Mesa Verde

The ancient Pueblo people built large buildings and then left them and moved on to other locations. Archeologists do not know exactly why, but the modern Pueblo people say it is because they were on a journey, and if they spent a hundred or a thousand years in a place,  it was just a stop along the way.

  

Our first stop at Mesa Verde National Park was at the Visitors Center for a map and other information. 

The weather forecast was for possible showers, so we decided not to linger over the VC exhibits and to drive on up the Mesa. As it turned out, although I felt I needed to carry my umbrella  on our brief stops and walks, I hardly used it. 

The weather was best described as blustery and threatening. A plus was that there were very few other people on the trails and overlooks, so we had no parking problems. 

Although the aspen trees are past their peak, there is still lots of fall color on the hillsides. The oaks above were along a short trail going up to the highest point on the mesa. 

The views of the valleys below were fantastic. The path in the center of the image above was once part of the main road up to the mesa top. Fortunately it was replaced by a tunnel!

When we got to the top of the mesa we first drove the Mesa Top Loop road and then the Cliff Palace Loop. 

People have lived on the mesa for thousands of years. There are many known but unexcavated archeological sites up there. Some of the sites that have been dug out are protected by sheds with sturdy railings to protect them. 

Above is an early style of pit house. It consisted of a hole dug out of the ground, with a fire pit in the center, and often a second chamber for either sleeping or storage. Short walls and a roof were constructed out of branches and bark. The floor was probably covered with reed mats and furs.

The next stage of structural development was the addition of simple, single-stone-width masonry walls.

The most recent pit houses were much deeper, and included side benches. This round pit was probably used for ceremonies. And the design evolved into Kivas that are part of current Native American communities 

Also revealed at this site was an example of a thick wall that was three courses wide. 

This place was part of an extensive village. In 1200 AD, more people lived at Mesa Verde's surrounding mesas and in the valleys of what we call the Four Corners area, than live here now! Although they left the area before Columbus discovered America, their descendents are among us.

On both loops we stopped at several places were we could see across the canyons to where the ancient Pueblo people had built in and under huge overhanging cliffs. These structures came after the pit houses. Apparently the people continued to dry-farm the top of the mesa, but many of them lived in such large niches in the cliffs.

At one stop we were able to look down on a structure.

As you can see, this structure rose four stories!

We walked down a half-mile path to the Spruce Tree House site.

The wide path was paved, and there were a lot of switchbacks, so it was not as hard to get to the bottom of the canyon as it might have been on a dirt path. Once down, we could see the spring area that provided water for the people who lived at Spruce House.

I think this was my favorite part of the day. There was a ranger on site to answer questions. When this place was occupied, all of the rooms were enclosed and the walls would have been plastered smooth. Many walls were painted. At the museum that we visited later, we saw pictures of what the sites looked like when they were first discovered by Anglo archeologists. (The modern Pueblo people do not consider them as having been lost or forgotten.) The cleanup and partial restorations have been done with skill and care. 

When we started the day at the Visitors Center, we purchased tickets for a ranger-led tour of the Balcony House at the end of our day. However, when we got there we reconsidered what was physically required to go on the tour: several tall ladders, low doorways, and a crawl-through tunnel that was 20 feet long and not much wider than the ranger's hat. I was not enthusiastic about these obstacles, so we decided to pass on the tour. I would have loved to do this when I was younger, thinner, and had a more flexible back. When we were at the other ruins earlier in the week, I could not bend over low enough to get through some of the doorways. My spine is partially fused.

I'm not really sure where we are going to stop next. We have decided to hang out here for a few days and catch the Sunday football games. 

Life is Good!

North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Sunday night, the gods went bowling over North Dakota. We heard them score a few great strikes! Then one spilled his drink and it poured down on us with a vengeance. It was one of those nights when you really enjoy the warmth and comfort of snuggling in your own bed with your partner.

When we looked outside Monday morning, we saw something we hadn't seen for some time: blue skies. The rain had washed much of the smoke out of the air.

We had a late afternoon appointment over in Dickinson (the larger town to the east) to get our Jeep's oil changed, but that left us with plenty of time to make the 50 mile drive up to the North Unit of the park. We had read that it was well worth the trip, because of the extraordinary scenery and the lack of people!

We learned the badlands were more rugged there than in the South Unit because the glaciers reached the North Unit but not the South.

Here are a few of the pictures we took driving the park road:

This rock below was about four feet tall, and our first reaction was that it looked like Thor's bowling ball.  Maybe he dropped it last night?

In fact it is a natural rock formation called a cementation where new minerals stick the grains of sand together. Most are very round and some are as small as marbles, while others are very large boulders. Probably no gods were involved.

The park road is fourteen miles one way. When we got to the end we traded places so Craig could look and shoot pictures while I drove.  Although the days have been hot, the night temperatures are rarely warm in the Dakotas. I noticed a few first signs of fall.

This is a good thing, maybe the parks won't be so crowded!

Decisions Decisions!

Before I start this post about our travels, I have to express my dismay about the current situations in the world today. I'm afraid we are coming very close to a new World War. I am not in favor of war, but I know we as a nation cannot isolate ourselves from what is happening. As an American, I believe strongly in freedom of religion. But as a citizen of the earth, I wish we had freedom from religion and that all those making war in the name of their god would make peace with each other. 

In the current world we cannot turn the other cheek. 


That said, this is the post I started Saturday.

We had two choices for what to do with the day.

We could go for an afternoon of front porch, down home, bluegrass pickin' jam session at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial in Asheville. It is a State Historic site and the house looked interesting. It is an old Victorian style boarding house, and was the model for Thomas Wolfe's novel "Look Homeward Angel".  There might also be some readings. There was nearby parking, and the setting is intimate. The front lawn is not large.
or
The Shining Rock Riverfest, with bluegrass music played by a series of "upcoming" bands. It lasted from 1:00 PM - 10:00 PM, and was up in the mountains at Camp Hope.  Parking was "limited". 

BBQ would be available. I love BBQ.

But, we had take out BBQ last night from a great little place called "12 bones", and I made some just a few days before at home.  We also enjoyed some in High Point last week ... 

The Riverfest sounded like fun, and quite a local event.

But storm clouds were gathering and the weather forecast was for possible showers.  We could take our rain ponchos and umbrella.  

Hmmm!

So what did we do?

I choose the Thomas Wolfe Memorial. It was very close to starting to rain when we left the Alfa.  Black clouds hung over the mountains. Of course because we chose the city venue, it cleared up in town. However when we were driving back we did notice the clouds were still very low and gray over the mountains.

The image above was taken when we first arrived. Later the lawn was full and people were standing on the sidewalk and sitting on chairs on the grass between the walk and the road.

I am not sure if the music was "good", but it was authentic and fun. Take away the microphones, and they might have been a bunch of musical boarders having a front porch jam. 

After listening for a while we went to the Memorial building and saw a video about Thomas Wolfe in preparation for a tour of the house. 

It was quite interesting and well restored. Almost all of the furnishings were original to the house. As a boarding house it had 15 bedrooms and three bathrooms. At times there were over thirty guests. Most were middle class, working or vacationing people, musicians and circus performers, men and women. The cost was $1 per night and included two meals. There were often three to a room, and it was not unusual to wake up in bed with a stranger.

The small front parlor was quite elegant. There was also a large sun porch that the guests used for socializing and relaxing.

Although it was totally different, it reminded me of the big old Victorian house my great-aunt had on the east side of Milwaukee. It was big and dark. This house was big but full of light. My great-aunt also ran it as a boarding house up until the early 50s. I remember visiting her as a very small child and being fascinated by the fact that she had the skin of her favorite Dalmatian made into a throw cover for her piano bench. 

I met a couple of her boarders, and thought they were "smelly old men." No women lived with her.

Strange what you remember.

We have extended our stay here by one day. On Wednesday evening, when I was checking into things to do I looked up information about the tours at the Biltmore Estate. I was dismayed to read that we had missed the senior discount. It is available only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  We had planned to leave this Tuesday. Now we have tickets and will spend the day seeing how the ultra-rich lived in one of the largest homes of the day.

Yes, Karen, I signed up for the audio tours too.

Getting back to work on clearing out the house

Sunsets have been very nice here at Camp Driveway.  Perhaps it is because we are a bit higher and the trees are not blocking as much of the sky.

I  like the way the sunset is reflected on the Alfa slide. I did nothing to the color in this image. The rest of the coach was its normal white.

I vowed that as soon as we got back from San Diego I would get  back into getting rid of stuff, but was sidelined by a bad cold. 

However, after a couple of rest days I did get started on a new project.

Sorting our CDs.

Please don't tell me we should be just putting them on the computer.

I know that is a good option, but Craig is both the computer guy and the music guy and he has chosen not to do that yet.

We have well over 300 CDs.  Far too many to take along in the RV.  I had hoped Craig might sort through them, but that hasn't happened, so I started the project myself.  I packed them up and brought them into the Alfa.  

Until we sort them out we won't be able to use the couch!

Although I have no set number, I would like to get them down to about 100 of our favorites.  I started listening to them and making a pile of rejects several days ago. 

Craig is more of a music fan than I am, and he bought most of them, but I have my favorites too. 

After a couple of days, he joined me in the culling task and we have moved the project down to the house in the evenings so we can sit in front of a cozy fire while doing it.

We have rediscovered some CDs of artists we have always enjoyed [From Craig: Lynn Miles!!!], and listened to parts of many that we wondered why we had them in the first place!

Once we get them culled down to a manageable number we may transfer them to the computer, or not. The Alfa has a very nice sound system and two pretty good CD players.  We are just such old fashioned people.  Craig hasn't gotten into iTunes yet, but I'm sure he will once we are on the road.  He does read books on our Kindle and (since it broke) on the iPad using the Kindle App.  I think once he gets into making his own play list there will be no stopping him!

Craig has finally started to list his sound system equipment on a web marketplace called Audiogon. If anyone is interested in how it works, leave a comment and he will do a post or reply by email.

He sold all of his records last summer, and before we went to San Diego he took his turntable and related hardware to the same guy who bought the records.  He has the turntable and is working on selling the other stuff.  Little by little, we are dealing with the hard parts.

When we go down to the house now, it really feels different. We use the shower and the washing machine, and now have had a few evenings in front of the fire, but it no longer feels like home. The Alfa is our home! 

Our goal right now is to do everything we can to have it ready to  empty when the house does sell. We are not planning any trips for awhile.  

On that note, I must say the weather here has been fantastic.  Sunny and in the high sixties or low seventies most days. This is good for us because we are in the Alfa, but not really good for the mountains. It should be raining now. It is far too dry. But the rains came late last year too, so it's still possible that we won't have a drought year. When it rains here it is usually very intense and windy. That can be scary in an RV parked under big trees!

If you are in the East tonight (Jan. 3, 2014), keep warm and stay in. Sounds like you are really getting hit hard.

Thursday August 15, 2013

They don’t call this place a rain forest for no reason.  It rained all night Wednesday night, and when we woke up we could still hear the patter of rain on the Alfa Roof.  Hiking didn’t seem like a good plan for the day, so we decided to drive into Port Angles, do a bit of wash and have a nice lunch.  When we were at the coin laundry, the sun was out, sort of.  Lunch was wonderful. Fish and Chips for me and Fish tacos for Craig.

When we finished and went down to the dock area it started to rain again. The town seemed rather run down and tired.  But there was some interesting public art around.

Driving back to camp we watched the clouds coming down over the mountains. It seemed the best views were in places we could not pull over. 

On Friday morning we woke to clear, sunny skies.  We are presently back to Port Angles, and are on our way up to Hurricane Ridge.  Should be a very nice day!

Redding Botanical Garden

Although I made toasted cheese sandwiches for Craig, I stuck with my healthy cereal, blueberries, and almond milk.  I am determines to stick to my healthier choices!

It Works

Craig wanted to spend some time doing a few maintenance things around the Alfa which was fine with me because I wanted to just relax and the KOA itself is a beautiful place.  On the Saturday before our departure he had installed a new overhead vent in the bedroom, and he wanted to give the caulking a second layer.    (No, he didn't caulk it from inside!)


After mounting a knife sharpener I wanted, he addressed a problem he was having with one of the Leveler legs.  We are level enough, but he didn't like the way it was working.  In our owner's information there is a brochure from Atwood that included a tech line phone number, but both our Verizon and ATT phones have almost no "bars."  Craig thought it might help if we drove the six or so miles to Shingletown and try from there.  Coverage was no better, so we continued on to the outskirts of Redding 27 miles down the road.


It was a nice drive, and the first promising place to pull over was the Visitor's Center and the Turtle Bay complex which included a zoo, museum, aquarium  and a botanical garden. 


After Craig made his call and got some advice we took a nice walk thru the garden.  (My pedometer is reading 7765 tonight.)

Mosaic Grotto

Friendly BIG spider

We didn't see any

Tiger Swallowtail

We made a nice pork tenderloin on the Webber Q.  We are used to a much bigger grill at home, but do like the fact that it's propane comes from the Alfa so we don't have to carry a tank.  We ate inside instead of out on the picnic table because it started getting quite cool.  

So many new things to play with!  

The nights get pretty cool here.  Craig is enjoying his new PJ's.  And has been a good sport about my taking pictures of him.

We're having fun!

Judy asked if other bloggers could note where they were and what the weather was like from time to time.

Last week of June, 30 miles east of Redding CA, day time temps 65* - 70*, sunny,  morning 45*. Light rain last night, but clear in the morning.