God's Country!

We travelled on another leg of the grand tour of the Great State of Arizona. We spent some time in the Navajo Nation this week. We are at the half way point for visiting all of the National Parks and Monuments in the state. We are including other sites of interest and beauty along the way of course. There's a wind farm expanding outside of Holbrook in the high prairie country. These windmills are deceptively larger than you may think- each blade is nearly 100 feet long!

First stop at Petrified Forest National Park.

I took 120 pics on the trip and threw out 50 of them for closed eyes or bad light or whatever but still had to narrow it down for this online journal. I wanted to use this next pic to show the magnitude of these fallen, petrified trees. Look at this one continue down the hill behind Lesa's back.

When I looked at this next one closer, I decided to use it also. There's a desert creature posing for the pic on the right of the shot- a big green lizard. Just click on the pic for a larger view.This is Whipple Point at the north end of the park. It's a lovely vista of the painted desert portion of the park. Those Whipple's really know a good point when they see one.

Here's a Whipple at Whipple Point- the best looking of the Whipples in this bunch for sure.

Here's THREE Whipples at Whipple point!Next stop: Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. The shop had a Jr. Ranger vest and hat outfit. Shaw sure looked good in it but it wasn't in the budget and he couldn't describe what he would do with it realistically if he had it so we just got a pic and hung it back up.Lesa and I both liked this stop better than any we had seen yet. We wished we had more time to spend here- just a feeling, a spirit about the place. Fun, professional, charming people like this man were part of the experience too.

After talking to this man for 5 minutes, we felt like old friends. He works for a division of the park service that operates the shops- like a concessionaire. He works with local artists and craftsmen to provide goods and things to sell in the shop. We longhairs have to stick together... Lesa was having an equally engaging conversation with a Navajo woman in another part of the trading post. She bought some strawberry/jalapeno jam and, on the recommendation of the shop keeper, some wheat flour that is particularly good for making Navajo Fried Bread which Lesa is already pretty good at.

Here we are on the edge of Canyon De Chelly- pronounced De Shay. I don't remember us being close to the edge but this photo looks as if Lesa were to lose her balance, she would fall of the edge. There is a 600' shear cliff behind us. I think we were more like 20 feet away from the edge.

Explorer Shaw! We have a painting in our living room by H. Edward Ross, Shaw's Great Grandfather, of this same vista point.

I'm at the bottom of the canyon at White House Ruins. You can make it out just above my head and at my right elbow.

Here are the White House Ruins from a ways up the canyon.

Water break. Shaw must be sad because he just learned that the name of the canyon isn't spelled the way it's pronounced. He's also flushed because it was a hot day and he wasn't drinking enough water.

This is Church Rock near Kayenta, Arizona.

This is our campsite at Navajo National Monument and our battle axe car that has been on so many adventures over the years.

This is the view at sunset from our campsite. My favorite shot of the whole trip right here...

This is Betatakin Canyon at Navajo National Monument. You can't see it in this shot, but let me zoom in...

About 150 people lived in this alcove. It's south facing so it gets some sunshine in the winter months and it is shaded in the summer months.

We hiked to a different spot in Betatakin Canyon. That alcove you saw before is down on the left canyon wall out of sight.

Most of this trip included stops at places that aren't on the way to anything. It is a very deliberate decision to travel there for that reason alone, not to make a stop on the way to something else. Four Corners is one of those places.

Lesa and Shaw are standing in Utah, and I have both feet in Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico are 6 inches in front of our feet. It's the only place in the world where any states, provinces, commonwealths or nations share such borders.

There was a line of people waiting to take pictures and each family group would stand dutifully as we did in that shot above, but Lesa was feeling the spirit of the day and put her bag down exactly on the line where 4 states come together and attempted to stand on her head! The fellow traveller who was taking the pictures for us was a split second too late as she had already gone over the other way. The sidewalk was hot and she got a couple of blisters on the palms of her hands but I think she's awesome for doing it!This is Monument Valley in southern Utah, still in the Navajo Nation. There were some crazy people taking pictures right in the middle of the road. I'm crazy but not stupid. There's a scene in Forest Gump where Forest is running back and forth across the country, just running, and people are following him, seeking some little nugget of wisdom. When I watch the movie, it seems to be nothing more profound than flushing out some of the ugliness of his life- the Viet Nam War etc. making room for the next chapter of peace and happiness and love in his life. In the film, the last of the ugliness flushes out right at this spot in the picture and he just stops running. I felt a little bit of that too. There's something about the grandness of this country that connects you to God and helps you let things go- things that should be let go of...

Cramming 10 lbs of fun in a 5 lb bag...

Summer is getting away quick. We are just over 4 weeks in with 6 to go. Shaw and I took in a Diamondbacks game this afternoon. I have a defective sports gene myself and as Shaw is growing up, I think he does too but I've always exposed my sons to the local teams and I do enjoy the crowd and a hot dog and watching a good game. A family sitting behind us was celebrating an 8th birthday and were nice enough to snap this pic for us.

I'm not a great photographer but I try to take pics that are better than most camera snap shots. I was trying to get some shots of the players with the zoom lens but it makes their heads look huge... I don't know what's wrong...

Shaw got this shot of one of the outfielders.

Shaw got a shot of me, I got a shot of Shaw.

This next picture puts the 'field' in Chase Field- that's a lot of green grass! I do love architecture, and stadiums are a feat of engineering. Shaw and I went to the souvenir stand after the game and while there, they opened up the roof to get some sunshine on the grass. At the Cardinals Stadium on the other end of town, the playing field rolls out on rails under the stadium into the sunshine and they roll it back in for game days.

He was trying to pose for the pic but couldn't resist checking the action on the field. Diamondbacks lost to the Cleveland Indians 6 to 2 but it was a great day to hang out and do some man stuff! Shaw actually took his first steps at an Angels game in California...

The Great State of Arizona- Grand Tour 2011

We are going to visit all of the National Parks, Monuments and Historic Sites in Arizona before the summer is out. Along the way, we are visiting other points of interest and beauty. This week, we visited Tonto National Monument at Lake Roosevelt about 2 hours north east of Mesa.
I read a book recently by Duncan and Burns called "The National Parks- America's Best Idea". I bought it for the pictures, but it's a very scholarly work on the history and development of the idea that some things should be preserved for all citizens. I had never considered that so much of the beauty of Europe is owned by somebody, you might have to ask the lord of the manor to hike across a mountain or something. There is a story of an African-American boy from Detroit that took a summer trip to one of the National Parks and was so moved as he realized that as a citizen, he "owned" it. It was his to enjoy. The experience led him to become a National Park Ranger.

National Parks came first and then as other places were discovered that deserved preservation in some form but perhaps not as national parks, the National Monument designation was started and still later, National Forests and Recreation areas that could at least manage resources so that private interests could not go and exploit trees and other resources without some consideration to future generations.

Here's us at Tonto National Monument. The Ranger said that 500 years ago, about 70 people lived up in that hole in the canyon wall.
Lesa and Shaw were uncomfortable because a sign at the visitor center warned that bees were active and to use caution. Lesa is so sweet that bugs like her especially and she was sure that if we encountered a bee that she would be stung and she got Shaw a bit freaked out too. During the hike up, every thing that buzzed was a bee. It didn't matter if it was a horsefly, today, it was a bee. I climbed up in one of the rooms and could hear the buzz of a hive and told Lesa that she probably didn't want to explore that area.

There is another cliff dwelling on an adjacent mountain but it's only open in the winter months and it's only viewable by appointment with a ranger. They hike up 15 people at a time. I may head back up in November and visit again.

This is Roosevelt Lake at the bottom of the valley from the Tonto National Monument. This bridge is a stunning bit of architecture. Most people have no idea how much water is out here in this desert and it is beautiful!

This is the reason there is lots of water- Roosevelt Dam... and Shaw mugging while I take the picture of Roosevelt Dam.

Another shot of the bridge.

This is the dam that is holding back all of that water.

As we headed back towards Mesa, we took the Apache National Scenic Highway. It includes 22 miles of dirt road which was a lot to ask of our low-rider passenger car, but that car has proved to be a battle axe for our family adventures. There are other dams along that same river over several miles that create Apache Lake, Canyon Lake and Saguaro Lake. Here's Shaw getting wet in Apache Lake.

Above, you can see a sliver of the lake that goes for several miles from a viewpoint along the road we were on. Below, you'll have to look very carefully, but you can see a road snaking up the side of that cliff. From the lower left to the upper right. Just click on the picture for a larger view.

We climbed that road and had to pull right out to the edge of a cliff as we encountered a couple of other travellers coming the other way. Shaw actually switched seats in the back to not be on the outside edge.

This is looking back down from the top of the cliff that we just climbed.

At the top of the cliff, we drove through a forest of these yucca plants. They bloom only once in their life and it may take several decades to get there. Lesa said they had a very "Dr Seuss" quality to them.

We stopped at a little desert outpost called "Tortilla Flats" for some cold Sarsaparilla.

See Gramma, it's really just Sarsaparilla...

Here's us saddled up to the bar-literally- notice the bar stools...

The Salt River runs just outside of Mesa and we stopped for one more dip on a hot day before heading home.

There's a company out there that will rent tubes and life vests and other accoutrements and take you on a bus up river a few miles and drop you off so you can float down the river back to your car. Me and Shaw are tying to talk Lesa in to making a day of it. Here's Shaw just floating along the bank with a drug store pool tube.

That's 5 National Monuments down, 14 to go including Grand Canyon. We may hit Rainbow Bridge in Utah for good measure when we head north for a couple of those other adventures. Stay tuned.

More Temple progress

Another first Sunday visit to the Gilbert Temple site. Rising up out of the ground! If you ever visit the LDS.org website, you probably already know that the Phoenix Temple had its ground breaking ceremony this week too. We may have to start taking trips to both sites on alternating months to give a progress report on the Phoenix temple as well.

What I did on my Summer vacation

Went camping up at Ashurst Lake near Flagstaff. One night was enough for Lesa and I (Curtis) to remember why neither of us enjoy camping all that much. Sunrise over the lake the next morning.

The road towards Flagstaff for other adventures that day. That's Humphreys Peak in the background- at 12,673', it's the highest point in AZ. We are at about 5500' elevation here.

Shaw has a National Parks Passport booklet so we were visiting several National Monuments to get stamps for his book. This is at Walnut Canyon- an ancient Indian city. I had just taken a so-so shot using the timer with the camera on a rock and then a French tourist offered to take one... The conversation went thusly: French, some French words, French, more French words, French, laughter from French wife, (sounded the same in French as English) French, more French words, pause, CHEESE! Snap. I said, "Merci beaucoup" and he said "OK" and we all smiled.

This is an angry squirrel that can't seem to find any walnuts in Walnut Canyon I guess.

Here's us at Meteor Crater. I grew up about 15 miles from here and visited a couple of times. Lesa visited once as a young teen on a family trip one summer. Her father pumped it up a bit too much on the drive across the desert- if you don't get the profound significance of how that hole got there, it's just a hole in the ground. I'll have to say that this trip will probably be my last visit.

This one is at Waputki National Monument. Quite a nice visit- makes you wonder what the thought process is of ancient peoples and pioneers that looked at a god-forsaken desert and think that they could make a go of it.

Northern Arizona had- and is beginning to have again- siesmic and other volcanic activity. This picture was taken above a blow hole that breathes in and out with barometric air pressure and it was blowing cold air up from a crack in the ground. This is about 50 feet away from a little sports arena. They say that there were inter-tribal sporting events with a basketball-like game and athletes would cool themselves here. Teams travelled from as much as 200 miles away. I don't know why they didn't build thier houses over these cracks to cool them in the summer. The Indians called them "wind spirits."

This is at Sunset Crater National Monument. The dormant volcano cone is to the right, out of the shot and we are beside what was a lava flow.

Spent an afternoon in Downtown Flagstaff. Found a cool jewelry and bead shop.

Found a local chocolatier and Lesa had a lavender truffle- she didnt' care for it and she also had some chocolate dipped honeycomb, also un-remarkable... but chocolate is like pizza, even when it's not that good, it's still pretty good.

Shaw bought a bag of melty mints. Here's a pink one melting mintily in his mouth as the shutter snapped...

A local historic/architectural feature along the sidewalk.

This is very Beatle-esque...

Instead of camping again as was the original plan... we stayed at a nice hotel in Flagstaff. Went for a hike out behind the property but there was some tree maintenance going on up the road and we couldn't continue.

This tree is probably going to fall in the next storm. The roots are already pulling up on the right- just out of the shot. Somebody was nice enough to attempt to prop it up. This tree is about 100 feet tall and it's already several tons out of balance. The efforts will be futile I'm afraid.

Back to the hotel for some fun at the playground.

Shaw demonstrating his mad photography skillz.

In the pool before check-out.

This is at Montezuma's Castle National Monument. Note the ranger doing some work there...

Now, let me zoom out so you can see where he's working... he's on that wall on the left-most and out-most part of the structure above the tiny window. When we walked up, he was actually outside of the structure balancing on one of those cliffs!

This is Beaver Creek that provided water to the 35 people that lived in that house up in the canyon wall.

Shaw got 4 stamps in his National Parks Passport book- Walnut Canyon, Waputki, Sunset Crater and Montezuma's Castle (Meteor Crater is not a national monument) He got a stamp in California last year from Cabrillo Tide Pool National Monument. We are going to try to get all of the National Parks, Monuments and Historic Landmarks in Arizona before the summer is out. There are nearly 20. Grand Canyon is the most famous of course. Stand by for further adventures.