Canyon de Chelly

You see the tiny ruins there in the center? They are not so tiny up close;

that's just how massive the canyon is.

Friday morning we got up pretty early and headed west from Grants , crossing the Arizona border. Along the way we stopped at Hubbell Trading Post, which has been in existence for more than 130 years. It is on Navajo reservation land and has displays of amazing Navajo pottery, blankets, jewelry and baskets.

We then continued north to Chinle, Arizona, which is a couple of hours into the interior of a huge Navajo reservation in northeastern Arizona. The drive through “the rez” was really eye-opening. Signs are often in two languages (English and Navajo) and there are many farms that have regular buildings but also the traditional octagonal Navajo hogan structures on them. There is a lot of poverty, and many people get by with essentially subsistence farming or ranching. The landscape is beautiful but pretty harsh and dry. The town of Chinle has a few more businesses, including some restaurants and motels, because it is a bit of a tourist destination. Like the other tourists who drive into Chinle, we were there to see Canyon de Chelly (pronounced “d’shay”).

The canyon is incredibly beautiful. It is mostly red sandstone, eroded over centuries to create amazing cliffs, piers, ledges, and slopes. Besides the natural beauty, Canyon de Chelly is famous because of its human history. Archaeologists believe that it has been inhabited more or less continuously for nearly 5000 years. They have found evidence of nomadic tribes passing through that long ago, using the alcoves in the canyon for shelter. Later, people began farming on the floor of the canyon, where the walls provided some protected areas to grow plants in less extreme conditions than in the surrounding desert. Starting in about 750 AD, the canyon was home to the Anasazi (ancestors of the modern-day Pueblo and Hopi Indians), who built villages in protected nooks and crannies. The Anasazi more or less abandoned the canyon around 1300, and for a few hundred years it was again just a seasonal stopping place for groups on the move. The Navajo began living here around 1700 and have been here ever since, with the exception of periods of turmoil caused by conflict with the Spanish, with other tribes, or with the U.S. (including a 4-year period where they were kicked out and interned at Ft. Sumner in NM before being allowed to return). Some Navajo still live in and around the canyon, farming or selling traditional crafts or working as tour guides.

We took a beautiful drive around part of the rim of the canyon, stopping at overlook points to gape at the rock formations. At many overlook points, there were also telescopes fixed upon a point in a facing wall where there are ruins of ancient buildings still wedged into the alcoves in the canyon. There are many parts of the canyon where you cannot go without a Navajo guide, but there is one hike down that is open to the public, so we did that. The White House Trail goes down a steep slope and across the floor of the canyon to a spot pretty close to some well-preserved Anasazi ruins. It was a fun hike and mind-boggling scenery, although it was about 100 degrees and we were glad we brought lots of water.

White House Ruins

After our hike, our last stop was out at the end of the main tourist road, where there is one last overlook with awesome views into a section of the canyon that contains Spider Rock, a huge spire that rises 800 feet straight up from the canyon floor. It is a really incredible sight.

Spider Rock.

After our day at the canyon, we drove back to the little town of Chinle for an early bedtime. Not a wild and crazy Friday night for us, but it was a great day. The only other thing to add about our stop in Canyon de Chelly is that, although we did love it, it affirmed that we were doing the right thing by rerouting our trip to skip Arches, Bryce and Zion National Parks. One day of hiking around in 100+ degree heat was exhausting, and a good confirmation of our thoughts that we didn’t want to sign up for another 8 days. We are determined to go back and have a great trip to those three parks when we can really enjoy it.

The reason for our early night was that we woke up very very early. We were on the road before 5 AM (mountain time) and although I am not normally a morning person I was so glad that we did this. The drive through the reservation lands at dawn was truly beautiful and peaceful, and there was no one on the roads. We saw a gorgeous sunrise and it was just us and the occasional horses, cows and birds, and the rugged landscape all around.


By 7 or so we were out of the reservation and back onto the interstate. We made two little stops just off the highway that morning. One was a tiny little county park that offered a great view of what they call the Little Painted Desert; again, we had it all to ourselves. The other stop was in a funny little town on what used to be the famous Route 66, called Winslow, Arizona, immortalized in the Eagles song “Take It Easy.” We stopped on a corner in the downtown area that they clearly set up for goofy tourists like us, and took a couple of photos, and then we were on our way again.

Little Painted Desert. Hard to see here but it looked really cool.

The drive through the rest of Arizona was surprisingly beautiful and a smooth drive. I had been disappointed at the lack of sunflowers in Kansas but Arizona made up for it; for miles on I-40, there were small wild sunflowers all over the sides of the road. A few hours later, we were breezing through the security checkpoint at the Hoover Dam. The Prius’s outdoor temp reading was 108. The water level at Lake Mead (the reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam) is very low and going lower. Shortly after that, we rolled into Vegas. Neither of us have ever been, and we’re just walking around with our mouths hanging open. I will let Chris tell you all about Vegas, but fans of the Will Ferrell movie “Anchorman” will be pleased to know that the last couple of days, from the Navajo reservation to Las Vegas, I can’t count the number of times we’ve looked at each other and shrugged and said, “When in Rome…”

Lava, Cliffs, & Mountains - a day with Uncle Keith

After feasting upon all that Mexican food at El Pinto, Kate and I were in need of a lot of walking. We woke up early Thursday morning and went to Petroglyph National Monument, just a few miles outside of Albuquerque. Petroglyphs are rock carvings (as opposed to rock paintings) in basalt (otherwise known as lava). The monument has over 20,000 of these. Some are really old – maybe as old as 2000 years—but most were probably made around 400-700 years ago. Others are sadly as recent as a few weeks ago because some idiot like STEVE has to proclaim his love for IRENE by carving it into the rocks. Irene, if you are reading this, Steve is a hoser.

We did a bit of a hit and run because we knew we were in for a big day with Kate’s Uncle Keith in Grants, New Mexico, about an hour’s drive from ABQ. Uncle Keith retired early and enthusiastically to this area a few years ago and has been happily exploring it ever since. We pulled into this funny little town and right into Uncle Keith’s driveway. His house is spectacular, with a view of several distinct mesas of which Keith knew the names and histories, and Mt. Taylor just behind his house. Uncle Keith has an amazing relationship with “Taylor” and if you aren’t listening closely you may think he’s discussing an old friend when he mentions the mountain.

Uncle Keith gave us a tour of his rock garden outside and his workshop where he creates rustic furniture. He also showed us the beautiful rocks he’s gathered in New Mexico and on geology trips he’s taken. We discovered we were his first house guests in his new house, so we got the super-royal treatment and tour.

We packed a lunch together and we were off. Our first stop was the Acoma Pueblo reservation, which usually gives tours of its village and old Spanish church, but it was closing for religious ceremonies (summer dances) and those are not open to us Anglos. It was a cool drive up to the Pueblo even if we couldn’t get in and get a tour.

Our next stop was to the sandstone bluffs inside the El Malpais (he pronounced it Mal-pie-ees) National Monument. We explored for a bit and ate lunch. We were particularly surprised to see tadpoles in a puddle up on the top of these sandstone cliffs. Apparently they can hang out in egg form for up to 3-5 years waiting for a good rain to hatch in. As a wildlife biology major in college, of course I knew that fact. It was one of the many I have forgotten since graduating.

From the top of the bluffs, you can see miles and miles fields of black cooled lava, the Malpais (which means “the bad lands”). Keith really wanted us to get a sense of it from the ground and see just how “tortured” it was. You could see how the lava flowed and rolled over the ground, and layers where other lava and ash fell on top of that, eruption after eruption. It reminded me of something from a Tolkien book. This whole area had volcanic activity as recently as 2,000 years ago, with dozens of volcanoes spewing ash and lava all over the place. An 8-mile trail runs across the Malpais, marked only by small cairns; it’s called the Acoma-Zuni trail because it connects the Acoma and Zuni pueblos. Apparently people die out here because the cairns aren’t easy to spot and are easy to lose sight of. Before we had time to get lost or eaten by a mountain lion, a storm began to brew and we had to turn back (this seems to be happening to us a lot on this trip!). We got back to Keith’s trusty pickup truck just in time as the sky opened up and big thick licks of lightning began to hit in the distance. Here are a few pics:

Kate makes a mustard 'sun' petroglyph

From the cliffs

Uncle Keith & Kate

You can see just how tortured the land really is. That's lava, folks.

While we were waiting for the storm to pass, we drove to the Narrows, and even saw a few hoodoos along the way. The Narrows is a really cool road with 500-foot sandstone cliffs on one side, and lava fields on the other. As Uncle Keith said, “Land of Enchantment indeed!”

After the rain passed we went to La Ventana Arch, which is the second biggest natural arch in New Mexico, but remains the largest arch I have ever seen in New Mexico. We walked to the base to really get a perspective of just how huge it is. In looking at how the erosion over time created the arch, there was something Uncle Keith said that particularly resonated with me. He commented on how the earth just wants to make things smooth. All the erosion, eruptions, wind, water, and time are all working to make the earth smooth. That struck me because some things I consider to be the mental or emotional equivalent of erosion, eruption, and other phenomena may not be working against me the way I think, but might just be making me smoother in my thinking, my reactions, and general way of being.




After all that walking around, we decided to head back to Grants to grill some steaks. Driving through Grants this second time brought the funky town to life. Uncle Keith’s enthusiasm for his new hometown and home state is 100% contagious. He talked about the Quad – an international race that involves running, biking, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing up and down Mt. Taylor; the geology and names of each mesa; and the history of the town. Grants was definitely a boom-and-bust town that went through 3 boom cycles – first with the railroad, second with mining, and third with uranium. During the Cold War, miners who worked in the uranium mines knew that they were dealing with poison, but the fact was we needed that to make bombs, so the US government paid them handsomely to go in there and mine that uranium unprotected. Apparently there are bumper stickers around that say Cold War Patriot – those are the guys who went in and did that job. And who all are really really sick now. An amazing piece of history I never would have known. There is a mining museum in grants, as well as an old diner called The Uranium Café.

Dinner was great, and we heard all sorts of hilarious stories about Uncle Keith’s cowboy days (he was a REAL cowboy if you didn’t already know). We also heard a number of more recent stories about his local explorations that frequently ended with him and his lady-friend either (a) trespassing somewhere they shouldn’t; (b) getting lost and barely making it out before [a big storm/running out of gas/pitch dark]; or (c) acting like a ‘dumb, friendly lost guy’ in order to either get out of a pinch (see situation A) or to get some new pieces of info about the area.

Now that is one heck of a drill bit.

Finally we drove up almost to the peak of Mt. Taylor. Taylor was an active volcano that blew and rebuilt itself several times thousands of years ago. On the way, we passed through gorgeous forest – including a mature grove of aspen that just took your breath away. We went to one of the summits of Mt. Taylor and watched the sun slowly set over the mesas in the distance. We stayed up there quite awhile just soaking it in, but eventually had to descend.

Magnificent Sunset

Before we left Uncle Keith, he made sure we picked out a rock or two from his vast and varied collection. “Everyone should have a rock,” he said. Kate picked out a fossilized seashell that he found on top of a local mesa (because much of this area was at one time underwater, part of an inland sea!) and I chose a small red rock that has wood-like grains and a neat energy about it. Best of all, it was smooth.

The Desert is Apparently Hot.

Note the time and temperature.

So when we planned this little road trip of ours, we thought we had the perfect route. I venture to say we still do. Our timing, however, could have been better. We just plowed through our first 8 hour drive of 90+ degree heat, and let's just say we're not looking forward to doing more of those again. I am willing to bet the Prius would agree. With that thinking in mind, we are adjusting our trip a bit. The bad news is that we are abandoning Arches, Bryce, and Zion National Parks. The weather promises days of 100+ heat throughout the next week in those places, and we just wouldn't enjoy it as much as those places deserve. That said, the good news is we are psyched to plan a Utah trip RIGHT - not 3 weeks out like we did this one. We've actually got a pretty good week planned and we are looking forward to doing it when the weather is a bit more accommodating to supporting human life.

As for what the immediate future holds - we are still going to make the most of our time in the Southwest, seeing Kate's Uncle Keith tomorrow. He has a cool tour lined up for us - covering Anglo, Spanish, and Native American sights and culture. We've been looking forward to this for some time.

What happens the next day (Friday) is still up in the air. We may find ourselves at Canyon de Chelly or Las Vegas. It may depend on the weather, or if we decide to drive through the night to spare ourselves and the car another 8 hour shift of 100 degrees. But this experience - the not knowing - is probably a good thing for two people who inherently want to always know what is next and have things planned out in advance. We are learning to enjoy life a bit more on the fly, while also finding that 'sticking to the plan' is not always the safest or most enjoyable thing to do. We are slowly learning to let go and open ourselves up for things we haven't pre-selected for ourselves. Maybe that's one of the best things we'll take from this (cue Doogie Howser MD music).

For tonight, we took yet another great recommendation for good eats - from Kate's cousin Sarah - whose descriptions of El Pinto in Albuquerque had us imagining margaritas and salsa for the last 100 miles or so. It is in the middle of NOWHERE. But when you pull in, you realize everyone in the surrounding area is there. I saw people wearing pants and sportcoats, so I became that creepy guy who changed in the parking lot. Kate looked lovely as usual so she didn't have to do anything. In fact she was still glowing from her very-first-ever buffalo sighting. She was unreasonably excited to see the buffalo. Although she did feel sad that they were "sitting in the hot sun in their shaggy coats."


We enjoyed a fantastic dinner. For a place that seats 1100 to 1200 people (you read that right) each room felt surprisingly small and the service was fantastic. The margaritas were welcomed and enjoyed.

So now we are holed up in a Residence Inn in the ABQ plotting a plan B that may bring a return to Sequoia National Park (awesome) via Las Vegas (never been), ending at Big Sur (yurts may be involved). If confidence is indeed a result of having options in your life, we are the most confident travelers on the road right now.

Cliffhanger!

Here's a sneak peak into our funky hotel:

The view from our room

I climb it not just because it's there, but also
because I saw a ten year old do it earlier.

I made Kate put down all the things she had in her hands to take this picture.
I think we all can agree it was 100% worth it.

Boulder Rocks (Get It?).

Hello from Boulder! We last wrote on Sunday afternoon, so I’ll start from there. Here’s a shot of the big lodge at the YMCA, by the way.


Sunday evening we repacked our stuff, which had, in the course of just two days, somehow exploded all over our little room at the YMCA. After the cleanup, we went into Estes Park again and had dinner at a little café right next to a fast-flowing creek, overlooking preservation land. Here’s another shot of the little town of Estes Park, as well as a photo of our dinner (you can see the rushing water beyond Chris’s sweet potato fries).


Monday morning we had our free breakfast at the YMCA—here’s a shot of the dining hall. It really is like a big summer camp.



We finished loading the car and checked out of the Y, and then headed back into Rocky Mountain National Park. We took a couple of great hikes to Alberta Falls and Mills Lake, and we started a hike to Bierstadt Lake before the dark clouds started moving closer… so once again we cut our hike a little shorter than we wanted to, in order to avoid being above tree line if lightning should appear (that brings our total to 3 lakes we didn't see because we were scared of big clouds). But most of the day was really gorgeous. Here are some shots of the day.

This is where we ate lunch!

We loved Rocky Mountain NP and would really recommend it to anyone. There are easy hikes for small children or older folks, where you hike less than a mile and are rewarded with a cool view; there are also much more challenging hikes for the hard-core adventurers. And having Estes Park nearby gives you a fun place to go for dining, shopping, or just people-watching. We hope to go back someday.

Leaving Estes Park. But we'll be back.

We left the park in the mid-afternoon and headed down to the town of Boulder. We checked into a fun hotel called Boulder Outlook Hotel, which bills itself as “Boulder’s First Zero-Waste Hotel.”
They use recycled and compostable products and encourage recycling wherever they can, including separate recycling receptacles in the rooms (there’s even a bag in your room where you can put compostable stuff and they’ll compost it for you!). They have a lot of water conservation mechanisms built in, as well as a non-chlorine indoor pool, and they power the place partly on wind power. The rooms are not fancy but they are perfectly nice, and the pool and lobby area is great (I am sitting by the pool right now, using the wireless internet, while our dirty hiking clothes get washed in a guest laundry room down the hall). They have some rooms that are pet-friendly as well as a dog run on the property; they have indoor “bouldering rocks” to climb on; they can get you a massage or private yoga class in your room; they will loan you bikes if you want, etc. It’s a lot of fun.

After we checked in, we again had to kind of force ourselves to rally and get out and explore the city. We found the section of Boulder with tons of restaurants and shops, and had so much fun walking around. There were “acro-yoga” demonstrations in front of the Prana store, a string trio of what looked like college kids playing classical music on the sidewalk, tons of places to eat outside, and lots of people on bikes. We walked by two parents standing there with their two kids (maybe ages 8 and 10?), apparently making plans for the remainder of the night, and the mom asked the kids, “OK, bikes or car?” And the older kid, without hesitating, says, “Bikes!” Awesome.

We looked at a LOT of menus as we walked around—the dining scene in Boulder seems really cool, with lots of variety. We eventually settled on Brasserie Ten Ten, recommended to us by our friend Rob, who told us to order a cheese plate.


We did, and it was really unbelievable. The rest of the meal was great too, but this cheese was pretty awesome. And we continued our dining al fresco streak—we have now had at least one meal outside 6 of the last 8 days!

This morning I am taking care of laundry while Chris takes the Prius for its 5000 mile check-up (update: it’s all good! -CWL). The little car is doing well, even on these mountain roads, and we are still getting about 47mpg fully-loaded which is pretty great. We’re spending one more night in Boulder and then tomorrow we head to Albuquerque. I have to say, though, we have really loved our time in Colorado and definitely want to come back.

Cincinnati

We will have post up soon but here's a shot of Kate and her college roomate Christen showing us that the best way to see Cincinnati may be from Kentucky. There's a joke in there somwhere I bet.

One more shot from Philly

As I mentioned, we took a long walk around Philly but forgot our camera so this shot of Independence Hall was taken with my phone. We will get better about taking pictures, I promise!

The Road Trip Begins!

Thought this was a funny shot.

Our first two days of road tripping are complete.

On Monday morning, we finished loading the car and wrapping up the last little details in Somerville. We said goodbye to 124 Cedar Street, our happy and cozy home for the last three years, and headed out.

This photo is a view of our packed little car!

Chris took the wheel for day one, as we headed through Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and into Philadelphia. There was some nasty traffic due to a "truck fire" on the Jersey Turnpike, so we arrived later than we had hoped. But we had a fantastic visit with our dear friends Keri and Mike, who have lived in Philly since we all graduated from GW Law back in 2006. They showed us around town, including some of the touristy sites (e.g., Independence Hall) as well as some of the really fun, unique neighborhoods in the city. It was a beautiful evening for a long walk, followed by a spectacular dinner al fresco at an awesome Italian BYOB restaurant, Mercato, and a quick gelato stop on the way back to Keri's. We laughed a LOT and had a wonderful time. It was especially fun for me to walk around Philly and picture my parents living there when they were in their twenties (pre-kids); I could really see how it would be their kind of city. In fact, I could see how it could be our kind of city as well, and I wish we could have spent more time there.

This is a view of Philly skyline from the Walt Whitman Bridge,

but we did a terrible job of taking any more photos of Philly. :(

We stayed at Keri's gorgeous apartment last night, and got a relatively early start this morning. The drive to the Pittsburgh area was very pretty-- lots of rolling hills and farmland that reminded me of my family's visits to my Nana's house in northern central PA when I was younger. Chris liked the tunnels that went right through a couple of mountains. The route itself was easy (pretty much a straight shot), but driving was a bit tiring due to frequent road work and periodic rainstorms. We hit several bands of very heavy rain, alternating with perfectly nice June sunshine.


We split the driving and arrived at our friend Jones's house in a suburb south of Pittsburgh in the late afternoon. We got a quick tour of his hometown, which reminded us of Westborough in so many ways. We then helped Jones and his mom make and eat a great summer cookout, which included local corn on the cob, grilled veggies, and grilled chicken with a BBQ sauce recipe by Bob Dylan (Jones loves him some Dylan). Music legend or no, this was some seriously good barbeque sauce. We hung out on their lovely back patio watching the lightning bugs (haven't seen those in a few years!) and marveling at how quiet it was. Jones and his mom even picked up a birthday cake (or more accurately, a cookie cake-- a giant cookie) with a candle in it for Chris's 31st birthday, which is tomorrow!

Tomorrow we head to Cincinnati, which is a bit of a drive, so time to sign off for now, but we are well, safe and happy and enjoying our road trip so far. We are grateful for the opportunity to do this; for our car, which is doing very well so far (averaging 46mpg even packed full of our stuff!); and for our wonderful friends who are hosting us and making us feel so welcome.