Home!!

We're home! Everything in the house is fine. Not that we expected any problems but does cross our minds when we close up the house for 2 1/2 months. The plantings and shrubs look a little stressed but they are green and alive. Of course they were on a irrigation system but this summers super hot weather zapped them a bit. Citrus trees look good, however.
Now the unpacking begins. Why is it so much more work to unload and clean up the RV than to get ready to go?! Might be the psychology of oh-the-summer-is-over! Could be that we trashed the RV quite well by living in it for a summer. Probably a little of both.

On our way home

A sunset canoe ride on our last night--very fitting!

We stopped for two nights at Fool Hollow State Park near Show Low, Arizona. We were here at the beginning of our summer trip. It is one of Arizona's nicest State Park campgrounds.

We'll be home tomorrow.

The orange Indian Paintbrush has come into full bloom since we were here last June. It is everywhere.

Shiprock and on to Gallup

You can see Shiprock Pinnacle from over 100 miles away on a clear day. We spotted it from Mesa Verde in Colorado. It is quite a site up close, too. Its an ancient volcano vent that hardened while the outer rock wore away with eons of time. Its just so "out there" because the landscape around it is desert floor for miles and miles. I was anxious to see it as the icon, plus the nearby town of Shiprock shows up in so many of Tony Hillerman's books. There I go again!

We're on our way home. . .slowly. Hiway 491 from Shiprock to Gallup is through Navajo Nation. Its a long, lonely, (I was going to say rough road but there is road construction going on so it will be better next time.) Blue, blue skies with those pouffe white summer clouds gave it a plein air beauty but it is still a desolate place. Plenty of signs of the people who live here, like this Navajo hogan and single horse determined to reach a destination.

Farmington

Is this cat relaxed or what! Ever feel this good?

We were curious to see Farmington and found it to be a surprisingly large shopping hub for a desolate part of New Mexico. Its very apparent that oil and natural gas production is an important part of the economy. It does, however, have a great farmers market. We stocked up on fresh local peaches and garden vegetables. Dinner this evening was fresh sweet corn from the market and tamales that I purchased from a lady selling them in a grocery store parking lot. Wasn't sure what I was getting so I only bought a few. They were the best ever. Went back later to try to find her to get some to put in the freezer but she was gone!

We did a self guided tour of Aztec Ruin National Monument. Another Ancestral Puebloan community like so many others in the Four Corners area. This one flourished between the years 850 and 1130 and rivaled in scope the more well known Chaco Canyon some 50 miles south of here. Again the site was abandoned during the late 1200s leaving behind the same mysterious questions of why. It is so interesting to me how human history can just simply pass out of memory and be lost.

We cooled off this hot afternoon and went to a movie--something we have not done all summer. Saw "Julia and Julia" and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was looking forward to seeing Meryl Streep as Julia Child but thought the parallel story and performance of Amy Adams was equally entertaining. Will liked it also.

Leaving Haviland Lake Colorado

Time to leave Haviland Lake--it was great. We had the perfect spot on the lake. We'll be back, for sure. Back into New Mexico to Farmington.

Wanted to come through this area because we knew nothing about Farmington other than it is on the edge of Navajo nation. It is aptly named because it is an agricultural area, especially north of Farmington and along the Animas River. South of here is pretty much desert. Today it is huge into oil and natural gas. We stopped at the visitor's center in town which also houses a museum all about the local industry and the history of the area. Was an extremely well done museum--and it was free.

It seems we have a visitor in our RV. One morning we found little "chew marks" on a big of garbage that was left inside the front door when we went to bed. Our first fear was that one of the overly friendly chippies had gotten in--we've chased them from the door before. We searched all the nooks and crannies with a flashlight looking for evidence of an unwanted critter. Nothing found. So last night when we went to bed we put out 3 peanuts in the shell in the middle of the floor, just to see if our visitor was really there or if we were imagining it. We tucked ourselves into bed and turned out the lights and I proceeded to read by bedlight. Didn't get to the third page and I began to hear a tiny, scratching noise. Straining to hear I picked up my trusty flashlight and tip-toed out of the bedroom. The peanuts were already gone--and suddenly in the beam of my flashlight was a little wood mouse! He blinked in the blinding light and then promptly dashed into the heat vent. Relieved it wasn't a destructive chipmunk I went back to bed and hoped he made it way back outside. Now, tonight we will have to set out some more treats to see if he is still with us. Hopefully we left him back in Colorado--if not, we're going to have to look for a hardware store that sells traps. He really was kinda cute with his big ears but not enough to take home with me!

A Day in Colorado

Some special impressions of Colorado!

The water in the mountains streams is amazingly clear!

We spent the morning hiking the Lime Creek trail. . .

The afternoon was spent like this. . .

He just wanted to see if he could do it

He just wanted to see if he could do it!

Will biked from the campground to Silverton this morning. Was 35 or so miles—however he had to go over Cold Bank Pass at 10,640ft AND THEN Molas Pass at 10,910! He did it!! Legs were a little shaky for a while but he made it in fine shape.

The plan was that he would head out and I would follow with the car in a couple of hours and either pick him up if he was having trouble or give him an encouraging hug and then meet him in Silverton where we would have lunch and then give him a ride back. So off he went as planned. After giving him a good long head start I decided to follow. However. . .
I didn’t make it out of the campground—I had a flat tire! Now Will is long gone on his bicycle, out of cell phone range, and there is no way I could fix a flat tire. Help!!

Most campgrounds call these guys Campground Hosts,--they are volunteers who manage the national forest campgrounds—I call them Campground Angels!! They were there in a flash and came to my rescue and changed the tire for me. And I was able to meet Will at the first summit as planned, although he was waiting for me. I have no idea what I would have done had the flat happened on the road. So we BOTH made it to Silverton and had a nice lunch at “Mother Kluckers.”

Day at Mesa Verde

Spent the day at Mesa Verde National Park. We had spent some time there 2 years ago but it is one of those places that you can return to again and again and always find something new. Is less than 50 miles from here so nice day trip
We took a ranger guided tour to “Long House” on Wetherill Mesa and then spent most of the morning up there exploring other locations and the afternoon at the visitors center, museum and driving and stopping at points on the Mesa Top Loop. The first Ancestral Puebloans settled Mesa Verde 1,400 years ago. They lived in small villages usually built on the mesa tops but sometimes in cliff recesses. It wasn’t until the late 1190s to late 1270s that they moved down to the cliff dwellings in a big way. They range in size from one-room houses to villages of more than 150 rooms, each structure built to fit the available space in the alcoves along the cliff faces. So amazing, but what is most amazing is that they actually only lived in these cliff dwellings for less than 100 years. By about the year 1300 Mesa Verde was deserted and no one knows why—only speculation.

Look at this--color co-ordinated bees! When the signs say Colorful Colorado they are serious.

Photo of the day

Engineer Mountain between Durango and Silverton

Found this old car rusting away near a trail behind the campground way off the beaten path. Makes me wonder how it got there and why it was abandoned--you just know there is a story here! Maybe somebody lived here at one time. I just thought it was a neat picture.

Telluride, my new favorite Colorado town

We packed a little suitcase, locked up the RV and went on an overnight to experience the San Juan Scenic Byway. It is possible to make the 230 mile loop in a long day of driving but there is too much to stop and see to rush it.

We found a newly redecorated and very comfy B&B in Telluride and spent the night sampling the sights and cuisine. Telluride is my new favorite Colorado town. It sits in a valley surrounded on all sides by the highest mountains ever and has a river running through down town. Its a ski village, a festival town, has all the tourist shops and restaurants, (no chain stores--all local) a free gondola that takes you up a mountain to another shopping and lodging area, and lots and lots of colorful Victorian houses and gardens. It is a tad upscale but has such a charm--you can even go to the local public library and check out bicycles to ride around town. Now, how cool is that!

Ouray and the Million Dollar Hiway

We woke up in the morning to low clouds but the rain held off long enough for us to hike to the top of a waterfall in a city park in the town on Ouray and get a look at some rare nesting Black Swifts on the canyon wall. They were well hidden in the crevices but with binoculars we followed the bird wash streaks and could make out the balls of fluff of the babies on the nest. If there had not been signs posted alerting us to their presence we never would have spied them.

There are several other communities of interest along the San Juan Byway such as Delores, Ridgeway, and Silverton but the mile after mile of breathtaking mountain scenery is what makes the route famous. The 20 plus miles from Ouray to Silverton is called the Million Dollar Hiway. Two versions of why it is so named--one is that the scenery is worth a million dollars, the other is there were so many gold mines in that area that they figure the hiway probably sits on a million in undiscovered gold.

Trail Ride and a Cave

We went on an interesting trail ride today. We rode our horses through the forest for an hour and then stopped and explored a cave. We put on head lamps and had to duck and crawl to get deep into the cave. We were really spelunking even if it was only maybe 100 feet to the end of the cave. Was plenty dark in there but we saw cave formations and pools and century old graffiti on the walls. Another hour ride back to the stables.

More Colorado

Colorado Pictures of the Day

Canoeing Haviland Lake and endless fun watching hummingbirds! I put the feeder out first thing at each new site and they always manage to find it in a very short time. These are Broadtails.

Haviland Lake, San Juan National Forest

We've reached our destination. This is Haviland Lake. We happened upon this campground 2 years ago and liked it so much we determined to come back. So here we are. We'll stay here at least another week.

Now there are a lot of ways to rate a campsite. Some are more spacious, some are more private,being on water is nice. This one rates especially high--it has three resident chipmunks!