A Walk in the Forest

23-24 September 2012

We spent an extra night in Holbrook, Arizona in order to tour the Petrified Forest National Park. Believe me, there is no other reason to spend extra time in Holbrook, there is NOTHING in the town.

The Petrified Forest is fascinating. Strewn across large areas of desert are these fallen logs and log fragments.  All are now stone, not wood, because they were buried in a swampland millions of years ago under silica which helped to replace the wood cellulose cells with minerals.

The geography of the area is very interesting also. There are dunes of ribboned color, part of the Painted Desert. There are also flat mesas where petrified logs are exposed as erosion of the mesas occur.

The Native Americans have inhabited the area for many hundreds of years. So there are pueblo ruins that have been partially restored and are viewable.

As we spent the day traveling from one viewpoint to another and taking some short walks through designated areas of the park, we were treated to a desert storm. Large winds, thunder, lots of lightening and sporadic downpours. As we stopped at one viewpoint with a panoramic view of the Painted Desert, we saw a storm flurry advance across the valley and completely hide the view.  Then, after a few minutes, it was gone. I tell you, that train ride at Disneyland has a pretty good depiction of that.

We decided to head to Sedona for a few last days of camping before we reach home, looking forward to getting back to Long Beach.

A beautiful sunset after the storm.

 

 

 

One of the forest's residents many millions of years ago.



A current resident.

Semi-precious minerals often replaced the tree's cells, resulting in beautiful red, green, yellow and blue hues.

There must be tons of logs still buried in the park.  They get slowly exposed through erosion of the soil.



These logs aren't cut by humans, they apparently break as a result of the heating/freezing of the rock.



This log is sticking out of the mesa.

Vista of the Painted Desert.

These are called Tipis, for obvious reasons.



These petroglyphs were drawn by the natives that lived in this area about 700 years ago.

A partially restored pueblo, about 700 years old.

One of two kivas in the pueblo.

A small storm overtaking one of the viewpoints in the park. A couple of minutes after this picture, you couldn't see the valley floor.

 


God's promise shown once again.

 

Taking the “Highway that is the Best”

19-22 September 2012

The trip out of Amarillo, Texas wasn’t too exciting unless you count the visit to my birthplace, Tucumcari, New Mexico….well…nope, it wasn’t very exciting. Tucumcari is barely a stop on the road for gas and fast food. We took the opportunity to drive a bit of Route 66 and take a gander at the 40’s era motels and gas stations. From here on out, we will be following the old path of Route 66. Most of it is gone and replaced by Interstate 40, but there are a few segments that remain.

Just outside of Amarillo is Cadillac Ranch, an unusual art work of semi-buried Cadillacs in the middle of a cow field.  Visitors have taken to spray painting the cars with various sayings. I love coming across these unusual sights on our trip, there is a lot of imagination in this here country of ours.

We decided to stay over at Santa Rosa, New Mexico before we landed in Albuquerque for a couple of days. Santa Rosa is in the middle of the desert, obviously, yet it is known for its scuba diving site, the Blue Hole. This is a sinkhole with a depth of over 80 feet and crystal clear 62 degree water. Go figure, in the middle of a desert.

We have enjoyed a couple of excellent New Mexican meals. The dishes are similar to what we get at home but the spices are more subtle. I really enjoyed them, especially the sopapillas.  Why can’t we get those at home?

There is quite a bit to do in Albuquerque, but we will only sample on this visit. We walked around the old town plaza where there is a church that has been conducting services for over 200 years. The Sandia Tramway took us to over 11,000 feet for a hazy view of Albuquerque and environs. Russ took some pictures of the petroglyphs at the Petroglyph National Monument. This monument is part of several ancient volcanoes which the native tribes believed were the source of their people.  So this area is very sacred for the locals. The ranger said that there are over 700 petroglyphs in the region.

The National Museum of Nuclear Science & Technology covered the science behind the development of the bombs that were used to end World War II, the politics of the time and the subsequent expansion of the Cold War. I felt the exhibits were fairly balanced, though there could have been more about the social implications in Japan. The museum is relatively new and much remains to be done on the restoration of the planes/missiles that are out in the yard.  But both of us enjoyed the exhibits.

Of course, Saturday afternoon and evening were spent watching the Notre Dame/Michigan game.  Go Irish, 4-0 for the season! 

 

A depression era RV.



Cadillac Ranch, kind of a Stonehenge of cars.

We were treated to a very nice little concert in Old Town.



The San Felipe de Neri Church in Old Town has been conducting services for over 200 years.

 

 

Russ, pretending he is a mountain goat at the Petroglyph National Monument.



The petroglyphs are between 100 and 700 years old.  Some were created by the Spaniards.

A view from the top of the volcano craters.

 

 

The Sandia Tramway is world's longest tram at 2.7 miles.  It took about 15 minutes to make the transit.

Near the top, the trees and bushes are transitioning to fall colors.

At one point, the tram is over 1000 above the ground.



Sandia Mountain turns a strong pink color at sunset, leading to its name which means watermelon in Spanish.

View of the ski area, on the backside of Sandia.

 

 

An exact replica of Fat Boy (minus the guts), the plutonium bomb that was dropped on Nakasaki. The Japanese government surrendered within days.

 

South Through the Sunflower State

13-18 September 2012

Managed to miss a storm front which had huge winds, rain and lightning/thunder and had beautiful driving weather south to Wichita, Kansas. The country is getting drier – I guess we are seeing the effects of this summer’s drought. We are starting to see lots of fields that have been harvested. This is a big change from Iowa and Nebraska where harvesting was just starting.

As we continued south, we toured the Homestead Act National Monument in Beatrice, Nebraska. This is a highlight of the trip for me since at least six ancestors in the Schaal/Purcell family tree homesteaded under the 1862 act or one of its predecessors and I got additional insight to what it was like for them to work to claim their land. The National Monument is located at the “first” homesteaded land from the 1862 Act. The government has restored most of the homesteaded land back to the prairie grass that would have been there back when the land was first claimed. And they had a log cabin on the property. Blew my mind that the family of 12 lived in that one room house, they must have spent as much time as they could outside since they would be standing cheek to jowl inside that little house. The introductory video offered a fairly balanced view of the Homesteading Act impact on both the Native Americans and the settlers.

We decided to spend a night near Marysville, Kansas so that we could tour the Pony Express Station No. 1.  Unfortunately, the museum itself was close to a garage museum (and you know my feelings about those by now). The building was interesting as it was the original one and we could see the inside where they kept the horses and gear.

Then we headed a bit west to Abilene, Kansas to tour the Eisenhower Presidential Museum and Library. This is the first Presidential Library complex that I have been to and I was impressed.  We saw a very nice introductory video, took a tour of his childhood home and visited a terrific museum containing visiting exhibits and artifacts from his life. Eisenhower was the first president that I remember from my childhood so it was fun to see pictures that I remember from earlier in my life, not to mention chuckling at the “modern” items that they displayed from his time in the White House. He and his wife are buried in the chapel on the grounds.

Behind the library grounds is a heritage museum with a 1901 carousel which we were able to take a ride on. It was a traveling carousel, not as fancy as others we have ridden, but still a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I managed to lose the pictures from our visit to the presidential library when I was downloading them to the laptop. Still trying to find them, but for now, I don't have any to post.

Wichita wasn’t that exciting, especially since we were there on a Sunday and the quilt shop I wanted to visit was closed.  For that matter, most of the stores were closed, except for the big box stores, of course. Even the downtown area, which has been developed for tourists, was pretty much empty. So we took the day off and just relaxed around the trailer.

Visited the quilt shop as we headed out of town towards Oklahoma City on I-135 and bought some nice fabric for a table runner.  Heading south on the interstate, the land became much greener.  I am not sure if that is because of the nature of the land or if Oklahoma was not as badly affected as Kansas from the drought. When we got into Oklahoma City, we went to The Cattleman’s Café for a steak dinner and then took a sunset walk about the National Memorial.

Tonight, we are just outside Amarillo, Texas next to the Big Texan Steak Ranch.  Guess what we had for dinner?

A family of 12 lived in this cabin out on the Nebraska prairies.



The Homestead Act National Monument.

Osage oranges. The trees were commonly used in making living fences.

View of the first homestead under the 1862 Homesteading Act.  The land has been restored to prairie.

 



Pony Express statue in Marysville, Kansas.

The inside of Pony Express Station No. 1.  This was the first place where a rider could swith with the next rider and rest up until the mail came in the other direction.



Sunset from our campground near Seneca, Kansas.

A sculpture near the river park in Wichita, Kansas.  There were several outdoor exhibits on the Plains Indians.

A walking bridge in downtown Wichita.



The Oklahoma City National Memorial.



The chairs represent the 168 people who were killed in the explosion of the Murrah Federal Building. 

The water pool outlines the street in front of the Murrah Building, where the explosion occurred. The chairs are situated on the site of the Murrah Building.

The Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, where you can get your meal free if you can eat a 72 ounce steak in less than 9 minutes (the current record.)