Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: Southwest via Southeast APRIL 2019 A PHOTO JOURNAL
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: We left home and this meant that our week long vacation was finally starting! One long drive down to Bakersfield and a belly full of pea soup, we fell asleep in a room filled with oil themed art.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: The next morning, bright and early we stopped in Tehachapi and later Calico. Calico was a silver boom town that had been abandoned and revitalized by Walter Knott of Knotts Berry Farms in the 1960s. A town that is a bit of an anachronism and chintzy fun. I've always been curious about this town, passing it on road trips as a kid and with a dad on a set schedule to get to Vegas.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: People genuinely thought there was going to be a superbloom in the Mojave desert.
So they took all the campsites... We managed to find an alternate campground thanks to the Ranger.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: Looking out at the kelso sand dunes in the distance.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: This would be the first, major trip for the new tacoma
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: The Kelso Dunes are composed of superfine sand and what feels like every ten feet of elevation your body works to move up, you go up a third the distance.
So naturally we took plenty of water breaks.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: From the very top of the dunes, you can look out over the entire natural reserve and the town of Kelso. When you push on the top of the dunes, they rumble.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: "Highway 66 was the main migrant road... 66 is the mother road, the road of flight." -John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: Seeing the grand canyon for the first time, is breathtaking. The village has a historic hotel, train station and wildlife everywhere.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: Wildlife abounds
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: Early the next morning after a big dinner of campfire paella and hushpuppies, we made the trek down to Ooh-Aah Point on the South Kaibab trail.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: "I believe in a benevolent God not because He created the Grand Canyon or Michelangelo, but because He gave us snacks." -PAUL RUDNICK
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: The world is a big place and there's still more to explore.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: The next morning we woke up to a snow storm. We broke down camp as quickly as possible and opted to get coffee at the village. That and the chance to see the grand canyon in snow.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: After the grand canyon, we made our next leg of the journey to Death Valley via Hoover Dam, and the Nevada State Railroad Museum.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: Salt Creek
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: -282 feet Hello From The Lowest Point In The USA.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: We should see if we can see the salt snail
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: After a windy night in the flats, we opted to stay elsewhere. We found ourselves camping west of Lone Pine in the shadow of Mount Whitney.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: We thought we had escaped the wind last night but instead got caught in a rainstorm. The next morning, the mountains on the opposite side of the Owens Valley were dusted with snow.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: The last leg of our journey would take us up 395 and we stopped at Manzanar along the way. A chilling and sobering monument of what's going on now.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: MONO LAKE
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: "The 90s vomited in neon" -Kristan Karinen
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: Carson City is still somehow stuck in the 1990's
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: Special thanks to Derick and Sarah
For putting us up in Nevada.
Picture of Grand Canyon Village
Caption: #arizona #grandcanyon #southwest #mojave #calico #california #nevada #camping #outdoors
