U.S. - California and Arizona - March 2010

In March 2010, I traveled one-way by car from San Francisco, CA to Phoenix, AZ. The 700 or 800 miles between these two cities perhaps should be designated some kind of national scenic highway. There is so much splendor to be seen either on the route itself, or shortly off the beaten path. Sites I saw, besides the obvious attractions in the starting and ending cities, were Sequoia National Park; the Mojave Desert; the Painted Desert; the Grand Canyon; and Flagstaff, AZ.

View of San Francisco from Coit Tower. I have been to San Francisco perhaps five times but never tire of seeing it.

Approaching Alcatraz Island (where of course the historic prison is, which is available to tour) by ferry in San Francisco Bay.

View from top of the "Crookedest Street in the World" (Lombard Street) in San Francisco.

General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park. This, I believe, is supposed to be the largest tree in the world (by overall size, not height). It is impossible not to feel almost completely inconsequential when standing near this prodigious thing.

Myself standing alongside the March snowpack in Sequoia National Park. The snow in this area is about as deep as I am tall!

Myself standing along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in the warm, early morning March sunshine.

Beautiful green hills visible from the central valley of California not far from Modesto.

Painted Desert scenery in northern Arizona.

Colorado Plateau scenery in northern Arizona.

View of Phoenix, AZ at dusk, from a hillside hotel terrace looking south.