Just off route 66 there is a small town called Flagstaff. Situated just below some mountains this town is often used as a entry point for the Grand Canyon and that is why we came here. Grand Canyon is a little over an hours drive away and we got up early to get a good start. After arriving we spent a couple of hours walking around before we sat down for a nice meal at the Bright Angel Lodge. Then we headed down the Bright Angel Trail. We were warned, repeatedly, to not set off on a longer trek down the trails of the Grand Canyon. The temperatures further down easely get as high as 45 - 50 c on a summer day like this and can result in fatal dehydration if you are overly ambitious, so we decided to make a short trip down the trail and then head back up.


Later in the day, back in Flagstaff, we headed to a local diner. Its was Rockabilly night and the place was packed with people dancing swing and listening to rock classics from an old jukebox. We ordered some hamburgers and wings with some of thebest milkshakes ever. A great meal and and a fun night later we turned in for the night.

Monument Valley

We woke up and got the first look at the scenery around us. It was funny how our surroundings had changed so completely, from the mountains last night, to red sand desert today. We grabbed a quick breakfast by the San Juan River, and then drove a half an hour to Monument Valley. We took a drive down The Valley Trail, an unpaved road in between the “rocks”, which lead us to an unexpected chance to go horseback riding. Riding a horse in Marlboro country was an experience of a lifetime. And it was no easy ride either; as we rode the horses on cliffs about 60 meters high and had the most amazing view over the valley. The rest of the day we hung out at The View hotel, enjoyed a great meal and waited for the sunset. More than one day would almost be too much here, as the place is so beautiful, it will blow you away..

Rocky Mountains

We headed out from Pueblo and after a short ride we were at the base of the Rocky Mountains. The climb was steep, as we passed 3000 meters above sea level the temperature dropped below 15c and it got pretty cold. The landscape was made up of tall trees and snowy mountain tops. We decended into a town called Montrouse, filled up on gas and headed out towards what is called the Million Dollar Higway. Once out on the million dollar highway it became apparent that we had ended up in the middle of an illegal street race. Expensive sportscars with decals ran past us at what had to be over 200 kph. The cars were everything from Ferraries to limousines and it was clear that they were buildt to race. We saw a police car catch one of them but most of them just blasted through traffic along the narrow roads. There must have been at least 40 or 50 cars total and we encountered them all the way to Monument Valley. We later found the web page for the race, bullrun.com.

If you ever find yourself in the rocky mountains we cannot reccomend Route 550(the million dollar highway) enough. While not for the faint of heart, as the drops are huge and there are no protective railings, the ride in of it self is one of the most beautifull we have ever experienced. Check out the video below for a short impression of the route. Afer clearing the million dollar highway we rode until night and checked into a hotel at the Mexican Hat.

3 states - 1 day

We were ready for another day of driving, the goal was to get to Colorado before nightfall. The scenery in Texas changed dramatically as we drove west. The multiple lane interstates were replaced by a highway through ranch country, and the landscape shifted to much drier and trees were replaced by low bushes. As we entered New Mexico, trees were nowhere to be seen, and soon enough we were driving an absolutely amazing road through endless fields that just disappeared into the horizon. After the brief 100 mile drive through north of New Mexico, we made it to Colorado, and were suddenly driving a breathtaking roller coaster highway through the mountains. 

 

The Lone Star State

We were sad to leave New Orleans, which has earned the title of one the coolest cities we’ve been to, but setting course towards Colorado and cruising through Texas is not bad either. We had a long day’s drive, spending 13 hours on the road. Luckily our car is very comfy, and it beats sitting in an airplane for 13 hours for sure. The Texas interstates do not offer any panoramic view, but they get you where you want to go fast. Once we got off the main road, we got a real taste of the Texan landscape and glimpse of a beautiful sky at sunset right before checking in at a road—side motel for the night.

New Orleans - Day 3

We spent the day shopping, strolling around the French Quarter, eating delicious food and just basically taking it easy and soaking up the atmosphere on our last day here. Even on a Sunday, the town is filled with impressions.

New Orleans - Day 2

Today was laundry day, life is exciting, we know. So after doing all of that we headed down to check out the market. We had lunch at Angeli's on Decatour, they do sell some tasty pizza and wings there. I lost a chess match against a really good street chess player. We had a relaxing day, not doing much at all, as we wanted to rest up. Later we headed out to see some live bands. We wanted to give Bourbon street another try as we felt we may have been a little harsh towards it in our post yesterday. And we actually found som really cool places tucked away inbetween the larger ones. First we went to see a real good band at Fritzel's. They had a great live act with a full band on stage. After that we headed next door to the Funky Pirate and sat in on a great blues show. The singer Big Al was pretty awesome and his show pretty much made our night. And that concluded a lazy day in New Orleans.

New Orleans - Day 1

We headed out from Natchez in the morning, New Orleans was only a 3 hour drive away. After a ride on what has to be one of the coolest highways in the world, basically a very very long bridge over swamp lands, we approached New Orleans. We had decided to stay in the French Quarter so we drove straight down to Jackson Square. Luckily the GPS made it very easy to get there, without it it would have been a much harder task to navigate the maze of highway exits needed to get where we wanted to go. After walking around the French Quarter for a little while we found a hotel that we were very happy with. Great location, great rooms and a decent price made this the best hotel so far. We rested up for a bit and we decided to head to Jackson Square to get something to eat. After navigating through all the fortune tellers, artists and crazy people with purple hair we found a great little restaurant and we decided to try some Cajun food. We had alligator, gumbo and jambalaya, very tasty. It was no surprise that the alligator tasted a bit like chicken.

Later we were ready for some live music and some drinks so we headed up to the Maison Bourbon on Bourbon street and watched a great live jazz band. We were there early so Bourbon street was a bit quiet when we arrived. As we left the Maison the street had completely changed. We discovered that Bourbon street has an abundance of overly drunk people drinking cocktails from plastic cups shaped as grenades and small shops selling "huge ass beers" for 2 dollars... So we decided that the best way to have a good time in New Orleans is to stay off circus Bourbon street and find small bars that have live music. We headed to Frenchman's street and found some bands playing music in the streets and a great duo playing blues cover songs in the backyard of the BMC. All in all a great first day in New Orleans.

Down to the river

We left Nashville early, and drove west towards Mississippi. In Memphis we had our first sight of the Mississippi River, which was impressive and we stopped for a walk around downtown and had a mouthwatering lunch at a local café.  Memphis was a cool town, not touristy at all, and had real character. We headed south on US61 that took us through cornfields after cornfields and charming small towns along the road. We took a detour and drove the highway 1 closer to The River and found a picturesque place for a quick bite along the shore, before driving to our destination for the day, Natchez.