Cool. When you go through Arizona, pencil in a day to take 89A* from Flagstaff, AZ to Prescott, AZ. No matter what you see and do on your trip, that short stretch of road will be what you rave to your friends and family about for years to come. If it’s getting dark when you get down into the valley, spend the night in Sedona or Cottonwood, so that you can have your breath taken away when you get up and it’s light again. Do not take any part of that trip at nighttime.
Note: 89A (as in Alternate) not Hwy. 89, which is totally boring.
We’re going to be spending about a month in the SW, exploring New Mexico, Utah and AZ. The photography opportunities are just too enticing to pass up. I’ll note 89A as a ‘must do’.
Swinging by New York sometime? We should show you a time in the Big Apple. Or the suburbs thereof, if you fancy that. Some good music, some good barbeque, maybe.
In more Alaska-related stuff, I wanted to ask about a Palin-lie. The whole ‘Aw, the villages have enough fish’ ‘we only got five fish and we need fifty, bitch.’ thing. Is that as seriously screwed up as it sounds? Are these people going to starve this winter?
Yay! Being from Alaska, you’re used to spectacular scenery, so it’s hard to think of anywhere in the Lower that would impress you, but there are so many different types of scenery on that short stretch of road that in itself is breathtaking. It’s only about 80 miles long, but it’s got forests and canyons and mountains and deserts and huge red rocks and copper mining towns built precariously on the sides of mountains and so much more.
When you travel through New Mexico, check out Carlsbad Caverns. It’s totally touristy but for good reasons. Also, if you spend time in Albuquerque, take an evening and travel to the west side rim (Albuquerque is in a bowl, so if you’re traveling east to west, you go down into the bowl, travel across the city, then up to the west rim of the bowl). Do this at night. Take the first exit once you get to the top, take a left, pass over the interstate and then find a good place to pull over and get out, to look back down at the city. At night, it looks like sparkling jewels spread over black velvet. Something abut the atmosphere makes it special. Lots of cities look spectacular at night, but only one city looks like Albuquerque at night: Albuquerque. It’s really boring during the day though, and doesn’t have the same effect from the east side of the bowl at night. It’s a nice city, it’s not that boring, I’m just talking about the view.
Chefguy, admit that you are sick of scenery and settle in Chicago. We have all the political scandals of Alaska but a climate that is only somewhat worse that Juneau’s.
You guys also seem to have produced at least one politician in recent years who seems to have avoided scandals of either a corruption or sexual nature; he’s sitting in the White House for the moment.
ETA: Admittedly, he’s not quite as pretty as Sarah Palin. But, unlike her, he doesn’t induce any urge to vomit in me, which I find a plus…
For example, today’s high (on July 8th, mind you) was about 65 degrees, with overcast skies and occasional rain. Of course, it will be 95 and humid by Friday.
In the Four Corners area, just east of Bluff, UT is a rickety wooden suspension bridge across the San Juan river. On the other side, although you have to take a big detour around some Navajo land, is a beautifully preserved Anasazi cliff dwelling.
To the west of Bluff, if you have a strong stomach, especially since you are driving a camper, take US 261 north towards Natural Bridges National Monument and experience the 1100 foot rise in three miles of the Moki Dugway.
Well, you’re on the right track, but not quite. I’m thinking of other creatures who live in the sea. Creatures who provide abundant fishing to villages such as, oh, Innsmouth, who provide them with human sacrifices. And when they git ready, I say, when they git ready… ever hear tell of a shoggoth?
It all fits! Shoggoths were engineered by the Elder Things in Antarctica, so they’d fit in perfectly at the other pole. Sarah Palin always talks about how she and her family are fisher folk. And her husband Todd is of Eskimo ancestry… or should that be Esquimaux? Like, maybe, that tribe from Greenland who once had an idol of Cthulhu?
And, oh yeah, Todd! We haven’t forgotten what your ancestors did to the land of Lomar! Sure, that was back during the last precession of the Pole Star, but Lomar is remembered!
I didn’t mean for this to hijack into National Lampoon’s Cheffie’s Vacation, so I’ll answer some comments and turn it back over to the Sarah bashing, which is much more fun.
E-Sabbath: We’ll be spending a bit of time in Buffalo, where the Ms. is from. She lived in NYC for a few years while going to college, and we’ve visited there together a few years ago. We’ll be heading up into New England in the fall, however.
Equipoise: I’ve been fascinated by the slot canyons and light conditions in the SW for years, ever since I saw a photo shoot of the area. It’s hard to beat the dramatic scenery in that neck o’ the woods, particularly for someone who’s a fan of B&W photography.
dropzone: Ain’t happenin’.
Lamar Mundane: Rickety bridges spanning a sure-death drop is really not my thing. Neither are abrupt cliff edges or high bridges. I can grit my teeth over most of them, but I have a fear of heights that keeps me from doing some things. I’d have to take a closer look at the place, but the Anasazi dwelling is certainly a very big lure.
I don’t know how this thread turned into “travel tips for Chefguy”, but I’ll make one more post and that’s it. The ruin near Bluff is one of the most accessible ruins in the area - most are down at the bottom of some seriously inaccessible canyons. It is worth the visit if you are near, and you probably will be as there aren’t a whole lot of towns in that part of the country.
The bridge is seriously rickety, though, unless they’ve improved it.
The spot on the north end of the bridge is the site of a murder of a UT state patrolman by a wanted fugitive which was used as the basis of a Tony Hillerman novel, Hunting Badger.
