Tiny Dinosaurs

 

Wild turkeys! A whole little flock of them...

Why did the turkeys cross the road? 

Abandon

 

The desert is filled with abandoned buildings. Here are some in the Imperial Valley in California and in Arizona.

California Dreamin'

 

Dune It

The Algodones sand dunes, in Imperial Valley, are really really cool--and it is absolutely delightful to not see people on vehicles driving up and down them!

 

Red Wood

 I would venture to guess that only in California can you walk inside a redwood log while getting lumber...

Route 66 Road Trip Day 10: Homeward Bound

Kingman, Arizona, to Hesperia, California, then home (boo, but also yay!).

 Umm...why?

 On the road--a windy, twisty, two-lane road--to Oatman.

 We started off way down there on the desert floor...

 You climb up and up...and then wind back down to Oatman, famous for its "wild" (now exceedingly tame) burros. Allegedly these are the descendents of burros used by miners when Oatman was in its heyday. It is now a rather ticky-tacky touristy place...but the burros are very cute and quite sweet.

This burro did NOT read the message about staying off of the boardwalk.

 Fun with stickers...

 This is Route 66 west out of Kingman, one of the very prettiest drives, especially this time of year with the spectacular wildflowers everywhere. It is, in fact, a designated National Scenic Byway.

 All along the way there were hundreds of these stacked rock sculptures/cairns.

 This is a spot in the road called Goffs.

 Ludlow, where we stopped for pie (sort of good) and coffee (undrinkable, perhaps because there was a notice posted on the cafe warning of higher than normal levels of arsenic in the drinking water...).

 The world's largest fire helmet, in Barstow.

 Amazing amount of snow on the mountains in March...

 Muffler Man #10, in Mentone, in a yard with lots of stuff in it (it can't compare to the yard full o' stuff in Glendale, though...).

And so the trip ends...

It was incredibly fun--so many cool/wacky/beautiful/melancholy places! We hiked, we photographed, we ate ice cream, and we got to spend uninterrupted (relatively unplugged) time together. Heaven!