Standing in four states at once

On the road again May 29, 2009 – June 11, 2009 It’s onward and westward for us, this time to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. On our first visit we went to Wetherill Mesa, a less popular section of the park due to a steep winding road. We took a ranger guided tour of Long House which is the second largest cliff dwelling in the park, then a tram tour around the mesa visiting Badger House Community which is a short trail through about 600 years of pueblo development and several overlooks. We learned that there over 4,500 archeological sites of which only 600 are cliff dwellings in the park. Anasazis (Ancient Ones or Ancestral Puebloans) started visiting the area over 1,400 years ago as nomadic hunters and gatherers, then around 550 B.C. they started to stay in one place building pit houses on the mesa and occasionally in cliff recesses and began farming. Around 750 they began to build above ground with upright walls of poles and mud, houses one against another in long curving rows and a pit house or two in front (the pit houses evolved into kivas, a ceremonial room dug into the ground. By 1000 construction had advanced to stone masonry, often rising two or three stories and joined together into units of 50 or more rooms. Around 1200 the people began to move into the cliffs for one reason or another, nobody knows or sure and by around 1300 Mesa Verde was deserted, again no one knows for sure why. Another day we went back to Mesa Verdi Park to go through Spruce Tree House a cliff dwelling that is open to the public without having a ranger take you through it on Chapin Mesa. Then we drove around the rest of the mesa on two scenic loops. We decided to take a day trip to the Four Corners area where Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah all come together. We have pictures of us standing in all four states at once. This is on Navajo land and there were quite a few open air shops around two sides where we met a real nice Navajo couple and ended up spending more money than we had planned, but most of it was for Christmas. On the way home we thought we would drive out to canyons of the Ancients National Monument and ended up out in the middle of nowhere on a dead end road. When we got back home we found out that the only way to see the canyons was by jeep tours starting in Cortez, CO. On another day trip we took off to find two waterfalls up in the mountains. The first one we found but they wanted $2.50 to walk 500 feet to see the falls and we decided that we did not need to see it that bad. On the way to the second falls we found snow still on the ground around 10,000 feet in the shadows and it was June 3rd. The trees at this altitude were just starting to bud and break into leaf. When we reached 11,000 feet we drove into a snow storm, what a surprise. Our trip took us up one side of a mountain and down the other side. We found the Idarado Mining Company on both sides. Idarado was started in 1875 for mining gold, silver and other metals, finally suspending operations in 1978. The second fall, Bridal Veil, was on the mining companies land in the Telluride area. Time to move on again and this Williams, Arizona the gateway to the Grand Canyon. Williams was the last town along historic route 66 to be by-passed by an interstate and this happened in on Oct. 13, 1984. On a day trip we took off to Wupatki and Sunset Crater National Monuments, north east of Flagstaff. At Sunset Crater we walked around an old lava field at the base of the volcano, one of several in the area. Archeologists have found pit houses under the lava, maybe that is why people moved into the caves in the cliffs. We had not realized how many volcanoes there were in the south western part of the country. Even though we were told they were all extinct, we kept thinking back to Mount St. Helen that was thought to be extinct also. The Wupatki section was more pueblo homes from single family one story to high rises with up to 100 rooms. Again we had not realized how large an area the pueblo people populated. The Grand Canyon Railway starts in Williams and ends at the park at the south rim, so we decided to take a ride up to the canyon. The train takes 2:15 hours to go about 50 miles, but at least we didn’t have to drive. Once we got to the park we took a bus tour that was a bit of a disappointment as it only made two stops west of the Grand Canyon Village. The village is where the largest group of tourist can be found as it is where the lodges and restaurants are. Actually the village is the home of the year round employees and has everything any other village has, such as school, post office grocery store and clinic. One of the things we learned was that there was talk about limiting traffic into the park. Another day we drove up to Tusayan by the south entrance to see the Grand Canyon Imax movie. While we were there we found out we could take a shuttle into the park and then get around by one of three different shuttles throughout the park, so we took the shuttle and then walked about three miles along the canyon rim before taking another shuttle back to the one that took us back to our car. This must be how they plan to limit the traffic, it sure makes thing easier as you don’t have to worry about finding your way around or a parking spot. No matter how many times you go to the Grand Canyon it is always a breath taking experience to see it again. Another day we went out to the Winslow area to see Meteor Crater. The crater is 550 feet deep of which 150 feet are above the surrounding area, created by the blast, 4,000 feet across and 2.4 miles in circumference. It is believed that the meteor that made the crater was only 150 feet across although only bits and pieces of it have ever been recovered. In 1891 the chief geologist of the United States declared the crater had volcanic origins, it wasn’t until 1902 when Daniel Barringer, a Philadelphia mining engineer, became convinced that the crater was formed by a large iron meteor still buried beneath the crater floor. In 1903 Barringer formed the Standard Iron Company and obtained patents and ownership of the two square miles containing the crater. Until 1929 he drilled looking for the iron that he believed buried either in the crater floor or in the south wall. Today the crater is still owned by the Barringer family and leased by the Bar T Bar Ranch Company which started the Meteor Crater Enterprises, Inc., which built, maintains and staffs the facilities. We took a walking tour along part of the crater rim and learned a little about the surrounding area. One of the most interesting things was that the Mormons could not drink caffeine, so they made a tea out of a plant now know as Mormon tea which contained a high concentration of ephedrine a stimulate found in diet drugs. The crater was part of several movies including Starman starring Jeff Bridges and Meteor starring Sean Connery; it is also one of the places astronauts trained for the moon walk. On the way home we stopped at Walnut Canyon National Monument which had more cliff dwellings unfortunately they were 185 feet down steep and narrow steps which meant a steep 185 foot climb back up and we decided that was too much. Walking along the rim of the canyon we saw some of the dwellings which appeared to be for single families. Compared to Mesa Verde this was nothing but we suppose for those who haven’t seen anything else it was impressive. June 12, 2009 – June 25, 2009 It was time to move on again and this time we headed towards Las Vegas, Nevada for two weeks. On the way we could have gone over the Hoover Dam but we were not sure if we could because of construction, so we took the long way around. We stayed at the RV Park for Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall on Boulder Highway which is about 6 miles from Las Vegas Boulevard (the Strip). We had planned to see several shows while here but decided that at $100 or more per show we could find something else to do. One of the first things we did was drive out to Hoover Dam because Jim wanted to take a tour. We drove over the Dam and then turned around to park by the entrance to the visitor’s center. They charged for parking, the visitor’s center and $30 each to tour the dam. We decided to just walk across and back. On the Lake Mead side you can see how much the water level had dropped over the years. The new road that is being built to replace the one over the Dam is something else. Shirley is not sure that she could drive on it due to the height over the chasm. On Sunday the 14th we drove over to the strip to find the Excalibur where we were meeting friends from Florida for dinner. Most of the large casinos are one city block in size and some are even bigger. We took a day and went out to Red Rock Canyon with Sampson as he needed to spend some time with us since he can’t go into the casinos. We took the scenic drive and did a little walking among the rocks. It was really very beautiful out there. We spent Father’s Day weekend with Jim’s cousin Judy and her husband Bob in Golden Valley, Arizona. Sampson and their dog Buddy got along just fine; Buddy is twice Sampson’s age so he wasn’t very playful. We spent several days walking along the Strip and through Casinos. The most impressive due to its size is Caesar’s Palace which has to be at least two city blocks. The most unique Shirley thinks is the New York New York with its Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, bridge, roller coaster on top and food area that looks like walking down streets. Jim went up the Eiffel Tower at the Paris; we saw the water show at the Bellagio which starts with the National Anthem and the laser light show at Sam’s Town which ends with Aaron Tippin’s Where the Stars and Stripes and the eagle Flies and Lee Greenwood’s God bless the USA. Of course we also spent time playing in the casinos taking turns having good days. It is surprising how many families visit Vegas with little children. When we left the Grand Canyon area we were looking forward to some warmer weather as it had been in the mid 60’s during the day and down into the upper 30’s and low 40’s at night, but the 100’s for the last two weeks is a little too much.