Carlsbad Caverns, NM

These are all photos of Carlsbad Caverns. It is very hard to take good pictures since it is so dark, with just some special areas lighted.

This is called the Lion's Tail.

Beautiful stalactites and stalagmites. Center of the photo shows water.

This is the Chineese area. Look closely and see chineese like figures.

We are now on our way home. We will probably not blog again unless we see something extra special to share with all.

Thanks to all for following the blog. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed doing it. We will see all of you in Nov. We should be home by Wednesday.

Tombstone, AZ

The first stop in Tombstone was The Boothill Graveyard. These are the graves of the Clanton Gang.

I thought the wording on this grave was amusing.

A statue of Wyatt Earp.

A cowboy walking the steet in Tombstone. There were gun fight shows throughout the day, but this was one of the days Dick was ill. I walked the town and took the pictures while Dick stayed in the car. The shows were scheduled where we would have had to wait an hour or two to see. Since Dick was not feeling well, we decided to skip the shows. We had already seen gun fights in Jackson Hole and Oatman anyway.

We will be going to Carlsbad Caverns tomorrow then head for home.

Old Tucson, AZ

Sorry we got behind in our blog. Dick was ill for a couple of days and since he is the one to set everything up, the blog did not get done. The above picture is a street in Old Tucson Studios. A lot of movies and TV shows have been shot here.

This is one of the sets for the movie Rio Lobo. As you can see there are bleachers set up for shows. We were here in the off season so there were no shows. Some of the other sets were the Olsen Mercantile for Little House on the Prairie and the ranch house set for the TV show High Chapperal.

This is the jail on the set. I got Dick behind bars.

Another scene from the studio. In season there are a lot of activities including a small area of carnival games and of course the shows. A lot of the buildings including Olsens Mercantile have gift and souvenier shops in them.

Oatman & London Bridge

After leaving Las Vegas, we stopped at Oatman, AZ. This is an old mining town established in the early 1900'. When the mining stopped, the burros that were used as pack animals were released. Now those burros roam the streets of Oatman and the surrounding area. They like to be fed carrots and like to be petted.

This is a street scene of Oatman. It looks much as it would have in the early 1900's. Now all of the store fronts are gift shops and restaurants. This is the length of the town's main street.

Oatman is on historic route 66. We drove part of this route on our way to Lake Havasue to see the London Bridge.

This is a picture of the London Bridge. It is hard to see the flags flying on the bridge, but there are both US and British flags.

We are resting a few days in Sun City. We will be leaving on Wednesday to start for home with stops in Tucson and Tobmstone, AZ and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

Hoover Dam & Las Vegas

On our way to Las Vegas, we stopped at Hoover Dam. This is a picture of the back of the dam that creates Lake Mead. This dam was built between 1931 and 1935 and the electric created serves Las Vegas and beyond.

The bakc of the dam and a portion of Lake Mead.

The fron of the dam and the spillway.

We did not take any pictures in Las Vegas, but we did go to the downtown area and visited theGolden Nugget, the Four Queensand Fitzgeralds. We also saw the laser light show. The next morning we walked the strip. It has changed from the last time we were there 20 years ago. Many new casino/hotels. We stayed at the Sahara which is one of the older and smaller hotel/casinos on the strip.

It did not take long to lose the money allotted for gambling so we quickly moved on to Oatman, AZ and Lake Havasu.

Sedona & Montezuma's Castle

We stayed in Tuba City in the Navajo Nation (the Navajos call the reservation Navajo Nation) after visiting the Four Corners (also in the Navajo Nation). This is some of the scenery in Navajo Nation. It is a very desolate area with single houses scattered throughout the area. Now and then there are small communities with several homes. This area is very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter with elevations at 5000 to 6000 feet.

This is is some of the red rock mountains surrounding Sedona. We took a Pink Jeep tour and had a guide who told us that there are many indian ruins in the area found only by hiking in the surrounding canyons. Most of the area around Sedona is protected land.

Another beautiful scene looking across the valley to the red rock mountains. The jeep tour took us to several canyons on a very rough dirt road and the guide pointed out different formations and different desert plants.

This is Montezuma's Castle. The indians who lived here are thought to be ancestors of the Utes. This particular cliff dwelling was inhabited for about 300 years from 900 to 1200 AD. The inhabitants were farmers who farmed in the fertile valley below the cliffs and were thought to have built the cliff dwellings for protection. The people who lived here disappeared around 1200 and no one knows what caused them to leave. Some theories are that the river at the base of this mountain dried up and they no longer had a good water source or that a disease caused there disappearance.

Mesa Verde Nat'l Park & Four Corners CO.

We left Durango this morning and went to Mesa Verde National Park where there are many cliff dwellings. This is one of those. These cliff dwellings are on a mesa at 8000 plus feet above sea level. Even in the valleys the elevation is 5000 to 6000 feet above sea level. This is part of the Colorado Plateau which encompasses parts of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

This is a picture taken in the canyon below some of the cliff dwellings. The colors are beautiful this time of year.

A herd of wild horses found in Colorado.

Me standing in four states at one time. This is the four corners where Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico meet. It is on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

Tomorrow we plan to take a Jeep ride in Sedona, AZ, in the red rock area of Sedona, and Montezuma's Castle. Then we're going to relax for a day in Sun City.

The trip is starting to wind down. We plan to start our trip home next Wednesday, but we still have plenty of sights to see.

Durango to Silverton RR, Durango, CO

Today we rode the narrow guage railroad from Durango to Silverton, CO. This is the steam engine that pulled our train. The train winds through the mountains for 45 miles to Silverton which is an old silver mining town. This trip took 3 1/2 hours each way.

This beautiful river ran along side the train tracks most of the way. There were a lot of these rapids along this river which is popular with kayakers. A couple of the areas along the way were used in several movies including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kind. One was where they jumped off the cliff into the river.

This is some of the beautiful mountain scenery we saw along the route. The aspins were pretty close to full color.

Again the beautiful color of the aspins in the mountains.

Both Durango and Silverton were lovely little towns. Durango is a fairly modern town with lots of little shops and a lot of outdoor activities such as biking, kayaking, rafting etc. Silverton is a very small town of about 350 permanent residents. There is one paved street in the town, the rest are dirt streets. It has a lot of restaurants and little shops for all of the tourists who ride the train. Most of the shops will close after this week for the season. The train will not go to Silverton after Oct. 31 until next spring. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

Petrified Forest & Painted Desert

Today we left Pat's house and started our trip again. First we went to the Petrified Forest and then to the Painted Desert. They are both together in the same area.

This is a piece of petrified wood. Note the many colors and the rings of the tree. This area was once a vast flood plain. The trees were Conifer trees. When the trees fell, they were carried by the streams into the flood plains. A mix of silt, mud, and volconic ash buried the logs. This sediment cut off the oxygen and slowed the logs decay. Silica-laden groundwater seeped into the logs and replaced the original wood tissue with silica deposits. Eventually the silica crystallized into quartz and the logs were preserved as petrified wood.

Another shot of a field full of these logs. These were everywhere.

This is the Painted Desert. The white layers are sandstone. The darker areas are caused by high carbon content. The darker reds are iron-stained siltstone. The reddish bases are stained by iron oxide.

Another picture showing the colorful layers of the Painted Desert.

Tomorrrow, we are heading for Durango to see if we can catch a train ride.

Tortilla Flats & Roosevelt dam

We haven't Blogged the past few days, as we have been resting and chilling out in the sun at Sun City. It has been wonderful, and very restful. Nancy is recharged now, and ready to continue our adventure.

On Tuesday, we took a day trip to Apache Junction, Totilla Flats, and Roosevelt Dam. This picture is of a portion of the 3 buildings in Tortilla Flats. The town has 5 residents, and in the middle of nowhere. It was very interesting, and we were there long enough to get a drink from the Bar, take some pictures and move on.

This is a picture of the inside of the restaurant/bar. Note the saddles for the bar stools. Of course, we had to try out the saddles.

We continued to Roosevelt Dam, over a rough dirt road, approx. 22 miles long. Of course we spent the previous day washing the car, then had to get it dirty all over again. This is one of the many views of the mountains covered with Saguaro Cactus.

This is the backside of Roosevelt Dam. It is the largest stone dam in the world. The stones were chiselled out of the canyon walls, and completed in the early 1900's.

Now we have to wash the car all over again.

Grand Canyon, South Rim

These pictures were all taken at the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

Another view.

If you look closely, you can see the Colorado River winding through the canyon.

Again, a view of the Colorado River.

This really shows the many layers of the canyon.

We drove the length of the south rim and stopped at each lookout point along the way. These pictures were taken at several of these lookouts. When I looked at the canyon, I was overwhelmed by the beauty and the magnitude of this "natural wonder of the world".

There is also a ruins of pueblan groups of indians near the canyon. That was very interesting to see. We also drove through the painted dessert on the way back to Flagstaff. The colors are much as the Grand Canyon.

There were many roadside booths with indians selling their handmade jewelry and pottery along the road we took away from the canyon. This added more character and interest along the way.

We will be in Sun City tomorrow evening and will rest a couple of days before we start a new adventure.

Grand Canyon, North Rim

These pictures have all been taken at the north rim of the Grand Canyon.

This is a shot accross the canyon toward the south rim. Notice the plateau in the background.

Notice the geologic layers.

This is from the east end of the north rim.

We are looking forward to seeing the south rim on Saturday.

Zion National Park, UT

Today we visited Zion National Park, the last of the 4 parks we went to in Utah. As you can tell by the pictures, each had their own unique rock formations. This one is called the checkerboard.

This looks like a giant beehive on top of the mountain.

Another stunning formation.

This was three peaks that were breathtaking. Pictures do not do justice to the beauty of these mountains and formations. It is so hard to pick a few pictures each day for the blog. We have taken almost 3000 pictures so far. It will really be hard to edit when we get home.

We have traveled on many mountains and mountain passes over the past few weeks. In Oregon on the way to California, at Yosemite and in these four parks we drove on steep curvy roads. I didn't count how many swithbacks on steep mountain roads, many with 6%, 8% or 10% inclines, that we drove with little or no guard rails. It was a little scary, but also exilerating.

Our next stop is the north rim of the Grand Canyon.