Still concerned about flying, but wanting to get away, we planned our 2nd pandemic road trip. The weather is getting nicer, things are starting to open up, we’ve been vaccinated so we’re good to go! Although we went a similar direction back in the Fall of 2020 (Pandemic road trip #1), we wanted to stay in different towns, and see and experience new things, so we planned a different route for most of the trip.
Tuesday morning, we had a hot breakfast at the hotel then we were on our way to Idaho Falls, which is a pretty town with the Snake River running through it. It was about a 7-hour drive, through Butte, Montana. Our hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn, was next to the river although our room did not have the river view. That evening we had dinner at the New Hong Kong Chinese restaurant.
Our hotel was not serving a hot breakfast, so we stopped at the Black Bear Diner in Idaho Falls, before hitting the road for our 3 ½- hour drive to Park City, Utah. Park City is surrounded by beautiful mountains (some had a little snow still) and was the home to several of the competitions during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games.
In Park City, we stayed 2 nights at the Park Plaza, which is an RCI property. It’s an older hotel but pretty inside and very comfortable. Our room had a patio and a fireplace. Dinner the first night was at the No Name Saloon and Grill which was very good. I had the Philly Cheesesteak and Doug had Fish and Chips.
Thursday morning, we had breakfast at the Eating Establishment right on Main Street, which has a lot of little stores and shops, but is on a hill. Afterward we walked across the street for coffee. We parked at the top of the hill and took a walk down to the bottom. Doug stayed close to the car so when I was ready, he came by and picked me up. I don’t think I could have made it back up that hill!
Later that day we took a drive to the Sundance Mountain Resort which Robert Redford originally owned, but now it is privately owned. It is in a beautiful setting in the mountains. From there we went to the Olympic Park where several of the events were held during the 2002 Winter Olympics. Dinner that evening was at the Windy Ridge Café. The weather was nice enough to eat outdoors, where our visitor was a little 3-year-old that was going to every table wanting to know everyone’s name. Very cute!
Friday morning, we drove about 5 hours to the town of Kanab. It was a pretty drive through the mountains near Bryce Canyon and some of the places we had visited last September. We went to the Rocking V Café for dinner which has a western theme with several things to see on their property.
Saturday, we drove 5 hours or so to the Sedona Springs Resort where we stayed for next 7 days. We had been to Sedona back in May 2018, but it was a new resort for us. I had gotten a studio instead of a one bedroom, which was okay, but it would have been nice to have a little bigger room.
Sedona it beautiful and we didn’t get tired of seeing the red rocks and formations. The resort had a pool, so I got to enjoy it several times, and just enjoyed relaxing and reading while Doug was catching up on work.
Our friends Patti and Harold were in town and met us Sunday and Monday evening for dinner. Sunday, we ate at the Cowboy Club on their patio (excellent food!) and then Monday, at the Corner Table, which was near their hotel in Oak Creek Canyon.
We took a tour of Boynton Canyon on the Magic Trolley, went to Jerome one day, and another took a 4-hour train ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad. Jerome is an old copper mining town with very few residents. We walked around for a while, then had lunch at the Bobby D’s, a very busy barbeque joint. We also enjoyed the Verde Canyon train ride.
One of the days we took a drive through Oak Creek Canyon and stopped at the Chapel of the Holy Cross and several viewpoints along the way. We ate lunch at the Oak Creek Brewing Company while visiting Tlaquepaque Village.
Some of the other places we ate while in Sedona were Tortes de Fuego (great food!), Thai Spices (yummy and brought back leftovers for a 2nd meal), the Coffee Pot for breakfast (over 100 omelet choices!), Olde Sedona Bar (just so-so) and the Open Range Grill and Tavern uptown for lunch. Several places closed early or were only open for take-out since there was a shortage of people willing to go back to work yet, especially in the food service industry. This wasn’t unique to just Sedona, we saw this all along the way.
Saturday, 5/8 we checked out of the resort and drove to Goldfield Ghost Town near Apache Junction, AZ. It was a fun place to visit and have lunch at the Mammoth Steakhouse. We spent that night in Mesa at the Best Western and had dinner at the Mesa Cracker Barrel (one of our favorites!)
Sunday, we drove to Imperial Beach, California for a 4-day visit to Doug’s old stomping grounds. While there we were able to visit with Marty and Glen, had dinner with Glen, Bart, John, and Jim one night. Since learning of Glen’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis during our last visit, we really wanted to see them again. Although some change, we had a nice visit, and we were both were glad we got to see them again. 
We ate at Jalisco’s one night with the group, the Coronado Brewing Company, lunch at the Tin Fishat the end of the pier, Bali Hai on Shelter Island for lunch, and one night at Panera for dinner. Even with the day’s being a bit hazy we were able to catch a sunset on of the evenings.
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On Thursday we started heading north, which to me marks the coming to an end for our road trip. We drove to our next destination, stopping for lunch with Stefan at Bob’s Big Boy (a tradition, it seems!). We stayed in Pismo Beach where we had a great dinner at Ada’s Fish House, then got to see another beautiful sunset on the Pismo Beach Pier.
Friday was a long day, about 7+ hours’ drive to Redding where we met Kristi for dinner at Marie Calendar’s (yes, the still exist!) and spent the night at the Hampton Inn.
Saturday was another long day to the Brad and Kaycie’s in Oregon City and the chance to see grandkids, although we both were tired.
We got home Sunday afternoon. I’m ready to start planning our next road trip but in the meantime, we will finally get to do some long-awaited traveling via water and air. Stayed tuned for more!
