After my well deserved restful days in Las Vegas, it was time to hit the road again.
So I ventured to the Airport to pick up my ride for the next few weeks:
It came as quite a surprise that they presented me with a Mini – not what I expected to be driving on my American Roadtrip. Anyway, I’d rather drive a Mini than any of the boring and mundane other options they had in my price class. Aaand off I went:
Today in one picture #arizona #ontheroad #mini A photo posted by Fabio (@nummerus) on
First stop was the Hoover Dam, just some minutes out of Las Vegas and at the boarder of Nevada and Arizona. The dam is a remarkable feat of engineering and a crucial piece in supplying the surrounding states not only with energy, but with their most scarce resource, water.
After spending the first night in Flagstaff, AZ, I took on the road again to make it up to the Grand Canyon. Not expecting too much, walking along the rim simply blew me away – I never anticipated the Canyon being so wide and deep, something I tried to capture in pictures all day, but probably failed to convey.
After a few hours of walking and driving to various spots, I rode on to Page, AZ to spend the night and venture to see the Antelope Canyon as well as the Horseshoe Bend the next day.
I ventured to Utah later that afternoon, passing through Monument Valley, where I stayed and had some coffee with a view for an hour or two.
I couldn’t get enough of these tall, red rocks, standing in the middle of nowhere, but I had to make it to Blanding, UT for the night.
Venturing out early the next morning, I headed up Highway 191, passing through Moab, UT and into Arches National Park.
On my next trip I would definitely plan more time on this part of my travels and spend some days in Moab – driving off-road trails with a Jeep®, horseback riding, or simply enjoying the nice little Western-Town. But I didn’t, so I drove north to the I-70 and over to the Capitol Reef National Parc, where I stayed in the lovely small town of Bicknell, UT. The drive, again, proofed very scenic, with lots of nice views that made the time fly by.
Seeing so many incredible and (at least for me) unusual sights in such a short time, certainly has made a big impact on me, and I decided to take things slower the next days. Before that, however, I had to make it out to California, and there were still a few Parks to be visited and beautiful sights to be seen. I started out by taking the scenic Byway 12 southbound to Bryce Canyon. The Byway, took me up to 9600 feet (almost 3000 meters) above sea level, and, after a few days of only rocks and desert, provided me with some trees and fresh air.
Bryce Canyon was enormous as well, I’m lacking words to describe it.
At the end of the day, I still wanted to see Zion National Park, which would have been a little off the way to my days destination, Mesquite NV. Since I was super tired of the last few days, I decided to call it quits and get a good nights sleep.
The following day I took a road trip through the Valley of Fire, which was unique on its own. Many different sets of stone, very dry, and the artificial Lake Mead in between made for special views, but a very hot climate. I could feel the moisture evaporating from my skin and would only spend a few seconds in the sun, before heading back to my car, cooled down by the AC. I ended my day by crossing the Californian border and taking a nights rest in Barstow CA.
Here’s my route: