June 11 -- Mesa Verde

We spent a second day seeing the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde. Today we took the long drive to Long House cliff dwelling and took the ranger-guided tour. It is quite large, lots of rooms. We followed that with an on and off the tram to see some dwellings on top of the mesa, then a hike down to visit the Step House cliff dwelling. The rangers here have been terrific, very friendly and informative. ON the way back, we had our first significant rain, with some hail. We are having a cookout with the Esenweins tonight, and tomorrow we will go off to take the Durango Silverton railroad trip.

June 10 -- Mesa Verde

We were supposed to move to Mesa Verde's campground today, but Gregg and Elise convinced us to stay and use their place as a base for exploring that NP. Today Sue and I took the ranger-led tours of two of the most impressive cliff houses. You have to climb down to them over ladders, and for one of them you have to crawl through a very small tunnel for about 12 feet. We enjoyed the tours very much and learned a lot. They must have been pretty tough folks to farm on the top of the mesa and live perched on the side of the canyon. Pretty amazing. The drive up to the mesa is beautiful and long. We visited the museum that explains the Mesa Verde community very well. We also visited a variety of housing sites on our own. Mesa Verde is an amazing national park. We finished the day with dinner at the lodge high up on the mesa, and then returned to Gregg and Elise's house.

June 8, 9 -- Touring with the Esenweins

We spent the days driving around the mountains of southwestern Colorado. Both days we took forest service roads to go over mountain passes greater than 10,000 feet. The first day we ran into impassable snow at 10,000 feet and had to turn around. We took a brief hike along the snow's edges, and then retraced our steps. The trip was full of spectacular scenery.

The next day the goal was to end up in Telluride, but we got there again by forest service roads over a 10,000 foot pass. This time we got through, and the view from the top was great; snow capped mountains all around while we stood in the middle of a huge meadow. We made our way over to Telluride and rode the chair lift. Telluride is an impressive place, situated in a box canyon. The huge temporary waterfalls created by the unprecedented early melting of the snow pack (unusually high temperatures and a few dust storms that coated a lot of the snow pack) were frequent and massive. We ended the day with a dinner in a bar in Dolores, then went across the street to play shuffleboard (Gregg and Sue beat Elise and me 21-20). During the game, the karaoke started, and some of those guys were pretty good, particularly the cowboys we had seen on our drive over the mountain who were moving their cattle to summer pasture. We had to spend ten minutes maneuvering the car through the herd, the cowboys on horse, and their herding dogs.

June 5,6,7 -- North Rim Grand Canyon & Natural Bridges NM

The temp was over 100 degrees at Lake Powell on the 5th, we had done most of what we 5wanted there, so we got up early and drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was a bit cooler. We took in the view and a few short hikes. We had been to the South Rim in 1971, pre kids; now at the North Rim, after kids. The drive there was incredibly beautiful, along the Vermillion Cliffs and miles of red-hued mesas. Back to camp in the early evening, and got a picture of Lake Powell at sunset. We slept with both the roof vent fan and a rotating fan on full blast all night; thank goodness this campground had electric hookup.

June 6 we packed up and drove to Natural Bridges National Monument in the Cedar Ridge area of Southeastern Utah. With Lake Powell in the way, we had to retrace our route back past Monument Valley; the drive took about 5 hours, partially because we could not get over a very twisty, steep pass with the Aliner, so had to circle around to get there. We met Gregg Esenwein at the campground in his Aliner. He worked with Dennis at CRS for many years. We toured around Natural Bridges that evening after the heat dissipated a bit, but took no hikes as still very hot.

June 7 we packed up and drove the Aliners to Gregg's. He retired early and built a beautiful adobe house on 10 acres that looks out at the mountains on which Mesa Verde NP sits. Literally you turn right to go to Mesa Verd, and left to get to Gregg's. We will be here three nights, touring around with Gregg and Elise.

June 3, 4 -- Lake Powell

Took a 50 mile ride up Lake Powell to Rainbow Bridge. The scenery is not to be believed. Pink canyon walls, mesas, buttes, and pinnacles (starts out as a mesa, erosion makes it a butte, and maybe it becomes a pinnacle). The occasional houseboat is chugging along pulling an outboard motor or skiddoo so they can explore the myriad side canyons. A short ride up one of those canyons takes you to the jumping off point for Rainbow Bridge, which is impressive. Next day we took an early morning hike to Horseshoe Bend in the CO river, which is just what it sounds like. Temp at 8 am was already in the mid 80s, forecast to mid 90s. Then we took a guided hike to Antelope Canyon, a very narrow slot canyon where the light filters in from above and produces an eerie sort of glow. Very crowded with photographers. A big money makers for the Navajo. Then visited Glen Canyon Dam, saw a few movies and toured the dam. A bit smaller than the Hoover Dam. Temp pushing 100 degrees.

June 2 -- Drive to Lake Powell

After breakfast, we visited the most unique small museum since the potato museum on Prince Edward Island. It was the Navajo Code Talkers Museum which honors the Navajo men who passed messages for the Marines in the Pacific during WWII. The son of the original code talker (Kins Mike) owns the Burger King and has established the museum. After arrival, we made arrangements to visit Rainbow Bridge on a cruise up lake Powell of a50 miles and Antelope CAnyon.

June 1 -- Monument Valley and Navajo National Monument

Well what do you know; not every day in the great southwest is sunny. Today we arose to overcast skies and it was a pleasant sight and a respite from the full glare of the sun. We went to Monument Valley and decided to drive our car on the 17 mile road through the "monuments" rather than take a tour. The road was rough but the rock formations more than compensated. I could post 30 pictures but will restrain myself. Suffice it to say the area is awe inspiring. We took almost three hours to make the drive with frequent stops to admire the formations. Along the way we met a variety of Europeans -- Dutch, Italians, Germans, English (one couple back for their fourth visit), no French, plus Israelis who encouraged us to visit their country. As when we visited Zion, Bryce, etc. the majority of people touring here seem to be Europeans; they love this part of the USA.

During the drive, I was expecting to see a stagecoach round one of the rock formations in a cloud of dust followed by the bad guys on horses, straight out of the 1950s westerns we all grew up on.

We then visited the Navajo National Monument which has the best preserved set of Indian cliff dwellings we have seen to this point. We saw them from on top of the opposite canyon wall, as you must take a ranger led hike to visit them up close, and none was available. The monument park is very nice and out of the way, more low key than the other places we have visited. The campgrounds, although very nice with spectacular views, were almost deserted. The visitor center was very informative and well done. A Navajo woman was quietly, rapidly, and I assume expertly weaving a beautiful blanket in the center. The two blankets on display were a cool $800 each. But as I tell Sue, we are in the decumulation, not accumulation, stage of our lives. We took several short hikes with wonderful views of the canyon.

We move on to Lake Powell tomorrow for four nights. Back to camping after two nights in a motel here in Kayenta AZ.