After experiencing the crowds yesterday we decided to get up early to avoid the crowds and take sunrise photos. Sharon made breakfast of eggs and bacon and we headed out before sunrise. Cholla Cactus Garden was our spot of choice. As the sun rose the needles of the cacti glowed in the sun’s rays. I was clicking on my phone non stop. My phone has a tendency to make better photos than my DSLR camera. I guess it uses smart technology. After we got all of the photos we wanted of the sunrise, we went on a mile hike to arch rock. We had some good photo opportunities along the way with Joshua Trees, rocks and other desert plants. The actual arch rock was in a precarious position, difficult to get right next to. We stopped at skull rock next, a popular unusually shape rock right next to the main park road. Typically there is a waiting line to get a photo. There were a few people there and I did have to wait a bit to get a photo. Next was on to a hike to Barker dam. Sharon decided o sit this one out while I hiked and took photos with her camera along the way. She has just about every type of lense which fits her camera. Zoom out, regular, wide angle and macro. I used just about all of them along the way. The dams was built by early settlers as a way to ensure water was available in the desert. We decided to go back to 29 Palms to get lunch and rest. Rocky’s New York Style Pizza was our restaurant of choice. On the outside of the restaurant there was a sign which said “Absolutely No Alcohol Sales – Don’t even ask.” However inside the restart was setup to serve beer, which makes me think they lost their liquor license. We got a large sausage pizza. We stopped by Stater Bros grocery to get a 2 liter Mt. Dew and then back to the pizza place. We ate the pizza at the hotel. We were still a bit hungry afterwards so we had some chips and cookie After a nap we headed out to the national park again for some sunset and night shots. Sharon remarked that the stars were brighter than she’d seen before, even at church camp. Tomorrow we drive to San Diego for our final full day before flying back.

We slept in this morning. Sharon had suggested we visit the Mojave Desert Lava Tube and a Sand Dune. But both of which were difficult to get to. So we slept in until about 8AM.

The manager of the hotel was cooking breakfast including eggs and omelettes. The hotel breakfast room was small and crowded and Sharon convinced me that we should skip breakfast and eat our sweet rolls in the room. There must have been a misunderstanding with the manger who said he was waiting on me to place my egg order as we were packing up. Technically the breakfast ended at 8:45AM and I figured if we weren’t there it was a sign we weren’t coming. I said I was sorry. Later on we gave our keycard to the maid (who offered to take it) so there wouldn’t be an awkward conversation with the manager about the missed breakfast.

We drove a good two hours to 29 Palms. Along the way we saw towns and settlements remiscent of Perfection from Tremors. Honestly I don’t know how these people made a living if just on ranching cattle. As we got closer to 29 Palms the Joshua Trees became more and more frequent, dotting the landscape and in people’s yards.

29 Palms seems much bigger than it actually is. The downtown business section is a bit small. It is near a military base and also it appears to be a gateway to Joshua Tree National Park, with the park headquarters in town, a good 3 miles from the actual entrance. We stopped at the headquarters and overheard the ranger telling another visitor that parking lots were full and they should consider just finding a legal parking space at a less visited park attraction. Sure enough as we entered the park at 12 noon many of the parking lots were full. We decided to drive to the other side (and hopefully less crowded) part of the park.

We ate lunch at the southern end of the park. It was too cold to eat outside, so it was back to the car for us.

We managed to stop by Cholla Cactus garden after the crowd had died down and we found a place on the side of the road to park. These cacti are otherworldly. It would be something I would expect to see on Star Trek. Sharon and I wanted to go to Keys Point – the highest point in the park. As we were driving there we saw low hanging clouds and decided the view probably wasn’t optimal. We decided o drive back to the Cholla garden for some sunset photos of the cacti.

Our hotel is a converted apartment complex. We have a kitchen, den, and bedroom. Sharon and I bought ingredients to make spaghetti and had a nice meal before I did laundry.

Tomorrow we plan on seeing more of Joshua Tree National Park, hopefully timing our visit to avoid the crowds.

It was a cloudy morning when we got up to head out to see Death Valley again. Like the Bandit we had a long way to go but a short time to get there. After breakfast in our room (the hotel doesn’t provide breakfast) we drove out and saw a few burros grazing on the side of the road. Seems the burros are like deer in the eastern US. They’re wild and could provide for some traffic disruptions. We passed by the Devil’s Cornfield, an unusual area of vegetation of stalks of bushes. I missed the parking area so we just slowed down to take photos. Next was a sand dune area. I had been to a sand dune before in Colorado. This one had a bit more vegetation around it rather than the usual ones you picture from Lawrence of Arabia. We got some good pictures and headed west. After a good hour’s drive through Stovepipe Wells camping area we made it to Father Crowley’s Overlook. It was a nice area with parking and bathrooms. A very short drive on a gravel road let us to “Star Wars” canyon where the Air Force pilots do their maneuvering. We stopped at Stovepipe Wells General Store just to see what they had. Thankfully we had brought our own meal, as the general store only sold snacks. We would have had to eat at the restaurant across the street if we had no food. Did you know there are fish in Death Valley National Park? Supposedly in a stream you can find these fish. We tried to go there but the road was closed and we would have had to hike in. We stopped by an overlook (with the crowds). I walked to the top and saw hikers from a far off walking around. At the top you could see for miles and miles. We then drove to Dante’s View up through some steep switchbacks to a very cold top. It was snowing, albeit tiny flurries. It was amazing to see such a vast difference in weather in Death Valley. Afterwards we drove through Artist’s Drive for some great views of the colorful mountains. Later we drove to the Devil’s Golfcourse for some views of weird mud dried land. It looked like something off another planet. We stopped at the salt flats at Badwater Basin where the crowds were overwhelming and parking was at a premium. We stopped for a few minutes before making our 2 hour drive to Baker, California. In Baker we ate at the Mad Greek. It was a restaurant featured in Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. We had gyros which was a great change to our palette. We drove another hour to Barstow and turned in for the night. The hotel was Roadway Inn. The owner had some friendly dogs dressed in Christmas sweaters to greet me upon arrival.

Morning broke at our B&B in Parhump. We seemed well rested to take on the day. After getting gas and ice at the local Maverick gas station we set off to our first stop – the Armagossa Opera House and Hotel. The Armagossa Opera House and Hotel was the cummulation of an eccentric lady’s wish…that is…to build a theatre in the middle of nowhere. It’s an hour’s drive from Parhump. Looked abandoned with paint pealing everywhere. An unwelcoming sign stating “No Public Restrooms – Don’t Ask” was displayed in the window of the hotel office. Previously I had told Sharon that we HAVE to stay here. But now I’m glad we didn’t. Seemed unusual, if not haunting. Plenty of YouTube vloggers had ventured here making it somewhat of a anomoly in sea of casino hotels just hours away. What *if* we had stayed there? If there was an emergency, then the nearest town, Parhump, was an hour’s drive away. Taking that risk for the bragging rights to stay at the hotel would have made us vulnerable. We ventured on to our stop – Death Valley National Park. After taking a photo in front of the sign we went to the vistor welcome center. There’s some what of a photo opportunity to take a photo in front of the temperature gage (after all it’s the hottest place on early), but today it was only 55F. After buying a map and Christmas Ornament we went to a Borax mine with displays of a wagon and some old buildings. I wondered how early settlers carried in water and how they watered their horses. Also the Borax they mined was actually deposited on an old ancient lake bed. Next was a hour drive to a crater in the northern part of the park. We passed by what would probably be the world’s loneliest picnic area in the middle of nowhere. We weren’t hungry at the time, but decided to eat there later on if there was no later options. Miles and miles of nothingness were our views from outside our car window. I wondered how it seemed to early settlers. What was their take on this wilderness. Or maybe they were so used to it, it didn’t phase them. Whereas with modern society miles and miles of untouched wilderness is an anomaly. Someone close to me said you have to just about make some wilderness areas National Parks so they don’t develop it. We arrived at the crater and found the elevation had made the weather change. COLD wind was blowing around us. We decided to eat lunch of cold cuts in the car. Afterwards we ventured out ever so slightly to take photos. There were people walking about the rim of the canyon, but because it was so cold I decided against it. Nearby was the road to the racetrack – a picturesque sight with seemingly moving boulders. But rental cars were not recommended as the road was not paved and flat tires were common. We moved to to visit Ryollite where a free outdoor art display and ghost town was the tourist attraction. The outdoor art display featured an artist resprentation of da Vinci’s Last Supper consisting of ghostly sheets around non existent figures. Other displays includeded a mine craft naked Venus de Milo statue and a concrete couch with mosaics etched in. The ghost town consisted of buildings in ruin. They were fenced off keeping me from exploring. We took several photos before heading out to Beatty. Initially the hotel clerk was unavailable when we arrived. This got us worried, but we decided to see what was available in town…and it was pretty much some mom and pop restaurants and a Denny’s connected to a hotel. We returned to find the clerks available and checked into room 6. We went back to Ryollite to take pictures of the Last Supper at sunset and got supper to-go at Denny’s. Tomorrow will be another visit to Death Valley before heading out to Baker for supper and Barstow for the night.

It was the day after Christmas in Las Vegas and I’m certain some lonely individuals spent the entire Christmas Day and into the night playing slot machines. As sad it sounds, it’s probably true.

After checking out of the hotel we drove to the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign. As expected there was a line for photos….and an Elvis impersonator who probably would have posed with you for a fee. Instead of waiting in line we posed just right off the side and got our selfie.

Next it was onto Seven Magic Mountains, an art installation south of Las Vegas. After a brief drive on a road parallel to the interstate we saw the color stacks of rocks on the horizon. Plenty of people had heard about this and were doing poses around said installation. I had to select my photos carefully cropping out people. These rocks are supposed to be taken down in 2022 so we were glad to visit them.

We drove back to Las Vegas to go to South Valley Church of Christ. It was unusual in that this congregation did not have a separate building. Rather it appeared to be part of a strip mall. A friendly man offered us bottles of water from their fridge. We settled down in the auditorium right after Bible class was over. We were greeted by a handful of people. The sermon was looking back on 2021. This church had been broken into twice on consecutive Sundays in 2021 and I’m not sure if they caught the thief or thieves.

The church was friendly and the sermon was thoughtful and scriptural. We will definitely visit back next time we are in the area.

Lunch was at Raising Caines, a Zaxby’s clone. Fries and chicken fingers were on the menu. The Texas toast was better than Zaxby’s. We ate in our car.

We then drove to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation National Conservation Area. We had reserved a 1PM time for our scenic drive. Apparently this park is so popular that timed visits are recommended. I myself had not heard of the park until we started planning for this trip. There were plenty of pull offs but with few parking spaces along the way. On one particular one I climbed down to the bottom of the canyon and dodged the folks wanting to produce glamour shots along the way. As a side note I think that with the advent of camera phones, the monopolizing of picturesque sights by selfie poses have increased the problem 100 fold. These people really just care about themselves and don’t care to let others take photos.

We visited some petroglyphs on a 10th of a mile hike. The wind cut us bitterly. I was underdressed with only a long sleeve dress shirt and light jacket. When I saw highs of 60 I figured my heavy coat was overkill.

We drove to Parhump, about 30 minutes away to the K7 Bed and Breakfast. Connected to the B&B was the K-7 Pizza restaurant which we got supper at. We stayed in the room and watched the Carol Burnett Show and Home Improvement before heading out to Wal-Mart for our pickup order.

I told the Wal-Mart associate that I was here on vacation and he said “Vacationing in Parhump???” – “Well, we are visiting Death Valley” I told him. I guess locals don’t see their town as a tourist attraction when they’ve lived there for so long.

Tomorrow we are visiting Death Valley, and ironically we are bundling up.

When we planned this trip way back in July 2021 I had wondered what was it gonna be like to travel on Christmas Day. After doing some research I discovered that Christmas Day is one of the lighter travel days of the year. And sure enough the lines at BNA were short, but the flight *seemed* full. The annoying problem in front of us were some entitled people who wouldn’t wear their masks over their nose. I really wish Southwest would have enforced the mask policy. But it seems that it is so late in this pandemic that we’re all suffering from pandemic fatigue.

4 and a half hours in the air is just about as much time as I want to stay flying right now, especially with the lights turned on. My wife Sharon said that her leg room was much better compared to the configuration of the Frontier flight of 2019. We won’t be going back with Frontier.

We were able to get a rental car without much trouble, albeit a bit of waiting. Bonus: We got a BMW X3, a luxury vehicle in a sea of Teslas and Limos. The stick shift took some getting used to as it is not like other cars.

We checked into our hotel – Home 2 Suites – which we had stayed at before. It’s not a casino hotel. Rather it’s probably for long stays as there is a kitchen in the room.

Our next conundrum was to find a place to eat – someplace open on Christmas Day. We struck out with Domino’s and IHOP. We found solace with Buffalo Wild Wings….a busy foyer full of to-go orders for door dash…and after about 45 minutes…a dry bleu cheese burger and season fries on par with Burger King (pre crinkle era) fries.

Since we were tired as we were 2 hours ahead of Nashville time, we went to bed early to get ready for a day of worship and visiting parks in the area.

The labor shortage is alive and well in New Hampshire as we tried to eat breakfast at the Littleton Diner, but it was closed due to the labor shortage. We ended up eating at McDonald’s. While getting gas I managed to spill gas on my jeans (blaming it on the stream not cutting off automatically. So I had to change my jeans in the gas station restroom.

The Old Man of the Mountain was a stone outcropping on a New Hampshire mountain. It had the appearance of a profile of an old man, but sadly it collapsed in 2003. The view point shows where it once was.

Afterwards we drove through the Kancamagus Highway through some beautiful scenic views. And it seems that everyone else was there too as the parking lots were crowded (on a Thursday). We were fighting for parking spaces much of the time. We managed to get some view views of the river gorge.

Next was to find lunch. We were in North Conway and decided on Taco Bell. It was cheap and easy. We ate at a nearby park.

Next was onto Crawford Notch State Park for some colorful views of the mountains and hills. We even saw Mt. Washington covered in clouds at the summit.

We ate at Wicked Burger, a niche restaurant. I ordered a burger with bleu cheese, but whatever sauce they put on it was not all that good and overwhelming. We tried to get Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream at the local shop, but they were closed. So we ended up going to Wal-mart to get their ice cream there.

Next for our last full day we will drive along the New Hampshire coast.

After packing up, getting ice from the ice machine, we headed to the local Lennox grocery store to pick up our picnic meal for the day. Timber Inn was a nice quaint hotel which probably gets busy during winter for skiers.

We ate at the Springfield Royal Diner. Our eyes got the best of us as many in our party ordered more than what we could eat. It was a good breakfast. I could tell the diner was popular with locals as it seemed regular customers knew the staff.

Afterwards we stopped at several covered bridges. Some on outlying roads. One seemed to be a relatively major link between Vermont and New Hampshire…and was a two lane bridge.

We tried going to Woodstock, hoping to stop to look around the town and take photos, but the crowds were just too much. I’m not sure why certain towns like Woodstock and Stowe turn into tourist attractions, while other sleepy towns are void of tourists.

We had a late lunch at a small waterfall near Willoughby Lake and stopped ever so often to take photos of the scenery near the lake. I spotted a cemetery near the lake and thought “What a great view for the dearly departed.”

Next was on to Derby Line, a border town with Canada. We were disappointed to find that the border was closed only for emergencies….and even then you had to be double vaccinated and have a negative covid test. We took pictures of the library before driiving back to our final destination, the Village Inn in East Burke.

The Village Inn is more of a bed and breakfast without the breakfast. We each had our own rooms with our own bathroom. I did laundry and wished I could have gotten into the hot tub before it was closed up.

Tomorrow is New Hampshire.

Behind the high school with the Seahorse as a mascot is a beach park connected to Lake Champlain. You could tell they were getting ready for winter as the picnic tables were stacked under a pavilion. Out in the water a sailboat glided along the water. The beach was likely an artificial one. Nearby the remnants of a fire sat. This place probably was popular among locals durin the summer. However the onset of fall with he brutal cold of the winter was foreboding.

Next was on to Stowe by way of Smugglers Notch. And the word for the day was crowded. We were “leave peepers,” or so the Days Inn sign said. We are in the peak season of this area of Vermont, with the fall colors bursting forth. And it seemed that everyone else was out too.

Next was Stowe and traffic jams. But this was the postcard town you see on Vermont travel brochures. I missed a turn to get into a picnic area and ended up doing a long detour. The picnic area had two very strange art installations. One was a bilboard stating “Are you here?” While another one seemed to be a silk screen t-shirt making booth with slogans like “Smiles without freedom” and “There is no sun without a song.”

Up the stairs I went to view the down. Nestled in between the tourist shops were (likely) multimillion dollar homes where people actually lived.

After lunch we craved Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, so on to the ice cream factory we went. Even with the factory tours cancelled until 2022, it was still crowded. We visited the Flavor Graveyard with funny tombstones of how and why they were discontinued.

The line to get ice cream was an hour long…and it seems that although Ben and Jerry are politically liberal, they’ve managed to embrace capitalism and making money. They managed to fool consumers that the ice cream at the factory was somehow better than the one at the store. So these visitors had no problem waiting an hour in the line.

Next was on to Ludlow to stay at the Timber Inn, a very quaint, family run hotel. Our hotel keys harkened back to yesteryear before scan cards were a thing. We had pizza from Ludlow Village Pizza before turning in for the night.

I think Lakeview Orchard served a dual purpose. Apple orchard and tourist attraction. I’m not a big apple fan (my mom would argue with me stating I *used* to eat apple sauce as a small child. There is a difference between what I like to photograph vs. what Sharon likes to photograph. At the orchard, I found myself photographing old run down orchard trucks, while Sharon photographed mums and other flowers. At the shop we found a type of apple twice as large as a regular apple. We bought several apples, donuts and apple cider. Next was on to the highest point in Massachusetts. A foggy drive with foggy views with an occasional stop to let hikers cross the road. Afterwards it was on to Vermont. I am glad to say that this 4Runner did not require a refill throughout Massachusetts. Instead just over the border into Vermont we stopped. Next our lunch plans were modified. The diner which we had thought about eating at was closed for Columbus Day. So we got sandwiches to go at a deli in town and ate at a park filled with ducks. We stopped a covered bridges where locals and tourists converge….some wanting a good photo, while others just want to commute across the bridge. We stopped at Middlebury to look at the town waterfall before heading out to Burlington for supper at Al’s French Fries. We ate in a outside picnic table covered with greenhouse cover. The Starlight Inn was our home for the night. It had 4 screens for a drive in with an accompanying hotel of about 10 rooms. We got the Julia Roberts room with her movie posters on the wall. This hotel has a nice ambience at night. The glow of the movies playing on the screen coupled with the neon lights on their hotel sign and roofs. I’d be happy to stay here a bit longer, but we have the rest of Vermont to see.