Yearly Archives: 2008

We left Chaco Canyon and drove to Sedona, Arizona the next day. On the way, we stopped at Petrified Forest National Park to see the old Painted Desert Inn. What a fun old resort. I wish they’d re-open it! We checked into the Southwest Inn in Sedona after dark. We had a great room with…

Based on a friend’s recommendation, we drove to the Northwest corner of New Mexico and out on a 20 mile dirt road to Chaco Canyon. There are a massive amount of 1,000 year old pueblo ruins at this isolated site. It’s basically the Machu Picchu of North America. And also super harsh, isolated, dry and…

Thank heavens that our time in New Mexico improved vastly after our first night. We drove to the square in Taos and had great coffee at a little cafe. We spent a lovely morning at Taos Pueblo; taking a tour with a local guide, buying from the artists and sitting by the creek. The adobe…

New Mexico! Only two more states to go on our trip. After leaving Gunnison, we drove down through Colorado for the rest of the day. Things started getting weirder and weirder as we approached New Mexico (above). We reached the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge at sunset and walked across the scary span. Running out of…

I had too much fun staying with our friends in Paonia to remember to take many photos. We arrived the night of the second Presidential debate and were treated to elk chili and a warm welcome from their dogs. The next day, they took us to Black Canyon, an amazing place that I had never…

Yawn, just another amazing vista in Colorado! This time from McClure Pass on our way south to Paonia to visit friends. This was right after our quick stop in Marble. This town of 100 people was once a booming quarry that provided all the stone for the Lincoln Memorial and other famous buildings. We walked…

We spent two nights in Steamboat Springs at the historic Hotel Bristol (another place where we got a great mud-season rate). We loved this fun little ski town. Mmm…one of our favorite things about Steamboat was Winona’s for breakfast. Loved the eggs benedict so much that we went two days in a row. While in…

We took Trail Ridge Road from the park over to the other side. The summit is at 11,500 feet, quite a feat for our tiny little car. I’ve never even hiked that high! Amazing views from the snowy top and lovely vistas of the Colorado River on the other side. A great drive!

Our first morning in Colorado we visited Elk Fest in downtown Estes Park. This community fair was packed with tepees, pioneer crafts, live wolves, lots of things made of antlers and bison jerky. We bought our first real “souvenirs” of the trip at this festival. From there, we entered Rocky Mountain National Park and hiked…

Word to the wise: Wyoming is incredibly huge and mostly full of vast fields of nothing. Outside of Yellowstone and Jackson, there appears to only be sagebrush and the occasional pronghorn deer. It’s not ugly – there really isn’t anything around to offend – but it is super harsh. How on earth did the pioneers…