Wrap Up

It has been a wonderful trip.  We head west tomorrow and will take a couple of days to reach Astoria.

Two Happy Campers

ETA 5/22 or 23

Oregon (05/16-20/2012)

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Frenchglen

Round Barn

Burns - Not much to say about the drive from Winnemucca to Burns except to say that it was uneventful.  Once in Burns we visited the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and the small "very" town of Frenchglen.  Included in the sights was the Roundbarn that was built in the early 1890's by Peter French.  The barn had a stable in the middle and a track around the stable that was used to train and exercise draft horses in the winter.  Peter French, who was financed by  Dr. Glenn, brought 1200 head of cattle up from California in 1872 and proceeded to buy land until by 1897 he had 150,000 acres.  Unfortunately everyone did not like his methods and in 1897 he was shot and killed by a small rancher who felt he had been wronged by French.


Wild mustangs @ BLM corral

Our other point of interest in Burns was a visit to the BLM wild mustang corrals.  Hopefully most of this horses will be adopted.

LaGrande - A beautiful drive from Burns to LaGrande and then another beautiful drive, on an unimproved forest service road,  that got us stuck in a snow drift.  We tried to take the scenic loop to Joseph and about 30 miles outside of LaGrande and at about 5,000' elevation we got stuck.  I am no help at that elevation and bless Rick's heart he tried for over an hour to free us.  About the time that I wanted to call for help a Jeep, that was equipped with a winch, came to our rescue - I was very, very happy.

Joseph - We made it to Joseph, on the improved highway, today.  Not a sunny day but warm enough to enjoy driving up to the lake, stop at Old Chief Joseph' gravesite and cemetery and then back to Joseph to enjoy the sights.


Old Chief Joseph' s gravesite



Wallowa Lake & Mountains

Joseph

Durango to Winnemucca (5/14 & 15/2012)

Outside of Moab

On the road to Moab

Snake Mt. from Hwy 50 in Utah

The drive from Durango to Winnemucca was uneventful, which is probably good.  I could look at the landscape from Durango to Moab everyday and never get tired of it.  Beautiful rock formations of various shades of red.  For those of you that follow the map, we got on I70 about 30 miles north of Moab, then picked up Hwy 50 at Salina and stayed on it all the way to Winnemucca.  It was 87 degrees when we arrived in Winnemucca, having a trailer with air conditioning is nice.  Tomorrow we head for Burns, OR for a couple of days to explore the southeastern part of Oregon, the only part of the state that I have never seen.


Durango/fishing, market, Elbert Cr Rd (5/12 & 13/2012)

Our home in Durango

Went to the opening day of Durango's Farmer's Market. Due to the time of year there was very little in the way of fresh produce , however there were at least 6 vendors selling organically grown  beef. The market was in a banks parking lot and I'm sure that it will be full of booths once the fresh produce comes in.

Durango Farmer's Market

After the market we headed back up Hermosa Creek Road for more fishing.  When Rick did not have any luck we decided to try Elbert Creek Road, which takes off of Hermosa Creek Road.  A good unimproved road that led us up above the ski resort and crossed countless ski runs and we saw at least 8 lifts.  A map at one of the lift sites showed the mountain almost completly covered with runs.  I had never heard of Purgatory Ski Resort before but it was apparent the many other people have.

Rick still fishing

Sunday morning was blocked out to do chores, then to town for lunch and then a walk on the Animas riverwalk that goes through town.  We made the first two but opted out of the walk as the temperature dropped into the 50's and we have rain and wind.  After some window shopping it was back to the warm trailer and a good book.
Tomorrow we leave Colorado and start heading west.  This is our second visit to Durango and it is my favorite of the places we have spent time.  A nice size with a population of approx. 20,000 and it sits in a beautiful valley surrounded by the Rockies.



View with one of the lifts from Elbert Creek Road

Durango/More fishing & Silverton (5/11/2012)

Rick getting his fishing fix

Harris Ranch

We went back to Hermosa Creek Road as Rick wanted to fish an area that he had avoided on our first trip due to the tall bank from the road to the river.  He made it down and back after catching (and releasing) a cutthroat trout.  I found out the name of the ranch that I have been trying to take a good photo of is Harris Ranch and it sits in the bottom of the Hermosa Creek valley.  Next was driving to Silverton, CO (elevation 9,300) for lunch.  I was born in Silverton, OR (elevation probably around 1,000'), a little difference.  Had lunch at the Brown Bear Cafe that is located in a building that was built in 1893.  On the drive back we were snowed on while driving over Molas Pass (elevation 10,910').  This is only the second time that we have been snowed on this trip.  All in all a pretty good day.


Drive from Purgatory to Silverton

Home in Silverton

Brown Bear Cafe

Building in Silverton







Durango/Mesa Verde (5/10/2012)

View from Mesa Verde

We visited Mesa Verde last year when one of the main drives was still closed and hoped that it would be open this year.  Wrong, the drive is closed until the end of May but we still enjoyed revisiting some of the places that we saw last year and discovered a couple that we had missed.  This is an amazing place.


Hallway inside Sun Temple AD 1250

Far View House & Pipe Shrine House

Cliff Palace

Durango (5/7 & 8/2012)

We enjoyed blue skies and temperatures in the 70's during our week in Santa Fe.  This changed to clouds and rain for the drive to Durango but it didn't matter as the road through the Colorado Plateau was incredibly beautiful. For Rick  right up there with fishing and single malt scotch are trains so on Tuesday morning we visited the Durango and Silverton train museum in downtown Durango.  Quite a place, they have the usual items plus the owners parlor car and a couple of engines that are still functional.  The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad's trips to Silverton depart from the train depot.

Durango & Silverton train depot

Rick enjoying the train yard

Ute Cultural Center and Museum

Next we drove out to the Ute Cultural Center and Museum that is one of the best Indian museums that we have visited.  A beautiful building and very attractive and well done displays in the museum.

Santa Fe/Taos (5/6/2012)

View from the high road to Taos

Rick on the high road to Taos

We have been on a quest since we arrived in Santa Fe to find the most perfect and afforable piece of Indian pottery that there is in the area.  Today this took us to Taos and then to the San Carlos Pueblo that is just outside of Espanola.  We did not find what we were looking for in Taos but had a great time walking the town and checking out the galleries.  Where we had driven the high scenic road to Taos we took the low, but just as scenic, road to Espanola.  .  We found what we were looking for at the San Carlos Pueblo and now we can leave for Durango,CO in the morning.

Plaza in Taos

Rio Grande River along the low road

Santa Fe (Cinco de Mayo)

Loretto Chapel/134 yrs old

San Miguel Chapel built in 1610

Oldest House in the country built in 1610

We decided to have breakfast downtown on this warm and sunny morning.  OK breakfast but a really nice walk around the downtown area.  The shops were just opening, the streets were not crowded and the temperature was perfect.  As I think I mentioned, in an earlier blog, Santa Fe was founded in the early 1600's and they have done a great job of preserving many of the structures.  The sale of art is third in the country only to NYC and LA.  Civic pride is very evident.  We have had a good visit here spending  time in the city and  time in the outlying attractions.  Tomorrow we do the scenic loop drive to Taos and then on to Durango, CO.

Santa Fe River

Rick & the burros

Ardie & the burros

Santa Fe/Taos & Bandelier (5/3-4/2012)

Macaw petroglyph @ Bandelier

There are 19 Pueblos in New Mexico and  we visited Taos Pueblo, which is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the country.  It is a World Heritage Site for Culture and a National Heritage site.  They do not allow photographs and  being a feast day most of the shops were closed.  There is no set time for the activities, none were happening while we were there, so we just enjoyed being able to walk around the pueblo.

Loop Trail @ Bandelier

Great House

Long House

On the 4th we drove to Bandelier National Monument that consists of 32,000 acres and includes 3 major sites.  We visited the Frijoles Canyon that includes the great house and cliff dwellings.  There were a couple of school groups that were touring and I thought how lucky they are that the school outings bring them here, where they can absorb history at such a young age.   My school outing was to the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

Taking a break on the trail

Stairs to room in cliff dwelling

L

Santa Fe (5/2/2012)

Plaza

We were in Santa Fe a year ago and Rick discovered very quickly that he did not enjoy driving our pickup on the narrow Santa Fe streets so we took the bus.  $1.00 for a one day pass - bus stop right outside of the RV park - great way to go.  Santa Fe was founded 403 years ago and downtown Santa Fe is almost a museum by itself, very old churches, buildings and museums with galleries, shops and then more galleries and shops.  I was very disappointed that the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum was closed but there was no lack of fascinating places to visit.

Rick W/his new friend in Santa Fe

Courtyard of Museum of Fine Art