When we left Judy and Norman's place in Las Vegas, we drove down to Hoover Dam. It is in the Lake Mead Recreation Area. There is a lot of construction going on at the dam to put another bridge over the water for trucks, so they do not go over the dam. Hoover Dam connects Nevada and Arizona.
From Hoover Dam, we drove across Arizona to just west of Flagstaff, and then north into the Grand Canyon National Park. We got to the Grand Canyon just before sunset. Jack had been here in the spring of 1981, but Kippi had not seen the Canyon before. The sunset was beautiful.
We stayed at one of the lodges at the canyon - Maswick Lodge. The next morning we got up early to catch the sunrise over the canyon. The buildings in the picture below that look far away were on the floor of the Grand Canyon. The Bright Angel Trail goes down to these buildings. The buildings are part of Phantom Ranch.
We walked for a half hour down into the Grand Canyon on the Bright Angel Trail. Wow - what an experience that was. Several groups of burros passed us coming back up. That is a hike that we hope to take some day, all the way down to the river and back up again.
This
is the museum part of the Bright Angel Lodge.
After leaving the south rim of the Grand Canyon, we drove east for a short ways to Cameron, AZ, where we spent the night at a Trading Post.
We ate breakfast at the Trading Post, and then hit the road.
There is much poverty in this part of Arizona.
We drove down from Cameron to Flagstaff, and stopped at the Walnut Canyon National Monument just to the east of Flagstaff. We spent several hours here hiking down to see the ruins of the Indian dwellings in the cliffs of the canyon.
After Walnut Canyon, we drove east on I-40. We stopped briefly at the Petrified Forest, but decided not to spend the time seeing it. We went through Window Rock, NM where the headquarters of the Navajo Nation is located. The huge Navajo Reservation had its own time that was different than the rest of Arizona (which does not do Daylight Savings Time).
We went as far as Gallup, NM where we spent the night in an Econo Lodge hotel.
From Gallup, we drove east on I-40 through Albuquerque. Unfortunately, we then had to go through part of Texas. ☺ They advertised a Visitor Center on I-40, but it was 75 miles into the state in Amarillo! I don't think Texas quite gets the idea of a Visitor Center! We spent the night in a hotel in Amarillo. There's not much to see in Texas, that's for sure!
Only in Texas...
Supposedly this is the world's biggest cross.
From Amarillo, we headed east on I-40 into Oklahoma. As soon as we drove into Oklahoma on I-40, the grass was green. Texas: no grass. Oklahoma: green grass. Weird! But it felt like we were finally getting back to the eastern side of the US.
We stopped in Oklahoma City to see the Oklahoma City National Memorial. It was quite moving, particularly the Children's Area.
This statue is across the street from the Memorial. The church beside the statue
was damaged in the blast. The inscription at the bottom of this statue says "And
Jesus Wept".
Souvenirs left by people on the fence outside the Memorial.
At opposite ends of the Memorial, 9:01 represents the world before the bomb, and
9:03 represents the world after the bombing and how everything changed.
The 168 chairs represent the 168 people that were killed by the bombing. The
smaller chairs are for the 14 children that were killed.
The inscription offers gratitude to all near and far who responded to the call
for help.
Some of the tiles that children drew to offer comfort to those in Oklahoma City. There was not a dry eye in the whole place.
We stayed in a bed and breakfast in Guthrie, OK on the night of one of the debates. We ate at the quickest place in town (ice cream) so we could see the beginning of the debate.
After leaving Guthrie, we got back on I-40 eventually and drove east to Little Rock, Arkansas. Our friend Lee lives there; we met Lee in Minneapolis in 2000. We spent several days there with her, visiting her company and the Arkansas State Fair.
Little Rock
Central High School, a National Historic Site. This is the school where the
"Little Rock Nine" attended school.
The Arkansas State Fair. There couldn't have been more than 200 people at the
fair that day.
Lee and Kippi at the Fair.
Guess who won this competition? Yep, the girl in the pink shirt, who was many years
younger than the other competitors!
No, we didn't try this one.
Grooming time before going in the auditorium.
From Little Rock, we drove south to the northeastern corner of Louisiana. We got onto I-20 here and drove east over the Mississippi River into Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Piles of cotton bales.
Cypress tree.
We didn't stay here long...
It would have been a nice picture of the Mississippi River without the casino!
We drove through the Vicksburg National Military Park. 17,000 graves of unknown soldiers.
We stayed at a Comfort Inn in Jackson, MS.
From Jackson, we drove on some back roads of Mississippi, always fearing those sheriffs that pull you over for any infraction whatsoever, real or imagined. We drove to Birmingham to Jack's brother's home outside of Birmingham. We stayed there for several days, mostly working on Jack's nephew's new house.
Jackson
is the state capital of Mississippi.
Greyhound
station in Jackson.
Governor's
mansion in Jackson.
Cool!
We stopped in at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum.
We traveled along part of the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi.
Is
it a bird, is it a plane, ??? Nope, it's a huge casino! Yuck!
Kevin Stansbury's new home. We helped Jack's brother, Bob, and his wife, Char, to get Kevin's new home ready for him to move in.
Bob and Jack getting rocks out of the levee behind Kevin's house.
Brianna and Joseph Miller's home, and their dog General. They are University of Alabama fans.
Bob
and Char's home in Pleasant Grove, AL.
From Birmingham, we drove east on I-20 to Atlanta, and then northeast on I-85. This took us through Charlotte, NC to Concord, home of Sarah, Ben, Christopher, and Alyssa.
Et-lanta,
GA
Welcome to South Carolina!
The
Georgia Peach (in South Carolina)
Into
North Carolina...
Alyssa's
soccer game (and the game after the game).
Christopher
is captain of his soccer team. His dad, Ben, is the official team pacer.
Christopher's 11th Birthday Party.
Getting
ready to leave Concord for home.
Left Concord on the 18th of October. We will be home today!!!!!
Wow - we can't believe it - home at last!!!
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All pictures Copyright © 2004, Jack Stansbury