Travel with Sue and Ted

Tag: New Park!

  • Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

    We arrived at Mesa Verde National Park, on Saturday evening, after an easy four hour drive, and camped only 1/2 mile away from it.

    mesav-2307This is a park that we haven’t ever seen before, and wow, we thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity! From the visitor center, it is a one-hour drive, and up several thousand feet, to the cliff dwellings.  The pic above shows the lower mesa which represents only half of the altitude gain required.  It’s another 10 miles beyond the top of that one to get to the cliff dwellings. We left early to have a picnic lunch on the way to our 2:00 pm ranger guided tour of the Balcony House.

    Balcony House is one of 600 cliff-side dwellings within Mesa Verde, which has over 12,000 artifacts left behind by the Pueblo people who lived here between 1100 -1400 A.D. The ruins were rediscovered in 1880 and the Mesa Verde National Park was created in 1906.

    mesav-2343To see the Balcony House required a half-mile walk down a steep path, descending down several flights of steel stairs, then down a long pathway to a spot below the cliff dwelling.  We then climbed up a 35 foot wooden ladder to get to the first room.  It is quite spacious and fifty of us on the tour easily fit on the ledge.

    mesav-2395We walked through a narrow crack in the interior of the cliff to get over to the second room which had two round kivas and multiple residences.

    We continue to be so impressed by the resourcefulness, ingenuity, and tenacity of the ancestral Pueblo people.  In the midst of harsh surroundings, and very little access to water, they created a thriving community including many cliff dwellings that were wedged into slight openings.  Their ability to wisely use what they had is a lesson for us all.

    mesav-t5At the end of the hike through Balcony House, the only way out, was the way the Pueblo people used to get in… through a very small crawl space that required us to get on our hands and knees and twist our body sideways to fit though the 15″ wide and almost 3′ high tunnel opening.

    Then it was up two tall wooden ladders, securely bolted to the cliff face and ascending up steep stairs cut into the mountain in order to get back to the parking lot.

    This 75 minute tour was fun, exhilarating, and fascinating.  We’ve created a page for you to enjoy our tour, so click here to see photos from the  Balcony House tour.

    Next up on the Ted and Sue’s excellent adventures hit parade: Zion National Park and the north rim of the Grand Canyon!

  • Canyon de Chelly

    Inspired largely by an iconic photograph of native Americans on horseback in the canyon taken in the late 1880s by Edward Curtis, we ventured to this epicenter of Navajo culture and history.  Canyon de Chelly is amazing!  Located in the heart of the Navajo Nation in north-eastern Arizona, the canyon is almost 50 miles long and only ten miles of it is open to the public while the rest is only accessible by Navajos.  To begin to get acquainted with this sacred space, we drove along the south rim on our first evening and took a picture at sunset at one of the six turnouts along the south rim drive.  It’s about a 700′ drop only ten feet behind us!

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    During this drive, at the first turnout, we meet Mary.  She appeared to be in her 70s and has 11 children (eight daughters and three sons),  27 grand-children, and three great-grandchildren.  Her small home — which she described as a “two room shanty with electricity but no water” —  is at the top of the canyon, and as we marveled at the canyon, she proudly stated: “This is my front yard!”

    cdc-jeep-4745The next day we took a jeep ride for three hours into the north canyon with Daniel, a Navajo guide.  He grew up in the canyon and knows every inch of it. Many of his cousins, brothers, and even his grandfather, drive tourists into the canyon, as one of his part-time jobs.  Along with his knowledge of Navajo culture and history, Daniel has an eye for photography and took us to some great spots for Sue to work on her landscape photography skills. (See below for a photo link to a page of Sue’s photos at Canyon de Chelly.)

    Daniel also told us that the National Park made a video of his family, specifically his daughters telling the story of the Navajo tradition in the canyon.  We encourage you to take 14 minutes to watch this wonderful video! 

    http://www.pbs.org/video/2365731822/

     

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    We camped in the Cottonwood Campground near the Canyon de Chelly Visitor Center, and experienced our first ‘dry camping’ site of our trip… meaning no water and no electricity hookups.  There was also no AT&T cellular data nor WiFi available in the campground, so it was a really relaxing and enjoyable respite for these Silicon Valley types that love email and FB!

    Click here to see an additional page of Sue’s photography at Canyon de Chelly.

    … Thanks for following our blog!

    Ted and Sue

  • At Santa Fe, and Up into the Air

    Through September, we visited nine states, and entered New Mexico on Friday, making camp in Santa Fe, N.M. for four nights. This city is 1,000 feet higher than Denver and we love the clean, dry, air!

    Union Fort National MonumentOn the way we saw a sign for Union Fort National Monument and decided to take a peak.  We had no idea about it’s history, and oh my, what a treat!  This was the largest fort in the late 1800s, with thousands of occupants, and it served as a supply hub for all other forts in the west.  Prior to that it even participated in one key battle against the Confederate Army during the Civil War, stopping them from trying to win the west and gain all its gold.

    The Shed in Santa FeFriday night we visited “The Shed“, restaurant in old town Santa Fe, and enjoyed the enchiladas very much, and it is now on Sue’s “best of” list.  Native Americans sold jewelry and items on the sidewalks all around the old town square until 5:00 pm, prior to our dinner.

    On Saturday morning, we got up at 4:30 to drive an hour to see the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta (the world’s premier balloon event).  At 5:45, we arrived seven-tenths of a mile from the freeway exit to find a long line of cars backed up in the right-most lane.  We took our place – it took us a full hour to go the last two-miles!  But we walked onto the field at 7 am to find tens of thousands of people all waiting for the yellow flag (windy conditions) to change to green, which allowed balloon owners fire up the propane and lift their balloons into the air.

    International Balloon FiestaWe enjoyed walking all around the balloons laid-out flat on the ground, awaiting air. Bill, from Phoenix, was particularly fun to talk to, and he informed us of the basics of hot air balloons, how the festivals work, what they provide to the balloonists (room, propane, and a gift card to pay for gas to get here) and how much a modest new balloon might cost to get started ($45k).

    At 8:30 they began their ascent!   Please enjoy these additional pictures Sue took on our dedicated page for the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival (click here).

  • Four Days in South Dakota

    Our travel adventures continue!  On Monday we drove to the Black Hills in South Dakota with a lunch stop in a motorcycle grill/bar Sturgis.  We are staying at the beautiful Rafter J Bar Ranch campground and our site overlooks expansive lawns and many trees.  While Mount Rushmore was the primary reason to come here, we saw a lot of other great places, too.

    Custer State Park is an amazing space that rivals a National Park.  It contains over 45,000 acres and has a road named “The Needle Highway” which goes to the top of the peak and culminates in a one-way tunnel only eight-feet wide. Here’s a fun, short, timelapse video of Custer State Park.  The road ascends to the cathedral spires and presents views of the Black Hills that are unparalleled from other places.  It is beautiful state park, and after stopping at the visitor center, we drove on the 20 mile wildlife loop road, and saw a herd of 400 bison in addition to many other animals.  Wow!

    mt-rushmore-922We went to Mt. Rushmore on three separate occasions: sunrise, during an afternoon, and for the late evening program. We particularly enjoyed our time at sunrise. There were only four other people there at 6 am and the thirty second reflection of the sunrise on the faces was breathtaking.  Click this to see a brief timelapse video of morning clouds above Mt Rushmore that Ted created. The monument is so impressive, as were the efforts that were expended to design and create it.

    We drove to the Badlands National Park on Wednesday and took in the mandatory stop at Wall Drug, which is a huge and cheesy store in the middle of nowhere.  We smiled remembering our visit to Wall Drug seventeen years ago when, uncharacteristically so, we gave each of our young sons $20 to spend as they wanted at Wall Drug.  Without hesitation, they sprinted to the video game room and played video games to their hearts content. The badlands are beautifully barren and the scenic loop drive through the park is sufficient to see the amazing scenery.

    george-mickelson-trail-hill-city-south-dakotaBack in Hill City, we rode the George S. Mickelson bike way, which is a wonderful 109 mile railroad line converted for walkers, joggers, and bicyclists.  We biked the five miles into town and did some wine-tasting.  Yes.  South Dakota has wineries.  Grape juices are imported, some from California, and fermented here, and given marketing names of buffalo, motorcycles, and area scenic spots. And – wait for it – the wine tasting is free!

    Click here to see Sue’s photos from Custer State Park;  and
    here for Mt. Rushmore photos.

    We have thoroughly enjoyed our times in the Black Hills!

  • Teddy Roosevelt National Park

    tr-s-t-805Teddy Roosevelt National Park was new to us.  Located in the west side of North Dakota, next to Montana, it’s a “prairie and badlands” kind of park along the Little Missouri River.  It is rugged and rather lonely – which helped TR get over his sorrow at the loss of his wife and mother (on the same day) as well as understand and put into motion a vision of conservation.  TR set aside land for more  national parks than any other president.  This national park, named after him, took 30 years to be finally approved by President Truman in 1949.

    Click on the link below to enjoy a special page of photos that Sue took as we visited here:   https://travel.thisnextchapter.com/trnp