And
of course that would be the Grand Canyon.
Truly, there are not enough superlatives to describe this place. On our way into the National Park we stopped
at the Watch Tower for our first glimpse of the canyon. All the other canyons we’ve visited, while
spectacular in their own right, pale in comparison to this one. Wow!
What a place. For a start it’s
huge, it’s deep and it is definitely Grand.
We indulged and partook of a helicopter ride. Leaving the heliport at Tusayan we flew a
mere few hundred feet above the trees (looked like 10 feet) to give us a
dramatic entry over the canyon. This was
enhanced by the theme music to 2001: A Space Odyssey playing in the background.
 |
| Big kids having fun at Bedrock City |
 |
| Until this dude comes along and spoils all our fun |
Spent
a bit of time on Route 66 – Arizona has the longest unbroken stretch of the
original highway so how could we not drive along it – always nice to get off
the Interstate. Stopped in the small
town of Seligman that is unashamed in its exploitation of the Mother Road. We don’t mind it either. Picked up some nice gear then headed a bit
further down the road to yet another store specialising in Route 66
memorabilia, this one in the even tinier town of Hackberry. After that I banned myself from using my
credit card for the rest of the day.
 |
| The Mother Road reigns supreme in Seligman |
 |
| We'll be waiting a while for gas here - they haven't sold any at the general store in Hackberry since 1964 |
 |
| Love the license plate |
Took
an interesting shortcut south to the campground we were staying at east of
Kingman. We usually avoid dirt roads
when we’re towing but not today. Not too
many corrugations or potholes and thankfully it hasn’t been raining or else we
would have had to turn back (would we have made it past the Hackberry General
Store without stopping again … I think not).
 |
| Why oh why do we do this to ourselves |
Our
first day trip out of Kingman was to drive over the London Bridge at Lake
Havasu City. Yep, the London
Bridge. It was dismantled in London in
1967, shipped to America and rebuilt in Arizona. Some were disappointed that it wasn’t Tower
Bridge that came over but it does have London Bridge inscribed on it. We drove over it a couple of times just for
good measure.
 |
| London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down ... |
 |
| If it wasn't for the sign you'd never know you were on the bridge from London |
Our
return journey to Kingman took us on the very scenic route to Oatman. Oatman is on Route 66 and bills itself as the
town that won’t die. With the number of
tourists in town the day we rocked up, its survival is assured for many a
year. When the mines shut down, the
burros that were used in the mines were set free. Their descendants still roam free in the
hills but drop down into town for food pretty much every day. There was a gunfight shortly after we arrived
– hard to tell which one was the bad guy and which was the good guy but
immaterial in the end as they shot each other and the drunk guy snuck in and
got the gold. Rather, he was meant to, he
missed his cue and one of the dead guys got up to thank everyone for coming. All good fun.
 |
| Well fed burros at Oatman |
 |
| Dollar Bill Bar where you can even buy Route 66 sodas |
 |
| The gunfight begins |
 |
| Both gunfighters dead, the drunk guy missed his opportunity to pinch the gold |
No comments:
Post a Comment