Corolla, NC Trip - Day 2

Left early this morning to try and beat the traffic on the drive to Corolla. We arrived well ahead of the masses and made a day of shopping, snacking and checking out the area. It has been a cool and rainy first couple of days. Looking forward to sunshine.

More from Monticello

Here's a few more from Monticello, including old TJ himself. I was taking some pics with the 360 camera too, when he stopped and said, "That amazes me! If I'd only invented that I wouldn't have gone bankrupt." 

Monticello - Home of Thomas Jefferson

Took a break from the 8 hours on the road today to stop and tour Monticello. Blows my mind to walk the same home and grounds where Things Jefferson lived and walked!

Packed and Ready for Corolla, NC

Packed the Pathfinder and ready to pull out at 6am for the long day 1 drive tomorrow. 

Arizona Trip in 360

 Here's a link to some of the 360 Degree images I took on our recent spring break trip to Arizona. Click on the link or copy/paste to a new tab, then select a picture and click the loop arrow in the middle of the pic to load the image. After the image loads you may click and drag the image in any direction to view the whole picture...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SYvTq3oqAqgZUAcs5 

Final Post of Our Arizona Trip!

We closed out the trip and the evening by spending some time in the hot tub and taking a few pictures from The Butte. It has been a wonderful trip and we plan to come back again. Now that we've seen so much of this area of Arizona, we will try to focus on a single destination the next trip out. Looking forward to seeing family and friends when we get home! 

Papago Park

 After dinner, we took a drive up to Papago Park and walked up to these strange, but beautiful red sandstone formations. As big as Phoenix is, it's nice that there are so many outdoor things to do right in the middle of the city. We didn't visit it, but Camelback Mountain is another such example.

Dinner at Oregano's

 Great dinner at Oregano's. Wonderful atmosphere and very good Italian food!

Loop Complete - Back in Phoenix

 After seeing Montezuma Castle, we drove south to Phoenix and we were able to check into the Marriott Phoenix Resort Tempe at The Buttes early. It was great to spend some time by the pool and just relax and get a little sun for a while.

Montezuma Castle National Monument

 Last day of travel! After breakfast, we drove up to Montezuma Castle to view this very old Hopi Indian dwelling. I thought we'd have to hike down to them, but we parked, paid our entry fee and only had to walk about 500 feet to them. 

 

Closing Out the Day

After arriving back in Prescott, we cleaned up and walked downtown for supper at Papa's Italian Restaurant. Apparently, they are a very popular place and we needed a reservation, so we abandoned that plan and looked up some other places. That didn't work out very well either. Apparently, many Prescott businesses close early or don't open at all on Tuesdays. So, we decided on a restaurant that had already passed the food and atmosphere test and found ourselves back at The Palace. We tried something new on the menu and it was just as good the second night in a row ;) ...Tomorrow (today, as I am posting this very early the next morning), we plan to head up to Montezuma Castle National Monument and take a look at the ruins, before heading down to Phoenix for the homestretch of our 5-day adventure.

Red Rock State Park

We grabbed a quick lunch back in Cottonwood, then made the 25-minute drive back up to Red Rock State Park to do some hiking. There are several loops to choose from. It was nice to get some much-need exercise and take in the views.