Home»All Photographs»1965 June Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Los Angeles

This was the first leg of cross country trip from MA to CA and back. It was June 1965 and I wanted to show Nancy some of the west after completing a semester at the Univ Cal Berkeley. For transportation we drove a VW Beatle that never gave us a moment of concern--except it did not have air conditioning (most cars back then did not). For lodging we had a 2 person tent which we typically pitched next to the car off a secondary road. This never created an incident. Today it would be illegal and not very safe. At one point we visited Las Vegas and camped in the desert 1.5 miles from the Golden Nugget. Today the city has grown for miles in every direction. Our campsite is surely covered by a hotel or parking lot. The Grand Canyon was an example of the limits of being spontaneous. Looking down from above we could see the Colorado River (1 mile below the plateau--approx the same vertical distance as the bottom of Mt Washington). Since it was June we knew how cold it could be on top of Mt Washington. On a whim we decided to hike to the bottom and spend the night. Accordingly, we packed jackets, tent, sleeping bags and other heavy duty equipment. It never occurred to us that Mt Washington is up and the Colorado River is down. The importance of this fact is that when we started at the top at 90F degrees it did not get colder as we went down. Instead it would be over 100F degrees at the bottom. We were so hot and tired after hiking to the Phantom Ranch that we slept on the sand next to the river without tent or sleeping bags. In the morning I found sidewinder tracks 5 feet from where I slept. I'm happy I didn't have a restless sleep. We also did not bring enough water and were quite dehydrated by the time we got to the top at the end of 9 miles of hiking. This trip also went through the Petrified Forest National Park, The Painted Desert, and Zion National Park. Our destination was the home of Brian and Dennis Trowbridge who are pictured with their parents and brother in Glendale, CA. Brian and Dennis were my roommates while at Berkeley and had the habit of picking up wild animals for pets. The porcupine was our 24 hour companion and required us to use a broom to navigate the apartment.