We have plans for the fall – to go to Albuquerque during the Balloon Fiesta. Helaine has been there once. I’ve been there twice. Clicky (my camera) has never been there.
That makes Clicky sad.
Somehow my parents found out and said, “We’ll come too…” until they couldn’t. Something going on with their condo neighbors. I’m not totally up on my Floria happenings.
We were thinking the vacation would be Albuquerque followed by Las Vegas. We could fly to Vegas, or maybe drive. It’s a l-o-n-g drive.
Today, some modifications began to take shape. “What about Monument Valley, I said?” We could drive to Monument Valley in Southern Utah and stretch the one day drive to two.
You might not know Monument Valley, but you’ve seen it. It’s been in a zillion movies with its iconic road driving through the nothingness toward red monoliths rising from the valley’s floor.
Nothingness is the perfect description – Monument Valley is near nothing! If you zoom in far enough on Google maps, you end up with a solid colored background and nothing else.
The closest ‘real’ town is Kayenta, AZ, about a half hour’s drive away. Helaine has already made a reservation in one of their motels.
As long as we were going, she wondered, what about the other scenic stops along the way? If you check out that part of the country, there are many more National Parks and scenic outlooks than people.
We now have reservations in St. George, UT for another night.
What was going to be a point-to-point drive is now going to be two days and three nights through parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, more Arizona and Nevada. To someone raised in a Queens, NY apartment, this part of the country is as foreign as the surface of Mars.
Sometimes a wife indulges her husband. This part of the trip is much more for Geoff than Helaine. It’s not set in stone, and we’re very unsure of where to go and what to see, but it’s all coming together.
Well, at least it is in June.
Blogger’s note: My two photos are “Creative Commons” licensed and come from Flickr.com