Travelling home for Christmas

We arrived with Dan and Eileen in good time, I had a good stress relieving snuggle with their cats while Brian and Dan took the car back to Fred’s. Eileen took us all into Albuquerque Old Town to one of their favourite Mexican restaurants (Church Street Cafe) which we all thoroughly enjoyed. It was a lovely afternoon and we are really very grateful that they took us in.

Church Street Caffe, the Mexican restaurant we visited with Dan and Eileen in Old Town Albuquerque. No photos of Dan and Eileen unfortunately, we were all so engrossed in conversation I forgot to take a photo!

I was keeping an eye on the flights, Sunday’s worked perfectly, so fingers crossed for Monday. Sadly at breakfast Brian got an email saying that our flight from Albuquerque to Austin, Texas was delayed, it might still work, but we would not have a lot of leeway to connect with our flight back to the UK! We rang American Airlines that all the flights had been booked with, even though our Austin to Heathrow flight was with BA. Took ages to get through, finally did, she went to check if she could do anything with the BA flight, and never came back. We’ll go to the airport, if we are standing in front of them they can’t vanish! No desk at the airport, just the check in queue. Join that then. We got to the front, she went ‘tappy, tappy, tappy’ and said, you are going via Dallas. I hadn’t wanted to go via Dallas as it’s a huge airport, but ok, if that’s what you say. Except the connection time is about the same as via Austin, assuming it doesn’t get any later! I’ll put you on standby for the earlier flight, then. That’s one first, never been on standby. It’s weird watching people board, not knowing if you can join them. We were first in the queue, but just in case someone more worthy showed up we really had to wait till the last second. They didn’t, so we were allowed on. Not sitting together but for an hour and a quarter, that’s fine.

Taking Cookie and Cracker for our first morning walk after starting our eight day housesit for them in Bishampton, near Evesham, Worcestershire, back in the UK. After forgetting to take a photo of Don and Eileen in Albuquerque as we were too engrossed in conversation, I also forgot to take a photo of Donna and Keith at the Ounce Restaurant in the village for the same reason. I must do better!

Leg one, tick, and our luggage was in Dallas, so I was told, hurrah. Sit and chill then till the Heathrow flight. We were all called forward in dribs and drabs for ‘security checks ‘, but that’s fine. Hmm, we seem to be passed boarding time, wonder what’s going on? With that, an announcement was made, by the captain, no less, “the plane is fine, the crew is fine, but BA has a problem and can’t issue flight plans. No flight plan, no flight. No idea when/if they can get it fixed!” That’s not what anyone wants to hear. An hour later, another announcement “we still know nothing, but I’ll get you all issued with refreshment vouchers”. An hour and a half after that “I’ve given them till 23.30. If we have no movement by then we’ll have to wait till the morning “ 500 people sitting around looking miserable, though all impressed by the captain. About 23.15 there was a cheer and we were moving onto the plane. We took slightly longer than expected to actually depart as 7 people had not boarded, and were nowhere to be found, so their luggage had to be found and taken off, but finally, 5 hours late, we were off.

Welcome to an English winter on the shortest day of the year. Cookie in the foreground and Cracker behind trotting along in the drizzle/light rain along a muddy track. It's around 8 C (46 F), gets light around 9:00/9:30am, dark around 4:00pm and the days start misty and continue dull, where headlights are on when driving during the day and the fallen leaves and twigs clog your shoes. Warm, cozy pubs with roaring log fires, real ale and proper British hospitality, along with friends and family nearby give a lovely, homely familiarity that's hard to beat. I wonder how long that feeling will last before the cold and dark get the better of us!

Just the coach to Birmingham to worry about now then. Even with a ‘fully flexible’ ticket, you have to say you won’t be on your booked bus before it is due to depart. You can’t do this online and it’s the middle of the night in the UK. Brian sent lots of messages into the ether, not expecting or getting a response, but what else could we do? As it turns out they were actually very helpful, once we arrived and rang. We got one bus from terminal 5 to Central, and watched as a Birmingham bus pulled out, apologising that he couldn’t stop! The one an hour later however was direct and might actually have got us in before the earlier one! Into Digbeth Coach Station just before 20.00 and into an Uber to mums! Don’t we all just love a 30hour travel day?!

This takes some beating! Relax and stroke dogs

Wednesday we didn’t really know which way was up, but managed a little bit of shopping and got our flu jabs. Thursday unpacking and repacking and head to Bishampton to sit for Cookie and Cracker, two lovely dogs that we sat for in May. We arrived about 16.30 and went to the pub with Donna and Keith. Lovely time, and a great Chateaubriand. We were early as they were off at ‘silly o clock’ and had yet to pack. Suited us. Brian managed a good nights sleep, but I am still waking at 02.30 as my brain thinks that’s 07.00 so waking up time! Into Redditch to the opticians, due for eyetests, anyway but Brian’s glasses that he glued while on the Housesit in San Luis Obispo, hadn’t survived, so he needs new glasses, the sooner the better. Tomorrow? Nothing except dog walking. Hurrah!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Our USA Adventure - Days 78 to 83 - Beatty, Hoover Dam, Kingman, Prescott, Jerome, Sedona, Winslow & Gallup

A selfie in front of the Hoover Dam from the Highway 11 Memorial Bridge, at the Nevada and Arizona border

After Beatty we really just had a travel day to Kingman (we stayed at the Arizona Inn in Kingman). It seemed a nice enough town with some interesting buildings, but an afternoon was plenty. We were glad we’d stopped en route to look at the Hoover Dam. I assumed we would have been on the walkway beside the interstate on our previous US trip when we visited the Dam, it had been open a year, but there are no pictures and it didn’t look familiar, so a good lunch stop, which I had forgotten all about until Brian started sorting out the pictures.

A lot of traffic runs along Highway 11 and, before this bridge was opened in 2012 all traffic had to go along that twisty road down there and over the Hoover Dam. Imagine the bottleneck! Also, notice how low the reservoir is

After chatting to the bar owner over lunch at the Salton Sea, we’d planned to go to Sedona, via Prescott and Jerome. All just a diversion off the Interstate 40 from Kingman to Cedar Grove to return Fred’s car. We were quite glad to get off the interstate, bad condition and full of lorries all wanting to overtake each other at 75 mph on a two lane road!

Impressive bridge and it's quite a long way down to the Colorado River

Prescott was a nice town, but glad we didn’t stay. The road to Jerome was wiggly and windy uphill, so we checked that the road would be clear of snow, which indeed it was. Jerome, is referred to as a ghost town, but it’s not like a real ghost town, there are still people living there, selling ghost tours, and running places like The Haunted Hamburger, a restaurant we had been recommended. Comparatively however it has gone from the 4th largest town in Arizona with 15000 people to about 50, though I think there may be a few more now to look after the tourists! It was a great little town, and we thoroughly enjoyed our Haunted Hamburger, however we’d booked two nights in Sedona to give us a full day there so off we set, down hill and with amazing views.

Kingman, on the old Route 66. Like many other towns on this route, they make a big thing of Route 66

Booking.com had given us a free upgrade on our booking at the Wildflower Inn in the village of Oak Creek, which would have been one of our better places, but with a superking bed, a mountain view and a fireplace, it was absolutely fabulous. The views coming in to Sedona were amazing, even though we came round the back way to the hotel, this did bring us past the Ranger Station, Open for another 20 minutes, but that was enough, to give us things to do to fill our one day!

Everywhere there's throwbacks to the glory days of the route from the 1950's

So, Thursday we got up early, as we had a lot to see, and headed for the park and ride for Cathedral Rock. Only a short walk, though it was mostly up, a nice little scramble which we had not been expecting, she had only asked us if heights were a problem, so we did not expect that hike, but we loved it! Very glad we were early though, suspect there would have been queuing later! (see our short Relive video of this hike with more photos: click here). The scenic drive wasn’t as long, or as scenic (lots of town in the way) as I expected, and we weren’t going to pay $11 for the carpark for a whistle stop. Fortunately google maps gave a free scenic view point so ticked that box. The airport overlook and vortex were next (the whole of Sedona is meant to have ‘good energy ‘ and there are three vortexes (yes, that is how they say it) with super duper energy, bit like Lay Lines I think. The small free carpark was full, so it was the $3 one, but that wasn’t too bad, for a fabulous view and a very muddy hike to the vortex. We didn’t feel it, but did enjoy the view. Next stop was the Chapel of the Holy Cross which is a chapel, but again, with a view. Brian had found a short hike from here to Chicken Overlook, again fabulous (See our short Relive video of this hike with photos: click here). We’d just got to the viewpoint and were enjoying the peace and tranquility when two pink jeeps, full of people appeared from nowhere! Took the edge off slightly but glad we hadn’t paid $137 for it! One more stop, now or in the morning before we leave? We plumped for now, and glad we did, because although it was muddy (only wet mud, not sticky mud like at the airport) in the morning it would have been frozen and icy, which would have improved the path, but made the rock very scary. This was Bell Rock, the view out of our window, though the opposite side of the mountain (See our short Relive video of this hike with photos: click here). An amazing day out, we contemplated another night, but with Friday night coming in at more expensive than Wednesday and Thursday added together we moved on to Gallup.

The railway runs alongside Route 66 for a lot of the way and, although they don't run steam trains anymore, they can't remove the old water tank

More driving along the horrible road, but it wasn’t quite so bad. Arrived at our ‘proper hotel’ (the Best Western Plus Gallup Inn & Suites) we are on the 4th floor, there is a lift, trollies for luggage, and for the first time in the whole trip, a cooked breakfast! So, packing, we’ve had our cases that have been in and out of every room, that have opened and closed quite easily, but that is because the rope, climbing gear, and rucksack with cold/wet weather gear, have been separate in the car. Then there was the ‘stuff’ leaflets, books, plastic and paper tableware that we’ve gathered, cereal and snacks and other assorted detritus. We filled a trolley, and made the receptionist laugh with what it had to pack in to. It did though, so it’s done, which gave us today ‘free’. Red Rocks park, for Church Rock, another amazing formation and another pleasant hike (see our short Relive video with photos: click here). 2 degrees below freezing, but with the sun out and the very dry atmosphere it really didn’t feel too bad. We didn’t manage to do the circuit of the Rock, who knows where the path went, and it wasn’t worth falling off, but a good walk nonetheless.

Or, apparently, the steam trains. This one is on a piece of rail next to Route 66

Tomorrow we drive to Cedar Grove, drop the car off and take Fred’s friend Dan and his wife (who we haven’t met) out for lunch before they take us into Albuquerque and our last hotel (the Days Inn & Suites)before our flight on Monday. Keep everything crossed, yesterday and today’s flights to Heathrow from Austin (our transit airport) were cancelled, and today’s flight from Albuquerque to Austin was a hour and 10 minutes late, which with only 3 hours to connect is getting a bit tight!

Many buildings has murals painted on them. This one resonated with us, we agree entirely

Would you get your car serviced here? I'm sure they're lovely people, I just like their humour (even if the can't spell humour!)

Driving to Prescott along the pretty mountain route. Fabulous scenery all the way, so Jackie said, I just got glimpses as I drove along the twisty road. Did stop at this viewpoint though

As Jackie has said, Prescott was  a pleasant place, but nothing particularly special. This was Whiskey Row, an early 20th century row of wild, hard drinking establishments that replaced the earlier wooden structures that burnt down

Some of the buildings were architecturally interesting, like this, the inside of the elegant Palace Saloon 

Onto Jerome, high in the mountains and accessed along another twisty road. It's had an interesting history this town, as Jackie said, it was huge, then a ghost town and now quite hippy. In the 1930's a lot of the buildings slid down the hillside. The Haunted Hamburger, that we were recommended to visit is perched there on stilts on the hill

We went in for a Haunted Hamburger and were not disappointed. This was the view through the window 

As we said, the Hungry Hamburger is a bit quirky. Does this do strange things to your mind?

We'll leave you to decide which is the correct way

As we mentioned, a lot of buildings slid down the hill in the 1930's. This was the town's jail and, apparently it used to be 225 feet further up the hill. It slid so far down and blocked a road, which was re-routed around it. Finally it was shoved out of the way and ended up here. It's now a bit of a tourist attraction. There are a few other buildings in this really interesting mountain town that lay abandoned and half missing following the slips

We drove on to Sedona, our destination for two nights, arriving at the visitor centre just before closing and were  confronted with this view. It doesn't look quite as jaw dropping as it does in real life, but we were just so excited and wanted to start exploring right away

Armed with full information on what we were going to try to cram into our one full day here we headed to the lovely Wildflower Inn in Sedona and got a fabulous room with sofa, huge bed and a log effect gas fire

And that's not all, this was the view through our window. We could sit in our sofa, warming ourselves in front of the gas fire and look at this (it was below freezing at this altitude - 5000 feet). That is not water in the car park, it's ice

Next day, up early and out for our first objective, Cathedral Rock. You have to catch a shuttle bus here on Thursday to Sunday as the tiny car park can't cope with the number of people. We could see why

Our early start meant we avoided large crowds of people, but this was turning out to be more than just a walk

Just a bit more than a walk! We're loving it, but we wonder how many other people find it too difficult. The lady in the Visitor Centre told us nothing of this, she just asked if we were OK with heights

The views as we ascended were just amazing

As were the cathedral spires too

Finally we got about as far as we could go without climbing gear

Close to, these spires are magnificent, but we did not wish we'd carried our climbing gear up here, it all looked very hard and, in these temperatures, not enticing. We headed down ready for the next item on our list

And that was a scenic drive, quite a long way round to get this classic view. Isn't it just amazing!

There's an airport in the middle, high up on a hill, just a small one for private small planes and helicopters, some doing scenic flights. Round it runs a trail that provides fabulous views. We swapped photos with a couple there (as you do) and then headed off to a Vortex to receive some energy!

Here we are on top of the Vortex, it's a rounded hill. Actually, I think Jackie's glowing there, it must be working!

We didn't do the whole airport loop, didn't have time, just went halfway to get the view

Next stop, a chapel with a view, perched on a hill

And what a view!

Looking at maps I'd spotted a track to a viewpoint called Chicken Point that no-one had told us about. It went from the Chapel and wasn't too long so I thought we'd try it out. Turned out to be a little gem!

It went past those towers in the previous photo, round a bend and into a canyon and, the final point was on top of that rounded hill there

Here we are on top of it with magnificent views around and feeling quite isolated. We'll have something to eat here

This is a pretty good spot to contemplate life

What's that? It sounds like an engine. Oh, it is, a pink jeep  and there's another one, both full of about a dozen or so people. How it got up here we don't know, but within minutes they were all around us, lots of shouting, laughter and photo taking. We'll go then!

At least we had some peace and a pleasant stroll down. Look there's even a waterfall - well, a bit of wet rock!

Our third hike for the day is the iconic Bell Rock that we can see from our hotel window. This is the other side and it's in permanent shade so there's snow and some ice on it. Shall we do it today or leave it until the morning? Now, at least it's vaguely warm, in the morning it'll be very cold with lots more ice about. Lets do it now...

As usual, with all the walks round here, the views are just amazing

This was about as far as we could go. Getting to the top required ropes and gear and ice axes. To get here we'd had a few thin moments, stepping on small rocks covered in ice. This'll do for us, we've had a long day, time to head down to get and evening meal and a beer 

We could have taken the longer route on main roads, but this mountain road (can you see it snaking up the hill opposite?) was much more interesting and exciting. As a matter of interest, the right side of the valley that has the road on is about 1000 feet higher than the left. A fault line exists at the bottom and uplift has created this valley

This was something we did 8 years ago when we were last here. Then it was pouring with rain, today it was clear (but cold). We did a lot of Route 66 then and now, we're heading along the same way to get back to Albuquerque. You can see what we're doing, in the words of The Eagles, we're standin on the corner in Winslow Arizona...

Not quite on the corner but very near

And there it is from across the road

And this was on the diagonally opposite corner. Go and play that guitar, I said and off she went and did it - brilliant!

Now we're just over the state line back in New Mexico at Gallup and just along the road (Route 66!) is Red Rocks Park. They have a campground and two hikes, Pyramid Rock and Church Rock. Of the two, Church Rock looked the most interesting, so we set off in sub zero temperatures (we're at about 7200 feet, 2200m) to do it. The lady in reception as we left told us that her thermometer read just 2 degrees this morning. Jackie said she thought it was going to be much colder than that, until I pointed out that she meant 2 degrees Fahrenheit, which is -16.6 C! It wasn't that cold when we started 

The whole walk was really scenic. We walked along the edge of this canyon

And all the way this incredibly scenic peak was there

They had cut steps into the rock in places to negotiate steep bits

And cairns to follow

As we got closer it got more impressive

The path doesn't go to the top only around it. However, as we started the  circuit we found no other human footprints in the snow (and saw no other people all day)

Only animal prints. What are these? Bobcat or Coyote? 

We found our way right up to the pinnacles 

Right up to them! Not sure we'd like to attempt any climbs though. We were now on quite high ground with big drops around us (see previous photos). Trying to follow the dotted line on the map (which was a straight line!), we were finding ourselves in increasingly steep and complex ground with big drops around us. We backtracked, went down to peer over big drops and considered that no-one knew where we were and there were no other footprints or people around. Mmmm. Lets retrace our route! 

We  retraced our steps and then came round on the circuit from the other direction. Not long ago we were blundering around on the top of those cliffs there. Glad we went back! We virtually did the circuit except for the tiny bit connecting them that was the very steep ground. It was a pity as, prior to that the way was very well marked with cairns and signs. What happened on the tricky bit?

Here's our track of the circuit, the bit on the right is where we got into difficulty

Here it is zoomed in a bit. We'd come in from the top. See how we wandered back and forth looking for a way down off those steep bits. The track at the bottom is were we came in from the other direction to almost link up. The bit linking up is quite steep and in snow and some ice it was probably a good decision to backtrack

On our way back down and Jackie negotiating those steps.

Well, that's about it, we return the car back to Fred's house in Edgewood tomorrow, take Dan and his wife to lunch as a thank you for taking us to the airport and then (hopefully) catch our flights home. Just a little note here, this is the price of fuel in New Mexico. This is the price in dollars of a US gallon. There are about 3.5 litres in a US gallon and the current exchange rate is about $1.22 to £1.00 (UK pound). So that works out at £0.69/litre. We actually filled up today at $2.75/US gallon (£0.64/litre). Prices in California were considerably more, a cheap price was about $4.50 but went up to close to $7.00/US gallon. Quite a range. UK prices, we think, are currently around £1.50/litre, which works out at $6.40/US gallon. We'll miss these prices! But, we'll also miss the US, we've had a fabulous time and,, as is usual when you're having fun, three months have flown by! See you the other side of the pond