Thelma and Louise - Part Two

The second day of our trip, we headed to the Grand Canyon. Valine had never been there before and it had been about 23 years since I'd been there, so it was basically a new experience for both of us. Even knowing what it looks like from photos in no way prepares you for the vast beauty that is waiting at the first view point. We walked to Mather Point first.

Amazing!!

In every direction!!

Then we walked along the Rim Trail for a while, enjoying the view at other stops.

There were tons of ground squirrels

and beautiful flowers. One of my favorites was the Cliffrose, that hugs the rim of the Canyon.

The weather at the Canyon was absolutely perfect---about 82 degrees and clear skies. We stopped for lunch at El Tovar, the iconic lodge in the National Park. The meal was really good,

but the dessert was amazing!!!! Valine ordered a chocolate taco

and I ordered a Napoleon. Yes, Weight Watchers was put on hold as I enjoyed one of the best desserts I've ever eaten!!

Since we had a 5 hour drive ahead of us, we had to leave the Canyon by late afternoon. It was a wonderful day! We arrived back in Las Vegas and were able to return our rental without incident and caught the shuttle to our hotel. I know Valine was relieved to be out from behind the wheel, but I hope she enjoyed the adventure as much as I did.

Thelma and Louise (a.k.a.Valine & Linda)---Part One

Valine and I went on our first travel adventure last week---what we've been calling our "Thelma and Louise" trip. Instead of a cool convertible, we had a Ford Fusion and we never ran into Brad Pitt, but we stayed busy! We flew out of New Orleans

(that's the Grand Canyon from our airplane)

and right after arriving in Las Vegas, we picked up our rental car with Valine at the wheel and headed south. Driving in unfamiliar territory is not exactly Valine's idea of fun, but with my broken wrist, there weren't many options and she did great!

Our first stop was the Hoover Dam.

After enjoying the view from way up high, and marveling at the engineering, we drove across the new bridge and into Arizona.

I'd read about a few small ghost towns along the way, and since we're always on the lookout for a new scrapbook page, we decided to stop off in Chloride, AZ, which is advertised as "a ghost town that never really died--almost, but not quite".

On the day we were there, it seemed pretty dead--nothing was open. There were, however, some pretty desert wildflowers,

cactus,

lots of quail and a tiny bunny,

and LOTS of yard art,

some of which was actually kind of pretty, in a very odd sort of way.

We tried to view the advertised petroglyphs on the canyon walls, so we followed painted signs up a dusty, rocky "road" as far as we dared.

We parked and walked a good bit further down the deserted trail before giving up and heading back to the car.

Valine had visions of a toothless, old prospector jumping out from behind the rocks, but fortunately that never materialized either.

As we continued our road trip, a rainbow followed alongside for a while

and then there was an amazing sunset.

an amazing sunset

before settling in for the night in Williams, AZ.