A Road Trip to Arizona (Day 6) Back home to California

We left nearly in the morning on our way home. We stopped by the London Bridge to take some pictures.

                                                           Donated by the City of London

 A very sunny day

                                                           Lulu wanted her own picture too

We drove along the Colorado River for a while, it's about 280 miles to our home in California. We chose the desert route, going through Parker, where we stopped to get some jerky.

It was a long drive through the empty desert roads to Twenty Nine Palms, home of a large US Marine Base and Gateway to Joshua Tree National Park. On to Yucca Valley and Morongo Valley, with nice views of Mt San Jacinto and San Gorgonio Mountain. We passed the Morongo Reservation and the Morongo Casino. And then,we hit the California traffic!

Moreno Valley, Riverside, Ontario....

...and finally we were home!

It was an amazing trip

Thanks again Lizzie for everything 💗

Thanks also to Lulu for being such a nice traveling companion

A Road Trip to Arizona (day 5)

 

                                                    The last view of Sedona, from the house

We were getting ready to leave, on our way to Flagstaff, Oatman, and Lake Havasu. After packing, we took a few moments to  rest and say goodbye to amazing Sedona

                                                            Bird cage tree in the backyard

                                                                     Bye bye house

                          We took a scenic road to Flagstaff, about 30 miles north of Sedona. 

It was beautiful

We stopped for lunch at the Wild Flower Bread Company in Flagstaff, and drove on Hwy 40 on our way to Oatman, about 180 miles. There was nothing much to see other than desert, sometimes we went on Route 66 which is parallel to Hwy 40 

                           I had been in Oatman, an old mining town, many years ago with Marvin

Marvin in Oatman

The drive to Oatman had a lot of curves and precipices, we crossed a few mountains, the Sitgreaves pass, and a big Quartzite mine.

Oatman's claim to fame are the famous Oatman wild donkeys that roam the streets.

The Durlin Hotel and Saloon is famous because Clark Gable and Carole Lombard stopped at the hotel for their honeymoon after their 1939 wedding in Kingman.  

The walls and the ceiling of the Saloon are covered with dollar bills. 

It is also said that there's ghosts and friendly spirits in the building.

                       From Oatman, we drove 55 miles thru the desert to Lake Havasu, in the Colorado river

                                                         London Bridge at Lake Havasu

We had a tasty meal at Burgers by the Bridge

It was a long day and we were tired,

tomorrow we'll drive back home to California

Good Night!!!

A Road Trip to Arizona (Day 4)

Mother's Day with Lizzie (missed you Sandy)

Sunday, May 12, was Mother's Day. 

We drove on 89A to the Red Rock Park area in the morning . A beautiful drive.

Cathedral Rock

Lizzie made a reservation at one of the best Restaurants in Sedona, The Hudson, for lunch.  It has a wonderful view of some great rock formations. We decided to sit inside next to the outdoor patio. Our waiter came and went? and we waited until a different, nicer waiter came to take our order, he apologized for the first waiter disappearance. I opted for one of the house specialties, chicken pot pie, it was huge, and it was the best  I'd ever eaten. Lizzie had the Croque Monsieur, it was good but not enough bechamel, but a lot of ham!  Our waiter brought us dessert, with his compliments, because of the delay in the service.

I could only eat half of it. It was delicious!!!
 

After lunch, we drove to Oak Creek Village. It was a very nice, scenic drive. We took pictures of the Bell Rock and Courthouse Rock. We really enjoyed it.

Courthouse Rock

Bell Rock

Courthouse Rock

After the drive,  we went to the house to check how Lulu was doing and to rest for a while.

Lots of quails in the neighborhood.

In the evening, we (and Lulu) drove to the airport, because we heard it was the best place to see the sunset. It was a short drive and we found a good parking spot.

WONDERFUL

We went back home and had charcuterie and beer, I also warmed up the rest of the chicken pie :)

It was our last night in beautiful Sedona. 

I had a wonderful time.

Thanks Lizzie for everything.

A Road Trip to Arizona (day 3)

 

On Saturday, May 11, we took a tour of Sedona. We chose the early one at 9:30 AM and we were the only passengers in the tour van,  we had our driver guide Mike, all to ourselves.

Mike was very knowledgeable about all things Sedona. We really enjoyed the tour and the stories he told. We toured part of the Red Rock Country, visited Tlaquepaque, and stopped at the Holy Cross Church

The Chapel was completed in 1956

If you step on the footprints at the front of the 9 ft Holy Cross, look up and you will see Jesus gazing directly at you

Photo taken by Mike, our guide

Looking at a rock formation near the chapel, Lizzie thought she saw the face of Jesus. I looked at it and saw it as well. It's hard to see in the picture, but you can see the eyes, beard, and hair clearly. Our guide was very impressed and will make it a part of his stories when he takes people on tour. I

                                                                        It was impacting.

                                      Our last stop was the magnificent view from the airport. 

                        Here is the statue of Sedona Miller Schnebly,  the namesake of the town. 

After the tour, we stopped at The Cowboy Club

The Cowboy Club (Formerly the Oak Creek Tavern) has been the social center of Sedona for over seventy years. The tavern originally opened in 1946 serving as the meeting place, pool hall, saloon and grocery store to locals and tourists alike. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, over fifty western movies were filmed in the area. When the day’s shooting was done, the wood walls echoed with the talk and laughter of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Legends like John Wayne, James Stewart, Donna Reed, Robert Mitchum, Burt Lancaster, Rock Hudson, Glen Ford and Joan Crawford were known to enjoy the warm fire and welcoming atmosphere. Even Elvis was said to frequent the tavern while filming 1968’s Stay Away Joe.

Happy Hour with a delicious prickly pear Margarita

We also had cast iron cornbread with honey chipotle butter, yum!

             After, we drove the loop of Thunder Mountain Road, went home and napped. 

                                                   

 Later we had dinner at Rascals.

It was a full day, with awesome sights and experiences.