today we did some major traveling... unplanned traveling. we left mesa verde and headed west and south through mancos, CO, and took a hard right (due west) down a LONG, lonely, curvy road (about 30 miles at 40 mph). we passed into utah and took a right (north) and then several other turns to eventually end up in hovenweep national historic park. why did we do this? because on day 2, we bought kendal a national park passport book (the kind you stamp) and we became very obsessed with going to as MANY parks as we could. this was all well up until this point, as the previous days were "light travel" days. today, however, was a moderate travel day (somewhat many miles to cover). and although this side-trip didn't put us "behind", it did eat into our time in chinle (where we stopped for the night). the sun was already so low in the sky that none of our pictures turned out that great. plus, we learned that in order to REALLY see canyon de chelly (in chinle, az), you have to take a navaho guided tour (horse or jeep). ansel adams has taken some famous black and white photos in canyon de chelly.
so, hovenweep - there was a nice, new visitor center, it was very hot, very windy, and not a speck of shade. by this point in the trip, i was pretty much sunned out (even i was starting to tan/burn WITH sunblock on!) there was a nice, paved trail at the visitor center which led into a loop trail that went through the canyon. the loop part of the trail was not stroller friendly, and since the wind was so strong (thus blowing dust in the air and into our eyes), nathaniel took this trail alone. kendal and i just hung out at the visitor center (in the shade), had a snack, and watched this little lizard catch and eat 2 moths! here are some of the beautiful photos nathaniel took at hovenweep:
pottery shards (can you believe it? he actually left them there!!! really, though, all the parks we visited had a huge spill about NOT taking any of the rocks or artifacts. so, we came home sans rocks - except the ones stuck in the tread of our shoes!)
not that anyone but kate and melissa and maybe mom would care to see this, but here is a cross section of the alluvium in which this canyon is carving!
so this was kinda a waste of time. cost us $5 to see the "4 corners" - it is on navaho land, they had this cheezy thing so you could take your picture standing on the 4 states, blah blah blah. anyway, i suppose it is one of those things you MUST do once in your life. good thing we got it over with!
my dorky husband looks like he is either playing football or having some serious balance issues!!!
finally just before dark (and the visitor center closed), we made it to canyon de chelly (got that book stamped!) now everywhere we went, kendal was a hit. EVERYONE talked to him, touched him, fawned over him, etc. and this place was no different. this park ranger (her name was tea), she said "can i hold him?" well since he was VERY interested in her, i passed him on and nathaniel snapped a picture! she gave us her email so we could send it to her...
canyon de chelly: an active navaho reservation (they still live in it, farming and raising sheep, etc.) this place is awesome and these 2 pictures do NOT do it justice. in the future, we want to come back here and spend more time (i.e., not just the 1 hour before dark) and actually plan a tour and go into the canyon, which can be over 1000' deep! there are lots of pueblos in the walls of the canyon, but it is SO big and the pueblos are so seemingly small that i can't find any of them in my pictures, even though my camera was zoomed all the way in.
we stayed the night in a holiday inn right beside the entrance to the park. this holiday inn was pretty nice for the $78 we paid for it, however their food SUCKED. we got room service because the had a really nice looking southwestern resturant on site (named garcia's). the food may have been good, but they put absolutely NO seasoning in it. no salt. no lard. no NOTHING. it was very bland, kendal loved it (we did not).
pottery shards (can you believe it? he actually left them there!!! really, though, all the parks we visited had a huge spill about NOT taking any of the rocks or artifacts. so, we came home sans rocks - except the ones stuck in the tread of our shoes!)
not that anyone but kate and melissa and maybe mom would care to see this, but here is a cross section of the alluvium in which this canyon is carving!
so this was kinda a waste of time. cost us $5 to see the "4 corners" - it is on navaho land, they had this cheezy thing so you could take your picture standing on the 4 states, blah blah blah. anyway, i suppose it is one of those things you MUST do once in your life. good thing we got it over with!
my dorky husband looks like he is either playing football or having some serious balance issues!!!
finally just before dark (and the visitor center closed), we made it to canyon de chelly (got that book stamped!) now everywhere we went, kendal was a hit. EVERYONE talked to him, touched him, fawned over him, etc. and this place was no different. this park ranger (her name was tea), she said "can i hold him?" well since he was VERY interested in her, i passed him on and nathaniel snapped a picture! she gave us her email so we could send it to her...
canyon de chelly: an active navaho reservation (they still live in it, farming and raising sheep, etc.) this place is awesome and these 2 pictures do NOT do it justice. in the future, we want to come back here and spend more time (i.e., not just the 1 hour before dark) and actually plan a tour and go into the canyon, which can be over 1000' deep! there are lots of pueblos in the walls of the canyon, but it is SO big and the pueblos are so seemingly small that i can't find any of them in my pictures, even though my camera was zoomed all the way in.
we stayed the night in a holiday inn right beside the entrance to the park. this holiday inn was pretty nice for the $78 we paid for it, however their food SUCKED. we got room service because the had a really nice looking southwestern resturant on site (named garcia's). the food may have been good, but they put absolutely NO seasoning in it. no salt. no lard. no NOTHING. it was very bland, kendal loved it (we did not).
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