5/23/08 Our Day Long Road Trip

We decided to brave the cold and take a road trip today. Our Quail Run friends that we are here to visit, John and Bonnie McMullen, gave us a map with a trip marked that they took several days ago. Cooler packed, clothed in warm clothes and full tank of diesel we were on our way.

Here's the route we took.

We weren't on the road too long before we came across this highway sign.

The clouds were low in Oak Canyon.

Highway scenery .

We made a stop at this store and the one next to it.

Outside were some sculptures made from chrome. Each piece was polished and painstakingly fitted together and welded.

This eagle taking flight is just beautiful! Such detail!

This Indian figure greeted newcomers.

We went inside for a few minutes and looked at all the Indian jewelry, pottery and figurines. Each one handmade and painted.

The pottery caught my eye! I talked with a saleslady and she told me that each one is hand thrown and PAINTED! I can't even imagine......

Needless to say these things are very expensive. We saw lots of pottery in thousand dollar and up range. There was one that I really liked but it was behind glass so taking a picture was not an option. It retailed for $3400.00. I considered buying it but it figured I would walk out the door and promptly drop it. Believe that this Queen of Cheap would even consider spending that kind of money then you need to talk to me about the ocean front property I have for sale in Montana.

When we stepped outside we saw this little fellow. He must be a full timer too, he takes his house with him wherever he goes!

Our next stop was right next door. The Indians Gardens Store.

This store was part grocery store, gift shop, deli and lunch counter. Out back they had tables and chairs set up in a garden setting for the lunchtime crowd. It would have been very nice to sit out there while Bob ate the bowl of chili he bought but it was much too cold.

Getting on our way again we stopped to take some pictures.

We stopped at Midgley Bridge to take even more pictures.

There was a trail we could walk along the canyon walls.

There is so much color in these rocks!

How would you like to have this for your view?

The road took us through this little town named Jerome. We would have liked to have taken the time to walk through the town but by now the temperature had dropped even further, or we were in even higher elevation, and it was way too cold. At one time the town of Jerome centered around the lifeblood of this community, a copper mine.

The downtown section of this town is up near the very large building in the picture above. The streets are very, very narrow and twist-y and winding. We passed this one home that is evidently rooting for Hillary for president. Unfortunately, we passed too fast for me to get a picture of their "display". On their chain link fence they had a large banner that read Hillary for President and on each side of the banner they had red, white and blue large sized bras hooked on the fence. I thought that was very clever.

It was our leaving this town that convinced me that I shouldn't ever leave the house without taking a dose of Dramamine. We had to go over a very large mountain and it wasn't a straight shot! Oh no, switchback after switchback, hairpin turns at 15 mph, it took us forever to get over this mountain!

Above is just a short segment of the road we were on. You can see how high up we are, just look at how far down flat land is! I spent most of this part of our trip with my head near the open window getting fresh air. Damn this motion sickness!

We saw some beautiful sights today but the cloudy skies certainly didn't help do the pictures justice.

After arriving home, we turned up the heat to help get rid of the chill and we chowed down on soup and sandwiches before settling back to catch some TV.