Utah to Colorado to New Mexico – Day 3

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

The road we are taking to Lake City, Colorado, out of Gunnison, follows the braided Gunnison River as we leave town before the sun comes up.

While I could say that I’d love to drive in these mountains every day, I’d be lying because as soon as a flake of snow falls, I’d be wishing to be in Arizona sitting in shorts on a winter day having an iced tea, wishing to be somewhere it’s snowing.

I’m a sucker for barns set in idyllic locations where I could imagine living as a cow, not a steer for slaughter, but a friendly cow that wasn’t being milked by a mechanical octopus sucking the life out of me. My name would be Bessie, of course.

You can bet a dollar we took this route for this reason right here. Alfred Packer ate people on this spot one hundred twenty-nine years ago, and I’d guess he did it with gusto because if you are going cannibal, I don’t believe you pussyfoot into something this serious. You toss the bib and ketchup to the side and hold on tight while you start chewing on another man’s face and armpit; gotta start with the tender spots, right? Sadly, I can’t report that there was any draw to be pulled into that kind of madness as others report when visiting Niagara Falls and say they feel drawn by the water.

Out of gruesome pilgrimage, we return you to blatant scenes of profound beauty where primitive fences lead into wooded areas bordering small idyllic lakes in a valley surrounded by mountains while fluffy clouds dance along the edges.

Looks to be on the shallow side for kayaking, canoeing, or rafting, though who am I to judge such things?

Wildflowers, mountains, and dunes are not something you expect to see every day.

While the Great Sand Dunes National Monument has been authorized to become a National Park with an expansion of its lands a few years ago, it’s awaiting approval from Congress. Next time we visit, hopefully, we’ll be able to brag that we’d been here back when it was a wee monument.

There are at least six people in this photo; can you find them? The mountains in the background are the  Sangre de Cristo Range, which extends down into New Mexico and represents the end of the Rockies.

A road trip to consider would take us from Santa Fe at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Range right up to Toad River in British Columbia, Canada. With this trip, we will see the extent of the Rocky Mountains with our own eyes; sounds like a plan.

During sunrise and sunset, those mountain peaks look red in the “alpenglow” hence their name that translates to Blood of the Christ – Sangre de Cristo.

Trillions of treasures for the eye likely exist distributed throughout these mountains; we see a few dozen and are somehow satisfied. Oh yeah, this just happens to be Treasure Falls in the Pagosa Springs area of Colorado, should you be wondering.

This horse left her pasture, and her hooves failed her on the asphalt; down she went with some road rash for her desire to explore the larger world. We’d seen her go over the fence as her companions running with ferocity approached the edge of the property, so while Caroline kept her company and reassured her that we’d find someone to bring her safely back to the fold, I went onto the property to get the owner’s attention. Back she went to the nervous herd that had been anxiously standing by, and we drove off happy that this beautiful white horse hadn’t been hit by a passing car.

Tonight’s sleeping adventure is being brought to us courtesy of Aztec, New Mexico, over in the Four Corners region. Time for some desert exploration.

Utah to Colorado to New Mexico – Day 2

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Gooseneck State Park in Utah

This is the “other” horseshoe. One is found down by Page, Arizona, and has the Colorado River flowing through it. This one is found in Gooseneck State Park in Utah and has the San Juan River running through it, though it ends up flowing into the Colorado River over at Lake Powell.

North of Mexican Hat, Utah

This is a brilliant example of desert skies where looking in one direction, the horizon has a foreboding gloom portending bad weather out there. A few minutes later, and looking in another direction, you get the following.

Near the Mokee Dugway in Utah

Heading up the Mokee Dugway all of a sudden, the day is perfect again with an inviting sky of fluffy clouds.

Mokee Dugway in Southern Utah

This narrow dirt road gives you a better idea of what exactly the Mokee Dugway is and why we tend to want to avoid it in bad weather.

Caroline Wise and John Wise on the Mokee Dugway in Southern Utah

So far, the new car is a pleasure and is getting us where we want to go.

Church Rock in Utah

This is the kind of church Caroline and I can get into. Welcome to Church Rock near the turnoff for Canyonlands National Park.

Canyonlands National Park in Utah

Wow, this is quite the canyon. No wonder Edward Abbey warned of careless travel in the Maze that’s somewhere out there. To be clear, this is the Needles Overlook in Canyonlands National Park, and today’s visit will not do it justice, but that’s kind of our way of having first encounters with many places in America.

Canyonlands National Park in Utah

We are here at the Minor Overlook too late in the day for a giant diversion from where we are planning on staying tonight, but if we had the time and we are so very tempted to make that time, we’d hike right out to the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers.

Canyonlands National Park in Utah

Canyonlands is certainly a relatively unknown treasure, probably because of the difficulty in visiting the place and not having very many services nearby aside from Moab further north. This particular view is from the Anticline Overlook.

Caroline Wise and Horses in Colorado

Red rock to green grass is the visual indicator that we’ve gone east and are now in Colorado.

Metal Grasshopper Roadside in Norwood, Colorado

The mutant steel grasshoppers of Norwood, Colorado, are not coming to a town near you because they’ve not been robotized – yet.

On the road outside Ridgeway, Colorado looking towards Ouray or Telluride

We’ve been to Ouray and Telluride on the other side of those mountains, but this is the first time on this side.

Caroline Wise and John Wise at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado

We made it. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park was a bit of a mystery to us as we never heard it referenced. No one has ever told us we should visit, and I can’t think of any movies that featured it as a backdrop, such as Monument Valley which has been used many times.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado

Check out all that metamorphic rock. It’s a curiosity to me that this rock that is over 1.5 billion years old and maybe as striking is the fact that we are at nearly 8,000 feet in elevation (2,400 meters), and these formerly igneous and sedimentary rocks were at one time approximately 8 miles below sea level (12.8 km). Now, here we are, gazing across the canyon at the sloping mountainside that has a gaping chasm torn into it, looking like pasture lands go right up to the edge as though this was opened yesterday.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado

I wonder how many others, when thinking of the Rockies, picture the mountains west of Denver and consider that’s about it. We are still in the Rocky Mountains, although we are 200 miles from Denver. They continue south to the Sangre de Christo Mountains for at least another 250 miles and north towards Toad River, Canada, for another 2,179 miles.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado

Isn’t that some nice shit? Oops, I mean gneiss and schist. Their story is a romantic entanglement that began long, long ago in a time far away. While they started life as sand, sediment, and volcanic rock, they grew up until, during their long hibernation, under great pressure, the gneiss, hot and cooking away to change its molecular structure, was not as hot and fluid as the schist that was able to flow and cut into the gneiss. Hundreds of millions of years will pass before they reappear for their unveiling as a couple forever intertwined as one until, once again, they return to the sands of time long after we depart from this world.

Caroline Wise standing in the Gunnison River in Colorado

Standing in the Gunnison River because a corner of Winslow, Arizona, is not nearby.

Somewhere near Gunnison, Colorado at Sunset

We are spending the night in Gunnison. Nothing left to report about this day, end of transmission.

Utah to Colorado to New Mexico – Day 1

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Caroline Wise and John Wise driving to Utah

Oh, you are getting off work early today? I’ve got an idea: let’s drive our new car out somewhere to help break it in. Hmmm, where should we go? How about we go get a steak? Sounds like a plan. Do you think we can make it? Depends on how many stops we make between here and there.

Northern Arizona at sunset

Up north of Flagstaff, it never seems to fail that we see some of the most amazing sunsets and cloud formations.

So, I mentioned a new car. After months and endless loaner cars, the Beetle bit the dust. It will be the last German car we’ll ever own in the United States. We paid $7,000 for a new engine, and before we reached the next corner, the check engine light came on. This is how the next nearly two months played out. The kick in the ass is that Volkswagen had our car at 95,000 miles for a final inspection before the car hit 100,000 miles, and the warranty ran out. VW recommends that the timing belt be changed at 100,000 miles, but we were only at 95,000, and we didn’t specifically request them to change the belt at what we thought was our 100,000-mile check-up. At 107,000 miles, the timing belt slipped and destroyed the engine. Too bad as it was on our onus to ensure we were in compliance with their policies. After half a dozen more times at the dealer, we drove the Beetle over to a Hyundai dealer just to consider a trade-in. The car died again. So we traded it right then and there with a horrible loss that was fortunately rolled into our purchase; that’s right, no more leasing for us and no more Volkswagen or the dealer we leased from.

Mexican Hat Lodge in Mexican Hat, Utah

Steaks are on the grill, cooking up over the burning mesquite. The cowboy cooking our dinner has been our cook before, and that swinging grill in front of him is just a small part of the magic that keeps dragging us up to Mexican Hat, Utah. Being in the Valley of the Gods just north of Monument Valley is another part of the allure. Caroline has a beer, and her veggie patty is getting the same treatment as my hunk of cow flesh as we chill out under the Milky Way on a seldom-traveled road, enjoying the beginning of our mini-vacation. BTW we are at the Mexican Hat Lodge again.

Tucson, Arizona

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Guadalupe, Arturo, Tyson the Dog, Arturito, Caroline and John Wise in Tucson, Arizona

Meet the Silvas: On the left is Arturo’s wife Guadalupe, then Arturo, holding Tyson, the little dog, is their son Arturito, while their daughters Sophia and Melissa are too short and stand below Caroline’s chin and so cannot be seen in this photo – just kidding. We don’t get down often enough to visit the Silva Family in Tucson.

Sunset near Picacho Peak in Arizona

And, of course, there was this sunset near Picacho Peak on the way home.

Jay in Los Angeles

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Caroline Wise, Jay Patel, John Wise

It’s Sunday, and our friend Jay Patel is off work. He’d asked the day before if we had anything planned and if we’d like to hang out; I suggested he be up early and join us for something crazy. We are on that crazy trip, and you are about to go along with us.

Jay Patel

If we are in Cabazon, we are either here because Pee-wee Herman is filming a new installment to his Big Adventure, or we are heading into Los Angeles on our own big adventure. The latter is the case today.

Jay Patel

First, we head into Chinatown and hit the bargain stalls, looking for anything that might be appealing. Jay starts with a vendor we’d never have considered stopping at; the guy is running sugar cane stalks through a crusher that makes fresh sugar cane juice. He’s not had a glass of this since leaving India, where it’s a popular drink.

The next stop is Little Tokyo for the chance to try imagawayaki, a favorite of ours and a new flavor for Jay. On this perfect day, we stop in various shops, check the sights, and strive for a different experience than hanging out in Phoenix.

Jay Patel

A quick tour of downtown L.A. and soon we are moving down the freeway towards Orange County.

Caroline Wise, Jay Patel, John Wise

We were looking for Artesia, also known as Little India. Besides some shopping and hanging out with the other Gujus and various other Hindus, we were aiming for the Jay Bharat restaurant for a Gujarati Thali. A Thali is an assortment of dishes and translates to a “full plate meal.” This type of traditional meal is not found in any Arizona restaurants, though we have experienced some of the flavors at Sonal’s, Anju’s, and Jay’s place.

Caroline Wise, Jay Patel, John Wise

After about seven hours in the Los Angeles area and getting a cultural taste of China, Japan, India, and some Spanish influence, it was time to head right back to Arizona. Who could argue that 11 hours of driving is not worth half a day of big adventure doing things that take us out of our ordinary?

Glacier to Yellowstone – Day 5

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Sunrise near Green River, Wyoming

Who among us has never seen a sunrise such as this? To be out West in the mountainous terrain of a place away from cities where a slight rise in elevation can offer us views that stretch for nearly 50 miles is a luxury I suppose few will ever experience firsthand. That rareness should stay with us and not be taken for granted; after all, it was only Caroline and me who were in this location at this particular moment where the sun and clouds would only appear to us in this exact configuration and never again in millions of years could this scene ever be duplicated.

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area in Utah

The sun crawls higher, and we drive further south through the Flaming Gorge of Northern Utah. We started the day at 5:30, which means it was only 4:30 in Arizona, where we are headed, but with 860 miles (1,375 km) ahead of us, we’ll need all the psychological help we can find to believe we are getting home at a reasonable hour.

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area in Utah

It’s Monday, but it may as well be some anonymous day a couple of hundred thousand years ago where no sign of humanity can be seen across the landscape. No power lines, no contrails, and no skyline in the distance. For a moment, one should find such a place, sit down, and meditate on the idea of being the first human ever to be looking out with the recognition that you might be the first sentient being ever to gaze upon the soil and into the sky with an entire future ahead of yourself and how you might want to shape your path.

Dandelion in Utah

A wish, okay, so it’s a dandelion, and maybe I’m “too old” to play such things, but so what? I wish to see a dinosaur.

Dinosaur National Monument in Utah

Wish granted here at the Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Colorado. Millions of years ago, a river ran through the area, and with it, dead dinosaurs would drift downstream to be buried beneath the accumulating sediments.

Dinosaur National Monument in Utah

This upturned river bed is the main attraction of the park. Look at the picture above this one, and you can see that the building was placed directly over the riverbed that now sits at a nearly 90-degree angle.

Dinosaur National Monument in Utah

There’s a whole lot of wow factor for kids of all ages who come to gawk at dinosaur bones.

Caroline Wise and John Wise on the Colorado State Line

Because the road isn’t long enough already, we opt for a slight detour through Western Colorado to see what things look like out this way.

Loma, Colorado

A beautiful old and abandoned school built in the early 1900s. Nothing really significant about it; it was just nice to look at.

Near Moab, Utah on the Colorado River

Scenes hinting at getting close to home. These kids are playing on a sandbank in the Colorado River on the outskirts of Moab, Utah.

Hole In The Rock on U.S. Highway 191 in Utah

Hole N” The Rock still isn’t being visited, though it was just this past September that I was saying that someday we need to stop here. Maybe next year.

Newspaper Rock State Historical Monument in Utah

Seems like yesterday that we were here and not three years ago, but it was another September trip into the area back in the year 2000 that we first laid our eyes on this incredible panel of petroglyphs.

Cow Canyon Trading Post in Bluff, Utah

Fond memories of a great dinner will forever stay with us from that night years ago when we stayed in Bluff and walked over for a brilliant Native American meal.

Mexican Hat, Utah

Caroline blurts out, “….the layers” every time we pass this.

Mexican Hat, Utah

This is why the tiny community of Mexican Hat, Utah, is called Mexican Hat.

Mexican Hat, Utah

This sight had me thinking “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” thoughts for a moment, but I reassured myself and Caroline that the black cloth draped over his face offered up some protection against the bugs that would otherwise splatter on his face. By the way, we are in Mexican Hat proper, and if the Mexican Hat Lodge swinging BBQ was working at this time of day, I wouldn’t care what time we’d get home; I’d be eating a ribeye right about now.

Monument Valley in Utah on the Arizona border

We are just about to pass back into Arizona to finish our drive home, and this final glance at Monument Valley will be the last photo of the day and of this five-day race to the Canadian border and back. Though we spent a considerable amount of time in the car, we gained thousands of indelible impressions that work to cement our memories of how beautiful the wildlands of this country are. We arrived home an hour before midnight after driving 3,147 miles (5,078 km), dragged what we could upstairs, and instead of falling immediately to sleep, we checked out some of the photos from the trip. This has been a great way to celebrate Independence Day in America.