Great American Road Trip 2018 23rd September – 14th October
2,300-mile circle around SW, mainly the Colorado Plateau
Day 1
Las Vegas, Nevada
Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas
Watched fountain display, took pictures of The Paris. Taxi to Venetian for evening meal, then taxi to Fremont Street.
Hot (370C). Early night!
Day 2
Williams, Arizona
Grand Canyon Railway & Hotel
Hit the road! Unfortunately missed Hoover Dam due to new road layout. H93 to Kingman then H66 to Seligman – the old Route 66, tiny places, quaint diners, open road, no traffic – on Interstate 40 to Williams (not much traffic anywhere actually!). Higher elevation, 7,500ft, temp mid/high 70s but cool evenings.
Day 3
Williams
Grand Canyon Railway – good fun, musician came through coaches, commentary from tour guide, ‘hold up’ by outlaws on return journey.
Arrived at Grand Canyon Village near El Tovar Hotel few minutes to the rim …….. no words to describe first view of GC!
Vast, pictures can’t do it justice. Gazed, strolled along Rim Trail as far as Kolb Studio. Saw beautiful blue Pinion Jays?, turkey vultures, ravens.
Day 4
Williams
Mooch around Williams, pleasant small town, R66 memorabilia. Drive to Canyon then to Desert View Watchtower.
Fabulous views, lots of viewpoints. Ate at Cruisers Diner – full of car memorabilia
Day 5
Williams
Drove to GC Village visitor centre, took shuttle bus to Hermits Rest. Stopped at The Abyss, Hermits Rest and Pima Point.
Saw tiny lizard and Pygmy Nuthatch.
Day 6
Sedona
Best Western Plus Arroyo Roble Hotel
Along H40 to Flagstaff. Large modern town with small historic downtown district. Hot.
A few interesting buildings, an hour or so plenty. Riordan Mansion 1904 Arts and Crafts large wooden house. Very interesting tour.
H89A to Sedona – Oak Creek Canyon spectacular hair pin bends on one stretch. View from balcony of famous red rocks.
Day 7
Sedona
Drove to Jerome, old mining town, twisting road, on top of hill.
Great views back to Sedona and mountains. Quaint 1900s buildings with verandas. Quite busy.
On to Fort Verde, very interesting built 1865 during Indian wars, costumed guides.
Returned to Sedona via H179 – fabulous view of red rock formations.
Day 8
Holbrook
Best Western Arizonian Inn
Back to Flagstaff via Oak Creek Canyon, then East on Int 40 to Holbrook.
Meteor Crater amazing, on huge open plain, great visitor centre.
Winslow Arizona, very quiet small town, “Stood on the Corner” (The Eagles), not much else, a few shops and cafes.
Holbrook – nondescript town, very wide roads, low rise buildings, motels, diners etc.
Day 9
Holbrook
Rainy start but picked up. Drove through Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Parks.
Fossilised logs amazing colours, pity weather was dull as colours of PD would have been even more spectacular. Amazing views, could see for miles.
Day 10
Monument Valley
The View Hotel
Drove to Monument Valley along H191 – interesting tour of Hubbell trading post.
H59, quiet back road with fabulous views to Kayenta. Moody, low cloud and rain near Monument Valley.
Wonderful moonlit night with mist in the valley floor (3am?).
Day 11
Monument Valley
Fabulous sunrise from balcony (picture above).
Beautiful day again in 70s. Drove to Navaho National Monument along H160, great views of rock formations.
Interesting cliff dwellings, Tsegi Canyon a bit like early stage of Grand Canyon. Dinosaur print in rock.
Sunset from balcony wonderful.
Day 12
Durango
Best Western Plus Rio Grande Inn
To Durango via Bluff. Fabulous views of Monument Valley from H163, beautiful day.
Saw Mexican Hat rock before Bluff – it’s rather small!
Changing scenery, huge vistas, canyons forming. H162 to Four Corners Monument, in the middle of nowhere – set a foot in New Mexico.
Ship rock visible for miles across huge flat plains. H160 to Durango.
San Juan river valley beautiful scenery, farming, trees, hills, green. Huge Mesas in distance
Day 13
Durango
Durango-Silverton Steam Railway.
Great views, spectacular journey. Heritage coaches. Costumed narrator gave commentary both ways.
Possibly better to get coach back as train very slow and road would give different perspective on the views.
Day 14
Durango
Watched Cowboy Parade in Durango.
Drove to Mesa Verde. Spectacular road to top of Mesa, great views.
Cliff dwellings easy to see, large, well preserved. Good visitor centre.
Day 15
Moab
Best Western Plus Greenwell Inn
Drove to Moab.
Great view of Wilson Arch and Church Rock from H191 despite rain on/off. Moab OK. Wide road, motels, plenty diners, restaurants, shops.
Day 16
Moab
Arches National Park.
Began rainy but ended sunny. Great views.
As far as Windows loop only, delicate arch loop closed due to recent heavy rain.
Drove along H128, very scenic by Colorado River, huge red cliffs, again like mini grand Canyon.
Red cliffs Adventure Lodge in spectacular setting, movie museum lots of memorabilia about films made in the area (mainly featuring John Wayne).
Day 17
Torrey
Broken Spur Inn & Steakhouse
Drove to Torrey via Dead Horse Point State Park. Amazing views, like Grand Canyon but could see further.
Along H24 through Capitol Reef National Park, interesting rock formations.
Torrey pretty little place, tree lined street, old schoolhouse, good visitor centre. Great views from Broken Spur hotel, HUGE steaks for dinner.
Day 18
Bryce
The Lodge At Bryce Canyon
Along Scenic H12 to Bryce.
Spectacular scenery – one of most scenic in the world? – glorious weather but cold, snow on Boulder Mountain stretch, great views.
The Hogsback stretch along a narrow ridge, fantastic. Bryce amazing – wonderful rock formations, views to mountains in distance.
Views of coloured cliffs of Escalante Staircase.
Dark evening skies, fabulous stars to be seen including The Milky Way.
Day 19
Bryce
Rainy, so late breakfast.
Ranger walk along rim interesting on theme of change in the canyon, low cloud coming/going made interesting views.
Drove to visitor centre, film on geology. Shuttle bus to Bryce point and back.
Walked to rim for sunset. Back to rim after dinner to see stars – we both saw a Shooting Star (wonderful, especially as it was Pats birthday).
Day 20
St George
Aiden By Best Western, St. George
Saw the sunrise – VERY COLD, well below freezing, but fabulous. Sunny with wisps of low cloud after breakfast, made nice pictures.
Drove to St George via Cedar City – interesting Frontier Homestead Museum with pioneer buildings moved to the site.
St George lovely town, very wide roads, interesting sculptures on streets, some 1900s buildings, lots of nice shops and restaurants.
Day 21
St George
Explored St George. Tour of Tabernacle interesting, learned a lot about Mormons and role in development of West.
Beautiful Mormon temple (from outside only). Brigham Young winter home tour.
Short Drive to Santa Clara to Jacob Hamblin Home, important in making peace with native people.
Town green but desert all around.
Day 22
Las Vegas
Drive to Las Vegas for flight home - 126 miles, about 2 hours, on Interstate 15.
Surprisingly spectacular in parts through Virgin River gorge.
