Trip 14 - USA South West (New Mexico, Arizona, California & Nevada)

 25th September to 20th December 2022

Overview:

Here's a map of our route. To see it properly you'll need to click on the little square in the top right corner which will take it to full screen. It opens a new tab and you'll be able to browse round, zoom in and click on each marker to show more details

Key to place markers

After a summer of housesitting in various places in the UK, we headed out for a three month tour of the USA South-West, taking in the states of New Mexico, Arizona, California & Nevada.

We started and finished in Albuquerque, New Mexico in order to visit an old friend, Fred, who we went trekking in Nepal with some years back, and his wife Maggie, who live nearby. They very kindly lent us a car for the duration to avoid having to rent a car. 

We stayed a few days with them before heading south to the town of Truth or Consequences, where we booked a trip to visit Spaceport America, the place Richard Branson is hoping to start his commercial space trips from, before heading through south NM, Arizona and into California. There we met up with other friends Victor (who we know from our cruise home across the Atlantic from Costa Rica to Portugal) and Greg in Palm Springs and again met up with Fred and Maggie at the California winter home.

We made visits to LA, the Pacific coast, Yosemite and Joshua Tree and crossed into Nevada to visit Death Valley on our way back to Albuquerque to drop Fred's car off and get a flight home for Christmas.

The map above has place markers (in various colous to denote the month) showing the places we stayed and visited with lines showing our route. Click on each place marker to see details with photos.

Below are links to the blog posts we made on the way. Click on each one to read where we went, what we saw and what we did. Happy reading!

Our Journey:

24th to 27th September: UK to Albuquerque - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/09/our-usa-adventure-days-1-to-3-new-mexico.html

28th September to 2nd October: Cedar Grove, Quarai, Truth or Consequences, Elephant Butte and Spaceport America - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/10/our-usa-adventure-days-4-to-7-cedar.html

2nd to 4th October: Lincoln, Roswell, White Sands National Monument, Las Cruces - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/10/our-usa-adventure-days-7-to-9-lincoln.html

4th to 9th October:  Las Cruces, City of Rocks, Silver City, GILA Cliff Dwellings, Tucson, Arizona Sonora Desert, Titan Missile Museum - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/10/our-usa-adventure-days-9-to-14-las.html

9th to 14th October: Tucson, Tombstone, Bisbee - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/10/our-usa-adventure-days-14-to-19-tucson.html

14th to 20th October: Gila Bend, Lake Havasu City (London Bridge), Palm Springs, Yucca Valley & Joshua Tree NP - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/10/our-usa-adventure-days-19-to-25-gila.html

20th to 24th October: Joshua Tree, Lone Pine & Manzanar - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/10/our-usa-adventure-days-25-to-29-joshua.html

24th to 30th October: Willow Springs, Mono Lake, Mariposa, Yosemite - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/10/our-usa-adventure-days-29-to-35-willow.html

30th October to 2nd November: Mariposa, Monterey & Mill Valley - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/11/our-usa-adventure-days-35-to-38.html

2nd to 6th November: 5 days along the Pacific Highway, Mill Valley to Fort Brag - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/11/our-usa-adventure-days-38-to-42-five.html

6th to 10th November: Fort Bragg, Clearlake, Sacramento & Sonoroa - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/11/our-usa-advventure-days-42-to-46-fort.html

10th to 18th November: Sonora, Columbia, Bear Valley, Oakland & San Francisco - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/11/our-usa-adventure-days-46-to-54-sonora.html

18th to 23rd November: Oakland, Silicone Valley, San Luis Obispo & Hearst Castle - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/11/our-usa-adventure-days-54-to-59-oakland.html

23rd to 28th November: San Luis Obispo, Monarch butterfly grove, Morro Bay sea otters & Santa Barbara - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/11/our-usa-adventure-days-59-to-63-san.html

28th to 30th November: Santa Barbara, Malibu, The Getty Villa, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Hollywood - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/12/our-usa-adventure-days-63-to-66-santa.html

30th November to 4th December: Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Warner Brothers studios, Hollywood sign, Griffith Observatory & Laguna Beach - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/12/our-usa-adventure-days-66-to-70.html

4th to 9th December: Laguna Beach, San Diego, Salton Sea & Palm Springs - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/12/our-usa-adventure-days-70-to-75-laguna.html

9th to 12th December: Palm Springs, Tecopa, Death Valley, Rhyolite and Beatty - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/12/our-usa-adventure-days-75-to-78-palm.html

12th to 17th December: Beatty, Hoover Dam, Kingman, Prescott, Jerome, Sedona, Winslow & Gallup - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/12/our-usa-adventure-days-78-to-83-beatty.html

17th to 20th December: Gallup, Albuquerque and home to the UK - https://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.com/2022/12/travelling-home-for-christmas.html