Monthly Archives: July 2009

On reccomendation from a man at a fruit stall on the side of the road in Sedona, we set off to Durango Colarado. On arrival we where faced with ridiculously expensive motel rates so decided to shop around. We decided the motel claiming to have the ‘Best deal in Durango’ would be the go…

Once we settled into our safe house we decided the best thing to do was go rafting! When in Rome… So we raced across town to try and catch the last trip. We got there in time, but it had been booked out for the local council bonding session. We thought it would be appropriate to tag along…

The next morning we hit the road again to suggestion destination 2: Tao’s, New Mexico. When we got there and discovered it was ‘Disney Mexico on crack’ we decided to buy a tent and keep driving to Las Vegas (New Mexico, not Nevada – Tao’s wasn’t so bad it drove us to booze and gambling). We arrived at the quaint little town with not much time to spare before nightfall and embarked on a magical mystery tour to the closest campsite. We were told Patrick Swayze lived in the mountains so we thought if all else fails we could always bunk at his, sure he wouldn’t mind. We got to the campsite and set up the tent in the dark – which is always fun, then realized we had no food – which is equally as fun. But the fun didn’t stop there! As we settled into the tent for the night a thunderstorm kicked in and literally made it’s way into our tent, forcing us to sleep in the car.

The next morning we set of  to Amarillo, Texas. It was delightful, we stayed in ye oldy worldy Camalot Suites which was situated right on the highway and had a slap up meal at Denny’s which also had a great view of the highway. At least the staff at the motel appreciated our visit…

Next stop on the recommendation trail: Oklahoma City. We sweet talked our way into a great deal at a plush hotel in Bricktown and had a delightful meal at Pearls Crabshack where we were spoilt with free bloddy mary’s and crab beads, not to mention the best crabcakes ever!

The free drink theme carried on into the night which also saw us getting involved in Oklahoma history at the ‘Land Run’ monument. We blended in so well that we almost got mistaken for statues by a passing tour boat on the canal.

Last stop on our whirlwind week was Ouachita Lake, Arkansas where we continued the theme of setting up the tent in the dark and getting rained out.

We also managed to get a flat tire, which was a blessing in disguise really a we got to meet this lovely man…

About half an hour after he left the tire went flat again.

First stop in Arizona was at a ‘Hot Spring’ on the side of a dirt road. After sleeping in the car the night before we were looking forward to a bit of rejuvenation! We asked for prices and were told there were private areas and then a general access area, we thought the general access sounded the go, until we were told it was strictly nude only! Suddenly the trukkie specials and the 1 hour room rates were starting to make sense… We opted for a private area (as private as a bamboo fence can be) and finally had the hot spring experience we were after.

Next stop was Scottsdale, Phoenix to visit Hayley’s childhood friend Heather and her gorgeous family. We were made to feel at home instantly and got stuck into play time with the little brunettes.

The next night we were invited to attend a Yelp event which saw us eating, drinking, mingling and posing. Our first night on the town since the Mexico event, we came away unscathed and met some awesome people.

We also snuk out in search of more entertainment and found it on the back of a pink golf cart:

We didn’t want to leave Scottsdale and the lovely Lee clan, but when the road called we reluctantly packed our bags and headed out for one last ‘girls night out’ with our new sisters!

On the road again we headed for Sedona which was beautiful but also full of tourists which we have an aversion to so we drove through it and onto Flagstaff in search of something a little less normal. We found it in a crusty motel next to the very active train tracks and variety of local weirdos. Next on the list was Jerome which we were dying to see but a little too scared to stay the night having been tipped off that it was extremely haunted. We drove through and it was stunning, but we pressed onto another town found on a whim called Prescott.
Being a Monday night we didn’t expect much to be going on but after a stroll down Whisky Roe, a saloon lined street we found there was a lot going on and partied the night away with a group of locals who told us our escape from haunted Jerome was in vain as the hotel we were staying in was indeed haunted! Our new found friends also offered us to stay in a cabin ( unbeknownst to the owners) for one more night and to throw us a BBQ. We were happy to accept the invite but unaware of the ulterior motives

The next morning we were invited to have brekkie at Jed’s (not exclusive to Bondi and 10x better). After a good feed we got into the swing of things and went huntin!

It was hard to say goodbye, but the road was calling us once again and we had to get back on it to Colorado.