The Last Day - Jemez Springs, Bandelier & Home

The forecast for today was for thunderstorms but we woke to a clear blue sky. Breakfast was very nice here and the surroundings very pleasant. Would stay here again were we in the area.

First stop what was supposed to be a dam with brilliant colours on the rocks - hmm, not so much - but we had a nice little climb around.


Next, on to Bandelier National Monument. This was another one of those ancient indian sites with cave dwellings etc. Don't get me wrong - we thought it was cool - but it wasn't nearly as well organized as some of the others we had been to and we were a bit travel weary by this time.


The high road to Taos - well, we're not quite sure what the big deal is about this. Sure, it's a pretty drive - but nothing spectacular. We made a wrong turn and went out around another loop way back through the boonies and decided that was more interesting than the road we were meant to be on. I guess in some of the small towns there are artists studios but we weren't in the market for art so...



We stopped in Taos for a coffee and afternoon snack. Had read that Taos wasn't that interesting but it actually seemed really nice. Would like to get back down there sometime to check it out - although I believe one would need to be in a serious state of relaxation to be there very long - extremely laid back!

On the way out of town we thought we would head over to see a bridge - then decided we might as well keep going in that direction even though it was probably an extra 50 miles - figured we might never get that way again so why not. Saw a few interesting things along the way - but nothing to write home about.

Dinner at Denny's in Pueblo Colorado and home around midnight. Phew, we're pooped.

Next adventures of the Mann's will be Maine & Colorado in August, South Dakota in September, and if the winds keep moving in the right direction Australia and California in November.

We hope you've enjoyed our journey - we certainly did!

Until next time.....

Heather & Andi

Santa Fe, Sandia Crest & Jemez Springs

We had decided last night that we would do a historical walk around Santa Fe. It was a beautiful morning and a really lovely walk with loads of interesting information. There are buildings here dating back to the early 1600's which is very old for America. In 1912 the city mandated that all buildings be built in either Adobe or Pueblo Revival styles so it really does all look very Southwestern. There is a beautiful plaza with shops, hidden plazas, cafes and restaurants in all directions. Andi isn't much of a shopper so I've decided to come back sometime.

We then headed over to a camera shop we saw last night which had the camera bag Andi has been looking for. It's pretty cool as it goes over one shoulder to your back and when you want your camera you can just pull it around to the front without taking it off. Positioned at the front it also makes a great place to put your elbows to steady your shot. Well chuffed with his purchase we headed off to lunch.

Lunch was at the Rooftop cantina - Andi had duck quesadilla which he reckoned was a fantastic idea that someone should have thought of sooner. I had a steak salad with really nice sliced pickled onions in it! Yum! We sat at the bar which runs around the edge of the rooftop looking out over Santa Fe - lovely!

Next we headed up to Museum Hill which has 5 or 6 museums which would easily take a day to go through but decided that we would instead go over to the Georgia O'keefe museum which is the one I really wanted to go to. I absolutly loved it as I've been a big fan of her work since I was quite young. Andi wasn't so impressed but we had a nice time none the less. For those of you who don't know who she is you can see some of her work at this shop


Done with Santa Fe (for the time being - I'll be back - I loved it) we headed off to Sandia Crest tramway which is the longest aerial tramway in the world - 2.7 miles with a 3000 foot elevation. Spectacular views and some good chuckles from the people who had obviously waited in the bar for the tram and thought it was a roller coaster ride.

Next we headed up to Jemez Springs where we are spending the night at the very lovely Canon del Rio. Not surprisingly this town is known for it's hot springs. The clerk at the local general store told us we could go to the one where you pay - or to one of the free ones that the locals go to. He was even so nice as to draw us a map to them - and to tell us which one we were least likely to get Giardia at. Not sure we'll be taking him up on those!

We had dinner at the local pub which was certainly a cultural experience. Andi was amazed at the people dancing around the jukebox. The food was pretty good - I had prime rib with a baked potato that was cooked to absolute perfection. Yum.

Back to our beautiful room to try to catch up on all these posts! I'm still working on the pictures - maybe tomorrow - our last day of this wonderful holiday.

Zuni Pueblo, El Moro, Ice Caves, Albequerque & The Turquoise Trail

Yup - we are busy, busy tourists!

Today started out in Zuni Pueblo where we spent the night at a funny little bed and breakfast inside the Pueblo. I thought this sounded cool - like there would be some sort of interesting old section in the town of Zuni. In reality Zuni Pueblo, like most other pueblos that we've now seen, is pretty much just a town - and a poor and not very attractive one at that. We had our breakfast which was nice - but nowhere near the level I've come to expect from eating at the Arbor Inn! We stopped at the Tourist center on the way out of town and declined the $5 per camera fee to take pictures - and the $10 per person to enter the old mission. In any case, it was an interesting cultural curiosity.

First stop today was El Morro National Monument which is a big rock with a pool at it's base which has been a stopping ground for travellers through these parts for thousands of years. From the ancient indian travellers - right up until it became a monument people have carved there names, and sometimes their legacy on the rocks here. There are great tales of spanish military officers who signed here and were later hanged in Santa Fe, Friars who later met their demise while trying to convert indians, and four soldiers left to guard 2000 indians who - you guessed it, got taken out by the Indians. On a brighter note - there was a couple in their 60s who were travelling in the early 1800's to visit their daughter in Sacramento California whose travelling group was attacked and most killed but who made it back to Albequerque where they waited out the winter until spring when they did finally make it to Sacramento - found their daughter and lived happily until they were both very old.

This was a fine, and interesting stop.

Next was the Bandera Volcano and Ice Caves. Andi really only wanted to see the ice caves, but I had never seen the top of a volcano, and it was a beautiful morning for a walk so we strolled up the mile or so path to the top. A few hundred feet before the end of the trail a lone boy of about 9 years old came bounding down the hill and very succinctly told us that we shouldn't get our hopes up as although the scenery from the top and into the crater was quite good there was no lava flowing at all. And, although we weren't actually expecting to see lava his description was really quite accurate. Interestingly though, this crater is one of about 15 in visible range, and also forms part of the continental divide.

I liked this sign about not going beyond the fence - you gotta wonder who needs this pointed out to them.

On to the Ice Cave - very cool. You go down 70 steps to a cave which has a frozen pond in it. The cave never gets to be more than 31F. It's amazing in that it really is not far down for it to be so cold! There was also some really cool orange lichen which is usually only found in some far flung place whose name I can't recall right now. In any case it was cool.


Next stop - El Malpais. We discovered upon arriving here that most of the places to see are only accessible in high clearance 4 wheel drives - which the Audi is definitly not so we decided to move along.

Albequerque - In actual fact we hadn't really planned on stopping here - but it seemed since it was reasonably within range of us for lunch (a little bit of a late lunch) we thought we would stop by. We drove down to the old historic plaza - got a parking space right there - had a lovely lunch sitting on a patio and headed on our way. It was a pleasant stop - although Albequerque is more like a city with a little historic district than Santa Fe which is all historical and southwesterny looking.

We then drove up the Turquoise trail to Santa Fe. This is a lovely road with some funky little towns along the way - in particular Madrid (pronounced Mad - rid) where my cousin Brad used to live and which is full of funky little shops and such. We stopped and had an ice cream and coffee (me the ice cream - Andi the coffee) at the local market sitting out on the porch with a group of locals including as many dogs as there were people.

On to Santa Fe where we checked into our hotel. It was a lovely evening so we ventured down into the historic area and had a bit of a walk around until we were hungry enough for dinner. We went to a place called The Shed and were lucky to be the last people they took for the night (on the list at about 9pm, seated at about 9:20 - Santa Fe is not a 24hr destination) as the food was fantastic and it had a great ambiance.

Back to the hotel for some well deserved rest and a good night's sleep.

Heather

Arizona Indian Dwellings & Petrified Things

Today we saw lots of cool Indian dwellings and some amazing petrified wood. First stop Waputaki National Monument. This is a pueblo which was inhabited around 1100 – 1250 ad. It’s an excellent site with a very informative and interesting guide book. Apparently, the Indians don’t actually like this type of preservation of their heritage as they believe that things should be allowed to decay and die – otherwise the world will become overcrowded. I think that may have been some sort of rationalization for their short life spans as living out here in the dessert could not have been easy and many would have died at quite early ages.

The structure itself is very impressive – using the large stones that were already there they managed to build up to three stories high. Their masonry work was far more advanced than I would have believed and they had some very ingenious methods of providing circulation. One thing we have noted at all the Indian sites we’ve been to – they all ate corn, squash and beans. In different areas there were different supplements to this – elk, deer, fish, nuts, fruit etc. but the basic diet was very similar for all.

Next we went to the Sunset Crater – we had originally planned to do the hike around it – but as we had gotten off quite late and thunder was looming we decided against it. In any case, the pictures in the visitor center didn’t look that interesting. You used to be able to climb up it but now can only go around the bottom.

Walnut Canyon was next – here we did the mile and a bit walk with about 280 steps in both directions – and it was well worth it. The Indians resided here in the cliffs and it is like an entire city. We walked around the central section so basically through 50 or so dwellings front patios with views across the canyons in all directions to more dwellings (on the sunny sides) and storage rooms (on the shady sides). Because of the location they didn’t need to go anywhere for water – they could gather it as it came down over the cliffs. And to hunt the animals were easy to find – down in the narrow valleys near the river. These Indians we’re told were quite wealthy and had a bustling trade. Goods from California, Mexico and Canada were found here. Apparently due to changes in weather patterns the nearby trade routes moved and so eventually the people would have had to move as well. Shame as it would have been a quite spectacular place to live.

Next, on to the Petrified Forest. Here, at some point, volcanic debris swept through the area mowing down the forest in its tracks. The trees were preserved inside and over time silica seeped into the wood and replaced the fibers. Eventually the silica turned into quartz so what is left now are what look very much like trees that have quite recently fallen down –but when viewed from close up are beautiful quartz in all different colors. It is very strange to look at them and then touch as there is quite a disconnect between what (especially the outsides) look like and what they feel like. The area was plundered for quite some time by souvenir hunters so apparently there isn’t nearly as much as there used to be but it was still quite spectacular.

In this same area are several interesting geological features – including some tepee looking structures with beautiful striped coloring. We zoomed across much of the park as the sunlight was dwindeling and we wanted to make it to the painted desert by sunset (we did one loop which Andi wasn’t too sure about – but when assured he could make the 3 ½ miles in less than 5 minutes he decided it would be ok – vroom, vroom). We did stop at this old rusted out car and a bumper with a Route 66 (oh – maybe I didn’t mention that we were on Route 66 for much of the day) which had been turned into a bench. Cool.

Goodbye Vegas

Today I’m off to the outlets. Not very exciting, I know but Andi managed to rip his jeans so needs a new pair – and I’m not totally adverse to getting out in the convertible for a bit of a drive. It was great driving into downtown Las Vegas – this is where all the (drive-through) wedding chapels are – priceless! I had a good time at the mall and managed to find a new pair of sun glasses (Oakleys) which I’ve been looking for for ages.

Back into town and Andi and I went to the ESPN Zone to watch Denver play in the basketball playoffs – they lost but we had fun none the less (actually I spent a good part of the time in the casino playing Wheel of Fortune – came out even).

We then headed out to Flagstaff going over the Hoover Dam which is under some major construction. It looks like they are building a many laned road over the top of it. And, as is true around the world there were many men in orange vests sitting around doing nothing! It was a beautiful night, warm and with loads of stars – just perfect for a drive. We made it to Flagstaff without any drama.

Blue Man Group & The Big Winnings

I actually managed to finish my assignment today - and still had some time left to go wander the strip. I decided to just play the Wheel of Fortune machines which worked out really well as pretty much every casino has them- I ended up $85 richer! I walked right down to the Mandalay Bay end of the strip and back - as well as through several of the malls and casionos so it turned out to be quite a long walk. Vegas is so huge and over the top you really just have to see it for yourself. I had a crepe at Paris for dinner (yum!).

The conference Andi was attending had The Blue Man Group for entertainment that night so I tagged along. It was great fun - well worth seeing if you're ever in Vegas (although I understand the tickets are outrageous).


That was it for today.

Zion National Park - Snow & Sunshine

Zion National Park
So we woke this morning - hopeful that we would get some sunshine to be able to do a bit of hiking. Little did we know that overnight the rain had turned to snow! We decided that we would drive up through the canyon to at least take some pictures. Boy were we glad we did. The sun came out in amazing bursts to show waterfalls where the snow was melting and amazing cloud formations around the cliffs. Fantastic! We spent about 4 hours driving, stopping, taking pictures, driving, stopping etc. We needed to be in Vegas at 5pm to meet some friends for dinner (he starts work at 4:30am so they needed to be home early) so headed out. We decided we will definitly get back to Zion - maybe for the labor day weekend as we really want to do some of the hikes (yup - even Andi wants to hike here!).

Vegas
Arrived in Vegas at the Venetian to find that our room was not ready - after several rounds with an very vacuous hotel clerk we managed to get him to get the manager who amazingly found us a room straight away. The funny thing about this is that we kept saying we couldn't believe they wouldn't have our room ready at 5pm - but come to find out the time is different in Vegas than in Utah and it was only 4pm - D'oh! In any case our friends were there early and all was well with the world. We had a really nice dinner in the Venetian and hung out with them for a while after. They took off and we headed down the strip. It was a lovely night, although the streets were crowded. We made a few stops to see the water show and glass garden at Belagio (probably my favourite thing in Vegas) and arrived back at the Venetian happy to have a lovely big suite (all the rooms at the Venetian are suites) to relax in before heading off to sleep (which was about 30 seconds for me and some hours for Andi).

Cya tomorow :)

Heather

Bryce Canyon & Zion - Rain, Rain Go Away!!!

We woke this morning early as the snow was meant to come later in the day so we thought we might be able to get in a few short hikes - no such luck. We drove out to one of the viewpoints - walked out - looked out across the cloud and snow thickening and decided that we would have to come back another time to check out Bryce canyon. The weather report was calling for much better weather at Zion so we decided to go ahead and see if we could get some good time in there.

As we drove along descending the mountains we kept looking at the thermometer waiting for it to start its ascent - and we waited, and waited - all the way to Zion where the temperature was barely higher than it had been in Bryce. The drive into Zion is spectacular though so we enjoyed it anyway.

We decided to get some food and see how the weather went - still raining. At this point we decided that we might as well check into the hotel and Andi could watch a playoff game and I would work on my assignment which is due on Friday and is driving me insane (it's a programming project with 7 pages of instructions!). A couple of hours later (and hardly any closer to finishing my assignment) the sun came out so we decided to go catch the shuttle which runs up and down the canyon (you can't drive it) and if we had a better break in the weather we would go for a walk. We managed to see quite a bit of the canyon, and get some good pics - but on the way back down it started to rain again so we didn't get to hike. We both loved it here though and are considering a trip at labor day.

Nothing special for dinner - just take out pizza and pasta.



Heather

Highway 12 & Bryce Canyon

New Rules for driving in the Car
Previously the rule for having the top down on the convertible was warmer than 40 and no rain or snow. Well, I guess we've become hard core soft top enthusiasts. This morning on the way to breakfast we drove over a high mountain pass through snow and about 30 degrees with the top down. It was pretty cool actually. I tried to take some pictures but it just didn't come out. I think the guys on motorcycles we saw at one of the scenic overlooks thought we were ok - got a little knowing nod :)

Breakfast at Hell's Backbone
You might think that this is a strange name for a restaurant - or, if you read yesterdays post, that we've got a thing for Hell related places - and that does seem to be a theme around here. This particular restaurant is named after a nearby natural bridge which we would have liked to visit but the TT didn't quite fit the requirement for a high clearance vehicle.

I had wanted to eat at Hell's Backbone for dinner but our schedule didn't work with that so we decided breakfast would have to do. We were so glad we did. It is a lovely little spot, in the middle of Morman Farm country (they are the only place in town with a liquor license). All of the produce is grown on site organically and the food is absolutely amazing. Andi had a concoction with eggs, tortilla chips, chile, meat and some other things which he loved (I bought the cookbook). I had blue corn pancakes with cinnamon butter and organic maple syrup - YUM. There was a really nice peacefulness about the place which made for a great start to the day.

Indians or Martians
After breakfast we headed to the Anasazi Indian archaelogical site to see some ruins of so called "Indians" who lived here for a mere 50 years - again - pictures of Martians. The Hopi Indians claim the people were sent from where all the Indians came out of the ground in the Grand Canyon and were sent by the creator in all directions to mark their territory which they were to be the caretakers of. I guess around here they are doing a pretty good job - but those guys that headed for Phoenix and Las Vegas maybe could have used a bit more instruction before being sent off.

Rodeo Practice

Heading out to see if one of the unpaved roads to a lake might be ok for the TT we ran across a whole bunch of guys practicing roping cows. We stopped for quite some time to watch them and take pictures. They didn't seem to mind - although I did hear one older guy tell a younger one he shouldn't pay any attention to Andi taking picture. I guess if you're going to ride the Rodeo you need to get used to a crowd.

Rural Decay
Today we saw lots of really cool falling down buildings out in fields with spectacular backdrops. Here's a few of our favourites

Kodachrome State Park
Yet another park with interesting rock formations. This one was pretty good - although Andi said he had seen better sites for $6. I thought it was pretty good - and had we not gone down there we wouldn't have seen all the great rural decay in the previous pictures so I thought it was worth it.





Mossy Cave & Waterfall
I'm not going to post pictures of the mossy cave - suffice it to say it was Mossy, dark and completely unphotogenic. The waterfall was nice - but the walk itself was really the highlight with several prominent hoodoos bathed in a beautiful afternoon light.

Bryce Canyon
We were originally planning to do a horseback ride into the canyon tomorow morning but the forecast is for snow so we thought it would be a good idea to at least check out the viewpoints from the rim. It is spectacular! The sun shone just long enough for us to get some photos - but the cold was certainly moving in and plans for even hiking in the morning were looking grim (mind you we don't mind driving in the car in the cold -but hiking - not likely)

Ruby's Inn
Ruby's is the classic historic inn located right at the gates of Bryce Canyon National park. It is pretty much a village unto itself with a general store (with just about everything under the sun), restaurant, cafe, tour bookings, rock vendors (seriously) and just about everything else one would need. No view from the room here though. The room was recently remodeled and quite nice - but nothing spectacular. We had dinner at the restaurant - again - nice but not spectacular.

I'll post the pictures later - still need to sort through them but want to get caught up on writing what happened before I forget.

Heather

Canyonlands, Dead Horse & Capital Reef

Today wasn't quite as sunny as yesterday - but it was pleasant and we certainly made the most of it visiting two national and one state park.

Dead Horse State Park
We started out the day by visiting Dead Horse State Park. The big attraction here is the amazing - huge views at Dead Horse Point. Apparantly back in the day they used to corral horses into this canyon, which only has one small opening, and then leave the horses they couldn't use or sell - hence the Dead Horse name.

Canyonlands
Next, on to Canyonlands National Park. Here we say another amazing 360 vista which was impressive, although personally I prefered the Dead Horse Point. What was absolutely fantastic here was Mesa Arch.





Green River (don't do it!)
We decided to head on out to Green River - about 1/2 hour on the way to our next destination - for lunch rather than heading back into Moab - Big mistake! Green River is the most dilapidated, run-down, depressed town I've seen in a very long time. We were starving so ended up eating at the Burger King as it was, by far, the least scary choice. The BK was, by the way, inside a gas station which was attached to the Super 8 motel. Eek!

Capital Reef
Heading on to Capital Reef we had quite an interesting stop. There are these things called Petroglyphs which are meant to be drawings carved into the stone by ancient Indians - personally, I think, judging by the antennae that they look a lot like Martians. What Martians were doing in Utah 8 or 9oo years ago - I'm not sure - but I seriously doubt that it was that the Indians "obviously had good imaginations too" as commented by the woman standing next to me when I made reference to them appearing to be Martians. Incidentally, these drawings are all over the place down here and they all show people with Antenna - I think that's mighty weird!

Round about the same place we walked up a boardwalk which, as it turned out, lead to a sign about farming with no visible reason for being at the end of a boardwalk. What was interesting was the thousands upon thousands of blue caterpillars on the boardwalk railing (and on the ground I'm told - but I chose not to look down). At one point I looked up and realised that they were coming out of hundreds of white fluffy pod things in the trees - a disctinctly Hitchcockian moment.


Traveling along through Capital Reef we drove through a bunch more amazing rock formations. They seem to go on forever here and are constantly changing. You would think after a while you would get sick of them - and I imagine given more time than we have you might - but we are still oohing and ahing at them all.



Anyhow - we checked into the first of our three consecutive nights in different Best Westerns. It was quite nice - but again - the view stole the show .

I had read about a great restaurant in the area called Cafe Diablo which we were very fortunate was opening for the summer season that very night. That there is this quality of restaurant out here in the middle of nowhere is surprising to say the least. We had to, of course, try the rattlesnake cakes - they were nice - although no discernible flavor of chicken was apparent. I had the ribs which came wrapped into a roll and stood up with a crispy hash brown plank, shaved radish, and a Parmesan pitchfork on top all sitting in a mashed sweet potato. You could literally pull the bones straight out of the ribs they were so tender - and they had lots of perfectly caramelized bits from the absolutly fantastic sauce they had been marinated in - fantastic! I also had a drink called a Mexican Bride which is Iced Tea and Lemonade (the American variety) mixed - it was surprisingly delicious. I have it on good authority that it's also called an Arnold Palmer. We decided to splurge and have desert - a butterfinger cheesecake served with chocolate ice cream - in a brandy snap bowl and a chocolate chip cookie in the top for good measure. Wow! We rolled ourselves back to the BW for a good nights sleep.

Onward!

Heather

Arches National Park

Moab
We arrived last night in one piece after stopping in Silverthorne to pick up a few necessities (boots & socks for Andi and a really cute long sleeve t-shirt that I just couldn't live without) and dinner in Grand Junction. For future reference, if you're ever in Grand Junction try to make it before 9pm if you want dinner- otherwise you're choices are Denny's or Applebee's. That aside, the trip was very pleasant and many mysteries of the universe were solved.

Our cabin at Morris' Last Resort in Moab is comfortable - but basic. The best thing about it is the deck out the back where we had a lovely cup of coffee (Andi brought the cafetiere and freshly ground Lavazza - of course). It also has internet access which is a distinct bonus.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky this morning - a pleasant situation which lasted most of the day. Unfortunately we both forgot to put on suncream so look a little racoonish now. Ah, the traumas of traveling in a convertible.

Properly watered we headed off for the day. First stop - the store to pick up some provisions for a picnic then straight on to the Arches. Had we been thinking we would have stopped for gas before heading into the park - but at least it occurred to us before getting too far so a quick trip back into town and we were on our way.

Into the Arches National Park - this place is truly awesome. Around every bend is another amazing, beautiful and awe inspiring rock formation in scales difficult to comprehend. There are several places to stop along the scenic drive for short walks and amazing views. We pretty much did every one that didn't involve a major hike.

We stopped at Panorama point for lunch and had a lovely in car picnic (it's just like being outside - but the seats are more comfortable than sitting on rocks) and then made our way out to Landscape, Pine Tree and Tunnel arches for about an hour hike (this is a fairly impressive amount of hiking for Andi).

One note about the Arches - there are a lot - I mean heaps of rock formations that look like penises. And once one of them looks like one, well, it's red car syndrome and there they are bloody everywhere. In honor of this phenomenon we had dinner at Eddie McStiffs - which was a very "local character" place with decent food but rather poor service.

Finished with the Arches we decided to take a drive up Scenic Byway 128 - it was spectacular. Much like driving through the Grand Canyon (I would imagine - although I've never been in the Grand Canyon because you have to hike in and, as mentioned before, Andi's not much of a hiker - but I'm working on him) with 1000ft walls on either side and following the Colorado river. These are the scenes of many a western film and you truly feel like you're about to have a cowboy ride up and say 'howdy partner'.

After making our way up the 44 mile scenic route we made it back into Moab for another scenic drive up the Potash Road - Potash, for those of you who don't know - is a type of fertilizer made from extracting some sort of mineral from under the ground (as you can surely tell - I, myself am an expert on the matter). This was another spectacular drive with fabulous cliffs and rock formations - and with the added bonus of some dinosaur tracks. We had to scramble up over some rocks to see them - but they were pretty cool.

Well - that's it for day one. We had a great day, saw heaps and had loads of fun.


Cya Tomorrow.

Day of Departure

After a whirlwind month of East Coast and San Diego I have been home for a mere four days but tonight we will embark on our latest adventure - The American Southwest.

Traveling by car (our lovely, and much loved TT) we will be going to Moab Utah to The Arches and Canyonlands, Torrey Utah for Capital Reef National Park, Scenic Byway 12 to Bryce Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Scenic byway 89, Zion National Park - then two days in Vegas where Andi will be taking a couple days off from holiday to work - on the way back we're coming through Arizona and New Mexico with stops at, among other places, Petrified Forrest, Zuni Pueblo, The Turquoise Trail, Santa Fe, Jemez Springs, Bandelier National Monument and Taos Pueblo.We will depart this afternoon, stop in Silverthorne at the outlets for a few items (where in the car we'll put them is another matter), Grand Junction for dinner and then to Moab where we'll be staying at Morris' Last Resort for two nights.

You can see a map of our travels at
American Southwest 2007 Map (a work in progress)

We will have internet access along the way so I will try to keep this blog, and the map, updated with the latest happenings and photos so check back in a few days.

Happy Trails!
Heather & Andi
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