Cheryl, Steve & Gned the Gnome
Wednesday – April 12 – Today was another beautiful day so we went back to the Grand Canyon. We parked in the Village and took the Hermit’s Rest Route shuttle bus as this route is closed to private vehicles. There are a number of outlooks and you can get off and on the shuttle bus at any of the scheduled stops. There are so many magnificent views, the canyon is just so awesome.
Steve and Cheryl came over for a drink tonight and we had a few good games of euchre, a most enjoyable evening.
Steve and Cheryl came over for a drink tonight and we had a few good games of euchre, a most enjoyable evening.
Tuesday – April 11 – Today was a gorgeous day, a far cry from yesterday. Steve & Cheryl picked us up about 9 and we headed south to Motezuma Well, which is a national site and very unusual. It is a sink hole which is about 55 feet deep, has a constant year round temperature of 75 degrees and is fed from springs in the bottom.and a small 150 foot cave at pond level allows water to drain out at the rate of 1100 gallons per minute. Montezuma Well provides a unique aquatic environment for plant and animal life and because of high concentrations of carbon dioxide there are no fish found at the well. We saw many very large turtles lying on rocks around the water and quite a few ducks. Apparently it is the end of the season for ducks but in March there are many different species stop at the well.
We left Montezuma Well and went on to Motezuma Castle which is a five-story, 20 room cliff dwelling nestled into a limestone recess high above Beaver Creek. It served as a "high-rise apartment building" for prehistoric Sinagua Indians over 600 years ago and is amazing. They used ladders to access the dwelling and also to move from level to level in the dwelling. It's not a castle and Montezuma was never there, nevertheless that is its name.
We then went on to Jerome, the old mining town built on Cleopatra Hill. When we were there last week we were too late to visit the shops, but we were earlier today so had a late lunch then wandered through the stores. It is a very artistic community and there are a lot of locally made items which were very interesting. We got home about 7:15 so another long day.
On the way back we saw two large herds of elk along the side of the interstate, dusk is a bad time around here for elk so we were thankful we saw them along the side and not on the interstate.
We left Montezuma Well and went on to Motezuma Castle which is a five-story, 20 room cliff dwelling nestled into a limestone recess high above Beaver Creek. It served as a "high-rise apartment building" for prehistoric Sinagua Indians over 600 years ago and is amazing. They used ladders to access the dwelling and also to move from level to level in the dwelling. It's not a castle and Montezuma was never there, nevertheless that is its name.
We then went on to Jerome, the old mining town built on Cleopatra Hill. When we were there last week we were too late to visit the shops, but we were earlier today so had a late lunch then wandered through the stores. It is a very artistic community and there are a lot of locally made items which were very interesting. We got home about 7:15 so another long day.
On the way back we saw two large herds of elk along the side of the interstate, dusk is a bad time around here for elk so we were thankful we saw them along the side and not on the interstate.
Monday – April 10 – My, how the weather can change! Today was partly cloudy and very windy with a high in the high 50’s. We were listening to CBC Radio 1 this morning and I think it was warmer in Toronto today!
We were glad that we had planned for a quiet day today and the weather proved we made a good decision. I did laundry this morning then this afternoon we drove into Flagstaff and got the oil changed on the truck, did a trip to Wal Mart and the grocery store then back home. It was nice to have a fairly quiet day for a change and I was ready for it and John spent a fair bit of time working on his pictures. Now we are ready for another day of sightseeing tomorrow.
We were glad that we had planned for a quiet day today and the weather proved we made a good decision. I did laundry this morning then this afternoon we drove into Flagstaff and got the oil changed on the truck, did a trip to Wal Mart and the grocery store then back home. It was nice to have a fairly quiet day for a change and I was ready for it and John spent a fair bit of time working on his pictures. Now we are ready for another day of sightseeing tomorrow.
Sunday – April 9 – Today we did a train ride through Verde Canyon, the train leaves the Clarkdale station and goes to Perkinsville (wonder if the people who settled here are related to us) and back. It was another beautiful day and the train trip was great, with beautiful scenery. We decided to treat ourselves so went first class. The coach was an old stainless coach which has been totally redone and our seats were very comfy couches, with two facing each other and a large table in between. Included in the price were appetizers and a glass of champagne. Right behind our coach was an open viewing car with a canopy over top for shade and it was really needed as it was a warm sunny day. We went through a 680 foot man made tunnel and was it dark for about 60 seconds, you couldn’t see a thing. The canyon is home to the bald eagle and there was a nest with two babies in it and we could see the eagles flying around.
We had met a couple from B.C. at Blake Ranch RV Park in Kingman who also moved on to this park and they were doing the train trip also today so we went together. Steve drove and we went back through Oak Creek Canyon and through Sedona. In Sedona we stopped at the chapel built in the rocks and also saw a few other places which we haven’t seen yet. All in all it was a great day.
We had met a couple from B.C. at Blake Ranch RV Park in Kingman who also moved on to this park and they were doing the train trip also today so we went together. Steve drove and we went back through Oak Creek Canyon and through Sedona. In Sedona we stopped at the chapel built in the rocks and also saw a few other places which we haven’t seen yet. All in all it was a great day.
Saturday – April 8 – Today was another beautiful day weather wise and another interesting day touring wise. We started out by visiting Walnut Canyon which is a National Park and contains cliff dwellings built by the Sinagua over 900 years ago.
As the park ranger said, to see the cliff dwellings you have to descend into the canyon and it is 244 steps down, and also 244 steps up! Off we went and the walk down wasn’t too bad, there are a few spots where there are benches if you need a rest, but I didn’t need to use them on the way down.
The Sinagua people used the overhangs on the cliffs to build their pueblos and built walls to divide these overhangs into separate rooms. The walk was along the cliff ledge and you traveled from Canada to Mexico on the walk in terms of climate and vegetation, from large pine trees to desert areas. We also saw a number of large eagles flying over the canyon. Having a large fear of heights I found the walk very nerve racking as well as very interesting and just can’t imagine these people hundreds of years ago traversing up and down the sides of the canyons. The walk up was okay and we stopped to rest a few times so made it up and down quite easily. I thought I had had my exercise for at least the next 5 days. Not quite!
After Walnut Canyon we went to Sunset Crater. Sunset Crater was created by a volcano over 900 years ago and is 1000 feet high and looks something like a perpetual sunset. It was interesting to see the sides of the crater all black from the lava and there were extremely large pieces of lava rock from the volcano. We did a .5 km walk to look at the lava rock and the side of the crater. The side of the crater is basically bare as very little grows on the lava.
There is a 34 mile loop drive from Sunset Crater to Wupatki which is another pueblo ruin built during the 11th and 13th centuries. Along this drive there were wonderful views of the Painted Desert, it is just unbelievable the different landscapes we can see in one day. The Wupatki pueblo was totally different from Walnut Canyon but very interesting also. To get there was a bit of a walk but at least it wasn’t down the side of a canyon! At this point I decided I had had my exercise for the next week.
We got home after 7, had dinner and were in bed early as we were very tired.
As the park ranger said, to see the cliff dwellings you have to descend into the canyon and it is 244 steps down, and also 244 steps up! Off we went and the walk down wasn’t too bad, there are a few spots where there are benches if you need a rest, but I didn’t need to use them on the way down.
The Sinagua people used the overhangs on the cliffs to build their pueblos and built walls to divide these overhangs into separate rooms. The walk was along the cliff ledge and you traveled from Canada to Mexico on the walk in terms of climate and vegetation, from large pine trees to desert areas. We also saw a number of large eagles flying over the canyon. Having a large fear of heights I found the walk very nerve racking as well as very interesting and just can’t imagine these people hundreds of years ago traversing up and down the sides of the canyons. The walk up was okay and we stopped to rest a few times so made it up and down quite easily. I thought I had had my exercise for at least the next 5 days. Not quite!
After Walnut Canyon we went to Sunset Crater. Sunset Crater was created by a volcano over 900 years ago and is 1000 feet high and looks something like a perpetual sunset. It was interesting to see the sides of the crater all black from the lava and there were extremely large pieces of lava rock from the volcano. We did a .5 km walk to look at the lava rock and the side of the crater. The side of the crater is basically bare as very little grows on the lava.
There is a 34 mile loop drive from Sunset Crater to Wupatki which is another pueblo ruin built during the 11th and 13th centuries. Along this drive there were wonderful views of the Painted Desert, it is just unbelievable the different landscapes we can see in one day. The Wupatki pueblo was totally different from Walnut Canyon but very interesting also. To get there was a bit of a walk but at least it wasn’t down the side of a canyon! At this point I decided I had had my exercise for the next week.
We got home after 7, had dinner and were in bed early as we were very tired.
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