The Big Hole in the Ground

GRAND CANYON

On our way to the Grand Canyon we passed through terrain that gave us a taste of the Grand  Canyon.  Chewed up terrain!  Rugged cliffs, small canyons, dry river beds all in glorious reds, whites and yellows. Down and down we went to about 4000 feet (before we went back up again into the Grand Canyon.  We became very conscious of the elevation because we both do so much better lower down!)

Of course, we had to stop in 4 Corners first.  Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah all touch at one tacky point that we paid $6.00 There was nothing there but a viewing stand and a marker and some souvenir huts.  We did have a wonderful meeting with some lovely folks from Texas whom we had met on the tram in Mesa Verde, leading us, once again, to appreciate how much the people we met are adding to our pleasure in the trip.

Our next stop the Glen Canyon Dam which makes Lake Powell.  The dam is second in size to Hoover dam and is huge.  We took a great tour and then were on our way.

Then…on to the big time, Grand Canyon.  David wisely chose the North rim for our adventure, it being closer to us and less crowded.  That being said, we could only get one night’s camping reservation in the canyon campground.  So, we decided that the night before and the night after our in-park reservation, we would take the plunge and camp on our own in the Kaibab National Forest surrounding the park.  Anyone can camp almost anyplace on National Forest land.  We drove into the forest on a forest access road and found what amounted to a pull-through site for the car and Celeste.  What a treat.  No people, no noise…of course, not bathroom, water, table or electricity either.  But I would give that up in a minute for the privacy and beauty that we had.  We decided, again, that we need to slow down a bit and enjoy.

The next day we got to our park campsite around 11 am, set up camp and headed for the Grand Canyon.  Our first taste was a 1.5 mile hike down into the canyon, dropping 1500 feet along the way.  We could have gone all the way to the bottom, but we started too late in the day.  (Hah!  We would have died!  And besides all the literature gives giant warnings about not doing that journey in one day.  One lifetime is more like it).  Our little hike was quite enough.  At 8000 feet again, we were huffing and puffing away.  The one drawback of this hike was the mules train tours with whom we had to share the trail.  They had right of way and there were 5 mule trains of 20 mules each.  Do you know how much 100 mules pee and poop?  And they STINK!!!!  The hike (struggle was more like it) gave us a great sense of the terrain.  Since we spent most of the time looking down at our feet, trying not to fall or step in mule presents, we had to wait until later that day to actually SEE the canyon.  On the way we met two women, who, surprise, surprise, had been at the bluegrass festival and Mesa Verde and 4 corners.  There seems to be a tourist trail that we are all following.

That night we went back to the Canyon for a great sunset and planned to see the sunrise the following morning.

Up at 4:45 for a 5:15 sunrise.  Quite worth the early morning wake-up to see the rocks change from gray to other-wordly hues of white, green red, gold.  All glowing and changing by the minute. 

 

Then, in keeping with our “slowdown” mode we went back to Celeste and slept to 9 am, had a leisurely breakfast, packed up and dropped Celeste off at a convenient parking lost and took off for an easy 4 mile hike to a lookout point over the canyon.  Up and down through the bordering woods, to a wonderful rocky prominence over the canyon. 

 

 We were quite impressed with how unguarded the rim is.  Quite easy to fall in.  I was careful to stay away from that danger, but managed to brush against a cactus, and spent a good while hiding behind a tree with my pants down plucky spines out of my hip.  Two days later and I am still finding spines!

David made a friend along the way.

Back to a new campsite in our favorite forest to gear up for our foray into Las Vegas.

 

New Music to Ancient Culture

Mesa Verde

From bluegrass to cliff dwellings.  What culture shock.  We left Telluride and drove directly to Mesa Verde where we stayed in a weird national park campground run privately by Aramark. Quite unkempt campsites without electricity.  The drive there gave us a wonderful scenic drive through the flat topped mesas that were the home to the cliff dwelling Indians.  (Once again I lived up to my reputation as a great passenger and have not gone beyond my original 100 miles of driving).

The  park runs things quite well.  Only a few sites are accessible without guides and all are well protected.  Our first taste was a self guided tour to Spruce Tree House where we walked straight down a path (I was thinking all the way about the walk back up…we were at 8000 feet which led to much huffing and puffing).  I could not shake the idea that this was a museum tableaux and not the real deal.  The National Park had done some restoration, but basically the cliff dwellings were left as they were when first discovered in the 1820’s.  Carefully chipped and shaped limestone connected with mud and grit mortar into small rooms, round kivas (ceremonial spaces) tall towers, all accessed by the dwellers with ladders.  We saw the stains of the cooking fires, wall paintings, seeping springs where water was gathered, and all about, a sense of the disappeared people.  Even though there were other tourists around, there was enough space for private reflection . 

On our second day we book a morning tour and an afternoon tour which meant we could see 2/3rds of the sites open.  The park does such a great job providing little trams that take you close to the site and then a  guide to walk you into the site and provide information.  The walks were quite strenuous because we started at the flat top of the mesa and then very carefully walked down into the overhangs where the dwellings were.  On our second tour, we walked straight down, and then returned by going straight up two different ladders.  Quite an adventure, again at 8000 feet.  We were so impressed with the ingenuity of the sites, the largest of which held about 100 people.  We were told that there are about 4000 dwellings throughout the area, some in the park and some on Indian land.  Most of them held 20-23 people.  There were actually more people living in the area in 1000 AD there are now!  And we say that there was nothing in the area before the white man!  Hah!

We found that the dwellers started living on the mesa tops.  Mesa’s are unworldly.  Flat topped uprisings popping straight up from the surrounding areas.  They lived in wood roofed pit dwellings and farmed the land.  We visited a huge reservoir created from chipped rock into which water was channeled.  Later in their evolution, the Indians moved down into the cliffs and then after 200 years they abandoned them for reasons known only to them.

We left Mesa Verde after staying 2 nights and made a decision that from now on we would slow down a bit and decided to extend our stay by one day in the Grand Canyon.We had many visitors in our campground.  (Mule deer)

 

Turning Lemons into Lemonade

 

Last year, as we were planning this trip we decided that one of the highlights would be our trip to the Santa Fe opera.  We knew that we would not be able to order tickets, but figured we could get standing room or scalped tickets or something.  What we did not figure was that the opera season would start on June 27, long after we left New Mexico.  We found that out as I did internet research on the opera on the way to Sante Fe.  However, only a few hours after our disappointing find, we heard an ad for the Telluride Blue grass Festival starting on June 19 and going to the 22.  Since handy, dandy David can read a map so well and figured that a detour to Colorado was not out of the question, I spent about 2 hours on the internet and finally successfully  ordered tickets for all four days.  (Later we found out that we got the last of the available tickets.)  We were disappointed to find that there was no camping anywhere and had to camp at a state park about an hour away.  (Actually as the crow would fly, Telluride was  about  5 minutes from our campgrounds, but a few mountains got in the way.)

Campgrounds was quite nice, but one drawback was the pay showers,  4 minutes for $1,00.  I think I got robbed on the first try because ib arely got my hair washed and rinsed when the water turned off!  Grr!  Next time I got the hang of it…and I think the timer was more accurate.

The festival was organized in such a great fashion.  We parked for free and then took three free gondolas up over the mountain into Telluride and then walked through the town to the festival.  What a site.  A stage, large grassy sitting area (enough to accommodate the crowd of 10,000) and mountains topped with snow all around.  Not to mention the waterfalls in full view tumbling down one of the cliffs.

Tarp space as at a premium and on the second day we squooshed in behind the tarp of two other couples.  Next to us, poaching on an unoccupied tarp (a festival tradition) were three college aged eagle scouts who were working at Philmont for the summer.  They were so much fun to talk to.  And luckily, the couples whose tarp we crowded were so kind and invited us onto their tarp for the next two days.  Coincidentall, one of the couples was from the philadelphia area, and the other was from Salt Lake City, where we plan to be in a week or so. Luckily, because they were camping and could get to the grounds early enough to put their tarp out in a good place.  Apparently folks line up before the end of the last act on the night before, sleep in line and then run like crazy when the gates open at 9 am to get a good space.  Our new friends got in line about 5 am, got a number at 6:30 am and then went back at 9 am when the gates opened and threw down their tarp.  Then, they were nice enough to call us and let us know the location.  Their company really added to the 4 days and we ended up sharing food, stories, chairs, and the good times.

The weather was searing…95 degrees and blazing sun.  This has been the only time that I have heard a crowd cheer when even a little cloud passed by.  The festival organizers provided freezing cold running water, easily accessible for everyone who had a container, and were adamant about recycling, even going so far as to have huge trash bins with volunteers stationed on top to show us where to throw our trash, compost and recyclables.  On Sunday, we were lucky to have a partially cloudy sky.  As we watched the clouds got darker and darker…then lightening began to flash…AND THEN HUGE SNOW FLAKES BEGAN TO PLOP DOWN FROM THE SKY.  It was like hail that melted before it hit the ground.  We all went nuts, and between the snow plops, the wild music going on and the crowd dancing around, I felt quite drunk.  10 minutes later the sun  came and 10 minutes after that there was no evidence of snow.

Later that night, on some kind of cue that we were not privy to, the place exploded in marshmallows.  Thousands of marshmallows erupted from the crowd and, again, it looked like it was snowing.  Thousands and thousands of marshmallows thrown back and forth.  What a jolly time.

And through it all, the music…Bela Fleck, Sam Bush. Tony Thile, Uncle Earl, Cadillac Sky, Solomon Burke, etc. etc.  We were even able to get tickets to a wonderful film, Throw Down Your Heart, produced by Bela Fleck’s brother, about Bela’s trip to bring the banjo back to Africa.

For my banjo buddies, here is a shot of Unlce Earl.

Of course, we expected a 4 day rest, but since we had to get up at 6:30 am every day and did not get back to the camp until almost midnight every night, and we were dancing in the sun all day, we are now exhausted.

New Mexico

 

We love New Mexico.  I had a hard time convincing David to continue with our trip.  He was quite ready to put down stakes in Sante Fe.

On our way to Albequereque we went as close as we could to the Trinity site, where the first atomic bomb was tested.  However, since it is only opened two Saturdays a year, we did not get to see it.

We spent only a few hours in Albequerque, mostly waiting for breakfast and then it was on to the Acoma Pueblo, the oldest continually occupied pueblo in the country.  We were particularly interested in this site since it had been featured in a recent Smithsonian Magazine.  However, we were a bit disappointed.  First of all, to bring in a camera was a $10.00 fee on top of the entrance fee.  Then, since the pueblo was occupied year round by about 50 residents, we had to have a guide and the tour consisted mostly of visits to pottery-for-sale tables.  The stuff wasn’t even really great. We did get to see a wonderful church where we heard the bizarre tale of the priest who had it built by native labor whom he made go to the forest about 30 miles away and carry the logs back to the site without letting the wood touch the ground.  If it did, the logs were left and back they went for new ones.

I took these photos before we got to Acoma, just to set the scene.

Our next stop in New Mexico was Sante Fe, David’s favorite.  As we were driving into the city the first day, David mentioned that we could use an oil change soon and we should start to think about finding a Toyota dealer.  At that moment I spied one and in we zipped.  Not only did they take the car for service, but shuttled us into town and picked us back up at the end of a full day of siteseeing.  What an enchanting place.  The weather was fine, the galleries were great, the jewelry stores enticing.  We were lucky to catch a show at the Georgia O’Keefe museum which featured her work side by side with Ansel Adams.

We liked Sante Fe so much that we decided to extend our stay one full day. We went to museum hill where 4 different museums are clustered around a plaza.  Our first stop was the International Museum of Folk Art.  This was one of the most unique museums we have ever been in.  Giant case upon case of tableaux of folk scenes of various countries done in pottery or straw or wood or tin.  Canal scenes of Venice, market scenes in Peru, tribal dolls of African nations and on and on.  What a treat.  Next was the Museum of Indian Art and Culture which had case after case of ancient Indian artifacts, as well as great modern jewelry and exhibits of daily life.

After the museums we went to the Lorenzo Chapel, which is now not a religious building, but a museum featuring the mysterious spiral staircase which goes up two revolutions without a support and was supposedly made by a traveling carpenter who appeared just when the church need a staircase to the choir loft but could not afford a carpenter, and disappeared the day after the staircase was installed.  Hmm.  We also saw the oldest chapel in the US. Which was nice, but the one in Acoma with a dirt floor and 3 foot thick walls was nicer.

We stayed in a lovely campgrounds overlooking a lake.  It was great because a cool breeze came up at night.  Here is a photo of Celeste at night.

 

Hot, Hot and More Hot

From the cool depths of Carlsbad Caverns we  headed north towards Albequerque, going through a wonderfully scenic town, Artesia, full of street sculptures.

We stopped at White Sands National Momument, snow white gypsum sand dunes that move about 30 feet a year.  Wild, beautiful and hot.  104 degrees and no shade. the umbrella was for shade, not to protect from rain!

Next we headed north along the eastern edge of the White Sands missile testing area, where they test missiles and the first nuclear bomb was detonated.  Closed area and we could not do any sightseeing!

Camped at Manzano Forrest at 7500 feet in a ponderosa pine forrest where we actually were cold at night for the first time in weeks.  All the trails were closed because of a large brown bear that was invading the campground and evading capture.

From the Heat of Texas to the cold of Carlsbad Caverns

Well, now we are in New Mexico and spent a wonderful full day at Carlsbad Caverns where the temperature on the outside was 100 degrees and on the inside was 56 degrees.  We went down and down and down, over 800 feet in the biggest, deepest cave we have ever been in.  It went on and on and on.  And. after walking down and down and down for over an hour, we had the luxury of taking an elevator back up which was the tallest elevator in the country when it was built in the '50's.  We broke the experience in two, first the Natural entrance, then back up for lunch and a driving loop into the surrounding canyons, thenb ack down for the Big room. 



We were going to stay for the flight of the bats out of the cavern at 8 pm, but decided that Texas bats were quite enough.  We decided to go to Sitting Bull Water Falls in Lincoln National Forrest, but found out,part of the way there, that the forrest was closed to due severe forrest fire hazard.

Bats, Bats and More Bats

Texas is called the bat state and, I assure you, that is so.  Once we left Louisianna we drove all day to Potter Creek State Park, set up our camp and left immediately to find Bracken Cave and the 20 million Mexican free tailed bats that left it every night.  The only catch was, no one knew where it was…not at the visitor’s center where we asked when we got into Texas, not on the Bat Conservancy website, which mentioned it, but did not give an address, and not in the convenience store where I asked when I thought we were near.  The young woman I asked, did, however, call her father (can you see someone at WAWA doing that?) who told us we could not get near the cave, but could see them from such and such road.  Well we went, found another couple there and did see a black ribbon appear in the sky way in the distance.  Very unsatisfactory.

Two days later, in Austin, we did go on a BAT BOAT (for real) under the Commerce Street bridge and saw hundreds of thousands of bats come out at dusk.  What a sight.

.  We actually were going to wait for them at Carlsbad cavern a few days later, but decided enough was enough.

While waiting for the bat boat, and to escape the heat (I did say that it was hot here, right) we spent some time at a lovely arboretum with a park that simulated the dinosaur age.  We also saw this great bug there.

We spent a lot of time in Texas contemplating LBJ, first at his ranch and then at his library.  It was, for us, very different than visiting other presidential sites, this being the first one that was really in our lifetime. Below are the 4 stories of archives that are off-limits to the public. It was also significant, because we have made a trip to Vietnam.  We were both struck with how much good Johnson did domestically and how that awful war overshadowed it all.  In this photo, an animatronic LBJ told us some jokes!

We enjoyed seeing the ranch, as much because it was LBJ, as it gave us a good look at a real Texas ranch.  As you can see, the road getting to it was unique.We were actually driving right across a very small dam!

San Antonio was lovely and the River Walk that everyone raves about lived up to its reputation. We also went to the Alamo, which is quite small and quite taken over by the whole city.  We visited several other missions as well, getting a great sense of the Spanish influence over the indigenous population.  However, it was very, very hot and that factored into the amount of time we spent.

The road from San Antonio to Austin was the ride from hell since there was NOTHING between the two cities and we were quite out of gas.  David was silently making a contingency plan and I was trying, again to myself, to figure out who would hitch for gas and who would stay with the car.  Luckily, by judicious coasting we managed, with ½ gallon to spare to coast up to a station and were glad to pay the $4.39 per gallon that we were charged.

Our campground was quite lovely and absolutely overrun with small white tailed deer who got quite close to the campsites in big herds.

We left to go to El Paso for the sole purpose of satisfying my need to dip a toe into Mexico.  However, when we arrived at the absolutely ratty RV park we chose (because we were going to be there less that 12 hours) we were told by the RV park lady, the border guards and a waitress in a restaurant, that to go into Juarez was taking your life into your hands.  We got there on Wednesday, and the day before there had been 8 drive by killings…406 since the new year.  Drug wars.  Needless to say, we changed our mind, and went to Huenco Tanks Park instead.

What a great place that park was.  Not very well marked trails leading to 2000 year old petroglyphs hidden in caves.  However, the directions to one of the caves said, “Go to the rock that looks like an alligator and follow its head to a small crack in the rocks.  Then get on your belly and slither into the cave.”  Well, we picked the wrong alligator on the wrong mountain, climbed all the way up (again in 100 degrees) only to see some guys way below us who said we were way off and waited for us to come down and directed us to the right alligator on the right mountain.  Well worth the effort.  Great cave paintings that looked like they were painted yesterday.

 Here is a photo of the hill we climed up to find the cave.  Can you see the alligator?  Can you see the cave?

The huencos were impressions in the rocks that collected water for the indigenous Indians when they lived there because there was no other water source.  We are now getting into some really beautiful country, dessert, scrub, rock peaks, wonderful blue sky.

Once again, our plans to spend a few hours at the park turned into an all day affair so our trip to New Mexico was delayed about a day.