California, Here We Come-----Day Three!!!

I'm in Kingman, Arizona tonight. It's almost on the border of California, and we'll be in Pomona tomorrow, probably early afternoon.

Driving in to Kingman this evening, just as the sun was setting---the town looks so curious with the backdrop of the "meringue"-like peaks overlooking the buildings. Almost looks like someone used their scrapbook scissors to cut out the mountains, doesn't it?  Nice town. Friendly folks at the Motel6. I even found a carwash and sprayed off the van.  Boyz are crashed (again) on the floor, and I am ready for some cuddle time and reading in bed.....

We left Holbrook, Arizona this morning after first making a stop at the rock shop.  This is one of those icons you see on the classic Route 66......

I spent my breakfast and lunch munny on rocks! Beautiful stones of all colors!!!  Petrified wood by the pound! (had a coupon for a free 1/2 pound of petrified wood).  Rose quartz. Obsidian. Peridot. Agates. They had a huge rock area outside, and I was able to just walk and drool and try like crazy to remember that I had to fit them in the van, once I bought them.

Coffee and biscuit at McDonalds, gassed up (the gas station even sold petrified wood) and we were back on the Super Slab, heading West to Flagstaff.

But first we stopped at the "largest petrified tree in the world." The shop along I-40 had named itself after the tree...."Geronimo."  I took a picture and did a cursory walk-thru in the shop, and was pleased at the prices I'd paid back in Holbrook.

Here's the whole store. Look at the geological formation behind it. Everywhere you look in Arizona, you see such oddities.

Here's a close-up of a big petrified wood they had made into a planter....Do you see the purple crystals (amethest) on the side?!!!

And, I took this picture of the side door panels of the shop for my friend Joanne.....She's an artist, and taught me how to mosaic....Wouldn't that be SO Cool to have all those slices of petrified wood  and geodes to mosaic???

Before I got to Flagstaff, I detoured 6 miles south to see the giant meteor crater. Entry cost was $15, and that makes me sad. I saw several families turn away with their kids because of the steep cost. Granted, there was Plenty there to validate the price---IF you partook of everything.  But JUST to see the crater?....It's a National Park, after all....And the children need to be able to see it...maybe they might become scientists once they saw that piece of the planet....

ANYway, I paid my fee, and went up the steps to view the crater from the high rim.  I don't have all the details and the measurments here, but I DO remember the guide telling us that SIX football games could be played down there all at once....Itsa big hole!

See that little bump almost right in the middle at the top? That rock is the size of a large house.....

I asked a guy to take my picture with my camera, and he did, but it turned out blurry. But here I am, in my Route 66 sweatshirt (again! it's still colddddd!).  No dogs allowed at the crater, either.....sigh...

As I was driving towards Flagstaff, I called Rob and asked him to look on the computer to see if he could find out the name of this mountain. It LOOMed ahead of me for miles and miles.  What beauty!!!

If anyone knows the name of it, please let me know. For the time being, I'll just call it Buffalo Mountain.

I drove 60 miles north of I-40 to the Grand Canyon. I have never seen the Grand Canyon before, and was a bit apprehensive about seeing it all by myself. But my sister Sherry told me that it would just be me and God there anyway...I didn't quite understand what she meant.....until I approached the rim.....I thought my heart would burst with the beauty. I could only take one small step at a time, and allow my eyes to unveil it little by little. I had no idea that I needed to wear waterproof mascera.....

Yes, I took these pictures. And even so, they can never display the magnificence of this canyon. I won't even attempt to tell you with words.

James and Prosper were quite thrilled to get out of the car and walk thru the crowds. Of course, they turn heads everywhere we go, and Sunday's crowd at the Grand Canyon was quite diverse. Many different nationalites were represented there, some of whom had very little English. But ALL of them knew about Lassie, and I do believe that "Collie" is a universal name for the breed.

I swear, this is the Real Thing! It looks like a tacky backdrop, but it is the actual Grand Canyon in the background!

I asked a young woman to please take my picture with the boyz, and she was Quite Patient with the chaos that these guys can bring....

It wasn't an easy task to get them Both looking her way... Prosper likes to look at Mom...except when he is Supposed to!

Nope...still looking for another place to sniff.....When the woman photographing them asked what their names were, she called out, "James!" and he rannnnn to her, twisting that backside towards her for petting....That left me and Prosper posing for another pic while she multi-tasked, rubbing James and snapping the camera.....

Here we are all together again....James delighted at his celebrity status.

A pretty happy crew, even with the wind pushing ears up straight.....

Walking back down to the parking lot, both boyz hupped up onto the rock wall.  Yin and Yang.....

They ate their supper beside the car, and we headed a few more miles west to our final stop (Kingman) for the night.  Once we were on the road again, I took a mental inventory of my stuff---making sure that I had gotten back in the car with camera, cell phone, purse, etc. I kept thinking that I had Forgotten something, and could not shed that feeling....It wasn't until several miles that I realized that I had actually left a piece of myself back at the Canyon. I will never be the same after having seen its beauty and magnificence.

Meanwhile, back in Tahlequah, Rob sent me some pictures of HIS day.....They got over 9 inches of snow in balmy Oklahoma.....Here's a picture of our side/back yard......

And, of course, Baden, our teenager, who has stayed home with Dad this week.....

It's melting already, and the public schools will probably be open tomorrow, ending their week of Spring Break.

Tomorrow we arrive in California. THEN the Real Action begins!!!!