Memorial Day Weekend

We had a big Memorial Day Weekend with family.  It started with Brian, Jennifer, Cole and Quinn coming up from Noblesville followed shortly by Alyssa from Bloomington.  We had a great weekend with the best weather we have had for many Memorial Days.  We started our by going to Dick, Jill, Paige and McKenna's at Clear Lake.  The capable Captain Dick took us on a pontoon ride around the lake.

Everyone enjoyed the lovely weather and the ride.  Quinn was enthralled with some of the gadgets on the pontoon.

The next day we took a ride out to Pokagon State Park.  We went to the Nature Center and looked at all of the neat displays and then went for a walk in the woods.  Grandma is showing the boys some treasure they found by a log.

Marcia and Dew enjoying the woods and walking with the family.

Here is a shot of Quinn getting a ride from Dad.  Cole was too far ahead to get him in the picture.

This is the Melton family going for a ride in the Bota.  The boys love to ride in Grandpa's Bota.

Quinn and Cole are making sure Sophie gets plenty to eat.

I think one of the Melton's is teaching the other to play monopoly.  I am not sure who is the teacher and who is the student.  Cole is pretty good at coming up with Cole rules for the games we play.

We really enjoyed having everyone here for the holiday.  We just wish that Matt & Seri could have been here but we know that is not possible right now.  We had great weather and good fun.  What more could you want?

Mesa Verde

Our tour continued from Utah into southwest Colorado to the little town of Cortez.  We stayed at a very nice KOA which had nice sites although no grass.  It was all stone with a few trees but everything was very clean. It was just a little drive to Mesa Verde.  This is another site the Puebloans occupied circa 900 to 1200 AD.  There were several sites all up and down the valley as well as sites on top of the mesa where they farmed.  The first photo is one of the sites along the valley wall.  It shows how they were built into the cliff side and under the overhanging rock.

The next one is just a closer view of the same site.  It shows the multi level structures.

This is one of the larger sites.  All of these pictures were taken from the other side of the valley looking across to the sites.  That actually afforded the best view.

This site is a little more exposed and not quite as well preserved.

The next one is one of the largest sites.  There were Ranger led tours available but our timing was not right to join one of the tours.  

I have to say the drive into Mesa Verde is exciting.   It was very steep with lots of switchbacks and cliff hanging views(which I was afraid to look at).  That would have been bad enough but there was road construction on about half of the fifteen mile drive with construction equipment and one way traffic.  I was glad to get back to our campsite down in the valley.

This is Marcia on Wolf Creek Pass at 10400 feet.  You can see there is still quite a bit of snow here.

Just to show that I am not a complete chicken.  This is yours truly next to the Dancer at the top of Wolf Creek Pass.

We were trying to beat a storm so we left a day before we planned to.  They were forecasting extreme high winds especially in the mountains so we decided to get over the passes before they hit.  I think that was a very good decision because that night I woke up with the camper rocking back and forth from the wind blowing so hard.  We had to bring the slide in so the awning on top of it would not make so much noise flapping in the wind.

Canyonlands National Park

The next stop on our tour was Canyonlands National Park.  Located only a few miles from Arches it offers an entirely different scenic wonderland.  It is more wide open and wild.  We had to watch for free range cows as we drove into the park.  The main road follows a ridge top through the park with amazing vistas to each side.

This was looking to the east with the La Sal mountains in the background.  Actually Arches National Park is between where we are and the mountains.

Another view to the east showing the rock layers exposed by erosion over eons of time.

This is looking to the southwest.  The Green River is in the center.  The ridge we are on actually runs between the Green River to the west and the Colorado River to the east.  They flow together a little farther south of where we are to continue on as the Colorado.  

This is a closer view of the Green River.  At this point it is as large or larger than the Colorado which is only a few miles away.  The views in this park are amazing.  It is wide open and you can see for miles.  This photo shows how the river erodes away the land to form the valleys.  

The La Sals in the background make a beautiful scene.

This shows the wildness of the area.  You can see for miles across the canyons to the mountains in the background.

More of the vast maze of canyons all flowing together eventually.

This is another side canyon opening eventually into the river.  This whole area was explored in the early years of the white man.  You can see trails and roads in some of the pictures which were used by the early miners and oil and gas exploration teams. 

This park ranks right up near the top of our list as far as places we enjoyed the most.  We both appreciated the vastness, wildness and raw natural beauty of the area.

Arches National Park

We had a little accident with some of our pictures.  I use Picasa for my picture managing and while attempting to backup my photos to CD's I somehow lost a bunch of them.  That is why it has taken me so long to make another entry to the blog.  I was able to reload from the original memory cards I used in the camera, so fortunately they were not permanently lost..  I did lose my original captions but I got a chance to relive the trip while going through the photos again.
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 Entering the park we were greeted with this panoramic view of the valley with the mountains in the background.

I really liked this ridge with several different formations spreading across a couple of miles.

This formation of several arches was a good example of the views throughout the park.

This is one-half of Double Arch.

Here is a longer view of both of the arches.

This is Window Arch, the other half of Double Arch.

This is Balanced Rock.  It was one of several similar formations that will eventually fall continuing the natural erosion process.

This landscape view shows Delicate Arch surrounded by the beauty of the red rock formations.

Just another panoramic view.  I love the wide open spaces with the mountains reaching into the clouds in the background.

Bryce Canyon & Grand Staircase Escalante

WARNING PICTURE INTENSIVE!

As we continue our trek making a big loop through southern Utah we are amazed again and again with the raw rugged landscape.  The views change constantly as we drive along.  Today we started in snow covered ground at Bryce and drove through some of the most amazing scenery you can imagine from snow to desert.  I know I am being redundant but it is just not possible to describe what we are seeing.  I think one has to see it themselves to really get a feeling of just how dramatic it really is.  We drove through some very rough barren country today as well as some nice National Forests.  

The first picture is in Grand Staircase Escalante.  The scenery here is awesome.

This is another one from Grand Staircase Escalante showing Powell Point named after the man who explored much of this area.

This one is of some Hoo Doos in Grand Staircase Escalante.

Here is Marcia pointing out a Hoo Doo to Dew.  All of these in the Grand Staircase Escalante are along American Scenic Byway 12 which is a great drive but very hilly and curves around with several switchbacks.  We decided not to take the camper over this drive but went out the other way to avoid the 14% to 16% grades on this route.  We did drive it with just the truck and it was scary even then.

This is the first one of Bryce Canyon.  It shows the immensity of the area with the Henry Mountains so far in the background you can hardly see them.  They are 50 to 100 miles away.

This is a stream which is part of an irrigation project the early settlers used to irrigate the valley.  They had to dig 10 miles of ditch across the top of the plateau to divert this water from a stream and this is where it comes down to the valley floor.  There is a tremendous amount of irrigation in all of the valleys.  They grow hay in the valleys which needs a lot more water than they normally get as rainfall.

Another view of the sweeping valley showing some Hoo Doos in the foreground.

This is called Natural Bridge.  It is a large opening formed by natural forces where the water finds its way to the valley below.

Another view across the valley with the mountains way in the background.

More valley views from another perspective at Rainbow Point.


More from Rainbow Point.


Just to prove that I was actually this high up.  I can't imagine why I wore shorts up here where there was still 2 to 4 feet of snow in places.

Hope everyone enjoys the pictures.  As I said before they do not do justice to the natural beauty of the area.

Zion National Park

Our next major stop in the four corner area was Zion National Park.  Our introduction to the park was a steep, twisting road to the bottom of the canyon that rivals any ride at Cedar Point!  The spectacular view was worth the trip, although Dewey wasn't sure on the way down.  This picture shows the Virgin River that cut the canyon and the Cottonwoods just starting to leaf out beside the river.  We can't believe that in each park we have visited, the rock formations and vistas are unique to that park.  We have agreed that our pictures and  descriptions fall far short of capturing the feeling of awe and wonder you have when you are here in person.

This is another view of the canyon walls that shows the steep drop from the rim.

This picture shows us sitting on a wall overlooking a forested valley with a little stream.  Imagine the courage it took for Dewey to sit on that wall with a sheer drop behind him!                                  

This picture is in the same area showing the formations around the valley.  We are under a waterfall with drops falling over us.

That is all from here we will have more soon.