Gallup to Santa Fe (4/30-5/1/2012)

USA Park @ Gallup (no trees or space)

Our drive from Gallup, NM to Santa Fe was an easy 200 mile drive and we arrived at our new home in Sante Fe in the early afternoon.  Pretty exciting afternoon as I spent it getting caught up on laundry.   Tuesday morning we explored Pecos National Historical Park where the visitor center was built in 1989 with $1,500,000. that was donated by Greer Garson.  Beautiful carvings throughout the building which, we failed to take pictures of.

Catholic church of early 1700

Rick @ Church ruins

We managed to avoid

The first Puebloans built rock and mud villages in the valley around 1100 but in the early 1300's they built Pecos pueblo that by 1450 had a population of 2,000 and was a 5 story fortress.  In 1541 the Spaniards arrived and it was downhill from there.  The Spanish dominated until the Pueblo revolt of 1680 but then the Spaniards returned 12 years later.  The last puebloans left in 1838.  In 1862 the Battle of Glorieta Pass took place.  This was between the Union and Confederate armies, the furthest west of any battle of the Civil War.

Historical Marker

We met Gary and Sarah, my brother and sister-in-law, for dinner at an excellent southwest restaurant, The Shed, in downtown Sante Fe and then showed them the bronze sculpture that is at the entrance to the museum on the hill.   Much good food, drink and laughs.

Sarah, Ardie & Gary in Sante Fe

Gary, Ardie & Rick

Rick, Sarah and Gary

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.