Colorado

We left Holbrook, AZ on Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. and made a beeline for South Fork, Colorado. We were anxious to get up here to see our friends Bobbie and Jim so pee and gas stops were our only diversion...we got here around 6:00. Really pretty area....surrounded by mountains and clear mountain streams that are running pretty full from the snow melt. The evenings have gotten into the high 30's overnight so by morning I'm reachin' for another blanket on the bed or cranking the electric mattress pad up a notch...Brrrr...that compared to nights in the 70's in Holbrook. Daytime temps have been really nice....low 80's, high 70's. Loving it !

On the Friday before we left Arizona our water pressure started acting up. I went out and messed around, checking things but couldn't figure out what was going on. Since it was late in the day, I figured once I got up here I'd deal with it. Arrived here and same thing; turn on faucet. Water pressure ok for first second, then down to a trickle. Hmmm...Jim stopped down and couldn't resolve it between the two of us so they gave us name of mobile tech in area. We figure in meantime we could fill the fresh water tank and run the water pump to use that till he comes by. Well, that didn't work either. Turn the pump on and it blew water right out the city inlet. Now we were really perplexed. Matt, the tech came by this afternoon and turns out it was what Jim and I figured it to be....check valve on city inlet. When we had taken the three screws out to pull the check valve out, it wouldn't budge. It did the same thing with the tech so he's dismantling everything to try and figure out how to get access to backside of inlet. Finally he tries pulling again on inlet and it comes out. It had been getting hung up on the crimped thing on the water line....catching on side of opening. Duh !! Thank goodness he was really fair about his billing as it was a 5 minute job (that I could have done) that turned into an hour one, due to refastening, re-caulking, etc. I got a good re-caulking job out of it though on three different areas of the rig. Oh, the things we learn on this RV'ing adventure of ours ! Tis nice to have running water again although the showers here at Moon Valley are pretty awesome !

We are only 2 miles from Bobbie and Jim's campground so Moon Valley is really convenient for us to skip up to see them. We watched the race together yesterday and hope to have some outings in the coming week that we are here.

La Posada

Yesterday we had some sales calls to make in Winslow. I called on the manager of La Posada and then went to get Linda, who was waiting in the truck. There is so much to see and rooms to explore that I thought we might as well do it while we're there. I found a video that someone made of the hotel so you can see some of the things that we saw.

There is beautiful artwork throughout the resort, a great gift shop and their famous restaurant....The Turquoise Room. In a little room off to the side, we found a video playing about La Posada; explaining Mary Colter's vision for the property and talking about the restoration process. The gentleman in the video showed the massive ballroom and explained that in present day, public spaces aren't incorporated into buildings because they don't generate revenue and are therefore not wanted....it costs money to heat and cool these spaces thus they need to "make money". How familiar that sounded. I don't know how many times I would hear, when we were working on the design for the new student housing project, at the college where I worked, that we couldn't have any "common spaces". As the narrator in the video explained, the concept of time (back in the 30's) was so much different than now. Value was placed on leisure activities such as sitting in the corner and playing chess with someone or curling up in front of the fireplace with a book and spending the afternoon reading. As I would try to point out, in our design process at the college, these common spaces are what create the memories and relationships with others that a student will hold forever. If a student only remembers a time of rushing from class to class, bricks and mortar...they will not create that lifelong connection with the institution which is what any university wants. Especially when that student may grow up to become a successful businessperson and "donor" to the university. Common spaces are so important to build that collegial atmosphere, through hanging out with your peers doing activities, etc. Society (and architects) understood it back in the 30's but it's become all about revenue since then. A very sad commentary for our culture. There is a need for one to slow down and enjoy the "quiet" activities in life.

After we looked around, we were very hungry so we decided what better time to try the Turquoise Room. What a treat it was !

Old Placemat at our table

The dining room is beautiful, with artwork like this painted glass panel that was behind our booth.
There were two antique placemats on our table that were really cute. Here is one of them.





Linda had the grilled chicken Caesar salad and I had the black bean veggie burger with portabella mushroom on top and some type of cheese. A small Caesar salad, topped with roasted pumpkin seeds completed my plate. Everything was so good and it was the best meal we've had since arriving in Holbrook.  Definitely a place I would recommend to anyone coming through this area. If you come for the evening meal, chances are you'll need a reservation.

Ceiling fixture in dining room

Wall sconce in ballroom

It was a neat experience and so glad that we got to go there. There was an exhibit in one area of the hotel on influential women of Winslow. That was really interesting and as you'd expect, there was info on Mary Colter, the designer of La Posada.

There are several train tracks running through the back of the property and as you walk out the back door, you can just imagine life in the 30's and people strolling out to catch their train. A wrought iron gate, separating the hotel patrons from their ride. Beautiful grounds, with lots of holly hock, roses and desert hardy plants. So glad that a group of people had the vision to purchase and restore this property. It is truly a gem and a must see !

Rock Art Canyon

Brantley talking with Linda

Brace yourself...this is going to be a long post cause it was such an awesome day.

When Linda and I met with the owner of one of the campgrounds, he told us about a little known tour in the area. Brantley Baird owns Rock Art Ranch in a remote area outside of Holbrook. On his ranch is one of the largest and finest stands of Anasazi petroglyphs in the world. He doesn't advertise except for the paper tri-fold flier that was at the campground. Brantley has been on the ranch since 1945 and even though he's in his 80's, it's still a working ranch.

Currently on the ranch there is a team of archeologists there from one of the universities doing research in the field. They are staying in the bunk houses on the ranch. They weren't there today but would be back on Monday to resume their work.

There is a huge barn that holds the museum artifacts, as well as a lot of farming memorabilia. He has several display cases filled with pots and pottery that he has found on the ranch. He said he'll just be driving along after a rain storm or windstorm and he'll see the bottom of the pot sticking out of the ground. He found his first pot in 1948 and here's a picture of his find.

After looking at all of the pottery, arrow heads, guns, jewelry, etc. we went outside to look at some of the out buildings. He has the last bunk house from the Hash Knife Cattle Company, which at one time had 60,000 cattle over a massive area of land, without any fences. Cowboys tended to this herd and when they brought the herd to the area where they would be sold (near the railroad), that is where there were a bunch of these bunk houses. The rest of the time, that they were out on the range, they got their food from the chuckwagon (he had one of those too) and lived and slept on the prairie. The
bunk house is dedicated to Brantley's wife's grandfather who was a cowboy with the company. Linda noticed when she read the notice here, that the family name is "Bryant", which is my mom's maiden name.

Last Hash Knife Bunkhouse

After looking around the farm, we headed out towards the canyon. Now, I should tell you about the location of this ranch. Talk about remote....we drove 20 miles on dirt roads before we got to the dirt lane where his ranch is. Desolate area ! There is no electricity at the ranch...it has a windmill and solar panel for power. Washboard, dirt roads....if we thought the roads getting there were bad, we hadn't seen anything till we headed to the canyon. Brantley and his dog jumped in a 4 wheeler mule type vehicle and off we went, down a path out the back of the property. He was zipping along lickety split and we were trying to keep up without the tool boxes on the truck vibrating off. Holy Cow ! There was another group of folks there for the tour and as luck would have it, they were formerly from Pennsylvania. The one young lady just graduated from college, with a degree in Biology and is starting her masters degree this fall at East Stroudsburg University, in PA. Last night they camped out at the canyon and for the one woman, this was her second trip to the ranch.

Sweat Lodge

On the way to the canyon, we stopped at an old Indian building area. Saw a sweat lodge, early Indian dwelling and a mud house. When we stepped into the mud house, Brantley started talking about what Indian life might have been like. I looked over and there was this huge snake up near the ceiling. I asked him if that was a prop or a fake snake he had put there. He said no and told us how much he hates snakes. He, Linda and I made a hasty retreat out of the mud house. The snake was what he called a blow snake...harmless but huge anyway and creepy. The biology person in the group wanted to pick the snake up, etc. We didn't want to watch !

Jumped back in our vehicles and off we went to the canyon.. Morning started out pleasant but was steadily getting much warmer as the day went on. Pretty strong breeze so that helped to make it comfortable. After getting left in the dust (literally), Linda and I finally arrived at the canyon.  It was so spectacular ! The tent the girls had slept in was set up on the platform that overlooks the canyon. A great area, set up with picnic tables and seats.

The really cool thing about this canyon is that the only place that you can access the canyon is at this location. Otherwise, there are sheer cliffs the whole length of the canyon. That is why there is such a large number of petroglyphs in this area...it was the only area where the Indians could get into the canyon. And there are hundreds of them!

"Birthing" Petroglyph

What a climb down the rocks but a real killer coming up out. Once you're down in the canyon and walking around, it feels like you've gone into some prehistoric time warp. We sat along the stream, watching the girls wade in the water and I kept feeling like a brontosaurus would come around the corner at any minute.

One we got to the canyon, Brantley left us to wander around and stay as long as we wanted. He gave us a key to the gate and left us to explore on our own.

 The whole experience was really neat. It's amazing to see ancient artifacts and wonder about the people who used them, what their life was like and see how they lived. For anyone coming to the Holbrook area, I would strongly urge you to check out Rock Art Canyon and meet Brantley !

  

Hot...Hot...Hot..

Been really hot this week. I was mistaken when  I reported on Facebook that it was triple digits all this week. That is in a different area than here. We've only been in the 90's. When I go out to make sales calls, some of the restaurants and stores are so hot inside...I leave there sweating and run to the truck and the air. Linda keeps the truck running so she and Boomer are comfy and I get in and try to cool off a little before I go to the next stop.

Yesterday we had to call on businesses in the Snowflake, Show Low and Pine Top area. What a difference ! Show Low is GREEN...even has trees and grass. Really cute town. As we drove up the mountain to Pine Top, we got a whiff of smoke and in a large parking lot, there were insurance companies set up processing claims. This is the closest we've gotten to the Wallow fire area but from the smell of that smoke, I wouldn't want to be any nearer. Kind of scary ! The Eager/Springerville area is where the evacuations took place. The residents have now been allowed to return home. The residents in the Show Low area had home-made signs out along the road, saying things like "Save Our Mountain !"


Today was all about sending out lots of e-mails, phone calls and follow ups. We're anxious to wrap up this job and head to South Fork to relax and hang out with our friends, Bobbie and Jim. Need some time off...

Take It Easy...

Today Linda and I drove west on 40 to check out Winslow, as one of our advertisers is there. Holbrook, the town where we are staying, is on the famous Route 66, as is Winslow. I can imagine that back in the day these towns were thriving, vibrant towns with neat cafes and stores that made it interesting for travelers to drive this route and check out all the neat attractions. Now each of these towns are pretty barren and have seen better days.

We got to see "the corner in Winslow, Arizona" that was featured in the song made famous by Jackson Browne and the Eagles (it was written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey). I have a sentimental preference for the Jackson Browne version, not because I've seen him perform twice, but because the album that this song came from was one of the earliest albums I owned. I bought a collection of about 60 albums from a co-worker when I was 19 and this collection opened by eyes to a whole lot of artists I'd never been exposed to....one of those being Jackson Browne.

The other day, when we were out at the Petrified Forest, we saw a group of motorcyclists that had a Route 66 emblem on their jackets.

There was a van that was following them on their journey so they must have been on a trip, covering a stretch of Route 66. What a neat ride that would be....not as great as it would have been years ago but fun anyway.












One of the nicest places in Winslow is La Posada, a historic hotel that is like a gem to this area.

Here's the description from their web site: "La Posada Hotel, the “last great railroad hotel,” offers a unique cultural experience for Southwest travelers. Built in 1929 for the Santa Fe Railway, La Posada is truly one of America’s treasures.

La Posada’s story weaves together two extraordinary visions. It begins with Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter and Fred Harvey, who hired Colter to design the hotel. It embodied her vision, from its architecture down to its finely crafted details. But La Posada closed in 1957; for the next 40 years, its future remained tenuous. Enter Allan Affeldt and his wife Tina Mion. Affeldt heard about the hotel and purchased it in 1997 after much negotiation, bringing with him a strong vision and commitment for returning La Posada to Colter’s original concept. Restoration started immediately and continues today, thanks to Affeldt’s efforts and the support of local preservationists, hotel guests, and a talented team of artisans and craftsmen."

We didn't go in today but will be calling on them over the next week. Anxious to see the inside of the hotel....the website is pretty impressive. The menu, in the Turquoise Room (in the hotel) is likewise as impressive so we might need to try that out too. Here's to more adventures !

Petrified Forest

Today was a pretty awesome day. We went to the Petrified Forest, which is a National Park. $10 well spent for a day full of amazing sights. We started out at the Painted Desert Visitor center, which was well done. There was also some local Native American artists that had their wares for sale out in the courtyard. Lots of gorgeous items. The park is a 28 mile loop. The first leg of the drive is driving through the Painted Desert. Gorgeous formations of pink, white...peaks and valleys. It's mind blowing to see what beautiful rock formations exist in our great country and what intricacy erosion creates in the landscape.

Original Menu from the Inn

Beautiful backlit ceiling tiles at Inn

We toured the Painted Desert Inn, a popular destination for travelers coming to see the Painted Desert. There were two women there, in the restaurant area and they were dressed like "Harvey girls"....what the waitresses were known as that worked there. Look at the prices....45 cents for a tuna salad sandwich ! It was a really neat place and the ladies told us about another area restaurant that was designed by the same women who restored this Inn. We might go check this other place out...it's in Winslow.

Painted Desert Inn

Continued on the drive...really hot day. In the 90's but thank goodness there was a nice breeze today. Not good for the fire in Wallow area....we can see the smoke in the distance but the wind has been blowing the smoke away from us. The afternoon we arrive we could smell it every so faintly and you can see the haze in the sky in that direction.

 There is an area with ruins of a Pueblo tribe that lived there in two different periods of time...around 1200 and 1300. It had been a 100 room dwelling that probably supported 18 families. There was also an area with really neat petroglyphs....ancient carvings in the rock.

The petrified forest areas are the last areas on the trip. Amazing how fallen trees could turn into hard, quartz looking objects. It's just too bad that people have plundered the area years before it became a national landmark and took so many of the petrified pieces out of the area. Some of the pieces are really amazing. We saw some large pieces in a local shop that had been made into table tops and cost $18,000.

A great day...hoping to check out nearby Winslow and Snowflake tomorrow.

Check out more pictures on our Flickr site....just click the badge below.

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Seven Falls

A lot has happened in the last couple days. This job has ended, due to lack of advertiser support. It had a bad vibe to it from the git go and yesterday we talked to our boss about it and he pulled the plug on it. Yesterday a rep team quit and they had two jobs scheduled in Holbrook, AZ that they were to do so guess what....we are pulling out tomorrow to go to Arizona to do those two jobs. As things are scheduled right now, we'll go to Holbrook for three weeks, then to South Fork, CO to hang out with our friends Bobbie and Jim over the July 4th holiday. Then we're off to Wyoming for three parks there.

Old gal catching a ride to the falls....

Since we are leaving here in the morning, we went out this afternoon to see a little more of the area. We went to Seven Falls, which isn't too far from the park where we're staying. We thought that the falls would really be full and pretty spectacular, since we'd heard about record snow falls and snow melt in the mountains but apparently the water doesn't run this way as there is a drought here and the falls were pretty meager. We took the elevator up to the viewing platform (no way I was taking the 185 stairs straight up) and from there you could look over and take in the falls.
After viewing the falls, we went back down the elevator to the base of the falls, where the gift shop and cafe are. There were several chipmunks running around and Boomer was fit to be tied, watching and wanting to chase them. The chipmunks must have thought he was a giant version of them, cause they would run up to within two feet of him to check him out. He thought they were the cutest things and wanted to play with them. They were quite the rascals.

On our way back down to Bertha, in the parking lot, we saw the dog riding in the wagon. The husband and wife said that she's 14.5 years old and can only tolerate walking for one leg of the trip. How nice of them to let her walk the downhill leg of it ! She was sitting in that wagon, pretty as you please. All she needed was a parasol and cushion to sit on and you'd have thought she was royalty. Boomer wanted to say hello but she'd have nothing to do with it.

Well, best get packed up and ready to pull out in the morning. Someone we saw today said that smoke from the wild fires, in Arizona the other day, blocked visibility of the mountains up here. Since we are staying in a canyon at the base of the mountains it didn't seem to be around here. I could see them just as well as we have the whole time we've been here. Must have been some other place. We're hoping the fires are settled down before we get there on Friday. Neither of us have been to Arizona or through New Mexico so we're anxious to see new things. Let you know what we discover.

Garden of the Gods

Today Linda and I went to the Garden of the Gods, here in Colorado Springs. It amazes me how you can drive just to the outskirts of a town and find the most beautiful rock or land formations...seemingly just out of no where. It's like that with the Grand Canyon (no, not that one) outside of Wellsboro, PA. You drive outside of town, take a few turns and then come upon this huge ravine (not as big as the other Grand Canyon) but spectacular none the less.

 Today there was a high school band playing out front of the visitor center, which was nice. The land that the Garden of the Gods occupies was donated, to the city, by the Perkins family in 1909. Two of the provisions of the gift were that no buildings be built on the land, unless absolutely necessary and that it always be free for everyone to enjoy. How often can we say that an attraction is "free".....not too many come to mind.We picked up a map of the park and headed out. The entrance is directly across from the visitor center.

Driving into Garden of the Gods

Kissing Camels

We drove to the first parking area, where the one major trail starts, parked Bertha and headed out with Boomer to hike a ways. The rock formations are so magnificent to look at and it's neat how they have all sorts of hiking paths through the park, as well as a wide, paved path like the one we went on. It was pretty hot today...low 80's. There were lots of rock climbers out today, scampering up the sides of sheer walls or small rock formations. There were lots of folks out on horseback. You could see them on the ridges and coming out of the canyons. What a great view they must have from some of the areas in the park where there are no paths. We really enjoyed the day. At the end of the road, as you drive through the park, is the trading post. Such a neat place with tons of stuff to look at, a cafe, an art gallery and lots of neat gift ideas. We had a great time poking in the corners, looking at all of the cool things.

While we were at the visitor center, we called one of the men that we became friends with at the retirement community, back in Winston Salem. He was career Air Force, had lived in Denver for twenty some years so we thought he'd get a kick out of having us call him from his old stomping grounds. He was thrilled to hear from us ! He told us we need to go to the Air Force Academy, which is on our "to do" list. Lots to see and do here so hoping we can squeeze everything in. We have a conference call tomorrow afternoon or evening with our new boss so might squeeze in something to do tomorrow morning and then get back here for the call. Not sure what that "one thing" will be but I know that NASCAR is not on the agenda. Unless they insert it between Daniel Boone or Happy Days, on our one channel we get here, the Kansas Speedway will have to get by without me. SIGH.... That's OK....too much to see to be a couch potato. One more day to play before we get back to work....

See the Rock Climber...

Since we don't have TV here, if anything cataclysmic happens in the world, would someone let us know. Unless I see the missile silos open up down the road at NORAD or see a mushroom cloud over the campground, we're pretty much out of the loop. Some days that might not be such a bad thing but if there's anything you think we need to know, drop us a line. Till then, we're off to explore !

"Perseverance"

Doesn't this look like some sci-fi city from a distance?

Gorgeous cliff house near the trading post