Taos, New Mexico

Alright, I'm cranking out another post today & hope you all can handle it! We still have our whole 2nd week in Colorado to cover which includes Rocky Mountain National Park, Garden of the Gods, Colorado College, and Pikes Peak! If I don't start doubling up I will be blogging about this trip until our next vacation!

We were welcomed in Taos by our friends Eric & Anpo Tate, along with their family, Nacoma (18), Madison (12) and Augusta (2 1/2). I hope you will forgive me if I misspell any one's name! Eric & Ross went to college together in Colorado & he is definitely Ross' brother from another mother. Their house is in Arroyo Hondo with amazing views of the mountains.

This is Eric. If he looks tall to you, your eyes do not deceive... He's about 6' 8". You can tell if you compare the top of his head with the cabinets and door frame in the background! He is a great cook & kept us well fed!

Madison and Anpo; beautiful, strong, funny women!

Augusta: (please ignore the boogie coming out of her nose- we took this picture at the end of the visit during bath time.) She is such a gorgeous, free spirit!

I was lucky enough to meet Eric, Anpo, Augusta & Nacoma at Tony & Laura's wedding in Flagstaff last October. It was so great to see them again & to meet Madison. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pics of Nacoma & his girlfriend, Allison but we were fortunate enough to get to spend some time with them too.

Any cat withdrawals we were experiencing quickly faded away! These kittens were the most loving, sweet things I've ever met... it's becoming increasingly difficult to deny that I am a crazy cat lady!!

Caramel, the puppy, sleeping in the coffee table...

Our first full day in Taos we went to breakfast with the whole family (sans Nacoma, who had to work). Of course, the camera was safe & sound back at the house, duh... where else should it have been?! We then walked through downtown Taos, stopping at shops and lounging in the city square (it has another name, but I completely forgot!) Ross gave Eric a break from "daddy duty" and chased after Augusta for a while. It was good to see him in training for his own someday, but she sure did tire him out quick!

The next day, Ross & I went on a little drive to see some of the sights that we missed seeing when we drove to town in the dark...

Taos Ski Mountain... they don't allow snowboarders here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Rio Grande... Apparently we drove over it in the middle of the night, but it sure looks different in the daylight!

Um, so, see that little white thing... yeah, that's a car... well, WAS a car...fuh-ree-kee!!!

Happy! Happy!

You can see the storm clouds gathering... the mornings were beautiful & sunny & in the afternoon it dumped! If you know me, then you know how much I LOVED the thunderstorms!

Later that evening, Eric, Augusta, and Madison took us to a Powow in town. It was awesome to see the dance competitions & see all the beautiful jewelery & goods being sold... we were so thankful to our friends for sharing a bit of their life & culture with us! It meant so much to us! A few weeks earlier the whole family was in So. Dakota at Sundance, where Anpo & Madison danced, Eric helped support them... the morning we left Anpo gifted me the crown of sage that her mother had worn to Sundance years before, made into a dream catcher with an eagle feather attached... it means so much to me & I will keep it well & treasure it always!

*On a side note, I told Madison that if she wasn't good, I had a certain picture in my possession of a certain person, doing something that made her look... well, silly... unfortunately, for me, Madison has given me no good reason to share this photo with anyone... now, I am a person who takes great delight in torturing & embarrassing children... people have trained me & pay me for it even.... so, what the hell... sorry Madi!
You really should learn to read those salsa labels more carefully before consuming... I would have told you that water only spreads the spices around & offered to get you a glass of milk had there not been a sleeping cat on my belly & a camera in my hand...

But seriously, we send out all our love & gratitude to the Tate's for their hospitality! We love you guys!

Next stop on our road trip extravaganza... Ross & I get a Rocky Mountain High (ok, maybe just Ross...) I hope we are not boring you all to death yet! Let us know you're out there! we'd love to hear from you all!

Mesa Verde National Park

On our way out of Moab we spotted a sight so Amazing, so Breathtaking that mere words cannot do it justice... ladies & gentlemen, I give you........

That's right! The natural wonder that is a 5,000 square foot house built into the side of a mountain. What's even better is that the interior was decorated in the 1950's, complete with mint green & peptobismol pink accents, and what's even, EVEN better is that there was a petting zoo complete with wallaby's and ostriches...

It was a little slice of Americana... & with it being Ross' birthday and all, I think he deserved something special!

Mesa Verde

We drove from Utah to southern Colorado & stopped at Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde was created to preserve the archeological heritage of the Ancestral Pueblans. They built both cliff dwellings and houses atop the mesas. We only had about 4 hours to spend at the park and wanted to see as much as we could. Unfortunately, we didn't have time for any long hikes but we were able to take a 1/2 mile walk to Spruce Tree House.

Not much information is known about the Ancestral Pueblens (there are no written records and a lot has been destroyed). The cliff dwelling you see here was made of sandstone, and the mortar was made of dirt & water. The living rooms were about 6ft. by 8 ft. and fit about 2 or 3 people. Archaeologists think that they began to build these dwellings once they stopped being nomadic & began to farm. They were also skilled at basketry and pottery which they traded with other villages.

We got to climb down into a pithouse at Spruce Tree House. There was a small nook for food and wood storage and a ventilation hole for the smoke from the fire.

Navajo Canyon View: The Ancentral Pueblans used these canyons like highways, climbing up & down as a part of their daily lives.It was such a beautiful day!

Square Tower House

Look closely & you'll see Cliff Palace.

Here it is a little closer. See all the people? If we had more time we could have taken a ranger led tour of it, but they don't let you go down there by yourself. We're actually standing across the canyon at an overlook.

Mesa Verde was truly an incredible sight to see... very awe inspiring to be in a place that many Native Americans consider sacred. There were a few "ugly Americans" here, not treating it with the reverence it's due, sad for them really, that they didn't get it. But we were absolutely blown away by it's beauty & the sheer ingenuity it took to survive on those cliffs!

We wish we could have stayed longer but it was time to hit the road toward Taos!

We were lucky enough to see a rainbow on our way out of Colorado, maybe it was Colorado's way of saying, "See you again soon!"

We stopped in Durango to have a birthday celebration for Ross at Carvers Brewery... delicious food & berry cobbler for dessert... yum!!!! This leg of the journey was going to be the one & only time we traveled at night. I'm sure we must of driven through some of the most beautiful scenery from Durango to Taos, but we didn't get to see it. We pulled into Taos at about 1:00 a.m. and were ready to crash!
Next chapter, Taos N.M. and the Tate family!

Moab/ Arches Nat'l Park/ Canyonlands Nat'l Park

This is a long one, so grab a drink & a snack & here we go....

The next leg of our journey took us into the beautiful state of Utah... the scenery began to change dramatically & the rocks were getting a lot more red!

We had been driving for most of the day and didn't get in to Arches until around 5:00 or so. Arches is the only campground we encountered that recommends reservations, the rest being first come first serve... of course we did not have the aforementioned reservations, but early the next morning some sites were to be released... so we decided to drive into Moab (a few miles up the road) and get a hotel room, some good grub, and a hot shower before returning the next morning to snag a campsite.

We stayed at the Gonzo Inn... a super cool place right off of Main Street that more than exceeded our expectations (not to mention the nod to Hunter S. Thompson). We were able to catch a quick swim & shower & then head into town for probably THE BEST mexican food we've ever had (authentic Baja cuisine...delicious albeit probably more so because we had been camping out up until this point.)

The next morning we arrived at Arches early & secured a campsite for the next 2 nights. We decided to head out on our first hike before it got too hot.

We started out with the intentions of doing a small hike, but it quickly morphed into a much longer one... we started at the Devils Garden Trailhead & decided to take the Primitive Trail which loops around... probably only about 7 miles or so, but with all the side trips to see the various arches, it turned out to be much more, plus did I mention it was about 105 degrees that day? Yeah, we should have named this post "Adventures in Heat Exhaustion".

Landscape Arch
In 1991 a tourist caught some video tape of a huge chunk of this one falling off... you can kind of see a chunk missing from the far right side... it's the arch that all the rangers say to go see b/c who knows how long it will be here. It's the longest arch stretching more than the length of a football field.

Ross feeling quite powerful...

Fun Fact: the Moab area used to be a series of inland seas that would fill & retreat over time, archaeologists have found the fossils of crustaceans that made these seas their home... when the water receded for good, layers & layers of sediment were left. The arches were formed when these layers were under great pressure & compressed and then eroded by water, wind and gravity. In this picture you can see the erosion of the sediment into what's called "fins", with further erosion the fins get blowouts that eventually become arches.

Shhh... I think it's definitely frowned upon to climb named arches...

Yet another fun fact: this is biological soil crust (or cryptobiotic)... it's dirt that is actually alive! It's made up of cyanobacteria, mosses, soil lichens, green algae, microfungi and bacteria. It can retain moisture & provide nitrogen to itself & nearby vegetation... that's why you see so many plants & shrubs in an environment that can't otherwise sustain them! Neat! They are super serious about staying off of it & only on marked trails b/c it can be destroyed easily & doesn't recover very well.

Are you ready for another game of "Find the Trail"... yup, it's there somewhere!

At the tail end of our hike, I started to become heat exhausted... I was well hydrated (my head didn't hurt & I wasn't nauseous), but I looked down & my chest was covered with tiny little red spots (heat rash) & Ross' jokes were becoming increasingly UNFUNNY! We finally got back to our camp site & there was no shade except for a small, low tree. We stretched out our Crazy Creek Chairs underneath it and tried to cool down. Then it was Ross' turn to freak out over the heat. We decided the best thing to do was to go down to the visitor's center & be in the AC, then we went into Moab again for dinner. We went to the Moab Brewery. We ordered & were sooo happy to be sooo close to food when the restaurant began to fill with smoke & they announced they were closing due to "electrical problems"... right... We eventually wound up at the Slick Rock Cafe. The owner there said that the hoods above the grills at the brewery probably caught fire b/c that's what happened to him recently, apparently they can't take the heat either.
But at least we had a nice drive back to camp!

It didn't really cool down all that much that night, but we woke the next day ready for another hike. This time we did the 3 mile hike out to Delicate Arch.

Delicate Arch is Utah's state symbol... It is perfectly perched overlooking a canyon. It is also called "Cowboy Chaps" and "Ladies Bloomers".
We also saw some petroglyphs on our way up to Delicate..

After our morning hike, we were beginning to feel the effects of the previous days activities again... we thought the best thing to do would be to drive to Canyonlands (the Suby's AC was calling us!) Canyonlands is a HUGE, mostly driveable park with 3 main areas separated by the Colorado & Green Rivers. We took a drive to the Island in the Sky district & saw some amazing overlooks... the views were a bit clouded by smoke due to a huge brushfire burning in Utah during the time of our visit.

We didn't spend too much time at Canyonlands due to our heat exhaustion & the smoke... while we were there though we realized that we failed to pack any lunch fixings & were forced to pull off into a picnic spot for a sad little lunch of roadside Mac & Cheese... yeah, it was time to head back to camp! Before we did, we grabbed some shots of some other famous sights at Arches...

Rollins with "Balanced Rock"
"The 3 Gossips"
Once back, I will admit, I finally wussed out... I had had enough heat & knew that it would not get any cooler that evening. Ross, being the AMAZING, PERFECT husband that he is, drove us into town & got us a motel room... 1 air conditioned room & 2 cold showers later we felt like new people... AND it turns out we are absolute GENIUSES because that evening a storm rolled in & there was thunder & lightening all night...The desk clerk at the motel said we were lucky b/c people have been struck by lightening at the campground we were staying at! So I prefer to think that my animal like skills are so honed that I knew to seek shelter, rather than having a complete & utter heat freak out.

The next morning we awoke to a light drizzle & my handsome hubby's birthday!!!!!!! Next we're heading through Colorado on our way to Taos, stopping at Mesa Verde Nat'l Park... I promise that post won't be as long!!!! Are you with me??!!