, the 2011 World Series Beer Pong Champion.  Lucy J. take note!!!!

Glenda and Nick the World Champion Beer Pong Player!!

  • Let’s not forget laundry day at the hotel using the bathtub.

Washerwoman

Jersey Junction

Nick, Beer Pong Champ, will be competing for the East Coast Beer Pong Title in–guess where??  East Hanover, NJ at Miami Mike’s Sportszone on Route 10, 11/2-11/4.  This will be big!  Check it out sports fans!!  Go Nick from St. Louis.  Best wishes to Nick and his doubles partner!

Theme of the Day: Winning and losing

Up next: Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

Day 27: Thursday, October 11 – Vegas to Bryce Canyon, UT

  • It only rains 9 days a year in Las Vegas and today was one of those days.  Not just a few drops but buckets.  That meant flash flooding and rivers of one-foot water flowing through the streets.  As intrepid travelers we still made it to the Jiffy Lube for and oil change and fluid check.  Given the all clear we headed out.
  • Enroute to Bryce we encountered some massive stone mountains and were stunned by the dramatic colors of Red Rock Canyon in Dixie National Forest just before the entrance to Bryce.

Massive mountain

  • Once in Bryce we took in the NPS film, got a stamp (natch) and the lay of the land.  It might snow tomorrow which could make our hiking interesting.

Jersey Junction

None today.  Too much time in the car.

Theme of the Day: Rain, rain go away.

Up next: Explore Bryce

Day 28: Friday, Oct 12 – Bryce Canyon National Park

  • Let’s explore Bryce Canyon! We chose 2 hikes to try today to see the famous hoodoos (those fanciful red and orange spires you see in a lot of commercials). The first hike was 2.5 miles, down into the canyon and back. It was raining when we started, cleared a bit on the down path into the canyon, and snowed as we came back up. Still, pretty cold through it all. The hoodoos look like Magic Crystals; fantasy villages made of red-orange-pink sand drip castles.

Snow!

Cairn-land

Whose body part with our cairn???

  • The afternoon hike was along the rim of the canyon, way up to Inspiration Point, about 2 miles. The weather for this hike was clear and cold. All told, we took 177 pictures. Here they are, scroll away 🙂

Bryce Ampitheatre

We named this the Bryce Acropolis

Sue and the hoodoos

Sue with 2 bridges

Jersey Junction
Sue went to get coffee at the little breakfast shop and chatted up the girl behind the counter. Originally from Ohio, she spent 3 years at Northeastern U for nursing and left to become an organic farm worker (WOOFER). She is now working at Bryce – soon to go to Yellowstone –
and then she hopes to go to culinary school. But guess where her father’s parents are from? Toms River, NJ – a place she loves. She even said, “People should not judge New Jersey from TV”. We agree!
Theme of the Day
Fantasyland
Up Next
Grand Canyon

Day 29: Saturday, Oct 13 – Bryce Canyon, UT to Grand Canyon, AZ

  • Just in case you think everything has been going so smoothly, we would like to revisit the lost (temporarily) and found issues we were having about 2 weeks ago.  Here is a list of things we have lost (temporarily) and happily recovered again.  (The last few days have been particularly challenging on this front) : Glenda’s flashlight; Glenda’s cell phone; Glenda’s head lamp (yes she has one, hikers!!); Sue’s camera charger; Sue’s camera card reader; Glenda’s purse; Sue’s reading glasses; Glenda’s sunglasses.

Glenda modeling her head lamp (thanks, Di!)

  • Up early this morning we thought we would catch the sunrise but Bryce was cloudy and snowy so no good sunrise to be seen.  We headed south to the Grand Canyon.  En route we changed our original plan and thought we would go to the North Rim first and then on to the South Rim where we had hotel reservations.  The only problem was we didn’t know the time zone changed from Mountain time in Utah to Pacific time in Arizona.  Add to that our general map issues and so our estimated 4.5 hour trip became more like 6-7 driving hours.  Oh well.

Dark clouds on the horizon…

What else do you need???

  • At the North Rim we walked a short distance to Bright Angel Point for spectacular views.  Sue has never been to the Grand Canyon..it’s HUGE!

North Rim

Also the North Rim

  • Now onto the South Rim which seemed like just  few short miles away….210 actually.  We were now in Navajo Nation and stopped at a few roadside Navajo crafts/jewelry stands.  We each found something to buy.

Tiffany’s west?

Vermillion Cliffs from the car

  • Finally we made it along the South Rim for more spectacular canyon views and even caught the sun setting against some of the canyon walls.

Watchtower at Desert View – South Rim

Sue inside the Watchtower

South Rim

  • We were not able to get a hotel in the Park so we are  in a motel- a real throwback and full of Japanese tourists.  The dinner menu reminded us both of some of our local childhood diners or family restaurants with fruit cup,  minute steak etc.  Here is Glenda’s spaghetti dinner:

    Toast and a radish accompanied the pasta!

Jersey Junction
Two Today:
Our ranger at the North Rim, Jacob, asked us where we were from and, yes, he is from South
Jersey–Cherry Hill area. He was a history teacher but gave that up to become a ark ranger 4 years ago.  He lives here in the Park from April until closing in October and then heads to Pittsburgh where he works as a tutor.

Jacob, Park Ranger, and Sue

At a roadside Navajo Vendor/viewpoint we ran into a young woman wearing a Drew Softball t-shirt. Yes, she is the assistant softball coach at Drew University in Madison, just down the road from Sue (shout out to Carol and Andrea..Go Rangers!!).  She is on vacation after their Fall ball practice and before the season starts in the Spring.  She is from North Plainfield.  We Jersey people get around!

Theme of the Day: Big Rocks

Up next: Monument Valley, Utah

p.s.  We just realized that over the last 5 days we have been in temperatures ranging from 103 (Death Valley) to 33 (Bryce).  Thus the BIG suitcases!!

 

Day 30: Sunday, October 14 – Grand Canyon, AZ to Monument Valley, UT

 

  • Another visit to the Grand Canyon South Rim this morning.  We walked along the rim and got 2, count them, 2 National Park stamps here.  Glenda was ecstatic.  Yay!!  We spotted our first wildlife evidence in the canyon and we shopped.  A double great morning!!

Morning at the South Rim

Wildlife at the Canyon: Turkey Vulture?

  • Next on our way to Monument Valley and The View Hotel in the Navajo Nation.  We weren’t sure what to expect as we traveled again through the middle of nowhere.  We noticed in the Navajo Nation that there were many octagonal/round buildings/huts mixed into the communities with houses and trailers.  Glenda researched in the passenger seat and discovered that these are called hogans — Navajo homes — round to represent Father Sun, Mother Earth, Sister Moon and the circle of life (brothers Rand, Pete and Steve take notice, bros don’t count…sorry).  Some of the hogans were also sweat lodges for meditative/ceremonial purposes. Some look like round garages, made of wood like some kind of garage or shed next to the house.  Maybe the grandparents live there?  Here are pictures of the mud hogan the ceremonial/sweat lodge type.  Pictures of your regular old hogans to come.

Mud-type hogan en route to Monument Valley

Sue inside a sample hogan

 

  • Monument Valley is _________ (insert your own superlative here).  This was the scene, apparently, of many old westerns featuring John Wayne etc.  As a matter of fact, our hotel is showing one of those old westerns on the side of the building right now.  We arrived just in time for the sunset, perfect time for shooting pics.

Monument Valley at Sunset

 

  • A note about our fellow travelers.  We have seen, of course, many Americans along the way.  But for the non-American tourists, we have seen the following:   Niagara Falls – East Indians; Yellowstone – Chinese; Death Valley – French; Swedish bikers; Grand Canyon and Monument Valley – Japanese; Germans everywhere as well as our fellow AARP members. HA!!

Jersey Junction

Elba helped us shopping at the Hopi House on the South Rim.  She is Puerto Rican, originally from Spanish Harlem Manhattan.  And although she has lived out west here in Arizona and California for a long time, she is still a New Yorker at heart and….her cousins are in South Brunswick, NJ (close enough).  Thanks Elba!!

Theme of the Day: Giddeeyup!

Up Next: Moab, UT  Arches National Park