Hamilton/Roberts Designs Woodworking : Fine Wood Boxes : Wall Shelves

Traveling from Idaho to the Southwest in early to mid-March is always a treat. For the last five years we have successfully tied two art fairs together to make it worthwhile to drive 17 hours each way to La Quinta, CA and Scottsdale, AZ. We usually drive to Twin Falls, ID and then straight down Hwy 93 through Nevada to Las Vegas the first day. Here are two shots of Hwy 93.

We love this lonely highway and the gorgeous mountains (snowy in the north) that follow us all the way to Vegas. We do take a detour at Ely, NV and take Hwy 6 and 318 rather than 93 – faster and lower elevation. The order of the shows determines whether we take Hwy 95 to Needles or, if Scottsdale comes first, continue on 93 to Kingman and I-40 toward Flagstaff to visit good friends (the Carpenters) in Sedona, AZ before heading to Scottsdale. Here's Galen Carpenter's fabulous woodturning. We sometimes turn off from I-40 at Ash Fork through Chino Valley (Hwy 89) and Hwy Alt-89 through Jerome and Cottonwood northeast to Sedona. Nice drive. Here are several photos of Jerome and Sedona.

If La Quinta comes first, from Vegas we decide if we want to make good time (95 to I-40 then 95 again down to I-10) or drive along the Colorado on Arizona Hwy 95 to Quartzsite at I-40. Quartzsite isn't all it's cracked up to be so don't make an extra effort to go through there. This year we decided to drive a bit of old Route 66 on the way to the Coachella Valley. After reaching I-40 drive west and take exit 115/Essex. Fun drive to Amboy where you take a left to Twentynine Palms at Hwy 62. Along Route 66 is where we bumped into the Shoe Tree. Not sure how it started but hundreds of pairs of shoes have been tied to a washed up tree (flash flood in an arroyo.) Some shoes from very far away – Europe, Japan, etc. People have also been leaving their initials, names and other notes, written with rocks, on every inch along the low berm that runs the entire length that we followed, about 60 miles.

Here are two photos from the La Quinta Arts Festival. Beautiful venue.

And a photo of our booth last year in front of the Scottsdale Center for the Arts. Also a beautiful venue.

Our return trip is of course also dependent on the order of the two shows. From La Quinta we'll head back the way we came through Nevada stopping at Ely for the night at the Great Basin Motel, an old fashioned, inexpensive but clean place. Black and white tile floor in bathroom and this year the thickest towel I think I've ever run across. Here are two more photos of that great drive.

Alternatively if we return from the Scottsdale show we'll visit the Carpenters again and then, depending on the weather forecast for the next few days, take 89 up through the famous Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff and continue on through Navajo country, through Page, AZ to Kanab and Panguitch, UT to Hwy 20 and over to I-15 and home. Another beautiful, lonely drive (it's before the tourist season.) Of course visit the Grand Canyon – the road to the Canyon, Hwy 64 off 89, halfway between Flagstaff and Page, goes through the area where California Condors are making their comeback. Here are two photos of the Kanab area.

If you have time, be sure to visit Bryce Canyon, just south of Panguitch. If you're lucky there will still be pure white snow on that stunning rapidly eroding red, well, you can hardly call it rock since you can hear it eroding like sand during snow melt.

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