Here is a more detailed map of our 16-day route along with the key destinations.

Las Vegas

A view of as much of the fantastic Sphere as my camera could capture from our seats.

Another highlight was pizza at Lago while looking out at the Bellagio fountains, the ersatz Eiffel Tower, and pseudo Paris. The next morning I waved goodbye to Kathy and Lindsey and drove to meet more family in Arizona.

Grand Canyon NP

Jane and I took a spectacular flight over the Grand Canyon. I could post several dozen more phenomenal photos of the buttes, mesas, and deep, labyrinthine gorges.
At the east end of Desert View Drive on the South Rim is the Desert View Watchtower, along with some especially dramatic vistas. This was our favorite observation point.

Bryce Canyon NP

The next day we had an interesting drive up US-89 North to UT-12 East.


I was blown away. Bryce Canyon holds the world’s largest concentration of hoodoos — thousands of slender stone spires packed into natural amphitheaters.
For nearly three miles, you'll see the astonishing assemblies of colorful, fragile-looking hoodoos sculpted by centuries of erosion. Incredible.

Capitol Reef was a nice change of pace because this time we were down on the canyon floor, not just standing on overlooks. Plus, in the cool, crisp early morning, we had the hiking path in the deep gorge all to ourselves.
Jane enjoying the morning hike and Chuck taking photos of the sheer vertical canyon walls that left just enough room to carve a road for a stunning drive.

Bicentennial Highway (Utah SR-95)

At one point we suddenly arrived at the Hite Overlook View and stood for a long time enjoying the dazzling scene. One key element (tiny in the photo because it was so far away) is the Hite Crossing bridge — the only vehicle crossing of the Colorado River for over 100 miles upstream and nearly 200 miles downstream!


But wait, there's more. Another shock awaited us when we got on Utah 261. Not only did we see a jaw-dropping view with a dramatic vertical fall to the plain below, but we also encountered Moki Dugway with its steep, unpaved, sharp switchbacks, descending 1,200 feet from the top of Cedar Mesa.

We next made the mistake of driving the loop through the so-called Valley of the Gods. This became our only serious road trip disappointment because, despite some handsome buttes, the gravel road was so tortuous (by far the worst of the trip) and long (over 90 minutes) that it failed the cost-benefit test. Happily, Utah soon raised our spirits and our suffering spines.

Utah's Goosenecks State Park overlooks a series of three tight horseshoe bends where the San Juan River has carved more than a thousand feet down into the desert plateau. I could only photograph one since I'd need a (forbidden) drone to photograph all three.

Awestruck yet again. Can the American West get any more wondrous? Well, Monument Valley comes next!

Everyone wants to take a photo at so-called "Forrest Gump Point" on US-163 where Forrest ended his run. Over a dozen tourists have been killed here since the 1994 movie. Unwise for me to have raced out to take a photo.

The even more iconic vistas of Monument Valley were just around the corner. This view that I'd seen in films my whole life was now the view from my hotel room. Seriously!

One morning we drove around the public loop of Monument Valley. That afternoon we took a Navajo-guided tour required to see the "backcountry" area which included this sandstone arch.
On the drive south, we felt obliged to swing by Four Corners. On this cold, misty day, I had my left foot in Colorado and New Mexico while my right foot was in Utah and Arizona.
Canyon de Chelly National Monument is located in the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona. Its key landmark is Spider Rock, the two towers rising out of the canyon floor in the lower photo above — by far the most sensational viewpoint here. Just when we thought we'd seen every unique topography in the Southwest, we saw the badlands of the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area in western New Mexico. Alas, you must do some serious hiking to see the real highlights and we did not have time, but my pic above offers a good hint.
The Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico was — over a thousand years ago — the center of a thriving, complex culture that constructed large stone buildings and long roads for widespread trade across the San Juan basin. Archaeologists are still trying to understand the rise and fall of Chaco.

The top photo shows Jane standing at the Great Kiva (a center for ceremonial gatherings) of Casa Rinconada. It was built around 1100 AD.

Taos

Taos became an art colony in the early 1900s and this once small, remote mountain town has been an art center ever since. I enjoyed our two relaxing and nondriving days in Taos, especially exploring its many art galleries. My favorites were "The Ranch at Taos Gallery" (see the photo above with the influence of Georgia O'Keeffe on the right) and the extraordinary Parson Gallery of the West nearby, also on Kit Carson Street.

100th Anniversary of Route 66

Serendipity strikes again. When I planned the basic itinerary I had no idea that 2026 was the centennial of the opening of historic Route 66. But I became fascinated and decided to zero in on some of 66's remnants along our route.

In Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck called 66 the "mother road" because it was the lifeline for desperate Dust Bowl families heading west. Moreover, in the days before interstate highways, millions of others also relied on Rt 66 to go west during the decades before I-40 more or less replaced the Southwestern stretch of Rt 66 by the 1960s.

Popular culture cemented Route 66’s legend — from the song "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" (love the version above) to the 1960s TV show about two young guys drifting across America. For many of us, the images of neon motels, roadside oddities, and small‑town main streets still influence our image of the classic American road trip.

Perhaps the best remaining and still operating motel from the good ol' days is Tucumcari's now famous Blue Swallow Motel. Note that back in the day they wanted to advertise that the rooms came with TV sets and 100% cool air. This 1954 Buick Super Riviera is a sweet addition, although I'd still prefer a Corvette to cruise with Buz and Tod.
On the flat Texas panhandle, the town of Adrian boasts that this was the exact Rt 66 midpoint between Chicago and LA. Here we met a group of Polish tourists who were making the entire Rt 66 pilgrimage.
Must take my hat off to the massive Devil's Rope Museum in little McLean, Texas — said to have the world's largest collection of barbed wire and related items!

Among the "barbed wire adjacent" things was a big collection of manual post hole diggers (which brought back teen-age memories of my trying poorly to use them to dig holes for the posts for stringing barbed wire on our little farm).

Quick obligatory stop at Cadillac Ranch on the outskirts of Amarillo. This Conoco Tower Station and U Drop Inn Café in Shamrock, Texas, has been called the most striking building on along the entire old Rt 66. To me, it's a fantastic rococo art deco concoction. It will be featured on one of the eight Rt 66 commemorative stamps to be issued May, 2026.

Clinton, Oklahoma, is home to a very good Route 66 museum. 

Hoping to capitalize on centennial nostalgia, several travel guides focus on Route 66. The best sellers are:

• The Ultimate Route 66 Travel Guide: Drive the Authentic Mother Road Like the Original Pioneers
  
• The Only Route 66 Travel Guide You’ll Ever Need (2026-2027): The Complete Full Color Road Trip Planner with Clear Maps, Mile-by-Mile Routes, Must-See Stops, Hidden Gems from Chicago to Santa Monica

Palo Duro Canyon

Finally made it to beautiful Palo Duro Canyon in the panhandle of Texas. Always wanted to see the "Texas Grand Canyon" but it was seven hours away from central Texas where I grew up.
Didn't realize that Palo Duro is the second largest canyon the whole country! It's about 120 miles long, between 6 and 20 miles wide, and up to 800 feet deep.
Carved over millions of years by a fork of the Red River, Palo Duro was extra pretty at even this mediocre sunset.

Shawnee, Stillwater, & Oklahoma City

This was my first time to set foot in Oklahoma. The purpose was to see some old friends — Doug who I knew as a Baylor undergrad and his wife Kay in Shawnee, and Bob who was my outstanding mentor in grad school and later taught at Oklahoma State in Stillwater. Terrific to get to spend time with them again!

A gadget at the National Cowboy Museum took a photo of Doug and Kay and put them on a cattle drive. Since OSU teams are call "cowboys," I ask Gemini to transform a picture of Bob (an academic trailblazer) into a Western setting too.

Many consider the large, extensive National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City to be the premier institution of the history, art, and culture of the American West. I thoroughly enjoyed it.