Do a Little Turn...on the Catwalk Canyon

Our cell phone alarms were set to 4:30 am this morning, as there was no clock radio in our wigwam. As early as it seemed, it really didn't make much of a difference from our other mornings because Holbrook, AZ is actually on Pacific time during Daylight Savings. So, basically it was more like 5:30 am since we were on our way back to the Mountain time zone today, ultimately to end up at my parents' house in Las Cruces.

After taking some shots of our wigwam, we loaded up the car, hit up a McDonald's for a mcgriddle and latte, and got on the road by about 7 am (MST). The first 50 or so miles of the drive were fairly boring as we worked our way southward through Arizona. Then, once we hit the Apache National Forest, I got a chance to test my driving skills in curvy, mountainous terrain.

Around 10 am, we approached our first side activity for the day by way of a "ghost town" called Mogollon. The town was about 10 miles from the main highway, accessible only by a one lane road (not to mention that this one lane road was riddled with blind turns and sheer drop-offs the entire way). That was one thing I had not bargained for, but on the way to the town we did not pass one car.

When we got to the town, it was pretty quiet and ghostlike, as none of the little shops or museums were open. You could also tell that there were a few residents in the town, but all was quiet on this Monday morning. Justin took several pictures of the historic buildings such as the theater, general store and museum. I also saw a little gray kitty while I was walking around, but he was a bit to skittish to come out to see me.

Once Justin finished taking pics, we decided to move it a long to our next activity. On the way out, we passed three cars and safely made it back to highway 180 unscathed. Then, we drove about another 10 miles into the town of Glenwood and then out to the Catwalk/Whitewater Canyon area. The road obstacle adventure continued as we had to drive through water wash areas twice, as we made our way to the parking area. Luckily, the current was very light and very shallow...it was more fun than anything.

At the Catwalk Canyon, we decided to do the 1.1 mile trail that weaved it's way up, down and across the canyon multiple times as water rushed below. Even though parts of the trail were labeled as "difficult," it was nothing compared to the Canyon de Chelly trail from the day before. The only major difference is that it was both hot and sunny on this trail, so we were pretty darn sweaty by the end.

When we returned to our vehicle, Justin improvised with his pocket knife and made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. Then, we were swiftly on the road again to continue our journey to Las Cruces. We made one more little side trip to the town of Pinos Altos around 2 pm, but a literal drive-by was sufficient as the historical elements were a little too kitschy for our tastes.

As the afternoon wore on, we both started to feel the race against the clock to get to Las Cruces by 5:30 pm to return our rental car. There was about a 30 mile stretch of road through the Gila National Forest that was so mountainous and curvy that there were road signs neither of us had ever seen before. Plus, it's kind of tough to make good time when you have to contest with 10 mph turns. But eventually, we crested our last hill in the range and descended towards Interstate 25 and 75 mph speed limits. We breezed through the last 60 miles of our drive and reached Las Cruces by 5:15 pm.

After dropping off our car, my dad picked us up and we made our way to Casa Palmier. The rest of the evening was spent eating delicious food such as homemade, fresh salsa, grilled potato slices with citrus aioli, grilled shrimp and Mexican corn salad PLUS drinking way to much wine and beer. It was also a cloudless evening, so the stars were in full force as we chilled out on the back patio. I counted at least 4 shooting stars before I basically got too inebriated to pay attention anymore. Eventually, I went to bed and somehow managed to brush my teeth and wash my face on autopilot. I guess it goes without saying that I let loose and enjoyed my first evening in Las Cruces - what are vacations for, right?

Sunrise, Canyons and Gas Fumes

Today began with an early start – our sunrise tour of Monument valley started at 5:30 am. Our fingers crossed, we rolled out of bed at 4:30 AM and saw our payers answered. The expansive clouds that covered the entire horizon last night were gone! Our sunrise would be clear and blue skies.

We left Gouldings Lodge and headed to the View Hotel inside the Navajo reservation that sits in Monument Valley. There in the lobby we met up with our guide Orville a local Navajo Indian. Soon we headed out to the parking lot and loaded up into the tour van. I rode shotgun and Lauren rode in the back with our fellow tourees a familiy from the French countryside just north of Paris. After leaving the hotel lot we immediately turned on to an unpaved (and super rough) dirt road that would take us in the heart of Monument Valley.

After driving over dirt moguls for what seemed like an eternity the sunrise was getting very close. Just as we started to question whether or not we were going to make our destination in time we made it to a field overlooking the Totem Pole formation. We jumped out of the van and headed to the brick red field below. I setup my tripod in the soft, rust colored soil and and started shooting. The view was breathtaking. As the morning sun started to rise the colors of the sky went from midnight black, to orange, and crystal blue. The sun rose directly between two formations giving me an incredible shot of the sun peeking through the rocks.

Our group jumped in the van and backtracked through the valley and visited several other monuments including Indian Head, Sleeping Dragon, Three Sisters, Castle Rock, King on Throne, and many others. Along the way we learned about the Navajo culture and Orville’s family. His family is one of 14 that live in the Valley itself. Throughout the day we passed a handful of residences within the Valley. Talk about having a nice backyard view! Eventually we found ourselves at the end of our tour about 2.5 hours later. We talked with Orville for a few more minutes and learned that one of the mesas near the entrance of the park is called Grey Whisker and is name for his great grandfather.

Leaving the reservation we headed back to our hotel to pack up and checkout. We stopped by the local gas station and grabbed some supplies and hit the road. Traveling south we left Monument Valley behind and headed to the town Chinle, AZ the home of Canyon de Chelly a National Monument. The Canyon is the ancient home of several native cultures over the last 5,000 years. Once we arrived we decided to hike a trail called the White House Trail which took us down to the bottom of the Canyon. I packed my camera backpack and Lauren strapped on her Camel Back water system and we hit the trail. The way down was pretty easy going featuring at least a dozen switchbacks as it descended the 600 feet to the canyon floor. The views, and the sheer rock faces on either side of the path, were incredible.

After about 40 minutes we reached the bottom of the canyon to find a few Navajo homes, a scenic river, and some ancient cliff face ruins. We took some pics, a few sips of water, and began the ascent back up the trail. The going on the way up was quite a bit more difficult. Especially given that I over packed my camera bag and had 40 pounds on my back. We finally made it out of the canyon and completed our 1.5 mile trek after a total of 1.5 hours. Grabbing some quick sandwiches we continued to explore the canyon stopping at several scenic overlooks.

We needed to cut our tour short and get on the road to our next destination the Petrified Forrest National Park a short 90 minutes away. Then we hit the wall. The hike in the canyon coupled with our 4:00 AM rise was too much for us to handle. We resorted to driving in shifts so we could each grab a quick 20 minute nap. We arrived at the Park at about 2:30 PM thanks to an odd section of Arizona on Pacific Standard Time. Our first stop was a short, easy hike that followed a ridge giving us panoramic views of the Painted Desert. We then hit Blue Mesa and Newspaper Rock. Newspaper Rock was a fascinating slab of sandstone with black sides that featured hundreds upon hundreds of petroglyphs. Our final noteworthy destination in the park was Crystal Forrest featuring petrified logs with quartz and amethyst crystals growing inside their hollow cores.

At this point we almost had an interesting event. Lauren had been driving for quite some time leading up to the park and was now driving us out of the park. After refusing to stop for gas at the beginning of the park she was now staring at an almost empty tank with no gas station in sight. With only fumes left in the tank we had to continue on to Holbrook, AZ where we would be staying the night. Twenty nervous minutes later we arrived at Holbrook and filled our tank lesson learned.

Our overnight stay was at an, shall we say, interesting hotel. In another fit of childhood wishes come true Lauren had booked us at the Wigwam motel. Our room was all of about 200 square feet and featured a bed, a super small bathroom and shower, and a 20 inch TV. We caught the first half of the Bengals vs. Cowboys preseason game (holy crap Bengals, learn how to get some points plz) and then headed to dinner. A few hours later we are now retiring to bed early for another early morning – we have a 350+ mile trek to Las Cruces, NM ahead of us on our next leg.

-Justin

Utah and the Valley of the Gods

I will be your storyteller for today's post. Lauren gladly gave me the reigns when I volunteered over dinner.

So this morning we checked out of our hotel in Santa Fe and picked up our rental car at the Santa Fe airport. We bid Rick and Darice goodbye and we were off on our way to our ultimate destination Monument Valley some 300 miles away. The weather was nice, at first, and we were making good time. Along the way we attempted to stop at a few "off the beaten path" type of places but had zero luck. Several were unmarked dirt roads that proved difficult to find and the others were behind "No Trespassing" signs and barbed wire fences. We resigned ourselves to stay on the well traveled highways and pushed ahead.

Soon we reached the New Mexico border and crossed over into Arizona...then Utah...then Colorado...and back to New Mexico. No, we weren't driving around in circles we were stopped at the Four Corner's monument where CO, NM, UT, and AZ all come to a single point. I would like to add that this point happens to be within the Navajo lands so of course we had to make a $3.00 contribution per person to have the privileged. For some reason Lauren has a thing for this kind of tourist trap. After paying our dues and parking near some dilapidated buildings we hiked up the gravel path, past the Navajo jewelery booths and made it to the Four Corners - where we promptly stood in line to get a few photos. Lauren's experience as a world champion Twister player came in handy on the Four Corner's and she coexisted in 4 states at once.

Before I completely lost it we were again on our way. We continued North through a small slice of Colorado and were soon back on the road in Utah. Several hours from our destination it began to rain. The clouds poured in and soon the whole sky was a mottled gray. Ultimately we came upon Mexican Hat rock, an odd rock formation resembling a sombrero perched atop an impossibly small cliff. We tried our hand at a little off-roading and got a few decent shots of the hat. Little did we know this was but a warm up for our evening activities...

Turning back on to the main road we stopped for gas in Mexican Hat (the town). We crested a final bluff and there before us lay Monument valley. The road seemed to stretch on forever down into the valley and led right to the feet of the giant pedestals of red stone. We stopped for a few pictures - my favorite being one shot from the center of the road - and drove into Monument Valley. We had originally scheduled a sunset jeep tour of the valley but the clouds were not cooperating. Most of the formations were completely lost in the dense white billows of clouds. The rain just made matters worse.

We rescheduled our tour to the next morning for an ambitious sunrise excursion. And just like that we had our whole evening free. Our original tour was slated to last from 5:30 until 8:30 or so, but now we had nothing to do. And in a town as small as Monument Valley it's easy to get bored. So we opted to hit the road again. After we checked in and changed clothes we jumped back in the car and headed back south to the Valley of the Gods and we finally started to catch some luck. To the south, towards the Valley of the Gods, the clouds had started to break. We might catch some blue skies!

The Valley of the Gods is like a mini Monument Valley. The stone outcroppings are the result of the same weathering but are smaller and packed into a denser concentration. The Valley itself can be accessed by a dirt road that loops through the park. On the very first turn of the road we began to question our choice. The afternoon rain storms had washed out a section of the road that traversed a dried river bed. The water was mostly gone, but deep ruts remained where fellow travelers had clearly struggled. Luckily the rain had stopped for about an hour and in such a dry climate that's all it takes. We splashed through a few small puddles, climbed over the river bed and continued on into the Valley.

Several hours and several hundred photos later we reached the half way point of the 18 mile loop. By this time the sun was starting to descend to the horizon. I wanted to stick around and see the sunset. After a few minutes I managed to convince Lauren. We found a nice ridge with a good view and waited. We were soon rewarded. Behind us a faint rainbow connected the horizon to one of the towering formations. What luck! After a few minutes the rainbow strengthened and a second rainbow formed alongside.

After waiting an eternity we decided to head back. The sun was still dipping down below the cliffs, but we had to get back to Monument Valley by 9:00 pm or else we would miss out on dinner at the lodge! Lauren put the pedal to metal and we plunged through the switchbacks and washouts. Along the way we stopped for a few photos of the dusky sky. The clouds were still present, but we found a few holes here and there. We made it back to the highway and had about 30 minutes to make it back to the lodge. Zooming down the road we had several close calls with feeding bats. They seemed to relish swooping into our path, narrowly missing certain doom every time.

We made it to the lodge restaurant at 8:58 pm and just barely made dinner. After some country fried steak and a delicious T-bone, we were stuffed. With depressing efficiency we set the alarms and wakeup calls for our 5:30 AM sunrise tour! Let's hope the Gods are with us in the morning!

- Justin

Leaving Our Mark in Santa Fe

This morning, we awoke around 6:45 am to embark on our one full day devoted to sites in and around Santa Fe. After grabbing some complimentary breakfast to go, my parents, Justin and I headed up to the Santa Fe Ski Basin.

The really cool thing about the drive to this summit is that within about 5 minutes of leaving town, you are met with the complete package of mountainous terrain, aspen and pine-laden forests and plenty of S curves and hairpin turns along the road. We made a few stops on the way up to the ski area. The first one was a viewpoint looking down on Santa Fe and several other peaks in the distance. There was one particular peak that we vouched was at least 80 miles from where we were standing.

The next spot we stopped was purely to get a closer look at some of the aspen groves that are so prolific in this area. We hiked a random trail until we lost the sound of the main road (probably not quite 1/4 of a mile), and Justin took some early morning pictures of the trees with the bright, clear blue sky in the background.

Once we got to the Ski Basin, we basically just looped around the road and proceeded with our descent back into Santa Fe. We made one more brief stop-off at another vista. However, it didn't prove to be as interesting or scenic as our earlier stops.

When we reached downtown Santa Fe, we parked in a lot and headed to some of the popular tourist spots. First, we went to the Loretto Chapel with the famous floating spiral staircase. The chapel was quite small, but very impactful. It was probably one of the prettiest churches I've been to in quite some time...not that we step into churches very often. I'm very excited to see some of Justin's photos that he took at this location...they should be quite beautiful.

Next, we headed back to the plaza, where we had spent some time the previous evening. Of course during the day, there's a whole lot more hustle and bustle since all of the shops are open, including many street vendors. Across the street from the plaza was the Palace of the Governors where Native Americans had all of their handmade wares laid out on blankets. I saw some really cool copper bracelets, but I just didn't have the energy to wheel and deal on this particular day.

We continued on our way and went into a few shops as we made our way to our lunch spot called La Casa Sena. One of the stores I stopped in was called Todos Santos Chocolates and Confections. I picked up a half dozen truffles of varying flavors such as dark chocolate with cardamom center, white chocolate with rose hips, chocolate infused with black pepper, etc. So far, each one has been quite enjoyable. I'm sure we'll knock off what we didn't finish today by some point tomorrow.

So, by 11:30 am we were seated at our table in the courtyard of La Casa Sena. My mom and I treated ourselves to a glass of white wine with our lunch and we each order a different trout dish - hers was Ruby trout, mine was Rainbow trout. Both were very good, but a bit hefty of a meal for lunch. Justin and dad had varying burgers - dad's was organic beef and Justin's was antelope. I tried Justin's burger and it was actually very good. It wasn't gamy at all and was extremely lean and tender. One other highlight of the meal was the complimentary blue corn muffins, which were quite similar to a corn bread.

After lunch, we walked about a block to the St. Francis Basilica. It was much bigger than the other chapel and had some fantastic stained glass windows that were catching the midday sunlight beautifully. But, I definitely prefer the Loretto chapel over the Basilica any day. The thing about St. Francis that I probably got the biggest kick out of was that Stravinsky conducted about 3 concerts there in the 50's...and they were public, free concerts as well!

From the church, we walked about 5 more blocks to Canyon Rd., the art gallery hub of the city. The next couple of hours were spent trying to beat the afternoon heat, while dodging in and out of mostly unaffordable galleries. The one disappointment that I had was that we didn't really find one gallery that featured blown glass pieces, which I love. We did, however, come across a really cool gallery that featured aluminum, copper and stainless steel canvases that were painted with various scenes. The gallery was called Mark White Fine Art. Most of the pieces were 3-4 thousand dollars, but they of course, can work out interest-free payment plans to obtain the art. When we get home, we are definitely going to research the gallery some more and consider purchasing a piece.

Also, while we were walking along Canyon Rd., we made Justin take pictures of cool doors along the way - doors in turquoise and red and various degrees of distress. It's silly, maybe, but they could turn out to be some really cool pieces that can be combined into a set if we decide to print and frame them.

Finally around 3 pm, we had had enough and decided to head back to the hotel for a nap. I crashed for a good hour or so before it was time to get ready for our dinner reservation at Luminaria. By about 6:10 pm, we arrived at the restaurant and were seated in their outside courtyard. As early as we ate, it actually turned out to be quite beneficial because we didn't have to deal with the dinner rush and crowds. It got crowded by the time we were finishing our meals.

So, what did we eat? First, they brought out a light pastry-wrapped beef wellington appetizer. Then, we each had a bowl of the restaurant's award-winning tortilla soup that they kept bragging about. It was very good, but I just love my good old McAlister's tortilla soup. For dinner, I had herbed pork tenderloin with a goat cheese polenta; Justin had beef tenderloin with a wild mushroom torte; mom had chile rubbed shrimp with pasta; and dad had chicken with mushroom, asparagus and truffle mashed potatoes. I think we all enjoyed our main courses, but the soup was so rich, none of us were able to finish our plates but Justin. Where there's a will, there's a way, right? For dessert (which was included with my parents' meal), they had a champagne soup with sorbet and fresh strawberries.

Following dinner, we went to another restaurant and piano bar a short drive away called Vanessie. The pianist on duty was named Charles, and he weaved his way through familiar broadway tunes, classical music, country and rock. After getting our drinks and getting settled, Justin and I got up and sang All I Ask of You from Phantom. Then, a short time later Justin sang Besame Mucho, and I sang Over the Rainbow. Justin, of course, really hammed it up with the ladies and actually serenaded one of the board members of the Santa Fe Opera.

Anyway, the experience was a lot of fun and was a nice nightcap to our evening as well as a great way to wrap-up our time in Santa Fe before we leave tomorrow. Next time we are in town, we'll probably visit Vanessie again.

We got back to the hotel about 10pm and proceeded to re-pack for our journey tomorrow to a landmark in Utah. More to come then!

Do you know the way to Sante Fe?

It's definitely been a long first day adjusting to the new time zone. This morning we flew out of STL right on time at 10:35 a.m. The flight was generally uneventful except from some initial turbulence due to some stormy weather in Missouri.

Around noon we arrived in Albuquerque and my parents met us at the baggage claim. By the time is was 12:30, we had managed to secure all of our luggage and leave the airport. The way we chose to make our way to Santa Fe on this particular day was via the Turquoise Trail. At first, it was fairly unimpressive as we made our way out away from the interstate. By about the time we got a good 10 miles in, the mountains, rocks and building afternoon storms made the drive quite interesting.

In Madrid, we stopped for lunch at a typical tourist spot called the Mine Shaft Tavern. I ambitiously ordered a burger with green chilies and pepper-jack cheese. I underestimated the heat of this dish and ended up eating very little. But, my Santa Fe Brewery IPA was good!

So, we continued the rest of the way through the scenic byway and eventually reached Santa Fe where we checked into our Fairfield Inn room. After freshening up, we headed out for an evening of drinks and apps.

First, we went to the Ore House right on the plaza for some guac and margaritas. Then, we walked to the Coyote Cantina and had more mixed drinks as well as tempura fried shrimp and duck quesadillas. Our third stop was the Bell Tower Bar at La Fonda hotel. This was the spot where we were able to catch a fantastic sunset after a somewhat stormy afternoon.

Finally, we went to the lounge at the Inn at the Loretto, which was quite relaxing. My mom and I sipped on a glass of Syrah, while Justina and my dad had beer. We also snacked on a tempura fried artichoke and mushroom dish with a fig aioli. Yum!

Finally, we got back to our hotel a bit after 10, and I'm typing this and just about falling asleep at the same time. Hopefully, we'll start to adjust to the time change a bit more by tomorrow night so this isn't as much of a chore! Good night!

Another Year, Another Vaca

Well, here we are on the eve of another vacation. Packing has been a gradual process over the last couple of days, but the excitement has been building over at least the last few months. So, where are we heading this year??

Beautiful New Mexico and Arizona...with a little smattering of Utah thrown in. That's all I can really say for now. I don't want to get into the nitty gritty details because I want the reader to experience the great southwest along with me. The really unfortunate thing that I discovered as I was putting together our itinerary was that a week is just not nearly enough to see everything. However, we will have many more opportunities to go back in the future, as my parents now possess a residence in Las Cruces.

So, anyway, here's the deal so far. Tomorrow, we both have to put in a full day's work. I've got all of my projects pretty much together so that it should be an easy last day. But, every time I go into work with that attitude, the shit hits the fan. So, I'm apprehensive, to say the least.

Once we get off work, we will both reconvene at home, load up the car and drive to St. Louis. St. Louis, you ask? No, we are not driving to New Mexico. But, we are flying out of St. Louis on Thursday morning and will be returning there with my parents the following Friday to attend a friend's wedding (Mel) on Saturday. Genius planning on my part, right?

So, I have to say that I will fail in blogging tomorrow, as there will be absolutely nothing interesting to say between Cincinnati and St. Louis (I guess unless we hit some nasty weather on the way or something), but don't count on it.

I will continue, however, on Thursday as we will arrive in Albuquerque right around lunch time...and we'll see which direction we head from there.