Page, AZ

Yá'át'ééh (Navajo for "it is good" used as a greeting)

Before I jump into our experience in Page, Arizona, here is an update from Four Corners: Faith asked me, "How did having the fry bread at Four Corners change everything? That it was so good that it was worth the touristy stop?" The answer is Yes, it tasted fabulous: slightly sweet dough with powdered sugar, (Dave had cinnamon sugar), and not oily or greasy at all even though it was fried. I didn't mind being a typical tourist anymore - the fry bread made the stop more than worth it. 

I also shared with Faith this tidbit about the young Navajo woman who cooked our bread: The gal was quite interesting. She has a masters in Biology, and is considering getting her PhD. Her grandfather was an herbalist (medicine man) for the Navajos, and although he passed away before she was born, her mother still had some of his remedies and concoctions. The gal's Masters involved doing DNA sequencing on the remedies to find out what exactly was in them. She discovered some of the herbs he used do not grow in the area. Some may have grown there 80 years ago, or perhaps he traded for the plants, but she wants to continue to understand the scientific and medicinal benefits of his herbs. She is currently working at the university lab, continuing to sequence the DNA in more remedies. Her mentor took her to Peru, where she investigated other herbal remedies, and hopes to find similarities or the sources for some of the non-local herbs. 

You might wonder what a young adult with this background is doing selling fry bread. She's taking a break from school as she contemplates her options for her PhD, and is earning some extra money for that possibility. And she's being paid for her work at the university. 

The young woman had Christian music playing, and a John 3:16 cross on the wall, which I mentioned I liked. She said she prayed everyday for anyone who might come to her food stall, and showed me a small wooden sign behind the counter that reminded her, "Start each day with a grateful heart." I shared about a "1000 Gifts" book I read with my Bible Study group, and how the attitude of gratitude is making a difference in my life. She looked up the book on her phone and said she wanted to read it. As the bread cooked I told her I would pray for her decisions about her future. She said she was concerned for her people's false beliefs. I am also praying that she would make a difference for Christ wherever He places her. Very cool encounter, engineered by God.

Back to our regularly scheduled program.

Page Arizona is a gateway town for 

• Lake Powell
• Glen Canyon Dam and National Recreation Area
• The Colorado River's Horseshoe Bend, which is the most photographed area of the Colorado River
• Antelope Canyon and other slot canyons in that geographical system.

And (drum roll) there is a Wal*Mart! We try to use this chain for our shopping trips - so many things we use, besides food, can be found here. Except the drill bit for the slide motor. Wal*Mart doesn't have that, unfortunately. But they do have the new Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino, in case you get a hankerin'.

One of the difficulties of travel in the Four Corners area is that Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving Time, but the Navajo Nation does. So as we traveled from Durango (MDT) to Monument Valley (MST), passing through Utah on the way (MDT), and booking a tour on Navajo Tribal Land (MDT) from our campground in Page, AZ (MST) it got to be a bit confusing. My Apple Watch was going crazy switching back and forth, but Dave's FitBit and truck clock did not change. Finally, I just asked Siri, "What time is it right now?"  I also checked our Antelope Canyon X slot canyon tour, which is on Navajo land, but fortunately they use Page, AZ time to save the confusion for their tours. Whew! Don't want to be an hour late for this special geological event!

Antelope Canyon X is one of 22 known slot canyons in the area.

Antelope Canyon X has a north and south section.

Between the North and South slot canyons.
Notice the water. 

Two days before our tour there was rainfall at the canyon. A flash flood wiped out several trails in the south section, and left large pools of water inside the canyon. The slots were filled with mud. The workers spent the day after the rain storm hauling in sand and hauling out mud and water. When we walked through the day after that, the mud from the flood had been 8 feet high up the walls, and a 22 ft. deep pool was still in the slot. The sand is clay-like when wet, and rainfall doesn't penetrate the soil.

Our guide, "Thomas" played his deer hide drum and sang a "communication" song.
He said he was communicating with the deities of the canyon.

The narrow areas of the slot canyon made for some tight turns.

The cutest couple on the tour.

The lighting in the canyon made my shoes look blue in this pic.
Compare to the photo above.

In addition to a slot canyon, we visited the Colorado River Horseshoe Bend overlook. As I mentioned, this is the most photographed area of the CO River.

Horseshoe Bend

Compare these two pictures. The two boats in the picture below give some perspective as to how huge the area really is.

Can you find the green kayak in the right side of the river?

There it is!

Finally, we visited the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. This dam forms Lake Powell, and is used for producing hydroelectric power. This dam holds back the second largest amount of water in the US - second only to Hoover Dam (further south on the CO River).

The vehicles on top of the dam appear diminished in size.
No, the blue green rectangles are not vehicles. They are railroad container boxes.
The vehicles are between them. 

Water coming out of the dam after making the turbines spin.
We drove across the bridge to check out the visitors center.

I saw this sign in the visitors center, and had to chuckle. We are at one of the largest hydroelectric producing facilities in the US. And they heat the water how?

Seriously? This must be a government operation.

Lake Powell stats.
The ranger said if the water drops another 50 ft,
it will be below the intake valve for the dam.

You can see the effects of the 25-year long mega-drought in the southwest by the notation "27% full pool" - a measure of how much water is available to enter the dam. The last mega-drought in the US southwest was between 1276-1299, and may have been a factor causing the cliff dwellers to leave Mesa Verde.

Three final items: 

1. On our hike from the parking area to Horseshoe Bend, a number of people wanted to pet Trooper. As I sat on some rocks while Dave took pictures, Trooper was soon surrounded by a group of Chinese young people, then by some retired folks who said they missed their Golden Retriever and had to pet Troop to get their "GR fix." I think Trooper was almost as popular as the scenic Horseshoe Bend. 

2. You may wonder how I could strike up a conversation of such depth with a total stranger as she made fry bread. Well, you know me. I could get blood from a turnip if the conversation centered around someone's education, or someone's Christian beliefs. It's amazing how a sister in Christ is truly a sister, and how easy and comfortable it is talking about our common faith. Feel free to pray for this young woman's impact on her people, either through her faith or through her scientific investigation into her grandfather's herbal remedies. Or both!

3. The Dragon Bravo fire that devastated the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is 100% contained. Some of the trails reopen today (10/1) and that just happens to be where we go next. Great timing, National Park Service! 

Monument Valley

"I'm pretty tired. I think I'll go home now." 

If you've seen the movie "Forrest Gump" you might recall the scene where he finally quit running. That scene was shot in Monument Valley, a few miles from where we camped at Arrowhead Campground.

Evening view from our camper. 
Look! A rainbow!

We left Durango and stopped at Four Corners on our way to Monument Valley. This is the only location in the US where 4 state borders meet (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona). Sometimes you have to stop somewhere tourist-y just to say you've been there. I would say this is true of Four Corners, but we bought some Fry Bread, and that changed everything.

Standing in four places at once!

A lovely young Navajo woman prepared my Fry Bread.
It tasted a lot like a funnel cake.

We continued on to Monument Valley, after passing through Arizona, Utah, and back into Arizona within 5 minutes of each other. It was like Four Corners all over again! 

We arrived at our campsite at Arrowhead which was... well... lacking everything except a fabulous view. No water (no problem), no showers or restrooms (no problem), and no electricity (problem). We arrived and detached the camper from the truck (requires electricity);  leveled the camper (requires electricity); put down the stabilizers (requires electricity); and rolled out the slide room (requires electricity). The electricity from the truck and camper batteries handled these jobs just fine. We knew the refrigerator would be on battery power, so we limited opening the fridge and freezer doors. We also knew we would not have lights, so we had pre-charged our headlamps and made sure a lantern had fresh batteries. The camper was sitting on a sandy section of the desert, with sagebrush and other desert flora close by. The owner came by on an ATV to welcome us, and to warn us about rattlesnakes. And we were paying for this?

We drove into the park, which is on Navajo land, and took a few pictures. The sky was cloudy, so the pics didn't capture the orange sandstone features very well. 

From L-R: West Mitten, East Mitten, Merrick Butte

The Mittens - it was just too cloudy to really get good pics.

We decided to put the truck to the test on the 17-mile scenic Valley Drive. This road took us around the major mesas, buttes, and spires in the valley. I use the word "road" loosely, as it was a rough, unpaved washboard, full of potholes and loose sand in which to get stuck. So off we went, jiggling, jarring, and jolting along. Dave is such a good sport, putting his truck under such duress.

Valley Road

Three Sisters

Hamburger Rock (our name for it).
The colors were brighter up close from the valley floor.

Some random chick by some random tree in some random place on Valley Drive.
See those rain clouds? They will soon produce mud.

Looking through two mesas to another mesa beyond.

When our insides were completely shaken upside down we decided to head back to the camper. A little bit of rain began to fall, and the sand around the camper instantly turned to mud. Our shoes, pants hems, and Trooper's paws were caked in seconds with orange muck. We cleaned off as best we could, and hoped we could sweep it away once it dried. This actually worked well, except our now-orange socks will never be white again.

We wanted to get some photos the next morning, hoping the light on the monuments would be better than the cloudy shots from Friday. So Saturday about 7 AM we were in the park on the Wildcat Trail, which is a loop trail around the West Mitten. We would need to be on the back side of the mitten with the sun shining on it to get the shots we wanted. Off we went, even though it was still a bit cloudy.

Trooper loves hiking with us.
The West Mitten is visible here, and the sun looked somewhat promising for pics on the back side of the butte.

A description of our hike. And rules, rules, rules.

The East Mitten is in this pic. Notice the clouds.

We finally made it to the far side of the West Mitten, and suddenly the sun broke through the clouds! Thanks, God, for that delightful blessing!

The back side of the West Mitten.

The sun also illuminated one of the spires.
I don't know its name, but it was cool. 

Another sunny moment on Wildcat Trail

After our 2+ hour hike, we needed to move our camper to another campground, one with full hookups. Why didn't we start at that better campground? It was full on Friday, but had vacancy on Saturday. So... we needed to vacate Arrowhead and head to Gouldings. Dave figured the battery on the camper was pretty low from running the fridge, and he would have to hand crank the stabilizers to retract them, and also the tongue of the trailer to raise it enough to fit over the ball hitch. No problem. Then I tried moving the slide room back in, using what little battery power we had. No way. The battery was dead. We hooked up the truck power to the camper, and that wasn't enough amperes to do it. Now what?

We did what any enterprising camper would do: went on YouTube to figure out how to manually pull in the slide. Apparently there is a special bit that goes on your drill that attaches to the slide motor that is hidden under a wood panel in the camper that has to be removed first. What? The company that sold us the camper failed to include this all-important CRITICAL piece of metal. We thought it through and decided we needed to jump the trailer battery to give it enough juice to pull in the slide. It worked! 

So after our 7AM-9AM hike, and our 9AM-11AM slide dilemma, we finally arrived at Gouldings at 12PM. As we used the electric stabilizers, tongue jack, and slide motor, we rejoiced in this wonderful thing called electricity. And that we would still have it when it was time to reverse the process in another day.  

Gouldings was a really special place, partly because they had all the electricity we could possibly want, and the best showers of any campground yet, but also because they had a hidden arch on the property. So before we left on Sunday, we hiked to the arch, then used electric power to retract stabilizers, raise the trailer tongue, and PULL IN THE SLIDE! 

Hidden Arch at Gouldings

Stay tuned as we drive to Page, AZ and hike a slot canyon!

D&SNGR

 All Aboard the Historic Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad!

She is 143 years old, but you wouldn't know it to look at her. She's had some work done, of course, (her hair is colored black) but she can still rock and roll! She follows the narrow path (even if it's not always straight), and she blows off steam every now and then. She's now environmentally friendly unlike in her youth. She also likes to shoot rainbows across the gorge to the delight of her admirers. Oh, and she "toots" on a regular basis, but coming from her, it's actually OK. 

Our very own gal, #482

Our gal ferried us from Durango to Silverton, Colorado with only a few water stops which she needed to keep steamin' along. We followed the Animas River, through pine forest, aspen groves, towering spruce, and a few meadows with an occasional deer. And at the higher elevations, rocks. Lots of rocks. 

Early in the trip to Silverton there were a lot of pines.

Many of these boulders would be underwater in the spring.

As the elevation increased, the narrow gauge railroad cut through some rocky areas.

One of the water stops along the way.
The train received about 3500 gallons of water needed to fuel the steam power.

Right outside my window!

The Animas River is waay down there!

High Bridge, a wrought-iron beauty built in 1880 over a gorge, was a "high" light, as the engineer blew steam sideways out of the bottom of the engine, creating a rainbow over the gorge. 

Shooting rainbows over the gorge.

Other fun facts:

The "jump scene" from the film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" was filmed along our route. The problem is we took so many photos I can't remember which one it is. 

The Tall Timber is a resort part way up the line, zip lines included. As the train chugged by, a gal zipped upside down alongside, waving and cheering. Several passengers disembarked here, ready for a day of fun. On the return trip, a 20-something boarded the train at the resort, and rode the train to a stop near his home. He spent the summer working at the resort, and was helping out during a busy weekend. Nice kid, he waved as the train left him off at his stop until we couldn't see him anymore. 

Lots of people, in fact, waved as the train steamed by. One lady, stopped in her truck at the RR crossing, waved and smiled. How do we handle waiting at a crossing for a train? 

Finally, here are some of my favorite pics of the Animas River and our journey.  

I was hanging out the window, trying not to drop my phone.

Fall color

The Dave Wave

Colorado + a Black Mamba + a Younger Sister = ?

= A Whole Lot of Fun!

Our last stop before entering Colorado was Laramie, WY. The University of Wyoming has a planetarium with an inexpensive show for the community, and we decided to go, even though it was a rainy evening. 

I rotated the image so it would appear the way we saw it during the show,
and then, later, in the night sky.

I'm so glad we did! The 2 undergraduate students who "flew" the show for us were perky and knowledgeable. During the show we learned about the constellations currently visible (Cassiopeia, Cygnus, Cepheus, Andromeda, Pegasus, and Perseus). We also heard an ancient Greek story about how Perseus wooed Andromeda, while holding Medusa's severed head. Not romantic enough for a new Disney movie, I'm afraid. 

We journeyed on to Colorado Springs and dropped the trailer at an RV repair shop. Some strong winds in Montana bent one of the awning arms. It was fixed the next day!

In the meantime, we stayed with my younger sister, Debbie, and her husband, Rick, at their home in Colorado Springs. Hot shower in a real bathroom and great food - our best "camp site" yet! 

So what does this have to do with a mamba? Debbie inherited our brother's black Corvette, nicknamed the Black Mamba. When she picked up the car in Florida last spring, I got the chance to remember how to drive a stick shift. For about 15 feet. So Deb wanted me to really have the chance to drive the car, so we headed over to the US Air Force Academy where there was very little traffic, and we (she) let 'er rip! 

Black Mamba still in Florida

Soon it was my turn and I drove safely and conservatively to an overlook where we watched the cadets fly gliders and practice a parachute routine for the upcoming football game. Debbie encouraged me to find out how well the car hugs the road on tight turns. Um, yeah. I decided to take her word for it. I was just happy I didn't stall the thing.

Just like a real mamba, she's beautiful, but deadly.

Once the camper was repaired we all headed to southern Colorado for some fun at Rick's cabin, and to visit Great Sand Dunes National Park.

We dropped the camper outside the park, in a desolate campsite at Zapata Falls, a federal area managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). No electricity, no water, but... vault toilets!  

Poor camper. First it sits at a repair shop, then gets the BLM treatment.

Imagine a range of mountains that curve slightly concave, creating the inner side of a spoon that catches sand in it. That's the principle behind this unusual area, preserved by its designation as a national park. The curve of the mountains creates the perfect spot to collect sand from the surrounding land, building dunes that are over 700 ft. high. 

The dunes covered over 30 square miles.

Headed to the Dunes.

Now imagine walking on a Florida beach in the loose sand away from the area packed down by the tide. That was the kind of surface we covered as we explored the area. Debbie and Rick hiked to the top of one of the dunes while we struggled with Trooper, whose paws were getting packed with sand. He kept sitting down, we would clean out his paws, and then keep going. For about 5 yards, then Trooper would sit down again. So we opted to head back to the visitors center where we learned about the shape of the mountain range creating the spoon for the sand.

Trooper, trying to sit down.
I think it must have felt like walking with those foam things between your toes at a pedicure.

Debbie and Rick are at the first level-off to the right of the center of the picture.

Debbie and Rick's view from the top.
We look so tiny!

On Sunday we left the cabin and headed a different direction for a hike on a peak along Hwy 12, known as the Highway of Legends. The fall colors were more evident here than at Great Sand Dunes.

Near Cordova Pass in the Spanish Peaks Wilderness.
Hints of fall color!

Check that elevation! I was light-headed and a bit dizzy.

The Western Spanish Peak.

My dog loves my sister.

View of the Cuchara Valley. 
Notice the area on the far mountain where the land is bear?
That was burned in a wildfire. You can see the line where the firefighters stopped it.

The Spanish Peaks are known for these ridges of rock that run down the sides of the mountains. 
These are called dikes. Some run for miles.

We made it to the top of Vista Point!

Trooper got to join us in the Dog Bar for a late lunch.
He ordered water. It was served in an aluminum dish.

We hung out at the cabin the next few days, riding ATVs, meeting neighbors of Rick and Debbie, working on a few jigsaw puzzles, enjoying sunsets, and stargazing. The new moon, plus very little light pollution, made for some amazing evenings checking out the Milky Way, and looking for the stars featured at the planetarium. 

Debbie taught us how to drive the ATV.
This may come in handy in about 2 weeks...

The mountain here is the Eastern Spanish Peak.

Not the greatest Milky Way shot ever, but my cell phone will have to do.
So many stars!!

Finally, a quick salute to our son, Kyle, who graduated from the United States Air Force Academy. It felt like old times when Debbie and I visited the campus. Sorry, Kyle, no Black Mamba back in your cadet days... 

The cadets learned to fly gliders during "Soar" 
I think Kyle was hooked on flying. 

Kyle learned how to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.
His first jump was solo. 

A T-38A Talon on display at the Thunderbird Airmanship Overlook at USAFA.

Our week with Debbie and Rick flew by, and soon we had to "saddle up" the camper and drive to Durango. Tomorrow we take the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad along the Animas River. This is a must-do when visiting SW Colorado! Here's a link - check it out! https://www.durangotrain.com/