Back to reality....and Floozies

Hi peeps

We are back from our mini vacation :-(

We had a wonderful time but now it is back to the grind. Before I get back to work thought I thought you could all come on a virtual road trip with me.

We headed off through Arizona and it hadn't occurred to me before we left that we'd be going pretty high in the mountains. So we saw a fair bit of snow and it was somewhat chilly :-) I even had to scrape ice of the car before I could go get coffee one morning :-)

We pretty much hightailed it though in order to get to Socorro on time. Stopping briefly to check out the Very Large Array.

Luckily, we managed to snag the last hotel room. There were hundreds of people in town. All of them coming to the open day at the Trinity Site.

We had some time so managed to visit the Bosque Del Apache Bird Sanctuary just outside of the town.

Where the Rio Grande isn't too grand at all.

Then, the next morning we headed out to the Trinity Site bright and early thinking it would be swarming with people.

It is 12 miles out of Socorro to the Military base gate then another 17 miles though the base.

The crowds weren't actually as bad as we'd expected them to be.

The whole site has been left pretty much as it was which was a pleasant surprise.

The crater caused by the blast is now covered over.

All that has been added is a small monument.

Most of the trinitite (atomic glass) has been plowed over and removed but there were still some small pieces on the ground if you looked.

From the site there is a bus service that takes you to the MacDonald Ranch where the bomb was put together. This was pretty impressive as it was little more than a shack and hard to beleive something like an atomic bomb could have been made here.

After visiting here we decided to head up to Albuquerque and check out the Atomic Museum where we looked at lots of bombs and nuclear reactors :-)

And now that the main mission of the trip was over it was time to meander back home.

We spent the night in Flagstaff, AZ and toyed with the idea of visiting the Grand Canyon but, with all the snow about, it was just too cold so we decided to leave that for another weekend. Then it hit me how lucky I was that we live so close to the GC that we can visit any time we choose. For many people that is a trip of a lifetime.

So we decided to go check out Oatman, an old wild west town that, although really close to us, we've never seen.

So we hopped back on the old route 66 and drove up into the mountains.

The roads were somewhat interesting to say the least:-)

We planned on stopping in Oatman which was a good job....there was a gun fight going on in the street so there was no driving though :-)

Rather a cute little town in the middle of nowhere. The place is full of donkeys. It used to be a mining town and the donkeys are the descendants of the original mine donkeys. They really ruled the roost :-)

The town has been kept in the old west style and was full of silly named stores.

And places where you could buy a pair of knickers with a wind chime lol

From here we headed out to Laughlin which is a mini Vegas. right on the Colorado River. Close to home and a nice last night stopover. We didn't win any money but the hotel room was only $23 which is the cheapest I've ever paid for a hotel room ever. Even the nasty out to the way motels are more than that these days.

Then it was time to really head home.
Through the Mojave desert which always seems to take forever.

Back onto Route 66.

It always makes me a little sad driving on Route 66. What was once the most important road in the US has now been overshadowed by the freeways so there is often little left except abandoned restaurants, motels and gas stations.

Even the infamous Amboy shoe tree has fallen over.

.

The bra and kicker tree is slowly getting filled though :-)

Past the dry salt lakes...

Through Palm Springs with all her windmills...

And home, into a storm. No that isn't my house unfortunately but this is our city.

Now it is back to work....I have floozie orders coming out of my ears :-)

Hope you enjoyed the virtual road trip.