There is no reason to stay in Odessa unless there is no money to travel. A trip to the Grand Canyon starts with the first stop in Cloudcroft, New Mexico:
Then a 20 minute drive to Alamogordo, New Mexico for one night.
White Sands is about an hour away from the Valley of Fires, where rocks and dirt are black:
New Mexico is truly the "land of enchantment," thanks to its hidden and some unhidden wonders, but half of the state is perhaps just shrub land. Deming was the place where I stopped for the second night, and the shrubs continue almost all the way up to Tucson, Arizona. About 45 minutes before Tucson, you can find an area of mainly yellow trees (in the spring?!). Trees were not close enough to make a forest:
You won't see any cacti other than prickly pears until you reach the eastern Tucson city limits, and on the west side, you'll find them everywhere:
Phoenix, as well as the highway between Tucson and Phoenix is full of Saguaro cacti as well:
Thanks Lalo for letting me stay for the night. The highway from Phoenix to Sedona is beautiful. Surprisingly, right after the exit to Bumblebee Road you reach higher plains and you can see that Saguaro Cacti stop growing there, even though they were visible ten feet behind you. This can be seen from an overlook called Sunset Point:
Saguaro cacti grow on one side of the creek only! Right before Flagstaff, you can take a detour to the Sedona area, and this is what you can find:
And Flagstaff has everything you need, except for Whataburger, and perhaps non-stop flights to Monterrey and Europe:
There is no better way to describe the Grand Canyon than taking you there, but this is kind of what it looks like:
One last view of Flagstaff before driving back to Albuquerque:
Amarillo was the last stop before heading back to Odessa. This Church was cozy, and there were lots of pretty girls:
I hope you join me next time!
