A vacation within a vacation....

[Gofirstclass]

GW and I have been at our place in the Phoenix area for a week or so and decided to take a mini-vacation while we were here. We booked at room at Loew's Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson. Our plan was to come home on Sunday to watch the Seahawks/Bucs game but that changed when we started looking at a map and decided to head to the small town of Globe, AZ. We stayed Sunday night in Globe then headed to Lake Roosevelt, Tortilla Flat, then back home. It ended up being about a 450 mile trip but we saw some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen.

I've posted some pics so c'mon along...

Here's where we stayed in Tucson....

Here's a shot taken between Tucson and Globe...

We left Globe Monday morning and headed to Lake Roosevelt...

Roosevelt Dam....

And the bridge over the dam....

Here are some more scenery shots from the Apache Trail between Roosevelt and Tortilla Flat. This headwall at the end of a long canyon has to be about 1500' tall and at least 1/2 mile side to side.

This cave was in that same area. Check out the smoke on the cave ceiling. I wonder how many Indian fires were built in there...

From that same area...

I wonder who the old fart with GW is????

(Cont.)

 

[Gofirstclass]

The road we were on was the Apache Trail; it was 22 miles of washboard dirt road but the views made it worth the drive. PH, it's a LOOOOOOONG way down some of those canyon drop-offs. Unfortunately for GW she was on the side of the truck where in many spots she could look almost straight down for a couple thousand feet. I took it real slow (about 10-15mph) and we stopped frequently to take photos. As I said earlier, the photos just do not do the scenery justice.

Here are some more shots from the trip on the Apache Trail. BTW, It gets its name because the road was carved out of the mountains by the Apache Indians, mostly by hand and using horses for some of the work.

Here's the only wild animal we saw on the trip...

More scenery...

Finally we got to the paved road again and then we were in Tortilla Flat. It has an interesting history and it's a privately owned town. Over the years it has been bought and sold several times, and now has a population of 6.

This is the original school house.

Here's where we had lunch. Every bit of vertical surface in this place has a dollar bill (and many foreign bills) tacked to it with someone's name and date on it. This was started many years ago and continued until the entire place (except for the ceiling) is covered.

It would be very hard to say what the highlight of this trip was. There were so many spectacular vistas to enjoy and they were so different from each other....and so big. It's one of those things that you'd have to see to believe.

 

[HUMPH]

Did you notice all the wrecked cars on the side of the hill where you took the shots of the headwall? Countless folks have fallen to their deaths off that road. You can see one wreck in the lower left corner of that shot you took.QUOTE] Nah, no car....just a hiker. I love visiting that area and have played golf at Ventana. Beautiful country! Heading to Prescott in the Spring for a wedding and will probably drive up to Sedona. I used to have a reason to visit Sedona on occasion but not since I have been married.

 

[Bella Bella]

Wow, the hotel view is incredible. Breathtaking, thanks for sharing. Looks like another one for my bucket list!

 

[IanBat]

Great photos, thanks for sharing


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Gofirstclass]

Scott, we didn't see any, but it wouldn't surprise me. At the head of that part of the canyon where the road switchbacks from one side of the canyon to the other there's a one lane bridge. That's right were most of those photos were taken. The view up the canyon walls and down to the canyon floor a few miles away is amazing.

Humph, is there something in that story you're not telling us....maybe the former reason for visiting Sedona? GW and I went there on our honeymoon. Beautiful area. We stayed in a B&B and had a great trip. Jerome is pretty cool too. Just an old mining town tucked up in the hills.

 

[Quint4]

Did a trip out there in '04....we still talk about it....amazing country. Thanks for the pics.

 

[WarrenG]

We came in 1988 from NY and never looked back.......and year round boating to boot!

 

[320Bob]

GFC,
The Admiral I got tried to drive to Tortilla Flats and ended up at Roosevelt Lake. We saw a sign for TF on the road around the dam but when we looked at the narrow road plus the headwalls so we chickened out and turned around. The views I have at Bartlett Lake are almost as spectacular as the ones in your pictures. If you want to go boating some weekend day that you are in Phoenix, PM me and I will be glad to take you out on the lake.

 

[HUMPH]

Scott, we didn't see any, but it wouldn't surprise me. At the head of that part of the canyon where the road switchbacks from one side of the canyon to the other there's a one lane bridge. That's right were most of those photos were taken. The view up the canyon walls and down to the canyon floor a few miles away is amazing.

Humph, is there something in that story you're not telling us....maybe the former reason for visiting Sedona? GW and I went there on our honeymoon. Beautiful area. We stayed in a B&B and had a great trip. Jerome is pretty cool too. Just an old mining town tucked up in the hills.

Put it this way, I used to stay at the Enchantment Resort in a Casita for free while courting a young lass.

 

[AMFM3]

Looks like a great trip Mike! Thanks for sharing...


Mark

 

[Gofirstclass]

Warren, that's a nice looking boat. Where do you do your boating with a boat that size?

320Bob, PM heading your way!