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Still Giving Kicks, that Old Route 66

by Brian on July 9, 2012 in Arizona, Travel, United States

Route 66 1931 Studebaker, Petrified Forest National Park, AZ

A 1931 Studebaker honors a section of old Route 66, Petrified Forest National Park, AZ

The automobile had so dramatically changed the American way of life that the country’s first paved highway became synonymous with opportunity, adventure and exploration. More than just a road, Route 66 became a part of American culture, spawning hit songs and even a television series.

Connecting Chicago with Los Angeles, the “Main Street of America,” as 66 was once known, served as a major artery for westward migration. Later, its path through Arizona’s Painted Desert and near Grand Canyon established it as a thoroughfare for vacationers. Without the benefit of today’s highway speeds a trip along its 2,448 miles, from the Heartland to the Coast, might have taken a week or more.

Route 66 has since been replaced with a more efficient interstate highway system. But many communities preserved portions of the route as scenic byways or to serve local traffic. In other places, the road is gone but tributes remain – like this 1931 Studebaker that pays homage to the section of road that traversed an area we know today as Petrified Forest National Park.

Petrified Forest National Park

by Brian on July 6, 2012 in Arizona, Travel, United States

Go for the Fossils. Stay for the Scenery.

Of all the places we’ve visited in our more than two years of continuous travel, Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park has to be the most under-sold. We arrived there expecting to see 225 million year old wood. What we found were some of the most magnificent badland vistas of our trip.

That’s not to say Petrified Forest doesn’t live up to its namesake, too. It does. The place is lousy with fossilized trees. And unlike other fossils, these aren’t impressions of once living creatures in stone. These once living organisms are stone.

Mission San Xavier del Bac

by Brian on July 2, 2012 in Arizona, Travel, United States

We rounded a corner and, at first, the gleaming white building looked to us like the Taj Mahal. An instant later we recognized the Moorish-inspired structure looming over a sea of green as Mission San Xavier del Bac.

A short drive from downtown Tucson, Arizona, San Xavier stands as one of the most impressive missions we’ve visited in our tour of the Southwest. Its seemingly spotless white façade is a distinct contrast to the more ancient look of the San Antonio Missions. And its ornate architecture sets it apart from the simpler structures we found on El Paso’s Mission Trail.

Another Grand Canyon First

by Brian on June 27, 2012 in Arizona, Travel, United States

How do we celebrate the four-year anniversary of our favorite trip ever; one that had us locked in to seven days of tent-camping and whitewater rafting when we’d never done either before? We revisit that destination with a new first-time experience.

And how do we follow up rafting through the entire 280 miles of the glorious Grand Canyon and rectify never seeing any of it from the rim? We view it from the air, of course.

That is how we found ourselves aboard a three-million dollar EC-130 helicopter, flying a mile over the Canyon floor on our very first helicopter ride.

Go Big or Go Home: Our Grand Canyon Rafting Adventure Continues

by Brian on June 25, 2012 in Arizona, Travel, United States

(This is the second part of a two-part series. Click the following link to read Part I of our Grand Canyon Rafting Adventure)

Bedding down in the Grand Canyon meant finding a spot along the surprisingly beach-like banks of the Colorado and pitching a tent; although our tent went mostly unused. After the first night, we found we preferred sleeping directly under the stars.

Without the overwhelming light pollution of our native Manhattan, the night sky lit up like a Christmas tree. Even though I was exhausted by sundown most days, I’d still spend a couple of hours each night watching satellites drift past billions of stars before drifting off to sleep.

Morning came with a rising sun that painted the canyon in hues of red light and bluish shadow. One of the things we found most rewarding about our trip was seeing how the canyon changed throughout the day and with each passing mile. From striated red sandstone cliffs illuminated by soft evening light to towering black schist shining beneath a mid-day glare, we didn’t just experience one Grand Canyon, but dozens. Every day and every hour offered something remarkable and new.