Outback Adventures

We're heading for Canyon de Chelly today and it looks like there is little in the way of electricity or Internet connections.  Not sure when we will be able to be in touch again, maybe 2 or 3 days.  Until then.....love to all.

Cliff-Dwellings

Today we visited Mesa Verde National Park.  It was quite a long drive into the park and the visitor centre was at an elevation of 7,000 feet.  The cliff-dwellers and the mesa dwellers above them numbered about 6,000 in this area.  They farmed corn, beans and squash and had storage areas for firewood, water and food.  Nobody really knows why they left but they only lived here for about 100 to 125 years.  The people used little toe and finger holds in the rock walls to clamber about and believe me, there are some shear drops.  We had the luxury of ladders and steps.  

This picture is just a mistake.  Ignore.

Except for this bit which was a 12 foot tunnel.  Here you see the intrepid Clancy doing her best to emerge into the light.  

This is the largest of the cliff-dwellings known as Cliff Palace.  There are lots of dwelling places and lots of ceremonial "kivas" which are round and each family unit seemed to have their own.  However, they now believe this particular village was a gathering place for people from all over for trading and ceremonies.  

This is a Kiva.  It would originally have had a roof and people would have entered from the top down a ladder.  We had the chance to enter a reconstructed one this afternoon and it was lovely and cool.  However, they often had fires in this rooms.  

Speaking of fires, about 2/3rds of the park has been burned in three years of fires since 2002.  Partly to do with drought and partly with the move to suppress fires anyway and partly to do with some beetle, the result has been rather disastrous.  Many, many acres of burnt crispy trees that are now fuel for the next fire.  All started by lightening too.  

And now to bed.  Tomorrow we head to Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de Shay).  

Bye for now.

Rock Art Day

One of the few things that moved faster than us today.  Finally got a good shot of a lizard.

These are bits of wood forced into the cracks between the rock faces that assisted climbing higher.  Perhaps there is more rock art higher up?  

Here is one of a row of reindeer and we think bear and bison.  We think bear have 6 toes and people have 5 although this is not always consistent.

Clear hunting pictographs.  Not sure yet what the wagon wheel is.  

Mary in front of Moonflower canyon.  Pictographs behind the fence.  

I particularly liked this one of a bison or buffalo.  Lovely straight back and very clear. 

This is known as newspaper rock.  Can you guess why?  Pretty busy huh?

This is a hunting scene.  Although the bunny is big, I think it is doomed.

Here is Clancy clambering around looking for rock art.  Unbeknownst to us both we were on the wrong side of the rock face, but Clancy is very good at knowing when we are going in the wrong direction.  

I was going to put a little collection of desert flowers here but the downloading has been so slow tonight, that I've run out of time and energy.  

Tomorrow we are going into Mesa Verde National Part for the day.  We think we may be here for 2 or 3 nights.  There is such a lot to see.  Will keep you posted.  

Keep up with the comments.  We turn on our computer about twice a day to see who might have communicated. 

Love to all.

Us

Moab

We had a "day of rest" yesterday and spent most of it in a little town called Moab.  It was hot and a little dusty and we shopped and ate.  We also tried to get a place on the "Canyonlands by Night" tour but it wasn't being held that night.  Pity, as we're off today.  

I snapped this with my tripod and timer at sun set last night.  We were out hunting critters.  Saw little white-tailed ground squirrels - very shy, rabbits - not, and a few pretty birds.  I am very sold on tripods.  Thanks to Megan for the photography book which I have been reading.  Very helpful!

This is in front of a gift shop in Moab.  So-o-o much stuff it is overwhelming.  And this is just one gift shop.  There were maybe 5 more around the town.  Yes, we saw them all.  But these wind sculptures were amazing.  We inquired as to the price and they start at $500.  Sigh.  Clancy will just have to make some.

And here is our lunch, half of which came home with us for today.  We try to remember to share one meal, but forgot yesterday.  Clancy is really enjoying Mexican food as long as it is not spicy hot.  

Just a window detail from the restaurant.

And today we're off in search of Pictographs and Petroglyphs (yes, I know the difference).  We might make it as far as Mesa Verde, but I doubt it.  

I hope most of you have figured out how to make comments if you want.  Just click on the comments link below, sign in and comment.  You must have a google identity though so if you don't it will ask you to register.  It should be simple and the registration process only happens once.  It's even easier after that.  

Provo to Canyonlands

Good morning friends and rellies,

Another amazing day of unusual sights and vistas.  We didn't have much driving to do today so we did a spot of shopping in Provo.  Nice city!  Clancy finally got her video camera so she is now head-down into the owner's manual.  Here is some of the snow leaving Provo, which is just one county over from Salt Lake City County.  They are busy building new freeways around here and they are smooth and sleek and efficient although the condition of the highways leaves much to be desired at time.  There is plenty of land for spreading out and, like L.A. everything is big and far away.  You need a vehicle!

We soon started to come across stunted Juniper trees.  Such a lot of twisted shapes to consider.  Here is one example.

And this is a lizard.  Very cute.  Clancy also spotted Ravens and a Blue Canyon Jay.  She is good at spotting.  Also gigantic ants and a lonely little rabbit.  

As we arrived around 2.30 or 3 p.m. we decided to stay in Arch View Resort which is handy to two national parks.  This was lucky as we got the last RV parking space.  Apparently things are a little busier on the weekends.  Apparently this is a weekend.  

As we want to spend more time in Arches National Park, we decided to head into Canyonlands.  We were gob-smacked right away but the pictures we took on the way in all got deleted as the goal was spectacular.  It looks just like the Grand Canyon but without the crowds.

And on our walk to 'Whale Rock' which was fabulous we spied the little-mentioned dinasaur prints in the side of the rock.  We saw about 7 or 8 of them of which this is an example. 

After rushing around just a little bit seeing unusual geological formations, we ended up back at the Green River lookout for sunset.    We set up our tripod on the rock and waited.  Truth to tell, we both thought the light was better an hour before sunset and this is what we saw.  

Green River is one of the major rivers explored by John Powell, a one-armed Civil-war veteran who explored both the Green and the Colorado rivers and lived to tell the tale.  By all accounts a harrowing adventure.  

Today we're off to Arches National Park.  Also doing laundry etc.  It's sort of a day of rest.  

Twin Falls to Provo

We're okay....just didn't have WiFi last night for Internet connection so we had to be old-fashioned and write post cards.  Still we have had 2 days of great sightseeing.  I have said 'Wow' so many times, I am now officially bored with myself.  

It has been somewhat colder than we expected at times.  We woke up in Twin Falls with our water hose frozen solid.  After spending some time boiling the kettle and applying boiling water to the entire length of the hose, we said stuff it, rolled it up and put it in the shower.  And away we went.  

We drove through flatlands for ages, potato country and the sprinklers that were left running all night were a frozen spectacle in the morning.  You will see them at the bottom of this page as I've put them on all backwards.  We're both pretty tired tonight.  

However, as I was starving at about 1:30 on the Interstate, good ol' Clancy checked out the map and pointed to Antelope Island at the edge of the Great Salt Lake.  We nearly gave up as it seemed quite a long way, and then they wanted $9.00 but we paid up and boy was it worth it.  Fantastic views and more.    Here is us with the Great Salt Lake in the background and a few snowy mountains.  

We were amazed at the geographic setting of Salt Lake City.  It is flanked by mile after mile of snowy mountains and the city and its townships run on for some time.  Not at all what we imagined.  This is just a picture from the Interstate....as you can see.

This is a shot back across the causeway from Antelope Island.

And THIS is one of the last wild herd of bison in the world.  Really, this place is the same as it was 160 years ago with Bison and Antelope grazing the prairie.  This guy was just heading down to the waterhole for a drink.  We were busy snapping a quick shot and then pushing each other out of the way to get into the RV.  I'll go first.  

Frozen sprinklers of the morning. 

 And then we camped at Provo which is not as far as we hoped to get thanks to Antelope Island.  I'm going to make that another posting so goodbye for now.  

Oh and thanks for all the comments and encouraging emails.  It is certainly keeping us going withe the computer stuff.  

We've also been stocking up on DVDs so we can watch the odd movie or some such in the evening before drifting off to sleep in our bed designed by wardens for prisoners.  Hmmm.

Leaving Oregon and arriving in Idaho

Who would have thought Oregon was so big?  Nevertheless, we are now parked up at Twin Falls in Idaho.  We have seen another amazing array of landscapes today starting with marshes, moving on to mountain passes and then settling into wide-open plains.  Last night the water hose froze (and I was a bit cold).  Tonight, we expect it to freeze again so we are removing the connection at 9 p.m.  We also shopped at WalMart for the first time in our lives and googled a Harley Davidson Motorcycle apparel so we are both set for life.  

Oregon's top speed is 55 mph but the minute you cross into Idaho it's 75 mph so we made good time today.  I don't think I'll say much more.  The pictures will have to speak for me.  

Except for these amazing marshes outside Burns.  They are on both sides of the road and are home to all manner of aquatic bird.  Unfortunately there are few places to stop for the scenic moment, so most of these are shot from a moving car.  

Not this one.  This is Clancy near the snow.

We stopped for coffee in Vale (I think) and snooped around some f the shops.  Good coffee too.

And that's it for today.  We're coming to grips with living in the RV.  One is quite independent really and although you are sometimes quite close to your neighbours, you don't really see them.  Is this a good thing?  Probably.  You would not believe the number of RVs, Cars, Motorbikes, trailers and everything imaginable for sale in huge lots that we whiz by on the highway.  People drive by with 4-door utes with a huge campervan attached and dragging a trailer with either a car, a 4-wheel drive jeep, a boat or 2 motorbikes.  But the highways here can really handle the big traffic.  The little things are for the off-highway adventures.  

We're heading towards Salt Lake City, Utah tomorrow and beyond but not sure where to from there.  We'll keep you posted.  

Bye for now.