The Eastern Sierras at Lone Pine CA

Last night we stayed in the Timberlake Motel in Lone Pine, CA. it was a long, 9 1/2 drive from Cottonwood, but I had reservations at the Timberline Motel, made when I thought we would be driving from Kingsman AZ. We got in about 6:30 pm, to find a small, eight room motel, an older motel nicely reconditioned and at a reasonable price. Lone Pine is a center for hikers, and also famous for being the setting for many movies, so its motels are priced fairly handsomely. We managed to find a good dinner (Seasons Restaurant) and a great breakfast at the small and popular Alabama Hills Bakery and Cafe.

I went on an early morning walk around the town, almost from edge to edge (that's roughly a six by eight block square), finding seven churches, one gated community, and a small rodeo grounds. 

The town of Lone Pine lies at the foot of an interesting geological formation of rocks that take unusual shapes, known as the Alabama Hills, with the eastern Sierras rising loftily behind. Here are a couple of pictures from my walk.

The view from the corner of S. Lone Pine and E. Post Road, where you can see our motels sign, and the ragged spires of the mountains behind.

Another view of the Sierras with the Alabama hills in the foreground.

A Visit to Cottonwood and Jerome

Our rearranged plans took a delightful turn when we discovered that a friend of Phil's, Al Paxia, was at home and able to have us stay overnight at his home in Cottonwood, AZ, just south of Sedona. I had only met Al briefly, so it was a nice opportunity to spend more time with him. A former techie at Boeing Computer Services, he lived on Vashon Island when Phil met him a few years ago, and went shooting with him several times. Al also built his own experimental plane, which unfortunately was undergoing its annual service inspection, or he would have flown us over the Grand Canyon.

Al is now living full time in Arizona, and we met his new girlfriend, Judy, whom we very much enjoyed. It was a lovely visit and I look forward to repeating it.

They took us up to the former mining town of Jerome, perched high up on the mountainside above Cottonwood, where we tasted (and bought) some Arizona wine, in a shop with a fantastic view ove the valley. No kidding--they are growing a number of wines here, and they weren't bad at all.

Here's a picture of Jerome, which doesn't really show how much it clings to the steep hillside. it's been revived as a sort of touristy hippie place, a bit like Bisbee in southern Arizona.

Introduction to Sedona

After our disappointment at not getting to see the Grand Canyon abated, we reconstructed our trip to go south through Flagstaff and Sedona, because I had never seen Sedona. We drove to Flgsatff for breakfast, not wanting to take another chance on the food at the Cameron Trading Post. We then went out to the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, a great museum with lots of artifacts and crafts to trace the history of the Native American communities in the area--among them Hopi and Navajo.

After a couple of interesting hours there, we headed south on Highway 89A, where I was awed by the stunning rock formations along the highway north of Sedona, and then again right around Sedona itself. We didnt stop, but I would like to return to spend more time looking around. 

Here a three scenes in and around Sedona. All I can say is.....WOW!

Towering columnar rocks along Highway 89A.

The sun was in the wrong place but even the shadowed outlines of these rocks were impressive.

Finally,a quick shot out the car window at an intersection in Sedona, showing some of the spectacular rock formations close by.

Rock Houses

On Highway 89A, we came across a field of very large boulders next to the road, and on pulling off to look at them, discovered that some of them had had houses built around them. Apparently some years ago a woman had car trouble by these boulders and camped inside one of them while waiting to get help. She was so intrigued by them she bought the property and constructed a couple of "houses." Not an official park, because it is still private property, it is certainly an interesting sight. Here are a couple of the boulders, one with a lean-to built around it.

Some Navajo artists set up their crafts displays in the shade of this interesting boulder that looks like a mushroom.

The boulder is almost hidden by the lean-to wall around it, but forms the ceiling, and one of the sides.

Notice this boulder has a wall construction on its left side. Looking above it, you can see where the boulders come from.

Scenes on Highway 12 and 89A between Escalante and Cameron, AZ

Today we left Escalante and went west on Highway 12 to Highway 89, where we headed south, taking Highway 89 A at Kanab to take us to Cameron, AZ. Our original plan was to visit Grand Canyon tomorrow, and Cameron is located at the east entrance of Highway 84, which takes you to the south rim of the canyon. That plan has been foiled by the government shutdown, with all the national parks being closed. So we are forming alternate plans to go through Flagstaff and Sedona, on our way to Kingman AZ on Highway 40, where we have reservations tomorrow night.

Meantime we enjoyed some lovely scenery of varied hues along Highway 12 and 89. Here are pictures of various hues of sandstone, from white, to the red Vermillion Cliffs, to interesting shades of purplish grey.