Michele Melcher Illustration: Southwest Trip 2008

PART 1 - Santa Fe
After an arduous flight from Philly to Denver and then onto Albuquerque, New Mexico, our trip began in the beautiful Southwestern gem known as Santa Fe. 7000 feet above sea level, it is known as the high desert. The land and architecture was so different than what I'm used to here in the northeast. Scrubby, brown desert as far as the eye can see accented with rugged peaks and wonderful adobe home compounds and their desert oasis gardens. My Santa Fe highlights were: The contrast between the blue of the sky against the brown of the earth. The shape of the horizon, whether it was sky meeting a vast desert flat or the organic curve of an adobe building. The Southwest/Mexican food. A day trip to the Taos pueblo. The Native American history and people. The abundance of art (300+galleries in Santa Fe alone!). The friendliness of the atmosphere. The quiet at night.

Organic skyline

Old town street

Rental house courtyard

Inside the rental house

PART2 - SEDONA
We left Santa Fe and drove through the painted desert/petrified forest. We saw pronghorn antelope! Gradually, the trees got taller and so did the mountains as we drove into the red rocks of Sedona. I've never seen mountains like that before. Firey red rocks against the purple sky at sunset. The view from our hotel room deck was breathtaking as it faced the mountains. My Sedona highlights were: The mountain views. A day trip to an old copper mining town named Jerome on top of a mountain. The sunsets. A Humvee sightseeing tour up and down the the mountainside. The Cowboy Club, formerly the Oak Creek Tavern.

View from our deck

View of "the elders" (right) on Humvee tour.

The Humvee. There's a faaaar drop down over the ledge that you can't see!

Ghost town in Jerome

Part 3 - THE GRAND CANYON & HOOVER DAM

After leaving Sedona, we made our through Arizona to the Grand Canyon. I've always known that I'd visit there someday yet never really pictured myself there. The view was immense. It's just like it is in the pictures folks, only bigger! The day that we arrived there it was a little bit rainy and overcast, so it was not as colorful as it would have been on a sunny day, but it was still great to see. Or should I say it was a "Grand" thing to see? Moving on, we stayed overnight in a middle of nowhere town named Kingman. Not much going on there except some old route 66 signage and kitschy hotels and bad food. Apparently, in the 40's and 50's the town was a hotspot of activity, but after the local mine closed it pretty much died. Brian and I drove around and took some pictures of the old hotels (some defunct, some still open) and their wacky neon signs, went to bed and got out of there as soon as we could. I have to say, no offense to anyone who might live there, but Kingman was kind of depressing and spooky. My most unfavorite part of the trip.

After leaving Kingman the next morning we headed to the Hoover Dam and took a tour of the facility. What a sight to see. We ventured down into the original tunnels that diverted the Colorado River while the dam was being built back in the 30's. It was creepy being down there knowing that there were millions of gallons of water flowing over but it was super interesting. We also went in to the generator room, which was 2 football field lengths long. It housed 8 of the 16 generators that power the dam and it's facilities. The other 8 were on the other side of the river. What a feat of modern engineering!

The Grand Canyon.

Another canyon view.

The Hoover Dam.

The Wild Colorado

Generator Room.

PART 4 - LAS VEGAS
Vegas was only about an hour drive from the Hoover Dam. We turned in the rental car at the airport and took a cab to our hotel, the Venetian. Everything in Vegas is over done but our hotel was over the top! It was gorgeous, but super gigantic and confusing! Not only is it a casino and a huge hotel, but it also housed a whole friggin' shopping mall and an indoor outdoor gondola ride (remember, it's Venice). The hotel ceilings were guilded gold and and painted reminiscent of the Sistine Chapel. Our room was more of a suite than a room and larger than the whole bottom floor of our house. Pretty swank! My highlights of Vegas were: All of the crazy neon signs. Anyone who knows me is aware of my love old neon. There is no shortage of it in Vegas. Walking the strip from casino to casino and taking in all of the tackiness. Every hotel tried to one up the next. The Cirque de Soleil production of "LOVE" that we saw at the Mirage - total genius. Apparently, seasoned CDS followers say that this was not the "best" Cirque shows, but I'd recommend it to anyone. It was fantastic! I do have to say that personally, Vegas is not for me. I'm not a gambler, I get tired of being around that many people for an extended period of time, it's expensive and it's super commercially over done. I guess the old cliche' "it's a nice place to visit" sums it up for me. On that note, I would not be against going back for a weekend with friends to see more crazy over done stuff...but only a weekend!