Our fearless crew: Jimmy Kakkanad, Alfred Garcia, Stephanie Hwang.
The equipment: 1 Toyota Prius (with a properly functioning accelerator... so far), 1 Magellan GPS, 3 Ipods.
Things that immediately excited me about the Prius:
1. Watching the MPG meter go up to 100
2. It has 2 glove compartments! Immediately above the normal glove, there's a second smaller one. The technology is stunning.
Anyway, we started off a little slow, with typical LA traffic on the 10. Things picked up once we got onto 40. There's 2 drives I typically make through the middle of nowhere: 5 between LA and San Jose, and 15 between LA and Vegas. I must say that 40 is a much more scenic drive than both of those, especially once you get into Arizona and start seeing the sweet rock formations.
We were on the lookout for cacti (I'd never seen one in person before), when we came across this.
Is it some sort of UFO? A giant golf ball? We had to find out, so we got off the highway. And this is what we learned.
After that stop, things went a little awry. We planned to eat lunch at the Road Kill Cafe in Seligman, but couldn't get the GPS to locate it. Eventually, we got some directions from Alfred's iPhone. Following the phone's directions, we exited Anvil Rock Rd. and then the problems started. We made a right, passing by a sign that said "Primitive Road". Meaning unpaved. Meaning I felt like I was back in India road quality. Alfred tells me, "Now all we have to do is follow this road for 14 miles." After 6 miles of discussion and destroying the Prius' shocks, we decided to turn around and head back to the highway.
Eventually we did make it to the Road Kill Cafe. The interior was... interesting. Lots of animal heads on the walls.
I had a cheeseburger, fries and a Pepsi (~$11). The burger was pretty strong, excellent fries, and the drinks come in a jar. What's not to like? I don't know what Alfred and Stephanie thought of their food, and too lazy to ask them.
And to top it off, here's what they had outside.
Back on the road, we headed for the Grand Canyon. As we walked toward the canyon edge, it looked oddly unreal, almost like a painting. But then I looked over the edge, and it's definitely real. Walked along the South Rim trail, took some pictures. Highlights below.
Since the sun was at a bad angle (stupid tilt of the Earth's axis), we decided not to stick around til sunset, and took off for Flagstaff. After checking into our hotel, we headed out for dinner at Diablo Burger. This place is unique because you can order your burgers RARE. I have never seen this before, and was not about to try it. Anyway, the burgers are a bit small (the buns are english muffins), but taste amazing. I had the Cheech ($9), which comes with guac, peppers, and maybe some other stuff. The fries were seasoned with rosemary and anise. I appreciate them trying to do something different, but, as Alfred said, "It feels like I'm eating potpourri." I like the overall vibe of this place and would recommend it if you happen to be in Flagstaff.
That's all for now, future posts will probably be much shorter because this took waaay too much time. And Alfred will be throwing in some posts as well.
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