Month: May 2024

Jerome and Joshua

After we left the Grand Canyon, we decided to go to Sedona for a night, but once we saw that the cheapest hotel rooms started at $400 per night, we re-routed ourselves to Prescott. (A lot of our trip segments have been planned about 40 minutes in advance.) Prescott is a cute town filled with galleries and bars, including a speakeasy called “The Point” that serves some amazing cocktails, including this one, the “Bastard Son”:

The view into mining territory from the center of Jerome.

While we were in one gallery, the owner said “You’re also going to visit Jerome while you’re here, right?”—to which we asked “What’s Jerome?” Jerome is a former mining town that has become an artist’s colony and refuge for aging hippies. Like many mining towns, it had a reputation as being a sinful place, full of bars and prostitutes. We visited the next day, which happened to be the town’s 125th anniversary, so naturally there was a parade.

Serious small-town vibes. Plus, hippies. Amazingly, for a town of 436 people, the town has a ukulele orchestra. Even more amazingly, when I went out to Honolulu a few weeks later for a ukulele workshop, I met one of the Jerome Ukulele Orchestra members.

From there, we drove to Joshua Tree National Park. Joshua Trees were designed by Dr. Seuss were created by cross-pollinating an oak tree and a toilet brush were given their name by Mormon immigrants who likened the trees to the biblical figure Joseph, because their limbs seemed to beckon the travelers westward.

In addition to the Joshua Trees, there are cholla and barrel cactuses, plus some funky rock formations including “Skull Rock.”

From there, it was onward to the coast, Los Angeles, and the Aquarium of the Pacific. Things are now back in order.

Next: Ukuleles.

The Grand Canyon

Again, there’s nothing for me to say about the Grand Canyon. It’s there, it’s huge, and I have more photos of it than I’ll ever need. (I’ve been told that pictures don’t do the Grand Canyon justice, but apparently I felt obligated to try anyhow.) This is just a sampling from our first hike into the canyon.

This is the switchback that leads in and out of the canyon. All the little dots are people.

While our first day there was clear and sunny, the second began with a snowstorm. We stayed on the rim for our next hike. The clouds dissipated quickly, but the snow came back later for about an hour. It made for some rapidly changing vistas and weird cloud effects.

Next: Joshua Tree.

Monument Valley

Just photos, because it’s not like I can add anything. In fact, the hardest thing about this post is the editing.

The wind and rain have carved the rocks, as did some early settlers.

Next: the Grand Canyon.

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