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.