Well... before Flagstaff can be our first stop, we have to get there.
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| Main street of Castroville - Artichoke Capital of the World |
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| Complete with the Giant Articoke restaurant |
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| Next through the Salinas Valley - the Nation's Salad Bowl |
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| Then down HWY 101 |
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Across HWY 46 passing the tortured hills of
the San Andreas Fault |
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| by the oil fields of the Lost Hills, before briefly joining I-5 |
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| then up the steep incline of the Tahachapi Pass |
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The trusty Droid navigation system guides us to
Brite Lake County Park, which is set in a lovely hollow somewhat protected from the high winds howling over the pass (the winds still woke us up in the middle of the night). It's a great little campground and we're happy to be out in "the nature" again.
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| Fun wood carvings dot the campground |
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| Our home for the night |
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| Uh oh - Peter maybe we should stop here |
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The morning is sparkling and the lake is beautiful, but the winds have started to come up again it's time to move on.
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| Brite Lake near Tahachapi, CA |
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Tahachapi Pass is bristling with windmills and with the steady winds through this pass, it's easy to see why.
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| A Doctor Seuss's stitch of windmills |
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We cross over the Colorado River, just pass Needles into Arizona. A word to the wise, do not try to buy fuel in Needles, where they charge 50-60 cents a gallon more than Barstow to the west or Kingman to the east.
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| Bridge over the Colorado River |
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| Welcome to the Republic of Arizona |
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| Ahhh - now I see how Needles got it's name |
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The old HWY 66 follows closely along I-40 as we head east. We can often see the old road alongside as well as some of the strange roadside attractions vying for tourists' dollars (and bored kids' attention).
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| HWY 66 as it passes through desert |
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| Another Roadside Attraction |
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| An understatement - winds are blowing like a banshee |
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We laugh at all the "Grand Canyon" signs every 20 or 30 miles. They were probably put up to keep the "are we there yet?" kids in family cars somewhat pacified for the long drive.
As it's getting late into the afternoon and Peter is tired from driving through the high winds, we stop at the
Woody Mountain Campground, just west of Flagstaff on old HWY 66. The managers feed the local
Albert's squirrels which are quite large and very tame. I love their big ears and miss our puppies with their large ears. After running some errands - including a trip to Camping World - we spend the afternoon at the
Museum of Northern Arizona to reacquaint ourselves with the cultures, past and present, of the region.
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| Our campsite |
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| A past resident of the area greets us as we enter |
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I especially like the section on pottery.
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Wow - the local tribes traded for Macaw parrots
from Central America |
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| Ohhh - can I take this one home? |
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| Patti - here's one for you. Frogs are considered to be good luck as they are the sign of water. |
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We are intrigued by a large three piece mural covering the history of native cultures...
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| from creation |
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| through establishing communities and farming |
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to industrialization, and the modern age.
Notice the WWW on a computer screen? |
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