Durango CO

Today was our last day of the Grand Circle Caravan and it was a wonderful day.  The weather was perfect for our 3 1/2 hour train ride to Silverton, CO via coal-fired engine.  It took 3 1/2 tons of coal and 10,000 gallons of water to make a one way trip.

  We were 9,300 feet in elevation and the mountains were at their peak fall colors. The pictures don't begin to show the splendor of the Colorado mountains.

The train twisted and turned and climbed at about 25 to 30 miles an hour and we were constantly oohing and ahhing at each new vista.

Our entire group was in one train car and eventually someone thought we needed additional entertainment ( we really are an enthusiastic and creative group)  Sooooo Melodie led us in a few "railroad songs".

We saw so many neat things (OK, we together took over 300 pictures) it is hard to pick a few to share with you.

The rainbow was a bonus produced by the release of steam from the engine , but it was still magical.

Yes! That is snow on the mountaintop. We were told they have had snow in the higher regions for the past two weeks.  Now that we are finished with this caravan we will be going  to Albuquerque for the balloon fiesta so you won't hear from us for a few days.  Stay tuned for more exciting adventures!!

The

Four Corners & Mesa Verde

This picture symbolizes the journey that Carole & I have taken ... we traveled around 3 of these 4 states - Utah, Arizona, Colorado & New Mexico - although it feels like we've been a lot further!!

After stopping there, we went to Mesa Verde.  It was a very special day for both of us.  It was special because of all the fun we had and also the challenges that we both faced and achieved!!!

We began at Balcony House, which was the most challenging.  We climbed a 32 ft. ladder straight up.

Inched our way through crevices.

Crawled through a 12 ft tunnel that was 23 inches high by 18 inches wide.

and then had to climb more ladders and steps barely carved into the rock wall.  Carole is pretty tired by now!

Through it all, what impressed us most was the beauty of the place and the knowledge of their advanced civilization.

The biggest cliff-dwelling was Cliff Palace, which had about 200 rooms.  You can see the overall living quarters in this picture taken from the observation point just before our tour began.

It is believed to have been a center of commerce - a city.  It was wonderful to tour, although there is some discussion that it might be closed soon due to deterioration.  It was built around 1280AD.

Once again there were ladders, steps and crevices to manuever through - but we were ready for anything after having gone through Balcony House.

Oops!  I swore I wouldn't include any butt shots of Carole!  Oh, well - we both survived!

( I'll get you for this one, Melodie!!!!!)

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park

Today was a pretty exciting day.  We got to take a ride in an open "jeep" throughout Monument Valley Tribal Park.  This is actually Navajo land and not run by the National Park Service. The roads were red dirt and extremely rough, with big rocks and deep ruts.

It was really alot of fun and I'm afraid we all were acting like children on a school bus.  As usual the sights were astounding and I'm running out of adjectives to describe what we have seen.

Many of the formations have "cute" names ( I think they do that to stimulate our "Senior" brains).

We called this one "Puff the magic dragon"

This was a real Navajo cowboy who assumed the classic pose for the tourists.

A  female Hogan (yes, they have male and female houses)  where a native demonstrated weaving and corn grinding.  These Hogans are made with Juniper wood and a mixture of mud and red sand. They are cool in the summer and warm in the winter and they can stand for years.                       

One of us (That's Melodie way up there) climbed to the top of a sand dune, with about half the group, while several of us (me included) waited at the bottom, in the shade.

The entire trip lasted 3 1/2 hours and the weather was perfect but let me tell you about red dust!!!  It was everywhere, and I mean every crack and crevice available on the human body and then some.  In our hair, on our cameras and in our mouths.  The back of our legs looked like a bad spray-tan job.  We all couldn't wait to get in the shower but we couldn't figure out how to get into the motor homes without dragging in the dust!

Flagstaff Area

We went on another bus tour with the most informative guide yet.  He even spoke some Hopi, Navajo & Apache.  We viewed Oak Creek Canyon, saw Arizona Cyprus, toured Sedona (finally a big city! - OK, more like a tourist trap...)  and then toured the Montezuma Well and Castle. 

Our guide, Randy in Oak Creek Canyon

An Arizona Cyprus - more like a Juniper

Sedona

Montezuma's Well was a 2 part adventure.  On the top was the big round well - so big that one inner face of it had a cliff-dwelling!! 

It is fed by a natural spring that produces 1.5 million gallons of water a day.  We descended to the bottom and experienced a 15 degree drop in temperature along with the cool serenity of rushing water.

 

The Ancient People dug an irrigation ditch about 1000 years ago to irrigate their crops and provide water to their homes.

Both Montezuma's Well & Castle were mis-named by early explorers - Montezuma had nothing to do with it and they were actually built by the Ancient people around 1050.

The next day we learned that most of the Ancient peoples lived in pueblos built in the desert.  We spent the day touring several sites with my cousin Garnet, her roommate Sheila and Vince, who all joined us for the day.  The first site is Wukoki.

We toured a much larger site - Wupatki - that had up to 200 rooms in it.  This area was inhabited by Apache until 1970s.  The National Park service had taken it over in the 30s and then decided that the Apache's sheep were destroying the land (!?!?) and made them all leave.  It was very interesting, in the Visitor's Center, to see interviews from 2005 by people that had lived there and been driven off.  I thought all of that had stopped in the late 1800s!!!

Sunset Crater is a volcano that erupted about this same time - 1050.  We couldn't go to the top, but the lava flows and ash deposits were impressive.  To see how long an event like that effects the land - and at the same time, how quickly nature takes over.  

The GRAND Canyon

Every day on this adventure I think we have seen the most spectacular of National Parks and every time I have to eat my words.  We arrived at the East entrance of Grand Canyon in the afternoon and our first stop, before we even got to the campground , was at the Desert View. The weather was perfect and here we saw not only our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon but an observation structure known as the "Watchtower".  Built by architect Mary Elizabeth Jane Coulter it is very representative of prehistoric towers found over large areas of the Southwest. 

The interior was painted by Hopi artist, Fred Kabotie.  These pictographs represent Indian ceremonial paintings and designs passed from generation to generation. It was a very "spiritual" place and I was very impressed ( and pleased that I could climb all of those steps without having a heart attack).

Later, after setting up at our campsite, we went for a "sunset" tour along the rim of the canyon. It was the end of a perfect day and sunsets anywhere are a calming experience. 

The next day was a bus tour of many of the overlooks in the Grand Canyon along with a dinner and IMAX movie.  Here are a few of the pictures.

 

Lake Powell

Another road trip that twists & turns - this time to Lake Powell, which is near Page, AZ! 

We were here for 2 days and for the first time on this trip, it rained enough to interfere with one planned activity.  I guess we can't complain!  We still got to do several things - one was a boat tour on Lake Powell

The canyon walls are covered with "natural drawings" caused by wind and water. 

And the views from the boat were awesome. 

This huge lake was created by the Glen Canyon Dam & is used to store water for the use in 4 states and to ,produce electricity. 

This dam is only 16 feet shorter than the Hoover Dam.  Once they started pouring the cement they had to continuously pour every 5 minutes for the next 2 years to fill the dam. That is because wet cement will not adhere to dry cement.  Huge generators produce lots of electricity. 

We ended the day with a pizza party in a converted paddlewheel boat that had spent years on the Colorado River and Lake Powell.