Joani & David's Travels: May 2017

Wednesday, May 31, 2017, Move to Albuquerque, NM

Time to say "adios" to the Painted Desert and Arizona and head to our next destination, Albuquerque, NM. We continued east on I-40 another 214.4 miles (82,376.6 miles total) to the High Desert RV Park on the western edge of town.

It seemed like we were either climbing uphill or braking downhill for most of the drive. The blurry sign below showed why that was the case - we crossed the Continental Divide at 7,275 feet elevation. This will be our first foray into northern New Mexico and we were both looking forward to exploring the "Land of Enchantment."

Monday, May 29, 2017, Petrified Forest, Threatening Rain

Yesterday, we finally had a day with a little bit of cloud drama - the clouds almost always make the beautiful scenery more, well, beautiful. We headed back into the Petrified Forest National Park where we saw our best color yet.

We decided to make it a short day and head home instead of hiking, but we did stop in one of the iconic shops you see all along I-40. Joani found herself the perfect souvenir - a colorful piece of petrified wood small enough to fit in her single potted plant - and it was free!

Most roadside shops have a bucket of small pieces of petrified wood (gathered on private land) that are free (to entice you to stop). Living in an RV, small is good. It is so tempting to pick up a small sample while in the National Park, but don't do it - just outside the park, they will give it to you.

Today, the threatening rain clouds prompted another quick drive into the park to capture yet another kind of light.

This may look risky to hike in, but we learned early on that desert rains seldom reach the ground in May.

We could see rain all around us, but it did not seem like the rain made it to the ground. The Ranger at the park entrance assured us the most we would feel would be a few drops. He had me convinced, so we started the 2+ mile hike to the Agate House.

Agate House was an eight-room pueblo believed to be built about 1,000 years ago.

Agate house was excavated in the 1930s and a couple rooms were reconstructed. Hundreds of similar structures (foundations surrounded by rubble) have been found throughout the park.

Firepits were found in two of the rooms.

The color range is a result of quartz crystals contaminated with iron, manganese, copper, cobalt, carbon, and chromium.

The sun peeked through the clouds at the right time for a shadow wave against a hillside littered with colorful petrified wood.

The Long Logs trail loop branched off from the Agate House trail to add another half mile to our hike. The clouds were still threatening rain, but the cool breeze (maybe I should have said wind) made the hiking very pleasant.

The Ranger called it - we felt a few drops, but never had to worry about the cameras getting wet.

Saturday, May 27, 2017, Blue Mesa Morning

We would have preferred really early morning light, like sunrise, but the Petrified Forest National Park did not open until 7:00 am (about 2 hours after sunrise at this time of year). As you can see we were first in line to get into the park.

I think the color was a bit richer, but it was subtle.

The Blue Mesa hike was pretty special since we were alone. The absolute silence was almost eerie. There was just a hint of a breeze which was quite a change from our last visit where the wind almost blew us over. All of the trails in the park were dog-friendly, so Sam enjoyed some exercise as well.

When a petrified tree was exposed it would fracture into segments. Eventually, the tree segments would cascade down the ravine that was responsible for the revealing erosion. I have no idea how many years the tree below had been exposed but I suspect it first saw daylight again long before there was a National Park.

As we were wrapping up our hike and heading up the hill, we saw two folks who had just walked down the hill. They were somehow disappointed (before even starting the loop) and asked if it got any better. We answered in the affirmative and mentioned one of the best specimens was just a few feet away.

They took a few seconds to check it out and immediately headed back up forgoing the hike. It was even more puzzling when we found after talking to them that they had driven so far to reach this unique place. I hope that they found some part of the park that was worth their visit. We enjoyed it all!

Friday, May 26, 2017, Winslow, AZ

It was extremely windy again today, so we decided to visit Winslow, AZ, instead of making another trip to the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest National Park. All we knew about the tiny town was that it was a place to "take it easy" according to the Eagles who sang about "standin' on the corner in Winslow, Arizona." We found the famous corner and, when the crowd cleared for a second, took our pictures.

Because of the 1972 hit “Take it easy,” Eagles fans would come to Winslow and photograph themselves on the corner, any corner, to prove they were “standin' on a corner in Winslow Arizona.”

A group of town folk had an idea to build a park that would be dedicated to the song. The Standin' on the Corner Park (SotC) opened in 1999.

We did not want to leave Sam alone and he was eager to ride along, so he led us around town on his leash. It was so refreshing to find the town was extremely "dog-friendly." He was welcome nearly everywhere we went. A woman walking by us said we could visit her museum and Sam could come on in as well. I don't know what kind of museum it was and we never made it there - maybe next time.

We walked to the visitor's center a few blocks away and learned some interesting info about the little town. Things were not going so well until someone had the idea to actually identify "the corner" in the song as a draw for tourism. That turned things around. Now there is a steady stream of people who visit for nothing more than to have their picture taken on the corner with the girl in the flatbed Ford.

It was suggested that we walk the “First Street Pathway Park” which started behind the visitor's center and went all the way to the gazebo on Kinsley Ave. Along the walkway were "kitschy" signs reminiscent of the old Burma Shave signs that were found along the highways in the 50's.

There was also an interesting 40-foot tall totem carved by Peter Toth. In the 70s and 80s, Peter “Wolf” Toth carved a totem for all 50 states as a tribute to honor all Native Americans. Arizona's totem is in Winslow. It is known as the Trail of Whispering Giants. Joani realized we had seen another totem in Astoria, OR. With a list in hand, we now know to look for the other 48 totems along our travels.

It dawned on me that we saw another of the totems in Astoria, Oregon.

I took this picture of an 18-foot tall wood carving on W. Marine Drive/101, Astoria, OR, August 28, 2013. We had no idea it was part of the Trail of the Whispering Giants.

When we asked what else is in Winslow that we shouldn't miss, he didn't hesitate – La Posada Hotel. La Posada Hotel was built in 1929 by the Santa Fe Railroad for the Fred Harvey Company. Mary E. J. Colter, Fred Harvey's chief architect, designed and decorated the hotel. She was responsible for the design of many of the National Park lodges as well as the beautiful Watchtower we recently visited at the Grand Canyon. She was sometimes referred to as the Architect of the Southwest.

The hotel was closed in 1957 and fell into disrepair due to the decline of rail travel. It was purchased by Allan Affeldt in 1997 for his artist wife, Tina Mion. They restored La Posada, all 80,000 sq. feet. It also serves as Ms. Mion's studio and gallery.

Don't plan on popping in for the night - the hotel now has a worldwide reputation and remains booked in advance for four years. The beautiful grounds, lobbies and shops were all dog-friendly as well and we spent quite a bit of time exploring and photographing all of the architectural details.