Grand Canyon - More Pictures

Here's a few more pictures...and of course, I just had to include "Charlie"...the little guy that wanted to share my ice cream with me yesterday. Today, he found a nice man that shared some pecans with him...(no gas for Charlie tonight!)

Grand Canyon Again/With Pictures

We went back to the Grand Canyon today, ensuring the batteries on the camera charged all night before leaving this time! We went back to all the locations from earlier this week and got some great pictures. This trip was much shorter because we drove straight to the Grand Canyon and back. There were actually lot's of places to park. This time of year the park isn't nearly as crowed as it is in the summer. But with the crowds today in April, I can't imagine how crowded it is in the summer. Unlike earlier this week when we went, it was really windy today, but we had a great time anyway.

We're planning on just 'chilling' tomorrow. Sunday we're planning on driving to Sedona for the day. We'll fill you in when we return. We're not yet sure where we're headed once we leave here, we were planning on heading to Durango or Creede Colorado. But after the Grand Canyon Railway train ride, we're not really interested in taking the Durango Silverton train. We may move on to Moab, Utah...or possibly head West for a week on Lake Powell. We'll let you know once we figure it out! So, stay tuned~

Montezume Castle /Tuzigoot - More Pics

We're trying to figure out the best solution to just including a link for all pictures that we take, rather than attempting to download a few with a blog entry. It takes 10 - 15 minutes to just download 5 pictures, which is the maximum on blogger.com, apparently. We'd like to come up with something that doesn't require a code to be entered in order to see them, but in researching tonight, I haven't come across a solution as yet.

But wanted to include a few more pictures from today, I inadvertently included a couple of pictures I didn't intend to and some how the one of Mark was left off. Anyway, here's a few more.

***Ok, Ok...I Give Up! These are not the photos I selected to upload and quite frankly I'm exhuasted! So.......you're 'stuck' with wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too many pictures of Sherry! There...that's it. I'm saying Goodbye, Goodnight to all...it's bedtime for me!!!

Montezume Castle & Wells/Tuzigoot National Monuments

Well we had a full day today. Today, we decided our babies (Clyde & Duffy of course), should join us on our trip past Sedona to check out several of the National Park Monuments in the area that we had wanted to check out.

The first monument we saw was Montezuma's Castle. The primary structure was a five story, 20-room dwelling built between the 1100- 1300's by the Southern Sinagua Indians. It was erroneously named, assuming this settlement was built by the Aztecs, but was not. In addition to the Castle, there was another building that held up to 100 people.

The next monument was the Montezuma Well. That was really interesting. It's a 55 foot deep circular hole, for lack of a better word. The diameter of this body of water was probably only 15 - 20 feet. The springs that feed it still flow continuously. The Southern Sinagua irrigated cropts with these waters. Traces of the original irrigation ditches they dug with primitive stone tools still exist. Several of the original stone building remains still exist. The Sinagua people lived in the area until the early 1400's and mysteriously left and it remains a mystery. They left prime architectural lands, water and shelters built over a 200 year period suddenly. It has never been determined where they went, no Sinagua people or tribes were ever recorded after the 1400's.

Then we drove to Tuzigoot, about 20 miles from the Montezuma Castle and Well. Tuzigoot means 'crooked water' in Apache. This was probably the most beautiful location we saw today. The views were breathtaking. This structure is several hundred feet about surrounding areas with several structures that remain in relatively good shape. They were also built in the 1100 - 1300's. The original pueblo was 2 stories high with 77 ground floor rooms. There were few exterior doors and entry was by ladders through openings in the roofs.

The drive to and from the area was spectacular as well. Unlike the mountains in New Mexico, the mountainous areas in Arizona have a red hue and large with flat tops...bottom line, they're just beautiful. The scenery in Arizona is just awesome...we really love it here!

Grand Canyon/But No Pictures!

Yesterday we went to the Grand Canyon. We took the Grand Canyon Railway train from Williams to the South Rim for the day. Unfortunately, before we boarded the train we discovered the camera battery was dead! No pictures...bummer! But, we decided we'd drive back up while in Flagstaff this week and take pictures of our favorite spots. So, we left the camera behind and had a great time.

If you've seen the Grand Canyon, you know there are no words to describe it...what came to my mind when seeing it was...How could anyone see this awesome, magnificent thing called the Grand Canyon, and not believe in a God...of some kind. It's so awe-inspiring, I have no words to describe it. I had thought Yosemite was magnificent, but this tops that by a long shot. We were blessed with a couple of rare-endangered Condors that were gliding...not flying, they were gliding and circling the canyon for at least 5 minutes and came within 15 feet of us a few times. We felt blessed to just be in the company and observe these magnificent creatures...(I keep saying magnificent don't I? Can't think of a better word...?!)

There are signs all around warning not to feed the animals. Right outside the cafeteria and gift shop, were several squirrels that have obviously been well fed by people. They aren't the least bit afraid of people. I had sat on the ledge to eat an ice cream and a couple of the squirrels trotted right down to me, one even rared up on my knee sniffing! I was afraid he was going to crawl right up in my lap, so I slowly stood up. Mark sure wished he had a picture of that. Then the little guy scampered off to the trash beside me, climbed right on top and started licking a bowl of left over chili. Mark pointed out the little guy will probably have gas and his buddies would wonder later that night...what's wrong with 'Charlie' tonight, shew! (I knew you'd appreciate that little Mark tale).

After finishing our Grand Canyon hike, we moved to the Hopi Building and they were putting on a show for "Earth Day". It was pretty awesome...they did some kind of dance with 15 - 20 hoops. He started dancing with one of them and by the end, was making awesome displays with all these loops intertwined together. Oh yea, included with the train trip, unbeknownst to us, was a Gun Fight at the OK Corral before the train left in the morning. Lot's of antics by the actors on the train...and lo and behold, we even had a genuine "train robbery" on the way back, including masked gunment on horses running after the train, right before our eyes, followed by the robbers coming on the train, 'robbing' folks and last, but not least of course, the Sheriff coming thru to save the day. We'd have probably enjoyed the whole train robbery a tad more if we weren't soooooooooo exhausted from our full day of exploring and walking...and walking.

We're planning on heading back to the Grand Canyon tomorrow for pictures. Hope everyone else had a great day! Until tomorrow~

Hello Flagstaff!

We pulled out of Balloon Fiesta Park before 7:00 a.m. this morning, to beat the crowd of RV'ers that would be pulling out shortly. We had an uneventful 6 hour trip to Flagstaff today and were parked and hooked up ready to go by 3:00 today. We grabbed a bite to eat and took a short drive around town to get a lay of the land so to speak. We came across Lowell Observatory, perched high above the city and is only a few miles from our campground. It has three 2-story telescopes and they offer tours daily and even offer several nightly tours to look at the stars...we're adding that to the agenda for sure.

As for tomorrow, we've settled on heading to the Grand Canyon. We're catching the Grand Canyon Railway in Williams Arizona early tomorrow morning, which is just a short drive from our campsite here in Flagstaff. It's a 2 hour train ride into the Grand Canyon and return...and we're hoping for lot's of terrific scenery. Once there, they offer free shuttles throughout the Canyon that we'll take to check out the different areas of the south rim. So, that about wraps it up for today...we made it safely to Flagstaff and are planning on staying here at Black Bart RV Park for the next week. Can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store, so until later~

Goodbye Albuquerque

Well, looks like I've went too long without an update again, but we've been so busy I haven't had time to make an update. We've spent the last several days attending seminars that were quite helpful, we learned an awful lot. In addition, we purchased a couple of things we had needed for the RV, but had not yet been able to get. In addition, we attended shows in the evening, Neil Sedaka, Rita Coolidge and last night, the Osmond Brothers. So that didn't leave any time for updates...but sorry about that.

There wasn't anything to take pictures of this week while attending seminars or the Rally exhibits, but we did have a bit of excitement a couple of nights ago. As everyone knows, Albuquerque is the city for hot air ballonons, and last night they brought out several hot air balloons for the rally and they were right at the end of our row after the concert. There's a way to light the balloons up at night, so that they look like a lighted Christmas ornament. They were just gorgeous, and the pictures certainly don't do them justice, but I've included a few. We actually got to come around to the secured area and visit with the 'pilots', as they refer to themselves. These balloons are lit up with really intense flames that put off a tremendous heat. One of the pilots tried to get me to climb up on the basket before he pulled the lever to light the balloon! It felt like my hair was singing from where I was 5 feet away...Uhhhhhhh, I Don't Think So!!! But it really made for a beautiful ending to a great day.

Tonight the Rally ends, and we really take off and will be kicking things into high gear. The plan is to leave early tomorrow morning for Flagstaff, Arizona. We'll stay in Flagstaff for 1+ weeks, while we explore the Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, Walnut Canyon Nat'l Monument, Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, Montezuma's Castle, Sunset Crater and Wuptaki Nat'l monument. We may not hit all of 'em, but that's the current plan...and Flagstaff is a great central location to them all.

Well, that about wraps it up for now...I'll update again once we get settled in Flagstaff. Until later~

Finals Days in Santa Fe/Arriving at Albuquerque Rally

1st Picture - We're packed in at the Rally

2nd Picture - Our view from the Rally

3rd Picture - Mark at the Rally entrance

4th Picture - Sherry @ the Rally entrance

5th Picture - Balloon Fiesta Museum in the park

Well, we finally made it to the 2009 RV Rally yesterday. It's been more than a week since our last update...sorry about that! We spent the last several days in Santa Fe running just running a few errands, checking a couple of places out and mainly...just waiting for this rally to begin.

We did check out one of the local Santa Fe 'dives' that was recently on the Food Network show, "Diners, Drive-in's and Dives". I tried the green chili/cheese burger, that the guy on the show said was terrific...and it was, though a tad spicey for my liking. Of course, Mark being the more adventurous one, decided he had to try the buffalo burger, so he had a Bison burger...he says the meat tasted great, not really 'gamey', but the burger was a bit spicey. So that was a fun experience. We also went back to Route 66 for a day and checked out several cool places, but we forgot to bring the camera so no pictures of that day!

The most interesting thing we saw our last day on Route 66 in Santa Fe was the 'Loretto Chapel'. I remember hearding about it on the Travel channel a few years ago. It's a Catholic church built in the1870's for some nuns that came to Santa Fe to open the first convent school for girls. They had run out of money before the staircase could be built to the second floor of the church. The sisters prayed about it and the next morning, a stranger showed up with a saw and a couple of other basic tools, offering to do the work for the sisters. They were glad to have someone work on it without requiring payment upfront, so this man spent the next 7 months creating this circular staircase, which has No supports and makes 3 complete 360 turns. The stair case was finished in 1877. The morning after it was completed, the mother superior looked for the stranger, to pay for his work or at least for the wood and he was gone...never seen nor heard from again.

Numerous architectural 'experts' have completed detailed analysis and even a chemical compound breakdown of the staircase wood used, and to date the wood cannot be identified. So the sisters and folk lore is that the work must have been completed by the patron Saint of carpentry whom the sisters had prayed to the night before the man showed up to complete the staircase. In addition, NO nails were used, only glue. All pieces were done by intra-locking each step of the staircase! And until 1977, this remained an active convent with hundreds of girls going up and down these stairs everyday...with no structural support! And the wood is beautiful, it looks brand new! Isn't that a fascinating story? Mark and I spent a couple of hours checking it out, they had a bookstore area where you could read the actual geological and structural analysis. None of the 'experts' have been able to identify the type of wood used, how the staircase structure supports weight with no structural support, nor why after 125+ years, it is still in pristine condition. (I like to think there was some kind of help from someone 'above'!)

Well, that pretty much wrapped up our week in Santa Fe. We got to Albuquerque yesterday evening and there are currently 2,000+ RV's at the Balloon Festival Park with more coming tomorrow. There are lot's of seminars and booths and stuff to check out on everyting from RV stuff to cool places to visit, etc. I've included a few pictures of the rally site., (By the way, Mark wants to point out that in the extended view of the Balloon Fiesta Park RV's, our RV is the one with the white roof..(he he he)! As for entertainment, tonight is a concert with a group popular in the 59's/60's. Tomorrow night is Neil Sedaka, (remember him from the 70's? Loved that guy). Then the next night is Rita Coolidge, country western singer and the next night the Osmond brothers.

That about wraps it up from here, sorry I've been a bad 'blogger'...promise I'll do better on keeping updates of what we're up to. So......until tomorrow, have a wonderful evening~~

Santa Fe - Turquoise Trails

We got up early this morning and headed out for an all day trip from Santa Fe to Albuquerque, along the Turquoise Trails, which is one of the recommended scenic drives in New Mexico. We drove along 30 miles of beautiful mountains with small towns and little museums along the way. At the half way point we decided to go up the Santia Mountain, which at the top, is 10,800 feet. Due to recent problems with high altitude while on a day trip in Carlsbad, I decided to take precautionary measures. So, last night I took a baby aspirin, at the recommendation of one of the 'neighbors' we met in an RV Park recently. In addition, I drank lot's of water to keep hydrated...(thanks for the suggestion Julie), and NO Altitude sickness! At least not this time. I was sooooooooo relieved, as was Mark. With our upcoming move into Colorado, I knew I better come up with something or we'd have a real kink in our future plans!

Anyway...it was a long 15 mile drive up the mountain, but the views were definitely worth it. We spent some time at the gift shop and Mark took lot's of pictures. We were surprised at how much snow is still in the upward part of the mountains. The temperature dropped from 70 to 34 in 30 minutes and with the wind blowing, the wind chill was probably in the teens! So we headed back down the mountain and continued on thru the remaining 20 miles of the drive, ending up in Albuquerque. We stopped at Red Lobster for a nice meal and headed back to our home on wheels. It was a nice day trip...we had a good time, got home and curled up for an evening of television. Not sure what's on the agenda tomorrow, but we'll find something!

Our 'Babies' & The Rig

As my wonderful sister-in-law recently pointed out, we don't yet have a single picture of our babies! Thought I'd attach a few copies of our babies (albeit, they may be a 'tad' heavy!), but they're still babies to us!! Also thought I'd attach a couple of pics of our rig too.

Route 66

We've been so busy I haven't had a chance to post an update in a few days. A couple of days ago we drove to the old Route 66, the famous highway that moves thru several states. We parked the truck and spent the majority of the day strolling thru the cool stores, boutiques and museums. We had lot's of fun and plan to head back later this week to see a few of the sites in the area we didn't have time to check out. Attached are a few pictures of our day on Route 66.

Goodbye "Snakes" - Hello Santa Fe

Yep, that's right...snakes! We didn't do any other 'tourist' activities our last couple of days in Carlsbad. We spent yesterday doing chores, getting ready for our drive today from Carlsbad to Santa Fe. We had taken the dogs out for a bathroom break yesterday afternoon and Mark noticed a snake a couple hundred yards away! And it was Big...really, it was almost as tall as the man who threw his hat over the snakes head and grabbed him! It was probably 5 - 6 foot long. I saw the man throw his cap on the snakes head and grab it from behind (just like the Crocodile hunter on tv!) He posed with it while his wife took pictures of it even and they showed it to their grandkids!! They were freakin' Crazy! We know it wasn't a rattle-snake, no rattler. We found out it was first seen chasing one of the wild rabbits in the park...right next to an RV a row over from ours...they said the rabbit was fighting back too! Wow...Wow!! I was amazed and scared! I had taken the dogs out at night earlier in the week, without even a flashlight! Needless to say, I didn't take them out again at that park! Mark had to. After showing the snake to anyone interested (and Mark did go over and check it out), the man took it over to the empty field and released it...so it was probably right back in the park last night! Between the high winds and snake, I was really glad to get out of that park!

We awoke early this morning, packed up and were headed out by 8:30 on our way to Santa Fe. The winds in New Mexico have been fierce...at least 40 - 55 mph constant at times, with gusts probably at least 60 mph...Way too much for us. The high winds have pretty much ruined our slide-out toppers and we'll probably remove them one day this week. We'll take the RV in for repair of an internal door this week, probably Tuesday. There's several things we're hoping to check out this week, including mountains, beautiful scenic drives and of course, Route 66. We're in a beautiful RV park this week, up on a mountain overlooking Santa Fe.

Well, that's about it from here...I should have more pictures to post in the next few days. Not sure what we'll do tomorrow, but I'm sure we'll find something! Stay tuned...

Cloudcraft and White Sands

Well, we got up early today and grabbed the dogs and headed out. We planned on driving to White Sands National Monument near Ruidoso today and the round trip was 300 miles. Maybe a tad too many for one day of sight-seeing I guess. But we had a great time and the dogs really enjoy getting to go places with us.

We drove to Roswell and headed southwest to Alomogordo, to check out the White Sand dunes. On the way, we went through beautiful mountains all the way up to Cloudcraft, which was at some 9,000 ft altitude. Well, unfortunately I discovered I must have a tendancy for altitude sickness, because I started getting a migraine that increased the higher we went and lasted until we were back down on the other side of the mountains today...bummer! So we didn't get to spend anytime in the old cowboy/western town of Cloudcraft as planned. But, we did go thru Lincoln National Forrest on the way to Almogordo, and the scenery along the entire trip today was beautiful. Ruidoso had lot's of great scenery too.

I've included a few pictures of the White Sands National Monument, which was one of the strangest things we've seen...it appeared to be snow with 20+ foot snow-drifts, but obviously was just white 'sand' from gypsum. Mark even climbed up into one of the dunes with Clyde & Duffy...Duffy enjoyed it, but Clyde sure didn't! He slid down the dune with all 4 feet extended, he definitely wasn't enjoying the dunes as much as we were! But today, we did get to see Roswell (again), Almogordo, Cloudscraft and Ruidoso today, and overall, we really enjoyed today's outing.

We're not sure what's on the agenda tomorrow...this Friday is 'chore' day, when we get the laundry done, truck cleaned and fueled and everything ready for our Saturday morning early departure to Santa Fe. We'll probably go to the Living Desert Zoo and possibly Sitting Bull Falls tomorrow. But not sure...so stay tuned~