Bouncing Along the Canyon Floor

September 28, 2012

We have been at Canyon de Chelly located near Chinle, AZ.  It is smack dab in Navajo Nation Territory.  The park is run by the Navajo, and the campground we are staying at is run by the Navajo Parks and Rec Dept.  Since many Navajo families inhabit the canyon area within the park, you are allowed to drive the north and south rims, but to go into the canyon you must have a Navajo guide.  Although it seems like a ploy to make some money, it is easy to understand why they do not want the public running wild down there.  I suspect they’d have people looking in windows, stealing souvenirs, and generally acting like A-holes.  Certainly the Navajo have withstood enough from us.

Canyon de Chelly is beautiful.  It is very much like the Grand Canyon, but on a much smaller scale.  Being smaller makes it easier to take it in and really see the detail.  We drove the rim routes but as we said last year, we should have taken a 4x4 tour in Canyonlands NP, we thought this would be the perfect place to do that, since we could not get in there on our own.  So we booked an all day trip in the canyon.

The following picture is our “limousine” we rode in all day.  You may recognize this thing, if you’re old enough.  It is government surplus from the Korean War.  Dan called it the “Hemorrhoid Express”.  There was zero give in the suspension, noisy, and dusty; and the cushions were 1 inch foam on steel plate seats.  To top it off, ours broke down about 3 hours into our trip.  Oh boy we’re sleeping in a cave tonight.  We wanted an adventure didn’t we?  Fortunately they brought in a replacement about an hour later, and we were on our way.  Well sort of, the universals were squealing.  Our guide bummed some oil off another passing truck.  I was dubious about the application of some 10W30 in the joints would work, but they quieted down and we made it back without incident.

Within the canyons were numerous petroglyphs, paintings, and Anasazi ruins.  Oh, and Navajo vendors hawking wares at almost every stop, which detracted from the natural ambience.  Despite that, it was still a beautiful trip and well worth the bouncing and dust.  It was hard to pick a few pictures of the canyon and they really don’t do it justice.

Our next stop is Holbrook, AZ where we plan to explore the Painted Desert / Petrified Forest National Parks.

Up Up And Away!

September 26, 2012

This is our last day in Albuquerque.  Tomorrow we go to Canyon de Chelly National Monument for a few days, not much there as far as ammenities, so this is likely our last post for a while.  Today we went to the Pueblo Indian Culture Center and learned how the Spanish screwed them in the 1400s until they revolted in 1680.  Also saw a video about how Maria Martenez created the black pottery we saw at the Millicent Rogers museum.

September 25, 2012

Today was balloon ride day!  We had to be at the launch site at 7AM.  They only fly early in the morning and just before dusk due to winds.  It was everything we expected, cool, cool cool!  It was a perfect morning also, clear and sunny.  We flew from 10 feet to about 5,000 feet over neighborhoods, wildlife, and the Rio Grande.  Ok, a tip for Albuquerque neighbors, don’t skinny dip in your hot tub or pool in the mornings or evenings!  Well unless you’re advertising, then be sure to display a phone number.  It was completely quite except when the pilot lit the burners.

Although we have seen preparations and launch, the landing was interesting.  The winds were not cooperating, so primary and secondary landing targets were aborted.  As we flew around looking for landing spots.  I was wondering, how much propane have we got?  We were on the third tank of four.  We ended up landing in an open field next to a main road.    

Deflating the balloon was quite an affair.  They actually dropped the envelope over the road snarling traffic for a while.  Getting the air out and getting that thing back in the bag was quite a challenge.  Airtime was a little over an hour. At the end of the trip we had a champagne toast and some munchies. Very nifty experience!

Wow, its was only 10AM, so what do we do for the rest of the day?  Nearby was the Unser Museum.  I’m sure most know the Unser’s family race car heritage, but for those that do not, the Unser family made their fame by racing and winning the Pike’s Peak Hill Climb race many times across 3 generations.  Later Al and Bobby were winners of the Indy 500.  Al Jr. raced for Roger Penske in the late 80s. Brad had the opportunity to meet him at MIS when we attended a race.

The museum was a collection of cars, trophies, and keepsakes from the racing Unsers.  The picture shown is of a car raced at Indy by Al Sr. powered by a Supercharged Novi engine.  First one I ever saw up close.  A remarkable thing about the museum was there were no ropes or barriers, you could get right up to the cars.

Well, although our energy was waning, next stop was Petroglyphs National Monument.  Basically a park preserving Indian graffiti.  But this was pretty special.  First it was old.  Through carbon dating some were from 1000BC, but most were from about 1200-1300AD.  Second, the area is a volcanic escarpment.  The Ancestral Pueblo Indians felt these areas were sacred, and in some cases these were felt to be communication with ancestral spirits.  According to a park ranger we spoke with, they have had some modern day Pueblo Indians come out to interpret them, and each had a different interpretation.  These are a couple of the many we saw.  The bird engraving has been interpreted as a macaw, symbol for rain.

What do you think  people will say about our graffiti in a 1000 years?

        

September 24, 2012

We got to Albuquerque yesterday, Sunday and just chilled out here.  The campground we’re in is a combination motor home park and campground, and not the best we’ve been in but the location is convenient to things we want to do. They want $6 a day for internet so we searched out a nearby library with free WiFi about a mile and half away.

Today we visited some RV supply stores.  I lost another dump valve handle that makes dumping our tanks rather cumbersome.  Unfortunately the three stores visited did not have what I wanted.  We then visited the National Nuclear Science Museum.  As you probably know Los Alamos, New Mexico is a focal point for A-bomb development known as the Manhattan Project for WWII, and they tested the first impact A-bomb called Trinity.

The museum provided a good understanding of the drivers leading to the development of the A bomb and why it got used on Japan.  Not sure we agree with their motives, or the justification to drop them, but the museum was interesting.  The picture is a full sized model of the Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima, and the Fat Boy dropped on Nagasaki.  They were different types of bombs. Little Boy was a rifle type with 2 hunks of U 235 driven together with an explosive detonator.  It was set off 1200 feet in the air.  Fat Man was an implosion bomb with a hunk of Pu 239 surrounded by explosives that caused the Plutonium to reach critical mass.  This was identical to Trinity.  These were the only nuclear weapons ever used, thankfully!

Bandelier National Monument

September 22, 2012

Today we decided to take a drive on the High Road to Taos (we ran it from Taos) then visited Bandelier National Monument.  The high road was quite scenic, no pictures though because the mountains were east into the sun.  Generally they route people off at a point north of the actual end, of course we decided to go all the way.  Wow, New Mexico Highway 503, a state highway mind you, was barely the width of a car.  It was paved and curved right in front of a couple of front porches!  We thought we were lost, but no, a state highway sign showed up in less than mile.  Easy to see why they route you off before.

Eventually we made it to White Rock, near Los Alamos where a shuttle takes you into the Bandelier park.  The park experienced a really bad year in 2011.  A wild fire burned 60% of the high mesa vegetation.  They got it put out in August then were hit by a flash flood.  The lack of vegetation caused the water to run rampant and took out several trails, bridges, and some ruins.  They are recovering but a flood threat will continue until vegetation grows back.

The park is actually an archeological site where they discovered ruins left from Ancestral Pueblo People.  The picture is the overall view of talus houses. A community of, they figure, about 100 people.  The second photo is a closer view of a remaining wall showing the brick structure. 

 In this same area they built and lived in cliff dwellings.  Many with ladders you can ascend to look into to the dwelling.  The people were similar to those living at Mesa Verde, except the material for these caves is a very soft material called tuff.  Mesa Verde dwellings were not carved out.  They cut bricks and carried them into the cave to build pueblos.  Their material was sandstone, which explains why their ruins have stood up better.
 

Bandelier Park, named after Adolf Bandelier who found the ruins, sits in Frijoles Valley.  The Pueblo People lived off the valley, and some on the mesa above.  The park is quite interesting and scenic. The hikes are easy, with well maintained trails.

As you know we love our poseys.  Here are a couple from today.


Buckhorn Cactus




Mexican Hat

 Tomorrow we move to Albuquerque.  Balloon ride next week!

Art and Old Stuff in Taos

September 21, 2012

We started out the day by going to Historic Taos Plaza.  The historic buildings are now filled with shops, some with fine art and jewelry, and big price tags; others were typical souvenir shops.  After an hour or so we had enough, so we ventured north to the Millicent Rogers museum.  But first we stopped in a very large store selling all sorts of stuff.  One thing that caught our eye were ceramic sun faces, which we plan to mount outside on the east wall of the patio.  Should look pretty cool there.

OK, class is in session.  Millicent Rogers was the granddaughter of a  partner in Standard Oil, so she wasn't hurting for money.  She developed an interest in art and jewelry, and moved to Taos in the mid 1940s where she amassed a big collection.  She died there at the age of 51.  Her son set up the museum to share her collection.  It is located in a house donated by Claude and Elizabeth Anderson.  The architecture of the house alone is worth the admission.

The pottery in the following photo has a unique pattern of matte and gloss finish, and black on black.  The technique was developed by Maria Martinez in the late 40s.  The pot is polished first with river stone followed by the matte pattern painted on using a clay slip material. The black is created by blocking out oxygen during the firing process.

The cross shown here is gilded with what looks like gold, but is actually golden straw.  When sliced very thin it takes on the shiny gold appearance you see here.  There were several on display and you would think its gold foil.

Millicent Rogers had a huge collection of turquoise and silver jewelry.  Some of it is so rare as to be truly priceless.  In her later years she designed silver and gold jewelry, but died before the designs made it to market.

The last picture is of San Francisco de Asis Church in Taos.  It was built in 1815 and served as refuge for the Spanish inhabiting the area from Indian attacks.  It was restored in 1979 and, like the Pueblo, gets a fresh coat of Adobe every year.

Heading to Bandelier National Monument down the High Road tomorrow, stay tuned.  Class dismissed!

Fun in Taos

September 20, 2012

Today we took a kayak trip down the Rio Grande.  Although we traversed several rapids, the pictures only depict smooth sections of the river because I was too busy dodging big rocks and trying to keep myself upright, to take pictures then.  Note the bow on Lynn’s kayak, she banged into her share of these big rocks, and fell out twice, oops not supposed to tell you that.  It was lots of fun, but we are both really pooped tonight.

Paddlin' on the Rio Grande

September 19, 2012

We are enjoying our stay here in Taos, NM.  Bright and sunny with highs near 80 and really low humidity.  At night it gets into the upper 40s, a little chilly.  Were basically in high desert country about 6000 ft.  Today we drove around a bit, saw Rio Grande Gorge bridge, and the ski area up at 9800 ft.  Pretty landscape, but we have seen cooler scenary last year.

Today we also visited the Taos Pueblo. It is a community that originated around 1400, populated by Native Americans related to the Anasazi.  We learned last year they mysteriously abandoned their cliff dwellings and moved south around 1100AD. Today, about 50 people still live within the sacred boundaries of the Pueblo, with another 1900 in the adjacent reservation.  The people within the boundary maintain a lifestyle very much like it was over 400 years ago.



Taos Pueblo



The adobe pueblo in the picture is the only remaining multistory pueblo in the U.S. There was work going on to spruce up the outer surface with new adobe in preparation for a fiesta in a couple of weeks.  Adobe is applied like plaster, and needs to be fixed up annually. 



Church of San Geronimo

The church; San Geronimo, named for the patron saint of Taos, was rebuilt in 1850, after the original one got destroyed in the Spanish American War.  There were many shops in the Pueblo selling art items that you buy directly from the artist. All the people were very friendly there.

Get Your Kicks on Route 66!



September 18, 2012

We camped at the Texas Information Center in Amarillo last night.  They allow 24 hour parking and had a Barney Fife patrolling all night. Tonight we are in Taos, New Mexico, a small town north of Santa Fe.  There's a bunch of stuff to see and do here, so we'll be staying here a while.   

September 17, 2012

We made it to Amarillo, TX today after leaving Oklahoma City early to see some Route 66 attractions.  About 80 miles west of Amarillo is a restored gas station from the 60s, called Lucille’s Service Station.  It is listed as a National Historic Site by the NPS.  The price of gas, frozen in time, was 26.9 cents.  What is with the .9 cents?  Oil company’s stupid idea dated way back then, I guess.  If you are looking for this piece of history, it is on the north side of I-40 just beyond Hwy 58 on the service drive, which is Route 66.

Lucille's Service Station

We also drove a part of the old highway.  This thing is narrow, with no shoulder, at least in the section we drove.  It actually had a low curb on each side.  Route 66 is over 2300 miles long in total, going through eight states.  About 80% of it yet exists, although probably not drivable and as we have learned, not signposted either.



Old Route 66

In the town of Clinton is a Route 66 Museum, run by the state of  Oklahoma.  Each state seems to have their own Route 66 museum. The history of the highway began in 1925 when it was commissioned as a national highway.  It took the better part of 10 years to complete.  Its big years were right after WWII, when everybody wanted to see the USA in their Chevrolet, and Route 66 was it.  It was also used in the 30’s by people leaving the Midwest after the big Dust Bowl problem.  Ike’s new freeway system killed Route 66 and it lost its national highway designation in the 60’s.



The Valentine diner shown here were popular in the 50s & 60s.  It was like a business in a box.  You order it and they bring to site and drop it, no building.  The owner paid it off by leaving funds in a cash box, that were picked up by an employee of Valentine.  This one originated in Clinton, OK.

Valentine diner

The picture below is called the Cadillac Ranch.  What you see are 10 Caddys "planted", in a field about 20 miles west of Amarillo along I-40.  Is it art?  Is it entertainment?  Who knows, but you are welcome to bring your can of paint and add your bit of art to it.  We did learn the whole thing got started in 1974.  The paint is like an inch thick, and empty spray cans were all over the place.

Cadillac Ranch

Adding some "art"

Cowboys

September 16, 2012

Been a couple days since our last post, so let me first bring you up to date.  On Friday night we "camped" at the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, MO.  It started to rain shortly after leaving St. Louis and rained almost all night in Springfield, like cats and dogs!  They were doing some remodelling at BPS so several areas of the store were closed.  The store is really big, but not as big as I thought it would be, likely due to the remodelling.

Saturday we left for OK City.  The rain finally let up about the time we hit the OK border.  Can't say much about the scenery, it was various shades of gray.  Rolling hillside through the Ozarks.

Today we went to the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City.  We found it very interesting.  The museum helped us learn what a cowboy really is and how they got started.  Hollywood has  romanticised what a cowboy is to get people interested.  Cowboys got started after the Civil War, driving cattle from ranch to market.  Their skills were broad, as they had to take care of the cattle and their horses, but also included living outside and survival.  The gunfighter, gambler, and adventure seeker were not those guys.

The museum had lots of art in paintings and sculpture.  Most were no photos.  In the lobby is their signature piece called the End of The Trail which was originally commissioned for San Francisco.  It signified the end of the Trail of Tears endured by the Cherokees.  I could go on and on about my disgust for the way this country treated Native Americans that occupied this country before we got here.

End of the Trail

John Wayne

The rodeo was the way cowboys showed off their skills.  Originally it was just a friendly competition, although I'm sure there was wagering going on.  Today of course, it's a professional sport and an occupation.

The Civil War played a significant role in how cowboys learned many of their skills, and shaped the way cattle got to market.  This statue of Lincoln depicts him in deep concern over the country's situation.

Tomorrow we head for Amarillo, checking out some Route 66 stuff on the way.  More later!