US Southwest Trip – 5 - 21 Oct 2006
Summary (For the impatient):
Had a wonderful trip to the Southwest, driving from Oxnard to Abiquiu, NM (50 miles northwest of Santa Fe) where we took a weeklong art workshop. Abiquiu is the town where Georgia O’Keefe did much of her later painting. We spent two days in the quaint city of Santa Fe and drove for about seven days visiting several National Parks and Monuments (Mesa Verde, CO; Zion, UT; Canyon de Chelley, AZ; Hovenweep, UT; Natural Bridges, UT; Vermillion Cliffs, UT and Antelope Canyon, AZ). On the way back we stopped in Las Vegas and Boulder City, NV to visit family. The trip was way too short and we plan to go again some time and really savor the scenery.
Details (For the patient):
Thursday 5 Oct, Oxnard, CA to Barstow, CA – We left Oxnard in our Ford Escape, after evening rush hour with a plan to overnight in Barstow, so we can get a head start and miss LA traffic the next morning.
Friday 6 Oct. Barstow, CA to Chinle, AZ - Our destination on Friday was Chinle AZ, a long 10 hour drive, mostly on I-40. Chinle is on the Navajo Indian Reservation in northeastern Arizona at Canyon de Chelly National Park. The drive was long but very pleasant. The first part of the trip was through sparsely vegetated flat desert. The freeway went along rail lines with mile long trains with three to six engines pulling cars with double high shipping containers taking all the stuff from China to Wal-Mart by way of the port of LA. The terrain began to rise as we approached Flagstaff, AZ and the vegetation changed from desert to pine forest. After a brief stop in Flagstaff, for Starbucks we got back on I-40 and kept going east through Winslow and Holbrook (I-40 parallels the old Route 66). We drove through the Petrified Forest where we could see huge petrified logs along the Interstate. We left I-40 at Chambers, AZ and headed north on two lane highway to Chinle, AZ as the sun was going down, treating us to a beautiful pink and orange sunset over the red desert scenery. We checked into a nice room at a beautiful Holiday Inn completely staffed with Navajo Indians.
Saturday 7 Oct, Chinle, AZ to Albuquerque, NM – After breakfast we went on a private Jeep tour of Canyon de Chelley with a Navajo lady guide (http://www.nps.gov/cach), Canyon de Chelly is the second largest canyon in the US and is protected by the US Park Service, but it is on Navajo land (as is one-quarter of Arizona). There are a few Navajos who live and farm in the Canyon and sheep belonging to the Navajo graze other parts. A visit into the canyon requires a Navajo guide. We drove along a riverbed and some times in the river itself. As we went deeper into the canyon, the walls got higher and higher in places up 1,000 feet high. Along the way, the cottonwood and tamarisk trees and shrubs were turning wonderful fall colors of yellows gold and oranges and we could see ancient cliff dwellings and petroglyphs sheltered by overhangs in the cliffs. The scenery of the huge cliffs and rock formation was magnificent. We stopped at several places along the way where Indians were selling hand made jewelry at tables they had set up. We spent about two hours on the tour enjoying the experience and snapping endless pictures of the gorgeous scenery. Later we took a drive in our car along the top of the cliffs and stopped a several overlooks. The views were breathtaking, but the highlight was Spider Rock overlook where we stood on at the edge of a 1,000-foot cliff looking down on an 800-foot monolith rising from the Canyon floor. We have seen the canyon some 20 years ago, but were really just as overwhelmed with its beauty.
After lunch, we headed toward Albuquerque, NM hoping to see the mass ascent of hot air balloons the next morning in the Balloon Fiesta annual event. http://www.balloonfiesta.com/). Along the way, we stopped at the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site in Ganado, AZ (http://www.nps.gov/hutr/) a very interesting and well-preserved example of an Indian trading post dating from the late 19th century. Our next stop was Window Rock, AZ, an incredible huge hole in a rock produced by water erosion. Window Rock is a sacred Indian site and is surrounded by a park with a memorial stature to the Navajo “code talkers”. These were World War II Navajo US soldiers who used the Navajo language as code for secret messages. The town of Window Rock is headquarters of the Navajo Nation (http://www.navajo.org/).
Sunday 8 Oct, Albuquerque, NM to Abiquiu, NM – We set the alarm for 4:00 am so that we could get the Balloon Fiesta Park early to watch the mass balloon ascension (300 balloons!), but were disappointed when we heard a TV announcement that the event had been canceled because of weather. We went back to sleep for a while. Later in the day, we headed up to Santa Fe, about an hour away. In Santa Fe, we visited Linda and Leonard Hey with whom we had arranged a house exchange for the following week. On their recommendation, we had a nice lunch at Harry’s Roadhouse. We then drove northwest about 50 miles to Abiquiu that, as far as we could tell, had about three houses. Our art workshop was at Ghost Ranch, another eight miles up the highway and a one-mile dirt road. Ghost Ranch was a dude range in the 1930’s and since then was taken over by the Lutheran Church and it is now used for many workshops and retreats. Ghost Ranch is set in some very dramatic rock and cliff formations that inspired many of the later paintings of Georgia O’Keefe (http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/indexflash.php). The scenery was enhanced by the fall colors of many cottonwood trees scattered in the area.
Monday – Friday 9- 13 Oct, Abiquiu, NM – We began our class with Ann Templeton (http://www.anntempleton.com/) on Monday morning and each day we would have breakfast and lunch in the Ghost Ranch dinning hall. There were about twelve people in the class from place ranging from Nova Scotia in Canada to California. Most of the people taking the class were professional artists so we felt a little embarrassed with our lack of skill. The workshop was a total immersion and sometimes ran from eight in the morning to eight at night. Each day Ann would do a demonstration painting and explain how she chose the composition and design and her technique for carrying out the painting. She works very fast with broad-brush strokes. The students then did one or two paintings and after each session, she would give a critique of the paintings done that day. In most cases, we painted “en plein air”, which means outdoors, from life. What was particularly good about painting at Ghost Ranch is the stunning scenery and in the vivid yellows and oranges of the fall foliage. Both of us really enjoyed the class and learned a lot from it, although we had nowhere near the talent of some members of the class. Thursday afternoon we took a break and went to Taos to see the Taos Pueblo, and art galleries, including one that displays Ann Templeton’s work. The Taos Pueblo is very impressive and has been inhabited for over 1,000 year.
Saturday 14 Oct, Abiquiu, NM to Santa Fe, NM – We spent most of the day on Saturday at Ghost Ranch at the workshop and after saying goodbye to Ann and the other students we drove to Santa Fe to stay at the Hey’s gorgeous house, on a hill overlooking all of Santa Fe and the surrounding mountains and desert. We loved the beautiful, colorful tile and rugs and watching the city lights in the evenings.
Sunday - Monday 15 - 16 Oct, Santa Fe, NM – We spent two days in Santa Fe, which is a very quaint town and is said to be the oldest city in the United States. We spent the first day walking around town and visiting shops, the O’Keefe Museum and many art galleries. The next day Lance decided to kick back and got a massage while Dahlia visited more galleries on Canyon Rd. It was Amazing inspiring and humbling to see so much beautiful art and so much creativity in so many media.
Tue. 17 Oct, Santa Fe, NM to Durango, CO – On Tuesday morning we started our drive back west, first going northwest to Durango, CO, about five hours on a two-lane highway. As we approached Colorado, the terrain became increasingly mountainous and the weather turned rainy. The rain turned to snow and then back to rain as we went down the other side of the mountain. We arrived in Durango in early afternoon. It is a cute little town in Victorian style with lots of pickup trucks and a few cowboy-types walking around. We visited the Durango train museum with old steam engines used to carry silver ore on narrow gauge tracks from Silverton, CO in the Rocky Mountains to the main rail line at Durango.
Wed 18 Oct, Durango –Mesa-Verde- Cortez, NM – In the morning we got up early to see the steam train leaving Durango to Silverton. It now carries tourists rather than sliver ore. Since the train ride would be an all day round trip we decided to pass it up and instead drove towards Silverton (about one hour by car). We left Durango, caught up with the train, and got some great pictures of it from the highway. As the elevation of the road rose we began to see snow first on the hills and then along the road. The previous night’s snowstorm covered the mountains and pine trees with beautiful fresh heavy snow creating a real winter wonderland. We decided to turn back to Durango when we finally got to a point where chains were required to go further.
In the afternoon, we set out toward the west to Mesa Verde National Park (http://www.nps.gov/meve/) which is famous for its ancient Indian cliff dwellings and we were not disappointed! From the Visitors Center, there is view of the “Spruce Tree House” area, a cliff dwelling village across the ravine, we took a hike down a trail across the ravine and were able to walk around in the village for a close look. The village had been first inhabited about 600 AD and abandoned around 1300 AD. The complexity and relative sophistication of the site with its several multi-story buildings made of stone with mud for mortar was truly amazing. We then visited a museum displaying many baskets, pottery and weapons found in the ruins with explanation of the history and discovery of the ruins. A bit further, we visited an even more impressive set of ruins called the “Cliff Palace”. This was accessible by going with a Park Ranger down a series of steep steps, trails and ladders. This site was even bigger than the first and consisted of round and square building, towers and underground kivas (circular religious buildings). In some places, there were colorful wall paintings still visible inside the ruins. After a packed day, we drove to our hotel in Cortez, a little dusty town back down in the desert near the Utah border. The vistas driving down from the Mesa areas were incredible. The camera could not possibly capture the grandeur of the views as far as the eye could see. The sun was going down and again we saw a beautiful fiery sunset.
Thu 19 Oct, Cortez, CO to Page, AZ – From Cortez we started a long day, taking dirt roads into Utah to Hovenweep National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/hove/) which has more incredible cliff dwellings and ancient stone structures on the tops of cliffs. We took about and hour hike looking a number of these wonderful old structures. If it were not for our trusty, GPS (Garmi) who led us through seemingly endless dirt roads in the middle of no-where we would have never found the place. From here, we drove down roads that took us through deep canyons that form tributaries of the Grand Canyon to Natural Bridges National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/nabr/). This area has a loop road with lookouts upon several incredible natural stone bridges carved by the water erosion. In one case, we look a hike half way down to a very large arch where we were able to get great views. It seemed that each place we stopped was more breath taking than the last and would justify a whole day hike if we had the time.
After stopping to see several natural bridges, our next destination was Monument Valley in Arizona, but along the way we went down this incredible winding dirt road in a place called the Valley of the Gods, from there we passed Mexican Hat Rock, an amazing rock formation that looks like a huge Mexican hat balanced upside down. Next we stopped at Goosenecks State Park (http://www.stateparks.utah.gov/park/index.php?id=GNSP) with a fantastic view of the meandering San Juan River (a tributary of the Colorado River) flowing through a series of very deep winding canyons. We crossed the San Juan River into Arizona and got to Monument Valley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_Valley) just before sunset. The lighting was superb and, it was another breathtaking sight. Since it was getting late, we did not have time to go into the Valley. We arrived at our hotel in Page, AZ late, but were able to make reservations for a morning tour of the Antelope Valley slot canyon.
Fri 20 Oct, Page, AZ to Las Vegas, NV – In the morning we were met by our Navajo lady guide for the slot canyon tour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antelope_Canyon). We took a four-wheel drive vehicle up the dry creek bed of Antelope Creek until it narrowed and ended at a stone cliff. The cliff had a narrow crack (3-6 feet wide) and we walked through it. The crack was eroded, over many years, into strange and twisting shapes that went up 40 feet or more with light coming from the top, illuminating the most incredible views. We walked through it for about a half mile and came out the other side to another creek bed. We were told that after a rainstorm the creek fills with water and the slot canyon creates a dam, with water raising by as much as 25 feet. At the down stream end the water comes gushing out of the slot. The shapes of the walls, the color and the light were stunning (we took about 200 pictures). After our 2.5 hr tour, we got our car and started toward Las Vegas. We crossed the Grand Canyon on the Navajo Bridge at Lee’s Ferry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_Bridge), back into Utah, and drove for several hours along the Vermillion Cliffs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermilion_Cliffs_National_Monument). We finally arrived at the spectacular Zion National Park (http://www.nps.gov/zion/), a place we visited almost 30 years ago when we drove to California from Baltimore. The autumn colors were spectacular against amazing sheer cliffs and rock arches. We only had an hour or so to look around because it was late, but we plan to re-visit on an extended trip. From Zion, the drive to Las Vegas was only a couple of hours on I-15 and we arrived at the house of Lance’s sister Pat, where we spent the night.
Sat 21 Oct, Las Vegas, NV to Oxnard, CA – The next morning we visited Lance’s Mother at Boulder City, NV. She is doing well for age 94, but her main complaint is her hearing and hearing aid. We had a very nice lunch with her in Boulder City and headed back to Los Angeles, where we stopped in the evening in Altadena for a wonderful dinner with Bill and Jan Wilson. We finally arrived back in Oxnard late in the evening.
Had a wonderful trip to the Southwest, driving from Oxnard to Abiquiu, NM (50 miles northwest of Santa Fe) where we took a weeklong art workshop. Abiquiu is the town where Georgia O’Keefe did much of her later painting. We spent two days in the quaint city of Santa Fe and drove for about seven days visiting several National Parks and Monuments (Mesa Verde, CO; Zion, UT; Canyon de Chelley, AZ; Hovenweep, UT; Natural Bridges, UT; Vermillion Cliffs, UT and Antelope Canyon, AZ). On the way back we stopped in Las Vegas and Boulder City, NV to visit family. The trip was way too short and we plan to go again some time and really savor the scenery.
Details (For the patient):
Thursday 5 Oct, Oxnard, CA to Barstow, CA – We left Oxnard in our Ford Escape, after evening rush hour with a plan to overnight in Barstow, so we can get a head start and miss LA traffic the next morning.
Friday 6 Oct. Barstow, CA to Chinle, AZ - Our destination on Friday was Chinle AZ, a long 10 hour drive, mostly on I-40. Chinle is on the Navajo Indian Reservation in northeastern Arizona at Canyon de Chelly National Park. The drive was long but very pleasant. The first part of the trip was through sparsely vegetated flat desert. The freeway went along rail lines with mile long trains with three to six engines pulling cars with double high shipping containers taking all the stuff from China to Wal-Mart by way of the port of LA. The terrain began to rise as we approached Flagstaff, AZ and the vegetation changed from desert to pine forest. After a brief stop in Flagstaff, for Starbucks we got back on I-40 and kept going east through Winslow and Holbrook (I-40 parallels the old Route 66). We drove through the Petrified Forest where we could see huge petrified logs along the Interstate. We left I-40 at Chambers, AZ and headed north on two lane highway to Chinle, AZ as the sun was going down, treating us to a beautiful pink and orange sunset over the red desert scenery. We checked into a nice room at a beautiful Holiday Inn completely staffed with Navajo Indians.
Saturday 7 Oct, Chinle, AZ to Albuquerque, NM – After breakfast we went on a private Jeep tour of Canyon de Chelley with a Navajo lady guide (http://www.nps.gov/cach), Canyon de Chelly is the second largest canyon in the US and is protected by the US Park Service, but it is on Navajo land (as is one-quarter of Arizona). There are a few Navajos who live and farm in the Canyon and sheep belonging to the Navajo graze other parts. A visit into the canyon requires a Navajo guide. We drove along a riverbed and some times in the river itself. As we went deeper into the canyon, the walls got higher and higher in places up 1,000 feet high. Along the way, the cottonwood and tamarisk trees and shrubs were turning wonderful fall colors of yellows gold and oranges and we could see ancient cliff dwellings and petroglyphs sheltered by overhangs in the cliffs. The scenery of the huge cliffs and rock formation was magnificent. We stopped at several places along the way where Indians were selling hand made jewelry at tables they had set up. We spent about two hours on the tour enjoying the experience and snapping endless pictures of the gorgeous scenery. Later we took a drive in our car along the top of the cliffs and stopped a several overlooks. The views were breathtaking, but the highlight was Spider Rock overlook where we stood on at the edge of a 1,000-foot cliff looking down on an 800-foot monolith rising from the Canyon floor. We have seen the canyon some 20 years ago, but were really just as overwhelmed with its beauty.
After lunch, we headed toward Albuquerque, NM hoping to see the mass ascent of hot air balloons the next morning in the Balloon Fiesta annual event. http://www.balloonfiesta.com/). Along the way, we stopped at the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site in Ganado, AZ (http://www.nps.gov/hutr/) a very interesting and well-preserved example of an Indian trading post dating from the late 19th century. Our next stop was Window Rock, AZ, an incredible huge hole in a rock produced by water erosion. Window Rock is a sacred Indian site and is surrounded by a park with a memorial stature to the Navajo “code talkers”. These were World War II Navajo US soldiers who used the Navajo language as code for secret messages. The town of Window Rock is headquarters of the Navajo Nation (http://www.navajo.org/).
Sunday 8 Oct, Albuquerque, NM to Abiquiu, NM – We set the alarm for 4:00 am so that we could get the Balloon Fiesta Park early to watch the mass balloon ascension (300 balloons!), but were disappointed when we heard a TV announcement that the event had been canceled because of weather. We went back to sleep for a while. Later in the day, we headed up to Santa Fe, about an hour away. In Santa Fe, we visited Linda and Leonard Hey with whom we had arranged a house exchange for the following week. On their recommendation, we had a nice lunch at Harry’s Roadhouse. We then drove northwest about 50 miles to Abiquiu that, as far as we could tell, had about three houses. Our art workshop was at Ghost Ranch, another eight miles up the highway and a one-mile dirt road. Ghost Ranch was a dude range in the 1930’s and since then was taken over by the Lutheran Church and it is now used for many workshops and retreats. Ghost Ranch is set in some very dramatic rock and cliff formations that inspired many of the later paintings of Georgia O’Keefe (http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/indexflash.php). The scenery was enhanced by the fall colors of many cottonwood trees scattered in the area.
Monday – Friday 9- 13 Oct, Abiquiu, NM – We began our class with Ann Templeton (http://www.anntempleton.com/) on Monday morning and each day we would have breakfast and lunch in the Ghost Ranch dinning hall. There were about twelve people in the class from place ranging from Nova Scotia in Canada to California. Most of the people taking the class were professional artists so we felt a little embarrassed with our lack of skill. The workshop was a total immersion and sometimes ran from eight in the morning to eight at night. Each day Ann would do a demonstration painting and explain how she chose the composition and design and her technique for carrying out the painting. She works very fast with broad-brush strokes. The students then did one or two paintings and after each session, she would give a critique of the paintings done that day. In most cases, we painted “en plein air”, which means outdoors, from life. What was particularly good about painting at Ghost Ranch is the stunning scenery and in the vivid yellows and oranges of the fall foliage. Both of us really enjoyed the class and learned a lot from it, although we had nowhere near the talent of some members of the class. Thursday afternoon we took a break and went to Taos to see the Taos Pueblo, and art galleries, including one that displays Ann Templeton’s work. The Taos Pueblo is very impressive and has been inhabited for over 1,000 year.
Saturday 14 Oct, Abiquiu, NM to Santa Fe, NM – We spent most of the day on Saturday at Ghost Ranch at the workshop and after saying goodbye to Ann and the other students we drove to Santa Fe to stay at the Hey’s gorgeous house, on a hill overlooking all of Santa Fe and the surrounding mountains and desert. We loved the beautiful, colorful tile and rugs and watching the city lights in the evenings.
Sunday - Monday 15 - 16 Oct, Santa Fe, NM – We spent two days in Santa Fe, which is a very quaint town and is said to be the oldest city in the United States. We spent the first day walking around town and visiting shops, the O’Keefe Museum and many art galleries. The next day Lance decided to kick back and got a massage while Dahlia visited more galleries on Canyon Rd. It was Amazing inspiring and humbling to see so much beautiful art and so much creativity in so many media.
Tue. 17 Oct, Santa Fe, NM to Durango, CO – On Tuesday morning we started our drive back west, first going northwest to Durango, CO, about five hours on a two-lane highway. As we approached Colorado, the terrain became increasingly mountainous and the weather turned rainy. The rain turned to snow and then back to rain as we went down the other side of the mountain. We arrived in Durango in early afternoon. It is a cute little town in Victorian style with lots of pickup trucks and a few cowboy-types walking around. We visited the Durango train museum with old steam engines used to carry silver ore on narrow gauge tracks from Silverton, CO in the Rocky Mountains to the main rail line at Durango.
Wed 18 Oct, Durango –Mesa-Verde- Cortez, NM – In the morning we got up early to see the steam train leaving Durango to Silverton. It now carries tourists rather than sliver ore. Since the train ride would be an all day round trip we decided to pass it up and instead drove towards Silverton (about one hour by car). We left Durango, caught up with the train, and got some great pictures of it from the highway. As the elevation of the road rose we began to see snow first on the hills and then along the road. The previous night’s snowstorm covered the mountains and pine trees with beautiful fresh heavy snow creating a real winter wonderland. We decided to turn back to Durango when we finally got to a point where chains were required to go further.
In the afternoon, we set out toward the west to Mesa Verde National Park (http://www.nps.gov/meve/) which is famous for its ancient Indian cliff dwellings and we were not disappointed! From the Visitors Center, there is view of the “Spruce Tree House” area, a cliff dwelling village across the ravine, we took a hike down a trail across the ravine and were able to walk around in the village for a close look. The village had been first inhabited about 600 AD and abandoned around 1300 AD. The complexity and relative sophistication of the site with its several multi-story buildings made of stone with mud for mortar was truly amazing. We then visited a museum displaying many baskets, pottery and weapons found in the ruins with explanation of the history and discovery of the ruins. A bit further, we visited an even more impressive set of ruins called the “Cliff Palace”. This was accessible by going with a Park Ranger down a series of steep steps, trails and ladders. This site was even bigger than the first and consisted of round and square building, towers and underground kivas (circular religious buildings). In some places, there were colorful wall paintings still visible inside the ruins. After a packed day, we drove to our hotel in Cortez, a little dusty town back down in the desert near the Utah border. The vistas driving down from the Mesa areas were incredible. The camera could not possibly capture the grandeur of the views as far as the eye could see. The sun was going down and again we saw a beautiful fiery sunset.
Thu 19 Oct, Cortez, CO to Page, AZ – From Cortez we started a long day, taking dirt roads into Utah to Hovenweep National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/hove/) which has more incredible cliff dwellings and ancient stone structures on the tops of cliffs. We took about and hour hike looking a number of these wonderful old structures. If it were not for our trusty, GPS (Garmi) who led us through seemingly endless dirt roads in the middle of no-where we would have never found the place. From here, we drove down roads that took us through deep canyons that form tributaries of the Grand Canyon to Natural Bridges National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/nabr/). This area has a loop road with lookouts upon several incredible natural stone bridges carved by the water erosion. In one case, we look a hike half way down to a very large arch where we were able to get great views. It seemed that each place we stopped was more breath taking than the last and would justify a whole day hike if we had the time.
After stopping to see several natural bridges, our next destination was Monument Valley in Arizona, but along the way we went down this incredible winding dirt road in a place called the Valley of the Gods, from there we passed Mexican Hat Rock, an amazing rock formation that looks like a huge Mexican hat balanced upside down. Next we stopped at Goosenecks State Park (http://www.stateparks.utah.gov/park/index.php?id=GNSP) with a fantastic view of the meandering San Juan River (a tributary of the Colorado River) flowing through a series of very deep winding canyons. We crossed the San Juan River into Arizona and got to Monument Valley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_Valley) just before sunset. The lighting was superb and, it was another breathtaking sight. Since it was getting late, we did not have time to go into the Valley. We arrived at our hotel in Page, AZ late, but were able to make reservations for a morning tour of the Antelope Valley slot canyon.
Fri 20 Oct, Page, AZ to Las Vegas, NV – In the morning we were met by our Navajo lady guide for the slot canyon tour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antelope_Canyon). We took a four-wheel drive vehicle up the dry creek bed of Antelope Creek until it narrowed and ended at a stone cliff. The cliff had a narrow crack (3-6 feet wide) and we walked through it. The crack was eroded, over many years, into strange and twisting shapes that went up 40 feet or more with light coming from the top, illuminating the most incredible views. We walked through it for about a half mile and came out the other side to another creek bed. We were told that after a rainstorm the creek fills with water and the slot canyon creates a dam, with water raising by as much as 25 feet. At the down stream end the water comes gushing out of the slot. The shapes of the walls, the color and the light were stunning (we took about 200 pictures). After our 2.5 hr tour, we got our car and started toward Las Vegas. We crossed the Grand Canyon on the Navajo Bridge at Lee’s Ferry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_Bridge), back into Utah, and drove for several hours along the Vermillion Cliffs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermilion_Cliffs_National_Monument). We finally arrived at the spectacular Zion National Park (http://www.nps.gov/zion/), a place we visited almost 30 years ago when we drove to California from Baltimore. The autumn colors were spectacular against amazing sheer cliffs and rock arches. We only had an hour or so to look around because it was late, but we plan to re-visit on an extended trip. From Zion, the drive to Las Vegas was only a couple of hours on I-15 and we arrived at the house of Lance’s sister Pat, where we spent the night.
Sat 21 Oct, Las Vegas, NV to Oxnard, CA – The next morning we visited Lance’s Mother at Boulder City, NV. She is doing well for age 94, but her main complaint is her hearing and hearing aid. We had a very nice lunch with her in Boulder City and headed back to Los Angeles, where we stopped in the evening in Altadena for a wonderful dinner with Bill and Jan Wilson. We finally arrived back in Oxnard late in the evening.
posted by Dahlia and Lance Riley @ 9:32 PM
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