In late August I drove out to Oakhurst, California to visit my mom and brother's family. The first day, I drove to Flagstaff, and got to see lots of great rock formations along Highway 40. Also crossed the Continental Divide in Arizona. Small pix are below. My Gallery can access the high-rez pix.

There were lots of big & small shops along the way, millions of truck stops and restaurants, and one patch of road that had giant plastic dinosaur statues seeming to run at the highway or chew on other dinosaurs.

On day two, I drove via Hoover Dam to Las Vegas. Once there, I picked up my mom at the airport. We checked into the Stratosphere, snoozed a few hours, then saw "O" at the Bellagio. She had a great time seeing the water fountain show, the glass sculptures on the lobby ceiling, the botanical garden with the arch-squirters, etc. Circue du Soleil's show was amazing.

The next day, we drove north to Tonopah and exciting Beatty, Nevada. I was hoping to see one of the robot spy-planes as we passed Indian Springs, but no luck. Shortly after a left turn, we went down hill quite a ways and found ourselves at Sea Level. Stovepipe Wells, CA. No ocean in sight. It was pretty warm outside so I was looking forward to returning to the car's A/C as I took this picture...

Amazingly, two hours after that we were driving past Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the 48 states. We had a scenic drive that afternoon, checking out Mono Lake, snowy Tioga Pass, and winding our way from Yosemite south to Oakhurst in the dark. It was a great drive, and I enjoyed visiting family, feeding my mom's goldfish, and catching up on my reading for the next four days.

 

Great "WEST" road trip. Thanks for sharing.