USA > Autumn Drive from Vegas to Santa Fe

This is a trip that we did in October 2018, with a rental car picked up at Los Angeles Airport LAX. The story begins at Las Vegas.

[Some entries may have multiple photos – please swipe sideways to view them all, Instagram-style.]

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Las Vegas. Driving into Vegas at sundown (after a 460km drive from LAX) is visually impressive, not to mention half-naked dancers crossing the Strip at will. 😂 [I'm starting an Instagram series on our trip to southwestern USA last fall. Copied to Facebook too.]

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 8:03am PDT

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Hoover Dam. From Vegas it's just a short pleasant drive to Hoover Dam, built across the Colorado river in the early 1930s. It was meant to control floods, to provide irrigation, and to generate hydroelectric power. All useful stuff! An amazing engineering feat back then, it's still spectacular now. The dam itself straddles the Nevada/Arizona border. 😁

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 8:36am PDT

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Hoover Dam. That's the border she's pointing at, the Nevada/Arizona state line – she is in Nevada, while I am safely in Arizona. 😂

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 8:39am PDT

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Hoover Dam. We are on the Nevada side, I think. 😁 I guess that's a 220m (or 720ft as the Americans prefer) drop to the Colorado River down below (or what's left of it). 😂

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 8:09pm PDT

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Seligman, AZ Less than 3 hours drive to the east from Hoover Dam, through the desert of northwestern Arizona, we find our motel just outside the town of Seligman. This is the famous Route 66 territory, so the icon is everywhere! 😁

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 8:27pm PDT

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Seligman, AZ. The nice landlady put us in her premium motel room, with a John Wayne theme! There's a drawerful of Mr Wayne's videos in VHS format. Of course there's a working VHS player linked to a CRT TV. How quaint! But we draw the line with that life-size cut-out of the man himself, at the bathroom door. We fold him nicely and tuck him somewhere safe, hidden out of view. 😂

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 9:21pm PDT

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Seligman, AZ. With the resident kitty at the desert motel. There's another one just like him but we could not find it. 🤷🏻‍♂️

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 9:41pm PDT

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Seligman, AZ. My turn with the fluffy but heavy resident meow at the motel. I just love ginger cats, like our Ella back home in Kuala Lumpur. 🐈

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 9:45pm PDT

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Seligman, AZ. This is one short stretch of the original Route 66 still in use, just outside Seligman. Such original stretch of the famous road is normally marked with the iconic Route 66 logo at both ends. 🤩

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 9:51pm PDT

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Seligman, AZ. Seligman is synonymous with the legendary U.S. Route 66. A popular stop along the historic Route 66 between 1926 and 1978, it faded away when an interstate bypass was opened. Now it's recognised as 'Birthplace of Historic Route 66'. The town 'Radiator Springs' in the Disney movie 'Cars' is believed to have been inspired by Seligman. 🤩

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 10:18pm PDT

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Seligman, AZ. Next to the original Route 66, there's a busy railroad line, with very long cargo trains passing through nonstop. Sometimes with interesting loads such as army tanks. So we park our California rental car along Route 66 and do a bit of train-spotting. I guess this is a legit Route 66 activity. 😂

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 11:11pm PDT

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Seligman, AZ. Dusk walkabout, exploring a bit of its good old days. The Wells Fargo office and the county jail are interesting. 🏜️

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 11, 2019 at 11:38pm PDT

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Seligman, AZ. This is indeed Radiator Springs, that's Sheriff … and Mater at the back. 😂

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 12, 2019 at 1:13am PDT

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Seligman, AZ. Having fun with Mater in Radiator Springs. 🤩

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 12, 2019 at 1:26am PDT

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Grand Canyon, AZ Two hours drive from Seligman took us to the Grand Canyon at the top end of Arizona, but yeah, who would have thought that it'd be snowing so heavily in mid-October! Must be the altitude – the southern rim is about 2000m high. 🤷🏻‍♂️

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 12, 2019 at 1:44am PDT

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Grand Canyon, AZ. Of course it's a Unesco World Heritage Site, since 1979, one of the early ones.

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 12, 2019 at 4:06am PDT

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Grand Canyon, AZ. Snow, clouds and freezing temperatures soon threaten to spoil the experience, so after a long walk along the rim, we decide to quit. Maybe we'll come back later. 🤷🏻‍♂️

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 12, 2019 at 6:25am PDT

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Route 89, northern Arizona. Leaving the Grand Canyon, we head north towards the Utah border, and soon enter canyon territory. I'm pointing at a huge chasm in the ground (with a huge mesa in the background), most probably Marble Canyon, gouged out by Colorado River, which is also responsible for creating the Grand Canyon downstream. A truly awesome river!

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 12, 2019 at 6:43am PDT

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Glen Canyon, Page, AZ. Snowed out at the Grand Canyon yesterday, so we seek this one out as some sort of compensation – Glen Canyon. 😂 Also carved out by the hardworking Colorado River.

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 12, 2019 at 7:12am PDT

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Glen Canyon, Page, AZ. Close up of the legendary Colorado River, rose in the Rocky Mountains, created spectacular canyons and rapids, abused by man for irrigation, drinking water, and hydropower, to be dried out in the desert of Mexico, even before reaching the Pacific. All 2300km of it. Poor fella. 😢

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 12, 2019 at 7:41am PDT

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Page, AZ. Page is an obscure town at the top of Arizona, just next to the Utah border, with just 7000+ people, and of all people, we had fish & chips at a joint owned by a true Arizonan who spends Jan and Feb of each year in Phuket (complete with visa runs to Malaysia). Meet Don, who married a Hatyai girl, owner of the fish & chips shop and the Thai restaurant next door.

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 12, 2019 at 9:30pm PDT

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Monument Valley, Arizona. Figurines of the Navajo spirits at the visitor centre of Monument Valley, a huge wild desert area managed by the Navajo Nation, the largest tribe in the USA. It straddles the Arizona/Utah state line. Very fascinating landscape!

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 1:31am PDT

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Monument Valley, northern Arizona. You know you are approaching a special place when you start getting this type of landscape. 🤩

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 2:46am PDT

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Monument Valley, northern Arizona. The iconic sandstone buttes and mesas of Monument Valley are quite difficult to let go. You never grow tired staring at them. So spectacular. 🤩

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 3:10am PDT

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Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah State Line. Monument Valley straddles the border, so you keep crossing it. But now we are gonna leave Arizona for good. 😂

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 3:34am PDT

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Monument Valley, UT. It's on the Utah side, along Route 163 heading south, that you get this iconic view. People just stop at will and pose right in the middle of the road. Just look out for traffic from both directions to avoid getting killed. 😂

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 3:46am PDT

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Four Corners. At Four Corners, where the states of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico meet at a point, we enter NM at a not-so-welcoming state line. My model wouldn't pose with it. 😂

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 6:30am PDT

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Aztec, New Mexico. Mistaken for Aztec ruins by the early white settlers, this place turned out to be the ruins of a 12th-century Ancestral Pueblo settlement. These people were the ancestors of present-day Pueblo Indians. They used to live in communal multilevel dwellings called 'pueblos', and this site is a fine example. A Unesco World Heritage Site.

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 8:10am PDT

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Aztec, New Mexico. We love doing this, walking among ancient ruins. In this case the thousand-year-old remnants of well-planned communal multilevel homes of Ancestral Pueblo Indians.

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 8:19am PDT

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Aztec, New Mexico. Almost a thousand years old, these advance multistorey dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblos are. It is estimated that in this excavated complex alone there were more than 500 rooms, apartments perhaps? 😁

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 8:26am PDT

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Aztec, New Mexico. Exploring the ruins of 12th century homes of the Ancestral Pueblos in northern New Mexico. Were they really small people? 😁

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 8:35am PDT

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Aztec Ruins National Monument, northern New Mexico. We are most happy when we are exploring ancient ruins. 😂

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 8:43am PDT

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Aztec Ruins National Monument, northern New Mexico. Well-presented ruins of 12th century settlement of Ancestral Pueblo Indians, a Unesco World Heritage Site. Well-planned township comprising multilevel communal homes, complete with an impressive circular subterranean community area. Amazingly advance.

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 8:50am PDT

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Carson National Forest, northern New Mexico. Leaving Aztec Ruins, we head for Santa Fe, about 330km away to the southeast. But first a scenic drive through some fantastic autumn/fall countryside. 🤩

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 7:08pm PDT

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Carson National Forest, northern New Mexico. Beautiful countryside indeed, in northern New Mexico.

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 7:17pm PDT

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Valles Caldera National Preserve, northern New Mexico. Driving eastwards with the historic Los Alamos ahead … probably infamous for being the birthplace of the A-Bomb, but I'm a physicist first. So a pilgrimage to Los Alamos it is, on the way to Santa Fe. 😁

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 7:32pm PDT

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Los Alamos, New Mexico. Arriving at Los Alamos, obviously a very high security area, one must get a clearance pass to enter. 😂

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 7:43pm PDT

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Los Alamos, New Mexico. "Where Discoveries Are Made" An apt slogan for Los Alamos. The place in the desert where the A-Bomb was concocted and delivered during WW2, to be succeeded by countless other discoveries at the world-renowned Los Alamos National Laboratory. Out of 12000 people living in Los Alamos, a third are employed by LANL, the main contributor to the local economy. 😁

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 11:00pm PDT

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Los "Atomic City" Alamos, NM. Statues of the two leaders who led the Manhattan Project (in 1942-47) — Dr J Robert Openheimer & Gen Leslie Groves — stand along the main road in front of the Fuller Lodge, where the A-Bomb theoretical work was undertaken by Openheimer's team. Birthplace of the A-Bomb indeed.

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 11:19pm PDT

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Los Alamos, NM. Standing in front of the house once occupied by physicist Hans Bethe, a key member of the Openheimer's A-Bomb development team. Also 1967 Nobel Prize winner in Physics. This Los Alamos visit was some sort of closure to me. I had visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and went on to see the B-29 Enola Gay on display at the Smithsonian near Washington DC. So I just need to come here to see where It was born. 🤷🏻‍♂️

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 13, 2019 at 11:38pm PDT

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Santa Fe, New Mexico. The legendary Santa Fe Railyard where a hundred years ago it was a key interchange for three major railroads. Nowadays it's more of a meeting place for people due to being a hub for food, entertainment, shopping and events. Missing the wild west trains. 😁

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 14, 2019 at 2:08am PDT

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Santa Fe, New Mexico. Oldest church structure in the USA, San Miguel, originally built by native Indians from northern Mexico around 1610.

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 14, 2019 at 2:28am PDT

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Santa Fe, New Mexico. Right next to the oldest church in the USA, there's the oldest house in the USA, or so it's claimed. Originally built around 1646, typically adobe or mudbrick.

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 14, 2019 at 2:48am PDT

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Santa Fe, New Mexico. Staircase with colourful mosaics in an old building in downtown Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico.

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 14, 2019 at 7:06am PDT

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Santa Fe, New Mexico. The only train to be found at the Santa Fe Railyard now is this suburban commuter called the Rail Runner. With the Road Runner as the promoter, of course. 😁

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 14, 2019 at 7:17am PDT

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Santa Fe, New Mexico. Less than 200 years ago this was the trail for pioneers to push west to explore newly-acquired American territories and for trade to flourish. The real wild west. Later it became less significant as the Santa Fe railroad was built in the late 1800s.

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 15, 2019 at 3:22am PDT

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Santa Fe, New Mexico. Strolling the old part of Santa Fe (founded 1610) around Santa Fe Plaza, is interesting especially along the old buildings which have been turned into shops. Very strong Mexican-Spanish influence since New Mexico used to be part of northern Mexico, to be annexed by the US after the Mexican-American War 1848. (Are those azulejo tiles we saw in Tunisia? 😁)

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 15, 2019 at 5:01am PDT

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Santa Fe, New Mexico. Vets congregate at the Santa Fe Plaza for some event. The US Marines motto 'Semper Fidelis' means 'Always Loyal'.

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 15, 2019 at 5:57am PDT

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Santa Fe, New Mexico. Just imagine, these guys came all the way to Southeast Asia for the Vietnam War 1955-1975.

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 15, 2019 at 6:00am PDT

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Santa Fe, New Mexico. Our California rental car (a comfy Nissan Versa), which we picked up at Los Angeles International Airport LAX, taking a breather somewhere near Santa Fe. So far we have driven it for about 2000km generally heading east (LA to Santa Fe). From Santa Fe we will turn north to Denver, Colorado, before returning to LAX via southern Utah. Should be lotsa fun. 🤩

A post shared by Naim Y (@naim.yunus) on Sep 15, 2019 at 3:38am PDT

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