Our Next Trip: A Southwestern Meander

Next week we will leave on the first trip of the year.  It is a road trip throughout the southwestern US that will take us through some beautiful places, weird places, and old stomping grounds.

Our first stop will be the Biosphere 2 in Arizona.  The Biosphere is open for tours.  I was hoping to stop at Petrified Forest National Park along the way, but it doesn't look like we will have the time due to the Biosphere 2 closing times.

Our next stop Will be in Kanab, UT.  We will be here for three nights.  We are hoping to hike to see the Wave.  Access to the Wave is strictly limited and you get permits via lottery.  We have heard stories of people trying for over five years without getting a permit.  The company we are working with will send people to the Bureau of Land Management office to see if there are cancellations.  If there are none, the company offers hikes to similar wind carved features in the area.

After a couple days of hiking, we will drive to Las Vegas.  Here we will attend two shows.  The first is the BattleBots Destruct-A-Thon.  The second show is "The Wizard of Oz" at the Sphere.  This is more of a way to see what the Sphere has to offer than watching the movie which we have seen umpteen-zillion times already.

After las Vegas we drive to Chinatown in Los Angeles and visit with friends in our old Ventura County stomping grounds.

We then drive up the coast, spending a night in one of our favorite places, Cambria, CA.  Here we will have tri-tip sandwiches and enjoy the shops and the beeches.

Our last planned stop is the World Famous Clown Motel in Tonopah, NV.  We reserved the Exorcist room.

We were hoping to go to the speed trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats but there are none at this time of year.

The return home from the Clown Motel is currently unplanned.  We may add a stop or two along the way back but we will be playing it by ear.