Day One... 615 miles traveled!

So Emily, Isabel, Dorah, and I set out this morning bright and early... sometime between 7 and 8 am.

The views driving to Southern California before noon are breath taking. Lots of deep golden hills, followed by more hills and flat lands with cashew and fruit orchards, followed by desert sands, rocks and shrubs. I may or may not have made a reference to Rohan of Lord of the Rings in my descriptions of the scenery. The southwest is so picturesque, and reminded me of studying California history and the gold rush in 4th grade.

We booked it across the Mojave desert in all of its peculiar and eerie beauty. After a delicious lunch of In-N-Out in Barstow, we drove to an old silver mining ghost town, the Old Calico Ghost Town. Paid 6 bucks to walk around the somewhat rebuilt ruins and get our cheesy tourist fix of the wild west. 

Calico Ghost Town
1881 Largest Silver Mining Camp in California 1896 

The town, if you could call it that, was very small and cute, with an old saloon that served Sarsaparilla. We nearly all died of heat exhaustion (it was only 114˚) so we didn't spend a whole lot of time there wandering around. Isabel almost left me locked in an old jail cell to die. That was cool.

Oops, sorry Maddy!

We finally hit the road again in the late afternoon, passing into Arizona over the Colorado River sometime around 7. I must say that driving on these crazy interstate highways such as I-5 and I-40, I have certainly conquered my fear of driving next to big rigs and trucks of the sort. I also must say that for a geology-loving college student driving down I-40 is really cool and there are lots of fun rocks to look at...

Colorado River

The mountains in the distance were colored purple, red, and pink while the sun set and we drove through empty lands of nothing but desert cacti, shrubs, and probably wildlife. It's hard to imagine anything living out there in this heat though. It had finally reached down to the 90˚s when we parked outside our hotel. Dinner was kinda sketchy. Looked like a more run-down version of Denny's with old white people as far as the eye could see. There was actually like no one there, yet the waitress claimed they were busy. Oh well, that is life on the road for you.

Tomorrow is the Grand Canyon :) where neither Emily or I have been. Dorah either.