Rest in Peace, Dave...

I'm very sad to write that Dave died on January 29, 2021. We had so many fun times in the 35+ years that we were friends, but our Southwest Adventure was a memorable trip that we talked about for a lot of years after we took it. The last time I spoke to him, he had just gotten a new car, and we decided that it was time for another trip. Sadly, with the COVID pandemic, we had to put it off. How were we to know that his cancer would return and take him onto his next big adventure alone? 

I'm heartbroken to know that I won't see him again in this lifetime, but I'm sure we'll meet up again in the future... kindred souls do that... I love you Dave, rest in peace, my friend...

Dave at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley (2009)

Los Angeles, CA

Hard to believe that the trip is ending... We have seen so many things and done everything we planned, and then some. It was really fun to travel with Dave, he is such a good friend!

After having breakfast, checking out of the hotel, stopping for gas and lattes, we hit the road back to reality. We saw the traffic increase the closer we got to LA. As we came across the Cajon Pass, we noticed that the scenery was similar to other landscapes we had seen, but the haze that surrounded it was hard to accept. Where we had seen blue skies and lovely fluffy clouds in the past few days, we were now seeing a dead sky around us. That's when I realized that I really didn't miss living in Southern California. I always loved the moderate temperatures, and thought that if I could I would move back sometime. I had been lucky to live on the coast in Santa Monica, where the smog was lessened. And of course, Joshua Tree had been a bit clearer. But the influx of so many people really has an impact on our environment, and it was definitely noticeable as we drove in.

One message is very clear to me - we must be more active in saving our Mother Earth! Any city can become what LA is now by uncontrolled development and reckless building. I hope that some of the images we've presented from our trip will help to remind everyone that there are still beautiful places in this country. And, that we can all help to preserve them for the future generations. Get involved! Peace to all of you!

Las Vegas (Again)

Sigh.. Time to leave Sedona. We went to another marvelous breakfast at the Casa - poached pear and french toast. There were more guests today because it was Saturday and people were there for the weekend. We shared a table with a young couple from Wisconsin, Tim and Reba. They were on their honeymoon, having gotten married the prior Saturday. They had been to the Grand Canyon and a few other places besides Sedona. It was fun to talk to them.

I took a few pictures of Casa Sedona that I'd like to share. It was a wonderful place to stay.

On the road again, we stopped for our lattes on the way out of town. As we headed back through "uptown" Sedona, we decided to shop for a wallet for Dave if we saw any place that was interesting. We stopped at the main shopping area, and went to a few places. Dave didn't find anything, but of course I picked up a few things! As we went on a little further, we saw a small place that sold leather goods. We stopped and viola (!) Dave found just what he was looking for.

Back on the road, we felt this would be the longest drive of the trip. We made pretty good time getting back onto I-40 and thought that Kingman would be a good place to stop for lunch before we got onto US-93 to go into Vegas. Kingman was "fast food city", so the best place we could eat was Denny's. Not bad, but definitely not Casa Sedona...

On to US-93 and I discovered that this route goes over Hoover Dam. I was really excited (!) because I've never been there, in spite of living in California and going to Vegas often. However, as we got closer, my enthusiasm waned as the traffic increased. It was amazing to see so many people there, and unfortunately tourist traffic and thru traffic had to take the same route. We could see they are building another road that bypasses the dam, but it was just to either side of the dam at this point.

We made it through and got into Vegas around 4:00 PM. This time around we were staying at Harrah's because it was close to The Venetian, where the Blue Man Group was playing. We checked in, moved our luggage to the room, and decided to go and pick up our tickets for the show. By the time we got our tickets, there was about 45 minutes until the doors opened at 6:00 PM for the 7:00 PM show. We figured it was too late to go back to the room before the show, so we walked around and gambled a little. The show was really fun! I've seen it before and it's pretty hard to describe. Go to the link above and check it out.

By this time, I was pretty exhausted. Not much of a party animal anymore...

Sedona, AZ

We were on time for breakfast and what a great treat it was! Tables were set up on the patio, with umbrellas to shield us from the sun, and bright colored table linens. Scott was there attending to everyone. We started with a fruit smoothie topped with a bit of whipped cream and strawberries. Then, we moved on to a delicious quiche, served with diced browned potatoes on the side. Of course, there was tasty coffee, orange juice, and cranberry juice. Excellent!

The night before, Dave mentioned to me that Scott looked like a friend of his, John Dunn. When Scott came by our table, Dave showed him a picture of John. The resemblance was pretty strong. Scott offered to give us some tips of where to go after breakfast, so when we talked to him, Dave took his picture to send to John. It was pretty funny to see both pictures, they didn't look exactly alike, but they could have been related. Scott showed us a few vortexes that were close by and directed us to the Center for the New Age on Route 179 for my reading. He also gave us a pass to park on National Forest Property.

With Scott's maps in hand, we decided to go to Cathedral Rock because it was close to us. We found the forest service parking , but when we got to the toll booth, the ranger told us that the pass wasn't good there and we had to pay a fee to enter. We paid, expecting to get brochures like you do in the national parks, but they only had a paper handout without much information on it. We asked for maps of the trails and they had one for sale. It wasn't great but it was something, so we bought it ($1.06).

We had already parked when Dave realized he left his camera back at the Casa. I had mine, so he decided to use it instead of going back. It didn't have the additional lenses, but I think the pictures still turned out great! Off we went with our postcard size map. We had a little trouble finding the correct trail, partly because Oak Creek ran through this area and people had made their own trails to the water. We finally found the stepping stones to take us across and started on the trail to Cathedral Rock and hopefully the vortex.







According to our map, the trail was about 3/4 mile. We figured that would be an easy hike, we could take a few pictures, and then head out to explore other areas. As you can see from the picture above, the trail was pretty easy to find now. But when we got into the wooded area surrounding the creek, we began to see other trail markers, and hoped we were on the right trail. The postcard size map was pretty useless at this point. We stayed on a trail that was close to the rocks, coming soon to some switchbacks that took us higher up the side of the rocks. The trail was rocky but easy to walk, however it was steep as we climbed higher. We both agreed that this was longer than 3/4 mile! We finally came to a point where we would have to climb rocks to get to the switchbacks that continued up to the peak. Since we couldn't see the next peak, we decided we had gone far enough.

So far, we hadn't felt any kind of change in energy due to a vortex. But as we started down, Dave had a sense of clarity and I noticed that all the colors around me were enhanced. I've had this feeling when doing yoga breathing, so I could have been that I was getting more oxygen to my brain after resting. Who knows for sure? Beautiful experience no matter what caused it!

After we got back to the car, we decided it was time to go check out the Center for the New Age, and have some lunch. Back to reality and traffic for a short period of time. We made it to the Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village, which happened to be across the street from the Center. We parked there because it was easier to walk across the street with the traffic than to maneuver a car. I was fascinated with the wind sculptures that were at various spots in the village, and Dave took a picture of them at the gallery where they were sold. It's hard to see in the picture, but there was a burst of wind and all of them were moving!



First stop was to make an appointment for me with Rima Thundercloud. Then, back across the street to have some lunch at Secret Garden Cafe. It was a lovely garden setting, and the food was heavenly. After lunch, I went back to have my reading, while Dave was gracious enough to spend some time shopping. It took a little longer than I expected, but it was fascinating and very appropriate for where I am right now in my life. It is rather personal and I'm not going to share any details. However, I would definitely recommend Rima to anyone. I plan to keep in touch with her, and the next time I'm in Sedona, I want to take a vortex tour with her. Too bad we weren't staying longer...

Petrified Forest National Park, Az

This morning it was time to head to Sedona. We decided to try breakfast at the Thunderbird Lodge (where we had picked up our tour). We ran into Roger and Clarisse (a couple who was on the tour with us) as they were finishing up. We sat near them and chatted a bit until they left to continue on their trip to Albuquerque. I think one of the best things about traveling is the people you meet!

After breakfast, we went to Changing Woman Espresso for our "on the road" lattes. It was really funny to watch the interaction of the two young girls who waited on us. They were probably in their late teens. One of the girls was making the lattes, and the other kept touching things on the espresso machine that she wasn't supposed to, I think just to irritate the other. I thought for sure they were sisters (kind of reminded me of how my sisters and I interacted in our youth!). It turns out that one was the aunt of the other (big family).


The drive to Sedona was going to take about four hours, and we didn't really have any stops planned for the day. But after we got onto I-40, we remembered that Petrified Forest National Park was right there. Dave and I had both been there before, but it's an interesting drive through the park. So, we hit the visitor center and gift shop, then drove through the park and took a few pictures. The Painted Desert is on the north side of the park, and the first loop took us through there. The picture below is from an area called "Teepees".





They are really serious about looting in the park. Before the park was formed, a lot of the petrified wood was removed. Today, as you enter the park, you have to declare any wood you have. When we were at the gift shop, I saw a package of rough petrified wood pieces with a notice on it "do not open until after you leave the park". You can see some of the wood from the road, but it's better to go on the trails. I think Dave got a good picture that shows the wood-like texture of the rocks.

Since the road was rather long, we decided to exit the park at the south entrance and take another route back to the freeway. We saw several park rangers searching a van as we exited. Not sure if it was exiting or entering the park, but they were looking for petrified wood.

We had lunch in Holbrook and continued to Sedona. While we were having lunch, I had a call from Scott at the B&B in Sedona to confirm our arrival time. He told us that we should be able to get to Sedona by around 4:30 PM. Off we go, through Flagstaff, and south onto Route 89A. Around Flagstaff, the terrain changed again to pine forests. We were making really good time, so we decided to stop off at one of the viewpoints to get a better look at Oak Canyon. Dave took a few pictures, and when we got to the end of the small trail, I could see the road winding down into Sedona. Oh yeah, I forgot about the winding canyon roads... that was going to slow us down a bit!

We made it to the "uptown" area of Sedona, where there are a lot of shops and galleries. Then, traffic came to a stop. We knew there was some construction going on but weren't sure if that was the reason for the slowness. As we inched forward, we watched traffic build up to several miles behind us. This was definitely going to make our arrival at Casa Sedona later than planned! But there was nothing we could do about it. There aren't many side roads in Sedona because of the canyons. All the traffic flows into 89A and 179 (going south), so we made the best of it. Finally, after about 35 minutes, we arrived at the main construction area at the junction of 179. What a mess! But it was a quick drive to the Casa after that.

When we arrived (I think it was around 5:15), the keys to our room had been taped to the door. We took them off, but saw that Scott was inside, so we went in. He seemed a little upset that we were late and hurried us into the area to show us where the happy hour hors d'oeuvres were. Then he showed us to our room, told us about breakfast, and suggested that we get something to eat before he put everything away. I guess it didn't help that we were making comments about the traffic and construction, I'm sure it's a nightmare for the businesses who depend on tourist trade in the summer. As we were eating some hors d'oeuvres, we decided we better be on time for breakfast the next day.

We hadn't really made any plans for Sedona, except to try to get to some of the vortexes there. I also wanted to explore the metaphysical aspect of Sedona with a past life reading, but we didn't know where to begin. So, we headed out to find a place to eat. Luckily, the construction was winding down, yet there were still detours. We decided to find a place nearer to our B&B instead of uptown. We went to the Red Planet Diner thinking it would be a fun, casual place. We were treated to some lightening shows outside during dinner, which was good because the food was mediocre, and mid-way through dinner our server disappeared. Oh well, we had to make it an early night anyway, because breakfast started promptly at 8:00 AM :-)

Canyon de Chelly, AZ

Yippee!!! We got onto the full day canyon tour!  There were only five people instead of six, but they went ahead with us anyway.  It had rained the night before, so the canyon floor was filled with water as we got underway.   It was a good thing we were in a large vehicle because if there wasn't water, there was mud.

Our Navajo guide, Ron, told us that we had to wait until we got to the junction of the two canyons to see if they were passable.  First thing in the morning there are a lot of vehicles in the canyon - half day tours with vehicles like ours, private jeep tours, and tours where the clients use their own cars.   Since we were going for the full day, Ron passed up the first stops and got ahead of everyone else.  The water continued to flow as we went along, and we stopped in spite of it to view some ruins.

  

When we made it to the junction, Ron told us that we probably wouldn't be able to go the whole way to Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly because the water was too deep in that canyon.  So, we started up the North canyon, Canyon del Muerto.  It was amazing to see the water flowing like a large stream down the canyons.  In a little while, we came across some people standing at the side of the water flow.  The woman started talking to Ron in Navajo, and he told us that she was one of the vendors who sold jewelry in the Canyon and she had come that far but was not sure if her truck would make it through the water.  Ron was going to go through first to show her the depth of the water and the path through it.  She came around in a Ford F150 and waited until we crossed.  The water was probably 2-3 feet deep.  We didn't have any problem getting across.  I guess the one thing she had going for her was that she was brave enough and knew not to stop, no matter what.  She was almost across and the water was splashing so high that her entire windshield was covered with muddy water.  She gunned the engine and came out on higher land!  We all applauded!  Dave and another woman, Nancy, were the main photographers on the trip, but we were all so engrossed watching to see if she was going to make it that no one took a picture.  Later we saw her at one of the ruins selling jewelry and fry bread.  Everyone gave her kudos for making it across.  She was sitting in front of a very muddy looking truck with the hood raised to dry out the engine.  I bought several pieces of jewelry from her, and everyone had some fry bread.  As you can see, our truck made it through just fine...

There were so many sights to see in the canyon, and honestly, I can't remember all the names to attach to the pictures.  But Dave took some beautiful shots that show some of the pictographs, petroglyphs, and ruins.  They will give you a feel for the canyon.

The water began to flow less as we headed for Mummy Cave at the end of Canyon del Muerto. At one point, Ron had to stop the truck because the water had gouged out a path across the road that was about 18 inches high and 4-5 feet wide. It was too deep and wide to get across. He must have had this situation before because he got out, took a shovel from the front of the truck, and began to knock down the sides so the truck could pass. Since there was only one shovel, he did the work himself.

Didn't take long to get back on the road to Mummy Cave.  Couldn't get too close to these ruins, but we had lunch there before heading back. Mummy Cave was named after they found several mummies there. I like the picture below because you can see the ruins in the background.

It was really funny on the way back out of the canyon to see the energy level of everyone begin to drop.  By this time, we had been out for about 5 hours and the jostling of the jeep was beginning to wear on everyone.  The funny banter we had shared on the way in was replaced with silence and possibly a little nap for some.  I know I had my eyes closed a few times.  When we got back to the junction of the canyons, Ron told us that we could go to White House Ruin, but that would be the end of the journey.  The water was still running in Canyon de Chelly, although it wasn't as high.  More beautiful scenery and finally White House Ruin was  in sight.  We all jumped out of the truck to take a closer look and pictures.  Then back to the top of the canyon and dinner.  It was a long, yet beautiful experience!  

Four Corners, AZ, UT, CO, NM

Yesterday, we left Cortez and began the journey to Canyon de Chelly. We decided to stop at Four Corners since it was on the way. Not too much to see there except for the survey marker that indicates that there are four states touching at that point. It's a nice exhibit, and everyone is milling around to have a picture taken with feet in all states at once. It was funny to see some people squat down and put a foot and a hand in a different state. They have so many people taking pictures that they built a stand so you can look down and see the entire monument. Only 2 people on the stand at once for picture taking, which meant that once it was your turn, you called your subject's name and everyone watched. It made it more sociable and there was a lot of laughing as pictures were taken.

There were a lot of Native American vendors on the site, so we did some shopping before getting back on the road. The scenery began to change again to the more desert like landscape, although there were a number of farms. At one point, the RV that was in front of us stopped and we couldn't see why, thought maybe there was an accident or something. No, it was only sheep in the road...

You can see a little dog trying to herd them, but I think the goat in the background was the instigator! Two of the sheep had crossed the road. Since there was no traffic, I got out of the car and shooed them back across with the others. It was pretty funny!

We took a back road to Chinle so that we could stop at the North Rim overlooks for Canyon de Chelly. We went to Mummy Cave and Massacre Cave overlooks. They are spectacular from above, and it was exciting to think that we would be seeing them from the canyon floor when we did the tour. When we got out of the car at Mummy Cave, a cute black and white dog came up to the car. He was really friendly, but looked like he needed some water. As Dave was pouring some water into a small indentation in parking lot, another little tan colored dog came up too. There was a woman getting out of a car and I thought maybe they were her dogs, so I asked her. She replied that they were wild and we should be careful. They really needed water, so we found a spot and poured what was left from a gallon jug for them, and continued down the trail. Another larger dog joined them in drinking, and the small tan dog followed us to the overlook, where he proceeded to jump up on the wall and lay under the information display. It made me nervous because there was a straight drop to the canyon from there. I think it was a small amount of shade for him. As we moved to the next display on the trail, he came along which made me happier. We ran into two locals selling petrified wood, and I mentioned the dogs. He said that they had been reported to the park service many times, but they don't do anything about them. It was sad to see them.

On to Chinle... We checked into our hotel and went to the Visitor Center to find out about the canyon tours. The ranger gave us a list of tours in the area. We went to Thunderbird Lodge to find out about a group tour. We wanted to do the full day tour because it went into both canyons - Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del Muerto. We were the first names on the list for the next day, but they needed at least six people for the tour to go. If there weren't enough for the full day, we could go on the half-day tour. Oh well, keep your fingers crossed!

We went to have some food, and to look around Chinle. It's kind of a dismal town. I think the only thing going for it, is the park. I was amazed to see so much livestock roaming around - horses, cattle, and lots of dogs. Surprising that we didn't see any dead animals along the road, but I guess people slow down because they know they could be there.

After eating, we checked back to see if anyone else had signed up for the tour. Not yet! The woman taking reservations told us that they have a lot of walk-ins for the tour and the one for that day had filled up to over twenty people in the morning. So we're hopeful.