Southwest: Sedona in the Snow, Take Two

Cathedral Rock

Judging by the response of the locals, snow, particularly heavy snow, is a rare event in Sedona Arizona. At the end of 2014, the weather forecasts predicted that a major winter storm would hit northern Arizona. In a normally dry desert area, the impending precipitation sent residents and visitors alike scurrying to the grocery stores to stock up on supplies for the coming snow apocalypse. The forecasts were not wrong. By New Year’s Day, several inches of snow were on the ground and the red rocks where splotched with white patches.

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United States National Monuments: Pipe Springs and Vermillion Cliffs

An ornery resident at Pipe Springs National Monument

 In Arizona, just across the border from Utah, are two contrasting National Monuments, tiny Pipe Springs and massive Vermillion Cliffs.

Southwest: Lake Powell by Boat

Shore leave in Navajo Canyon. We rented a boat at Antelope Point Marina to explore the lake.

In February of 2014 we visited Lake Powell. The enormous reservoir, the second largest in the United States, sprawls between the states of Arizona and Utah. At the time the lake was less than 40% full with the lake surface was over 120 feet below the top of the active storage level. Though the low levels of Lake Powell are troubling, the receding waters reveal a portion of the canyon that has been hidden since Glen Canyon Dam was finished and Lake Powell was filled in the 1960’s. It makes us wonder: How did this place look before Glen Canyon Dam was filled?

Las Vegas: The Neon Museum

The Boneyard Park at the Neon Museum

The Neon Museum in Las Vegas is where good signs go to retire. Today some of Sin City’s classic lighted signs have been rehabilitated and are on display in the museum’s Boneyard Park and along Las Vegas Avenue. It is a fitting end for these quintessential pieces of Americana.

Southwest: Lake Powell

Near Wahweap Marina on the border of Utah and Arizona, Lone Rock, an island in Lake Powell, is seemingly on the verge of becoming part of the mainland.

As of January 2014, Lake Powell, the second largest reservoir in the United States, is at 40% of full capacity.  The water level is 121 feet below the lake’s full pool height.  For

Arizona: Lower Antelope Canyon

Waves of Navajo sandstone in Lower Antelope Canyon

Just outside the town of Page, Arizona State Route 98 passes over a water-carved gash the desert sandstone.  Ruts are common roadside features in the desert southwest; the

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument: Paria Rimrocks Toadstools

These hoodoos, high on the ridge above, really do look like toadstools.

Between Kanab Utah and Page Arizona, on the north side of US 89 between mile marker 19 and 20, is a marked trailhead that is the start of a path to a toadstool rock

Page Arizona

Upper Antelope Canyon (HDR)

Page Arizona does not rank as a cultural destination.  This small town on the northern edge of Arizona was established in 1957 to support the construction of the nearby Glen Canyon Dam.  Page’s history is

Sedona in the Snow

Coffee Pot

Unexpected heavy snow in the middle of March altered our Sedona plans.  Thoughts of exploring the parched red rock landscape beneath deep blue skies ended.  Instead we hunkered inside the aluminum

Southwest: Las Vegas in the Infrared

Paris in Las Vegas (Color Infrared)

The last stop on our 7,664 mile Southwestern road trip was at the Circus Circus KOA in Las Vegas.  It was an eventful stop as Becky’s Stumpjumper