It seems as though every time we see something that we think
can’t be topped, we see things just as beautiful and even more incredible. Our journey into Arizona, Colorado, and New
Mexico at times left us speechless. We
went to Page, Arizona on the recommendation of Ben, one of Jean’s nursing
friends who had worked at the hospital there.
We camped for 3 nights in the Page
– Lake Powell Campground and took the Lower Antelope Canyon tour. The canyon is a series of slot caves and is
accessed by hiking and taking steps and ladders down into them. They are subject to flash floods if it rains
so we were lucky to take the tour the day before rain and high winds were to
hit the area. It was 109 degrees outside
but down in the slot caves, which were about 80 feet below the surface, it was
comfortable. As the sun broke through
the slits in the crevices at the surface, it lit up the canyon walls and the
red, yellow, and purple colors made swirling patterns that were
indescribable. The passages we went
through went from very narrow, barely wide enough to pass through, to large
enough to park a car in. Even though we
took hundreds of pictures, none can quite do justice to seeing it for yourself.
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| Lower Antelope Canyon slot caves |
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| Jerome the photographer! |
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| Jean walking through the slot caves |
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| Our campsite at Page - Lake Powell Campground |
Only a few miles down the road from Antelope Canyon was
Horseshoe Bend, another incredible place.
There were no railings and no rangers supervising the crowds, just signs
warning of the danger of getting to close to the edge of the canyon.
It
was beautiful but Jean was glad to leave just so she wouldn’t have to keep
feeling so panicky about all the people clammering over the boulders so near
the edge to get “the perfect picture.”
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| Jerome the daredevil! |
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| ....but it was worth it to get this picture of Horseshoe Bend! |
Our next stop was at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado to
see the cliff-dwelling ruins of the ancestral Pueblo people (sometimes referred
to as Anasazi). We stayed in Morefield
Campground in the park and had to pull out our long sleeves and blankets again
as the nights dipped into the high 30’s.
We decided we weren’t keen on the cold mornings, so we only stayed 2
nights but deer wandered through our campground and we really enjoyed our stay. The popular Spruce Tree House has been
closed due to rock fall, so we signed up for the Balcony House tour. It is considered the “most adventurous”
tour but we thought we could handle the crawl through a 12ft long 18inch wide
tunnel and the climb up 2 long wooden ladders.
What we didn’t realize was that the last ladder to get back to the
parking lot, was 30ft high, straight up the side of the top of the cliff! Jean, who is afraid of heights, got a little
panicky about 2 feet from the top, but she lived to tell the story and is quite
proud of herself! We both thought it was
worth it!
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| A beautiful 4-color rainbow welcoming us to Mesa Verde National Park |
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| Cliff Palace |
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| view of Balcony House from a nearby overlook - the entrance ladder is at the bottom right, the tunnel is behind the boulder at the top left, and just above that to the upper left is the last exit ladder - cars in the parking lot are in the background at the top of the picture |
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| the entrance ladder to Balcony House - one of the windows to the "house" is at the top left of the picture |
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| listening to the ranger inside the "house" with kivas (the cellar-like rooms) and the sheer cliff drop-off in the foreground |
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| this was the base of the last ladder to exit the Balcony House - the chain-link fence is at the cliff edge - this was a don't look down and don't even think about it, just do it moment! |
Heading southeast from there, into New Mexico, we stopped
briefly at Ghost Ranch in “Georgia O’Keefe country” to see the land that she
fell in love with and where she got the inspiration for her paintings. Once we left there, it was time to be
looking for a place for the night. We
are very blessed or have the “luck of the Irish” or both because we have found
some wonderful places just by accident.
Jean was furiously studying the map to find a place that looked
interesting and low and behold, there was Bandelier National Monument, not too
far off of our route, near White Rock.
We had never heard of it before but decided what the heck, it would be a
lot prettier and cheaper than anything else we could find. What a great place! It is another ruins of the ancestral Pueblo
people, but this area has ruins on the valley floor as well as cliff-dwelling. It is quite different from Mesa Verde and we
enjoyed it just as much. This time we
climbed up 140ft on ladders to the Alcove House cliff-dwelling. The ladders here were longer but at a slight
angle and with smaller, less smooth ladder rungs than at Mesa Verde. Also, the cliff wasn’t as sheer and the cliff
house not as high up as the one at Mesa Verde, so we made it up to this one
with more ease! We stayed in the
Juniper Campground in the park and one of the nights that we stayed here we
experienced our first hail storm in our trailer. The campground maintenance man’s wife asked
us the next day if we were ok as it knocked out the electricity to the
bathrooms. After the storm at Tailrace
in South Dakota, this storm was a piece of cake!
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| City ruins in the valley at Bandelier National Monument |
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| Jean in one of the cliff-dwellings |
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| Looking up at Alcove House - it's a 140ft ascent up steep steps and 4 ladders to the "house" |
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| Jean on one of the ladders |
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| Jerome inside the Alcove House |
From Bandelier National Monument, we headed south to
Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The
northern part of New Mexico is beautiful country but south of Santa Fe is
wide-open, barren, desolate country… yuck.
Man were we happy to get to Carlsbad.
We had planned on staying in the Brantley State Park just north of
town. When we pulled in there we were
thrilled to see a roadrunner but realized the campground was farther from the
caverns and the town than we wanted to be.
We called the Carlsbad RV Park in town and were able to get their last
spot. It was a gravel parking lot with a
few trees and the office, laundry room, game room, and pool closed at 6pm
nightly. It was expensive and a
neighboring dog barked each morning as the working people got up and left at
4:30am driving on the noisy gravel… exactly the kind of campground that we
agreed to never stay at. All in all
though, it was the best place for us here.
The Walmart was only 2 miles down the road and we were able to get the
oil changed and new tires on our truck.
It was only 30 minutes from the caverns, so we were able to tour it in
the morning and go back in the evening for the “bat flight.” Hiking through Carlsbad Caverns is an
amazing experience. We thought we had
seen some awesome caves before, but none can compare with Carlsbad
Caverns. ‘And then, there are no words
to describe what it is like to watch the bats fly out of the mouth of the
cavern in a swirling mass that snakes
out into the pink and light blue sunset.
We watched them for 45minutes and it was getting almost too dark to see
them but they were still coming out by the thousands. The park ranger said that it lasts for 2 to 4
hours and there are from 200,000 to ½ million bats that fly out each night at
dusk. You just have to see it and
experience it…..
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| The entrance to Carlsbad Caverns |
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| Jerome walking down the many switchbacks on the trail into the caverns |
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| Jean inside Carlsbad Caverns |
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| Jerome inside Carlsbad Caverns |
Our campground was also right next to the Noah’s Ark Animal
Rescue. Yes, for those of you who know
Jeanie well, you know this was a “dangerous” or “wonderful” place to be near,
depending on which one of us you would have asked. Of course, we visited and while we were
there, little Carly (named for Carlsbad), graciously agreed to join us on our
journey! She’s only 4 months old, the
perfect little traveler, and makes us laugh constantly. She plays fetch and even has learned to walk
on a leash outside already.
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| our precious little Carly! |
Now that fall is officially here, we wish you cooler days
and evenings and special times with family and friends. ‘Until later, Jerome and Jean
('just a reminder that you can click on the pictures to enlarge them for better viewing of details)
