New Mexico

On Monday we left Williams, AZ on a very nice day.  Most of the snow had melted and the temperature was coming up.  We have two weeks before we are due in the Kansas City area for an event with relatives.  As a result we are driving for a couple of hundred miles and stopping for 2-3 days.  Our route will take us through New Mexico then a brief drive through Texas and Oklahoma and then through Kansas into Missouri.  Since we had stayed in Gallup, New Mexico last year we decided to pick another town and went about 60 miles east to Grants, New Mexico.  A very small town on the old Route 66.  There are a few RV parks in town and none of them are anything special as all are designed for overnight travelers.  The one we picked is the cheapest park we have stayed in to date, only $19 per night  It is near the highway and some train tracks (as most RV parks catering to overnighters are) but the noise has not been an issue.  The park is nothing special but it provides us with full hook-ups and a laundry room, which is all we needed. We decided to stay for 3 nights as there was some sight seeing we wanted to do.

What was interesting when we checked is the host asked if we had reservations.  I told him no as I did not think it was needed for this type of park and he said that at this time of the year it becomes necessary as all are the snowbirds are heading back home (Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota) and use this as a stop over.  Fortunately he did have an available space for 3 nights, but each evening the place does fill up around 5 to 7 pm.

Today, Wednesday, we went out sightseeing.  This area has numerous old volcano’s and lava flows plus some very nice rock formations.  We went to the El Morro National Monument which is a rock formation that has an interesting history to it.  The formation has a natural spring at its base so it was a stop over point for the Spaniards when they were in the area, the Calvary as well as other travelers. Some inscriptions date back 300 years.  These travelers would stop for the water and then write on the sandstone walls indicating they had been there.  In addition the Indians would carve drawings on the walls.  It was very fascinating to see the inscriptions then hike to the top and see the views of the area.

This is the natural spring

Here is an inscription from 1709

Here is a view from the top

Following our visit to El Morro we drove to another monument, La Ventana Natural Arch.  This is where nature has created a natural stone arch in the rock formation.

The weather was beautiful and we had a great time.  Tomorrow we leave for Tucumcari, New Mexico to spend the weekend.

Oh no, Snow!

We are still in Williams, AZ and this morning we had a wintery surprise, snow.  The weather began turning on Friday afternoon with the wind picking up and the temperature dropping by the hour.  The prediction is 2 to 4 inches of snow through Saturday into Sunday morning, then it should warm up and melt away by the time we plan to leave on Monday.

Here is what we woke up to

Good day to watch some movies!

Sedona, AZ

Wednesday we decided to spend the day in Sedona, Arizona.  It is about a 60 mile drive south of where we are staying.  To get there we took Route 89A, which takes you through Oak Creek Canyon.  This is a narrow, winding road that means you have to go slow at times but you are rewarded with some spectacular views of the valley as you get closer to Sedona. 

We arrived in Uptown Sedona around 9:30am.  This is the portion of town that is comprised of shops and restaurants and is usually where all the tourists end up.  Street parking is free but there are very limited spaces for all day parking, and especially limited spaces for a 1 ton pickup.  Fortunately, since we arrived early, we found a space on a side street as our plan was to stroll the street, have lunch and take a jeep tour.  We needed an all day space. 

Here is a picture of the uptown area

We strolled the shops and set up a Pink Jeep Tour (www.pinkjeeptours.com) for after lunch.  We decided on a restaurant called Open Range ( http://www.openrangesedona.com/) as their dining room has floor to ceiling windows overlooking the rock formations.  It was a great lunch then our tour.

We selected the scenic rim tour as this took you to the top of a mountain so you could get some great views.  If you look at their website they have tours where they climb rocks and really put the four wheel drive jeep to the test.  Our drive was on a washed out dirt road that was very bumpy and 4 wheel drive is good to have, but nothing really challenging.  It is a public road and we were amazed to see some people driving it in passenger vehicles.  Not a smart idea as some of the rocks were protruding up to a foot out of the ground.  Good way to wreck your car!  When we got to the top here is the view.

Following our 2 hour jeep ride we headed to West Sedona.  This is an area of town that is more spread out.  We had been to Sedona 30 years ago and stayed in this area and we were trying to see if we recognized anything, which we did not, other than the rock formations.  The airport for the town is on a hill and there is a great scenic overlook.  I took a panoramic picture from the overlook.

We decided to take I-17 back home, which meant taking another highway out of town to hook up with the interstate.  This road took us past the famous chapel that is built into a hill.  Here is a view of the chapel from the road.

Here is the view from the inside

I do have to give a special thanks to the parking attendant at the chapel.  The road going to the chapel is windy and narrow and there are parking spaces along the way.  I tried one but was concerned I would block the road and possibly not be able to get out, so I continued on up and this attendant told us to go all the way to the top and park in one of the handicapped spaces.  Thank you!  It saved us a long walk up a hill, plus we had no problems getting the truck in and out.  (All the handicapped spaces were empty, so I did not deny anyone).

What is interesting about going to this chapel is just before the entrance road for the chapel starts there is a beautiful, very large house that makes you stop to look closer.  When you get to the chapel you can clearly see the house and its grounds and everyone was taking a picture.

I will leave you with some pictures of the rock formations in the area.

They all have been named, but darn if I can remember them all!

Grand Canyon–Day 2

Today we decided to go back to the Grand Canyon to some walking on the Rim trail towards Hermit’s Rest.  The day worked out to be just perfect for it in the way of weather.

The Rim Trail is a mostly paved trail that follows the south rim for something like 20 miles.  The part we took today started at the village and went west towards Hermit’s Rest where it ends.  It is a 7.5 mile trail with many overlooks along the way that add to the distance.  We ended up doing about a mile and half, which took us 2 hours and then hopped on the shuttle bus to explore one other stop and Hermit’s Rest.

Where the trail starts is also the place where the Bright Angel Trail begins.  This is one of the most popular trails to hike down to the river (7.8) miles.  This trail is a little less steep than the one we went on last week.

Here is a view of the Bright Angel Trail from the rim.  The trail is the line going across the middle of the picture.

Here are some great pictures of the canyon we took along the trail

At the end of the trail is a place called Hermit’s Rest.  It is a building built in 1914 to cater to hikers and tourists as a place to stop and relax.  It is now on the national historic register.  It is a stone and log building built into the side of a hill near the rim of the canyon.

The entrance sign

The building

The fireplace inside

The view from the patio

Sunset Crater Volcano

On Friday we decided to take a drive to do some sightseeing.  We started out at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument which is just a few miles north of Flagstaff.  This area has a number of volcano’s that are dormant.  The Sunset Crater volcano erupted over a 1000 years ago and left huge lava flows. 

  It looks like dried mud, but it is all volcanic rock.

Along the road there were a couple of places to take short hikes.  The sign for the first trail indicated it was a short hike to Lenox Crater (another volcano) with great views of the mountains (also volcano’s) in the distant.  The sign did not indicate the distance but said it was a 300 foot climb.  You could look up and see that it was a fairly steep climb but probably not that far.  We started out and found how steep the climb was and the ground was very soft as it was comprised of ground up volcanic rock and ash, like a coarse sand.  We huffed and puffed our way to the top where it was extremely windy and cold.  The distance was much more than we had anticipated and the views were nice but had we known all in advance, we may have passed.  Here are the views:

This is the path looking down when we were about a third of the way up.

View from the top.

Another view from the top.

Following our park journey we went into Flagstaff to have lunch and run some errands.  Had a great lunch at Salsa Brava (www.salsabravaflagstaff.com).  We drove the old Route 66, which is a very busy street in Flagstaff and drove through the historic downtown, which was also very busy. 

Next up is Sedona, Jerome and another day at the Grand Canyon.

Grand Canyon Visit

Today we decided to take the drive up to the canyon and do some hiking and viewing.  We left fairly early as the drive is close to an hour.  We arrived just after 9am, which we soon discovered was a very good time to arrive.  There were no lines at the entrance gate and parking spaces were easy to find.  We settled on doing a portion of the Kaibab Trail, which will take you all the way down to the bottom of the canyon.  The portion we chose was about a mile long and had you descending something like 800 feet.  It is a very popular trail and traffic can get heavy on this narrow trail, which is also used by the mule rides.

Here is a picture as we start the hike down

The trail is fairly steep in places with loose dirt and gravel.  All the while we were descending we kept reminding ourselves that we had to go back up!!  Our plan was to stop at Ooh Aah point and then head back up.  As we were hiking Fran asked me if I thought the point would have a sign by it and my great reply was, “you will know you are there because you will go Ooh and Aah”. Joking as I was, actually I was right.  What a spectacular view!

and the verification (there was a sign)

This was our second trip to the canyon.  Our first was in 2002 but was just a quick stopover on our way back to Illinois from Christmas in California.  Here is a great picture from that first trip

We decided to call it a day around 1pm.  The park was getting much busier and there were long lines to get on the buses, plus we did not have another hike in us.  As we left the park we realized how nice it was for us to have come early in the morning.  The line to get into the park was backed up for nearly a mile and parking spaces at the visitor center and village were hard to come by.  We plan on coming back next week as we want to do the Hermits Rest trail.  Fortunately we have an annual pass for the National Parks so we do not have to pay to get into the park.  For a $60 investment, we have made our money back on the annual pass easily.  Just for the Grand Canyon it is $25 to get in, plus we have used it other parks along the way.

Grand Canyon

We are on the road again after 6 weeks in the Phoenix area.  Had a great time in Phoenix, especially our daughter’s wedding, but time to move on.  We left Monday to visit the Grand Canyon area, Flagstaff and Sedona.  We are staying just outside Williams, Arizona on the highway towards the Grand Canyon.  From this RV park we can easily get to the Grand Canyon (50 miles), Flagstaff (35 miles) and Sedona (60 miles).  We are planning on staying two weeks here. 

Much different weather here as it gets up to the mid 60’s during the day and way below freezing at night.  Have to watch the water hose and keep the RV water tanks full!

Here is our rig in the RV park

Monday afternoon we took a drive into Williams to see what it had to offer.  It is another Route 66 town and brings you back to the heydays of the 50’s and 60’s.  A sign in town said that Williams was the last town on Route 66 to be bypassed by Interstate 40.  The town is made up of little motels, diners and gift shops.  Its biggest tourist attraction is the Grand Canyon Railway, which leaves from town daily taking passengers on a scenic ride to the Grand Canyon.

Sign at entrance to town

Picture of town (I got this picture off the web as I did not take one.  It looks like it may have been taken around Christmas time).