Tuesday, September 27, 2005
End of Summer:
7000 miles after last entry.... We've "done the big tour," and seen places not seen before. Starting in Gold Canyon, Arizona, we traveled south to Benson, then east, through southern NM then northeast, up through Texas and into Arkansa and Missouri, and then spent a month with family in Missouri.
At that point we headed Northwest, up through the corner of Kansas, and into Nebraska. The latter, we found to be certifiably beautiful, with its blue mists, balmy temperatures, rolling green hills and wildflowers in abundance.
Up into South Dakota: among travel destinations, I think, S.D. gets an unfairly bad reputation. But then you get there. It's all far off vistas, huge horizons, and tiny towns, straight, straight roads....and then you come to the Badlands, and of course, nearby the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park---it's all quite gorgeous.
We dipped across the border into Wyoming, but only briefly, then came down into Nebraska again, discovering more-than-a-little Oregon Trail history in Scottsbluff. Then d0wn into Colorado: Ft. Collins in a great college town, with mountain side trips galore to the west. Down and across some high mountains to the San Luis Valley, where we stayed at Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park.
Finally down into Taos, staying 3 weeks in the backyard of great friends there. What a visit "back in time" to our old haunts. Taos retains all of the "mystical vibrations" that it ever had for us, despite the fact that it has become more-and-more the playground for those with big bucks.
Then around the end of the mountains and up Abiquiu which has not-a-little old and contemporary history (Indian dwellings, Georgio O'Keefe and more). We joined with friends there, and spent the next 4 weeks traveling side-by-side with them: back up into Colorado where we "did" the southwestern quadrant: Cortez, Durango, Montrose, Gunnison and all the scenic attractions of that area; resplendant in ancient Indian ruins, history, and with a lasting patina of lost civilizations, it's a great lesson in humility. Also a very pleasant place to be in the month of August....
We sojourned in Colorado for more than a second month, and then headed westward into Utah: Moab, Canyonlands, Arches, Monument Valley. Big time red-rock country. Also a fair amount warmer.
Then, descending, we came into Arizona, and were cool again: for a week in Flagstaff, a less cool week in Cottonwood (where we saw even more Indian history: Monteczuma's Castle and Well) plus Sedona, Peyson, you name it.
Finally, our journey will come to an end as we drive over the hill and down "into the valley," (sounds like a song, doesn't it?) to our winter digs in Gold Canyon.
The price of fuel has gone from $2 to over $3 a gallon, and our mileage hasn't gotten any better. We continue to search for some high-altitude destination which affords the right mix of summer emenities and temperatures, and is in reasonable striking distance to "the valley," but such a solution remains elusive. Anyway, we have until next summer to decide that one....
So, it's with more than a little sadness that we conclude this great summer. As I've told friends: the photographs from the first 32 years of my life (I was taking pictures from age 8 onwards) filled ONE CD. The pictures from this summer alone have filled more than 43!
And so it goes.
7000 miles after last entry.... We've "done the big tour," and seen places not seen before. Starting in Gold Canyon, Arizona, we traveled south to Benson, then east, through southern NM then northeast, up through Texas and into Arkansa and Missouri, and then spent a month with family in Missouri.
At that point we headed Northwest, up through the corner of Kansas, and into Nebraska. The latter, we found to be certifiably beautiful, with its blue mists, balmy temperatures, rolling green hills and wildflowers in abundance.
Up into South Dakota: among travel destinations, I think, S.D. gets an unfairly bad reputation. But then you get there. It's all far off vistas, huge horizons, and tiny towns, straight, straight roads....and then you come to the Badlands, and of course, nearby the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park---it's all quite gorgeous.
We dipped across the border into Wyoming, but only briefly, then came down into Nebraska again, discovering more-than-a-little Oregon Trail history in Scottsbluff. Then d0wn into Colorado: Ft. Collins in a great college town, with mountain side trips galore to the west. Down and across some high mountains to the San Luis Valley, where we stayed at Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park.
Finally down into Taos, staying 3 weeks in the backyard of great friends there. What a visit "back in time" to our old haunts. Taos retains all of the "mystical vibrations" that it ever had for us, despite the fact that it has become more-and-more the playground for those with big bucks.
Then around the end of the mountains and up Abiquiu which has not-a-little old and contemporary history (Indian dwellings, Georgio O'Keefe and more). We joined with friends there, and spent the next 4 weeks traveling side-by-side with them: back up into Colorado where we "did" the southwestern quadrant: Cortez, Durango, Montrose, Gunnison and all the scenic attractions of that area; resplendant in ancient Indian ruins, history, and with a lasting patina of lost civilizations, it's a great lesson in humility. Also a very pleasant place to be in the month of August....
We sojourned in Colorado for more than a second month, and then headed westward into Utah: Moab, Canyonlands, Arches, Monument Valley. Big time red-rock country. Also a fair amount warmer.
Then, descending, we came into Arizona, and were cool again: for a week in Flagstaff, a less cool week in Cottonwood (where we saw even more Indian history: Monteczuma's Castle and Well) plus Sedona, Peyson, you name it.
Finally, our journey will come to an end as we drive over the hill and down "into the valley," (sounds like a song, doesn't it?) to our winter digs in Gold Canyon.
The price of fuel has gone from $2 to over $3 a gallon, and our mileage hasn't gotten any better. We continue to search for some high-altitude destination which affords the right mix of summer emenities and temperatures, and is in reasonable striking distance to "the valley," but such a solution remains elusive. Anyway, we have until next summer to decide that one....
So, it's with more than a little sadness that we conclude this great summer. As I've told friends: the photographs from the first 32 years of my life (I was taking pictures from age 8 onwards) filled ONE CD. The pictures from this summer alone have filled more than 43!
And so it goes.
