Holiday Road Trip!

We were blessed to visit family in Nevada for Christmas. Instead of flying, we chose to drive. I want to post a selection from each area we visited (America truly is "The Beautiful"). So here we go with Day 1 & 2.

Even though I have a great camera & lens, I found it easier to use the cell phone for quick snaps through the windows, so bear in mind - the following are not from the Canon.

I thought this would be a boring drive, knowing we were going thru the s/w section of Oklahoma & the Texas Panhandle. But there was beauty to be found, if you just looked for it.

Of course, I love seeing the wind farms and was excited when the first one came into view. Some we passed went on for miles.

We saw a LOT of trains! The neat thing was you could see them forever because of the flat landscape.

I got some video of two trains passing each other in opposite directions. It was almost hypnotizing, really a unique sight.

New Mexico was very scenic with its mesas or plateaus - not sure of the difference.

So many cool photo ops off the highway. I-40 runs alongside Route 66. We saw many things that were probably must-see tourist stops in the 50s-60s but are dead like roadkill today. Even so, they would make great urban-decay kind of photographs.

That would be a different plan for a road trip, though. You would need to be intentional about figuring in time to pull off the highway, backtrack & then get back on the highway. Or just plan a Route 66 trip.

Arizona was gorgeous! I thought it was just totally desert, but I'm told the southern route thru Phoenix is more like that. I-40 was hilly with pine trees & snow on the ground. I went looking for pictures, but it looks like I only shot a couple cell phone videos there. (videos take too long to upload here).

By the time we hit our northern trek towards Las Vegas, the sun was going down.

I remember we were listing to NPR during this time and all we could think of was an old SNL skit with Alec Baldwin, "Schweddy Balls." The radio hosts really do talk like that, all whispering monotone.

Getting closer! First casino in sight was at Boulder, NV. Our route didn't take us past or over Hoover Dam this time, which was disappointing. I saw it once before at night and it's magnificent.

Next up: Las Vegas!