Return to the Red Rocks 2024
It’s time to return to snowbird status! We have a great line-up of accommodations for a couple months of warmer temperatures to explore Arizona, so let’s get started!
Click on the first photo in each group and scroll to see the square photos at full size.
To start at the beginning of this series, visit Return to the Red Rocks 2024.
Road Trip or Should We Fly?
In the past we’ve strayed from a direct route – just a bit – stopping off for a day or two here or there to keep things interesting and to break up the monotony. Since this year we decided to just haul ass to Arizona, we were tempted to fly. We thought about boarding a plane, having a cocktail, taking a nap, and waking up in Arizona! We could be sitting by the pool that same day – avoiding three long and boring days of driving.
But it’s been a while since we’ve flown, and flights and especially rental cars have gone WAY UP! Airlines have been having issues with delayed and/or canceled flights, and there’s always the risk of lost luggage. Flying in the winter can be problematic, and we can’t bring along the staggering amount of clothes, jackets, shoes, and boots necessary to accommodate anything that Mother Nature may throw at us in eight weeks at several different elevations. We need our coolers for safe food (and beverage) transport on day trips or when we change locations. And Jim has become a pro at packing our car for optimum efficiency. Long story short – the road trip is back on.
We’re Getting to be Old Pros
We’ve been enjoying these winter road trips for five years now and we’ve gotten pretty good at knowing our limits. Our days of driving twelve hours or more are over, because we’ve regretted (more than once) trying to stretch a day to avoid that extra hotel night. It’s so much nicer to arrive a little earlier in the afternoon, to maybe see a few sights or grab a nice dinner or even make a stop along the way if we’re near something interesting. And by now we have a few favorite hotels with just the right drive-time in between – that don’t break the bank!
Mother Nature’s Sendoff
Several days before we left we got a couple inches of heavy, wet snow. Sometimes we can get away with just letting it melt, but temps were forecasted to drop and we didn’t want to risk it all turning to ice. Our backs got a little workout and we prayed this would be our only shoveling of the year. Luckily our driveway and the roads were clear by departure day.
We started our trip with a stop in Iowa. A tenderloin, a Green Bay Packer win (they’re in the playoffs!), and seeing my brother made our day! Similiar to our trip in 2019, we left a little earlier in the morning to beat a line of winter storms. Luckily we made it well below the freezing line in time, but we drove about halfway in rain, spray, and varying wiper speeds. That’s so annoying!
The weather was atrocious during our short stay in Branson, MO with pouring rain most of the time. Intermittent power outages took out our heat and literally took out our microwave (fried it) in the middle of warming our leftovers the second night. Maintenance brought a countertop version and the wait was on for the power to come back on so we could use it. It was early to bed that night, which was just as well with two long days of driving ahead.
Scroll through the photos on this page to view a few captions.
Long Drive, but a Great Evening
A nine-hour drive got us to Amarillo, and we just had to stop at the Big Texan Steakhouse. Although Jim joked about the 72-ounce free* steak he settled for a 12-ounce Ribeye and I had beef tips with horseradish mashed potatoes which were scrumptious. We were serenaded with Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain by two talented singing cowboys (for a tip of course!).
On our way out of town the next morning, we made a stop at the Cadillac Ranch to see what all that hubbub was about. Although not what I was expecting, the large build-up of spray paint was kinda pretty, especially with the sun barely above the horizon.
“Standing along Route 66 west of Amarillo, Texas, Cadillac Ranch was invented and built by a group of art-hippies imported from San Francisco. They called themselves The Ant Farm, and their silent partner was Amarillo billionaire Stanley Marsh 3.
He wanted a piece of public art that would baffle the locals, and the hippies came up with a tribute to the evolution of the Cadillac tail fin. Ten Caddies were driven into one of Stanley Marsh 3’s fields, then half-buried, nose-down, in the dirt (supposedly at the same angle as the Great Pyramid of Giza). They faced west in a line, from the 1949 Club Sedan to the 1963 Sedan de Ville, their tail fins held high for all to see on the empty Texas panhandle.” READ MORE
UFOs in Roswell
On the way to our next overnight in Deming, NM, we had another “just have to stop” moment. The Roswell UFO Spacewalk was so much fun, with a pretty cool haunted walkway into a spaceship. Visit the link for its Facebook page with funny updates and great artwork by the owner of the shop.
One alien from “Mars Attacks” greeted us at the door. We didn’t play any country music, so their heads did not explode thank goodness! In case you’re not aware, Mars Attacks is a pretty awful, yet apparently very memorable movie from 1996. When I sent my daughter its picture, she knew right who it was too!
After we left Roswell, the wind kicked up and soon a major wind advisory (in this case sandstorm advisory) was issued, in probably the worst possible place for a sand storm – White Sands National Park! That was pretty stressful between the low visibility and sudden gusts on the car. That was the first white-knuckle drive I’ve had to endure since the drive on Highway 99 from Kamloops Overlook into Whistler.
Once we were through the wind, then came the rain, then sunny skies into Deming. Dominos came to the rescue with a delivery for dinner and the next day was pretty uneventful. There’s usually something worth remembering in a picture, but not today!
Not too Bad!
We made it unscathed – although there were some intense moments. We saw a few fun things and arrived safely at our Airbnb, where for the next week we’ll enjoy some time in the desert in Tucson.
Up next: Our Casita in the Desert
Happy trails,
Barb
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