Things I forgot.

On the road to Arches National Park we saw an actual cowboy herding cows across the road.

Grand Canyon to Zion

This got lost in the ethernet, and I was able to post it only now, at home, from a computer.  It is from 6/24.
We woke up yesterday in weird non-daylight savings mountain time in Arizona and went to bed in smoky southern Utah. In between, we drove through Zion and did a little afternoon hike in Zion Kolob. On the way to the Colob,  we had some spectacular views of the terrible Brian's Head wildfire.

The Way Home

Had dinner in Memphis, went to bed just over the border in Mississippi, currently in a rather empty part of Alabama: rolling hills,  piney woods, humidity. The men are in a crazy hurry to get home. There isn't much to see here,  but if it were up to me,  both coming and going would be slower and more spontaneous. As it is,  we are barreling through 3 states trying to do 10 hours and 50 minutes of driving before midnight.

Final thoughts about the trip:
1. I really like camping.  I like going to sleep with a view of the stars and waking up cold (when that happens). I like trying to solve problems using whatever I have on hand.  Water spilled on dirty clothes and we can't tie anything to a tree? The car has a lot of hooks and we have a lot of paracord. Pita chips crushed to bits? Terrific topping on a boring supermarket bagged salad. I like that every camp site is unique. It might be a parking lot,  or you might be camping next to 900 year old ruins. I am tired of chain hotels.

2. I don't really understand the Southwest.  But I am intrigued. I was startled by the complexity of the ancient civilizations and I began to see the beauty of the desert.

3. I will miss these family trips. We have another decade living with Ellie at home, but that is a different thing than kids-plural.

4.  The national parks are unbelievable.  We got into them all for free; didn't pay admission once, because Ellie is a 4th grader, and the "Every Kid in a Park" program allows every 4th grader and their family have a year's pass to all national parks.  But nevermind the cost savings... we paid for a family pass 2 years ago and it was an $80 well spent.  Thank you Teddy Roosevelt for Yellowstone and every American wonder that came afterwards.  When we compare the frustration of finding out that giant meteor crater is privately owned, and would have been $72 for the family to visit to the incredible access to the Grand Canyon, Bryce, and Zion, not just free, but 24 hours a day as well...we are so grateful to our incredible national park system.

From our driveway, 9:45pm

An Acrophobe's Nightmare

Jelly-legs. Daily. Sometimes more than once a day. I didn't get enough credit for sheer will. I didn't prevail every time,  but did most times. And I tried not to allow it to impact the others.

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Watching the kids gives me jelly-legs, too.

Bryce Canyon

Arches 

Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde

The Long Road

Today we drove. Oklahoma City to Memphis. Our now-standard Wal-Mart lunches, which are easy to find,  reliable, inexpensive, potentially healthy (depending on your choices), and can save a trip if we need anything else,  from an extra tarp, to glow sticks to underwear. Mom gets hummus, carrots and kombucha,  Ellie gets a snack box or Mac and cheese, Jeremiah gets a premade sandwich,  Dad gets different things,  and we all get mango spears, cherries, grapes, apples, oranges...fruit.

Other than the Walmart stop,  a couple of gas fill-ups, and a Starbucks stop, we drove 486 miles. Starbucks was the most exciting:  Phil's pocket quietly ejected his keys while he was enjoying his iced coffee. We figured it out a hundred miles later,  but luckily we were in Arksnsas, where people are kind,  so we have a promise that the manager will mail them to us tomorrow. In the meantime,  my keys are clipped to my belt loop.

The day ended with a lovely visit with one of Ellie's oldest friends, Ella, who met us with her parents at a Chinese restaurant in Memphis, the same one we stumbled onto 6 years ago, the last time we came through the area. Ella and Ellie first met in Chongqing on the day they were both put into their new family's arms.

Listening Library

The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the OK Corral: Jeff Guinn
Skeleton Man: Tony Hillerman
The Great Taos Train Robbery and other stories: Tony Hillerman
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian:  Sheman Alexie
Bean Trees: Barbara Kingsolver
Carsick: John Waters
Travels with Charlie: John Steinbeck
Captain Hook: James V. Hart

Books read:
Leslie: Lassoing the Sun, Mark Woods
Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey
Phil: a book on ancient geography for work
Jeremiah: The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown
Skeleto Crew, Steven King
Ellie: The Warriors, book 1

Bed

After taking a right turn at Albuquerque like Bugs we shoulda taken a left ) we made it to Santa Fe to stay in an AirBnb that Phil booked. It has running water (we put away out water jugs)  a fridge  (no ice in coolers, and space for whatever we like), walls (we hear some fireworks,  but no neighbors), showers (the joy of being clean! )toilets in the building (no more star gazing bathroom trips ),  and beds. Not just a bed for us,  but a memory foam mattress.  I may live here. I love the way camping makes me appreciate how much I have.

We hung around the house,  all exhausted, then took Ellie or for a birthday dinner. After,  she insisted we all wear out sulky glasses nonchalantly into the grocery store, and then we went home for birthday Monopoly.

This is where we took a left turn at Albuquerque, in tribute to Bugs Bunny

Mesa Verde

We spent 2 nights at Mesa Verde, camping in the park. The site was incredible. ..remote, beautiful,  full of mystery and magic. We arrived in the late afternoon and set up out camp. After the KOA parking lot camping,  this was wonderful. Up on the Mesa at about 8000 feet,  it was cool and had a sky dark enough to see the milky way. We had a view of mountains on two sides. There were some noisy neighbors, but it was idyllic other than that. We booked two tours of the cliff dwellings, Cliff Palace the first afternoon and Long House the second morning. We cooked dinner, did laundry, and went to bed.

The next day,  we woke up early (thanks noisy kids) and drove the 14 miles within the park to the sites. We stopped at several of the overlooks and did several short hikes.  After a quick lunch,  it was time for our tour. Cliff Palace was amazing. Some steep slopes and a couple of ladders up a crevice, but that was much easier than the way the ancient people did it,  with finger and toeholds carved into a sheer cliff face. I don't understand what could have pushed them to live in the cliff
houses. Just getting 100 people,  men women and children, there must have cost some lives.  Nevermind timber, carved stone bricks, food, trips up to tend crops. ..it is thought to be a matriarchal society. .what was worth that extraordinary effort and loss of life?

After our tour, we got to watch some Hopi dancing and then took showers,  played a couple of rounds of Codename, and went to the lodge for dinner.  It was a disappointing meal,  but the views were great.  And the best part. ..we saw a beautiful buck and then a herd of elk in the valley. We have been disappointed in the lack of big mammals this trip,  but here Jeremiah saw some deer, and then this wonderful evening.

Mesa Verde II

The second day,  we woke up early,  broke camp,  and went to the Weatherill Mesa to see Long House and do some biking. We biked to the Nordenskjold lookout, then came back for our tour.  The tour was wonderful because we went through the cliff village and had a little time on our own to explore. These structures  were built in the medieval period, but in America, not Europe. The towers and multistory houses alone were elaborate and beautiful,  and to see where they were located in the alcoves way up in the tips of cliffs,  accessed by carved finger and toe holds carved into the cliff face...these were incredible engineers. I would put them up against  a lot of European medieval architecture. But I don't remember learning that northern native Americans were engineers. They are mysterious,  and perhaps unfathomable like those who built Stonehenge. We are listening to Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees as we drive, and there is one moment when some Guatemalan refugees talk about what it means that they are Mayan...they come from "astronomers and architects." I knew about the incredible science of the Azteca and the Mayans, but not about those in North America.

Arrival at Chaco Canyon

We left at about 2 and drove to the Four Corners, but got caught in a rainstorm, which was fun, and traffic jam going in to the monument,  which was not. We got frustrated and thought it must be a tourist trap (they were also charging $5/person) so decided to turn around. Then we went to Chaco Canyon. Several hours of driving on a highway, then more than an hour on a gravel, then dirt road, and then we arrived here, met by the first jackrabbit we have ever seen!

Wildlife

Total animal count:
Mule deer: 8 doe and 1 stag
Elk: 1 herd (9 elk)
Prairie dogs: 10ish
Cottontails: dozens in Moab KOA and Chaco Canyon
Jackrabbits: 1, our first ever.  They can jump 20 feet high and run 40 mph
Bison: a farmed herd (doesn't count, according to Jeremiah)
Pronghorn: 1
Cows: too many to count,  but some crossing the road
Horses: ditto

Animals we wish we had seen:
Bobcat
Wild bison
Coyote

Leaving the parks

Our last night camping, but I think I am the only one who is sad to stop.  I am not surprised; Chaco Canyon, though beautiful,  is both remote and relatively undeveloped. No wifi or cell service, no showers,  no camp store, no drinking water outside the visitor's center. We did fine,  but canned chili was dinner last night. And it is hot.  We couldn't spend another afternoon in the visitor's center. I deliberately woke up at 3 to go to the bathroom and check out the stars.  Since hitting the Grand Canyon we have had wonderful skies,  but this is the best of all.  There are no lights,  not on RVs, not at the bathroom,  and it is a listed dark sky park. The milky way is huge and bright. I don't recognize  many of the stars because I had to wait for the moon to set and now I can only see the handle of the big dipper.  Gorgeous. So much of the trip has been about size...how old the earth is as we admire the geology, how long humans have been living in our very young country at the cliff houses and pueblos, and  how big the universe is at night. Puts things into proper perspective.

Ellie got cold in the night,  so I woke again to wrap her up and snuggle her. At 6 Phil wanted to go for a last bike ride,  so I decided to go with him. We went on the Wijiji Trail, watched the sun rise, and check out some small houses and petroglyphs. Young men bored and feeling small? Some ceremonial use?

We turned  around and went back to the campground in time to find Ellie in her panda pjs making her way to the bathroom,  sleepy-faced on her first day of double-digits. What a great way to start the day.

We packed up and were on our way by 9. An hour back on the dirt then gravel road, we finally get to paved roads.  But there isn't anything but empty land for miles.  Finally,  in Cuba, we have our choice of 5 restaurants, 3 of which seem to have high ratings. What? But El Bruno's is an oasis. Beautiful inside,  with a glorious shady courtyard, decorated and comfortable. The food is amazing and when we ask the waitress to take our picture because it is Ellie's birthday,  she offers us a little chocolate bunt cake. What a lovely surprise.

Chaco Canyon (aka "Chocolate Canyon")

As we were getting dinner ready,  Officer Friendly came over to tell us 550 of the parks rules, and what kinds of tickets he can write of we fail to obey. He has a gun,  so we listen politely. By the time he is done (seriously,  about 15 minutes), it is dark,  and we eat and get into our tents... is about 9:30 now. We wake up as early as we can. ...Officer Friendly suggested we should leave no later than 8am, after getting our parking permit so we don't get a ticket.  He warns us about the heat. We figure we can handle it,  have been hiking in the desert every day for 2 weeks. We bring our bikes, lunch and as much water as we can. We stop at the visitor center to get our permit and find out that we will also need backcountry hiking and biking permits,  but still need to stay on the trail. A park focused on human- created ruins is very different than one dedicated to nature. The others were mostly open 24 hours a day, and no permits.

At last we set off on our bikes for the 9 mile loop. We bike the first 5 miles to the apogee and decide to hike out to see the petroglyphs.  We get our permit, then skirt the cliffs dodging the cottontails and see a slew of petroglyphs from ancient times to the present day.  We have always been interested in graffiti from seeing ancient and modern juxtaposed  in Greece. Byron's signature on Sounion, for instance,  is itself a site people come to see. Is it vandalism or a universal desire to mark one's passing through space,  or through life shared across time? The only differences are the age and the number of  passers-by.  We are not yet interesting until we become historic, and we are too many for our individual passing to be noteworthy.

This is the point that the kids totally revolt. It is hot, we have been camping and hiking every day for 2 weeks. Officer Friendly may have been right.  We don't go on to the alluring pictographs 2 miles onward, even though they may depict the supernova of 1006...so we eat lunch and finish the loop,  biking the last 4 miles to the visitor center. We agree to hang out there an hour before the guided tour of Pueblo Bonito, the largest (500-600 room!) ceremonial building filled with rooms that were dark, and hard to get to,  alongside big kivas. No one knows what it was for,  exactly,  as it is very well-built and huge, but seemingly only for ceremonial use.  Ellie completed her 5th Junior Ranger booklet and we watch the movie and read all the signs. We are not the only people trying to stay cool. We take the tour, which was fascinating. The rest of the afternoon we spend hanging out in the visitor's center, as are most of the other tent campers.

When the visitor's center finally closes at 5pm, we return to the campsite and play some games in the foyer of the tent with the fans going while Phil cooks. As I am washing the dishes,  Officer Friendly parks his truck and sits himself down at our picnic table. It turns out he was a young veteran about to go to to Tel Aviv for a second BA to learn Arabic and middle eastern culture to set himself up for a career in intelligence. He is a park ranger because it was a law enforcement job. Now we get it. We take a loop around the park to see if there are any animals (nope) and end with a rousing game of National Park Monopoly.

National Park camping

We don't have any cell service ace a little wifi, so I will catch up tomorrow.  We are camping on Mesa Verde, doing two cliff house tours.

Sometimes you have to leave the beaten path to find the best trail

Today, my 51st birthday, we decided again to avoid the heat. This time, instead of down to the river, we went up to the nearby La Sal mountains and canned canyonlands.  We found a trail that started at Miner's Basin and ended at a lake, 2 miles each way but 2000 feet of elevation change from 9000 to 10000 feet and  back to 9000. Unfortunately Miner's Basin  was closed,  but we were able to start at the end and work backwards. But it was 30 degrees cooler: low 70s.

We started up through a forest,  then along an icy stream where we dunked our bandanas. It got very steep,  12% grade. Through a meadow, sprinled with aspen, switchbacking along, then past the remains of Schuman's cabin (miner from the 1880s), then up a 30% grade to a pass filled with pines. We passed several melting patches of snow. The kids ambushed us with snowballs.  Then at the pass in the mountains, we decided enough was enough and didn't quite make it down to the basin,  which was a bummer because there was supposed to be a ghost town there. ..after another 1000 feet of elevation change. Phil and the kids found a peak to reach,  making our destination.

The kids ran down the mountain while my 51 year old knees required a more careful picking my way down with hiking sticks.  My legs were at that point shaking with the effort. We finally reached the car after 5 hours of walking, to find the kids waiting at a picnic table with the food carefully laid out.  It was the best birthday lunch ever.

The afternoon was spent at the KOA pool (it was 100 degrees off the mountain ), and then out to a celebratory dinner at the broken oar.

Cooling Off

It has been hot and the desert views are losing their luster for the kids, so we decided to step it up a notch and took a half day rafting tour of the Colorado River. But we insisted on a bike ride first. The bike path began at a BMX bike trail, which the kids loved.  The dirt hills gave plenty of opportunity to test out their mountain bikrs and was conveniently located next to the Moab regional hospital. The path continued along Mill Creek and took us to Roundabout Park. The path was great, cool and pretty flat.  We passed a community garden and schools along the path (what a great idea!). At the park, one section, called Harmony Park, had a whole range of percussion instruments, from drums to marimba to xylophone and everything in between. The mallets were attached to cords, and most were still there. We were all mesmerized.

We tore ourselves away  and headed to Adrift Adventures. They made us sign our lives away and took our car keys and bussed us 45 minutes to a spot on the river where the rafts were waiting for us. The first hour was peaceful with some small rapids, but a lot of time to float or swim along the boat. Our guide, Everett, was knowledgeable and sweet with the kids.  And he could haul even the adults back into the boat when we were done! Then came the class III rapids. Ellie and Jeremiah were in the front of course. The smile on Ellie's face was ecstatic. That girl has no fear. Phil and I were less excited, not being fans of roller coasters these days.  We stopped at a beach for a picnic lunch. The last hour included more swimming and some time playing on a beach where there was a drop off from ankle to neck in 2 steps. The kids came back wishing we has class IV or V rapids. Best day of the trip, they said. Thrill seekers.

No photos of the river trip as we left phones and cameras behind.

Hot Arches

Today was hot. We got up early to try to beat the heat,  but Moab is like Florida: it didn't get below 70 until just before dawn and was back at 100 by 11am. It is a dry heat,  but at some point that doesn't really help. We went to Arches National  Park by 8am. We hiked the delicate arch trail first thing, then the landscape arch. The arches are interesting, or perhaps it is our interest in then that is noteworthy as Phil pointed out. Why are we so fascinated by them?  Phil thought perhaps because we think of that form as man made,  not natural.  Natural arches maybe suggest a creator. I struggled with the heights and steep drop offs, but persevered. My favorite part were the petroglyphs. Sheep and a shepherd on horseback.

Weird formations and beautiful views, but the kids prefer biology to geology...they miss the animal spotting of the more northern parks. Today offered only bunnies at the KOA we are camping at.

We explored Moab in the late afternoon  (ice cream hunting), set up some adventures  for the next couple of days to compensate for the heat and the KOA parking lot campsite,  and hit the pool. It was too hot and cramped at the campsite to cook out,  so we treated ourselves to a brew pub.  Ellie wanted to eat at the most popular spot. ..she is definitely our daughter!