Gallup/Canyon de Chelly @ Chinle, NM (4/29/2012)

Canyon de Chelly

Canyon de Chelly

We have now been to a number of places that are called "Indian Ruins" and it amazes me how different most of them are from each other.  Susan, if you are reading this, thank you so much for givin Canyon de Chelly your highest recomendation.  We were not disappointed.  It is an incredibly beautiful canyon with steep walls that reach up to 1,000' from the canyon floor.  Studies show that people have lived in these canyons for close to 5,000 years but the basketmaker was the first to build structures on the canyon walls from 2000 B.C.E.-C.E.750.  The Pueblo followed, then the Hope and lastly the Navajo from 1700-1863.   Currently the monument is run by the Navajo under the supervision of the federal government and there are Navajo people living there.  Tomorrow we move on to Santa Fe.

Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly

Cliff dwg in lower left hand corner of cliff

On to Gallup, NM (4/28/2012)



San Francisco Mts outside of Flagstaff

Getting ready to leave Flagstaff

Indian Ruin @ Petrified Forest

Up and out by 7am and on the road from Flagstaff to Gallup.  We really enjoyed our stay but look forward to new territory.  We stopped at Petrified Forest National Park (and Painted Desert) and took the 28 mile drive that gave us overlooks of and walks to the points of interest.  We have been looking at Indian Ruins of 10 to 12 centuries ago and now we looked at changes that took place 225 million years ago.  Very interesting.  Tomorrow is Canyon deChelly.


Painted Desert

Petrified Wood

Flagstaff/Jerome (4/27/2012)

Jerome

Rick outside Jerome's museum

We visited Jerome on our trip in 2010 and decided that a return visit was in order.  Jerome was a major mining center for copper in the late 1800's and the fourth largest city in Arizona with a population of 15,000.  It was a wild mining town and considered to be the wickedest city in the west due to the wild saloons and bordellos.  The mines shut down in 1953 and the population quickly dropped to 50.  In the late 1960's artists moved in for the low rents and the town is now a major tourist attraction, still with a permanent population of only 100. A fun place built on the side of a mountain where some stores have 3 stories, all with a street entrance.
In order to get to Jerome we caught the Oak Creek Canyon road outside of Flagstaff, which took us the 30 miles to Sedona and then another 30 miles to Jerome.  Oak Creek Canyon is one of the prettiest drives I have been on and of course driving into and out of Sedona is the best with all of the red rock formations.

Outside of Sedona

Tomorrow we leave for Gallup (a change of plans as we originally were going to Chinle) and then to Canyon DeChelly.

Flagstaff/SNOW (4/26/2012)

Riordan Mansion

The weather forecast for today was rain and temperatures in the low 50's so we planned a day to visit some of the local inside attractions.  A really good choice on our part as while it was raining when we drove to the Riordan Mansion while we were on a tour of the interior we looked out the windows and it was snowing!  The Riordan Mansion is interesting in that it is a duplex built by 2 brothers who married sisters.  There is a total of 13,000 sq. ft., 6,000 for each brother plus 1,000 in the middle.
Our intention was to visit a local gallery but on seeing that we had to walk a block, in the snow and wind and temperature of 33 degrees, to get to the gallery we opted for a nice lunch downtown and then back to the trailer for a warm afternoon of relaxing and reading.  This life is tough.

Flagstaff/Walnut Canyon Nat'l Monument (4/25/2012)



The Canyon

Inside the structure

Amazing!  As many of you know, Rick is the student of anthropology and I kind of go along for the ride in hopes that I may learn something or see something really great.  Today we explored the above mentioned monument and it is incredible.  It is 145' down into the canyon and 145' (240 stairs) back out of the canyon, but it was so worth it, remember this is at 7000 ft elevation. There is a large variety of vegetation that grows on the canyon walls, everything from yucca plants to pine trees.  How people built these structures into the canyon wall and gathered food and water is hard to believe.  The theory is that the people that settled this canyon came from the San Francisco Mt area where Wupatki National Monument is located.  They settled here in 1125AD and left in 1275AD.  It was declared a national monument in 1915.

One of the strutures

Can you see the visitors ctr @ the top

Flagstaff/Grand Canyon (4/24/2012)

Today the Grand Canyon!  A place I have seen pictures of forever and I have to say that seeing it is amazing.  13 levels of history - all on view.
Flagstaff is 79 miles from the south rim, if you take I80 and 78 miles from the south rim if you take I64 to 89 so we took I80 there and 89 back.
I80 was a beautiful drive through pine forests.  89 was through desert.  Again the weather cooperated with temperatures in the mid 70's.  Another great day to be retired.

Flagstaff/Wupatki Nat'l Monument (4/23/2012)



Rick @ Wukoki ruins

Wupatki ruins

Today we visited the above mentioned national monument that consists of 56 square miles of desert and includes the ruins of Wupatki, Lomaki, Box Canyon and Wukoki that have been partially excavated and are open to the public.  It was a great day to be outside as the temperature was in the mid 70's and we had clear blue sky.

Wukoki ruins

Lomaki ruins

Flagstaff 4/22/2012

Museum of Northern Arizona

Today was our day to start getting to know Flagstaff.  We started out at the visitors center and they were very helpful in giving us the lay of the land.  We started out at the Museum of Northern Arizona which, is a full of interesting artifacts and information.  I learned, all of you probably already know, that many archaeology digs are put back the way they were found, ie covered up with dirt and stones, once the archaeolgists have obtained the info that they wanted.  All in all it was a very informative visit.
We like Flagstaff.  It's population is 50,000 and is full of older, restored and/or renovated buildings. 
Tomorrow we are on to the Indian ruins, Rick's favorite thing.

Pine Flat Lake to Flagstaff (4/20 & 21)

Once we left the orange groves, there must be thousands and thousands of acres in orange groves in central California, and hit Bakersfield we pretty much lost the green.  We had been enjoying temperatures in the mid 70's and when we stopped for the night @ Newberry Springs, CA it was in the mid 90's.  This RV park is just east of Barstow and there are no pictures of it because there was really nothing to take a picture of.  We left at 6:30am in order to try to beat the heat, it was in the lower 90's by 8am, and arrived in Flagstaff in the early afternoon and have a place in the park I had picked out.  It is nestled in a grove of Ponderosa Pine and is very quiet.

Getting close to Flagstaff

Pine Flat Lake, CA (4/15-19, 2012)

We had another pretty drive on our way to Lakeridge RV Park @ Pine Flat Lake.  We had requested a space with a full hook up (water, electricity and sewer for you non RV'ers) and the space that we were directed to was in the middle of semi-permanent trailers and so small that you would have had to pick up the trailer and set it in and then no room to open the slideout.  We were not impressed!  A helpful resident came to our rescue and directed us to the lower level of the campground where there was a very nice space surrounded by trees and green grass.  There we parked!  As we were setting up our friend Dennis, Rick's best man at our wedding, pulled in with a friend of his (Jerry) in a 31' motor home.  There space was not far from us and we had the entire lower area to ourselves, except for the Quail and jackrabbits. 
The next day, Rick, Dennis and Jerry rented a boat and went fishing on the lake.  There were only 2 fish caught but I think that the 3 of them had a good time.  I took advantage of time to get settled into the trailer and generally have a relaxing day.

King River

Rick & Denny hard @ work

The 3rd day the 4 of us spent the day finding fishing spots on the King River.  No fish but one dead rattlesnake on the highway.  I know it was a rattlesnake because Rick turned around to go back and closely inspect it.

Rick, Denny & Jerry

Rick @ Sequoia Nat'l Park

The next day we left Denny and Jerry in the RV Park and we drove to Sequoia Nat'l Park.  Lots of snow, big trees and beautiful scenery that we had to enjoy from the car as almost all of the pull offs were blocked by snow.

Yosemite

Yosemite

The next day was our day to go to Yosemite.  Jerry and Dennis had to head home so we bid goodby to them @ 7am and we headed for Yosemite Nat'l Park.  I was not disappointed, even though the road to Glazier Point was not open yet, we were able to spend about 5 hours seeing many of the other sites.  We found a campground that can accomadate our trailer and we will plan a trip back here, where we can spend 2 - 3 days, within the next couple of years.  The scenery is stunning!
Back to the RV park, kind of lonesome as the Jerry and Dennis's campsite was empty/
Tomorrow we head for Flagstaff.

Gearhart, OR (4/12) to Pine Flat Lake, CA (4/15)

Bullards Bay State Park

Oregon Coast

Gas in Brookings, OR

Gas in Fortuna, CA

This will be a long first post as we have been on our trip since 4/12/2012 and I finally am in a RV park with WiFi that seems to stay on.  Hopefully when the blog is published you will see, in the above picture, our 5th parked @ Bullards Bay State Park that is located north of Bandon, OR.  The drive down the coast was beautiful, scattered showers, but always some sun on the ocean.

See the wild turkeys?

SEABISCUIT

The joke was on us for gas prices as we thought that the price in Fortuna was a sign of the times to come - wrong - we have paid from $4.09 to $4.29 since we left Fortuna.

Rick's ready to roll

Day 2 took us from the Oregon coast to the California coast and then through the redwoods.  Weather was again on the cool side with scattered showers but another beautiful drive.  We started looking for a place to stay @ 2pm and found Golden Rule RV Park about 5pm.  Just south of Willits, it was down a steep and winding road where we passed a sign telling us that Sea Biscuit was from there.  We shared the camp with wild turkeys, deer, jack rabbits and quail - no other campers.

Boat elevators on Clear Lake

Day 3 we left Hwy 101 to Hwy 20 to Hwy 16, Hwy 49 and finally to Hwy 16.  We drove by Lake Mendicino an Clear Lake, everything was so green an the wild flowers were beautiful.  Got lost going through Sacramento but found our way to Angels Camp where we spent the night.  Our weather has been cool - looking forward to finding warmer weather soon.