We set out on Sunday March 1 for a two week road trip to Spring Training in Phoenix, Arizona. Along the way we had dinner with our nephew and niece-in-law and their kids, visited my uncle and aunt in Cottonwood, Arizona, had lunch with another niece and nephew-in-law, hiked in the Red Rocks of Sedona, did some site seeing and hiking in Northern Arizona, and topped it off with a mini-reunion with some old (in both meaning of the words) friends in Boise. We travelled 3,463 miles in 13 days.
Here is an overview of the route. We went in a counter-clockwise direction.
Our first stop was Sacramento, California which is 580 miles from our home. That is a long day of driving for us; but at least we got to eat at an In ‘n Out Burger joint when we passed through Redding, California!
We had a 400 mile drive to Palmdale the next day but hoped to do some walking around the next morning before hitting the road. We were lucky with our hotel selection; we discovered we where just a mile from old town Sacramento and there was a nice walkway along the Sacramento River to get there. The only bad news is the train museum which I’ve heard so much about wouldn’t open until 11:00; much too late for us if we wanted to get to Palmdale to eat dinner in Palmdale with my sister’s son, his wife, and their kids.
Nevertheless, there was plenty to see. Our first site was an object that looks like a modernistic ship sailing down the river; actually it is a water intake pumping station.
We got to the old town downtown and did some site seeing. They’ve done a nice job maintaining the old western buildins.
We encountered a beautiful statue dedicated to the pony express riders of the 19th century.
Although the railroad museum was closed we did get to see a nice restored Sacramento Southern depot
As we wondered around we saw an Amtrak river crossing the Sacramento River into town. I didn’t get a pic of the train but the bridge reminds me of the Steel Bridge in Portland: made of steel girders and carries both trains and automobiles.
We walked by another bridge before we headed back to the hotel and headed south to Palmdale
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