October 12 - Mesa Verde

Today Robert took us on on a tour of their town, Dolores.  It's a beautiful little town of 900 people.  The town sits along the Dolores River just below a mesa.

Next, Robert took us to Mesa Verde National Park.  We ended up spending most of the day there.  It is so amazing.

The area was inhabited by Pueblo Indians about 1400 years ago, and they remained for more than 700 years.  They first built pit houses, which were dug into the ground and covered with logs and mud.

Eventually, they built their communities along the cliffs, under protecting eaves.

In the late 1200s the Pueblos left Mesa Verde and headed south to Arizona and New Mexico.  The move may have been prompted by many years of drought, or perhaps the soil was depleted.  In any case, they left an amazing complex of buildings for us to enjoy.

We really hate to leave here, because we've enjoyed visiting with Robert and Mike, and the weather has been beautiful.  But tomorrow we're off to Tucson.

October 11 - Moab to Dolores, Colorado

The town of Moab is not particularly exciting.  The main street is lined with overpriced motels, restaurants, T-shirt shops and Indian souvenir shops.  But the setting is spectacular.  The town's main focus is adventuring and you can do anything from rock-climbing to cycling, river boat trips to Hummer tours.  Just north is Arches National Park and to the west is Canyonlands National Park.  We had limited time, so we decided to visit Arches.  The formations are composed of Entrada Sandstone (salmon colored) and Navajo Sandstone (beige).  The scale of the formations is hard to comprehend from photos.

 

 

From the Arches we headed southeast.  Just off the highway was another wonderful structure, Wilson Arch.

 

 We took a side road to see Newspaper Rock National Historic Site.  It's a large rock wall with 2000 years of petroglyphs.

From there we went to Dolores, Colorado.  We stopped at the Anasazi Heritage Center, where Robert works.  It's a really beautiful museum, with a trail to the top of the mountain.  There were Pueblo ruins and 360 degree views of the surrounding area. 

 

We had dinner at Robert and Mike's gorgeous home, then off to sleep in their cozy guest room.  Tomorrow we visit Mesa Verde!

October 10 - Moab, Utah

Utah has lost any charm it may have had.  It's Sunday, and it seems that NOTHING is open on Sunday in Utah, at least around Salt Lake City.  The wildlife refuge is closed, as is the old train station, as are most restaurants, stores and gas stations.  So we decided that we'd get out of Utah as quickly as we could.  We started east for Colorado.  However just as we were heading out, we got a call from our friend Robert, whom we planned to visit in Dolores, Colorado.  He suggested that we go through Moab, Utah, and visit several national parks there.  So we stayed in Utah on Highway 40, then 6, then 191.  While on 40 we saw a sign in Heber City for a historic railroad, so we stopped.  We found the Heber Valley Railroad, a restored excursion train.  There were a number of old engines and cars.

The scenery in Utah varied from dry and desolate to really spectacular.  There was lots of fall color, but the Aspens appeared to be beyond their peak.

As we neared Moab, the scenery became more rocky.

We arrived in Moab late in the afternoon, anticipating some great hiking and photo taking tomorrow.

October 9 - Ogden, Utah

From Boise we continued on I-84, headed for Utah.  Outside Hagerman, Idaho, we saw a sign for fossil beds, so we got off the highway and onto State Route 30.  Unfortunately, at the information center we found out that the fossil beds were closed due to a recent wildfire.  So we continued on 30, passing through some very pretty rural areas, heading for Twin Falls. 

We had read about a bridge in Twin Falls that spanned the Snake River gorge, over 400 feet above it.  So we decided we needed to check it out.  We had also read that this bridge is the only place in the country that allows base jumping without a permit.  The tiny figures in the photo are about to parachute to the river bank below!

We had enjoyed our side road travel so much that we decided to continue on it.  We continued to Burley, where we picked up Highway 81, which paralleled I-84.  Idaho is potato country, and the harvesting is going on now.  We saw lots of trucks loaded down with potatoes, and lots of big piles of potatoes.

Just inside the Utah border we rejoined I-84 and traveled to Ogden.  Ogden is a very small city with not a lot of charm.  We found a wildlife area nearby, which we hope to visit the next morning.

October 8 - Boise, Idaho

We left Pendleton and headed for Idaho.  We stopped just outside Pendleton at an overlook.  Even though it is quite desolate, the view was spectacular.


















Just across the border into Idaho there is a rest stop above the Snake River.  Again, the view was quite impressive.  The weather continued to be overcast, although we haven't had any more rain.

We arrived in Boise early enough in the day to be able to do some walking.  We found Kathryn Albertson Park, a lovely 43 acre wildlife sanctuary.  We were able to add a few birds to our list, but nothing exciting.
Things are definitely looking fall-like.

In the evening we went into downtown Boise for dinner.  We had a wonderful walk downtown.  We really fell in love with Boise.  It's a small city, very clean and lovely.  It's a college town (Boise State) as well as the state capitol.  All in a very manageable size.

October 7 - Pendleton, Oregon

Our first day on the road was overcast, with light rain beginning late in the day.  We drove north to Portland, then took I-84 east along the Columbia Gorge.  The drive is absolutely gorgeous, until you get to Hood River.  Suddenly things turn desolate and boring.  We arrived in Pendleton late in the afternoon.  Pendleton is a "cowboy" town (the Pendleton Roundup had just ended the previous weekend).  It's also the home of the original Pendleton Woolen Mill. 

We're Off to Tucson!

Hello Family & Friends!

We're off on another Arizona adventure.  We'll be pulling out momentarily for points north, then east, then south.  Part of the purpose of this trip is to take a lot of stuff to our new home in Tucson.  Our little Prius is packed to the gills.  Here's what we're hoping to take:

We almost made it.  We have a few things to save for the next trip:

Our first destination is Pendleton, Oregon.  So far the weather looks decent.