Based o several emails we have recently received, we want to clear up a possible misconception.  Although the blogs faithfullyr ecreate the order in which we visit all the sites, it does not reflect the DATE on which we visit them.

Due to travel in remote areas; difficulties finding hotspots; vagaries of connections; lack of time; impatience of either David or me to wait for the other to finish internetting…we tend to be far behind in our postings. 

It is now July 19.  We are in Landers, Wyoming, but have just posted Moab, Utah and am working on Canyonlands. 

Sorry if you are not traveling with us as the exact moments we are.  However, we love all your comments and hope that you keep them coming.

Moab

We planned to stay in Moab a good long time and ended up staying 5 full days.  Our stay was made most pleasant because Dylan’s friends the Moreau’s lived there and made our lives very easy.  The National Park campground was filled so we stayed in Ken’s Lake, a dry, non-electric campground with a great lake nearby  and a waterfalls in hiking distance.  All that water was good, because Moab was 104 degrees by 9:30 am every day and didn’t cool down until after dark.  That, combined with no water, which meant no showers, made the lake and waterfalls a necessity. The campsite was great because for most of our stay, we were the only folks there which made camping a very quiet time.  And David was able to see two of Jupiter’s moons each night through our binoculars.

That afternoon we took a drive around the park, stopping at various overlooks such as Balanced Rock which was quite a balancing act. And that evening, we prepared for our first campsite dinner party since we had invited the Moreau’s to our camp for dinner on Tuesday.

Our first full day in Arches was full of hikes.  We got up very early for a longish hike to Delicate Arch.  This was the only park where we were constantly reminded of the dangers of the heat, and indeed, were told that a woman had died on the hike a few days before.  And on our afternoon hike, a woman was taken out on a stretcher.  And then while we were in Canyonlands the ranger heard on his walkie-talkie that a woman in Arches had had heat stroke.  So, we took the warnings very seriously and had purchased an extra large bottle for water in addition to our other two.  The walk was wonderful over “slick rock” which are massive flat boulders of rock which you can walk on because they are made of sandstone which holds your feet. And on the way back we saw more petroglyphs.

That afternoon we took an easy hike, in the heat of the day, to Landscape Arch which was breathtaking. And then we went back to Ken’s Lake for a lovely dip.  Then we hiked up to the waterfalls for an even colder dip; then back to Ken’s Lake to meet the Moreau’s for yet another swim, and then our campsite dinner party, complete with music from my Ipod.

Wednesday was errand day, including haircuts for both David and me, new tires for Celeste and odd and assorted other menial tasks.  At 4 pm we met a ranger for a guided hike (mandatory) through the Fiery Furnace which was not hot, but red in color.  The guide was necessary since there were no trails and we hiked through fins, squeaking through little spaces and hopping from rock to rock.  We came to Surprise Arch which David renamed Holy Cow Arch because it was so beautiful and totally unexpected.  We found out that poison ivy grows here as a shrub, not  vine.

Thursday we had our all day rafting trip on the Colorado River.  David and I had a ducky, an inflatable two person kayak for most of the trip.  Just the two of us surviving in a double kayak, was, in itself noteworthy.  I must say we were both quite proud that we did not battle for control of the “ship at sea” and managed very nicely.  The funniest part of the “double experience” came when we were going through the heaviest and fastest rapid.  I, as usual,  was laughing and smiling, so that when we dipped down and a wave crashed over us, I came up with a mouthful of water and started to choke.  David, who was responsible for steering, and was relying on me for directions, heard my noises in the front of the boat and kept yelling, “What.  What are you saying”.  When we came through the rapids, he said, “Next time please yell directions. louder  I had no idea if you were saying left of right.”  I had to explain that I was saying neither, but merely coughing my brains out.  The trip was more a sightseeing float than a technical one so we had lots of time to see the cliffs and splash around in the water.  Go to :http://www.moabactionshots.com/find_photo2.php?cat=R&src=&lce=341&month=07&day=10&year=2008&pm=&roll=&start_pic=37 to see our photos. Our river guide told us that Castle Valley, where we were floating was the scene for a lot of John Wayne movies, and Fisher Tower is where they put the cars and beautiful chicks for the great, desolate car ad shots. Great fun.  However, when we got back, dog tired to the campground, it was the usual 103 degrees in Celeste at 5 pm and we had nowhere to lie down.  Quite uncomfortable.

Friday we decided to have a completely different view of Moab and took a long, long drive up into the LaSal Mountains over scary, bumpy switchbacks into the SNOW where it was a lovely 65 degrees and sunny and full of green trees, the first forests we had seen in a long time. We climbed to 10600 feet.  We had lunch at Oowah Lake and had a beautiful hike around the lake, enjoying the cool weather.  Then back onto the long and bumpy road back to Moab. 

Back at the campground for a quick wash-up. I have perfected the sponge bath and head in the pot hair washing techniques.  As I am writing this it is July 13 and we have not had a shower since July 4.  Yuck!

Later on our last evening, we were planning to have dinner at our campsite with the Moreau’s but rain threatened (never happened) so we went to their home.  During our pizza dinner, we mentioned to Tom that we quite enjoyed all the petroglyphs we had been seeing.  Up he jumped, and we all raced out the door in the waning light to go about 10 minutes from his house into the cliffs behind it…to his own personal petroglyph panel that he actually had listed on the Register of Historic places.  How cool!

We regretfull are leaving Moab after five full days and are making our way to Canyonlands.  Moab was great, but very, very hot, hot, hot.  And we are missing any sort of shower!!!

We left Bryce on July 5 and headed for Capitol Reef National Park, the one park that we knew very little about.  When I asked David why he had it starred as a place to visit he said, “Because it is a national park.”

 It turns out that it is quite interesting, although not full of noteworthy photographic moments like the other parks.  We found that it was named Capitol because the settlers thought that some of the white formations looked like our nation’s capitol dome and reef because the settlers used nautical references and some of the formations looked like barrier reefs.

First of all, it is the site of a historic Mormon settlement, Fruita, a village of never more than 10 families, founded in the mid 1800’s, where they raised…you guessed it…fruit.  And we actually camped in one of the orchards and in season, all the fruit, in all the surrounding orchards, are free to pick.  Nothing was in season while we were there, but we bought some local jam from the museum there and took a photo of the one room schoolhouse. In the campsite next to ours was a man who made banjos and he showed us one whose back he had crafted from a tree in his yard. Here is a photo of our campsite.

Our first full day we had our first experience with RAIN.  This was the first time we had seen rain since we left Schwenksville, and it wasn’t very intrusive.  We took a wonderful walk along a boardwalk and saw some great petroglyphs, with a terrible ranger talk.

Then we drove to the defining geological feature of the park, the Waterpocket Fold which is a flat valley surrounded by two upheaval cliffs.  It was a wonderful, long visual treat, but a little bit tense since we had to drive down the mountain over dirt roads and switchbacks. Here is a photo of the terrain we drove through. I thought it was pretty bad but little did I know what was to come in Canyonland.

The next day we walked through a canyon bottom, much like the Zion narrows walk, but without the water.  It was there that we saw some great 1800’s graffiti.  

We also walked to some tanks (depressions in the rocks) with water in them, and then saw a great arch.  We could actually walk up to and under this arch.  It was our first arch, but did, in no way prepare us for Arches national park.

Capitol Reef was a restful park and gave us the strength to do Moab.

Bryce

Having been to the Grand Canyon and Zion, I thought there was not much more we could see that would be different and amazing.  How wrong I was.  Each of the three great parks was as different from one another as could be.  Yet, the same stone and the same colors were in all three, making the difference al l the more startling.

Bryce Canyon is the one that looks like sand castle drippings.  Each dripped pillar is called a hoodoo and there are thousands.  The first day, after setting up camp we drove the scenic route to the end and back, stopping at lookouts along the way, but not engaging in any strenuous hike.

Our first full day at Bryce we chose a somewhat strenuous hike that took several hours.  Unlike the Grand Canyon, at both Zion and Bryce we were able to walk among the stones, pillars, arches and hoodoos.  The hoodoos and canyons we found out, were caused, not by running water, but by erosion and the freeze and thaw cycle that little drops of water go through during the winter and spring.  Indeed, one of the signs at a lookout point said that the spot on which we were standing would, in our lifetime, fall into the canyon because after every rain, little pieces of it were being washed away.  And, in about another million years, Bryce Canyon would have eroded all the way back to the nearest river and become flooded.  No more hoodoos.

We were lucky, on our walk to meet another Ellen and her husband.  We made plans to join them later that evening for a rodeo and fireworks.  What a great time we had.  The Ellens had a lot in common; the rodeo was  quaint and the fireworks very good.  We weren’t too  happy with one event during the rodeo, in which all the kids under 5 lined up and upon a signal ran after about 5 little bunnies.  The winners got to keep the bunny they caught.  Looked a lot like bunny cruelty and we thought it was pretty weird that these kids were allowed to march into the stands clutching their bunnies, until they had the same contests with a greased piglet and the winner kept it too!

I won a neckerchief and a coupon for a 7 inch pizza by answering the question, “How do you get down off an elephant?”  For those of you who say that I can never remember a punch line, now I have a red hanky to prove you wrong.

TALES OF WOE…or How Not to Pee in the Woods (adult content below)

David has gotten into the habit of waking me in the middle of the night when he goes outside to pee so that I can avoid the rush to the bathroom in the morning because many times we have camped quite far away from the public bathrooms.  And it is quite acceptable to go outside half dressed under the cover of darkness.  All worked well until Bryce.  Our campsite was on a slope bordering a hill.  Do you anticipate impending doom?  During the midnight pit stop while looking for just the right spot,  I fell once flat on my behind, and then fell forward and started to slip down the hill.  All was not well/  The second night, David stopped at the bathroom on the way back from the rodeo, gave me a flashlight and told me he would meet me at the campsite.  Again, disaster.  I left the bathroom…and the flashlight died.  I got so disoriented that I started wandering around, fell once, went back to the bathroom to start in a different direction and got lost again.  Things were looking grim.  Then I remembered who I am married to and knew that if I went back to the bathroom and just waited, David would come to the rescue.  So back I went, and just as I was starting to cry, David’s flashlight came bob, bob bobbing along.  He said that he knew he had made a mistake telling me to get to the campsite on my own and had come for me as soon as he parked the car.  What a guy!  And I knew he would!

Wow!  I didn’t know how happy we were to leave Las Vegas until we started touring around Zion.  What a place and what vistas.  We were quite lucky to get a great campsite with easy access to the vistor’s center and the mandatory shuttle bus service that is provided.  Cars are not allowed in the p[ark and the park service runs a shuttle from 5:45 am to 11 pm every night. 

Since we arrived at Zion later than we had planned, we set up camp and took the shuttle all around the park for about 90 minutes.  Sort of a sight seeing preview.  Since the bus had skylights as well as windows, we were able to great great views of the tallest sandstone cliffs in the world.  We saw a big horned sheep on the side of the road, which, according to the shuttle driver, was the first time he had ever seen one that low down.

  Please read this slowly since it took us three shuttle rides of listening to the recording to udnerstand:  Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce are what is called the grand stircase.  The lowest level of Bryce is the highest level of Zion and the lowest level of Zion is the highest level of the Grand Canyon.  So, Bryce is the highest in elevation and Grand Canyon the lowest.

We got up reasonably early the next day to take the hike that many folks had recommended; the River Walk and the narrows.  How cool!  95 degrees air temperature while we walked on the river walk that ends in the narrowest part of the canyon…and then its river walking all the way as far as you want.  What a treat!  The Virgin River is mostly shallow, fast running, rocky and cool, cool, cool. 

We were surprised to learn that in 1998  a landslide occured in the night that blocked the river, and overnight it undercut the bordeing road and wiped it out.  In 1 night.  And that was the little river we were hiking. 

That was by far one of the best hikes we have ever been on. Towering cliffs on both sides, sun shining down, cool water tickling our feet, knees, waists.  What was not to like?

Back at the campground we found out that the adjoining campground contained one of the three apricot trees in the park…and they were all ripe.  Yummy.  Here is the view from the campground.

As usual, David did all the driving. And i did all the sleeping.

Wow!  God must look out for stupid people.  As much as David and i knew that las Vegas was a desert, we still planned to camp for two days and then treat ourselves to a day or so at a hotel.  Sounded like a good plan until we got closer to Las Vegas and heard the weather report..110; 115; 112, and then stopped for lunch and found that it got down to a whopping 85 at night.  How foolish we are!  I immediately got on the interent and booked a $35.00 a night motel right on the strip where all the Elvis weddings are!  What a hoot and what a motel.  We had to move to a different room on the third day because our toilet backed up.  But it had air conditioning, and showers and toilets right in the room as well as a wonderful pool.

Our first night we went to Freemont Street, home of older casinos, $.99 margaritas and a roof over the street that hourly puts on a great light show.  Won $4.00 at the penny slots but lost it all!

Our first full day we fled the city and went through Valley of Fire State Park

which was a display of red sandstone formations rising out of gray rocks.  Here I am trying to avoid the heat in a little overhang. Enough to knock your socks off.  However, that would be dangerous because it was 115 degrees!  Next we jumped at the chance to swim in Lake Mead (made by the damned up Colorodo River) and cool off.  Quite nice and a break from the heat.

Then it was on to Hoover Dam which was a bit disappointing because he couldn’t even stop to see it without paying.  however, we did get to drive across it and since we had been to Glen Canyon Dam and had a great tour inside the dam, we didn’t feel too disappointed.

That night was our big show!  We went to the Rio Casino to see Penn and Teller.  We had gone earlier in the day to the ticket window that had reduced price tickets for that night’s performance and were able to get great seats and saw a great show.

The next day, Monday, was errands day.  We had to take the car to the Toyota dealer, do some practical stuff and hang out at the pool for a bit to prepare for our big night on the las VEgas strip.

Again, what we did not know could have filled a book.  i thought that we would walk from casino (building) to building, visiting the strips of stores in their lobbies.  Little did I realize that each casino is the size of a small city with enough stores to fill a mall.  And what stores. I spotted a Mikimodo store and quicker than David could turn around I was being helped by a saleswoman who put a strand of south sea’s golden pearls around my neck,  12 mm to 16 mm with a golden clasp.  I was walking around the store admiring myself in them as David followed me muttering, “take them off.  Take them off now.” I can understand his angts.  They cost $64,000.00 (All my zeros are in the right place.)  Then we went to Bauman’s Rare Books (quite a surprise) and saw a photo of Darwin with his handwrittne comments about how much he liked the picture underneath.  Wow!  As David and the salesman started talking about what an investment the photo could be, I had to quietly remind David that we had no home to display it.

We walked and walked and walked and walked.  We really did think that the casinos were next to each other, but we were wrong and it was hot.  And, on the way back to our car, we got so lost in Caesar’s casino that David, the surveyor, talked about the experience for hours afterwards.

The Belagio’s dancing fountains were our favorite, and the Veneitian Casino, with Mikimodo and canals with gondolas, blue cloud filled ceilings in some parts, and coffered, painted ceilings in others, was also a highlight.  However, after 5 hours we were truding and quite ready to go back to our little motel.

All in all, we were glad to go to las Vegas and quite glad to leave.  An un-real interlude in our journey.

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.

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)

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.

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.