Bill & Sandra Wayne's Travel Pages

Bill had a meeting in Las Vegas on September 3rd & 4th again this year. We decided to drive and see parks and other sites throughout the southwest. On the following pages are pictures at the various places we went.

On Friday, August 30, we visited Capulin Volcano National Monument in northeast New Mexico, about 650 miles from Warrensburg. En route, we recommend the Cattleman's Club restaurant in Sublette, KS. We spent the night at Raton, NM, where we recommend La Cosina restaurant.

Saturday we visited Taos, drove through Santa Fe, and hustled off to Roswell. Nothing to recommend for lunch, and Bill was disappointed by the prime rib at the Cattle Baron in Roswell.

Sunday was a busy day. We visited Lincoln, where Billy the Kid achieved notoriety. Next stop was Ruidoso Downs and the horse museum. We picked up pistachio nuts just north of Alamogordo, had an adequate mexican lunch, and visited White Sands National Monument. We then pressed on to Las Cruces to visit Sandra's Uncle Murray. The night was spent at Silver City, with a good Mexican dinner at La Cocina.

Monday, Labor Day, was another busy day. We drove through the San Franciso mountains and through eastern Arizona, with a visit to Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. We pushed hard and made it to the Grand Canyon for a lot of sunset pictures. Supper in Tusayan was overpriced and not too good.

Tuesday saw morning pictures of the Grand Canyon. We then headed west to Las Vegas, with lunch at a Pizza Hut in Kingman. Lots of desert and few pictures. We visited the "Fremont Street Experience" after my evening get-together.

Wednesday was spent in Las Vegas; I had meetings all day and Sandra explored. After the meetings, I met her at Paris and we had a great buffet at Bally's. No pictures on the first of several days with rain.

Thursday we messed around Las Vegas in the morning, then headed north. Spent the night in Hurricane Utah near Zion, where dinner was again blah.

Friday we were back to sight-seeing. Started early at Zion National Park visited Bryce Canyon National Park and ended the day at Torrey, UT, a town out in the middle of nowhere with 2 of the three restaurants featuring "cuisine." Drove through the Grand Staircase/Escalante area and took quite a few road shots.

Saturday was the 9th day of the trip. Started early and visited Capitol Reef National Park. From there it was more road shots and on to Canyonlands National Park. We then visited Arches National Park where we saw a flash flood in the making. After a scary drive up the Colorado gorge, we spent the night in Grand Junction, CO, and had a good Mexican meal.

Sunday. September 8, was the 10th day of the trip and another long one. We drove back 10 miles to Fruita so we could visit Colorado National Monument and a Dinosaur museum. Next stop was Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument. We stayed on US-50 and crossed Monarch Pass and spent the night at La Junta. Ate at a terrible Mexican place there.

Monday September 9, was the last day of the trip. Went by Bent's Fort National Historic Site but it didn't open for another 90 minutes. Got home about 8:30 PM.

Total mileage for the trip was 4,108.

This map of the trip includes all our sightseeing stops and overnight stays:

View 2002 - First Trip West in a larger map