Busy tour of the south west

Hello again.  After our little delay in Albuquerque, we headed west on I-40 to a National Monument called El Malpais and had a look at some of the pretty sandstone cliffs, and did a little hiking.

Sometimes we get sunset shots of the cliffs and other times we manage to get up early for sunrise photos.  We are not always as well informed as we should be however, and we get to a place and realize that the photos would be nicer with the light from the other direction.  Such is life.

We also went to the Hubble Trading post in Arizona, on the way to Canyon de Chelly. The trading post is still in business, and is the longest running trading post around.  Below is the old oven for baking all the bread.

 This is part of the post where farm machinery and buggies are kept.

We went for an excellent hike at Canyon de Chelly, down to the bottom of the canyon where there are ruins.

Finally we went to the Petrified Forest, also in Arizona, and drove through in about half a day.   

The photos loaded well today which makes for a happy bear.  It must be wine o'clock now.

Winslow Arizona

Here I was...

Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona, when a girl in a flat bed Ford slowed down to take a look at me.

Lucky bear.

Route 66, a blast from the past

We've been in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a few days avoiding snowstorms to the west.  This has to be on of the most interesting RV parks we've stayed at...they have collected all sorts of Route 66 memorabilia and I had a good look around.

A 1950 Hudson and trailer.

 Buster sized camper, don't I look at home here?

Phil and Chris always point me in the direction of the laundry and look what we have here!  An old wringer washer.  They said to be careful lest I get my fur caught and end up pancaked.

 While clothes washed I played some pool.

 How about this gear from a salon?  Perhaps I can get my whole little self washed, set and dried.

Here is an interesting item.  This was originally in a silent movie theatre and it provided all the sounds and special effects for the old movies...drums, bells, whistles, horns and more.

 Also from the old theatre, this Wurlitzer organ which is being moderized and restored.  We even got to play it.

 The storm has moved east and we are ready to hit the old Route 66 once again.

Shopping for all things outdoors

Some of our favourite stores in the US sell everything and anything (it seems) for outdoor activities.  These places are huge.

 "welcome fishermen, hunters, and other liars"

Aside from all the gear for hunting, fishing, camping, boating ect, they make a big effort to keep people entertained, even people that don't like shopping, like Chris.

There are many animals around the stores in various displays.

  In one shop there was a large aquarium,

there was this hunting cabin complete with stocked fish pond.

There are even games and various games to test your skill like this shooting gallery.  Phil and Chris always have to have shooting competitions at these and Phil is the current champion.

I'm always relieved that they remember to take me along with them when we leave. 

 Some of those big animals make me nervous.

Santa Fe and the Bandalier National Monument

The drive from Amarillo, Texas over to Santa Fe was very windy, the poor RV really was tossed around the road.  However, we love New Mexico!  Sunny, warm days, perfect for hiking and doing what we do.

We spent a few days in Santa Fe before going camping out at the Bandalier National Monument. Santa Fe is a really pretty town with lots of galleries for art, jewelry and rugs as well as plenty of places to get yummy Mexican or Tex-Mex food.  This adobe architecture predominates all over town, and it blends in with the landscape and mountain backdrop.

 San Miguel Mission is the oldest church structure in the US.

 Oh oh, a rug shop.  This is always a problem.

We drove about an hour out of Santa Fe to Bandalier National Monument for camping and hiking.  Great spot!  I was hoping to see a few cousins here, (I don't think Phil and Chris shared my enthusiasm) and we didn't, however we spotted quite a few mule deer and a puma.  Do pumas eat bears??

The deer must be used to all the hikers because we were pretty close to them and they weren't bothered by our presence. 

Phil and Chris have decided that they need to be fit for trekking into the Grand Canyon, so they went hiking several days.  They spent a day down in the canyon looking at an interesting archaeological site where indians lived for centuries in caves along the canyon walls, as well as in adobe dwellings built on the canyon floor and up along the walls.  The site is well preserved and they were able to climb up into the caves.  One cave was 140 ft up the wall, reached by 4 ladders and some stairs.

Phil is sitting on the edge of a kiva up in the large ceremonial cave, and below, Chris is climbing out of the kiva.

 The next day they trekked all the way into the canyon from where we were camping and then down to a waterfalls near the Rio Grande.  Last year there was a huge fire and then a flash flood down in the canyon, so some of the trails are washed out or too difficult to do, and the trail all the way to the Rio Grande was closed.  

The next day they had a little rest from hiking and went to Los Alamos to see the museums in this very historic town where the first atomic bombs were created.  The National Laboratories are still in this area and the RV was searched before and after visiting Los Alamos.  Additionally, they suggested that we didn't take photos.  It was a really interesting visit.  On Friday they again hiked down into the canyon and back, just for the exercise (are they nutters or what?!) and then headed back to Santa Fe.  I hope they get some more photos of pretty Santa Fe so I can add them to this post later.

Palo Duro Canyon

The Palo Duro canyon is the 2nd largest canyon in the USA.  We all spent a couple of days here on our way west, and Phil and Chris had a few good hikes.  The day we arrived it was really windy and remarkably cold, the winter jackets, scarves and gloves were out again, and the weather was not supposed to be very nice until Saturday.  However, Friday it turned out to be 65 F and perfect for hiking. 

Phil and Chris went out at sunset and sunrise to try and capture the canyon's beautiful colours and rock formations.

 Friday they took a longer hike (only to realize how un-fit they have become!).

Once again I've demonstrated how unnecessary all this exerise it... after hours and miles of walking in the somewhat remote areas of the canyon, the only animals they spotted were right around the campsite.  There was a flock of turkeys running around, plus several deer grazed near the RV.  At night, something was out at the back of the RV, but we were never sure what it was, as it was too quick and the rain overnight washed the footprints away.