Sept 1, 2011 Bryce Canyon

Betsy's class finished yesterday, but we wanted to stay an extra day to re-visit Bryce Canyon Natl Park. We were just there back in early June, but due to the fact that we had Tipper with us we couldn't hike down into the canyon. This trip Tipper stayed back in Tucson with Aunt Pat & Uncle Jack. We arrived at the park early in the morning to beat the crowd. A Ranger in the visitors center suggested that we take the Queens Garden trail at Sunrise Point but when that trail intersected with Navajo Trail to take it to Sunset Point. What a great hike! To be amongst, around, and under the hoodoo's was just spectacular. We stopped to take many pictures and to just look at the weird and wonderful landscape that was before us. Of all the places we seen during our travels Bryce Canyon is probably tops on our list. Tonight we'll pack up the car and head home tomorrow. Next trip will by in Oct when we have a family camping trip to Dead Horse State Park. Stay tuned.

August 29-31, 2011 Mt. Carmel, UT

We've arrived at our destination. We're at the Mt Carmel RV & Motel. Since we didn't bring our vintage trailer we found a vintage motel. A little dated but clean as a pin and they even gave you a dog to pet. His name was Bo and he'd come around a couple of times a day just to see what was going on. Betsy started her art class and the first thing we learned was that the published schedule (9am to 5pm with an hour lunch) had been thrown out the window. The new schedule was begin at 9am, stop at about 12:30pm and then not resume until 3:30pm and quit about 6pm. The reason for the change was the heat and humidity. Betsy and I didn't think it was that hot, but some of the other students were from northern CA, northern UT, Quebec so I guess it's okay. I did manage to check out an antique store in Kanab, drove by Best Friends Animal Sanctuary (first class outfit), and drove up to Cedar Breaks National Monument which is at the 10,000 foot level. I arrived at about 10am and it was 55 degree's with an absolutely howling wind. There were a couple of overlooks that I was concerned about due to the wind. Cedar Breaks is somewhat similar to Bryce Canyon which is only about 50 miles to the north, but much smaller. Betsy's art classes lasted 3 days. She said she learned quite a bit, and I managed to stay busy.

Aug 28, 2011 continued Pipe Spring Natl Monument

After Lee's Ferry we headed toward the Kaibab Plateau and Jacob Lake, AZ where we had lunch at the Jacob Lake Inn. From there we headed toward Fredonia, AZ then west about 25 miles to Pipe Spring National Monument. Pipe Spring was a ranch started by the Mormon Church in the 1870's. The main structure is made of sandstone and was built over a spring. I'm sure that made the local Paiute tribe real happy. At that time the local area was covered in grass, but the area was overgrazed and then a drought hit and that was pretty much it for the large cattle operations. The Ranger led a tour of the main structure which at one point prepared 3 meals a day for approximately 30 people. That must have been a full time job since all of it was done on a wood burning stove. The area we're in is part of the Arizona Strip, and it's one of the least populated area's of the U.S. I guess that's enough site seeing for one day. We headed north into Utah, through Kanab, and then landed in Mt. Carmel where we'll stay for a few days.

Aug 28, 2011 Horseshoe Bend & Lee's Ferry

When we drove to Page yesterday we noticed a sign for the Horseshoe Bend overlook so first thing this morning we headed that way to do the hike before it gets to be 100 degree's. The hike itself isn't much, but the view of Horseshoe Bend is well worth it.

You can see from the picture how the Colorado River makes an almost 360 degree bend. From there we headed back down Hwy 89 to Bitter Springs where we could pick up 89A which took us thru Marble Canyon which is the beginning of the Grand Canyon and then on to Lee's Ferry. To me Lee's Ferry is somewhat like the Cumberland Gap--one of those points that allowed us to go ever westward. The ferry was completed in 1872 by John Lee at the instruction of the Mormon Church and it continued to act as the only ferry over the Colorado River between Moab, UT to Needles, CA until 1928. Today it serves as the launch point of the raft's going through the Grand Canyon. I almost had to lock Betsy in the car to prevent her from jumping on one of the rafts beginning their journey. She's always wanted to raft the Colorado. We'll have to check it out for a future trip. We hiked around the old buildings and then drove downriver to the first set of rapids. There we found a family fishing and they allowed us to take a picture of the trout they'd caught.

Aug 27, 2011 Green Valley to Page, AZ

Here we go again. Get the children and old folks out of the streets. This trip, like the last one will be without Starship Avion. We're off to Mt. Carmel, Utah which is just down the road from where we stayed a week in May.

Betsy is taking three days of pastel instruction from a nationally know artist. The classes are actually at the summer studio of Maynard Dixon which was shown in our May 30, 2011 blog entry. We took off early this AM and headed to Page, AZ. Of course, Page is next door to Glen Canyon Dam which created Lake Powell. The beauty of the red sandstone along with the blue water just amazes me. And get this--the shoreline of Lake Powell with all it's nooks and crannies is longer than our entire Pacific coastline. We visited the Glen Canyon Dam visitors center and then found a road that led to a small swimming area. We hiked over the sandstone and found a small slot canyon. We didn't expect it to be so hot up here. It was close to 100 degree's.

Aug 9 & 10, 2011 Rocky Mountain Trip

It's time to head south so back in the car. Our destination was Santa Fe for the night so we could attend a mountain man trade fair. Since we've been out here I've been reading about these guys and thinking about putting a costume together. The trade fair was smaller than expected but there was some really neat stuff. Betsy walked around The Plaza which has to be one of the best people watching venues in all of the U.S.

From Santa Fe we put the pedal to the metal and drove straight home. We found that without the trailer we could cover more territory, but the motels really drove the cost up. Lesson learned--slower is cheaper.

The pictures are of some of the animals we saw along the way. I always look for buffalo wherever we travel and found these guys in NM. Seeing the bull elk was a fantastic sight. And the horses were just outside Como, CO.

Notice the red Indian Paintbrush in the foreground and the mountains in the back. Thanks to John and Elaine & Kay and Ernie for all their hospitality. Next trip is in a couple of weeks to Utah where Betsy will take 3 days of pastel instruction. Stay tuned.

Aug 6-7-8, 2011 Rocky Mtn Summer Trip

Back to John & Elaine's in Littleton for the weekend. Had such a great time last weekend we'll just do it again.

We arrived at their house, jumped out of our vehicle, threw our stuff in the guest room, jumped into their car and headed to a Parisian antique/fair which had a lot of unusual stuff. And we even ran into a huge tent sale at the Coleman Camping Store. What could be better? Well, we had a outdoors sunset dinner with The Circle. From our vantage point high above Castle Rock we could look to the north and see Longs Peak, to the west there was Mt. Evans, and to the south was Pikes Peak. The sunset was awesome. Sunday we ask if we could go downtown since we've never been to the city of Denver proper. It was really hopping as the Rockies were playing. We also visited Rockmount Shirt Co. Up until his death the CEO of the company was the oldest CEO in the U.S. at something like 106 years. He was also the person who started putting pearl snaps instead of buttons on western shirts. Very neat shop. Elaine showed us her high school which was absolutely huge. Looked more like a small college campus than a high school. For lunch we went into McCormicks and ordered everything on the appetiser menu and shared. And we even found an antique store.

July 30-Aug 5, 2011 Rocky Mtn Summer Trip

From Las Vegas, NM we headed north into Colorado and stopped in Trinidad to see the AR Mitchell museum. Mitchell was a western artist that did many of the book covers for the cowboy dime novels and western themed magazines. I enjoyed the cowboy art and artifacts on display and they also had several paintings of current artists on display. Betsy knew most of the artists, and I even knew one or two! We spent the weekend with John and Elaine and met our Denver friends aka The Circle. Betsy and I are currently probationary members of this group. I'm fairly certain that Betsy would be voted in on the first ballot. I think it might take a few ballots with much armtwisting and outright bribes for me to be accepted. After a weekend that went all to fast we headed to Estes Park to meet up with Kay and Ernie. The following day we took a hike in the park to Gem Lake. We all looked up the trail and here came a woman Ranger and 3 llama's as pack animals. She told us they use the llama's to pack supplies up to the lake and take the trash down. The llama's also serve has vegetation clippers since they eat the little branches that might hang over the trail. Pretty cool. The next day we all hiked to Dream Lake which is just plain spectacular. The following day we went off on our own and found Betsy a valley stream

with the majestic Rocky Mountains in the background to sketch. Our last night there we attended a Michael Martin Murphy concert and enjoyed his show very much. If you like cowboy/western music you'll like him.

He told a great John Wayne quote--"Life's tough. It's tougher if you're stupid." Amen, brother. What a great visit.

July 27--29, 2011 Rocky Mtn Summer Trip

The last couple of days we've had g'son James visiting and we've been very busy with activities geared to a 5 year old. We swam often, which he enjoys. And we visited Tumacacori Mission which is south of Tubac. We've started James on the Junior Ranger programs at many of the parks we visit. He enjoys it and we learn new things too. The next day we visited Colossal Cave Park which is on the southeast side of Tucson. We, of course, took the cave tour which was really interesting. James was a little bit shaky at first, but he soon got into being in a real cave. I had told him I was pretty sure that cave bears were inside so that probably accounts for his anxiety. In addition to the cave we also visited an old cattle ranch which was an outpost of the Empire Cattle Ranch some 50 miles away. I think his favorite part was the ice cream treat after passing his latest Jr. Ranger test. July 28th we all loaded up and we took James home. We continued our trip through Payson, to Holbrook on I-40 and then east. This is the first trip in a long time without Starship Avion since we'll be staying with Cousin John in Littleton and then in one of the cabins on the Miller property with old friends Kay and Ernie.

After a long drive we made it to Gallup and stayed the night in a motel. The following day we found a couple of trading posts that were open early and browsed through the Native American jewelry. Betsy found a couple of small items and then we hit the road again. From Gallup we flew east through Albuquerque to Hwy 14 which is known as The Turquoise Trail which went to Santa Fe. On the way we stopped in Madrid and Cerrillos which was our reason for doing that particular road. Cerrillos, for hundreds of years has had turquoise mining. Cerrillos turquoise is a very distinctive green blue color. Our final destination that day was Las Vegas, NM which we had briefly visited about 12 years ago. I thought it was a neat town then and have been waiting to get back there. Everywhere you looked something was named after the Rough Riders of the Spanish-American War. We finally ask what the deal was and learned that several men from the area were recruited for that unit since they new horses and how to shoot. We found a couple of antique stores, drove through the old historic residential center and even found an old Fred Harvey hotel down by the depot. A busy couple of days.

June 1, 2011 Seligman to Home

Well gang, I guess it's time to head home. But instead of heading straight home we decided to visit an old favorite town of Prescott, AZ. We stayed there many years ago and found several great antique stores. Some of the same antique stores are there, but it seems the town has gotten bigger and more congested. Betsy seemed to remember that a few years ago Prescott was one of the places to live. It seems a lot of people moved in because between 1990 and 2010 the population increased by 34%. And they seemed to have invented an all new town called Prescott Valley. I'm afraid that it's lost quite a bit of it's appeal to us. Betsy did manage to find a couple of items in the antique stores. I'm a speed shopper normally but today I was even quicker in a couple of the stores as they would only allow Tipper in if I carried him. Doesn't take me long to look at a bunch of old stuff while trying to carry a 25 pound dog!
As mentioned we timed our trip to avoid the heat in the desert and we sure did that. A couple of nights got down into the 30's and most days didn't get above 70. While driving home we found the heat again and it hit 101 between Phoenix and Casa Grande. While we were on our trip I discovered some things that I miss--field grass, hardwood tree leaves, and water that comes out of the faucet cold. Along the way on this trip we noticed all the foreign tourists driving RentAmerica RV's. We even ran into a young Austrian (?) duo a couple of times. As we were driving home we discussed where to take our grandson on his first RV trip. Hadn't even arrived home and we're planning our next trip. What a life. I'm always on the lookout for old vehicles so here are some we saw along the way. Stay tuned as we'll probably head out again in a couple of weeks.

May 31, 2011 Glendale, UT to Seligman, AZ

Today we left our home of the last 5 nights. Glendale, UT. Had we stayed a couple more nights we probably could have voted in future elections. When we pulled out the temperature was 52 degree's. From Glendale we went through Kanab, then on to Page, AZ, and down to Flagstaff. I missed a sign directing us to I-40 and it appeared we might have to go through all of Flagstaff. Betsy grabbed her handy dandy little map and got us out of the mess. I tell people that she's our navi-guesser, but she really is pretty good at getting us from A to B. After finding the interstate we headed west toward Exit 139. Exit 139 is where you get off and find a 17 mile portion of old Route 66. As we drove the old road we thought of all the people who had used it to get from Chicago to Los Angeles. In the 17 miles we met one pick up truck. We both commented on how isolated this part of the road felt. We were thrilled to see a series of the old Burma Shave signs. The first series we flew by, but when we came to the second set I told Betsy I was stopping and would she please hop out and take a picture. She made me promise that I wouldn't leave her out there before actually getting out of the vehicle. In honor of "The Mother Road" I've published that picture in black and white. We arrived at our destination of Seligman, AZ which I've read about and wanted to visit. Seligman was founded in 1895 as a railroad town, but embraced Route 66 when it was constructed in the 1920's. It was a place to get some food, stay the night, fill up the tank the next morning and head out. In the late 1970's the interstate bypassed the little town and the tourist trade dried up. Then in 1985 the Santa Fe RR closed up the local depot. But you know what, the little town has managed to hang in there and caters to Route 66 aficionados. One of the places we stopped was the sundry store where we took a picture of our rig in front. This place still had a lot of old sundry inventory and several advertisement pieces. I think I saw a Sergeants Flea Soap cardboard advertisement that I recognized when I worked for Dad or Uncle Dick. We skipped the biker apparel shop as Betsy says she's lived this long without a pair of chaps so why bother now.
I definitely wanted to stop at the Snow Cap which was started in 1953 by Juan and Angel Delgadillo.
You can get a hamburger, taco and a shake or their speciality of dead chicken. I didn't ask. Angel became something of a legend on Rte. 66 for his humor and pranks. Today his son John got me good when he grabbed a plastic mustard container and squeezed. Out came a stream of mustard, aimed directly at my chest. Talk about shocked!! The mustard was actually yellow yarn. We both had a good laugh. Oh yeah, the coke float that Betsy and I shared was the best ever.

May 30, 2011--Maynard Dixon Living History Museum

As mentioned earlier this is our last day in the Glendale area, but when we first were looking at this area to visit the real reason was Zion and Bryce. As I was looking at a tourism brochure for Kane County, UT I saw that the Maynard Dixon studio was here. Luckily it's only about 7 miles down the road. A few days ago we stopped at the Bingham Gallery which is operated by the Thunderbird Foundation which also owns the Dixon property. When Betsy told the owner that she was an artist he immediately invited her to bring her art kit back to the property and sketch. Now I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, but somehow felt that anyone with as much creative energy as Maynard Dixon must have left some lying about. So today after our trip to the sand dunes we went back. We elected to do the self guided tour. The history of the property is that Dixon and wife, Edith Hamlin purchased the property in 1938 and immediately started planning and building the house. The house was followed by a small garage, a cool house for food storage, a 3 bed bunkhouse, and of course the studio. The plantings around the buildings and in pots are simple and familiar species but are gorgeous. Betsy and I walked over to the property and looked at and went in to all the buildings and took pictures. I love old buildings and especially rural homes and out buildings. When you walked into any of these building you were immediately taken back to the 1930's and 40's. Dixon and Hamlin painted here until Dixon's death in 1946. The studio was completed in 1947. Hamlin continued to paint and invited other artists to visit. Ansel Adams was a frequent visitor.
In 1963 the property was sold to Milford Zornes, another notable artist. In 1999 the foundation purchased the property. Betsy elected to sit on the west patio and sketch the front exterior of the little cool house. I took more pictures and then practiced my Indian flute. What a calm, serene place. Just before doing this blog I reviewed the brochure on the buildings and noted that the studio wasn't completed until a year after Dixon died. I then read that he liked to paint on the west patio of the house. Maybe Betsy didn't choose that spot to sketch. Perhaps someone else guided her there.

May 30, 2011--Coral Pink Sand Dunes SP

Today is our last day in Glendale, but we're keeping with our stated policy of running ourselves ragged seeing whatever there is to see. Our first stop was Kanab for an infrequent restaurant breakfast. I'm not sure what took so long to cook a simple breakfast burrito and an order of egg's. Maybe the cook got deported. We then headed to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. We'd never heard of it, but kept passing the sign and decided to visit. Turned out to be quite interesting, different, and beautiful.
It's primary purpose is for ATV use, but even they didn't detract from the beauty. We found a nature hike among the dunes and even found flowers growing.

May 29, 2011--Cedar Breaks & Kolob Canyon

At this point we've seen the two main attractions, but that didn't stop us from hitting the road again.
Plus today is the running of the 100th Indianapolis 500 race, and we can listen to it as we drive. Hey, once a Hoosier, always a Hoosier. Todays route is a loop across Hwy 14 which is the home of Cedar Breaks Natl. Monument however it doesn't open until sometime in June due to the heavy snow they get. The elevation is over 10,000 ft and sure enough there was still quite a bit of snow and even ice on Navajo Lake. After coming down the mountain you enter Cedar City. From Cedar City we got on the interstate to Kolob Canyon which is another part of Zion. It had equally impressive rock formations and cliffs.
To complete the loop back to Glendale we had to go through the main part of Zion and sometimes we were so deep in the canyons that we lost our satellite radio signal. And then when we entered the mile long tunnel there were only 5 laps to go in the race. We hurried through and just as we came out the race announcer screamed "the race leader has crashed in turn four on the final lap". There were a few minutes of total confusion as we didn't know who crashed or who had actually won. Apparently we weren't alone as the broadcasters didn't seem to know either. Typical 500 drama.

May 28, 2011--Bryce Canyon

From our current campground (Glendale, Ut) we're about 60 miles from Bryce. The road we used to get there runs through Longs Valley and it's very pretty. When we arrived at Bryce I was a little concerned because even though it was early in the day there were signs everywhere that parking lots were full and to use the shuttle bus. That didn't work for us since we had Tipper with us so we plowed on through and headed to the most distant overlook. The closer overlooks were crowded but the further we went the less people we saw. I guess Bryce Canyon needs some explanation. First, Bryce Canyon was named after Ebenezer and Mary Bryce who lived in the area from 1875 to about 1880. Second, the weird shaped, multi colored spires are called hoodoos, which are pinnacles or odd shaped rock shaped by the forces of erosion. I had always assumed that the basic rock structure was sandstone, but while there we learned that most of the hoodoos were limestone. According to the park newspaper approximately 200 days a year this area is subjected to low temperatures where the rain or snow melt freezes during the night and then melts during the day. The pressure from the water freezing and the washing away of small material when rain happens has created this wondrous landscape. It doesn't get much better than this.

May 27, 2011 Zion National Park

We are very excited today since we've both had Zion National Park on our to do list for a long time. A couple of things you need to know about Zion--you don't drive to the observation points as they have an excellent shuttle bus system, and unless you're a cliff climber you don't see Zion from it's heights but rather from the canyon floor. You become part of the park as opposed to looking down into it. We had to leave Tipper back at the trailer since dog's are not allowed most places in the park. We took the Riverside Walk which follows the Virgin River. It's amazing that you look at a cliff face that's a couple miles away and your eyes track up the face and then you get to the upward limit of your eyes and then you have to crane your neck to see the rest of the way to the top. Now that's tall. Along the river
there are cliffs with moisture seeping out of them and growing on bare rock are Columbine flowers and grasses. The second hike we took was to the Lower Emerald Pool. That was neat because you could walk under an overhang where the water spilled into the pool. Quite a place.


Can you see the climbers in the first picture?