Tuesday, July 14, 2009

...To Shining Sea

STATES VISITED: Arizona / California

I don't have many pictures to post today, because -- well, because most of the landscape was pretty much the same. In some spots the sagebrush and scrub was a little more withered and brown than in others, that's all. We drove down from Phoenix to I-8, making the connection at Gila Bend. I got pictures of the rattlesnake and brontosaurus sculptures in front of the Shell station, but I was driving at the time and my backseat photographer (you know Hugh you are) failed to get the shot of the World Famous Cactus Burgers restaurant. That and the Space Age Motel appear to be the only landmarks in Gila Bend.








On and on and on and ON through the desert of southern Arizona to Yuma. We finally hit California and hoped the landscape would turn a little more verdant, but -- surprise! -- it just turned into sloping powdery sand dunes (the Imperial Dunes National Recreation Area -- though what specific recreation they offered was not clear at all).

Entering California was a little weird, though, because there were so many checkpoints stopping traffic on the interstate. I would have taken pictures but Bob told me I couldn't, because they might think we were terrorists and subject us all to strip searches. (??) The first was an agricultural checkpoint ("Are you bringing in any fruits with you?" Does Tom count?) and the next two were out-and-out border crossing checks, even though we weren't crossing the border. I-8 runs right along the Mexico border and out of our lefthand windows we could see what looked like a long continuous fence, just past a high bank of packed earth. Paranoia strikes deep. It got so we felt terrified of getting off an an exit and accidentally wandering into Mexico -- what if we couldn't get back over?

Then we hit some mountains -- the tail end of the Santa Rosas, I guess -- which looked like nothing but immense piles of brown rocks. We went from below sea level to 4000 feet elevation in about 15 minutes. There were signs on the interstate advising drivers to turn off their car air-conditioning so the cars wouldn't overheat while powering up those inclines in the brutal heat. Barrels of water were set along the highway for drivers to refill their radiators if necessary, and we saw two or three cars pulled over with the hoods propped open. Believe me, we turned off the AC willingly. It was pretty unpleasant for a few miles, but better that than the alternative.

Beyond the mountains, things gradually got greener, and we began to descend into the San Diego area. San Diego has always been one of my favorite cities -- it's a shame we can't stay and enjoy it. But as we reached our hotel, we saw San Diego Bay glittering a few blocks away, and knew that we'd finished our cross-continental odyssey.








We had time to walk over to Horton Plaza to do a little shopping -- how nice to be somewhere where you can walk outside without swooning! -- and then drove up to University City to have dinner with my Aunt Kate and her friends. Kate is pushing 90 and still works 5 days a week as a travel agent. These are good genes to share. She chose the restaurant and -- YAY! -- it was P. F. Chang's, so those Chinese food yearnings I'd been stifling since Kansas City finally were satisfied. (See there, Grace?)

Our plane is at 8am tomorrow, which means waking at 5 (ouch!!) to get to the airport, so I'd better wind this up now. I'll add the pictures tomorrow, when I'm reunited with my computer -- and my dog and my cat and my own bed. Hard to believe!