Carlsbad, New Mexico

We drove a few more hours into Southeast New Mexico to visit Carlsbad Caverns. The day prior to going to the National Park we drove into the desert to see the Living Desert Zoo. It is a small, outdoor zoo located on a mountain top that shows the local vegetation and houses local, once wounded or neglected  animals. It was a beautiful, sunny day in the mid 70's and the zoo was practically deserted so we had it all to ourself; the perfect combination.

There are some pretty scary animals and insects in the southwestern US--black widow spiders, rattlesnakes, mountain lions, bobcats--and they were all represented at the zoo along with some very sweet and cute critters. You judge by looking at the pictures.

Today we took a tour of Carlsbad Caverns. I was told by a ranger that it is the most decorated caverns around, full of large rooms with stalactites, stalagmites, columns, lakes, and draperies throughout with rooms called the emperor's palace, the dungeons, the boneyard and the queen's palace. Apparently a 16 year old cowboy discovered it in 1898. He thought he saw a volcano or smoke coming out of a hole in the ground. Actually, it was a twisting column of bats who continue to leave the caverns every evening to hunt for insects.

Javelina

Bald Eagle

Golden Eagle

Road Runner (State bird)

Prairie Dogs

Mountain Lion

Bobcat

Carlsbad Cavern

Carlsbad Cavern

Tularosa and White Sands,New Mexico

Tularosa is located in South Central New Mexico. After driving for about 4 hours through the desert from Albuquerque I thought there was little to see. Initially, I was correct. Once we started exploring, I began to see if you look hard enough you can find a lot of interesting things.

Across from the RV park, we discovered a pistachio farm with a giant statue of a pistachio out front. It had a store that sold all types of pistachios: lemon, chocolate, chili-spiced...you name it! After leaving the store we drove up into the mountains and explored a small artist's town called Ruidoso and another tiny town called Cloudcroft. Cloudcroft is at 9,000 ft altitude and 20 degrees cooler than Tularosa which is only 16 miles away. It has a small, several block western town with wooden sidewalks, cute shops, restaurants and bakeries. Although it was probably created for tourists, I had a lot of fun exploring the different shops. We ate lunch at a diner called Big Daddy's which had southern and great Mexican food.

White Sands is a National Monument located in Alamogordo, next to the White Sands Missile Range. It is comprised of 275 miles of gypsum, white dunes. I was there in my  mid 20's when I visited my sister and her family who were living in El Paso, TX. You can walk and run down the dunes and even rent sleds to slide down them. Everything is pure white, with the exception of some desert plants that are able to grown in the dunes. It almost looks like a recent snowfall. The roads  must be cleared each day with a snow plow since the dunes shift according to the wind. We stayed to watch the sunset over the dunes and the mountains that surround them.

Giant pistachio statue

Our truck at White Sands

Cloudcroft Western town

Cloudcroft

Person sledding at White Sands

White Sands

Sunset at White Sands

Gallup, New Mexico

I had been in Gallup 10 years ago with Bradley. All I remembered is that it was in the heart of the Navajo Reservation, that it had plentiful native jewelry, pottery, rugs, and craft stores which are touted to be much cheaper than Santa Fe, Sedona, or Albuquerque, and that the shops were all lined up on Route 66 opposite very active railroad tracks. That is all true.

On day one we went into town to tour the jewelry store. The biggest store is called Robinson's. Robinson's carries Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi jewelry, saddles and guns, navajo rugs, native american pottery, and Hopi Katchinas (carved wooden dolls which are made in the image of gods and religious symbols). It's a fantasy dream-world for people who love native art. Needless to say, I was mesmerized!

We then rode into the reservation to Hubbell's Trading Post located in Ganado, AZ. Hubbell's, established in 1887, is the longest, continuous running Trading Post. When it was built, it included Hubbell's home, farm, barn, and various "out" buildings, which still exist. The Trading Post has 3 rooms: one is a little grocery store, the second room sells Navajo rugs, and the third sells jewelry, baskets, and Katchinas. The walls are stone and the ceilings are made of wood beams and, I believe, some type of thatch. Inside there are baskets, and parts of saddles (I don't know the term) hanging from the rafters.

Stephen made a bee-line for the rug room. Many of these hand loomed rugs cost between $1,000 to $20,000. I thought that we would never find one in our price range...cheap...but we did. It is not large and we will probably make a wall hanging out of it.

On day two, which was today, we drove Much about 2 hours to Canyon de Chelly, pronounced de-shay.This canyon, which is also on the Navajo Reservation is a National Monument. While the canyon walls range between 30 ft to 1,000 ft., people still live and farm at the bottom of the canyon. In addition, ancient Anasazzi ruins are built into the cliffs. Over the long recorded history of the canyon there have been Anasazzi, Hopi and now Navajo residents of the canyon. During the civil war, Captain Kit Carson, rounded up the Navajo's in the canyon, burned their homes and crops and made then walk between 300 to 400 miles to a reservation in eastern New Mexico called Fort Sumner. After living there under dire circumstances for a year or two they were allowed to return home, but found that they had no crops or homes once they returned. They relied on trading at Fort Defiance and at the Hubbel Trading Post for food and supplies.

Hubbell's is now a National Historic site. "Reservation Trading Posts were often the only direct point of contact between native and non-native Americans until well into the twentieth century. To the Navajo's the  trading post was a place of social life as well as business. More than any other white man, Hubbell helped the Navajo's adjust to their life in the late 1880's. He was their spokesman and contact with the outside world."

Today, many of the Navajos live in mobile homes or their traditional hogan, a one-room, six sided house made of logs with a mud roof. The ones you see today may be made of other materials and some even have satellite TV! Many of the people appear quite poor. They are incredible artisans who make baskets, rugs, turquoise, coral and silver jewelry, and pottery. Many are Christian, but practice their own religion as well and speak the Navajo language. If you have heard of the Navajo code talkers during WWII, these young men created a code using the complex Navajo language that was never broken by the Germans. They are honored here, as they deservedly should be.

Hubbel's Trading Post

Hubbel's Barn

Inside Hubbel's Grocery store

Navajo Hogan

Canyon de Chelly Spider Rock

Canyon de Chelly with Cottonwood trees turning color

Sedona, The Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert

We spent 3 days in the Sedona area. If you are not familiar with Sedona it is a beautiful, up-scale city located in the red rock country south of Flagstaff. I spent a week here 10 years ago when I traveled cross-country for a month with Bradley in our first RV.

Stephen thought it was lovely, but was not impressed with the tourist shops and the traffic. We drove through town, up Oak Creek Canyon. and walked through the shops in the center of town. I thought that we would spend more time there, but then we decided to visit Jerome and Prescott.

Jerome is basically what is now called a ghost town. Back in the early 1900's it was a mining town and once had a population of 15,000. When the copper mines closed, the town closed with it. Today, it has a population of @450 citizens who appear to be mostly aging hippies. It is the antithesis of Sedona. They run some great galleries and what we used to call head shops. The city itself is perched up on a mountain top and the homes and galleries hang from the cliff side.

Prescott is approximately 30-40 minutes from Jerome. We have been told to check it out as a future residence. It was quaint, but had an active and historic town square with one side of the square called Whiskey Row. There we found more great shops, restaurants and saloons, some dating back to the late 1800's. Since we didn't have a lot of time we will probably spend more time in Prescott next spring looking into the city and real estate in detail. It is about 11/2 hours from Phoenix; for me that may be too far from a big city.

One day while we were in the area we drove to some of the local sites. We first went to Montezuma's Castle which is a cliff dwelling of the Anasazi People, early forerunners of the Pueblo Indians who reside mostly in New Mexico. This cliff dwelling was probably @ 4000 years old. While we were not permitted to climb up to the dwelling, we got some great photos. It was named after a Mexican native because the Spaniards who discovered it thought it was built by natives of Mexico. We then went to Tonto State Park where I hiked down to a natural bridge formation, the largest travertine formation of it's kind in the world. We then drove up into the mountains east of Sedona to explore the Mogollon Rim (pronounced Muggy-on) a huge escarpment marking the southern end of the Colorado Plateau. By the way, there was a fire there @ 5-10 years ago named the "Dude Fire."

Mogollon Rim

Mogollon Rim

Tonto State Park

When we left the Sedona area we drove East along Rt. 40 to Gallup, NM. Along the way we stopped at The Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert, 2 national parks rolled into one. I have pictures of my family when I was about 4 years old sitting on a log in the petrified forest and wanted to show the park to Stephen. The logs, which I believe are around 30,000 years old once flourished in an inland forest Eventually they fell and the area was flooded. Silica from the water leeched into the wood turning them to stone. (Sort of sounds like Lot's wife) Actually, the color of the logs is brilliant and no two logs/stones look alike. The painted desert is basically a landscape of small and large hills that are colored by the minerals in the sand/sandstone. While pretty, it doesn't compare in my mind to the sandstone cliffs and formations we have seen elsewhere. Check out the photos!

Red Rocks of Sedona

Montezuma's Castle

The Petrified Forest

Sedona

Close Up of Petrified Wood

The Painted Desert

Grand Canyon, Williams, AZ

We have been staying in Williams, AZ for the last few days. Williams is approximately one hour from the grand canyon. We've driven there twice and explored the entire park or at least the part that  is above the canyon. I'd be tempted to take the 2 day mule trip to the bottom, but Stephen is too heavy to participate.

Two days ago while standing at a scenic overlook, I saw two orthodox Jews sitting under a 2 foot structure with straw on the top. I approached the man and asked him if it was his sukkah. (A sukkah is built during the harvest holiday of Sukkot. Usually it resembles a small room built out of straw and hay. )The man asked me if I was Jewish and if I wanted to shake the lulav and etrog (the lulav is a collection of branches from a myrtle and fig tree and the etrog resembles a large lemon). So we proceeded to shake the lulav and etrog in all directions while saying Hebrew prayers. It was quite an unusual experience. The only other time I had done this was one year ago when I was in the old Jewish Ghetto in Venice. It makes me think where I'll be at this time next year?

Last night we invited the couple in the RV next to us to stop over for dessert. It was nice to talk to someone other than Stephen. We'll probably join them for dinner tomorrow. On Saturday we leave for the Sedona area.

The Bright Angel Trail that hikers take to the bottom of the canyon.

Lynne with the lulav and etrog

Las Vegas

We spent two days in Las Vegas camping at Lake Mead. Our reason for visiting Las Vegas was to visit with my brother, Gerry, and his family. Las Vegas, located at a much lower altitude then the rest of our travels, was extremely hot...around 95 degrees

Gerry and his son Eric had lunch with us in the RV. That night we went with Gerry to the strip and saw a number of the new hotels and casinos. The next day, Gerry and his wife, Barbara, invited us for dinner at their home. His sons, Eric and Randy, joined us. It was a pleasant, but short, visit.

Eric, Barbara, Gerry and Randy Davis

Lake Mead, Nevada

Zion and Antelope Canyon

Our trip to Zion was a bit disappointing. Although the mountains were big and colorful, we were unable to see a large portion of the park. As we usually do, we took our dog, Zuni, with us. We realize that she is not allowed to go on the trails or to a lot of the scenic overlooks, but we enjoy having her along for the ride. Our only other option would be to leave her in the RV for the day.

After going through several canyons and driving down switchbacks that led to a large canyon we arrived at the visitor's center. We discovered there that much of the park was not accessible by car. You needed to park and then take a shuttle through the park. We didn't want to leave Zuni in the car and even if we did, the parking spaces were limited. We were told to leave the park, go to the small town outside the park, park in overflow parking, take a bus back to the visitor's center and then catch the shuttle. Needless to say, we left the national park and didn't return.

The next day we drove to Page, AZ on Lake Powell. Page is the home of Antelope Canyon, the most famous slot canyon and the most photographed spot in the U.S. (so we were told). Since it is on Navajo land you cannot enter without a Navajo guide. The canyon is only a few feet wide in spots and the sandstone rock is smoothly weathered and eroded into beautiful patterns. In some places the top of the canyon is open to the sun. In the summer months, when the sun is high in the sky, light enters in beams and forms reflections inside the canyon. Pictures taken there

Zion National Park

Cedar Breaks National Monument

Antelope Canyon

Entrance to Antelope Canyon

often don't resemble a canyon, but an interplay of rock, light and dark.

Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Bryce Canyon National Parks and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

First, I'd like to start off with an observation I have made traveling across country. It has to do with haystacks. For some reason, this fascinates me. It appears that haystacks in the Midwest are rolled into tight balls and then covered by some semi-transparent lining that holds it all together. We noticed this passing through Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota. The same holds true for South Dakota except that they are located/deposited on the sides of the road. For what purpose, I don't know, but can guess.

In Wyoming, the hay is piled into huge mounds that have no particular shape; they are just big. I don't know how the cow eats them. Does he start at the top and work his way down or vice versa? Now, in Utah, the hay is stacked very  neatly in rectangular shapes. Does this have something to do with the personality of the farmers, state agricultural laws, the effect of the moon on the earth's gravity? IF you know, please straighten me out.

Now, on to the National Parks. Southern Utah is one huge national park divided into 5 separate entities. I already talked about Arches. Canyonlands is located in the same vicinity, about 30 miles outside Moab, Utah. In Canyonlands, you observe nature's majesty from above, viewing the work of water, wind, and ice erosion on these gorgeous, multi-colored sandstone formations from above. I've been told that much of this beauty comes from the efforts of the Colorado River, slowly eroding the earth's surface. The sandstone that exists can be pale yellow, pink, orange, red, purple, gray, salmon, or beige, depending on the minerals deposited within them. Sometimes they are a combination of these colors swirled into one beautiful formation. Apparently, all this sand once existed as an inland sea that later dried up and was then pushed, folded, and raised into the dramatic scenery we see today.

Capitol Reef, is more of the same, but different. It is an artist's palate of shapes and colors. In the middle of the park there are remnants of a Mormon farming community called Fruita. From the late 1800's until 1968 Mormon farmers grew fruit trees and farmed the small town that no longer exists. You can still see a wooden, one-room schoolhouse, a tiny sandstone home that held 15 people, and the fruit trees that are still used to make and sell pies. This land was formed millions of years ago by a giant folding of the earth's surface called a waterfold. Stephen and I decided to venture down to the more rugged part of the park by driving down some pretty rough dirt roads. At one point we had to cross a series of switchback cliffs on the side of a mountain. Stephen is terrified of heights, but handled it white knuckles and all!

Returning to our trailer we crossed the Grand Staircase Escalante. As you guessed it, there were again amazing cliffs, canyons, slot canyons, and sandstone formations. Every turn of the road brings more amazing viewpoints. The sandstone is set off by the desert plants, juniper, pinyon pine trees, and aspens that displayed their bright yellow fall plumage and "quaking" leaves.

Today was our day to visit Bryce Canyon. This is a creamscyle canyon comprised of weathered formations called hoodoos. I took a short hike into the canyon, but was lea

canyons seen from above in Canyonland

looking through Mesa Arch in Canyonlands

More canyons

aspen trees

Captiol Reef

Capitol Reef cliffs

Bryce Canyon

Large Hoodoo

Aspen changing color in the fall

ry to complete it since I had to hike right back out. As usual, I will post just a few of my hundreds of photos taken in these locations.

By the way, I neglected to tell you about our Extreme 4X4 jeep tour in Moab. A young, adventurous man drove us for 3 hours on the petrified sandstone rocks and cliffs. We scaled them at 75% inclines, drove through tubs of water, roller coasted up and down the landscape at incredible angles, slopes, and declines. A lot of fun!