Good Thing We're Not on The Amazing Race!

It took us an HOUR to get out of Prescott, AZ, this morning! All because we misunderstood a detour sign! It wasn't meant for the direction we were going but we drove round and round and round trying to find a way around what we thought was the detour!  Sigh . . .

We were barely out of that when Andrew asked me if I was up for listening to more of our Spanish language tapes. Ah, let me think . . . NO!!!

Despite this extremely minor setback, the trip has been great thus far with some absolutely amazing views and locations that we definitely have to come back and explore further.

We drove through Yellowstone National Park and went for a short hike while waiting to see Old Faithful erupt. It's been about 20 years since the last time we were there.

Old Faithful faithfully erupts.

Grand Teton looked soooo high . . . we summited it . . . also many years ago.

This was the first time I'd been through Flaming Gorge. Unfortunately the views were not the best due to hazy skies caused by forest fires and the salmon weren't running like they were when Andrew had previously been thru a couple years ago at this time of year.

Flaming Gorge

Monument Valley

I would highly recommend the drive from Flagstaff, through Sedona, to Prescott on Highway 89A and then Iron Spring Road through the Prescott National Forest. Very scenic, windy steep mountain roads. The town of Jerome was especially interesting as it has one road through it, many switchbacks, and all the buildings are built into the mountainside. It's an old mining town but now appears to have lots of artsy/tourist shops, a couple wineries and a few nice places to stay. In some ways (the one road and hillside buildings) reminded me of Zhangmu (on the Nepal/Tibet border) only much, much nicer!

Cactus at campsite in Prescott, AZ

Sand dunes near Brawley, CA

We're now in El Centro, CA, and it's 42 degrees Celsius. Hopefully we get used to the heat again.  Tomorrow we cross the border into Mexico. Hope all goes well!

Here's Andrew's blog post with much better photos.