Road trip log day 1
Mar. 15th, 2008 06:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragojustineRandomness:
*Starting at the coast and driving NE for three hours is better than any seven chapters of geography textbooks for internalizing the concept of "rainshadow"
*Rest stops in the middle of the desert are WINDY
*Can you imagine covering all this distance on Route 66, at 55 mph with tons of little towns with stop signs and everything?
*They sure don't let you forget about Historic Route 66! now do they?
*Gas station on 66 selling gas at... wait for it... $4.99. Sign by the register:
Snarky buggers.
Saturday evening, at the grand canyon:
*Colorado plateau very high. I expected it to be hot, without taking that 7000 feet of elevation into account. Huge drifts of snow. Forgot that outside the So-Cal Weather Free Zone, it's still very early spring.
*More forest- I mean, genuine alpine forest- than I expected.
*God, this country is HUGE.
*Reached first observation point just 30 minutes before sunset. Perfect timing- slanting light, glowing pink and gold canyon walls, dusky depths, whole nine yards. Gorgeous.
*Lodge is RIGHT on the rim- just three steps outside my door. Nice.
*Arizona doesn't observe daylight savings time, and so is not one our ahead (except the Navajo reservation, which is). Will not reveal how long I spent trying to figure out why my cell couldn't detect the time zone and I couldn't change it manually. V. Embarrassing. Convinced they do it just to confuse tourists.
*Haven't really seen stars since the summer before I moved out of mom and dad's- not proper ones, anyway. Tonight might just be the best stars I'll ever get. When you travel, you expect the food and accents and geography and such to change- but it startles me a bit to realize I'm far enough away from home for the stars themselves to change. Not a lot- North Star just about 15 degrees or so too low, but enough that it's not where I look for it. Just enough to make you feel small and far from home.
*Starting at the coast and driving NE for three hours is better than any seven chapters of geography textbooks for internalizing the concept of "rainshadow"
*Rest stops in the middle of the desert are WINDY
*Can you imagine covering all this distance on Route 66, at 55 mph with tons of little towns with stop signs and everything?
*They sure don't let you forget about Historic Route 66! now do they?
*Gas station on 66 selling gas at... wait for it... $4.99. Sign by the register:
We have sunk a lot of money into this business. It costs a fortune to operate in the middle of nowhere. You have the choice to purchase from us or not. But please do not complain to our employees about prices. PS. Next gas 50 miles.
Snarky buggers.
Saturday evening, at the grand canyon:
*Colorado plateau very high. I expected it to be hot, without taking that 7000 feet of elevation into account. Huge drifts of snow. Forgot that outside the So-Cal Weather Free Zone, it's still very early spring.
*More forest- I mean, genuine alpine forest- than I expected.
*God, this country is HUGE.
*Reached first observation point just 30 minutes before sunset. Perfect timing- slanting light, glowing pink and gold canyon walls, dusky depths, whole nine yards. Gorgeous.
*Lodge is RIGHT on the rim- just three steps outside my door. Nice.
*Arizona doesn't observe daylight savings time, and so is not one our ahead (except the Navajo reservation, which is). Will not reveal how long I spent trying to figure out why my cell couldn't detect the time zone and I couldn't change it manually. V. Embarrassing. Convinced they do it just to confuse tourists.
*Haven't really seen stars since the summer before I moved out of mom and dad's- not proper ones, anyway. Tonight might just be the best stars I'll ever get. When you travel, you expect the food and accents and geography and such to change- but it startles me a bit to realize I'm far enough away from home for the stars themselves to change. Not a lot- North Star just about 15 degrees or so too low, but enough that it's not where I look for it. Just enough to make you feel small and far from home.
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Staying on the rim of the Grand Canyon
Date: 2008-03-19 12:56 am (UTC)On a lark and taking a self dare I decided I would hike from the rim down to the Colorado River & back the next day. I set out before dawn with makeshift water bottles and layered clothing and headed off. It took me nearly the whole day to make the round trip and the final climb out was a huge effort (it was a mile drop from rim to river) made more difficult with my being out of shape.
There was snow at the top (rim) yet it was warm weather at the bottom so better served to be wearing short sleeves down there. The views from within the canyon are worth hike and with my doing this early in the morning there were herds of deer crossing my path along the route. Sunrise coming down from the lip of the canyon gave a special light to the surroundings and one of these days I hope I can make it back to camp down there for a day or two.
Nice that you could stay at one of the lodges. Did you get to explore at all or just continue driving the next day?
Robert
Re: Staying on the rim of the Grand Canyon
Date: 2008-03-19 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-06 01:22 pm (UTC)That was strangely beautiful. I love travelling the world and finding that the plough (you guys call it the big dipper I think) is my almost constant companion.
I think I'm going to friend you now. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-06 07:04 pm (UTC)Yes- stars are like that. It's very strange that the same things can both feel reassuringly familiar (the dipper did that for me too, in Ireland) and terrifyingly far from home. I wrote a fic about that, more or less.