After three months in Grand Junction Colorado, it was time
for Daddy to return home to Louisiana.
We had the unenviable job of prying him away from the Mesa View
Retirement Community, and his girlfriend Miriam – who was not too pleased when
we arrived because it meant his imminent departure.
In addition, with his infectious enthusiasm, Daddy had become
a fixture at Mesa View, and more than one resident let us know that we should
leave him in Colorado and… for us to just head on down the road… without
him.
But after three months away, Daddy was ready to head home
while seeing some sights along the way.
We had planned two weeks to take him back the 1,400+ miles to
Shreveport.
Our first stop was Arches National Park, a spot Daddy had
never seen, but always wanted to.
The park is located just outside of Moab, Utah and at 76,679 acres is
small for a western national park.
It was originally created as a National Monument in 1929 to preserve
over 2,000 natural sandstone arches.
It was rededicated as a national park in 1971 – there are currently
slightly over 90 arches.
The park lies above a salt bed thousands of feet thick in
places - deposited 300 million years ago when a sea covered the Colorado
Plateau. Over millions of years,
the salt bed was covered with debris and Navajo and Entrada sandstone layers
above. The weight of this cover
caused the salt bed to liquefy and push up layers of rock into salt domes. In addition whole sections of rock
developed faults that allowed water to seep into the salt layer causing
fractures and uplifts. In some
areas the rocks turned almost 90 degrees on edge.
As the subsurface movement of salt shaped the landscape,
erosion removed the younger rock layers from the surface. Most of the formations in the park
today are the salmon colored Entrada sandstone, which form the majority of the
arches, and the buff colored Navajo sandstone. These are visible in layer cake fashion throughout the
park.
Entrada and Navajo sandstone layers along the Colorado
River.
Balanced Rock formation. The rock is Entrada sandstone with the buff colored layer
beneath made of the softer (and more easily erodible) Navajo sandstone.
Being game for travel and enjoying the idea of seeing new
things, Daddy was up for hiking out to the arches. Heinz and I put our foot down on the longer hikes, no way
were we going to try helping a 92 year old man across three miles of slickrock
to see the Delicate Arch up close, but we did agree to the 1/2 mile round-trip hike
out to the Double Arches. The
larger arch has a span of 144 feet and a height of 112 feet. This is the third longest span and the
tallest height for any arch in the park.
The goal - Double Arches.
Heinz and Daddy taking a break on the trail to the Double
Arches.
Daddy and me in front of the Double Arches.
Delicate Arch from the lower viewpoint trail.
As we drove around the park, we stopped at every scenic
overlook that we could find, and even a few times at just wide spots on the
side of the road so Daddy could “ooh and ahh” over the sights, while snapping
pictures on his new digital camera (a birthday gift from friends in
Colorado). He now goes nowhere
without that camera in his pocket.
Daddy checking out the view.
Petrified sand dunes.
More spires and arches along the road.
Along the way we stopped to watch a climber going up one of
the spires. It’s interesting to
watch, but not a sport for me. As
clumsy as I am, I’d fall off by the time I got 10 feet up the wall!
Hmmm, this shot puts it a bit more into perspective.
After two nights in Moab, it was off to Monument
Valley. Daddy had been to the
Valley years ago on a bus tour, but only stayed one night and didn’t remember
doing much other than going to a BBQ and driving through the area. We got in much more than a quick
drive. On our first day we headed
out on a four-hour jeep tour of the Navajo Tribal Park – the tour was offered
by the Goulding Lodge.
The Lodge itself, begun as a trading post in 1923 by Harry
and Leona Goulding, eventually morphed into a hotel, restaurant, museum, gas
station, convenience store, RV park and grocery store. During the Great Depression the Navajo
people were desperately poor and no jobs were to be had in the area. Harry Goulding traveled to Hollywood
and convinced John Ford that Monument Valley would be a perfect setting for
western films. John Ford agreed
and traveled to the valley to film “Stagecoach” starring a new, unknown actor
by the name of… what was it… oh yeah, John Wayne. Films have continued to be filmed in the valley ever since.
Daddy doing his best John Wayne impression in front of a
cabin built for the movie “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon”, filmed by John Ford in 1949.
Arriving at the Tribal Park.
The Navajo Tribal Park is located in Monument Valley, on the
border of Arizona and Utah within the 16 million acre Navajo Reservation. Our tour took us along the 17-mile dirt
road past many of the valley’s best-known buttes and spires. We were traveling during the
southwestern desert’s monsoon season.
The week before we arrived in Monument Valley, the Tribal Park had had
flash flooding that washed out large parts of the road. Being a dirt road, the local population
had simply driven around the washed out areas and so the road was not the
smoothest we’ve ever ridden on.
West and East Mitten Buttes.
Looking over the valley from John Ford’s Point towards
Merrick Butte on the right and Sentinel Mesa on the left.
Sky Arch.
The Totem Pole Spire.
We popped up early on our second day to drive over to
Hovenweep National Monument. Daddy
loves Indian ruins, but he had never heard of this location. After a day exploring here, he’s been
telling everyone, “You’ve got to go to Hovenweep!” In 1874, pioneering
photographer William Henry Jackson named the ruins “Hovenweep” - which is
“deserted valley” in the Ute/Paiute language. In 1923, President Warren Harding proclaimed Hovenweep a
national monument.
Today tall towers, outlines of multi-room pueblos, tumbled
piles of shaped stone, small cliff dwellings, pottery sherds, and rock art lie
scattered across the canyon landscape north of the San Juan River. Despite the weathering of seven
centuries, many large structures and tall towers still stand. It is easy to wander along the
slickrock trail and imagine what these communities must have been like when
hundreds of people lived along the mesa.
At the beginning of our exploration, with the Twin Towers in
the background.
The Twin Towers, circa 1050. Each tower is built on a block of rock without any access at
the ground level. Archeologists
estimate that these towers were 4-5 stories tall.
Heinz helping Daddy up the slickrock trail. Lots of stops to rest or chat about the
buildings we were seeing, the local geology, the local flora and fauna, the
weather, etc. and we made it 0.8 miles around the ruins in 90+
temperatures. Man, I want that
kind of energy when I get to be 92 (or even next week!).
In front of “Hovenweep Castle”, believed to have been used
for astronomical observations.
Openings admit shafts of light during solstices and equinoxes. By tracking the light, the people could
have used the towers as “calendars” to indicate planting and harvest times.
Picnic lunch after exploring the ruins.
We took another day trip from Monument Valley, and headed south to
Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de Shay) National Monument outside Chinle,
Arizona. Archeological evidence
shows that people have lived longer in this area than anywhere else on the
Colorado Plateau. The first
residents arrived nearly 5,000 years ago.
They did not build permanent homes, but remains of their campsites and pictographs
remain. Later, people archeologists
call Basketmaker built household compounds and storage facilities high on
ledges on the canyon walls. They
lived in small groups, hunted game, and grew corn and beans. Besides the ruins of their homes, these
peoples also left behind pictographs on the canyon walls.
Pictographs attributed to the Basketmaker people.
The “Junction Ruins” located at the junction of Canyon de
Chelly and Canyon del Muerto, attributed to Basketmaker people.
The Anasazi (also call Ancestral Puebloan people) followed. These Puebloan people built the
multi-storied villages, small household compounds, and kivas that dot the
canyon alcoves and talus slopes.
These people stayed until around 700 years ago, then left for unknown
reasons.
Anasazi ruins in Canyon del Muerto.
Pictographs of antelope, big horned sheep, and turkeys.
The “White House” ruins in Canyon de Chelly. These were named for white paint found
on the inner walls of the buildings.
Archeologists believe that the lower buildings were originally tall
enough to reach the upper buildings.
As the majority of the Anasazi moved away, some remained in
the area spending summers here, hunting and farming. Later, migrating Hopi Indians arrived for a time. Finally, the Navajo arrived and settled
in the area in the early 1700’s and remain the dominant group to this day.
Canyon de Chelly from the rim. Local Navajo residents still farm the canyon floor.
Leaving Monument Valley we pointed the rig southeast and
drove for New Mexico. It rained all morning as we rode, but Daddy and I had
complete confidence in Heinz and we both drifted off and napped most of the
way. Poor Heinz was left trying to
figure out how to stay awake, so he pulled out his earphones and rocked out to
some music. We stopped off in
Aztec, NM for two nights at the Ruins Road RV Park. As we pulled in it stopped raining and Daddy was raring to
go see the Aztec Ruins National Monument.
The Aztec Ruins are
elaborate stone structures built by the Ancestral Puebloan People between 1000
and 1300 AD. Within miles of these
ruins are scores of other structures, indicating an extensive, planned
community. Aztec’s West Ruin is
regarded as a “Great House” and is the largest known outside of Chaco Canyon.
Great Houses are large, typically multi-storied stone buildings with
core-and-veneer walls, large rooms, plazas, and usually one or more Great
Kivas. The structures were used as
gathering places, ceremonial centers, trade centers, work areas, and
storage. The construction of
Aztec’s West Ruin was episodic and rapid.
The majority of the building was completed in only 30 years. In comparison, Pueblo Bonito in Chaco
Canyon took almost 300 years to complete.
Aztec West. There
is another, larger building called Aztec East that has not been excavated
completely.
Archeologists have identified two distinct masonry styles at
Aztec West: Chaco masonry and Mesa Verde masonry. Chaco masonry developed in Chaco Canyon during the 9th-11th
centuries. It is characterized by
organized, meticulous rock layering, chinking, and core-and-veneer masonry,
which used a central core of mud and stones covered by outer facing of stones
in mud mortar. Mesa Verde masonry,
named for its prominence in the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings, is a style
characterized by larger, rounder stones with less emphasis on layering and
chinking.
Decorative and perhaps symbolic elements like the green
layer in the wall above are commonly found here. Many speculate that masons may have been mimicking the local
geologic features.
Exploring the ruins.
Great Kiva in the plaza.
The back walls are Chaco masonry, while the front walls were
added later in Mesa Verde masonry.
After spending an afternoon exploring Aztec Ruins, Daddy was
pumped to be going to Chaco Culture National Historical Park in Chaco Canyon
the next day. Beginning in the
mid-800’s Chaco Canyon became a major center of ancestral Puebloan culture. Many diverse clans and peoples helped
to create this ceremonial, trade, and administrative center whose architecture,
social organization and community life was unlike anything before or
since.
Chaco is remarkable for its monumental public and ceremonial
buildings and its distinctive architecture. The Chacoan people combined pre-planned architectural
designs, astronomical alignments, geometry, landscaping, and engineering to
create an ancient urban center of spectacular public architecture. Chaco was connected to over 150
communities throughout the region by engineered roads and a shared vision of
the world. After 1250, the people
migrated from the area, moving south, east, and west, to the Hopi Mesas, along
the Rio Grande, and around Zuni Mountain.
As with other Indian sites we have visited, historians still do not know
the reason behind the abandonment of these sites.
Chaco Canyon, Aztec Ruins, and several other Ancestral
Puebloan sites are now designated U.S. World Heritage Sites.
After hearing Daddy’s age, a Park Service ranger recommended
we explore Pueblo de Arroyo as it was the smallest and most accessible of the
pueblo open for public viewing.
Daddy however had read about Pueblo Bonito for years, and was determined
to see it. So off we went, hiking
up the trail and over to the pueblo.
Heading up to Pueblo Bonito.
The site covers almost two acres and incorporates at least
650 rooms, with some estimates raising the room count to 800. In parts of the village, the tiered
structure was four and five stories high.
During later construction, lower level rooms were filled with debris to
better support the weight of the upper levels. The use of core-and-veneer architecture and multi-story
construction produced massive masonry walls as much as three feet thick. Population estimates have varied with recent
analysis lowering the number from several thousand to less than 800 and maybe
as few of 100, based on the small number of usable hearths in the ruins. It is now believed that Pueblo Bonito
was a ceremonial center used for religious rites. The solar and lunar cycles are marked in the petroglyphs of
the surrounding cliff area as well as in the architecture of the Pueblo itself.
Panorama of Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Canyon. The rocks in the foreground of
this photo fell from the cliff face in 1941, crushing over 30 rooms. The Ancestral Puebloans had built a retaining wall around this section of rock approximately 800 years ago. In 1940, structural engineers with the Civilian Conservation Corps decided that the retaining wall was useless and had it removed. A year later the rock wall fell. Go figure!
The middle wall (separating the east and west portions of
Pueblo Bonito) runs exactly north-south and tracks the sun on the days of the equinoxes. The front wall (running exactly east-west)
tracks the moon’s movements over time.
One of 40 kivas found within Pueblo Bonito. Archeologists estimate that this one
could have accommodated 250-300 worshipers.
Determined to see everything he could, Daddy decided that
some of the doorways were too low to stoop over in order to get through. His solution…crawl through! As he said, “You don’t wait 30+ years
to see Chaco and then skip parts!”
Our next stop was Albuquerque, NM and a day of rest. We’re not sure Daddy appreciated having
a down day, but Heinz and I were exhausted! We did take him out to eat, but I think if he could have
found some Indian ruins he would have walked over to see them.
After leaving Albuquerque, we stopped for a night in
Amarillo, TX and met up with my cousin Harold, his wife Donna, and son
Noah. They treated us to a great
dinner at the Saltgrass Restaurant.
We finally left after 2+ hours of chatting, laughing, and catching up. The next morning we saw one of the most
fabulous sunrises I’ve seen.
Sunrise in Amarillo, TX.
Then it was off to Oklahoma City, OK and a day spent at the
National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum - what a place! When I say a day at the museum, I’m not
kidding - we got there around 10:30 am and pulled out of the parking lot around
4:00 pm.
The museum has more than 28,000 Western and American Indian
art works and artifacts with approximately 15% on display at any given
time. Do the math, that’s around
4,200 items. The next major factor
is that my dad believes in seeing everything and reading every label, hence a
6-hour visit to the museum. But no
complaints for us, it’s a fascinating place. I mean really - who knew there’s over 200 designs of barbed
wire?!
In addition there are over 2,000 works of western art;
landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and sculptures. The historical galleries include the American Cowboy
Gallery, a look at the life and traditions of the working cowboy; the American
Rodeo Gallery, fashioned after a 1950s rodeo arena; the Native American
Gallery, focusing on the embellishments that Western tribes made to their
everyday objects; and the Gallery of Fine American Firearms, housing over a
hundred examples of firearms.
The museum also houses Prosperity Junction, a
14,000-square-foot authentic turn-of-the-century Western prairie town. You can stroll the streets, peek in
some of the store windows, and walk into some of the fully furnished
buildings.
Once you’ve finished wandering the museum don’t forget to go
outside to the sculpture garden and rodeo animal cemetery.
Hmm, wonder what they’d say if I climbed on??
Bellying up to the bar in the Prosperity Junction saloon.
Final resting place of Tornado, considered one of the best
bucking bulls ever. No one
successfully rode him in 6 rodeo seasons, bucking off 220 competitors.
Posing in front of Remington's "Coming Through the Rye".
After two weeks on the road, we have returned Daddy to his
home in Shreveport, LA. He’s
taking his time unpacking, while we are kicking back, licking our wounds, and
visiting family members, before heading west again.
Here’s your friends of the week:
You looking at me?
(photo taken in Grand Junction, courtesy of Daddy)
Spotted in Aztec, NM.
And his colorful cousin at Canyon de Chelly.
Nothing like stepping out of the car and spotting a rattlesnake on the side of the road.
