Location: Mesa Verde National Park
The sun woke me up early this morning, about 6:30. The air was so crisp it was calling for me do get my arse up and out for a run. (Fritzi, my running buddy. I so wish you were with me today!) It was by far my favorite run ever! The sun was just hitting the peaks of the sandstone cliffs, the campground was still quiet, and the best part was everything was flat. It was fun to watch the world wake up with the bright red cardinals flitting from tree to tree and the jack rabbits and squirrels running across the road.
After breakfast Ned and I did a bike ride on the Pa'rus Trail. It's going to be hard to top this bike ride as we rode through the canyon and along the Virgin River. We pretty much had the trail to ourselves. It's so interesting to watch how the sun and clouds play with the canyon walls. The canyon reminds me of something out of Jurassic Park.
The drive going east out of Zion is jaw-dropping beautiful. The road twists and turns as you climb out of the valley guaranteeing great views of the canyon from every angle. The tunnel, built in 1930, includes huge windows to not only provide light in the pitch black tunnel, but to also give you a momentary flash of the view below. On the other side of the park is Checkboard Mesa. Loved how the topography changes from the iron colored sandstone to more of a white rock with really intricate rock lines.
We interrupt this blog with a "Where's Waldo Moment." Can you find Debi in the picture?
Our next destination was Page, Az. We had toyed with the idea of doing a photography tour through Antelope Valley. We arrived in Page at high noon and for whatever reason a Texas BBQ joint, "Big Johns" called out to us a bit more than the jeep ride into the canyon. We vowed next trip to do the tour. This Texas BBQ place was a hoot. There was a huge 30 ft. fifth wheel with a gigantic smoker on the back. The "restaurant" was actually more of a parking lot with picnic tables, smokers, flags, and a bucket of peanuts on every table. Who could resist? The waitress, from Texas of course, was a riot. She kept bringing us out samples (may I suggest the pulled pork?) and showed us pictures of her family back home. We told her we were headed to Texas next week and she gave us several tips on what we must see. The best part of traveling is the people you meet!
Knowing that we were going to drop down into Arizona and spend the majority of our drive today in the Navajo Nation I had done some research on things to see. Awhile ago, Ned and I had watched a PBS special on the Navajo Code Talkers. As luck would have it we were traveling through Kayenta, where some of the Code Talkers lived. The Burger King, yes THAT Burger King - home of the whopper - houses a really interesting Code Talkers Exhibit. It was kinda surreal to be in "museum viewing mode" with a tour bus of old people munching on burgers, shakes and fries. Across the parking lot was a small Navajo Museum which had some books on the Code Talkers. I picked one up and am really looking forward to reading it.
We continued through the Navajo Nation, paralleling Monument Valley, finally reaching the "World Famous Four Corners." Unlike the last time we visited, there were very few people. Previously, we had to wait in line for quite awhile to take pictures. This time, we walked right up to the Four Corner Monument and had fun snapping silly pictures of us in different contortions. The picture that we opted to post is of both of us together, taken by a very friendly dad. Buy me a few drinks and I'll show you the other shots.
Last stop of the day was home for the night, Mesa Verde National Park. We pulled in around 5:30 and were excited to learn that they not only had showers, but they were free! Let's just say two days of running, hiking and biking without showers was a little too au naturale for me. Another added bonus, the park put in wifi accessible from our campsite. The weather continues to hold and it's a balmy 70 degrees this evening. Rather than doing any exploring of the park tonight we decided to hunker down, grill up some turkey breast, pour a glass of wine and chill out. Until tomorrow mon amis, cheers!
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