No time to catch up

I have no time to catch up with my posts after a couple of days with crappy Internet.

In short, from Bryce, I took the scenic UT12 route to Capital Reef National Park and lodged overnight in Torrey. The most scenic part of the route is between Escalante and Boulder.

Along the way, we stopped by Petrified Wood State Park.

We also took a little off-route drive down Burr Trail, which is paved for 31 miles. We drove 19 miles on this route and turned back. Again, at a certain point, you have some hairpin turns, steep water eroded cliffs, very beautiful.

Stopped at Burr Trail Grill at the junction of UT12 and Burr Trail. Had the local longhorn beef burger. Disappointing.

Capitol Reef is quite dramatic, with its red cliffs towering around you. But we had no time to really explore it. Just drove through it.

We then headed south toward Grand Cayon, stopping at Mexican Hat for the night. This the rock, Mexican Hat Rock, for which Mexican Rock is named. All Mexican Hat has is a couple of restaurants, a few motels and an overpriced gas station. Gas at Kayenta is 20 cents cheaper.

On the way, we stopped at Natural Bridges Monument (3 natural bridges of which two are the second and forth largest in the world).

And Goosenecks National Park, which the slow flowing San Juan river slowly winds around. I could only photography one gooseneck.

That night, we sampled the Swingin’ Steak, which was the best steak we’ve had this whole trip. I heartily recommend making the road trip just to eat it.

This is truly the case of: It’s all about the food.

The next moring, we crossed the border into Indian reservation and saw Monument Valley.

I took the typical shot of Monument Valley, around route marker Mile 13, but I decided to take this one with the fence, because, Monument Valley is fenced up in Indian Reservation land.

So we drove on to Kayenta and got some Indian made jewellery, then shot straight for the Cameron Trading Post, sampled some Navajo Fry Bread and into the Grand Canyon, which I didn’t enjoy at all. I was thankful I was there for only a night.

The next day, we took Route 66 to Kingman, AZ.

We passed though Williams, Ash Fork, Seligman (the most touristy town), Peach Springs, contemplated and decided not to go down the Grand Caverns outside Peach Springs, skipped the animals at Valentine and found our way at the very nice and comfy Best Western: A Wayfarer’s Inn.

That night, we sampled Mr Dz’s famous home made root beer. The same root beer that Oprah had shipped to her studio audience in Chicago for one particular episode. Much is said about how the temperature of the root beer served is important. So I was disappointed to see the root beer served with ice!

The next morning, we continued our way down to Oatman via the infamous Sitegreaves pass, but I felt it wasn’t as exciting as the Moki Dugway, a much more challenging drive that we had to pass on the way to Mexican Hat. (Also, Beartooth was a great drive)

This is a reminder of how dangerous the driving on Sitegreaves pass is.

By the time we got into Oatman, it was raining, my camera and lens was wet. There was a fake gun fight in the rain, and the burros were nowhere to be seen.

So we went on to Las Vegas for two nights.

Vegas is Vegas. But if you get a chance to go there, you must give time to try Luv-it Frozen Custard. It is the smoothest non-ice cream I’ve ever tasted. It is so good, I’m still dreaming of it now.

It is made fresh every day. The mint is very minty. The yellow is banana nut and below that is chocolate. All very very good. I would drive 4 hours from LA just to have it. It’s that good. It’s not far from the Stratosphere.

Had the Memphis Championship BBQ for lunch. Pretty good, but not great. Had the leftover beef ribs and pork ribs for breakfast. Funny, I felt it was better at breakfast.

The last night in Vegas, watched Cirque’s Beatles Love. Pretty good. Not enough acrobatics. Should have watched O instead. Except too lazy to find our way to Bellagio. (2 properties away)

I am presently in Westwood, LA, at the Royal Palace Westwood hotel. It’s not the Royal Palace, but we got upgraded to the room with a jacuzzi in it. So the bathroom is big. Bigger than even the Mirage, which I think is really really overpriced. Considering how much motels give you today, the Mirage is shabby. And this stay, one night we didn’t have hand towels. The next night, we go the hand towels but no face towels.

Speaking of which, on the way here to LA, passed along the I-15, Zzyzx Road. How do you even pronounce that. Also saw two roads, named Rasor Road and Basin Road. Towel Road and Face Wash Road didn’t turn up, though.

I also had the Diddy Riese. No photos. I ate it all up before I could take a photo. I love it. It is $1.50 for an ice cream sandwich. No added taxes. You choose the two cookies you want and a flavour of ice cream. If you just want the cookies, you can. And it’s not expensive. Bought my friend 18 cookies in a metal tin for $10.50. Very nice deal.

So, in summary, these past few days, had some good food: Swingin’ Steak in Mexican Hat, Luv It Frozen Custard in LV, Diddy Riese in Westwood, LA.

To end this post, here’s a shot of the Santa Monica beach in the shadow of the ferris wheel at the SM Pier.