This year we decided to go back to the USA and complete
the West America Tour we achieved in June 2012
The tour of West America took place from May 24, 2012 to June 6, 2012
while traveling to California, Arizona,
Utah, next to the Colorado border
The 2017 tour focused on Indian culture in Arizona from Phoenix, New Mexico, a small loop in Texas without forgetting the Grand Canyon we visited for the second time ...
Departure the May 21, 2017 to June 3, 2017
Total tour: 2800km
Main points of interest for each stage
Phoenix
one of the sunniest
cities in the United States. During our stay, the temperature was up to 43° C.
The Desert Botanical Garden: incredible and beautiful. Wandering the paths
between the desert wildflowers and the giant cactus (saguaros)
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| Chihuly - The nature of glass |
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| Purple Prickly Pear Cactus family |
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| Saguaros |
Tucson
a large city surrounded by mountains and the Sonora desert.
The Apache Trail named the best scenic drive in Arizona let’s go to the Goldfield Ghost Town at the foot of the legendary Superstition Mountains
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| Saloon of Goldfield |
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| Jail and scaffold from which criminals were executed |
Tombstone
a real cowboy’s town.
The gunfight at the O.K. Corral took place on Oct 26, 1881 and made Tombstone
famous. We could watch Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday in a reenactment on the
famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
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| Entrance town admission |
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| From Arizona to New Mexico |
Las Cruces
and its the suburb “Old Messila Plaza” were built like a small Mexican town around his central square “Zocalo”
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| The dance of the eagle |
Traditional Native American Dances from the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico
Just a small loop to the Texas and Mexico
El Paso
Very close to the Mexican border
and in front of its twin town Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.
Go back from Ciudad Juarez must make a long queue before checking the passport!
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| El Paso first and in the rear Ciudad Juarez |
Alamogordo
a stop before going
to the White Sands National Monument. The largest gypsum dune field in the
world. A very amazing place that seems to be a snowfield but that’s not the
case! A unique variety of plants and
animals have evolved to survive.
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| A yucca has grown after be buried by the sand. The sand moved and now it will soon fall over and die |
Albuquerque
the largets city of
New Mexico (550,000 people living here) but not the capital. The Indian Pueblo
Cultural Center “where tradition inspires”. Founded in 1976 by the 19 Pueblos
of NM it is the place to discover Pueblo history, art and culture
Santa Fe
the New Mexico capital.
Very pretty town built in Mexican-Indian style and also known as a major shopping destination (hand-crafted jewelry by Native American artisans...)
the New Mexico capital.
Very pretty town built in Mexican-Indian style and also known as a major shopping destination (hand-crafted jewelry by Native American artisans...)
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| At the Plaza, dozens of Native American artisans are selling their turquoise and silver |
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| Houses in Santa Fe built in the Taos Pueblo style |
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe: an unique exhibitions of contemporary and historic Native American art (Navajo, Rio Grande Pueblo and other Native people of NM)
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| Baby on board |
Taos Pueblo
an Indian village and
one of the best place for the tourists.
Over 1000 years of Tradition
The housing is called Adobe Architecture. Adobe
is a brick made of an earth, straw and water mixture formed and sundried
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| Horno used for bake goods or bread loaves |
Not very far from Taos, the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge
Gallup
the Historic Route 66
goes to the heart of Gallup Downtown
Flagstaff
the last stop before
the Grand Canyon South Rim
Grand Canyon National Park
a
World Heritage Site that encompasses 27 miles (446km) of the Colorado River. One
of the most spectacular examples of erosion anywhere in the world.
"A Land to Inspire Our Spirit"
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| Redwall Limestone |
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| Rock nearly 2 billion years in the bottom of the canyon |
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| Up to 18 miles (29km) wide and 1 mile (1.6km) deep |
Sedona
Back to Phoenix airport we didn't miss to go through Sedona
Phoenix
It's gone again for 3.5 flight hours to Minneapolis, 8h to Paris, 1h to Bordeaux and 9 hours of jet lag...
It was a long flight, but we were rewarded and enjoyed every day of our trip
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